"Father," said Dorothy, "you must listen to the Doctor for me and give me the points when I return."
CHAPTER IX.
CIRc.u.mCISION TO THE RESCUE.
"Let me say," continued the Doctor, "that I have not yet mentioned the strongest reason for infant baptism."
The remark waked new hope in Sterling.
"What is that reason, Doctor?" asked the father.
"It is the argument of circ.u.mcision. In the Old Testament times the command was that every male child of Jewish parents should be circ.u.mcised. This circ.u.mcision made the child a member of the Jewish church and of the covenant of grace. Now in the Christian dispensation, after Christ came, circ.u.mcision was done away with and baptism was put in its place, and it is now baptism instead of circ.u.mcision that admits one into the church."
"You are getting into deep water for me, but let me make the effort to catch your point. You say that in the olden times--"
"Yes, in the days of the Old Testament."
"Well, you say that in those days every male child of Jewish parents was circ.u.mcised and thereby admitted into the Jewish church, and so in the Christian church every male child--"
"No, not simply every male child, but every child, both male and female, who was baptized was admitted into the Christian church."
"Well, why this difference? If they circ.u.mcised only the males in the old church, why do you not baptize simply the males in the Christian church if baptism is put in the place of circ.u.mcision?"
"There is no reason why the females, as well as the males, should not be baptized, but there was a difference in the matter of circ.u.mcision."
"This is surely a new kind of argument for infant baptism."
"I think it is a very natural one. G.o.d does not change his plans of dealing with his people. In the first covenant all Jewish children were admitted into the covenant simply because their parents were members of the commonwealth or church, and the condition of their admission was their circ.u.mcision. Now if G.o.d would admit the children in the old dispensation, would he not admit them also in the new? And what is the sign under the new dispensation? Is it circ.u.mcision? Oh, no; it is baptism. That seems plain and unanswerable."
"So then it is not the inherent heavenly nature of the child, but the fact that one of the parents is a Christian that makes you baptize his little ones."
"Yes, that is the reason. The parent must of course promise to train the child aright. Circ.u.mcision was the door to the Old Testament church, while baptism is the door to the New Testament church."
"Here is a foot note in this family Bible on this pa.s.sage," said the father. "It says that "in the old dispensation all the natural children of Abraham were by circ.u.mcision admitted into the Jewish church; so now all who are the spiritual children of Abraham are by baptism admitted into the Christian church"."
"Exactly so," exclaimed the brother. "The contrast is between the natural and the spiritual children of Abraham. The natural descendants of Abraham, who were of course Jews, were admitted by circ.u.mcision. I think if you wish to run the parallel you must follow that line. In the Old Testament it was a natural relationship and in the New Testament it is a spiritual relationship."
"Son, you are surely on the right track. This foot note here says "all believers are the spiritual children of Abraham". Christ said he could raise up children unto Abraham, who was the father of the faithful.
Every such believer is ent.i.tled to baptism and church membership. Why, that is plain. It runs this way: In the old dispensation all natural children of Abraham were admitted by circ.u.mcision. In the new dispensation all spiritual children of Abraham--that is, all believers--are admitted by baptism; but you will notice, Doctor, if the spiritual children are believers there can be no infants among them."
The brother was busy looking in the subject index of the Bible for pa.s.sages about circ.u.mcision in the New Testament, and he soon remarked: "Here is an account of a discussion in a council concerning circ.u.mcision. It is found in the book of Acts, the fifteenth chapter."
"Read it," said the father. "We want light on this subject."
"That council met in Jerusalem and was made up of the apostles and other disciples to consider certain doctrinal matters," said the Doctor.
Roland began to read the account of the council: ""And certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren and said except ye be circ.u.mcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.""
"Now you are getting at the core," said the father. "You see they are discussing whether they have to be circ.u.mcised. I guess the apostles will say they need not be circ.u.mcised because baptism has been put in its place. Read along and see if it does not say that."
He ran his eye down every verse, but could find no such statement.
"Do I understand that they came together in that council to discuss whether circ.u.mcision was necessary for salvation, and that nothing was said about baptism having been put in its place?" asked Mr. Page.
"It certainly looks that way," said Roland.
"What did that council decide?" asked the father.
"The council decided that it was not necessary for the Gentiles to be circ.u.mcised," answered Mr. Sterling.
"Who were the Gentiles?" asked the father.
"They were all the people who were not Jews."
"You mean that they were discussing whether it was necessary for the Gentiles to be circ.u.mcised, and that it was decided that it was not necessary, and now do you say that nothing in this discussion was said about baptism having taken the place of circ.u.mcision?"
"Oh, this may have been said in the discussion, but there is no record of it."
"They would hardly have left it out of the record if there had been any mention of it in the discussion. I notice here in this chapter they give the different reasons for their views; but the word baptism is not mentioned. If baptism had taken the place of circ.u.mcision, would it not have been natural for one of the apostles to have said something like this: "Why, of course it is not necessary to be circ.u.mcised, because baptism has taken the place of circ.u.mcision." That would have settled the question."
"I have another point," said Doctor Vincent, "but let"s wait a few moments for Miss Dorothy"s return."
In a few minutes Dorothy rejoined the party and the Doctor remarked:
"I can show you that the Bible teaches plainly that G.o.d will take the faith of the Christian parent for that of the child."
"Do show it to us," said Dorothy, eagerly.
"Paul declares that the faith of a parent makes the child holy and sanctifies the child."
"I don"t know what you mean by sanctifying the child, but show us that pa.s.sage, Doctor."
"Let me see if I understand your point, Doctor Vincent," said Mr. Page.
"You a.s.sert that the Bible declares that the faith of a parent will make the child holy?"
"Yes."
"I want to see that pa.s.sage."
The Doctor turned to 1 Cor. 7:14 and read: ""For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; else were your children unclean but now are they holy.""
"h.e.l.lo," said Mr. Page, "that sounds like it."
"It is very plain," said the Doctor. "The apostle has said that a believer must not marry an unbeliever; but then someone may say: "Suppose a believer has already married an unbeliever, must the believing wife leave her unbelieving husband?" "No," says Paul. "The believing wife sanctifies the husband and thus the marriage is not unclean, but a proper one." The fact that one of the parties is an unbeliever does not make the union an unclean one, but he says the child of such a union is holy. Note that. What does he mean by that word "holy"? The Jews, according to the old covenant, regarded all who were not Jews as unclean or unholy; that is, as not partakers of the holy covenant. But all of Abraham"s descendants were holy; that is, were partakers of the covenant, and Paul here states that the children of Christian parents, even though only one of the parents was a believer, were holy."