Infant church-membership : or, The relation of baptized children to the church

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PRINCETON, N. J.

BV 813 .S75 1844
Stearns, William A. 1805-
1876.
s/te^/ Infant church-membership

INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP,

OR THE

RELATION OP BAPTIZED CHILDREN

TO

• THE CHURCH.

BY WILLIAM A.'^TEARNS,

Pastor of the Evangelical Congregational Church, Cambridgeport.

BOSTON:
PUBLISHED BY CROCKER AND BREWSTER,

47 Washington- street.

1844.

Entered according: to Act of Congress, in the year 1S44,

By Crocker and Brewster,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts.

^ ii /I, A

\ W •-*« «v ■^"^

i J.

TO THE MEMBERS *»T:^';'^^

SUFFOLK NORTH ASSOCIATION^

TO THE

CONGREGATIONAL CLERGYMEN OF NEW-ENGLAND;

AND TO ALL

PARENTS IN COVENANT WITH GOD;

THIS VOLUME

IS MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICAT ED

BY

THE AUTHOR.

If temporal estates may be conveyed

By covenants, on condition,
To men and to tltevr heirs, be not afraid,

My soul, to rest upon
The covenant of grace, by mercy made.

Do but thy duly and rely upon't,

Repentance, Faith, Obedience,
Whenever practised truly will amount
To an authentic evidence —
Though the deed were antidotal at the font.

Synagogue.

1*

PREFACE.

This treatise is presented to the churches under a
deep sense of religious responsibility. It was not pre-
pared in a controversial spirit. Nor was it intended
as an attack upon that large and respectable denomi-
nation of Christians who differ nriost widely from the
leading sentiments it contains. It has been the au-
thor's design simply to reaffirm and establish one cf
those great doctrines of puritan and primitive Chris-
tianity on which he believes, the perpetuity, stability.,
and progressive piety of the New-England congrega-
tional churches greatly depends.

He was led to the undertaking by providential cir-
cumstances, and without the most distant expectation
of making his views public. Infant baptism, and the
relation of baptized children to the church had been
exciting increased attention for several years. Pas-
tors and parents deplored the fact, that "the seed of
the church " should be accounted, and educated, in
so many instances, as those who are confessedly

8 PREFACE.

" aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and stran-
gers to the covenants of promise." The subject had
often been conversed upon, and discussed, by clergy-
men in their private meetings, and especially by the
Suffolk North Association, with which the author is
pleasantly connected, and to the members of which
he would take this opportunity to acknowledge him-
self indebted for many valuable suggestions. At their
request, more than three years ago, he was induced
to undertake a Biblical investigation of the question,
How did our Saviour and his Apostles treat the infant
children of believers in reference to churchrmember-
ship ? The inquiry was commenced, as an assigned
duty which ought to be faithfully performed — but
without prejudices in favor of one theory or another,
or any special interest at that time in the subject. It
was prosecuted with a simple but determined desire
to discover and establish the truth. As the result of
this inquiry, a dissertation was presented to the Asso-
ciation, which succeeded, somewhat unexpectedly in
harmonizing the views of all the members present.
After the lapse of several months a vote was passed,
requesting its publication. In reviewing the manu-
script for this purpose, it appeared to the author that
a fuller developement of the principles it contained
might be profitable to the churches. For this reason,
he was led to examine the whole subject anew, and
prepare the treatise which is now given to the
public.

The writer has no desire to attach undue impor-
tance to the mere externals of religion. He has no

PREFACE. 9

high church principles to sustain, nor any predilections
for a more stately worship. He professes to be a
congregationalist in church government of the old
school, — as nearly a puritan of 1648 as the changes
of the times will allow. He values the outward only
in connection with its spiritual import and influence.
Nor is baptism considered by him as a saving ordi-
nance, nor as imparting mysterious efficacy to the in-
fant soul, but only as one of the divinely appointed
means of grace, bringing the recipients into a peculiar
relation to God and his people and preparing the way
for the realization of covenant blessings.

The forms of apostolic and congregational Chris-
tianity are few and simple. But being ordained of
God, and of great practical utility, they are worthy
of sacred preservation. Nor should their importance
be underrated in consequence of the tendency in some
quarters, to give them unjustifiable sanctity, and load
the gospel with human figments and additions. In
the opinion of many the church is about to enter upon
its last great conflict with formalism. Surely it is not
well to com.mence the warfare by a voluntary sur-
render of any of the great principles we hold in com-
mon. True wisdom requires that we understand our-
selves, maintain our ground firmly, defend the ordi-
nances as well as the doctrines of Christ, opposing
heathenish ceremonies, papal superstitions, antiquated
additions, and modern innovations, but sacrificing no
jot or tittle of what God has appointed.

It is with the hope of throwing some light upon the
covenant relations and duties of baptized children — -

10 PREFACE.

of reviving in the New-England churches one of the
great principles on which they were founded ; — of as-
sisting to " rear a holy seed," to take the place of
their fathers, in the kingdom of Christ, through suc-
cessive generations ; to prepare the way for that
thorough religious training which when attended with
prayer and faith so generally results through grace
and according to the promises in the early regenera-
tion of children ; that this book is now respectfully
submitted by the

Author.

CONTENTS.

Introduction, 13

CHAPTER I.

PROOF OF THE DOCTRINE OF INFANT CHURCH-MEM-
BERSHIP.

Section 1. Abrahamic Covenant, .... 17

Section 2. Our Saviour's treatment of Children in
reference to his Church. and Kingdom, ... 29

Section 3. The great Apostolic Commission, . . 37

Section 4. Infant Church-Membership recognised by
the Apostle Paul and the Corinthians, . . . 45

Section 5. Additional considerations affecting the
Question, 43

Section 6. Brief Review of the Constitution and gen-
eral History of the Church, 51

12 CONTENTS.

CHAPTER II.

NATURE AND DEGREE OF INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

Section 1. Peculiarity of this Relation, ... 54
Section 2. Children of the Church subject to its

supervision, ^°

Section 3. Other privileges of Baptized Children, 64

Section 4. Restrictions upon privileges, . . 67

CHAPTER III.

PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES OF INFANT CHURCH-MEM-

79
BERSHIP,

CHAPTER IV.

GExNERAL SENTIMENT OF NEW-ENGLAND CONGRE-
GATIONALISTS AND OTHER REFORMED CHURCHES
ON THE SUBJECT, ^^

CHAPTER V.

THE DOCTRINE APPLIED IN SEVERAL ADDRESSES.

Address to Pastors, 122

Churches, 130

Parents who are Professors, . . .137

the Baptized, 144

the unhaptized, 1^5

CONCLUSION; 1^^

INTRODUCTION.

INTIMATE AND MYSTEHIOUS CONNECTION BE-
TWEEN PARENTS AND CHILDREN— DESIGN OF
THE TREATISE— STATEMENT OF GENERAL PO-
SITION.

The relation which exists between parents and
children is perhaps the most sacred and indissoluble of
any upon earth. Children inherit not only the pos-
sessions, but generally, in a greater or less degree, the
honor or disgrace, the constitution and propensities,
the diseases and advantages of those from whom they
directly but mysteriously derive their existence.
" Bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh," they are
objects of the strongest affection ; and the toil and
solicitude of parents is often directed more earnestly
to their offspring, than to their own good.

The closeness of filial and parental relations is re-
cognised by the laws of civil society, and of God.
2

14 INTRODUCTION.

Our children are so identified with ourselves, as to be
considered the natural recipients of our social blessings
and disadvantages. Among many ancient nations,
punishments adjudged to the father were inflicted al-
most of course upon his household, and children were
treated as rebels or assassins, whenever a parent was
condemned for treason or had embued his hands in
human blood. So in the administration of God, not
only as promulgated in the second commandment, but
as manifested in his providence, by daily occurrences,
^' the iniquities of the fathers are visited upon the
children, unto the third and fourth generation of them
that hate him " — while his mercy is shown unto many
generations "of them that love him and keep his com-
mandments."

Why the destinies of parents and children are so
involved in each other, it may not be easy, and it is
not necessary for us fully to determine. It must be
conceded as matter of fact — and it is only with the
fact that we are now concerned — that under the di-
vine administration a man's offspring are singularly
identified with himself, insomuch that when our first
parents fell, they involved the whole human race in
the evil consequences of their guilt ; and whenever
God has made a covenant with such distinguished and
faithful servants, as Noah, Abraham, and David, he
has generally ordained a perpetuation of blessings to
them by conferring the same upon their posterity.

A remarkable instance of good to be enjoyed by
children on account of eminent parental faith, is found
recorded in the seventeenth chapter of Genesis. " I

INTRODUCTION. 15

will establish my covenant between me and thee, and
thy seed after thee, in their generations, for an ever-
lasting covenant; to be a God unto thee and to thy
seed after thee." This is the language of Jehovah to
an aged and beloved patriarch who had left all to
follow him. The whole passage, which stands as
context to the words rehearsed, is worthy the earnest
and prayerful study of all who acknowledge the au-
thority of Jesus, in expounding the writings of Moses,
and of all the prophets, and the Psalms, as having
important reference to himself.

This covenant not only indicates the intimacy of
relation which exists, in a moral and religious respect
between parents and children — but is supposed to ex-
tend its benefits to all the spiritual posterity of Abra-
ham ; i. e. to all who resemble him in respect to
faith, and also in an important sense to the children
of true believers forever. We receive it, as contain-
ing the foundation principles of a public church organ-
ization— and as the magna charta of our spiritual
privileges to the remotest day.

It is the writer's design to present a Biblical expo-
sition of the question. How are the young children of
believers to be considered and treated in reference to
church-membership. All reasonings derived from
ecclesiastical history, and human authority, will be
excluded from the discussion, not as unimportant in
themselves, nor as inconclusive on the subject pre-
sented, but as too indirectly appropriate to the ques-
tion, " What saith the Lord." But information gath-
ered from the word of God, explanations adapted to

16 INTRODUCTION.

throw ligbt upon its meaning, and any conclusions
legitimately deduced, with appropriate circumstances,
will be considered as coming within the limits which
the word Biblical is intended to mark out. When
the leading principles of the treatise have been estab-
lished, some greater latitude of remark may be allow-
ed in further illustrating and enforcing them.

The position to be maintained is briefly this. The
baptized children of professing Christians are strictly
speaking members of the church, and with exceptions,
made necessary by their incapacity and their personal
character, should be treated in other respects as such.
They are not of course members by profession, nor
are they members in full communion, nor are they in
complete standing. Still they are truly members of
the church ; they are entitled to its prayers, to a
christian education, and an affectionate supervision ;
they are standing candidates for full communion, and
are to be received to the table of the Lord as soon as,
but not before, they give evidence of possessing the
requisite knowledge and faith, and are prepared to
take upon themselves the baptismal obligations by a
public profession of religion.

CHAPTER I.

PROOF OF THE DOCTRINE OF INFANT CHURCH-
MEMBERSHIP.

Section 1. Ahrahamic Covenant — Circumcision

exchanged for Baptism Distinction between

Church-Baptism and the Baytism of Proselytes,

The doctrine of infant church-membership is de-
rived from the Ahrahamic covenant as follows : —

1. The visible church on earth had its commence-
ment as a publicly organized body with Abraham,
and, with some modifications has preserved its identity
to the present day.

2. There is strictly speaking but one church ;
there never has been but one general, regularly con-
stituted visible church in the world. For thouo^h the
kingdom of God anciently dwelt in many families,
and the patriarchal ancestor was the priest of his
own household, it does not appear that there was
any religious institution, sufficiently catholic in its

character, to be dignified with the name of church.

2*

18 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

3. This one church, beginning with Abraham,
has existed under two dispensations or organizations,
corresponding to different states of society and de-
grees of light enjoyed.

4. It is however the same body under the chris-
tian dispensation, that it was under the Jewish, pre-
serving its fundamental principles, though with such
alterations in its constitution as either were explicitly
made by Christ and his apostles, or such as circum-
stances rendered necessary.

5. Now under the old dispensation infants were
included, by divine command, with their parents as
members of the church. They must therefore be
included as church -members under the new dispen-
sation, unless there is some express command to
the contrary, or some peculiarity in the nature of
the case which has the force of a command. But
it may be safely affirmed, that there is neither statute,
nor circumstance, which excludes the young children
of believers from the christian church. They are
therefore to be recognized as members of it.

The above conclusion, though inferential, necessa-
rily follows from the principles assumed. We proceed
to examine, therefore, such of these principles as
might otherwise be controverted.

1. The church, under both dispensations, is one
and the same church.

In the first place, it has one and the same covenant,
viz. that which was made with Abraham, and is re-
corded at length in the seventeenth chapter of Gene-
sis, in which covenant God promises to be the God of

ABRAHAMIC COVENANT. 19

Abraham, and his seed after him, in their generations,
forever, and by accepting the conditions of which
Abraham pledges himself, — by implication at least, —
to be ever the faithful servant of God, and to bring up
his children and his posterity, as far as the influence
of his person or his character may extend, to be the
willing and obedient subjects of the Most High.

That this covenant, called in Genesis an everlast-
ing covenant, was the covenant of the christian church
from the first, and secured the blessings promised to
Abraham, both to his immediate posterity, and to all
gentile believers, to the remotest ages, is sufficiently
apparent from the assertions of St. Paul in the third
chapter of Galatians and elsewhere. We are distinct-
ly assured that Abraham's faith was the ground of his
acceptance with God, that all believers in after ages,
resembling him in faith, were to be recorded among
his children — that by the seed of Abraham, the right-
ful heirs of the promise, we are to understand, prima-
rily, Christ, and secondarily, all true believers as con-
nected with Christ — " For if ye be Christ's," says the
Apostle, " then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs ac-
cording to the promise."

Moreover, it is affirmed, as if to preclude all objec-
tions to this view, arising out of the national institu-
tions of the Jews, that this covenant, this fundamental
principle in the constitution of the church, was so
confirmed of God in Christ, that it can never be dis-
annulled, nor changed. Taking precedence of the
Mosaic institutions, 430 years in respect to time, the
law, as that term was understood by the Jews, is to

20 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

be considered as strictly subsidiary to the promise.
It was introduced on account of the wickedness of
mankind, for the preservation of true religion until the
time of Christ, and to prepare the world for his
coming. Nor did Moses abrogate the covenant or
allow it to be forgotten. Under God, he was in one
sense the founder of the Jewish nation. He prepared
the Hebrew code of civil government, and for the
sake of the church, united church and state. But the
promises made unto Abraham and his seed are ever
held forth, as at the foundation of the Jewish Theoc-
racy, and the imperishable charter of peculiar privi-
leges. See for one instance among many, Deut. 29 :
10 — 13. All that was peculiarly Mosaic in the or-
ganization of the church, may be considered, either as
the natural developement of the Abrahamic principle
— " I will be your God, and the God of your seed,
and ye shall be my people " — or as means adapted to
secure such developement. The superstructure may
be repaired, or even removed, but the foundation
standeth sure.

The sentiments advanced are corroborated by the
recollection that the Abrahamic covenant, is in jpoint
of fact, the one great principle on which the one great
church is and has been established, down to the pre-
sent day.

What is a profession of religion, as understood by
Christians generally, but a public acknowledgment of
God in Christ as our God, with the understanding on
our part, that by this act, sin'cerely performed, and in
the way of divine appointment, we are accepted and

ABRAHAMIC COVENANT. 21

recognized of the father, as his own peculiar people,
who if faithful to our obligations may expect peculiar
blessings upon ourselves and upon our children ? What-
ever our opinions respecting the subjects of baptism,
must we not agree in this, viz. that the mutual en-
gagement, ^' I will be thy God, and ye shall be my
people, and, Thou shalt be our God, and we will be
thy people," is the engagement, the covenant of the
church in all ages, and under all varieties of organiza-
tion ? If so the church under the new dispensation
has the same covenant which it had under the old,
and in fact as it has had from the first existence of the
church as a public body, in the world.

2. Though the seal of the covenant has been
changed, the thing signified has always remained the
same. Circumcision, the initiatory rite under the old
dispensation, is declared to be a seal of the righteous-
ness of faith, and, is not baptism, in like manner, a
seal of the righteousness of faith, under the new ?
Both are visible representations of the divine promise,
first made to Abraham, " the father of believers," and
from him, through Christ, to all mankind, that believ-
ers shall be justified by faith.

Not only is the interpretation of these seals under
both dispensations the same, but as signs, they both
have the same meaning, being used to express the
necessity of spiritual cleansing, in order to acceptance
with God. That baptism is intended to indicate the
necessity of spiritual cleansing, none, it is presumed,
will deny. Circumcision was designed to convey the
same idea. Compare such passages as these ; Deut.

22

INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP,

10 : 16 — ^' Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your
heart;" 30: 6—'' The Lord thy God will circum-
cise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the
Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy
soul that thou mayest live ; " Jer. 4 : 4 — " Circum-
cise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the fore-
skins of your hearts, ye men of Judah" — with the New
Testament interpretation of the rite, Rom. 2 : 28, 29,
" Neither is that circumcision which is outward in the
flesh — circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit,
not in the letter, whose praise is not of men but of God."
Circumcision and baptism therefore are only different
methods of signifying the same thing. Under both dis-
pensations, you enter the church, on the same principle,
though the mode of illustrating or representing that
principle has once been changed. The essential spir-
itual import of this initiatory ordinance is imperishably
permanent, from the days of Abraham to the present,
from our own times, down to the remotest ages of the
world. Therefore, as the church covenant has al-
ways been the same, so the sign and seal of the cove-
nant have been essentially, i. e. spiritually the same
from the beginning.

3. St. Paul, in the 11th of Romans, virtually af-
firms, and conclusively proves the identity of the
church under both dispensations. It is one stock or
tree, from which certain bad branches, meaning the
unbelieving Jews, were broken off, and other scions,
or believing gentiles, were grafted in. The newly
converted gentiles are warned against any spirit of

ABRAHAMIC COVENANT. 23

exultation over the rejected Jews, for, says the Apos-
tle, " If some of the branches be broken off, and thou
being a wild olive-tree, wert grafted in amongst them,
and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the
olive-tree. Boast not against the branches ; but if
thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but

THE root thee."

4. Moreover, the final recovery of the Jewish
people to reconciliation with God, and to the enjoy-
ment of covenant blessings is distinctly foretold.
When that event takes place, they are to be gathered,
not into a new church, but into the old, though now
existing indeed under a new organization. The olive-
tree remaining the same, those branches which were
cut off, and cast out, will be grafted in again, not into
another, but into their own olive-tree ; in which re-
spect they will have some advantage over the gentile
nations, the latter being grafted contrary to nature
from a wild olive, while the former, being simply re-
stored to the good tree from which they were taken,
will grow the more naturally upon their native stock.

Thus it appears that the Jewish and Christian
branch of the church have both the same covenant ;
the initiatory rite in both means the same thing ; and
St. Paul has declared both the same church. The
church of God, therefore, is and ever has been one
and only one forever. It is his kingdom on earth.
Nor can its identity be destroyed by the fact, that
some of the children of the kingdom have been cast
out, " and many have come from the east and the

S4 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

west and the north and the south, and have sat down
with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom
of God." Indeed it is as clear that we have one and
only one church in two dispensations, as that we have
one and only one Bible in two testaments.

This church underwent some alterations, after
the coming of Christ. He abolished certain ob-
servances, some of which being introduced by Mo-
ses, upon the junction of church and state, as aids
to the civil government, were so exclusively Jewish,
as to be inappropriate and unmeaning to other nations,
and others of them being merely shadows and
types realized in himself, were no longer of any use.
Among other things, he changed the initiatory rite
from circumcision to baptism, baptism being better
adapted to the world at large, more in accordance
with the mild spirit of the gospel, and that expansive
benevolence, which was about to throw its broad
shadows over all nations, giving exclusive privileges
neither to Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor
female, but making them all one in Christ.

But here it should be more distinctly inquired,
does baptism take the place of circumcision ?
It does. Both are seals " of the righteousness of
faith ; " both are signs " of the circumcision of the
heart." And in Col. 2 : 11, 12, St. Paul distinctly
recognizes the fact, that baptism represents " the cir-
cumcision of Christ," i. e. christian circumcision, or
*' the putting away of the sins of the flesh." Or,
as the argument is more fully stated by Dr. Wor-

CIRCUMCISION EXCHANGED FOR BAPTISM. 25

cester, " Circumcision under the former dispensation
signified the necessity of a regeneration, or renova-
tion, of the heart by the Holy Spirit ; baptism under
the present dispensation signifies the same. Circum-
cision was formerly a seal of the righteousness of
faith ; baptism is now a seal of the same righteous-
ness. Circumcision was formerly a token of God's
gracious covenant with his people ; baptism is now a
token of the same covenant. Circumcision was for-
merly a mark or badge of solemn dedication ; baptism
is now a mark or badge of the same solemn dedica-
tion. Circumcision was formerly an appointed pre-
requisite of admission to the church of God ; baptism
Is now an appointed pre-requlsite of admission to the
same church. In a word, baptism is of the same im-
port, and of the same use In the church under the
present dispensation, as was circumcision under the
ancient."

It thus appears that the initiatory rite was changed
from circumcision to baptism.

Other changes were also made ; — for example, the
Sabbath was transferred from the seventh day of the
week to the first, called the Lord's day, since, though
" great to speak the world from naught, 'twas greater
to redeem ; " — the Aaronic priesthood was abolished —
Christ having become himself priest forever after the
order of Melchisedec — and the christian ministry set
up ; — and many of the ceremonial distinctions be-
tween clean and unclean, having answered their de-
sign, were abandoned. But none of these changes
3

26 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIF.

could destroy the identity of the church. They only
extended to the cutting o£F some branches, while the
stock remains the same. Thus, Massachusetts was
Massachusetts before the American revolution as well
as afterwards — though its new condition and relations
required some modifications of its institutions.

But here it must be remarked, that no modification^
express or implied, was ever made by Christ and his
Apostles, in reference to the privileges and duties of
parents, as entitled and required to introduce their
young children into the same fold of covenant protec-
tion with themselves.

It follows that as such children were included with
parents, as members of the church, under the first dis-
pensation, they must, of course, be included with
them under the second.

Personal JBelief essential to Adult hut not to Infant
Baptism and Church-membership,

The principal objection to this view is the follow^
5ng : — As baptism is the only initiatory rite of the
christian church, belief being essential to baptism, is
essential to church-membership.

To this we have two answers. — 1st. There is a
broad distinction between church-baptism, and the
baptism of proselytes or adult persons converted from
the world. It is in reference to the latter, that the
Scriptures insist upon a personal faith, as an essential
qualification for baptism, saying, *' If thou believest
with all thine heart thou raayest." The Apostles

PROSELYTE AND INFANT BAPTISM. 27

went forth, under the great comnalssion, to bear the
gospel tidings to the world, to disciple the nations, in-
troducing them into the school of Christ, by his ap-
pointed ordinance, organizing them into churches
founded upon the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ
being the chief corner-stone, and building them up in
all the principles of the new institution. It was their
first business to convince the world of sin, to an-
nounce the Messiah as the offered Savior of mankind,
and urge repentance and faith as essential to salvation.
The badge of discipleship was baptism. Hence the
exhortation believe and be baptized, as though per-
sonal faith was essential to baptism, as indeed it was
for the persons to whom the apostolic message was
immediately addressed. But it does not follow, that,
when parents had been converted, and had thus be-
come the spiritual children of Abraham and heirs of
the promises, and had received the appointed sign and
seal of the covenant, viz. baptism, their children
should be excluded from any participation in those
blessings of church-membership, which had heretofore
been accorded to them in connection with parental
faith, ever since the patriarchal age. We should ex-
pect, therefore, to find belief insisted on as essential
to baptism, even though upon profession of belief,
baptism was administered not only to the believer
himself, but to all his straightivay. In accordance with
this opinion, we find the Apostle, enumerating the
household of Stephanas, among the very few whom
he baptized at Corinth. Nor was the idea, of thus
receiving children, on the ground of parental qualifi-

28 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

cations, at all foreign from the thoughts and habits of
these early preachers, who were Jews. In just this
way, converted heathen had always been received,
with their families into the ancient church. Belief in
Israel's God was the essential pre-requisite to admis-
sion. But when a converted gentile, renouncing idol-
atry, had made acknowledgment of the God of Abra-
ham, and received upon his own person the seal of
the covenant, his children were immediately circum-
cised, and enrolled with the parent, as heirs of cove-
nant blessings, in common with the Jews. Thus, in
the introduction of proselytes into the church, personal
faith is essential to admission — but being received,
having now become church-members by baptism,
their children are henceforth the children of the cove-
nant, the children of the church. As such they are
entitled to the initiatory rite, which when performed
constitutes them also members of the church.

2. A second answer, though involved in the first,
may be more distinctly stated as follows. Allow that
belief was an essential pre-requisite to baptism, it was
also, and equally the essential pre-requisite to cir-
cumcision. Both are ^' the seal of the righteousness
of faithy Circumcision certainly was, for so the
Scriptures expressly affirm ; and yet circumcision was
applied to infants ; nay the believing Jew was com-
manded, under most fearful comminations, to place
the sign of the covenant upon his children. So bap-
tism, being " a seal of the righteousness of faith," is
to be administered to the helieving parent, and his
little child. Thus, though baptism is now the only

OUR saviour's treatment of children. 29

introductive rite, to church-membership, the children
of believers are not disqualified, through want of per-
sonal faith, to receive its administration.

It follows then that as the church under the old
dispensation certainly included infants, and as nothing
appears to the contrary in the teachings of Christ, or
in the necessities of the case, the church under the
new dispensation must include infants also.

Section 2. The doctrine of Infant Church-memher-
ship derived from our Savior^ s treatment of Chil-
dren in reference to his Church and Kingdom.

We shall be brought to similar conclusions with the
foregoing, by an investigation more directly exegetical.
How did our Saviour treat children, in reference to
his church and kingdom ?

In discussing this question, there is an important
preliminary fact which deserves attention. Our Sa-
viour, himself a Jew in respect to his human nature,
educated amidst Jewish customs and influences, intro-
duced into the Jewish church, by circumcision, when
only eight days old, — being also the omniscient Son
of God, — instead of pronouncing any sentence of ex-
clusion upon infants, or intimating any suspicion of
their possible disqualification for church-membership,
under the new dispensation, seems to have taken
special pains to impress the disciples and all behold-
ers, with a sense of the deep and tender interest, with
3*

30 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

which he regarded them, in reference to the kingdom
he was about to set up.

There is especially one passage which betirs upon
the subject of infant church-membership, with great
force, and is therefore entitled to careful examination.
Mat. 19: 14. "But Jesus said, suffer little children
(or the little children, as it is in the original) and for-
bid them not to come unto me, for of such is the king-
dom of heaven."

In order to understand the Saviour's meaning, in-
quire, first, what is meant by the phrase 'kingdom of
heaven 1 These words, as used in the New Testa-
ment, do not always, nor even generally intend
heaven, in the common acceptation of the term.
Heaven contains no unworthy nor imperfect members ;
but the kingdom of heaven consists of a mixed
community ; foolish virgins among the wise, tares
among the wheat, good and bad in the same net.
It is that kinodom out of which the an^-els at the
last day shall gather every thing that offends. It is
the kingdom in which the ambitious disciples were
desiring pre-eminence. It is the kingdom which
Christ came to establish on earth, and which, being
finally perfected, shall continue forward beyond death
and the judgment, in an eternal heaven. The only
visible presentation of it is the church. To say,
*' upon this rock will I build my church," is much
the same as to say, here is the foundation stone of my
kingdom.

Our second inquiry is, who are to be the subjects
of this kingdom ? Or rather, as it will contain some

OUR saviour's treatment of children. 31

unworthy, uninvited members, who does Christ de-
signate as 'properly belonging to it ? He mentions in
the text before us two classes, the little children who
were brought to him, and such as are like them, or
rather one class Including both, viz. all persons of this
description. That he Intends to Include the children
themselves, with those who are compared to them Is
evident — for,

1. It can hardly be supposed that those who re-
semble such children are entitled to membership, he-
cause of that resemblance, while the children them-
selves whom they resemble are excluded. At all
events, under all the circumstances, such a mode of
speaking, would be peculiarly liable to mislead, and
should not be attributed to the Saviour without suffi-
cient reason.

2. The Saviour's treatment of these children im-
plies a recognition of their title to membership In his
kingdom. He was not only exceedingly displeased
with the disciples for rebuking those that brought
them, saying, "Suffer the little children to come, and.
forbid them not," but, by prayer and the Imposition
of hands, he signrfied to the bystanders, that these
children, though some of them Infants, and all of
them probably very young, were yet capable of re-
ceiving, either immediately or prospectively, spiritual
blessings. And not only so, but by an act of religious
consecration, he hallowed and blessed and set them
apart for himself, saying, at the same time, of such is
the kingdom of heaven.

32 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

3. The reason assigned by our Saviour for receiv-
ing these children implies a recognition of membership,
in his kingdom. Why must they be allowed to come ;
why must the parents be gratified in their desire that
Jesus would consecrate and bless them ? Because,
says he, (for) the kingdom of heaven is composed of
such persons as these. If he had intended simply to
say, that adult persons of an humble, affectionate and
childlike disposition, were to be considered members
of his kingdom, in such a declaration we should have
a fact affirmed, but it would not be a reason for the
reception and consecration of the children. If the re-
semblance, implied in the words of such, were merely
a resemblance of " disposition and affection, that,''^
says Matthew Henry, " might have served as a rea-
son why doves or lambs should be brought to him,"
it certainly is not a reason why the children should
be blessed, and by the laying on of hands consecrated
to God.

Finally, we think that the Greek, toiovtuv, of such,
implies both the persons compared and those to whom
they are compared. The English reader may satisfy
himself by reference to a few passages. Mat. 18: 5,
" And whoso shall receive one such little child in my
name receiveth me." Now this child, as appears
from the connection was little believer, and therefore
most certainly is included with those to whom it is
compared. Moreover, St. Luke says, in the parallel
passage, '' Whosoever shall receive this child in my
name receiveth me." For the use of the word
TOiovTog in other connections, see Mark 4 : 33, " And

.' -

OUR SAVIOUR S TREATMENT OF CHILDREN. 33

with many such parables spake he the word unto
them," i. e. whh these parables and many that are
like them. John 4 : 23, ^' The Father seeketh such
to worship him," i. e. such as true worshippers, in-
cluding of course the true worshippers themselves.
John 9 : 16, " How can a man that is a sinner do
such miracles," i. e. these miracles now witnessed and
such as are like them. In several other instances the
word is used in the same manner, nor am I apprized
of any opposing usage. It seems necessary, there-
fore, to suppose the Saviour to have recognised these
children, thus brought to him, as themselves members
of his kingdom.

Now from Luke 18 : 15, it appears that these chil-
dren, thus received as members of the kingdom, were
some of them at least infants. It is evident also that
these infants were the children of believing parents,
for they brought them to Jesus in faith, that he might
bless them. Christ then says, " Suffer the little chil-
dren (for the original, as already observed, employs
the article) to come unto me, and declares them
members of his kingdom." From this, it is natural to
infer, that all such children, in other words all the
little children of believing parents, being consecrated
to Christ by faith, and in the way of his appointment,
are to be considered members of his kingdom.

But this conclusion is something more than an in-
ference. While the words of such manifestly include
the children thus presented to Christ, it cannot, of
course, exclude other children of similar condition.
ToiovTog is a demonstrative pronoun, and designates a

34 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

class. How far this class extends, whether to all
children, and even to all adults who in humility of
disposition resemble them, it is not necessary for our
present purpose to decide. It evidently extends —
and this is far enough for the argument — to all chil-
dren of the same age arid circumstances as the chil-
dren in question, i. e. to all the infants and young
children of believing parents, who bring their offspring,
in faith, to Christ, for his blessing — to all the children
of parents, to whom " pertain," says Mr. Henry, *' the
privileges of visible church-membership, as among the
Jews of old. The promise is to you and to your chil-
dren, 1 will be a God to them and to thy seed,"

Nor is it any objection to this interpretation, that
we must all '^ receive the kingdom of heaven as a
little child," in order to admission. For how did
these children receive it, as its privileges were con-
ferred upon them by the Saviour's words ? Undoubt-
edly, with humility and trustful affection, without self-
seeking or ambition. In this way adults must receive
it, or not at all.

Similar remarks may be made respecting Mat. 18 :
3, and parallel passages: "Except ye be converted
and become as the little children, ye cannot enter
into the kingdom of heaven." By conversion, in this
place, we are not to understand, spiritual birth, for in
that respect the disciples of Christ were converted al-
ready, but conversion from a particular state of mind,
viz. from an ambitious desire of pre-eminence, to a
childlike humility. In this respect, it was essential

OUR saviour's treatment of children. 35

for the disciples to become like children, in order to a
Worthy membership in Christ's kingdom.

It appears, therefore, from the foregoing considera-
tions, especially from the usage of toiovtcijv, of such)
what is also evident from the nature of the case, that,
not only the children noticed in Mat. 19, but all chil-
dren of similar condition — in other words all the little
children of believing parents, when consecrated to
Christ by faith, and in the way of his appointment are
to be considered members of his kingdom. And if
members of his kingdom, then certainly no good rea-
son can be given, why they should not be members of
his church, which is the only visible presentation of
his kino^dom, which in fact is his kingdom.

We are yet to inquire, more distinctly, luhy such
children are enrolled among the subjects of the king-
dom of heaven.

1. It is not on account of their innate goodness,
for this supposition would not only contradict the
great fact of the fall of man and the consequent vitiated
condition of human nature, so abundantly affirmed in
the Scriptures, but also the teachings of Christ, who
speaks of children as lost, even in those very passages
which assert the necessity of an humble, childlike
spirit, as one of the essential qualifications for the
kingdom of heaven. See Mat. 18 : 1—14. This lit-
tle child, though now, as it appears, a little believer,*

* N. B. The children, in Mat. 19 and parallel passages, seem to
have been infants, brought to Christ by others ; those in Mat. 18 and
parallel passages, young believers, accepted on their own account.
This distinction will assist to explain the passages.

36 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP*

is distinctly recognised as among those originally lost
ones, who stood in need of and had received the Sa-
viour's saving grace. And if this child, ^' if one of
these little ones,^^ then of course all children must be
considered as naturally in that state, which demands
the intervention of Christ, for their salvation, and not
naturally, and of their own right,* members of his
kingdom.

But if the privilege actually bestowed, in Mat. 19,
upon some very small children, was not bestowed on
account of their innate goodness, it must have been on
account of the faith of those who offered them.

We confess that Christ did not baj)tize these chil-
dren, for he never baptized any one. Nor did he ad-
mit them to the church, for under the old dispensation,
being Jews, they were already members, and the
church under the new dispensation was not yet organ-
ized. But he declared them members of his kingdom,
and that too probably on account of the faith of the
parents ; and, if members of his kingdom, then fit sub-
jects of cAwrcA-membership, whenever the church

* To avoid any misunderstanding, the writer desires to state explic-
itly his confident hope of the salvation of all children who die in in-
fancy. This confidence is founded, not only upon the goodness of
God, but, respecting the children of the church, upon covenanted
mercy, and the recognition of such children by Christ as members of
his kingdom. The hope of salvation for all children, is cherished on
the ground, that grace abounds over sin; so that the second Adam,
having repaired, by redemption, the ruins of the first, has made the
free gift available, through the spirit, to the justification of all who
neither wilfully reject it, nor lose its benefits by voluntary continuation
in sin. The salvation of all children is, howevtr, a matter of inference
more thin of promise ; that of the children of believers, a matter of
explicit promise as well as inference.

APOSTOLIC COMMISSION. 37

should become under its new organization the visible
presentation of his kingdom.

In short, we understand Christ to say, that children
offered to him in faith, by believing parents, are to be
recognised as his. They belong to his kingdom, and
when that kino;dom comes to have a church orfaniza-
tion, they will rightfully belong to his church ; for
what is the church, but the members of Christ's king-
dom organized according to his appointment. And if
this be so, then the children of believers were intend-
ed by Christ to be members of his church.

Section 3. The great Apostolic Commission^ con-
sidered in reference to Infant Church-membership.

The great commission is announced by our Saviour
in these words : " All power is given unto me in
heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all
nations, baptizing them in (into) the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever I have
commanded you ; and lo 1 am with you alway even
unto the end of the world."

This commission, considered in connection with the
circumstances under which it was given, goes to con-
firm the doctrine of infant church-membership, not
because children are expressly named as the proper
subjects of baptism, but because they are not express-
ly excluded ; for how could a Jew always accustomed
to infant church-membership, under the old dispensa-
4

38 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

tion, suspect, without authority, its impropriety under
the new ?

But let us examine the words of our Saviour more
minutely. Go, says he, and teach all nations. It is
not necessary to inform the biblical student that the
original, here translated teach, is altogether a different
word from that translated teaching in the last verse,
nor that the meaning of the word in the first instance
is not literally to teach but to make disciples. *' Go
make disciples of all nations, baptizing, and instruct-
ing them." As soon as the import of our Saviour's
words was fully understood as extending to the whole
gentile world, the apostles must have supposed them-
selves commissioned to go forth, and make proselytes,
baptizing them and their children, and building them
up by complete instruction in the most holy faith.
For—

1. It is to be remembered that these original
teachers were all Jews. They had been accustomed
to infant church-membership, by the invariable usage
of their church. The initiatory ordinance was uni-
formly administered to the children, not on account of
personal faith, but of parental connection. Nor was
it unusual for them to witness the introduction of
gentile proselytes into the Jewish church ; in which
case the infants and children of the family were re-
ceived by the same introductory rite. Suppose that
the apostles had been sent forth into the gentile world
to make proselytes to the Jewish religion, and the
Saviour had said, "Go, disciple all nations, circum-
cisino^, and instructing them in all the commandments

APOSTOLIC COMMISSION 39

and ordinances of Jehovah," could there have been a
question, whether children were to be received with
their parents ? Certainly not. On the same princi-
ple, we must believe that baptism was administered,
as a matter of course, to the offspring of believers in
connection with themselves. True, according to their
Jewish notions, we might expect to find them baptiz-
ing none but males, were it not for the express infor-
mation that this new initiatory rite was extended also
to the other sex. Acts 8 : 12. They were baptized
both men and women:' Gal. 3 : 27, 28, '' For as
many of you as have been baptized into Christ, have
put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there
is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor fe-
male, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus."

2. This view of the manner in which the apostolic
commission must have been at first understood is cor-
roborated by another fact. The baptism of proselytes
was nothing new in the Jewish church. The imme-
diate descendants of Abraham became children of the
covenant, by circumcision ; but it was required of
Gentiles, that they should be also ceremonially
cleansed by baptism. It is stated as a historical fact,
and probability is altogether in its favor, that the chil-
dren of these proselytes were uniformly baptized.
Now, under these circumstances, it is morally impossi-
ble, that any Jew, having the Saviour's commission,
could have hesitated a moment as to the propriety of
administering baptism to the little children.

But here it will be inquired, does baptism constitute
those who regularly receive it, members of the chris-
tian church ? For it must be shown not only that

40 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

children are proper subjects of baptism, but also that
baptism visibly unites its orderly recipients to the
church.

In maintaining the affirmative of this question, two
things should be distinctly premised and understood.
First, the validity of a general rule is not impaired
but rather confirmed by a few extreme cases which
may be adduced as exceptions to it. Suppose that
under some extraordinary circumstances an unbaptiz-
ed person might lawfully be admitted to the Lord's
supper, and be recognised as a member of the church,
it will not follow that unbaptized persons, in ordinary
circumstances, should be considered, on mere profes-
sion of faith, church-members. Or, suppose that, in
certain cases, a baptized person, upon whom it may
never be necessary to repeat the ordinance in order to
its validity, is yet not a member of the church, — as
where a person has been excommunicated, — it will
not follow that baptized persons are not generally and
properly introduced to the church by baptism. A
king may come to be a king in spite of the irregularity
of his coronation — or one may lose the inheritance, by
personal disqualifications, to which a lawful conveyance
entitles him — but this does not destroy the validity of
deeds in general, nor lessen the importance of a pub-
lic investiture in order to the full enjoyment of royal
prerogatives.

Second. When it is affirmed that baptism consti-
tutes its regular recipients church-members, it is not
intended to deny, that the children of believers, ac-
cordinfr to the doctrine of the New-England fathers,

ORDINANCE OF INITIATION. 41

are in some sense horn church-members. They are
indeed members by designation, but not members by
initiation. They are born in the covenant, but are.
not entitled to the blessings of the covenant, except
prospectively, until they receive the sign and seal of
the covenant. The engagement has been made, the
writings drawn, but the instrument would not be valid,
if the persons authorised to act in the case, should re-
fuse to sign and seal it. The circumstance of chris-
tian birth may give them a right to admission, and, the
intention to do for the children after the custom of
the law, may secure them the privileges of their
birthright, till opportunity for visible initiation is af-
forded— but if all suitable opportunities for this pur-
pose should be voluntarily neglected, the subjects of
such negligence must lose their claim for covenant
favors. Wherefore, it is said, in Gen. 17, that the
child who is not circumcised, at the appointed time,
though born in the covenant, shall be cut off from the
privileges of his birthright. For these reasons, cir-
cumcision and baptism are spoken of as initiatory or-
dinances, as acts visibly uniting their recipients, — the
first under the old dispensation, and the second under
the new, — to the church. They are acts without
which, — though entitled to admission, and, prospec-
tively, for a season, to covenant blessings — they are
not visibly constituted members. Thus the president
of the United States is president elect, immediately
upon the designation of the people, but is not author-
ised to act in that capacity until he is invested with
4*

42 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

his high powers by the ceremony of inauguration,
and the oaths of office.

These things being premised, the question now re-
turns, does baptism constitute those who receive it
members of the christian church ? It does. For,

1. It has been already proved that circumcision
was the introductory ordinance of the Jewish church,
and that baptism under the new dispensation has
taken the place of circumcision under the old ; from
which it follows, that baptism is the introductory or-
dinance to the christian church.

2. Admission hy baptism appears to have been
the invariable apostolic custom. The commission
was, go forth, disciple the nations, baptizing, and then
instructing, and building them up in Christ. The
first converts, three thousand in number, joined the
church, on the day of their conversion, by baptism.
And ever after, new converts, both Jews and prose-
lytes, " were baptized into one body^ Nor is there
the slightest intimation of any other mode of admis-
sion to the christian church.

3. The formula of baptism itself implies that bap-
tism is the initiatory ordinance. We are to baptize
the disciple into the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

The propriety of translating the original words
elg TO ovo{LU, into the name, instead of, in the name,
has been fully defended by Dr. Dwight, in the third
volume of his Theology, and by many judicious com-
mentators. Without dwelling upon the fact, that
** ei; is never used in the New Testament, in any

ORDINANCE OF INITIATION. 43

Other instance to designate any thing done in the
name or by the authority of Christ, but that in the
only case, where in the name of Christ is joined with
the verb baptize, Acts 2 : 38, the preposition is etti,
instead of £/?," the Enghsh reader may satisfy him-
self, by reference to a few corresponding passages.
1 Cor. 12: 13, "For by one spirit we are all bap-
tized into one body." Gal. 3: 27, "As many of
you as have been baptized into Christ have put on
Christ." Rom. 6 : 34, " Know ye not that so many
of us, as were baptized into Jesus Christ were bap-
tized into his death." It is said in 1 Cor. 10 : 2,
That the fathers of the Hebrew church were baptized
(f4) " into Moses," i. e. into the religion of Moses in
the cloud and in the sea. "In the name," says the
learned Whately, " is a manifest mis-translation, origi-
nating, apparently, with the Vulgate Latin, which has
' m nomine. *

Instead of in the name, we must translate, baptis-
ing INTO the name, etc. Now the name of God, as
here used, is but a Hebraism for God himself.
Baptism into his name then, what is it but a visible
restoration of alienated man ? — a solemn, visible intro-
duction into the presence, the fellowship, the church
of God ?

RosenmuUer has some remarks upon this passage,
which, as corroborative of these views, seem worthy
of translation.

By the original word rendered teach in our version,
is meant " to make a disciple, or introduce a person

* Whately's Kingdom of Christ, page 56, note.

44 INFANT CHUHCH-MEMBERSHIP.

in an orderly manner into the christian church. The
name of disciples properly belongs not only to those
who have been fully instructed and confirmed* but to
those also who are in a course of training and are yet
to be confirmed. For since the apostles were not
ignorant that the children and infants of proselytes
from other nations must not only be called proselytes,
and be circumcised, but also baptized, (as Wetstenius
has abundantly proved,) it could not have entered
their minds, that children and infants must be ex-
punged from the catalogue of disciples, or be denied
baptism, unless such persons had been excepted and
excluded by the express words of Christ, which we no
ivhere read.

^' The ends of baptism are various. But according
to its nature, it is especially a mark of profession, and
an introduction into the church. The phrase into the
name of the Father is a Hebraistic pleonasm for into
the Father. To be baptized into any one, is to come
under obligations by baptism, to his worship and pro-
fession of religion instituted by him. Thus Paul de-
nies that any one was baptized into his name. 1 Cor.
13 : 15, i. e. had entered into an engagement to him,
as if he were the author of the new religion. We are
therefore baptized into the name of the Father, i. e.
into the profession and worship of God, who revealed
himself in the Old Testament ; into the name of the
Son, as the true Messiah, who appeared in human
flesh, and by his miracles, doctrine, resurrection, as-

* Congregational confirmation is an open profession of faith.

USAGE AT CORINTH. 45

cension, proved himself to be the true Messiah ; into
the name of the Holy Spirit, who makes gracious ap-
plication of spiritual benefits to us. Or more briefly,
we are baptized into the Father as the author of the
new rellsjlon, into the Son as the Lord of the new
association, Into the Spirit as its guide and helper."

It appears then, from the comprehensive nature of
the apostolic commission ; from the fact that the initi-
atory sacrament was extended to women, but was not
restricted to adults ; from the habits of thought and
customs in which the original teachers had been edu-

O

cated : from the use of baptism as introductory to
church-membership ; and from the peculiar and solemn
form' of words by which we are visibly received as
professors of Christ's religion ; It appears, nay it is a
necessary conclusion, that when we come into the
church ourselves, we ought to bring our children with
us, and give them up in faith unto him who " leads
his flock like a shepherd gathering the lambs in hlg
armsj and carrying them in Ms hosom%^

Section 4. Infant Church-mcmhership recognised
by the Ajpostle Paul and the Corinthians,

The doctrine of infant church-membership may be
deduced from 1 Cor. 7 : 14, " For the unbelieving
husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving
wife Is sanctified by the husband ; else were your chil-
dren unclean, but now are they holy." It appears
from these words that the holiness of children, thus

46 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

conditioned, was an acknowledged fact in the Corin-
thian church. This acknowledged holiness of the
children is adduced as proof, that a certain degree of
sanctity or sacredness, was thrown around the unbe-
lieving parent, in consequence of his or her connection
with a believer. And this latter fact, viz. that an
idea of sacredness was associated with the unbeliever,
when thus conditioned, is a reason why persons thus
united in marriage should not separate, on the ground
that one has become a Christian and the other not.
But all the reasoninor is based on the acknowledcred
fact that the children of the parents in question are
holy.

To avoid the conclusions necessarily deduced from
this fact, some translate the word s4V^« and a,xoL^ci^Toc^
legitimate and illegitimate. But how is it possible to
twist the passage into such an interpretation. For if
we substitute legitimate and illegitimate for holy and
unclean, — we must, in order to be consistent, substi-
tute legitimatized for sanctified. Then the apostle
will reason thus : ^' It is an acknowledged fact that
the children of parents one of whom is a Christian
and the other not are legitimate. This proves that
the believing parent legitimatizes the unbelieving
parent — and this is a reason why they should not
separate." But is the idea of one parent legitimatiz-
ing the other parent sense or nonsense ?

But further, what could the apostle mean by saying
that such children are legitimate. He must use the
word either in a civil or a religious sense. Now we
know that in a civil or legal sense the unbelief of the

USAGE AT CORINTH. 47

parent did not affect the legitimacy of the child. He
must use the word then in a relig-ious sense — but re-
ligious legitimacy, if the phrase has any meaning,
must signify that the child is the rightful heir of the
parents' christian privileges — in other words, that the
child is holy in the sense soon to be explained.

There is a still more decisive argument against the
interpretation in question. It is that the term ay/ov,
though a word of frequent occurrence, no where
else means legitimate. I have consulted Donnegan,
Schleusner, and Wahl as edited by Robinson, neither
of whom give any such meaning to the word.
Schleusner seems to have examined it with great
thoroughness, and though he finds it used in no less
than ten or twelve varieties or shades of meaning, he
has adduced no passage which seems capable of such
an interpretation, but in almost every instance ay/ov
may be translated holy without exposing the careful
reader to mistake.

These considerations appear to be decisive against
such an unnatural exegesis of the passage. We are
prepared then to ask, what does the apostle mean,
when he says, that the children of believers are holy
and the children of unbelievers are unclean. We
have only to look at those words as often used in the
Bible, in order to obtain their meaning. The terms
clean and unclean, not only signify good and bad, but
professors and non-professors, persons in covenant
with God and persons not in covenant. The mem-
bers of the Jewish church were called holy, though it
contained many wicked men — and all the world

48 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

around was called unclean, though it contained some
true worshippers of God. The Jews were called
holy, because God had entered into covenant with
them and had set his mark upon them ; — their chil-
dren were called holy, because they in like manner
had been circumcised and introduced into the church.
When the apostle addresses this language to the Co-
rinthians, he must mean that the children of believers
are holy in a church sense — belonging to the people
of God, the acknowledged heirs of the parental cove-
nant, entitled to the initiatory rite, which is baptism,
and by it constituted members of the church. It is
on this principle that we administer baptism to chil-
dren, when only one of the parents is a professor. It
is because the apostle has declared such children to be
holy, that is, holy in respect to church-membership,
entitled to the covenant made with Abraham and his
seed, and thus to be considered members of the
church. This accords with the interpretation given
to the words vvv de ayia eariv (now are they holy)
by Schleusner, jam vero habentur membra ecclesiae
Christianae, but now are they members of the chris-
tian church.

Section 5. Additional consider aliens affecting the
question of Infant Church-membership,

1. It appears that the apostles baptized by house-
holds, just as the Jews circumcised by households.-
Compare the directions given to Abraham in the 17th

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS. 49

of Genesis, with the baptism of Lydia and all her
household, and of the jailor and of all his straight-
way.

2. If the apostles had denied church-membership
to the infants of believers, then the conversion and
baptism of a Jewish parent would have been attended,
virtually, with the excommunication of his children.
Under the old dispensation they were members of the
church ; they had been initiated by circumcision ;
they were the children of covenant, wearing its seal
upon them. But after the institution of baptism, as
the initiatory ordinance, circumcision was discounte-
nanced. *' Neither circumcision availeth any thing
nor uncircumcision." In a short time, the bloody
rite is no longer received aniong believing and en-
lightened Hebrews, as the seal of God's covenant of
grace. The Jewish nation has ceased to be the
church. When the converted parent makes profes-
sion of his faith in Christ, he renounces all confidence
in ancient ordinances and ceremonies. He now be-
longs to another church, " for the old has vanished
away." Unless his children are entitled to church-
membership by baptism, they now cease to be church-
members at all. The parent, instead of having supe- ■
rior privileges, as was promised under the gospel, is
deprived of one of the most precious that he formerly |
enjoyed. God's Israel is now the christian church —
the Jewish father enters it, but his children are not
permitted to come. In the rejection of this old and
cast off dispensation, they are rejected, and must
5

50 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

henceforth be considered as " ahens from the com-
monwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenant of
promise." What an obstacle such a rejection of the
children must have been to the conversion of the
Jews ? What would the Judaizing^ teachers have
said to it ? Is it probable that the whole matter
would have passed off without one word of contro-
versy ? — that we should hear of no difficulties or dis-
putes arising from such a radical innovation ? But
not a word of the kind is recorded in the New Tes-
tament. On the contrary, the apostles re-uttered the
same sentiment, on the day of pentecost, which the
prophets and ancient saints had always taught, saying,
" The promise is unto you and to your children."
We must infer, therefore, — what might be naturally
supposed from the nature of the case, — that the gos-
pel did not restrict the privileges of parents, with re-
gard to their offspring, but that the church in receiving
the believer received his children also.

Thus it appears to be God's good pleasure to re-
ceive under the broad canopy of his covenant, not
only the father and mother professing faith in Christ,
but all the members of their family over whom they
have a parent's control. The language of the gospel
is like that addressed to Noah, " Come thou and all
thy house into the ark."

REVIEW OF THE CHURCH. 51

Section 6. Foregoing Principles illustrated in a
General Review of the Constitution and History
of the Church.

Let us now, for the sake of a more definite under-
standing of some of the principles advanced, take a
brief review of the constitution and history of the
.church, as recorded in the Scriptures.

God made a covenant with Abraham 430 years
before the giving of the law at Sinai. This covenant
promised great and peculiar blessings to the posterity
of Abraham, on account of the father's faith ; per-
haps we should say rather to a posterity of Abraham,
from generation to generation forever. The pledge
was not given to all his posterity, for while the pa-
triarch had many children, it was written in " Isaac
shall thy seed be called." And again, respecting the
two children of Isaac, the elder having sold his birth-
right, it is written, "Jacob have I loved and Esau
have I hated." The sons of Jacob, however, were
all heirs of the promises and enjoyed peculiar bene-
fits until the time of Christ. Now Christ was the
crowning gift of all those blessings which God had
covenanted to bestow. When the Jewish nation re-
jected Christ, saying, " his blood be on us and on
our children," and persisted in unbelief after repent-
ance was preached, and salvation offered to them,
they, by these acts, cut themselves off from the fur-
ther benefits of the covenant ; — for these further and
more spiritual benefits were all to descend to them

52 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

through Christ. But they having thus rejected Christ,
the advantages promised through him descended of
course to the posterity or rightful heirs of Christ.
But who are the posterity of Christ ? Or what does
the prophet mean when he says, " He shall see his
seed ? " And again, " Thou shalt break forth on the
right hand and on the left, and thy seed shall inherit
the gentiles." By the seed of Christ, we understand
his spiritual posterity, that is, all who believe in him
throughout the world, according to another part of the
promise made to Abraham, saying, " In thy seed,
i. e. Christ, shall all the nations of the earth be
blessed." It is in this sense and this only, as the
spiritual seed of Christ, that we who now believe in
Jesus, are the children of Abraham, and the heirs of
the blessings promised in the patriarchal covenant.
Thus the descendants of Abraham, in the line of
Isaac, Jacob, and the twelve patriarchs, constituted
the visible church on earth, down to the rejection of
Christ. They were the good olive-tree planted by
God, and continually watered by his grace. But
when they had rejected Christ, invoking his blood
upon their heads, and persisting in iaipenitence after
the gospel overtures had been made to them, — thus in
fact renouncing their covenant, — they were forthwith
rejected of God, and with the exception of a small
remnant, were virtually excommunicated. The bad
branches of this tree, or the unbelieving Jews were
cut off, leaving Christ as the stock, on which hence-
forth all the remaining branches are to grow, and into
which all believing gentiles, called wild olive trees by

REVIEW pF THE CHURCH. 53

nature, were, or are to be engrafted, and, contrary to
what we witness in the field, are to partake of the
nature of the root or stock and become fruitful
branches in Christ. When the fulness of the gentiles
shall have come in — when Christ shall be acknowl-
edged Lord of the world, — and the nations of the
earth generally become members of his church — then
the Jews which at that time shall remain unbelieving
are to be converted, and these olive-trees called good
by nature, because they are of the stock of Abraham,
are to be engrafted once more into their own olive-
tree, that is, with the gentiles, into Christ — and so
the church, still retaining its identity, will remain
united under one head, down to the end of time.
Thus we have the outlines of the origin, history and
consummation of the church.

From the first, God required that a mark, of his
own appointment, should be placed upon his own ac-
knowledged people, upon all who were or were to be
successively his, by inheritance from generation to gen-
eration forever. This mark was at first circumcision.
But after the rejection of the unbelieving Jews, and
the adoption of the believing gentiles in their place,
this mark was changed from circumcision to baptism,
which signifies the same thing. So that baptism is
to be applied to the infants of believers, according to
the command of God, that his mark should be set
upon Abraham and his heirs forever, and all such in-
fants, on receiving baptism, become lambs of the same
fold with the parent flock, Infant members of the one

great church.

6*

CHAPTER II.

NATURE AND DEGPuEE OF INFANT CHURCH-MEM-
BERSHIP.

Having thus shown that baptized infants are, strict-
ly speaking, members of the church, it is next in
order to inquire into the nature and degree of that
church-membership.

Section 1. Peculiarity of this Relation.

Here let it be remembered, what has been already
proved, that circumcision and baptism are the only
initiatory rites which have ever existed in the church.
The passover under the old dispensation, and the
Lord's supper under the new, were appointed not as
introductory to the church, but wholly for other pur-
poses. There is but one way of coming into the
christian church, and that is by haptism into the name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.
This is the only rite which " signifies and seals our en-
grafting into Christ." The water is an emblem of

PECULIARITY OF THE RELATION. 55

spiritual cleansing, and a pledge of acceptance through
faith ; and the baptismal formula is intended for a vis-
ible restoration to divine favor. The meaning of the
ceremony is always essentially the same. It is per-
formed in the same manner upon all adults and upon
children, and implies in the general the same things.
It unites the recipients of it, both parents and chil-
dren, visibly to Christ, and makes them members of
his church. If Christians are not made church-mem-
bers by baptism — as far as any thing appears to the
contrary in the New Testament, they are not made
church-members at all. Unbaptized adults are bap-
tized indeed on profession of belief. But this profes-
sion is never the introductive act, but an act prepara-
tory to that which is introductive, viz. baptism.

It is freely conceded, that according to our con-
gregational forms at the present day, in order that we
be received as members in full of this or that particu-
lar church, we must publicly covenant with God, and
also with the particular church which we propose to
join. But our covenant with God is nothing more
than what is implied by baptism, and our covenant
with a particular church, besides being an engagement
" to walk in love and christian-fellowship with God's
people, generally (which engagement is made virtual-
ly by baptism) is also an introduction to the rites and
privileges, not to say peculiarities, of that yarticular
church. Were you to say, I believe in Christ with
all my heart, and then to receive baptism, you might
be entitled to all the privileges of a church which re-
quired no more, and thus, as all must allow, be a

56 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

member of God's church. But to be entitled to the
peculiar privileges of some other particular church,
you must covenant to walk with its members accord-
ing to certain expressed principles of agreement.
Separating then what is absolutely essential from
what is obviously factitious, it is evident, that baptism
on profession of belief constitutes the person who re-
ceives it a church-member, just as under the Jewish
dispensation a gentile became a member of the Jewish
church, by professing his faith in the Jewish religion,
and receiving the rite of circumcision.

Now infants are admitted, as we have seen, by the
same door, but not exactly on the same principle.
They come in with the parents, as Isaac did with
Abraham, on account of the parents' belief. The
parents covenant for them. They are the children's
sponsors or endorsers. And upon the parents giving
their names as surety for the children, which they do,
virtually, on presenting them for baptism, the child is
received, not on account of its own goodness, but be-
cause it is the will of the good Shepherd to gather
the lambs into the same fold with the parent flock,
and set his mark alike upon them all. Baptized chil-
dren then are in the same enclosures with the parents
and are equally members of the church long before
they make any personal profession of faith. Properly
speaking, the question can never come up, whether
they shall join the church ? They belong already,
and a profession of religion with them is simply their
own most hearty acknowledgment of this fact, and of
the obligations it implies. Having arrived at a suita-

PECULIARITY OF THE RELATION. 57

ble age, and having sufficient religious knowledge to
act understandingly, if they now give evidence of per-
sonal faith, they should be invited to ratify the doings
of their parents by an open profession. A public ac-
knowledgment of Christ, under these circumstances,
entitles them to participate in the sacrament of the
Lord's-supper, and to be considered members of the
church in full communion. If they refuse, through
conscious want of the requisite qualifications — or if,
applying for the privileges of full communion, they
should be rejected, on account of manifest want of
faith, they would not be immediately un-churched by
this refusal or rejection, but should rather be looked
upon as members walking in darkness and in violation
of baptismal vows. They are still members, they can
never cease to be members except by actual or vir-
tual excommunication.

Some minds may be so fully possessed with the
idea, that joining the church necessarily admits the
individual to all the privileges of the church, as to
find it difficult to distinguish between real membership
and membership in full communion. But are there
not sometimes infant kings, who are not as yet invest-
ed with all royal prerogatives ? — real kings, but not in
complete standing ? In the same orchard there is
often ripe and green fruit upon the same branches —
both are fruit, though the latter may never come to
maturity. In most institutions of learning, we have
several classes, and exclusive privileges for advanced
students. So in the Saviour's school. His youngest
pupils are truly members, though they have not yet

58 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

"attained to the stature/' nor to all the privileges
" of perfect ones in Christ."

Section 2. Children of the Church subject to its

supervision.

To what extent are baptized children properly sub-
ject to the watch and discipline of the church ? This
is a delicate and important question. It may, how-
ever, be intelligibly answered. Being church-mem-
bers, they are to be treated in all respects like other
church-members, so far and only so far as the pecu-
liar circumstances of their age and condition will al-
low. This should be remembered as the great and
guiding principle in all that is to follow.

The church then is to watch over its children as
faithfully as over its adult members. The baptized
children are the peculiar objects of its hopes, its in-
structions, and its prayers. When such children fall
into open sin, the church should mourn over, pray for,
and seek to reclaim them.

In doing this they must exercise great gentleness
and discretion. Any thing like espionage, or officious
intermeddling, or attempts at undue restraint in things
unessential, should be scrupulously avoided. The
young have rights and liberties as well as the old.
When it is said, that they are in some sense the sub-
jects of discipline in the church, it is intended rather
that they are entitled to the affectionate supervision
of adult members in full communion.

SUPERVISION AND DISCIPLINE. 59

In cases of unchristian conduct, — as when a bap-
tized child neglects public worship, or falls into a
habit of using profane and indecorous language, or
becomes a lounger about taverns, or exposes himself
to the suspicion of any other immorality — it may be
expedient to approa'ch the child, generally, in the
first instance, through its believing parents. If such
parents are really Christians they will do all in their
power, when properly informed of their children's
faults, to bring them to repentance. If they fail and
can do no more, let them ask the prayers of the
church, or if the church is numerous, and the offence
is not of a public nature, let them open the anguish
of their spirit to a few select members, obtain their
prayers, and take their advice. Perhaps at this stage,
it may be expedient for the pastor, or some one or
more of the brethren, at the request of the parents, or
on their own responsibility where the parents neglect
their duty, to confer with the offending child and seek
by every christian motive, and especially by his cove-
nant relation to God, to bring him to repentance. If
they succeed, then this faithful but kind supervision
redounds to the glory of God, and proves of incalcula-
ble advantage to the repenting child. The ends of
discipline are answered by this gently restraining, re-
forming, and even through grace, converting influence
of the church.

But if no good impression can be made upon some
wayward youth ; if, having arrived at an age capable
of actino- for himself, he commits and continues in
open and flagrant sins, pursuing a course of conduct

60 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

which amounts to a renunciation of church-member-
ship, and this too after suitable means have been used
for his recovery, and little or no hope of amendment
remains, there could be no impropriety in removing
him from the church.

But this is a point which requires the exercise of
sound discretion. Some lawful things the apostle
teaches are inexpedient. Perhaps, on account of the
hardness of men's hearts, as society is now constituted,
it might be wiser, if any, once lambs of the fold,
should fall into what seems irreclaimable sin, and thus
renounce their baptismal covenant, silently, and by in-
formal consent to consider and treat them as aliens
from the commonwealth of Israel, rather than separate
them from the church by any direct excommunicating
act. The ends of discipline are the reformation of
offenders, the honor of the church, and the protection
of those who ^' think they stand." Possibly these
ends may be quite as well obtained, — in the case of
young persons, members of the church by baptism,
hut not in full communion, and therefore not looked
upon, by those without, as examples of Christianity —
by silent withdrawal, as by public reprehension.

One thing seems certain, there is no necessity for
hasty exclusions. We may wait for indications of re-
pentance, while by prayer and all judicious means we
seek to secure it, one year or ten or even under some
circumstances, till the individual is excommunicated
by death. In the mean time such persons should
be regarded, not as heathen and publicans, but as
wanderers from the good Shepherd's fold. They are

SUPERVISION AND DISCIPLINE. 61

the prodigal sons of the church, for whom unwearied
intercessions should be made, and to whom messages
of mercy should be often sent, and of whose return
strong hopes should be cherished, until we see them
standing in the church, and saying, " I have sinned."

Moreover, if children were rightly educated as
members of the church, it is believed that cases re-
quiring severe discipline would be as unfrequent as
they now are among adults.

Be this as it may, there should be no such with-
drawal, from any person who sustains a good charac-
ter, and manifests a serious regard for the obligations
of religion. The reason is obvious, and may be given
in the words of Pres. Edwards, in answer to the ques-
tion, "Why these children that were born in the
covenant are not cast out, when in adult age they
make no profession ? " " They are not cast out,"
says he, " because it is a matter held in suspense,
whether they do cordially consent to the covenant or
not ; or whether their making no profession does not
arise from some other cause ; and none are to be ex-
communicated without some positive evidence against
them."

Some of the foregoing remarks are predicated on
the supposition that parents will earnestly endeavor
to bring up their children " in the nurture and admo-
nition of the Lord," and will rejoice to avail them-
selves of all the good influences of the church and of
all needed aid of the pastor and brethren, to secure

the object. But what shall be done in case parents
6

62 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

should wilfally neglect these baptismal duties, and
connive at the irreliglon of their children, or allow
them to go to destruction, only saying with Eli, " nay
my sons, for it is no good report that I hear ? "

In answer to this question, it may be observed, that
parents can scarcely commit a greater sin than, in
contempt of God's holy covenant and their own
solemn vows, to allow their children in immoral prac-
tices, or to grow up in ignorance of duty and truth.
For such an offence church-members should be dealt
with according to the general principles of church
discipline, which seek the repentance and reformation
of those who have gone out of the way. But beyond
this, the church have a duty also towards the baptized
children of such untoward professors ; it is by kind-
ness, by expostulation, and by all the powerful mo-
tives of the gcspel, if possible to reclaim and save
them. All baptized children are committed to the
sacred guardianship of the church. They are given
by this body or rather by God himself, more imme-
diately in trust, to parents. But if parents neglect
their duty, the church itself is under obligations to
perform it.

As a guiding principle on this whole subject let the
church never lose sight of its children, nor cease to
consider them candidates for full communion, nor fail,
by prayer, watchfulness, instruction, and other appro-
priate means, as far as they have power, to prepare
them for the Lord's supper. The duties enjoined
may be performed by parents, pastors, or individual
members, or by the body in its associated character.

SUPERVISION AND DISCIPLINE. 63

Only let the person or persons more immediately re-
sponsible see that they are not neglected. Nothing
can discharore the adult members from these oblio;a-
tions, but the death or excommunication of the chil-
dren, until they make profession of their faith, or
are transferred in an orderly manner to another
church.

If the child has occasion to leave the parental roof,
and fix his residence in some other city or town, it
may not be necessary to give him a letter of dismis-
sion and recommendation, as in the case of adults, but
it is important that he should carry with him testimo-
nials of character and church-membership, and be
regularly introduced to the pastor and brethren of the
church with >^hom he is intending to worship. It
then becomes their duty, according to the principles
of fellowship adopted by congregational churches, to
love, watch over, and cherish him as a lamb of their
own fold. Thus when a young person removes to
one of our large cities, instead of being exposed to all
its temptations, as an irresponsible stranger, who, un-
known and unwarned, will almost necessarily make
shipwreck of faith and character — he is brought Imme-
diately under the restraining Influences of christian so-
ciety, and into the enjoyment of all the means of
grace. He does not pass out of the knowledge of the
adult members of the church in which he was born.
They are able to make inquiries and obtain informa-
tion at any time respecting him, while they among
whom providence has cast his lot will feel themselves
authorised and required to guard the purity of his

64 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

morals, seek his temporal happiness and highest eter-
nal good.

If at any time a baptized person proposes himself
for public profession, in some other church than that
to which he properly belongs, testimonials of charac-
ter, and a certificate of church standing should be re-
quired as always indispensable to an orderly reception.
Thus in all cases, the children of the church are to be
kept under its sanctifying influences and supervision.

Section 3. Other Privileges of Baptized Children.

There are peculiar privileges which the Great
Head of the church has been pleased to bestow
upon the children of the covenant, as members of his
church.

They are not only entitled to a christian education,
to the love, guardianship and prayers of God's people,
but they are brought by their baptism into a most en-
deared and sacred relation to the Father. They be-
long, as we have already shown, to Christ's own fold.
The broad firmament of his love arches over and
bends around them. God has entered into an en-
gagement with the parents to be their God and the
God of their baptized children. He has set his own
tolcen — the badge of discipleship upon them. He
has made them recipients of that ordinance which, in
the language of the Catechism, " doth signify and
seal our engrafting into Christ, and partaking of the
benefits of the covenant of grace." He promises to

PRIVILEGES OF BAPTISED CHILDREN. 65

hless the children — to bless in a special manner faith-
ful and earnest endeavors for their eternal good. To
be sure, he does not promise their salvation, uncondi-
tionally. But he does promise to be a God of bles-
sings to the baptized. The thoughtless youth may
never know till he sees all in the light of eternity,
how much restraining and special grace, and how
many temporal mercies, have been bestowed upon
him, because he is constituted by baptism a child of
the covenant which God has made with his people, to
be a God to them and to their seed. By placing his
marli: upon such children, he has designated them for
his. Inviting all men to come to him, by repentance,
he calls upon the baptized especially, saying, " My
son give me thy heart." It is as if he had said, ''On
account of my covenant with your father and mother,
I have received, consecrated, marked, and set you
apart, to be educated as, and to he one of my disci-
ples, ' Ye have not chosen me, but 1 have chosen
you.' I am ' beforehand with you ' — I have convey-
ed to you a sure title to a heavenly inheritance. I
have set my own hand and my own seal to the deed.
Your parents have subscribed, for you, to all the re-
quisite conditions. Had you been taken away in in-
fancy, you would have been received to inherit the
promises. But you have lived now to an age capa-
ble of acting for yourself — the covenant will be null
and void at the judgment seat of Christ, unless you
acknowledge it as your own. You must subscribe to
the conditions for yourself — those conditions are a
6*

66 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

personal belief in the Lord Jesus Christ — you have
only to give in your name, by the exercise of faith,
and the covenant shall never be disannulled." Surely
then baptized children derive great and precious privi-
leges from their church-membership — nor can they
renounce them, by continuing in sin and unbelief with-
out a corresponding increase of guilt and danger.
The King of kings has taken them into his family —
he adopts them, conditionally, as his children, edu-
cates them with his children, intending that when
they arrive at a suitable age, if they are found to pos-
sess appropriate qualities, they themselves shall be the
princes and nobles of his royal house.

They can indeed despise and renounce their adop-
tion if they will. Baptism is not necessarily a saving
ordinance. " The sacraments become effectual means
of salvation, not from any virtue in them, or in him
that doth administer them, but only by the blessing
of Christ and the working of the Spirit in them who
by faith receive them." If that blessing is rejected
and that spirit resisted, baptism may only serve to
ao-ffravate the condemnation of a ruined soul. So on
the other hand, the unbaptized may be adopted on
profession of faith, and take the places of those chil-
dren of the covenant who despise their birthright.
But after all, the difference between the two classes,
in respect to privilege, is incomparably great. It is
like that which existed, in the days of Moses and
David, between the chosen people, and all other na-
tions of the world. The baptized have been received
as members of the kingdom, — to be educated in its

RESTRICTIONS UPON PRIVILEGES. 67

institutions, and fitted for its services, — though liable
on account of unbelief to be thrust out of it. The
unbaptized are not members of the kingdom, though
they may be admitted by the exercise of saving faith.
Thus our Saviour said and his words should ever ring
in the ears of the church as an awful warning to all,
" Many shall come from the east and the west and
the north and the south, and sit down with Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God, but the chil-
dren of the kingdom shall be thrust out." This
threatening of what may be done, in case of continued
unbelief and sin, does not however destroy existing
relations, nor diminish aught of the high privileges of
sonship, nor prevent the children of the church from
growing up under the wing of Jehovah's covenant
protection.

Section 4. Restrictions upon Privileges,

Baptized non-professors, though members of the
church, are not however entitled to full communion,
nor to the rights of suffrage in the church, nor to bap-
tism for their children. These positions will be con-
sidered in their order.

I. Baptized persons are not entitled without per-
sonal profession to the privileges of full communion.
They have neither the right nor the qualifications to
participate with their parents in the supper of the
Lord. This is a restriction upon the privileges of cer-
tain church-members, but does not annul, nor impair

68 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

their church-membership. "There are," indeed,
" many members in one body, and all have not the
same office." Pastors are church-members, but all
church-members are not pastors. Deacons are church-
members, but all church-members are not deacons.
Females are church-members, but they are not in-
vested with the powers of public speech and suffi-age.
So baptized children are church-members, but they
are not entitled, without acknowledging their baptism
by a personal profession of faith, to the privileges of
full communion.

The reason of this distinction between baptism on a
parent's account, and the reception of the eucharist in
the same way, is obvious. Baptism is administered
to the child, without the necessity of his own consent,
and wholly upon the faith of his sponsors. The babe
receives the ordinance perhaps in unconscious slum-
ber— and young children, generally, without any intel-
ligent sense of responsibility. It is something done
for them, in which they are passive recipients, and
for which their personal consent is never required and
cannot be obtained. But partaking of the Lord's sup-
per is a personal act — and cannot worthily be at-
tempted without personal qualifications.

First, there must be the physical power, to eat the
broken bread and drink the Saviour's cup, which
power the baptized babe does not possess.

Next, there must be an intellectual ability for self-
examination, "Let a man examine himself, and so let
him eat of that bread and drink of that cup," which
ability is never found in infant years.

RESTRICTIONS UPON PRIVILEGES. 69

Finally, there must be a spiritual ability rightly to
discern the Lord's body, in other words a renewed
heart. It is required by the very nature of the sacra-
ment, that children, in order to a participation in it,
should give evidence of saving faith. Nor is early
piety of itself alone a sufficient qualification for the or-
dinance unless the child is of age and capacity to act
understandingly in the business. He must partake of
the Lord's supper with an intelligent remembrance of
Christ, with some good reasons for trusting that he
does not eat and drink unworthily, with a spiritual
appreciation of covenant blessings and the reception
of them by faith. Infants and very young children
are excluded from the Lord's table, by the very na-
ture of the ordinance, nor can they be welcomed,
until they possess both requisite knowledge and
faith.

Some of these remarks will apply with equal
strength to baptized adults. No one may come un-
worthily, nor without spiritual discernment — in other
words without true godliness at heart.

As soon as they possess these qualifications, whether
children or men, they will be disposed to manifest
them, by a personal acknowledgment of their bap-
tismal obligations, and an orderly profession of their
faith in Christ. From this time forth, such persons,
'' walking worthy of their vocation," are not only
members, as before, but members in full communion,
and entitled to all the privileges of other professors.

In opposition to such views as these, it is sometimes
said, that as Jewish children partook of the passover

70 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

without a personal profession, and on the ground of
infant church-membershipj so on the same principle
the children of christian parents ought to partake of
the Lord's supper.

1. We answer, that a deojree of intellio-ence and
faith which was sufficient for a participation in an or-
dinance, instituted to commemorate the deliverance
from Egypt, may not be sufficient to qualify a person
for the far more spiritual ordinance of the Lord's
supper.

2. It may be difficult to ascertain, at what age,
and exactly on what conditions, children were admit-
ted to the passover — but the terms of admission to the
Lord's table are too explicit to be misunderstood.
Among these are preparatory self-examination, spirit-
ual worthiness and discernment. Wherever these
qualifications have been properly made manifest, we
may welcome the persons possessing them, but no
others, to all the privileges of full communion.

IL Nor ought baptized children, through adults,
while they continue non-professors, to exercise equal
authority in church affairs with professors ; because
they have never performed the conditions requisite to
such a privilege. Thus a person may be a citizen of
this commonwealth, but he should not enjoy the right
of suffiage, till he has qualified himself in the legally
appointed way. The qualifications necessary to the
enjoyment of the church rights in question, are of
course no less than those which are requisite to com-
munion at the table, viz. a regular profession of per-
sonal faith. For why should any control the affairs

RESTRICTIONS UPON PRIVILEGES. 71

of the church who give no indication that they are
personally interested in the great objects for which
the church was established ?

III. There is still another restriction to the privi-
leges of baptized non-professors. They are not enti-
tled to the baptism of their children. The reason
why baptized persons of sober life are not cut off
from the church, when in adult age they make no pro-
fession, has been stated in the words of Edwards.
Nor can any injury result from permitting them to
sustain their baptismal relation to the church, so long
as they maintain a serious deportment, and do not re-
nounce their early baptism by open breach of cove-
nant or sin which corresponds thereto. For though
church-members on their parents account, they can-
not perpetuate irreligion in the church, by the intro-
duction of their children, through baptism, until they
have first made acknowledgment of their own baptism
in the appointed way ; in other words, until by a
credible profession of faith, they solemnly avouch the
God of their fathers, the Being into whose triune
NAME they are baptized, to be their own God ; thus
standing forth like Joshua and saying, " As for me
and my house, we will serve the Lord."

The affirmation just made deserves the most careful
consideration. It is indeed one of the most important
points in this treatise, and answers one of the strongest
objections to the views herein enforced.

Is it necessary to require evidence of personal faith,
or what is commonly understood by a profession of
religion, in an adult, in order to the baptism of his

72 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

children, and their orderly reception to the church ?
Most certainly. For if an unbelieving but baptized
parent, refusing to assume his own baptismal vows,
giving no evidence of any personal qualifications for
the ordinance, might, superstitiously, or to promote
personal estimation, claim and receive baptism for his
children, and these again for their children, and so on
from generation to generation, not only would a most
powerful incitement to personal religion be taken
away, and a holy sacrament be thus profaned, but the
church would lose its spirituality, and might become,
in the end, but little different, in its distinguishing
characteristics, from a community of baptized heathen.

We say then, that an orderly profession of religion,
by each baptized person, in successive generations, is
indispensable, to a perpetuation of the privileges of
the baptismal covenant. Nor is it difficult to demon-
strate the proposition.

For, first, covenant blessings are promised on con-
ditions. It is presumed, that being baptized, given up
to God in faith, religiously educated, the children of
pious parents, will at an early age lay hold upon the
covenant by faith, and take upon themselves, by an
open profession of religion, their baptismal vows.
Refusal, or failure to perform these conditions, is a
virtual renunciation of all the conditional blessings.
The chain is broken, the covenant is annulled.

2. Baptism, like circumcision, is a seal of the
righteousness of faith. In the case of infant baptism,
it is a seal of the parent's faith, placed not only upon
himself, but on his account, upon his child. If the

RESTRICTIONS UPON PRIVILEGES. 73

parent have no faith, makes no profession of faith,
gives no evidence of faith, the seal placed upon his
child, is a seal of that which has neither actual nor
visible existence. Baptism under such circun:istances
is a manifest absurdity.

3. It will be readily acknowledged that no unhap-
tized parent can be entitled to baptism, o?i his own
account, without a suitable manifestation of faith.
^' If thou believest with all thine heart thou mayest."
Now certainly if an adult could not claim baptism for
himself, without a profession of faith, he cannot claim
it for his child, without faith — for on what principle
do we baptize an infant — is it not on account of the
parents' faith ?

4. The very formula of baptism implies the sup-
posed pre-existence of faith on the part of the parent.
For what purpose does he bring his children to the
baptismal font ? Is it not that they may be solemnly
introduced into God's house ? And should not the
minister say, I baptize thee into the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ?

If any one should make answer, that presenting a
child for baptism is in itself a profession of faith. We
say, in the first place, that it is not so understood,
where nothing more than the silent act is required.
Or, secondly, if it is so understood, and if the person
has the faith this act is said to signify, he will not
hesitate to manifest it, by more express terms, accord-
ing to the usage of the church. So that without
profession, in some orderly way, he cannot give that
7

74 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

evidence of faith, which entitles the child on its
parents account to the seal of the righteousness of
faith.

As the error of perpetuating church-membership,
without the qualifications appropriate to church-mem-
bership, is one of dangerous tendency, and at former
periods has done harm in the New-England churches,
and is in fact, as already intimated, the principle ob-
jection to infant church-membership, it will be proper
to show the fallacy on which it is founded.

1. It has been maintained that the children of
parents in covenant, being born in the church, are
church-members by birth. Of course then their
children will be church-members by birth, and so on
from generation to generation. Whence it must fol-
low that in process of time infidels and Mahometans
might be church-members by inheritance from some
remote ancestor who was a believer. Rejecting the
inference, we must necessarily reject the principle
from which it is deduced.

But, in fact, the children of professing Christians,
though in some sense born in the church, are not
strictly speaking church-members, until they have re-
ceived the appointed j!oA:en of church-membership, viz.
baptism. The original charter, recorded in Genesis
17th, is very express on this point. . The covenant
is broken in respect to those children upon whom the
seal of the covenant is not placed. Moreover the
covenant blessings are perpetuated only on conditions.
The baptized parent must recognise the principle on
which he became' a church-member, viz. in conse-

RESTRICTIONS UPON PRIVILEGES. 75

quence of his parents' belief- — nor can he claim bap-
tismal privileges for his children, on any other ground,
than his own professed or supposed belief. *' Thus,"
says Edwards, "the eldest sons of noblemen in Great
Britain are born heirs to the honors and estate of their
fathers ; yet this no way hinders but they may be
obliged, when they come to ripeness of age, in order
to being invested in the actual possession," — and we
may add convey the same to their children — " to take
the oath of alleo-iance : though in order to their law-
fully doing it, it may be necessary they should believe
in their hearts, that King George is the lawful prince,
and that they should not be enemies to him and friends
to the pretender." So then the parent, born himself
in the church, and constituted a member by the usual
token, must, not only in order to enjoy other privi-
leges of a person in full communion, but in order to
convey the rights of church-membership to his chil-
dren, take the vows of allegiance to his Maker, made
for him by his parents, uj)on himself.

2. It has been also maintained that whereas it
was the right and privilege of the Jews to circumcise
their children and thus introduce them into the church,
from generation to generation, without regard to the
character of the immediate parents, therefore it must
be among the rights and privileges of Christians to
baptize on the same principle.

To this we answer, first. Supposing it the duty of
Jewish parents to circumcise their children, even with-
out faith, it must be remembered, that circumcision,
though an introductory sacrament to the visible

76 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

church, was designed also to prevent the descendants
of Abraham from corrupting themselves, by inter-
course with other nations, especially by heathen mar-
riages. As a means of preserving true religion, until
the time of Christ, through a people invested for that
purpose with many peculiarities, we can see a reason
why circumcision might be more extended in its ap-
plication than baptism.

2. It does not appear, however, that the offering
of children to God, without faith, by circumcision, was
acceptable, but rather the contrary. For if circum-
cision was required, so was love to God, obedience,
faith ; in still stronger terms. These very qualifica-
tions were in fact pre-supposed by circumcision.

3. Even if this were not so, the new dispensation
is confessedly far more spiritual than the old, and
would naturally require superior qualifications for its
sacraments.

4. But be this as it may — allowing that there is
some obscurity, as to the terms on which the initia-
tory ordinance was administered in the ancient church,
the requisites to church-membership under the gospel
seem sufficiently clear. Acts 16:31. '' Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and
thy house."

5. There is, moreover, one fact In the history of the
Jews, which shows conclusively the mistake of those
who maintain the right of baptized non-professors to
the baptism of their infants, from the right of any
Jew to make his children members of the ancient
church, by circumcision. The passover is that ordjs

RESTRICTIONS UPON PRIVILEGES. 77

nance under the old dispensation, which corresponds
to the Lord's supper under the new. But the man
who neglected the passover, except in cases of ne-
cessity, was, in consequence cut off from the people
of the Lord ; and all church privileges, both for him-
self and children, were taken away. From whence
it would follow that those who neglect the Lord's
supper — in other words non-professors — have no right
to claim baptismal privileges for their children.

From these considerations, the propriety of insisting
upon a credible profession of faith, on the part of a
parent, before he can claim baptism for his children,
is most evident — nor can the notion which demands
baptism for the children of irreligious but baptized
parents, on the ground of real faith, in some remote
ancestor, be sustained ; though to avoid misapprehen-
sion, it may here be stated that in case of the decease
of non-professing parents, professing grand-parents, if
living, may on their own right dedicate the grand-
child, as a child, to God, and indeed any of their pos-
terity, or other children who are members of their
household, over whom they have a parent's control,
and for whose religious education they can become
personally responsible.

The nature and degree of infant church-member-
ship must now be apparent. All baptized persons
are truly church-members. Between them and others
there is the same general distinction as that which
exists between the visible church and the world.
7*

78 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

They are the divinely appointed candidates for the
highest christian privileges. But in order to the com-
plete enjoyment of them certain personal qualifications
are requisite. Until these qualifications are manifest-
ed, they are not entitled to full communion at the
table of the Lord, nor to baptism for their cliildren,
nor to the control of church affairs. Hence they are
truly members of the church, but not in full enjoy-
ment of its privileges. They stand within the pre-
cincts of the temple, though not admitted to the most
holy place.

CHAPTER III.

PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES OF THE DOCTRINE OF
INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

1. On the principles enforced, the baptized chil-
dren will come to have a definite, intelligible and very-
interesting relation to the church. They will be less
exposed to grow up and abide amongst us as a non-
descript, half-christianized population, the Samaritans
of Christianity, likely enough to become our bitterest
enemies in the end. They will be considered a part
of ourselves, as belonging to Christ's own fold, the
Saviour's lambs, who can never forsake the footsteps
of the flock without consciousness of sin, nor abide
in the wilderness without being sought. Parents and
children will no longer be perplexed with the question,
" What good can infant baptism do you ? " They
will understand that by this initiatory rite, the sub-
jects of it are solemnly introduced, among the number
of Christ's disciples. The broad shield of covenant
protection is thrown over them ; they are invested
with the rights of christian citizenship ; they are ad-

80 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

mitted to a standing in the younger classes of the
Saviour's school ; they are constituted heirs of the
peculiar christian blessings, with nothing wanting to
full possession, but the oath of personal allegiance.
If removed by death, before they are capable of an
intelligent rejection of Christ, they will be received,
on the ground of the promise, through sanctification
of the spirit, into the company of "saints made per-
fect in light." If they are preserved to adult years,
having now a visible growth upon the good olive-tree
in the garden of the Lord, and the power of his own
peculiar influences around them, how natural to hope
for that inward union at an early age, on which vital-
ity depends. Baptism is not to them nor to any, '' a
saving ordinance," but it is wonderfully preparatory
to that efficacious grace which saves the soul. Thus
in budding and grafting an orchard, the proper intro-
duction of the germ or scion, ensures no fruit, but it
is the appointed means, and not improbable precursor
of future fertility.

2. On the principles advanced, the act of infant
consecration assumes unspeakable importance. Bap-
tism is not the public naming of a child nor a mere
genteel but almost unmeaning ceremony. It is the
sacred setting apart, the solemn giving up to God, of
an immortal being, of whose unending existence,
whether for weal or for woe, we have been the occa-
sion, and for whose religious education we are respon-
sible. It is the public introduction of a precious spirit
into Jehovah's spiritual temple, into the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

ADVANTAGES OF THE DOCTRINE. 81

And since the consecrated child will need that
cleansing which is represented by water baptism, and
since he must be born of the spirit, or, after becoming
of a responsible age, and neglecting every covenant
overture of mercy, be rejected, like the unbelieving
Jews, or like Esau who sold his birth-rio-ht for a mess
of pottage, — parents properly informed and impressed
with their obligations, will be the more solicitous, so
to give up their children in falth^ that through means
of prayer and instruction, the blood of the everlast-
ing covenant may, at an early age, cleanse them from
sin.

3. If baptized children are to be considered mem-
bers of the church, then churches, pastors and parents
will come under heavier responsibilities, in respect to
them, than they have usually assumed. Pastors will
perceive increased emphasis in the apostolic exhorta-
tion, "Take heed to yourselves and to «// the flock
over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers,
to feed the church of God which he hath purchased
with his own blood ; " and again to the words of
Jesus, " If thou lovest me, feed my lambs." The
brethren and sisters of the church will the more
cheerfully unite their prayers and labors and influence
for the right education of the young. They will, the
more naturally, make them subjects of daily and
earnest addresses to the throne of grace. Nor will
they consider one of the prominent objects for which
churches are formed, viz. the rearing of a holy seed
as accomplished, until they see the children generally
prepared and disposed to make a public profession of

82

INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

their faith, almost as soon as they are capable of under-
standing their condition and obligations. Parents, while
they are comforted in view of promised blessings, upon
their offspring, and a fellowship of faith and labor in
the church on their children's behalf, will be also the
more anxious to bring them up " in the nurture and
admonition of the Lord," and the more ready to
combine with others to secure healthful instruction,
and the exercise of salutary restraints ; the whole
church, especially parents, making common cause
with each other, in securing the orderly training, the
thorough religious education, the early piety of all the
children.

4. The views of infant church-membership and
instruction which have been advanced, would lead the
people of God to depend more upon long-continued
and patient exertions, and less upon fitful excitements.
While we seek " the outpouring of the Holy Spirit,"
and rejoice when divine influences come down " as
rain upon the mown grass, and as showers to water a
dry and thirsty earth," we should be less likely to dis-
parage those ordinary blessings which descend silently,
gently, constantly, as the dew. We should be less
anxious to lash ourselves and each other into periodi-
cal and spasmodic exertions — " making perhaps more
haste than good speed," than to commence, and carry
forward, and never retire from the work of training up
the children of the kingdom for the service of the
Great King. Like the husbandman, we should have
long patience, and during all the season of cultivation
we should labor in hope.

ADVANTAGES OF THE IDOCTRINE. 83

A Steady course of training in the church, relied
upon through grace, as the best means of salvation to
the children, would unquestionably produce great re-
sults. Its influence would be like that of Baxter's
weekly catechetical exercises in Kidderminster, trans-
forming in a few years the character of an almost en-
tire community. It would produce Christians of large
and stable growth. Early rooted and grounded in
the faith, though making slow progress perhaps at the
first, the plant of righteousness, well imbedded In the
soil of faith, would naturally throw out its branches
with so much the more luxuriance and frultfulness in
the end. Nothing would give such stability and
strength to the church as the thorough education of
its children who are rising to take the place of their
fathers in the direction of God's house. Let them see
the foundations and view the proportions of the build-
ing, and come in themselves, not as loose stones or
unsightly appendages, but as compact parts of the
temple of the Lord, and the church will be better
prepared to stand against the thunder-gusts and deso-
lating influences which threaten it.

There is no stronger power over mind than educa-
tion. Many errorists have understood this ; for *' the
children of this world are wiser in their generation
than the children of light." Baleful as the influence
may be when an immortal spirit Is reared in supersti-
tion and trained to a blind and implicit belief in the
dogmas of a false religion, there can be no question
that it is the duty of intelligent Christians to fortify
youthful minds against evil, by a sound and practical

84 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

knowledge of gospel principles, " that they may con-
tinue in the things they have learned, knowing of
whom they have learned them."

The sufficiency of the Scriptures and the rights of
private judgment in the interpretation of them, are
among the fundamental doctrines of protestantism.
But no orthodox reformer ever protested against that
great Abrahamic and christian principle, that religious
parents are responsible for the religious education of
their children. The opinion which has found favor
in some quarters, that the minds of children should be
preserved unbiased, uninfluenced, untaught upon sub-
jects of religious belief, till they become of age to
act for themselves, finds no countenance in the Scrip-
tures, nor does reason sustain it. To say nothing of
the danger of leaving young minds to encounter
temptations, without the assistance of ^' an overcoming
faith," is it possible to preserve them from evil, unless by
pre-occupying them with good ? The question is 7iot
between a religious education and no education ; it is
between a religious education and an irreligious edu-
cation. Neither errorists, nor a depraved heart, nor
bad companions, nor *' the adversary of souls," will
sufl:er them to remain uninstructed. Who then is to
take the responsibility of pre-occupying the mind ?
God places it upon christian parents and the church.
It is their duty to assume it, and by wisdom, pains-
taking, and prayer, educate souls for the kingdom.

This is indeed a slow and laborious process. But
durability is an offspring of time — " he that believeth
shall not make haste." Like a tree of slow growth,

ADVANTAGES OF THE DOCTRINE. 85

like an edifice long in completion — permanence of
character depends much upon the time and labor ex-
pended upon its formation.

5. A church thus constituted has not only strength
and stabihty in its present members — but has also the
seeds of perpetuity in itself. It may ingather multi-
tudes from the world, it may hold forth the precious
words of life and help to found numerous churches in
foreign countries, or in the region of its own abode,
but its principal hope, in respect to future generations,
will be, through the blessing of God, in itself. The
children are the nursery of the church, and as the
trees of the old orchard go to decay, it is theirs to
take their place. Thus the church, having christian-
ized a community, preserves what she gains. " In-
stead of the fathers are the children." The stream of
life deepens and widens in its natural flow, while
tributaries from abroad, not necessary to its progress,
yet go to swell the wave of salvation, and bear it with
more power over the world.

6. The principles of infant church-membership
here laid down, will help to increase the attachment
of children for their parent church. Instead of being
left, as they grow towards maturity, to wander over
the wide world of isms, to be picked up and proselyted
by whichever may find them, or to go from sect to
sect, " carried about b}'' every wind of doctrine,"
having " no rest for the sole of their foot," they will
have a home, a holy mother church indeed, on whose
bosom they were nurtured, under whose protection

8

86 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP*

most of them will delight to dwell, into whose hos-
pitable mansion even the storm-tossed prodigal will
rejoice eventually to return.

7. These principles of church-membership, pro-
perly applied, will be among the most powerful means
of grace.

Under the influence of a thorouo;h religious educa-
lion, attended with the fellowship of prayer and a
strong faith in the promises, the blessings of the cove-
nant may be expected to descend early and plenti-
fully upon the children of the covenant. 1st. There
will be the restraining power of religious principles
and impressions which are among the best safeguards
in temptation and among the strongest barriers against
flagrant sin. 2d. There will be the ever softening
influences of christian truth and emotion wonderfully
preparing the way for saving grace. 3d. There will
probably be much of the Spirit's special presence,
which so generally attends the faithful teachings of his
doctrines whose words are spirit and life. 4th. There
will be an increased consciousness of christian obliga-
tion, more like that which the adult disciple feels,
when he remembers that " the vows of God are upon
him, and in whatever world he may be fixed will
abide upon him to eternity." The reflection, " I am
a baptized child, a member of the Saviour's flock,
wearing the mark which he himself hath set upon
me ; if 1 apostatise and perish, I must go down to de-
struction, from the very mountain of holiness, with
guilt of no common aggravation upon me ; if 1 neglect
to appropriate the great and precious promises of God,

ADVANTAGES OF THE DOCTRINE. 87

by a personal profession of faith, I virtually renounce
the God of my fathers, interrupting the flow of cove-
nant blessings intended for many generations, making
myself an Esau who has sold his birth-right " — these
and such like considerations, impressed by the Holy
Spirit, must naturally have an almost invincible moral
power upon the mind.

Especially will these principles be felt as means of
grace, at that period when a personal profession, by
the baptized, is naturally looked for in the church.
The question comes distinctly before the mind, —
Shall I now, being of responsible age, acknowledge,
or shall I reject the God of my fathers, or, continuing
undecided, hazard all my interest in covenant bles-
sings ? If it were expected that between the age of
twelve and sixteen, or soon after, each child of the
church would come forward with a prepared heart, to
own the Saviour before men, or to take the personal
responsibility of saying, "Go thy way for this time,"
how serious would the reflections of such a person
naturally be. Suppose it were customary, as in Cal-
vin's church, at Geneva, even to this day, to institute
two or three regular inquiries into the moral and spir-
itual condition of the children, and especially into
their personal qualifications for sacramental privileges,
by careful examination first, of all who are twelve
years of age, receiving such and such only to the ta-
ble of the Lord as give evidence of saving, though
perhaps feeble faith ; second, of the same persons, as
many of them as still remain non-professors at four-
teen years of age, and again at fifteen or sixteen, — •

88 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

what a solemn period would these three or four years
of their early life naturally become. How deep an
interest would pastors and all adult professors be likely
to feel in these young candidates for full communion.
And as the children of the church drew towards the
period usually assigned for personal profession, what
could exceed the anxiety and tender importunity of
good parents and pastors, that the long deferred bles-
sings might now at length be obtained. Under such
circumstances, if ever, we might expect to find
"wrestling Jacobs and prevailing Israels."

8. In this connection, it may be suitable to say a
word, as to the influence of these sentiments upon the
purity of the church. It will ever be necessary, as
it now is, and always has been, to guard against the
reception of unspiritual persons to the table of the
Lord. Nothing but a credible evidence of piety, and
visible profession of faith can qualify, even baptized
persons, for the privileges of full communion. It is
alike true of them and of all others, that a work of
grace upon the heart, a renewal by the Holy Spirit
is an essential pre-requisite, to a worthy participation
in the sacramental feast. The wisest guardians of
the church may be deceived, they often are deceived,
as to the qualifications of candidates proposed for ad-
mission. The danger is not removed by the princi-
ples of church-membership herein enforced. In times
of declension, if these should occur, it is not improba-
ble that some chaff would be gathered with the wheat.
But would other sentiments, and an opposite practice,
preserve from the evil. Let the ecclesiastical his-

ADVANTAGES OF THE DOCTRINE. 89

tory of New-England for the last fifty years — let the
present condition of nriany churches in different de-
nominations answer. With the careful preparatory
instruction contemplated, how much hetter fitted
would our youthful candidates for full communion
probahly be, than many now are, who, under the in-
fluence of some temporary excitement, are brought
forward and without time for instruction are pressed
into the church. Among the former we might reason-
ably anticipate, that instead of many sudden and
great apostacies, or those irregular fervors which some-
times blaze forth so .disastrously in our day, faith
would grow with their growth^ and strengthen with
their strength, till amidst the feebleness of outward
infirmities, they shall come to rejoice constantly, and
without a doubt, in the God of their childhood, In the
God of their fathers, in the God of their children, in
their own God forever.

These remarks are not intended in disparagement of
any wise efforts to evangelize the world. They seek
the solidity, perpetuity, purity, of existing churches —
while they allow us to labor zealously, and rejoice
heartily, when many are added daily, from without, of
such as shall be saved.

Finally. Ttie children of the church, recognised and
instructed as such, would grow up to maturity with the
seeds of contemplation and enjoyment within them.
Let them commit to memory the commandments, the
Lord's prayer, the apostles' creed, the confession and
covenant of the church to which they with their parents

#8

90 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

belong ; let their minds be filled with select passages of
Scripture, with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
not in " formless jumble," but according to some in-
structive system ; let them be made fully acquainted
with the nature of baptism, of their own relation to the
church, of the vows which are upon them, of the pe-
culiar privileges proffered to their reception ; let them
be thoroughly indoctrinated, not only by some such
formula of faith as the Assembly's Catechism, but
more directly out of the word of God ; let all that is
taught be thoroughly explained, and impressed upon
the memory by constant repetition, till all the great
principles of faith and practice and church polity are
thoroughly understood, and fairly written out, yea
stereotyped upon the heart, and a broad foundation
will be laid not only for further improvement in
knowledge and holiness, but also for great and ever
increasing enjoyment. God's truths dwelling in the
regenerated soul, will be like the strings of a harp,
ready to give forth sweet tones whenever the breath
of the Spirit passes over them. Such minds will be
full of thoughts and objects of contemplation. Instead
of becoming restless the moment the social excitement
of a religious meeting has gone by ; instead of going
to every variety of religious tenet and extraordinary
movement, saying, "who will show us any good ? "
they will have a feast at home, a source of happiness
within — which, if it does not afford religious ecstacy,
will shed over the soul that " peace of God which
passeth all understanding." Such persons will rever-

ADVANTAGES OF THE DOCTRINE. 91

ence and love truth in all its parts and bearings, and
not feel that the luxury of tears and transporting emo-
tions is the only good which religion bestows. Keep-
ing God's commandments, prepared by previous disci-
pline, to descend deeper and still deeper into the
mysteries of infinite love ; they will live in God's
world " with his glory round about them." The
teachers of religion, — instead of having many in their
flocks who wish to be pampered with high seasoned
dainties, who almost lose the service when there is
nothing stirring, nothing addressed to their own nar-
row experience — to whose perverted tastes much of
the New Testament, taken text by text, would pre-
sent no subject of special interest, — would have a
race of indoctrinated puritans, to whom any truths
which the Holy Spirit was interested to reveal, would
be precious as gold. But what can we expect when
early education is neglected ? That which was not
sown in spring — can it be found upon the fields in
autumn ? It is the misfortune more than the fault of
some Christians, that the topics of spiritual entertain-
ment and profitable attention are so very few. They
were not early rooted and grounded in first principles,
nor have they been convinced of the fact, that the
things already learned, are but the small beginnings
of an immeasurable knowledge. They have no idea
of the noble proportions and boundlessness of truth.
Standing beneath its magnificent porch-way, they
cannot believe that vast aisles and pillared arches
of the great temple have never yet been opened to

92 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

their view, nor have patience with those who bid
them knock and knock and strive for admission.

Whatever may be said of the present age, it is
the business of the church, to prepare the coming
generation of her sons for active zeal in the pro-
pagation of rehgion, and for steady personal ad-
vancement in all the wonderful works of God.

Nor let it be said, that the duty of instruction
may be performed with equal hope of success, upon
those who are without, as upon those who have been
received within the precincts of the church. The
church is the temple of the Spirit. Peculiarly fa-
vored are they, who are called to learn wisdom and
piety beneath the overshadowing glory of his imme-
diate presence.

In any attempts to lay the foundations of immor-
tality in these young members of the church, as-
sistance may be derived from an institution peculiar
to our times ; I mean the Sabbath-school. Let
ministers oversee and provide carefully for its in-
terests ; let churches appoint their best members for
its instruction and the superintendence of its affairs ;
let reports of its progress and condition be frequently
presented to the body of professors ; let it be the
instituiion of the church, and never left, as it some-
times has been, to any and all who might volunteer
to direct its movements — to be called forth perhaps
in a body by any errorist, who, wiihout consultation
with its rightful guardians, is pleased to extend a
deceptive complaisance towards it ; — let all who teach

ADVANTAGES OF THE DOCTRINE. 93

be filled with spiritual wisdom, prayer, and the Holy-
Ghost — let them labor both for time and for eter-
nity, and in a few years a generation of Christians
may be expected who would do honor to an apos-
tolic age.

CHAPTER IV.

THE GENERAL SENTIMENT OF NEW ENGLAND
CONGREGATIONALISTS AND OTHER REFORMED
CHURCHES ON THE SUBJECT.

That the principle maintained is no innovation,
but belongs to the congregational system, and to the
reformed churches generally, as well as to the doc-
trines of the Apostles, an abundance of testimony
might be adduced to show. It is presumed that none
will deny this assertion as far as it respects the epis-
copal church, the Lutheran churches, and the presby-
terian churches in Scotland and on the continent.
But some might question, before examination, whether
the doctrine under consideration is among the funda-
mental principles of ecclesiastical polity in the purest
churches of the new world. Whether it belongs to
Congregationalism, a few passages from high authority
will make evident.

The first is taken from " New England's Memorial,
by Nathaniel Morton, Secretary to the Court for the
jurisdiction of ^q\y Plymouth." In giving an account

DOCTRINE OF NEW-ENGLAND CHURCHES. 95

of the organization of the first church in Salem, in
1629, he says : "The two ministers there being se-
riously studious of reformation, they considered the
state of their children together with their parents ;
concerning which letters did pass between Mr. Hig-
ginson," — one of the ministers of Salem, — " and Mr.
Brewster, the reverend elder of the church of Ply-
mouth ; and they did agree in their judgments, viz.
concerning the church-memhership of the children with
their parents, and that baptism was a seal of their
membership ; only when they were adult, they being
not scandalous, they were to be examined by the
church-officers, and upon their approbation of their
fitness, and upon the children's public and personally
owning of the covenant, they were to be received
unto the Lord's-supper. Accordingly Mr. Higgin-
son's eldest son, being about fifteen years of age, was
owned to have been received a member together with
his parents, and being privately examined by the pas-
tor, Mr. Skelton, about his knowledge in the princi-
ples of religion, he did present him before the church
when the Lord's-supper was to be administered, and
the child then publicly and personally owning the
covenant of the God of his father, he was admitted
unto the Lord's-supper ; it being there professedly
owned, according to 1 Cor. 7 : 14, that the children
of the church are holy unto the Lord as well as their
parents."

This passage clearly shows the opinion and practice
of the first two churches founded in New-England, viz.
the church in Plymouth and the church in Salem.

96 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

There was a little- work published in London in
1643, entitled, " Church Government and Church
Covenant Discussed — in an Answer of the Elders of
the several churches in New-England, to two-and-
thirty Questions, sent over to them by divers minis-
ters in Old England." The fifth question is stated as
follows : — " Whether do you admit children under
age as members of the church tos^ether with their
parents, and in the admission of their parent or
parents ; so as thenceforth they may partake of all
church privileges (being otherwise fit) without any
other personal profession of faith or entering into
church covenant, when they shall come to years —
and how long do you count them under age ? " To
the firse clause of the first question, the New-England
elders give an explicit answer : " Infants with us are
admitted members in and with their parents, so as to
be admitted to all church privileges of which infants
are capable." As to the question, whether such per-
sons should on cominof of ao;e be admitted to the
Lord's-supper and all other church privileges — " This,"
they say, '' is a question of which, by reason of the
infancy of these churches, we have had no occasion
yet to determine what to judge or practice one way
or the other." They then proceed to give it as their
opinion, that all such persons ought to enter into
church covenant for themselves, before being allowed
to participate in the higher church privileges. '^ For
otherwise we do confess, children that are born when
their parents are church-members, are in covenant
with God even from their birth, and their baptism did

DOCTRINE OF NEW-ENGLAND CHURCHES. 97

seal it unto them. But notwithstanding their birth-
right, we conceive there is a necessity of their per-
sonal profession of faith, and taking of the church
covenant when they come to years, for without this it
cannot so well be discerned, what fitness is in them
for the Lord's table and other church privileges, as by
this means it might." — " Wherefore in this point we
cannot but fully approve the practice of the' reformed
churches, among whom it is the manner, as Zepporus
writeth, to admit children that were baptized in their
infancy to the Lord's table, by public profession of
their faith and entering into covenant."

Our next witness is the Cambridge Platform. It
was framed by the synod of 1648. The men who
composed that assembly were among the most distin-
guished inhabitants of the new world. Some of its
leading spirits were Wilson and Cotton of Boston,
Norton of Ipswich, (afterwards Cambridge,) Elliot of
Roxbury, Shepherd of Cambridge, Mather of Dor-
chester, Allen of Dedham, Rogers of Rowley, and
Partridge of Duxbury." They. drew the writing, as
Gov. Winthrop asserts, *^ according to the general
practice of the churches.''^ It was afterwards present-
ed to the churches for their consideration and ap-
proval— and by the action of the next general court,
was finally made the ecclesiastical law of the com-
monwealth. It was adopted as the basis of church
government in all the New-England colonies, and
may properly be denominated the original constitution
of the Pilgrim churches.
9

98 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBEESHIP.

*'The matter of a visible church," says the Platform,*
" are saints by calling." By saints we understand, 1st.
" Such," etc* — here describing the characteristics of
adult professors ; 2d. " The children of such, who are
also holy." Again, " The like trial is to be required
from such members of the church as ivere born in the
same^ or received their membership and were baptized
in their infancy or minority, by virtue of the covenant
of their parents, when being grown up unto years of
discretion, they shall desire to be made partakers of
the Lord's-supper ; unto which, because holy things
must not be given to the unworthy, therefore, it is
requisite that these as well as others should come to
their trial and examination, and manifest their faith
and repentance by an open profession thereof, before
they are received to the Lord's-supper, and other-
wise not to be aduiitted thereunto. Yet these church-
members that were so born, or received in their child-
hood, before they are capable of being made partakers
of full communion, have many privileges which others,
not church-members, have not ; they are in covenant
with God, have the seal thereof upon them, viz. bap-
tism;-and so if not regenerated, yet are in a more
hopeful way of attaining regenerating grace, and all
the spiritual blessings both of the covenant and seal ;
they are also under church ivatch, and consequently
subject to the reprehensions, admonitions, and cen-
sures thereof, for their healing and amendment as
need shall require. "f

* Cambridge Platform, Chap. Ill, 1, 2. t Chap. Ill, 7,

DOCTRINE OF NEW-ENGLAND CHURCHES. 99

In the year 1649, ''not three months before his
decease," Rev. Thomas Shepherd, " sometime pastor
of the church in Cambridge, New-England, who, be-
sides his eminent abilities, was a man of much real
and living communion with God, and therefore more
like to know the mind of Christ than many others,"
wrote a treatise expressing views upon the subject
now under consideration, in full accordance with the
Platform. It is entitled, "The Church-member-
ship OF Children, and their right to baptism, ac-
cording to that holy and everlasting covenant of God,
established between himself and the faithful and their
seed after them in their generations ; cleared up in a
letter, sent to a worthy friend of the Author, and
many years ago* written, touching that subject." —
"If," says Mr. Shepherd, "the substance of that
covenant (the Abrahamic) was, I will be a God to
thee and thy seed, then this very covenant remains
still under the gospel, it being one and the same with
that ; if by virtue of that covenant, the children were
made members of ihe church ; and hence had a church
privilege and a seal administered ; then the same
covenant remaining the same, and in the same force
and benefit, our children also are taken into the like
membership.^'

Again, " There is the same inward cause, moving
God to take in the children of believing church-mem-
bers into the church and covenant now, to be of the
number of his people, as there was for taking the

*Tliis letter though written in 1649, was not published till 1662.

100 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

Jews and their children, for the only cause why the
Lord took in the Jews and their children thus, was
his love and free grace and mercy. Deut. 4 : 37,
'' Because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose
their seed." — So that I do from hence fully believe,
that either God's love is in these days of his gospel
less unto his people and servants, than in the days of
the Old Testament ; or if it be as great, then the
same love respects the seed of his people now, as
then it did. And, therefore, if then because he loved
them, he chose their seed to be of his church ; so in
these days, because he loveih us, he chooseth owi' seed
to he of his church also.^'

In another place he adds, " Hereby God gives
parents some comfortable hope of their children's sal-
vation, because they are within the pale of the visible
church. And if we pray for our children, why should
we doubt, leaving only secrets to God, if we see them
die before they reject the gospel positively, — T see no
reason for any man to doubt — of the salvation of his
child if he dies, or that God will not do good to his
child in time if he lives. This siirs up their hearts
to be more sincerely holy, and keep in with God, be-
cause of their children ; and to educate them with
more care and watchfulness, because they are the
Lord's children as well as theirs ; they are not com-
mon but holy vessels, therefore, let them see that they
are not defiled ; and hence we find, that when God
exhorts to any duty in Scripture, he oft makes this
the ground of it, " I am your God ; " and hence God
aggravates their sin in offering their children to Mo-

DOCTRINE OF NEW-ENGLAND CHURCHES. 101

lech. Ezek. 16, '' Because they were his children,
that should have been better used."

These sentiments of Shepherd's were reiterated by
the most distinguished of the clerical settlers generally.
The opinions of many of them on this subject were af-
terwards collated by Increase Mather of Boston, and
published under his direction at Cambridge, in 1675.
The work is entitled, " The First Principles op
New-England, concerning the subject of Baptism
and Communion of Churches ; collected out of the
original manuscripts of the first and chief fathers
in the New-England churches ; with the judgment
of sundry learned divines of the Conj:;regational
way in England, concerning the said Questions ;
published for the benefit of those who are of the
rising generation of New-England." This pamphlet
contains the opinions of Cotton, Hooker, Stone of
Hartford, Richard Mather of Dorchester, Partridge of
Duxbury, Norton and Shepherd of Cambridge, and
others. All agree, in the words of Stone, " That
children of church-members have right to church-
membership by virtue of their father's covenant; " or
in the words of '' that judicious and eagle-eyed seer,"
Mr. Norton, that " the children of parents in church
covenant are church-members and ought to be bap-
tized."

In 1662, by the previous appointment of the gen-
eral court, a synod was holden in" Boston, to consider
the proper extent of baptism, and of communion be-
tween particular churches. The subject in debate
9*

102 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

respecting baptism was whether the children of such
baptized parents, as were not in full communion,
might receive baptism, upon their parents owning the
covenant and promising to submit to the discipline of
the church ? The answer was summed up in several
propositions.

" 1. They that, according to Scripture, are mem-
bers of the visible church are the subjects of baptism.

" 2. The members of the visible church, accord-
ing to Scripture, are confederate visible believers in
particular churches, and their infant seed, i. e. chil-
dren in minority, whose next parents are one or both
of them in covenant.

" 3. The infant seed of confederate visible be-
lievers are members of the same church with their
parents ; and when grown up, are personally under
the watch, discipline, and government of that church.

" 4. Those adult persons are not therefore to be
admitted to full communion, merely because they are
and continue members, without such further qualifica-
tions as the word of God requireth thereunto.

" 5. Such church-members, who are admitted in
minority, understanding the doctrine of faith, and
publicly professing their assent thereunto, not scanda-
lous in life, and solemnly owning the covenant before
the church, wherein they give up themselves and
their children to the Lord, and subject themselves to
the government of Christ in the church, iheir children
are to he hajjiized^*

* Hubbard's History of New- England, Chap. LXVII

DOCTRINE OF NEW-ENGLAND CHURCHES. 103

This last proposition, as we shall see, was strongly,
and not without reason, opposed ; and some dissented
from the doctrine that baptized children are members
of the 'particular churches to which their parents be-
long,* but infant church-membership in some form
was the general sentiment not only of the synod and
the court, but of the country.

In 1679, at a synod holden in Boston, " It was
put to vote, whether the assembly did approve of the
Platform of Church Discipline. And both elders
and brethren did unanimously lift up their hands in
the affirmative, not one appearing when the vote was
propounded in the negative."

The Savoy confession of 1658, adopted by the
Boston Synod in 1680, thus defines the visible
catholic church : " The whole body of men through-
out the world, professing the faith of the gospel,
and obedience unto God by Christ, not destroying
their own profession by any errors everting the found-
ation, or unholiness of conversation, they and their
children with them are and may be called the visible
catholic church of Christ. "f

The churches of Connecticut were represented in
the synods of Cambridge and Boston, and with others
had adopted the Platform. But desiring to introduce
a system of consociation among their churches, they
met in synod by themselves for this purpose, and
finally, May 13, 1708, adopted not only certain prin-
ciples of consociation but also the Savoy Confession,

* Hu1>barcl's History of New- En gland, Chap. LXX.
t Savoy Confession, Chap. XXVI, 2.

104 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

"owned and assented unto" by the Boston synod of
16S0, in which the church is defined as including the
baptized children of believers ; and also the " Heads
of Agreement," assented to by the presbyterians and
congregationalists of England in 1690 ; in which last
document they say, " We do conceive the whole
multitude of visible believers and their infant seed
(commonly called the catholic visible church, to be-
long to Christ's spiritual kingdom in this world."

In 1709, Mr. Stoddard of Northampton, published
his Appeal to the Learned. It is no part of the ob-
ject of that famous treatise to prove the right of bap-
tized children to a name and a place in the church.
Infant church-membership was assumed by this ven-
erable author as the unquestioned sentiment and prac-
tice of the times. He makes use of the "argumentum ex
concessis," and endeavors to draw inferences, — though
some of them are manifestly erroneous, — from the ac-
knowledged fact that baptized children are members
of the church. Mr. Stoddard had been a member of
the Boston Synod of 1680, by which the visible
church had been defined as including believers "^ and
their children with them." It is safe to affirm, there-
fore, without seeking further testimony, that infant
church-membership was the received opinion in Mas-
sachusetts until after 1709.

This brings us near to the times of the great Ed-
wards. He was settled at Northampton in 1727, as
colleague with Mr. Stoddard, about two years before
the death of the latter, and seems to have adopted his
principles of church-membership and communion. Mr.

DOCTRINE OF NEW-ENGLAND CIIUKCHES. 105

Edwards was afterwards led to question the propriety of
admitting baptized persons, without personal piety or
profession of faith, as Mr. Stoddard had done, to the
Lord's-supper. He published his views in 1749, in
opposition to Mr. Stoddard's Appeal, and the loose
practice respecting communion which had crept into
the churches generally. From this controversy, it
has been affirmed in our times, without sufficient ex-
amination, that Edwards was opposed to the doctrine
of infant church-membership. Nothing can he farther
from the truth. He expressly concedes the point in
the outset, that the baptized children of professors are
truly members of the church, though not in complete
standing. Nor has any thing been advanced in this
discourse which stands in known opposition to the
principles of church-membership and communion
maintained by that gigantic mind in his answers to the
" venerable Stoddard," Solomon Williams and other
lax communionists of the times. Pres. Edwards had
no occasion to establish the doctrine of infant church-
membership by labored argumentation. It was a set-
tled principle in the constitution of the New-England
churches and had been from the first. Most of its
early defenders had undertaken their work, not so
much for the sake of the doctrine itself, as for the
inferences respecting discipline, and the extension of
baptismal privileges, which they considered deducible
from it.

The point now in dispute was not — as a newspaper
writer not long since intimated, — Whether baptized
children are to be considered members of the visible

106 INF.\NT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

church ? Nor whether it was proper to allow baptism
to the children of baptized non-professors ? But
" Whether, according to the rules of Christ, any ought
to be admitted to the communion and privileges of
members of the visible church in complete standing,
but such as are in profession and in the eyes of the
church's christian judgment, godly or gracious per-
sons ? "* Mr. Stoddard had maintained the affirmative,
Mr. Edwards took the negative of this question.
Neither deny the great congregational doctrine of
infant church-membership, but both expressly recog-
nise and affirm it.

As considerable confusion prevails on the exact na-
ture of this controversy — and as some have associated
it erroneously with another question, viz. the relation
of baptized children to the church, — with which, as
respects simple membership, it had nothing to do —
it will be necessary to detail some of the historical
facts which preceded and are connected with it.

The first settlers of New-England were eminent for
wisdom and piety. They fled from the iron hand of
oppression in the old world for the enjoyment of civil,
but more especially religious liberty, in the new ; and
above all, that they might preserve their children from
evil and rear a godly generation in the wilderness.
^^ Discipline, ^^ says Dr. Mather, "is the cause of God
in New England. We are the children of the good
old non-conformists. Now what was it that they did
suffer so much for, but that so they and their children

* Qualifications for Communion.

DOCTRINE OF NEW-ENGLAND CHURCHES. 107

also might be brought under that discipline and gov-
ernment which Christ hath appointed in his church ?
And, therefore, were they by their adversaries, the
prelates, reproached with the name of disciplinarians;
should we now desert the cause it would be a sad de-
generacy. There are many godly souls in New-Eng-
land, that the great motive which prevailed with them
to come into this wilderness, was that so they might
have their children under the government of Christ in
his churchJ^* But at the time when the original
churches of the country were founded, it was the gen-
eral opinion of all congregationalists, presbyterians,
and independents, throughout the world, — that a pro-
fession of personal godliness was an essential pre-
requisite in adults, to the enjoyment of sacramental
ordinances. Not only the immoral, but those also
who on arriving at maturity neglected to take upon
themselves their early baptismal vows by open cove-
nant, were considered unworthy to partake of the
Lord's-supper or to receive baptism for their children.
The consequence was that many of the second gene-
ration and more of the third, growing up without
making a personal profession of their faith in Christ,
their children must necessarily be excluded from bap-
tism and from any membership in the church. This
was a sore grief to the New-England fathers. " Truly
when I think," says the writer last quoted, " and I
often think of it seriously and sadly with myself, that
in a plantation of religion, — for such New-England

*Mather's Subject of Baptism.

108

INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

was, — the inhabitants should be in the condition of
infidels, that the posterity of a people professing god-
liness, yea of the most eminent professors in the whole
world, should in one age be as infidels, even not so
much as within the compass of the visible church, or
have the livery and character belonging to Christians
upon them, whereby such are distinguished from the
infidel and pagan w^orld, what it has to others 1 know
not, but to me it has a most formidable appearance."*
It was considerations like these — connected with the
fact that none but church-members were elio-ible to
office or could vote at elections — which led the elders
of the churches, at an early period after the settle-
ment, to review the subject of baptism and church-
membership and finally to decide that the children of
all baptized persons who, though not professors of
godliness nor qualified for the Lord's-supper, were yet
willing to make open acknowledgment of the cove-
nant obligations, and promise to submit to the disci-
pline of the church — might, and should receive bap-
tism. This was a manifest innovation, upon the doc-
trine and practice of the fathers, and also, — as is
shown by Mr. Foxcroft in his letter to Edwards, —
upon the general sentiment of evangelical protestants
throughout the world.f " I never heard," says Mr.
Baxter, as quoted by Foxcroft, " any man baptize an
infant, but upon the parent's, or susceptor's, or offer-
er's profession of a justifying faiths It might be

* Preface to the First Principles of New-England,
t Appendix to Qualifications for Communion.

DOCTRINE OF NEW-ENGLAND CHURCHES. 109

confessed, however, that many protestant churches in
Europe, had fallen into laxness and formality in their
])ractice upon this subject. Be this as it may, the
good old puritans of New-England were sufficiently
scrupulous and careful, as to the terms of admission
to the sacraments. The doctrine of infant church-
membership, with the subjection of children to the
discipline of the church, was always received among
them. But the perpetuation of church-membership,
without the profession of faith on the part of parents,
was a heresy which crept in by degrees. It was first
a question whether baptism might be extended in any
cases to grand-children, whose next parents had made
no profession. This question was propounded as a
case of conscience by the church in Dorchester to the
Rev. John Cotton, teacher of the first church in Bos-
ton. The subject was publicly considered by the
last named church assembled for the purpose " in the
name of Christ." It was properly decided that the
grandfather might lawfully claim baptism for his
grand-child on two conditions. " First, that the
grand-child baptized by right of the grand-father's
covenant be committed to the grand-father's educa-
tion." And 2d. " That the parents of the child do
not thereby take occasion to neglect the due and sea-
sonable preparation of themselves for entrance into
covenant with God and his church." This letter is
dated Boston, Dec. 16, 1634, and signed by John
Cotton, Tho. Oliver, and Tho. Leverett.* It would

* First Principles of New- England.

10

110 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

lead us beyond our limits, and somewhat away from the
subject immediately in hand, to give in detail the histori-
cal progress of the error in question. It may be suffi-
cient to say, that neglecting the extreme caution of
Mr. Cotton, many began to contend, that all baptized
children being born in the church, and every where
acknowledged church-members, were entitled to have
baptism for their children, who being also born in the
church were entitled to have baptism for their children
also, in their successive generations. The fallacy of
this reasoning has already been shown, in foregoing
pages. But sophistical as it is, it gained currency in
the churches, and being sustained by other considera-
tions, it was decided by the synod of 1662, and con-
firmed by the General Court, though not without con-
troversy and opposition, — that all persons who had
received baptism in infancy, ''understanding the
doctrine of faith, and publicly professing their assent
thereunto ; not scandalous in life, and solemnly own-
ing the covenant before the church, wherein they give
up themselves and their children to the Lord, and
subject themselves to the government of Christ in the
church, their children are to he baj)tized." This
canon was framed for the purpose already specified,
viz. that baptism might be administered to the chil-
dren of persons who, though themselves baptized in
infancy, were neither hopefully regenerate, nor sup-
posed to be qualified for the Lord's-supper.

Out of this heresy grew another. Some of the
churches reasoned thus : Baptized persons being
church-members, and as such entitled to baptism for

DOCTRINE OF NEW-ENGLAND CHURCHES. Ill

their children, ought to come to the Lord's table.
For if they have all the qualifications requisite for the
enjoyment of one sacrament, they have also for the
other. This reasoning, with other considerations, pre-
pared the way for an in flood of unspiritual communi-
cants upon the churches which adopted it. The
practice of admitting such persons to the Lord's table,
though not general, had become so frequent that the
synod of 1679 saw fit to bear public testimony against
it. As one of the means by which the churches
might avert the judgments of the Lord with which
New-England had been visited, they say, " It is re-
quisite that persons be not admitted unto communion
in the Lord's-supper, without making a personal and
public profession of their faith and repentance, and
that therefore both elders and churches be duly
watchful and circumspect in this matter." To this
expression of opinion, Mr. Stoddard, then a young
man and a member of the synod, seems to have given
a hesitating consent. Some five-and-twenty years
after, he openly espoused and taught the doctrine to
his people in Northampton, and to the world, that the
Lord's-supper was intended to be a converting as well
as sanctifying ordinance, and should be received as
such by all baptized persons who were moral in their
lives, and serious believers in the principles of chris-
tian grace.*

A controversy ensued — and many churches, influ-
enced by the great reputation of Mr. Stoddard for

* Life of Edwards.

112 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

learning, wisdom, and piety, more than by his argu-
ments, adopted the practice of open communion,
Pres. Edwards was a grandson of Mr. Stoddard, and,
as already observed, was settled as his colleague in
the ministry at Northampton, in 1727. Mr. Stoddard
was at that time in his eighty-fourth year, and had
been fifty-five years pastor of the church in Northamp-
ton. He was a man of great weight in the colonies,
and had been active in the synods and councils of the
last quarter of the preceding century. Through his
practice and the influence of his writings, unspiritual
members had been freely admitted to full communion,
and had become perhaps the majority in most churches.
Discipline was consequently neglected, and could not
be enforced. The sacrament of the supper was
diverted from hs original design, if not in too many
instances actually profaned. It was under these cir-
cumstances, several years after his settlement,, that
Edwards became fully convinced of the impolicy
and sin of admitting persons professedly unregenerate
to the Lord's table. In 1749, he published his
" Humble Enquiry into the Rules of the Word of
God, concerning the Qualifications requisite to a Com-
plete Standing and Full Communion in the visible
Christian Church."

The question discussed by Edwards, was not
whether baptized children were within the pale of the
visible church — nor whether their children might be
entitled to baptism — but the question was, whether
unregenerate persons, considering themselves unregen-
erate, and who were unregenerate in the judgment of

DOCTRINE OF NEW-ENGLAND CHURCHES. 113

christian charity, and made no profession of faith,
ought, under such circumstances, to partake of the
Lord's-supper. Infant church-membership, therefore,
was not the doctrine which Edwards opposed — nor
had it been ever opposed by the leading fathers and
churches of New-England, nor was it the cause of the
decline of vital piety among them, nor is it responsi-
ble for the introduction of the halfway covenant
scheme, so universally condemned in our day.

Edwards believed in the doctrine of infant church-
membership, and would doubtless have employed his
great powers in its defence, if occasion had required
it. In the second paragraph of his ^'Qualifications for
Full Communion," he says : "When I speak of mem-
bers of the visible church of Christ in complete stand-
ing, I would be understood, of those who are received
as the proper immediate subjects of all the external
privileges Christ has appointed for the ordinary mem-
bers of his church. All that acknowledge infant bap-
tism, allow infants who are the proper subjects of
baptism and are baptized, to be in some sort members
of the christian church; yet none suppose them to be
members in such standing as to be the proper, imme-
diate subjects of all ecclesiastical ordinances and privi-
leges. But that some further qualifications are requi-
site in order to this, to be obtained either in a course
of nature, or by education, or by divine grace. And
some who are baptized in infancy, even after they be-
come to be adult, may yet remain for a season short
of such standing as has been spoken of, being desti-
10*

114 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

tute of sufficient knowledge, etc., and yet not he cast
out of the church, or cease to be in any respect its
members." The same sentiment frequently occurs in
this celebrated treatise upon the terms of communion.

Dr. Hopkins' System of Doctrines was published
under his own direction in 1792. He was a pupil of
Edwards, lived for a season in his family, studied
theology with him, and adopted his theological princi-
ples generally as the basis on which his own system
was erected. His views on the subject in question
are valuable, as well for the light they thus reflect
upon Edwards' opinions, as for the weight of his own
character and the general influence he has exerted
upon the New-England church.

In his treatise concerning the baptism of the chil-
dren of believers, Mr. Hopkins says : " By the king-
dom of God, or the kingdom of heaven which is the
same, is meant the visible kingdom of Christ in this
world or his church ; in which sense this phrase is
most commonly used by Christ. What he declares
therefore is, that such children as these, that is the
children of his friends who believe in him, belong to
his kingdom, and are to he memhers of his visible
church, and to be with their parents numbered among
the redeemed."

" If children of visible believers are to be considered
as having a right to be visible members of the king-
dom of God and to be treated as such ; then they are
to be introduced to this visible standing in his church
and kingdom, by the only door which Christ has
fixed and opened for this, which is by being baptized

DOCTRINE OF NEW-ENGLAND CHURCHES. 115

with water, in the name of the sacred Trinity, or be-
ing born of water."

" The christian institution, now under consideration,
is suited to have a salutary effect on the minds both
of parents and their children. Though under the
milder dispensation of the gospel, no one is to be put
to death for rejecting Christ and the gospel, even
though he were before this a member of the visible
church ; yet he is to be cut off, and cast out of the
visible kingdom of Christ. And every child in the
church, who grows up in disobedience to Christ, and
in this most important concern will not obey his
parents, is thus to be rejected and cut off, after all
proper means are used by his parents and the church
to reclaim him and bring him to his duty. Such an
event will be viewed by christian parents as worse
than death ; and is suited to be a constant, strong
motive, to concern, prayer and fidelity respecting
their children and their education ; and it tends to
have an equally desirable effect upon children ; and
must greatly impress the hearts of those who are in
any degree considerate and serious."*

These and similar sentiments are often repeated
and enforced in Mr. Hopkins' chapter on baptism.
He indeed goes so far as to affirm, " That real holi-
ness and salvation are secured to the children of be-
lievers, by the covenant into which the parents enter
with God, as it respects their children, if the parents
faithfully keep covenant, and fulfil what they profess

* Hopkins' System, Part. II, Chap. 5.

116 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

and promise, respecting their children, when they offer
them in baptism." Without endorsing or controvert-
ing this opinion, it is sufficient, with the preceding
extracts, to show that Hopkins was a decided behever
in infant church-membership.

The opinions of Dr. Dwight on this subject next
deserve consideration. He was president of Yale Col-
lege when Hopkins' System was first published, and
lived till 1817. "it is objected further," says he,*
"in answer to the objections of Baptists, that all bap-
tized persons are by that class of Christians, to whom
I have attached myself, considered as members of the
church ; yet those who are baptized in infancy, are
not treated as if they possessed this character. Par-
ticularly, they are not admitted to the sacramental
supper ; nor made objects of ecclesiastical discipline.

" As this objection has, in my own view, a more
serious import, than any other which has been al-
letred, it deserves a particular consideration.

" In the first place, I acknowledge, without hesita-
tion, that the conduct of those, with whom I am in
immediate communion, and so far as I know them
their opinions also, with regard to this subject are in a
greater or less degree erroneous, and indefensible.

Many of the churches of this country, and many of
the ministers also, appear to me to have judged and
acted, with less accuracy, with less of scheme and
comprehensiveness, concerning this subject, than con-
cerning most others, I certainly do not intend to in-
lure either churches or ministers by this remark, and

* Dwight's Theology, Vol. 5, Sermon CLVII.

DOCTRINE OF NEW-ENGLAND CHURCHES. 117

persuade myself that I do not. A considerable num-
ber of the ministers have expressed to me their own
dissatisfaction, with both the views and the practice,
of both themselves and their fellow Christians, with
respect to persons baptized in infancy. I am equally
dissatisfied with my oivn former views and practice re-
sjfecting this subject ; and readily admit that a part of
what is contained in this objection is justly chargea-
ble on many churches and many ministers who hold
the doctrine of infant baptism. But it lies against the
errors of men who adopt this doctrine, and not against
the doctrine itself

" That infants should be baptized and then be left
by ministers and churches in a situation undistinguish-
able from that of other children, appears to me irre-
concilable with any scriptural views of the nature and
importance of this sacrament."

Dr. Dwight believed in the church-membership of
baptized infants. " That they are members of the chris-
tian church, if lawfully baptized," says he, " I fully be-
lieve." But on one point connected with this subject,
this distinguished author seems to have drawn an unne-
cessary and injurious conclusion. For he adds, *' I con-
sider them members of the church general, but not of a
particular church." Without attempting to controvert
this sentiment, or establish its opposite, it is submitted
to the discerning whether it may not be a fact, that
while some children are members only of the church
general, baptized children most commonly are mem-
bers of particular churches also. Many persons were
anciently baptized, according to the New Testament,

118 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

without uniting with any particular church, and some
in regions where no church had been organized.
Children in such, and many other circumstances which
might be named, would become members of the church
universal by baptism. But when parents are orderly
united to a particular church, what hinders tiieir chil-
dren from coming in with them? And what propriety
can there be in saying that they are members of the
church, and yet not of that particular church in which
perhaps they were born, in which they received the
initiatory ordinance, and to which their parents, and
they in them, seem properly to belong ? Upon any
other theory, how can they be subject to efficient su-
pervision. Is it not safe to say that — while all baptiz-
ed adults are members of the church general, and
most of them of some particular church also, — bap-
tized children in like manner, though all members of
the church universal, are yet most of them members
of some particular church also?

The last authority which 1 shall quote, sustaining
the doctrine of infant church-membership is Dr. Wor-
cester, a name whose recent memory is still fragrant
in all our churches. " The church," savs Worcester
in his discourses on the perpetuity of the covenant,
"remains the same," i. e. the same that it was under
the old dispensation, "and the covenant the same; the
relation of the children of the church is the same, and
the seal of the covenant, though varied in form, is
still of the same import, and of the same use, and to
be applied to the same subjects."

DOCTRINE OF PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 119

Can it be longer questioned, in view of this full and
unbroken series of testimony, that infant church-mem-
bership is and ever has been till of late years the sen-
timent of our leading divines and one of the founda-
tion principles of the congregational churches of New-
England.

The whole presbyterian church of the United
States, as well as of the old world, maintains the same
doctrine. The Confession of Faith, as amended and
ratified by the General Assembly in 1821, defines the
visible church to " consist of all those throughout the
world, that profess the true religion, together with their
children, and is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the house and family of God, out of which there is
no ordinary possibility of salvation."

The larger Catechism says, in answer to the ques-
tion, " What is baptism 1 " *^ Baptism is a sacrament
of the New Testament, wherein Christ hath ordained
the washing of water in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, to be the sign
and seal of ingrafting into himself, of remission of
sins by his blood, and regeneration by his Spirit, of
adoption and resurrection unto everlasting life ; and
whereby the parties baptized are solemnly admitted
into the visible church, and enter into an open and
professed engagement to be wholly and only the
Lord's."

In the Form of Government,* it is affirmed as fol-
lows : " The universal church consists of all those

* Chap. II, of the Chnrch.

120 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

persons in every nation, together with their children,
who make profession of the holy religion of Christ
and of submission to his laws." " A particular church
consists of a number of professing Christians, \vith
their offspring, voluntarily associated together, for di-
vine worship, and godly living, agreeably to the holy
Scriptures, and submitting to a certain form of gov-
ernment."

The Book of Discipline says, " that all baptized
persons are members of the church, are under its
care, and subject to its government and discipline ;
and when they have arrived at years of discretion,
they are bound to perform all the duties of church-
members."

The Directory teaches on this subject : that " Chil-
dren horn ivithin the pale of the visible church and
dedicated to God in baptism, are under the inspection
and government of the church ; and are to be taught
to read, and repeat the catechism, the apostles' creed,
and the Lord's prayer. They are to be taught to
pray, to abhor sin, to fear God, and to obey the Lord
Jesus Christ. And when they come to years of
discretion, if they be free from scandal, appear sober
and steady, and to have sufficient knowledge to dis-
cern the Lord's body, they ought to be informed, it is
their duty and their privilege to come to the Lord's-
supper."

They are then to be examined as to their knowl-
edge and piety, and when prepared, in the judgment
of the eldership, for sealing ordinances, they are to

DOCTRINE OF PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 121

be admitted to the privileges of Christians in full
communion.

It thus appears that the doctrine of infant church-
membership is no innovation, but, though it seems to
have been nearly lost sight of in our churches for
many years past, is yet, — with the exception of those
who deny infant baptism altogether, — the general

SENTIMENT OF THE NeW-EnGLAND CHURCHES, and
of THE CHRISTIAN WORLD.

U

CHAPTER V.

THE PRECEDING PRINCIPLES APPLIED IN SEV-
ERAL ADDRESSES.

I. Address to Pastors,

The writer of these pages would not assume to
teach his fathers and brethren in the ministry. It
would be more congenial to his feelings, to sit at the
feet of many of them for instruction, on this and al-
most any other subject. He is certain, however, that
he advocates no new doctrines, while he attempts to
re-affirm one of the great principles of congregational-
ism, as held by the New-England fathers, and of
Christianity as taught by the Apostles, and maintain-
ed for substance by most denominations in the old
world and in the new. He confidently believes him-
self to have expressed no other sentiments than those
which have been generally held by the soundest theo-
logians among us. Nor can the number now be great
who will dissent from the fundamental principles
which have been examined.

ADDRESS TO PASTORS. 123

It is confessed that the doctrine of infant church-
membership seems to have been nearly forgotten of
late years, and the ^practice which properly grows out
of it, to have fallen into almost universal neglect, in
our churches. Nor is it less certain, that the rite of
infant baptism has lost much of that sacredness in the
eyes of many, with which it used to be regarded by
congregational believers in Jesus. There are some
indeed, perhaps the majority among us, who still re-
joice greatly in God's everlasting covenant, and can
plead in faith for its promised blessings upon their in-
fant seed ; and there are others who from the power
of custom, or by way of privilege, can be easily in-
fluenced to make the baptismal consecration of their
children. But there are some too, — and is not the
number constantly increasing ? — who cannot see the
necessity, nor perceive the desirableness of this rite,
and having their minds confused respecting it, and
willing to avoid the trouble it occasions, are allowing
their children to grow up strangers to the covenant
of promise, and, in too many instances, without God
in the world. They approve of the congregational
principles and forms in most respects, and giving more
or less evidence of piety are admitted to our churches
upon a " half-way covenant " of modern invention.
They understand and appreciate the promise " I will
be thy God," but ^'the God of thy seed" they dis-
card or disconnect from the divinely appointed token
by which it is sealed and made sure to them. Several
reasons may have assisted to produce this departure
from the practice and faith of the fathers. Baptisti-

124 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

cal opinions and usages ; democratic institutions di-
minishing reverence and individualizing the people,
making responsibilities and advantages personal rather
than social ; the spiritual philosophy of the times,
with a growing disrelish among protestants to ceremo-
nies and forms, putting to peril even the sacramental
ordinances which Christ himself appointed — these and
other causes have had their influence. But among
them all, none has been so disastrous as a general
forgetfulness of the relation which baptized children
hold to God and his church. If they are included
with their parents in the covenant of redemption, and
" baptism seals it unto them," then parents will feel
the importance of placing the appointed token upon
their offspring. But if infant baptism has scarcely an
intelligible meaning, or is considered a mere form of
consecration, and does not bring the children into
Christ's earthly kingdom, it will be difficult to make
even pious parents see its necessity. Nor can the
doctrine of infant baptism be pov/erfully defended
without that of infant church-membership upon which
it is properly based. And though no prophet, I de-
sire to record my firm conviction, that if the doctrine
of infant church-membership should be generally dis-
carded or kept out of sight — the practice of infant
baptism will eventually fall into greatly increased, if
not general neglect. There seems to be no solid
middle ground between old fashioned congregational-
ism which expresses the sentiment of the christian
world on the subject, and the usages of that de-
nomination who reject infant baptism altogether.

ADDRESS TO PASTORS. 125

And Is there a question which member of this alter-
native we shall choose ? As congregationalists we
hold to the perpetuity of the Abrahamic covenant,
and to the superiority of the new dispensation in re-
spect to privileges over the old. Let us then be con-
sistent, and without idolizing the church on the one
hand, or treating it with desecration or indifference on
the other, let us recognise it as God's institution,
founded for the edification and salvation of his cove-
nant people, properly including all within its conse-
crated enclosures who have the baptismal mark of
discipleship upon them.

The exclusion of baptized children from a name
and a standing in the visible church, is most obviously
as far as it prevails among evangelical congregational-
ists, a very recent innovation. From the remarks of
Dr. Dwight, whose published works have been before
the world but a quarter of a century, and who is per-
sonally remembered by many of the fathers in the
ministry, it is evident, that the doctrine in question
was theoretically acknowledged in his day — for the
objection which he combats was founded upon the
acknowledgement ; while the practice and opinions of
many had become loose and erroneous on the subject.
Probably it is not — for how can it be ? — denied out-
right by many orthodox and thorough theologians,
even in our times. But the practical error of which
Dwight complains and which still exists to an increas-
ing and alarming degree deserves the prayerful con-
sideration of all who have been set over the house of
11*

126 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

God. Perhaps the idea of discipline, as involving re-
straint and reprehension, might have been carried too
far by some of the early settlers of New-England.
But even if this be so, it is no reason why an aiFec-
tionate watch, direction, education of the children of
the church — as young but real members of it — as
lambs of the flock gathered with their parents into
the Saviour's fold — should be neglected. We should
give them at least, all the encouragement which
God's own everlasting covenant is intended to afford.
Nor need we conceal their true condition, with its
obligations and responsibilities, " though we are gen-
tle among them as a nurse cherisheth her children."

It is verily believed that if this principle of congre-^
gationalism can once more be reduced to practice, — and
faithfulness in giving instruction, and in admitting
suitable candidates and no others to the Lord's table,
be not neglected — clergymen will be saved from much
of that agitation and anarchy which now mars their
labors — and from much of that grief, — in consequence
of the wandering of so many lambs from the fold,
attended as it is with general irregularity and disorder,
and not un frequently with the utter ruin of the chil-
dren— which has brought down so many good men to
premature graves.

Beloved brethren in the ministry, the time has
come for anxious inquiry, whether amidst distracting
influences, and multitudinous calls for service from
every quarter, the young of our flocks have received
that share of ministerial attention which the great
shepherd demands of those who have been especially

ADDRESS TO PASTORS. 127

commissioned to feed his sheep, and feed his lambs.
There are many congregational clergymen who in the
discharge of this great duty, have not fallen behind the
very chiefest of the fathers. And if any of us have
exhausted our powers of labor upon the adult genera-
tion, rather than upon those who, though now com-
paratively insignificant, are yet silently receiving im-
pressions which in a few years will manifest them-
selves, for the renovation or destruction of the church,
we are not without our apology. Short and uncertain
settlements, multiplicity of meetings both at home and
abroad, exhausting preparatory study, and painstaking
to produce a succession of valuable if not great and
popular discourses, which the intelligence of our con-
gregations and the distraction of the times seem to
demand, constant solicitude arising from the unsettled
state of society, and that endless variety of isms
which have been coming in upon us and sweeping
over us like a flood, together with the unfortunate cus-
tom of estimating success almost entirely by imme-
diate and manifest results — these things have an in-
fluence in turning ofl" our minds from that numerous
class which, though not in a situation to assist just
now in opposing the waves of error and ungodUness,
will soon rise up in the places of their fathers to make
or destroy us.

It is not a question, whether men sinking already
under accumulated labors, shall take upon their shoul-
ders an additional load to crush them, but whether, if
any part of the ministerial burden can be lightened,
the care of the young is not the last to be thrown off?

128 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

What is the purport of our great commission ? Most
of us have not been appointed as evangelists to go
into destitute settlements, and proselyte the inhabi-
tants, but while we aid to the extent of our ability in
bearing the gospel round the w^orld, and bringing it
home to every heart, it is some already existing church
over which the Holy Ghost hath made us overseers,
with the specific paramount duty to feed the sheep
and feed the lambs.

Valuable aid in this part of our work may be ob-
tained from the intelligent and pious laymen of the
church. Under pastoral supervision and co-operation
of the brotherhood, what a powerful engine of salu-
tary influence upon the next generation, is the exist-
ing Sabbath school ? Few ministers have the time,
especially on the Lord's-day, as religious services are
now conducted, to superintend its affairs. Nor is that
a reasonable spirit which requires that a minister
should engage earnestly in the duties of private cate-
chetical instruction, when the public teachings of the
sanctuary are summoning all his powers. But on the
other hand, we may keep up a constant supervisory
care of this institution. As a general of the army, as
masters of the ship, as invested with responsibilities
which we are under the oaths of office to meet, we
may not leave our appropriate duties entirely to
others. We have indeed brethren and sisters in our
churches, who would perhaps almost lay down their
lives for the children. For all their kindness of heart,
for their faithful teachings, for disinterested labors, it
becomes us to be grateful, and, availing ourselves of

ADDRESS TO PASTORS. 129

all valuable assistance, we may be greatly encouraged
and aided in our work. But after all, the ultimate
responsibility of rightly directing the Sabbath school
comes back upon ourselves. Imposed upon us by the
calling of the Spirit, and the laying on of the hands
of the presbytery, we cannot throw it off. Until we
surrender our commission into the hands of the great
head of the church from whom we received it, we
must not only feed the sheep, but feed the lamhs.

It is an encourasino- circumstance that no labor
gives promise of such great ultimate results. It is the
present undergrowth which makes the future forest*
It is the culture of the nursery — the budding and
grafting of the tender shoots which determines the
prospective character of the orchard. A distinguished
statesman has said, as nearly as I can remember his
words, that the best data, on which to form a proph-
ecy of political events, ten years hence, is a knowl-
edge of the opinions of the rising generation. To this
it may be added, as a further developement of the
same truth, that the probable character of the church
fifteen or twenty-five years hence may now be discov-
ered, by a knowledge of our own sentiments and pur-
poses concerning the young. We form the minds, we
found the characters, we fix the principles, which are
destined under God to control the affairs of his king-
dom, during the coming age. And as these may have
a similar influence upon their own immediate de-
scendants, we become debtors not only unto children's
children, but to many generations. Nor need we be
discouraged by the smallness of our individual influ-

130 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

ence, or the improbability of being an extensive bene-
fit to mankind. A little rivulet which rises and rip-
ples all unseen and alone in the wilderness of the far
north may become in the progress of its descent, the
largest river in the world. The smallest causes,
when faith and prayer, and energy are among them,
frequently produce in the providence of God, the
most important results. '' There is," says Milton,
*' as the apostle has remarked, a way to strength
through weakness."

It is not necessary for me to mark out any course
of pastoral instruction and care. They to whom
these thoughts are addressed, have wisdom sufficient
to be their own advisers. Let it be understood by
the baptized children, that they are all members of
the church ; that they are under the strongest obliga-
tions to acknowledge their baptismal vows ; that there
is a definite period assigned for decision, self-exami-
nation, and profession, viz. that in which they be-
come of age to act understandingly in the matter ;
that a good life, with evidence of regeneration and
faith are essentially pre-requisites to the Lord's-sup-
per ; and that the blessings of the covenant are ever
ready to descend upon them, and almost any course
of wise instruction will contribute to the desired
result.

II. Address to the Brotherhood of the Church,

Dear brethren and sisters in Christ, we have seen
something of the peculiar relation which the children
of professing Christians bear to the church. By our

ADDRESS TO THE BROTHERHOOD. 131

terms of fellowship, as well as by the nature of the
case, we have peculiar duties towards them. Though
ministers have been appointed to take the supervision
of the flock, and are under the most solemn oaths of
office to be faithful ; this does not release the brother-
hood from obligation. The cause is yours as well as
theirs, for even ministers are '' your servants for
Christ's sake," chosen by yourselves, but commission-
ed by the Holy Ghost, to aid you and your children
in growing up together with them, — into a holy tem-
ple of the Lord. Grow then in grace and assist the
children to grow also.

1. By daily prayer to God for his blessing upon
them. Never forget this humble but not unimportant
portion of your number ; they are the hope of the
church, and if made the objects of your affectionate
and prayerful solicitude, will not disappoint your ex-
pectation.

2. By example. In this way the parent bird as-
sists her inexperienced young to fly. Nor can the
silent influence of a holy life, be other than most salu-
tary, as a constraining means of grace.

3. By conversation as you have opportunity ; not
being busybodies and intermeddlers even in the af-
fairs of children, but endeavoring at proper times, to
elevate, and enlighten their understanding, and, gently
fortifying their virtuous principles, make if possible
some healthful impression upon them all.

4. By instruction imparted, as occasion presents,
whether as teachers in a Sabbath school, or in any
other manner which propriety may direct.

132 INFANT CHURCHtMEMBERSHIP.

It is the duty of the church, in connection with the
pastor, to make arrangements for the safety, the edu-
cation, the examination, and orderly reception of the
young, — when prepared, — to full communion.

According to principles already laid down, children
are to be admitted to the L#ord's table, whenever they
are old enough to comprehend the nature of repent-
ance and faith, and give evidence of true piety in
their lives. Let the church always be on her guard
to see that her young candidates for communion have
been qualified to receive the ordinance, by knowledge
and by a serious consecration of their hearts to God.
But at the same time we are not to look for full
grown Christians among those who are just entering
as mere babes in Christ into his school. In the lan-
guage of the Platform, " The weakest measure of
faith is to be accepted in those that desire to be ad-
mitted into the church, because weak Christians, if
sincere, have the substance of that faith, repentance
and holiness which is required in church-members ;
and such have most need of the ordinances for their
confirmation and growth in grace. The Lord Jesus
would not quench the smoking flax, nor break the
bruised reed, but gather the tender lambs in his arms
and carry them gently in his bosom. Such charity
and tenderness is to be used, as the weakest Christian
if sincere may not be excluded nor discouraged^
Severity of examination is to be avoided."

As church-members you are, however, to share the
responsibiHties, with your pastors, of keeping the
doors of the church, and guarding its sacraments.

ADDRESS TO THE BROTHERHOOD. 133

According to the congregational usage, though the
act of admission and exclusion is pastoral, yet no one
can be admitted nor excluded, without the previous
consent of the brotherhood. It is the duty of lay
members therefore to obtain satisfaction with regard to
the qualifications of all who are to be received into
their fellowship. Nor should the doors of the king-
dom ever be so widely opened, as to take in the
vicious, the unbelieving, the untaught in the simple
principles of Christianity, or those who give no evi-
dence of submission to God. But wherever the doc-
trines of faith, repentance, and obedience are under-
stood, and a serious desire of self-consecration is ex-
pressed, and the small beginnings of piety appear, and
there is no immorality, or " error subverting the foun-
dations " to oppose ; the church should say both to
children and adults, " Come in thou blessed of the
Lord."

With regard to the degree of manifest piety, which
is requisite to full communion, a simple rule may be
given. We have already intimated that there must
be repentance, faith, and affectionate obedience to
God. But as it is difficult to discern the real condi-
tion of the heart, we must form our opinion of chris-
tian character from the fruits of the Spirit, as signified
in the life. Moreover, as the boldest pretensions are
often but deceptive indications of grace, and as the
weakest piety is to be cherished as of inestimable
worth, it is reasonable to require such repentance of
sins as induces one to forsake them — such faith as
12

134 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

enables the person to say sincerely, '' I receive Christ
as my complete and only Saviour " — such love to
Jesus as produces an acknowledged desire and evi-
dent endeavor to be like him. We cannot expect
that mere hahes in Christ, will understand all myste-
ries and all knowledge. If they can comprehend the
simplest principles of our religion, such truths as are
absolutely essential to salvation, and such as enables
them to participate intelligently in the sacraments, we
may hope that under proper instruction, they may
both grow in grace, and ascend gradually to the high
mysteries of revelation.

Nor does the duty of the church towards its chil-
dren terminate with their admission to the communion
table. They are still to be considered as weak in the
faith, as those who stand in need of the prayers, the
affectionate watch, and instruction of the older mem-
bers. Nor should this sweet and all constraining su-
pervision of christian love ever cease, till the rising
generation are called to take the place of their fathers,
in the discharge of similar obligations towards those
who are younger and weaker than themselves.

The modern Sabbath school is also naturally com-
mitted to the guardianship of the church. No agent
or association from abroad, no society or combination
of individuals at home, however wise, however pious,
however valuable as aids in the great work of educat-
ing the young, can so sustain the Sabbath school, as
to relieve the church from responsibility. The insti-
tution is theirs. They, in connection with the pastor,
are to appoint its officers and arrange its exercises,

ADDRESS TO THE BROTHERHOOD. l3o

selecting from among themselves their wisest and best
members to superintend its affairs, and give faithful
weekly instruction to every child.

Beloved brethren in Christ, is there not wonderful
beauty and mercy in the institutions of our Lord ?
He iiathers out of the world a great multitude of
young but immortal souls, and on account of parental
faith and covenant he marks them for his own. As
you select some orphan, because of its relation to aa
old but deceased friend — or as you rescue some poor
outcast child from the sins and miseries of abject want,
and adopt it as your own, making yourself responsible
for its education, giving it a chance for respectability
among men, so God receives a great multitude of lit-
tle ones into his palaces, requiring his servants to
cherish and bring them up for him. From the day of
their baptism, the robes of the church, the livery of
Immanuel, the badges of discipleship are upon them.
They are a consecrated class, a peculiar people, and
though not necessarily new creatures in Christ Jesus,
are yet candidates, by divine appointment, for regen-
erating grace. Born of water, dedicated in faith, we
may reasonably expect that unless their education
should be neglected, or they should wilfully, like
Esau, sell their birthright, they will at an early age
give evidence of having been born of the spirit also.

How interesting then the baptismal service ! What
is it but the opening of heaven's gate, and the visible
recovery and admission of a wandering soul ? O what
encouragement for prayer that the heart, all unsancti-
fied by nature, may soon, yea now, receive that spirit-

136 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

ual baptism which is represented by the outward rite,
and which both in parent and in child is indispensable
to fellowship with saints in heaven.

When some little one is solemnly introduced into
the kingdom of Jesus, when some sweet unconscious
babe is publicly consecrated to its parents' God — let
your hearts arise in silent holy strains of praise. Let
the church stretch forth her affectionate arms and take
the precious trust to her bosom. Let the offering be
presented to the great Shepherd, saying. Lord take
this little lamb, which we, through thy giace, have
snatched from the old roaring lion's mouth ; and set
thy mark upon it, while we solemnly covenant to
nourish and bring it up for thee. Then by faith you
may behold the heavens opening from above — the
Son of God descending and laying his holy hands
upon the child, and imparting his blessing. From
this time forth the baptized babe is to be recognised
as a child of the covenant — signed and sealed by the
Saviour — ordered in all things and sure. Unless such
children should be afterward rejected through unbe-
lief, the blessings of the God of their fathers will be
upon them, renewing, sanctifying, saving, and receiv-
ing them into glory — for faithful is he that hath pro-
mised. " I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall
be for a token of a covenant between me and the
earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a
cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in
the cloud ; — and I will look upon it, that I may re-
member the everlasting covenant between God and
every living creature of all flesh." Like that beau-

ADDRESS TO PARENTS. 137

teous arch which spans the cloud, coming forth as a
bright remembrancer before the throne of God, and
amidst thunder, darkness and storm, speaking peace
and safety to man, so the church, amidst the foUies
and wanderings of her children, the temptations and
dangers which surround both herself and them —

—Surveys her covenant sign, and smiles.

" For this is as the waters of Noah unto me ; for as
I have sworn the waters shall no more go over the
earth, so have I sworn that I would not be wroth,
with thee."

III. Address to Parents who are Professors,

See here, my friends, the tenderness of Christ.
Receiving you into covenant, for your sakes, he re-
ceives your children also. They are the objects of
his peculiar watch ; " their angels do • always behold
your Father in heaven." Look upon them as mark-
ed, and consecrated to God. Educate them for the
Saviour's service, more than for worldly advantage ;
according to the principles of our religion, rather than
in the maxims and customs of this present evil world.
Follow them wherever they go with • your prayers ;
carry them every day in the arms of parental love to
the cross ; plead for their salvation as children of the
everlasting covenant; expect, watch for their conver-
sion ; and when you discover the buds of grace upon
them, encourage them — by a public profession of their
12*

138 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

faith, and acknowledgement of their baptism, — to
come to the table of the Lord.

Let no parent suppose that he may safely delay all
personal inquiry into the spiritual state of his children,
till they get courage to come forward and boldly ask
the way to heaven. Remember what is said, " Ye
have not chosen me, but I have chosen you." So in
like manner, if we have hope in Christ, we should be
beforehand with our children, in seeking their eternal
salvation. We stand as their sponsors, having taken
upon ourselves the most solemn vows, that, as far as
in us lies, they shall be nurtured in the faith of our
Lord, and induced at an early age to make a sincere
and intelligent profession of their allegiance to him.
We can hardly expect that a timid child, naturally
reserved on all such subjects, and by little irregulari-
ties exposing himself to reproof almost every day —
should get courage to acknowledge himself, without
being questioned, an earnest seeker after Christ.
There have been children, and some of them very
young, who would have given worlds if they had pos-
sessed them, for confidence, for moral ability — to have
unbosomed a soul, full of darkness, conflicts, and dis-
tresses, for parental counsel. And although the heart
was beating with desire to throw off its burden, and
many a tear was shed in secret — nothing but the
strictest confidence, the most delicate respect for sa-
cred feelings — nothing but the raost favorable occa-
sion, nay, almost necessity, could have brought the
long concealed emotions into view. The experiences
of a soul when " heaven lays all around " it, or when

ADDRESS TO PARENTS. 139

spiritual darkness shuts the light from its longing
vision, are not for vulgar gaze. They must be gently-
drawn forth by a wise and pious mind, who will treat
them, though they be the feelings of a child, with the
utmost tenderness and respect. Let the parent then
watch for favoring occasions. Coming down from the
mount of communion, and seeing the cloud of the
Highest overshadowing his child, let him with gentle-
ness and awe, but wiih naturalness and familiarity,
call forth his most hidden, most sacred emotions.

If there are no indications of early faith or anxious
seeking after God, let not the parent in covenant de-
spair of success, or neglect an}^ suitable opportunity,
of winning the wayward spirit to Christ. Perhaps in
some unexpected hour, a mother's sigh, a father's
prayer, may breathe over the youthful soul, like the
wind through a harp, and be made the means of
waking music on its strings, and bringing forth sweet
tones of heaven.

Be this as it may — let no parent grow weary of
watching, praying, seeking for the germ of faith.
And when all has been done by instruction and coun-
sel, which good judgment will allow, let the parental
influence be always like that of some guardian angel
spirit which is ever hovering near, and even though
unseen, sheds heavenly fragrance from its wings.

If any of you, beloved friends, have infants unhajj-
tized, beware of unnecessary delay in bringing them
to the baptismal font. We must not even seem to de-
spise the covenant, and expose our little ones to peril,
by such neglect. Remember we have no option on

140 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

this subject. God not only permits, he requires us to
set his mark upon our babes. In that charter of
spiritual rights which he gave to Abraham, the father
of believers, amidst all the blessings promised, he has
uttered one terrific voice of warning. If a parent re-
fuse or neglect to circumcise his child, such child shall
be cut off from God's people ; " he has broken/' says
he, " my covenant.'^ Baptism has taken the place of
circumcision. If you neglect to offer your infants for
baptism, without sufficient reason for delay, you deny
them their birthright and hazard the displeasure of
him who sometimes mysteriously " visits the iniquities
of the fathers upon the children." I know not what
allowance may be made for ignorance, or unintentional
mistake — but when duty is made clear, it cannot be
neglected with impunity.

With impunity did I say, will you deny to yourself
and to your offspring such a privilege ? You have
been the occasion of their existence. By your means
they have entered upon a course of unending happi-
ness or distress. Their immortal spirits will outlast
the sun ; co-eternal with the eternity of God, they
can never cease to be. That great and good Being
who breathed into their nostrils the breath of life has
proposed to take them with yourselves under his pe-
culiar protection. In pursuance of this benevolent
design, and as an indication of your faith in his cove-
nant, he has given you the baptismal token. As the
sign of blood upon the door-posts of ancient Israel,
was a safeguard from the angel of death, on that awful
night of slaughter, when all the first-born of Egypt

ADDRESS TO PARENTS. 141

perished, so the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit, with the emblem of that sanc-
tification which secures fellowship with God, is a sign
of infinite mercy, and protection from the destroyer.
But, as even in favored Goshen, no master of the
family might expect the preservation of his household,
unless, as commanded, he had gathered them home,
and sheltered them beneath that holy sign, so we may
never expect the blessings of the covenant upon any,
by whom the toJcen of the covenant is rejected. Look
then upon the face of that unoffending child. Re-
ceive its daily caresses, as daily remembrancers of its
uncovenanted exposure, and its claim, by birthright,
for blessings thus far unreasonably denied. Weep
mothers, weep ! that while you yourselves have en-
tered the fold, your little helpless ones, justly entitled
to the Shepherd's care, have been left, by your negli-
gence, without. Go gather them in from the world
and brinof them to Jesus. Present them before the
baptismal font —

A few calm words of faith and prayer,

A few bright drops of holy dew,
Shall work a wonder there,

Earth's charmers never knew.

Perhaps some parents, receiving new views of the
importance of baptism, may now begin to be perplex-
ed with fear, that while their children have been cere-
monially given up to God, there was a failure on their
part, of that faith which is necessary to make the of-
fering acceptable. You do well to institute that soul-
searching inquiry. For how can we expect the bles-

142 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

sings of a covenant which in fact we never made ?
I will suppose then that you presented your children
for baptism, in ignorance and thoughtlessness of the
solemn duty in which you was called to engage — and
that, considering it a mere naming ceremony, or gen-
teel Sabbath-day service, you have since experienced
from it no other reward. In remembrance of your
deficiency you do well to mourn. And if calamities
have befallen you, especially if these baptized ones
have been sources of anxiety or of grief, it will be
right to inquire, if it is not for this very neglect, that
God has a controversy with your house. Be this as
it may, a broken and a contrite spirit, even at this late
hour, is in the sight of God of great price. It may
not be possible, it certainly is not necessary, that you
should offer your children a second time for baptism.
They have already been introduced into the church,
and unless first excluded, cannot properly be admitted
again. What then is the remedy for this past defect
of faith ? It is found in the words of inspiration,
*' Repent and do thy first work." The outward act
was sufficient, and should not be repeated, but the in-
ward emotions were at fault. Let me entreat you
then to enter into som.e secret place and mourn, com-
mune with thine own ingathered spirit, and amidst the
multitude of its penitential thoughts, consecrate thy
children by earnest prayer to God, exercising that
faith in reference to their baptism, which ought to
have been experienced when it was administered.

You have a further duty towards those whom you
once offered to Christ. It is to inform them distinctly

ADDRESS TO PARENTS. 143

that the seal of God's covenant has been placed upon
them, and that they are under the highest obligations to
make acknowledgement of it. By private but earnest
prayer, by a more formal consecration of the family at
the domestic altar, if you are a householder ; by giv-
ing such instruction as circumstances will allow, you
are now prepared to lay hold by faith upon the cove-
nant, and appropriate through grace the blessings it
secures.

Nor is it necessary, let me repeat, to perform the
outward ceremony again. God's own appointed mark
is already upon your children. He has made the
covenant, and signed and sealed it, according to his
custom. Whenever it is recognised as his covenant
by you, and accepted in your heart and prayers with
an appropriating faith, then it becomes good, to all
the intents and purposes for which it was given.
Suppose that the baptismal token, instead of water
had been an image of the cross, visibly and indelli-
bly imprinted upon the forehead. The impress would
be the same, however great the strength or deficiency
of faith. It would ever stand forth, as an assurance
of peculiar covenant love, to all who possess corres-
ponding qualifications. So long as you are without
these, the agreement is incomplete. But the moment
you possess them the covenant becomes sure. Thus
in the case of baptized children, whose parents pre-
sented them without faith. Nothing more, by way of
visible sign, can be wanting on the part of God. His
token has been placed upon the children. Accept it,

144 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

ye fathers and mothers, by strong appropriating faith,
and it can never be disannulled.

It is safe and becoming in all parents frequently to
renew the baptismal vow, both secretly and in pre-
sence of their household. Again and again, you
should dedicate these objects of your love with your-
selves to God — again and again recognise in their pre-
sence, both your own covenant obligations and their
corresponding duties. In seasons of trial, when they
wilt in your arms, under the power of disease — in
times of discouragement, when you see them assailed
by temptations and ready to give way ; when, through
forgetfulness of their parents' God, they have come to
lay like a heavy burden upon your heart, what more
natural, as a means of relief, than retirement, self-
humiliation and prayer ; renew the covenant and plead
the promises — and as you rise from your knees, lo !
the bright baptismal bow stands forth upon the melan-
choly cloud which overhung your spirit. '' For the
mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but
my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall
the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord
that hath mercy on thee."

IV. Address to (he Baptized.

This subject demands the attention of all the bap-
tized. In the first place, of those baptized persons
who are themselves professors. " You have come
under solemn obligations from which you can never
escape." Whether you were consecrated to God by

ADDRESS TO THE BAPTIZED. 145

your parents, and have since assumed the baptismal
promises, by your own personal act, or whether you
were admitted to the church on profession of your
faith, you were introduced by the rite of water bap-
tism, and being now members in full communion, you
are accountable for a right discharge of all the duties,
— and performing your part of the engagement, are
entitled through grace to all the blessings of a person
in full covenant with God. I repeat the solemn words,
in full covenant with God. He who descended in
awful majesty on Sinai, — He who appeared in the
gentle form of Bethlehem's infant King, — He before
whose unapproachable light the ancient seraphim con-
tinually cry, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Al-
mighty,— He who in the person of crucified Imman-
uel, his only begotten son, is ever saying to the peni-
tent, be of good cheer thy sins are forgiven thee, —
.He whose treasures of goodness are an unfathomed
deep, and whose mercy endureth forever, — He has
entered into an everlasting covenant with you. His
promises are yea and amen, imperishable as his throne,
and no tongue can tell the blessings which, even when
ages on ages on ages shall have travelled by, his friend-
ship shall continue to secure. With this Being, your
God, you have entered into an engagement of allegi-
ance, obedience, confidence and love. By the bap-
tismal act, you was solemnly introduced into his
church, his temple, his name, his mysterious triune
being. Born of water, if you have also been born of
the spirit, then have you entered into the invisible as
13

146 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

well as the external kingdom of God. You have come
into his communion, his fellowship. You live beneath
the glorious cloud of his overshadowing deity. Patri-
archs, and priests of the inner temple, prophets and
apostles, holy confessors, and many a myriad of star-
crowned saints, whose "names" unknown on earth,
" are written in heaven," are but fellow-citizens with
you in the great household of faith. O, ye believers
in Jesus, introduced by baptism into the presence, into
the NAME of the Father, Son, and Spirit, called to an
endless progress in holiness, to ascend forever, mansion
above mansion in glory, what manner of persons ought
ye to be ? " Hold fast that which thou hast, that no
man take thy crown." The conflicts of life will soon
be over, its sorrows and sins will discomfit no more ;
and the sanctified spirit, realizing all that was em-
blemed by the cleansing water, shall stand forth in
the white baptismal robe of a Saviour's righteousness,
to go no more out of his presence forever.

2. I would address a few words to all baptized
persons who are not professors of religion, especially
those of whatever age, who are capable of under-
standing the nature, and taking upon themselves the ob-
ligations of that covenant under which they are placed.

Beloved friends, partakers of the heavenly calling,
you have been consecrated and set apart for God ;
and, on account of a parents' faith, the shadow of Al-
mighty protection has been over you to this day.
You are strictly members of the church — and heirs of
the promises. Before you were old enough to act for
yourselves, you were solemnly introduced by your pa-

ADDRESS TO THE BAPTIZED. 147

rents, as lambs of the same flock with themselves.
The Shepherd of Israel received you into his fold —
promising to be your God, during all your earlier
years — and ever after — jjrovided, that when you come
to an understanding age, you would assume your pa-
rents' vows as your own. To make the covenant
sure, and to assist the eye of faith by that of sense, he
set his own mark upon you. That mark or sign of
the covenant is baptism. As a sign, it represents the
necessity of spiritual cleansing. In other words, it
signifies that as water cleanses the body, so you, so
all, must be cleansed in spirit, before you can be ad-
mitted to the kingdom of heaven. This peculiar
mark of God was placed upon you, by his appoint-
ment. It was not done by your own act, nor by the
act of your parents who brought you in their arms to
the altar. It was done by the act of God. A human
hand indeed sprinkled the consecrated drops upon your
brow. But man though solemnly set apart by ordi-
nation vows, has no power or sacredness of his own.
He acts only as the agent, as the servant of God, who
has required him to place the seal of the covenant
upon the children of the covenant. God then, who
has a right to all, has designated you for himself. He
has said to the parents and to the church, " take this
child and bring it up for me, and I will be its God."
By this same baptismal act, the parents promised in
your name, that to the extent of their ability, you
should renounce the vanities of the world and the lusts
of the flesh, and live a Christian life. Every thins;
was done for your salvation, except what necessarily

148 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

depends on yourself. It only remains, that having
arrived at an understanding age, you now subscribe
with your own hand and heart, to the terms of this holy
covenant. Waiting for this your act, to which you
are bound by all that is sacred in parental and re-
deeming love, God has fulfilled his part of the prom-
ise, and has been your God thus far — preserving you
alive, and surrounding you with the restraining influ-
ences of his grace, and often reminding you, by a still
voice in the soul, that you are not your own. What
mean those stirrinofs of conscience — those occasional
meltings of heart — those secret impulses towards re-
pentance and towards God which you sometimes feel ?
What are they but the movements of his spirit, given
according to the baptismal covenant, and inciting you
to consecrate yourself to the God of your fathers !

Let me ask then, how have you fulfilled, on your
part, the baptismal vow ? You are of an age to act
for yourself. Have you chosen or renounced your pa-
rents' God — the God who received you in early child-
hood beneath the bright expanse of his all-surrounding
covenant ? Perhaps you have never before realized
that you are, strictly speaking, a member of the church
— that you ought to show forth in your conduct the
signs of renewing grace. Examine yourselves. Do
you hate sin ? Do you " delight in the law of the
Lord after the inward man ?" Do you exercise a
transforming faith in Jesus Christ? Do you hold
communion with your heavenly father? Do you
strive to keep all his commandments ? You ought
then to make a public profession of your faith I By

ADDRESS TO THE BAPTIZED. 149

solemnly avouching the Lord Jehovah to be your
God, in the presence of the congregation, you ought
to acknowledge the baptismal act of your parents to
be your own. Inquire not so much after the day or
the year of your spiritual birth, as for the evidences of
spiritual life. It may be that years ago the spirit of
God, in remembrance of this his everlasting covenant,
planted the seeds of grace in your heart. It may be
that in answer to parental prayers, ever flocking
around the throne of God, divine influences have been
descending, gently and unseen as the dew upon you —
and that on some favored season of unusual meltings
of soul, you may have begun to exercise a living faith.
If you have in your own experience the evidences of
a renewed heart, no longer delay to assume your bap-
tismal obligations, and acknowledge the faithfulness
of God in what he has done for your soul.

But if, alas, after all your privileges, you are a con-
scious stranger to that peace of God which passeth all
understanding, O then, let me expostulate with you,
on the exceeding ingratitude and sinfulness of your
course. By the rite of baptism you have been ad-
mitted to the church. The emblem of sanctification,
God's own appointed token, was placed upon your
brow. Perhaps at that awful moment a parent's heart
was beating high with liope and prayer— perhaps a
mother's tear mingled with the crystal drops, and
coursed down your unconscious cheek — perhaps some
guardian angel was appointed to watch over your err-
ing steps, and keep you, if possible, within the safe
enclosures of covenant love. What mean ye, O
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150 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

thoughtless ones, that with guilty feet ye have strayed
far away from the fold ? Parental love cries after
you, perhaps from the skies, "know thou, O my
child, the God of thy fathers and serve him with a
perfect heart !" God's seal is set upon you — there it
has been, through all the storms of passion, and all
the sinful wanderings of an unregenerate mind ! When
you mingled in the worldling's revelry — in all the
days of prayer restrained and holy fear cast by —
through every scene of reckless sin or more decent
impenitence, the imprint of his covenant has never
been effaced. The impure but baptized child —
though now perhaps a man of numerous years, still
wears the holy mark. There it rests upon his dishon-
ored brow — and shines alone when all around is dark.
And there it will forever rest, pointing out the bap-
tized sinner as a spirit of no ordinary guilt, in the
realms of woe.

O friends, children of the church, whether young
or advanced in years, let me entreat you, in the name
of parents offering you to God, in the name of that
Shepherd who gave his life a ransom for the sheep,
despise no more his holy covenant ; return to the fold
from which you have wandered, and henceforth follow
in the footsteps of the flock.

3. There is yet one class among you whose position
is peculiarly responsible. I refer to baptized non-pro-
fessors who are the parents of unbaptized children.
It is yours to interrupt or perpetuate the flow of cov-
enant blessings. They have descended in silvery
waves from the Abrahamic fountain. Siloa's brook,

ADDRESS TO THE BAPTIZED. 151

in its long meanderings, has found its way around
your dwelling, fertilizing the fields, and supplying
healthful waters for all the house. But by your own
negligence there is a gathering obstruction in the
stream, which if not soon removed, will change the
course of this sacred channel, and leave that beautiful
patrimony, which ought to descend in all its freshness
to your children's children, as an unwatered heath.
Will posterity call you blessed ? Can we venerate
and love the memory of an ancestor who negligently
squandered the estate which came to him with princely
privileges from his fathers, and which he was bound,
by natural affection and by oath, to transmit unim-
paired to his descendants ? Is there not cruelty be-
yond what is common among men to deny to our own
posterity, through thoughtlessness and sin, a name reg-
istered in the book of life ?

You my friends are in covenant with God. They
who taught your infant lips to say, our Father who
art in heaven, have committed to your trust a pearl of
great price, received from the skies, for themselves and
for all their descendants. I know not whether the
arms which brought you to the baptismal altar are yet
cold in death — or whether tears are still coursing along
the furrows of that cheek which wasted its youthful
bloom for you — but this I know, it is ingratitude, deep,
dark, I had almost said damning ingratitude, to throw
away, to tread under foot the everlasting covenant of
God, and deny this greatest of all blessings which
your fathers left you to your children. Seriously
consider, solemnly ponder, the dread responsibilities

152 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

under which you are placed. Remember the God of
your parents — and secure without delay his overshad-
owing covenant for your children.

There is one more topic which in this connection
will be briefly discussed. Such is the importance of
baptism — that some may anxiously inquire, have I
been so baptized, as to be recognised by the Head of
the church as a member of his visible kingdom ? Were
my parents properly entitled to the privilege? Did
they present the offering with acceptable faith ? Was
the ordinance administered by an authorized person?
Was the church that received me a true church of
Jesus Christ ? Is my baptism certainly valid without
repetition ?

In answer to these questions which have occasioned
distress in many minds, it should be observed, that if
the ceremonial validity of baptism is to depend upon
the complete qualification of all the persons engaged
in its administration, no individual could ever be cer-
tain that he had been properly baptized. W^e must
look then for some different principle by which to
solve the difficulty in question. If there was default
in the administration of the ordinance, the sin must
come upon the defaulters. If there was sacrilege,
they are accountable for it. But the validity of the
act, as respects the baptized person, is not destroyed.
God's mark may have been placed upon you by un-
authorized hands. But still his mark is upon you.
You was baptized not into the deficiencies of men, not
into the errors of any particular church, but into the
church which is God's temple, into the name of

ADDRESS TO THE BAPTIZED. 153

the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Whether lawfully or unlawfully, you have been ad-
mitted,— you are a member of the church, already
within its inclosures, with the badge of discipleship
upon you. Now if any person has performed this
act, without authority, on his own head be the sin.
As in the case of marriage, illegality in the ceremony,
while it exposes the violation of law to punishment,
does not impair the marriage contract.

Further ; all that was essential to you personally
in the ceremony has been performed. You have been
visibly consecrated to God, by the application of the
appointed emblem, and according to the prescribed
baptismal formula. Your personal acceptance of all
the obligations and privileges implied in this rite,
makes it good henceforth, whatever it may have been
heretofore. Be the deed more or less imperfect, as
respects the original signing, it becomes valid v/hen
you put your name to it. The seals of the instrument
are well enough, whoever may have put them on ;
the name, or your own spiritual reception of God's
covenant, is all that is wanted. Your case, to make
the worst of it, resembles that of some heathen child
among the ancient Canaanites or Moabites, whose pa-
rents, without authority or faith, performed upon him
the rite of circumcision, but who being afterwards con-
verted to Judaism, desires the privileges which belong
to the worshippers of Israel's God. He need not, of
course from the nature of the ceremony he cannot, be
circumcised again. The token of God is upon him,
let him now, by his own profession of faith, acknowl-

154 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

edge it, as God's token, bringing him under the re-
sponsibihties and blessings of the covenant, and he
will be received, unquestionably, as " an Israehte in-
deed."

Let no one infer from these remarks that informality
and negligence, and the want of right views and feel-
ings, in the administration of baptism, is deemed of
inconsiderable importance. How much more satisfac-
tory to all concerned, how much greater the probabil-
ity of securing divine favor, and of obtaining a fnfil-
ment of all the great and precious promises implied
in this rite, when the ofFerino- is made accordino; to the
divine appointment, and with true faith on the part of
pastor, parents and the church.

Present your babes before the altar, ye fathers and
mothers in covenant, after private meditation, humilia-
tion and prayer. Come to the temple with holy com-
munings and faith, and lay the child, as the cleansing
emblem falls upon it, into the bosom of your God.

Let silence pervade the sanctuary, while the house
is filled with the Unseen, making " the place of his
feet glorious."

Let the church bow reverently, with serious renewal
of her covenants, while mercy throws open the portals
of the kino;dom, to gather in another of the lost.

O that God's ambassadors, as with uplifted eyes
and heart and dripping hand, they say, I baptize
thee into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Ghost, might ever see the heavens open-
ed, and the spirit of God descending hke a dove and
lighting upon the children. And as the prayer goes

ADDRESS TO THE UNBAPTIZED. 155

on, " ratify in heaven what has now been done upon
earth ; let what is signified by water-baptism be
reahzed in this and all its subjects," O that the power
of the Highest might come upon the congregation, and
the Holy Spirit overshadow the children of the church,
while faith whispers in every heart, " 1 have blotted
out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a
cloud thy sins ; return unto me, for I have redeemed
thee."

V. Address to the Unbaptized,

To you, my friends, the ordinance of baptism has
never been administered, either on account of your
own faith or that of your parents. Christian faithful-
ness forbids concealment of your true condition. You
lie at the uncovenanted mercy of God justly dis-
pleased with the world, on account of sin. But I will
explain.

The scriptures fully teach the fall of man, and the con-
sequent sinfulness and ruin of the human race. In the
progress of ancient society, evil increased continually,
and filled the earth with violence. There was indeed
a gentle whisper of hope, addressed to attentive peni-
tence, but it came upon those wicked generations
before the deluge, like the first faint ray of morning
twilight upon a night of storms. Here and there a
solitary individual, like Enoch the seventh from Adam,
who was a preacher of righteousness and walked with
God, observed the heavenly harbinger, hailed it in
faith and rejoiced. But mankind, generally, almost

156 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

entirely, became so corrupt, that He who created
them, could not bear tliem m his sight. He swept
them from the face of the earth by the flood.

With one good man and his family, miraculously
preserved, God entered into a covenant, that he would
no more destroy the earth after this manner, "though,"
said he, " man be evil from his youth." In the midst
of these mighty works, humanity was put upon its
second trial. A few generations passed away, and
the, descendants of godly Noah had become nearly as
vile as their antediluvian progenitors. But instead of
destroying them a second time, God was pleased to
leave them to their own way, that they might be filled
with their own devices.

In this condition of things, he called Abraham out
of a land of idolaters, into the country which was af-
terwards possessed by his descendants ; and in con-
nection with the great faith and holiness of this indi-
vidual, having prepared his mind for it, he gave him
some intimations of infinite good in store for mankind,
and in his person laid the foundations of the church.
He entered into a covenant with him, for himself and
his posterity, saying, " in thee also shall all the na-
tions of the earth be blessed." He gave him the rite
of circumcision to assist the believer's faith, and per-
petuate religion in the world. As a sign, it repre-
sented the necessity of spiritual cleansing in order to
acceptance with God ; as a seal, it gave assurance of
mercy and blessings to all who should exercise faith.

This was the origin of the church. From these
small beginnings, made almost three thousand years

ADDRESS TO THE UNBAPTIZED. 157

ago, It gradually increased, till in process of time, after
a long period of darkness, distresses and deliverances
the posterity of Abraham, having become like the
stars for multitude, had overspread and possessed the
holy land ; called holy because inhabited by a people
in covenant with God.

This nation, after its deliverance out of Egypt, and
organization under Moses, became the peculiar dwell-
ing-place of the Most High. It was called "the con-
gregation of the Lord," and in the dying speech of
martyred Stephen, " the church of God in the wilder-
ness."

Within this ancient church, walled round by its
covenant, and by its peculiar initiatory rite — and sep-
arated from the more utterly corrupt portions of man-
kind— Jehovah began to make glorious and awful rev-
elations of himself. By a series of astounding miracles,
especially by his majestic descent on Sinai, he gave
visible assurance of his being, of his sovereignty, of
his almighty power, and of his goodness. In the
midst of this church, though many of its members were
utterly abandoned, and the whole body was often in
" a horror of great darkness," on account of its sins,
there arose a multitude of holy minds, prophets, seers,
kings, psalmists, martyrs, whose gigantic faith, and
splendid intellects, and noble deeds, have never been
surpassed ; as also a host of humbler saints, who would
have done honor to the apostolic or millennial age. It
is those of whom it is written, in the Epistle to the
Hebrews, that '' through faith they subdued kingdoms,
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158 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the
mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, and out
of weakness were made strong. Others had trial of
cruel mockings and scourgings ; yea, moreover, of
bonds and imprisonments. They were stoned, they
were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with
the sword ; they wandered about in sheep-skins and
goat-skins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented ; (of
whom the world was not worthy ;) they wandered in
deserts and in mountains, and in dens and in caves of
the earth. All these having obtained a good report
through faith, received not the promise" — i. e. the Mes-
siah— " God having provided some better thing for us,
that they without us should not be made perfect.'^

In this very church Jesus was born, nurtured, cru-
cified. He was its long promised Redeemer, its crown-
ing glory, its Lord. He came not to destroy it, but to
secure the fulfilment of the high intentions for which
it was founded. Standino; between the fores-oino; and
the succeeding eras, uniting in his own person baptism
and circumcision, the passover and the supper of the
Lord, he is a connecting link between the ancient and
modern end of the chain. Raised upon the cross, ex-
tending one of his bleeding arms over the old dispen-
sation and the other over the new, he binds them both
together in one church, of which himself is the centre,
the salvation and the Head ; and having given eternal
life to all the covenant children of God, throufrh their
faith in a Messiah to come, he offers the same blessing,
through the actually incarnate, crucified and risen
Saviour, to as many as come after him.

ADDRESS TO THE UNBAPTIZED. 159

Thus, after the awful darkness of the crucifixion,
the church came forth under its risen and ascended
leader, hke the sun emerging from a cloud ; or, like
the eagle, moulting her disarrayed plumage, she threw
off the slough of obsolete ceremonies and unspiritual
members, and spread her wings for a flight among the
nations, in all the beauty and young strength of a re-
generated existence.

From the time of this great revival, this moral res-
urrection of the church, the Holy Spirit has taken up
his unseen abode in the midst, and though often with-
drawing from the unspiritual, being grieved away, he
never has forsaken, he never will depart from his peo-
ple, till the kingdoms of the world become subject to
Christ.

The church in our day is still the same body as of
old, preserving its identity through all varieties of
change, adversity, and growth. The daughter of
heaven, the Zion of the old testament and the new,
walled in by her covenant, enriched by the ordinances
and oracles of God, irradiated by that unseen temple
which is greater than Solomon's, and rejoicing in her
King, she is the hope and the glory of the world.

It is into this sanctuary, this *' hiding place from the
storm, this refuge from the tempest, this shadow of a
great rock in a weary land," that you are invited to
enter. There is room enough in this many-mansioned
house, there is bread of heaven, (for men eat angels'
food,) there is water from the everlasting well, suffi-
cient for all. Admitted through the door of baptism,
having the three characteristics of discipleship, repent-

160 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

ANCE, FAITH, and OBEDIENCE, you may dwell hence-
forth beneath the bright expanse of Jehovah's cov-
enant.

Let not your minds be confused with any variety
of creeds, sects, and party names. "The visible
church," says the confession of faith, " consist of all
those throughout the world, that profess the true reli-
gion, together with their children, and is the kingdom
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the house and family of
God, out of which there is no ordinary pcssibility of
salvation."

The various provinces of the Saviour's kingdom,
may be more or less complete in their organization,
or loyal to their king. Some of them may be alien-
ated from others, and some by their idolatries, or un-
belief, may have cut themselves off from the fellowship
of the saints, and others still be exposed to punishment
on account of their sins. But the Head of the church
is able to manage all these its affairs. It is yours, to
submit yourself to his authority, to put yourself under
his government, receiving the visible token of mem-
bership, subscribing the covenant of allegiance, and
uniting yourself to the best portion of the church which
you can find, in the region where you dwell. By so
doing, you will become the blessed of the Lord, the
fellow-citizens of prophets and apostles, of seraphim
and angelic bands. You will belong to the innumer-
able company of the ransomed, and be the joyful sub-
jects of the great King.

From what has been said it will be seen that the
unbaptized are not in covenant with God. They are

ADDRESS TO THE UNBAPTIZED. 161

" aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and stran-
gers from the covenant of promise." For although
baptism is not a saving ordinance of itself, without
the regenerating power of the spirit, — and although
the want of baptism will not exclude those who are
entitled to it, but cannot obtain it, from everlasting
life after death, — yet what confidence can we have in
the piety or salvation of any, by whom baptism is de-
spised or intentionally neglected. " He that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved." " Except a man be
born of water and of the spirit he cannot see the king-
dom of God." Both the outward ordinance and the
corresponding inward grace are made essential, by the
Head of the church. In the case of adults, spiritual
regeneration precedes baptism, as in Mark xvi, 16.
Amongr the infants of believers, the birth of water
naturally precedes the birth of the spirit, as in John
iii, 5.

The church, and her King, extends the invitation
of covenant love to all the unbaptized. Come, ye
weary and heavy laden, ye tempest-tossed and troub-
led, come. Fathers and mothers, young men and
maidens, old men and children, come. Come lowly,
come with repentance, with faith, with " a full pur-
pose of and endeavor after new obedience," and you
will find admission not only to the church on earth,
but through its humble peaceful walks, to that tem-
ple which is not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens.

Nor is it necessary for children who are old enough
to understand these remarks, to abide ever in the cold
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162 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

Storms without, until their parents bring them in.
Born, many of them, around the church, near enough
to see its hght and hear its rejoicings, secretly sighing
to enter, they invite the sympathy of all who dwell
beneath the covenant of God. They cannot, they
must not reproach their parents ; but they cannot,
they ought not to forget, that the father whom they
reverence, the mother whom they love, have never
sought for them that heavenly inheritance, to which
they might otherwise be entitled. For this class my
sensibilities bleed, and were it of any avail, my tears
would freely flow 1 We cannot accuse them of per-
sonal guilt, in being aliens by birth ; nor can we con-
ceal the fact, that while an awful cloud hangs over
the world on account of sin, they remain unsheltered
by that covenant, which God has provided for his
flock, not excluding the lambs. Nor will we deny,
that the children of n on -professors must give evidence
of personal faith before they can receive those privi-
leges, which no believing parent or authorized sponsor
has secured for them.

But my young friends, there is encouragement for
you. Are you sorry for your sins, with that sorrow
which leads you to forsake them? Though weak in
faith, have you such confidence in Christ as enables
you cordially to acknowledge him as your Saviour ?
Have you such love to Jesus as makes you earnestly
desire to be like him and obey him ? Then you may
come to the baptismal altar, and receiving the sacred
ordinance at the hands of God's messenger, be hence-
forth as others, a child of the covenant.

CONCLUSION.

I have said nothing respecting the mode of baptism,
nor is it necessary. The leading idea in christian
baptism is neither sprinkHng, nor affusion, nor immer-
sion. It is rather a visible restoration of lost com-
munion with God, a solemn introduction into the
name and fellowship of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Ghost. Water is a beautiful emblem
of that inward spiritual purification, without which
man being unclean is incapable of admission into the
kingdom. By its use in the administration of bap-
tism, the subject of it confesses what God has affirm-
ed, the necessity of a new and spiritual birth in order
to salvation, while at the same time he professedly
surrenders himself to those cleansing influences which
he infinitely needs.

God has been pleased to appoint this ordinance
also as a seal of his covenant with the penitent and
believing sinner ; — as an assurance that instead of the
law of works which requires perfect obedience from
the beginning, he will accept the righteousness of
faith. The cheerful reception of this baptismal seal,
thus placing implicit confidence in the divine promise
as did Abraham, is in itself an act of faith and amonor
the first fruits of the spirit.

164 INFANT CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.

In order then to acceptable baptism, we must be
solemnly introduced into the visible kingdom of God,
by the baptismal formula, and with the use of water
as a sign of spiritual cleansing, and as a seal of the
righteousness of faith. Thus we are baptized not
into an ocean, nor into a basin, but into the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.
Of what consequence is it, — to Him who has said,
" ivash you, make you clean " — " 1 will pour out my
spirit upon the gentiles " — " So shall he sprinkle
many nations ; " and again, " I will sprinlde clean
water upon you and ye shall be clean " — whether the
mere outward emblem of the inward spiritual grace,
thus variously represented, should descend upon its
subjects like the dew, be poured out as a shower, or
overwhelm as the sea ? Let us be solemnly intro-
duced into the covenant presence of God ; let us en-
ter the fold from which we have so grievously de-
parted ; let us receive upon ourselves the good Shep-
herd's mark ; let us live with Christ in faith and obe-
dience, and the covenant love of the Father will not
fail.

It is earnestly hoped that the time is not distant
when the true nature of the church, and the design of
its ordinances will be better understood. It is God's
institution, the pavilion of the Highest, the temple of
the Holy One. The terms of admission are repent-
ance and faith — actual repentance and faith in the
case of adults, prospective repentance and faith in the
case of their children. The initiatory rite is baptism.
All baptized persons, not excluding infants, are mem-

CONCLUSION. 165

bers of it, to be educated amidst its enlightening, re-
generating and sanctifying influences — to be kindly
restrained from evil, and trained up in the nurture and
admonition of the Lord. What Christian, about to
enter the celestial city, would not wish to leave his
children within the enclosures of his Saviour's earthly
kingdom, where the inhabitants, professedly brethren,
are all bound to seek the eternal good of each other's
offspring, especially of those fatherless and motherless
ones, who otherwise might be fatally exposed to the
temptations of the world. The church indeed is not
the Saviour, nor should it be regarded with supersti-
tious veneration — nor ever be suffered to stand be-
tween the soul and God. But as an institution al-
ways illumined, when in its best estate, with the im-
mediate presence of the Spirit, as a divinely appointed
means of grace to its young members, let it be held in
the highest estimation. Let its adult members be
faithful to their trusts, so that dying believers when
they bid adieu to their weeping orphans, may rest the
more confidently upon the covenant promises of God
while they feel an assurance that these objects of their
love, will still enjoy the prayers, the instructions, the
affectionate supervision of saints — and instead of be-
ing neglected and suffered to grow up as heathen, for-
getful of their father's God, will be educated for glory,
honor and immortality, and for a happy re-union with
them, in the society of all the church of the first-born
in heaven.

u^i