THE CALL FOR REINFORCEMENTS.
That evening Sterling and the old Doctor arrived. The Doctor was acquainted with all the Pages except Dorothy. After a preliminary skirmish in the conversation Dorothy remarked:
"It is very kind in Mr. Sterling to be trying to instruct me in these church matters, for I feel very ignorant. He and I have not agreed on all points, but the discussion has helped me greatly."
"I think Miss Dorothy is afraid to take me as her guide as she is trying to climb these heights of Bible truths," said Sterling with a faint smile, "and I have brought over a more skilled and experienced leader."
"Maybe she will not endorse your selection," said the Doctor with a smile at Sterling.
"I see you are making me out as being not only hard to please, but also very ungrateful to my friends. You will find me a very interested and appreciative listener, Doctor, to anything you may be kind enough to say to me."
"We are to talk about infant baptism tonight, and, Doctor, if you are willing, I suggest that you give the reasons for this practice," said Sterling.
"You are laying out quite a program for me. I will attempt, however, to bring it within brief compass. The first fact I would mention is Christ's treatment of the little children."
"Did he baptize them?" broke in Dorothy.
"Hold on, daughter," said the father. "You open up your artilleries too soon. The Doctor was merely making a skirmish."
"Pardon me, Doctor Vincent. I ought not to have broken into your remarks so abruptly, and yet I am sure you understand that I ask because I am deeply interested."
"Break in at any time and I shall be glad."
She repeated her question: "Did Christ baptize the little children?"
"We are not told expressly that he did, but we read in Matthew 19:13 that when the little ones were brought to him the disciples sought to prevent it."
"Just as a good many people would do today," said Sterling.
"Yes," continued the Doctor, "but Christ said, 'Suffer little children and forbid them not to come unto me, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven'."
"Maybe they were bringing the little children to him for him to baptize them," said the father. "What about that, Doctor? Doesn't it tell what they brought the children for?"
Dorothy had turned to the passage and remarked: "Yes, it tells what they brought the children for. They brought little children to Christ that he might put his hands on them and pray. There is nothing there about baptism. It looks plain that they did not bring them to be baptized, because it simply says 'to put his hands on them and pray'."
"At any rate," said the Doctor, "it showed Christ's tenderness for little children. The point is this: He said 'of such is the Kingdom of Heaven'. Think of that. It is a remarkable statement about the little ones."
"What did he mean by the words 'of such is the Kingdom of Heaven', and what have they to do, Doctor, with baptism?"
"A great deal, my daughter. They mean that the little child has the heavenly nature."
"I think that is a beautiful idea, but what has that to do with the baptism of infants?"
"Why, this: If anybody is entitled to baptism, surely a little child with its heavenly nature is. We may make mistakes in baptizing old persons who claim the right of baptism, but never can we be mistaken in the case of a little child."
"I can understand about the beautiful nature of a child before sin has taken hold of its will," said Dorothy, "but why that little helpless one should be baptized I cannot understand."
"I thought you were deciding all these questions by the Bible," said the father. "What does the Book say about it, Doctor? Do you baptize them because you think it is appropriate to baptize the sweet little ones or because you think the Bible commands it?"
"It is from the Bible alone that we get the authority."
"Where is it commanded in the Bible, Doctor?" asked Dorothy.
"It is not definitely commanded, but it is implied in many ways. We baptize grown people who profess to be born of the Spirit of God and to be regenerated by his grace. How much more, therefore, should we baptize an infant who does not need to be regenerated, because, according to Christ's own words, it possesses the heavenly nature. It is often claimed by our opponents that infants must not be baptized because faith and repentance—in other words, regeneration—must come before baptism. All right, I answer; the infant possesses those necessary qualifications for baptism. It does not need regeneration. It already, according to Christ's own words, possesses the heavenly nature and needs not to go through the process of regeneration. In another place Christ said: 'Unless ye become converted and become as a little child ye cannot see the Kingdom.' There you see conversion is compared to the condition of the child nature. Christ said a person desiring conversion must become like a little child. Now we know that a converted person is entitled to and must receive baptism. Why, then, could not a child be baptized?"
"Doctor Vincent," said Dorothy, "it seems to me that the whole matter hinges on the question as to who was commanded in the Bible to be baptized. Does Christ say that all persons having the heavenly or child-like nature must be baptized? If so, why did he not baptize the little ones the day they were brought to him? It looks as if the disciples did not know anything about baptizing the little ones."
"No, they seemed to know very little about Christ's attitude towards children."
"Let me ask this question, Doctor," said Dorothy. "You spoke of the heavenly nature of the infant. When an infant is baptized and grows up, does the baptism cause the heavenly nature to stay with the child?"
"Not necessarily."
"What good, then, does the baptism do? Do you mean that a baptized infant might grow up to be a fearful villain?"
"Yes, it is possible."
"Well, do the baptized infants have a less tendency to sin than the unbaptized infants?"
"No. I can't say that the baptism itself has any effect on the infant. Neither does it have any effect on the grown person that is baptized and disgraces his baptism received in later life."
"But is there not this difference, that in the case of grown people you baptize only those who desire baptism, but in the case of infants you do not make such distinction?"
"It seems to me," said the father, "that the important question is, who in the Bible are commanded to be baptized? Does the Bible say that infants must be baptized or not?"
"No," replied the Doctor, "it does not say that."
"Well, who are entitled to baptism?"
"Let me get my concordance," said Dorothy, rising from her seat, "and look at the passages about baptism so as to see who are commanded to be baptized."
She began with the aid of the concordance to pick out the passages having the word "baptize" in them. She read: "'He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.'"
"Hello!" said the father. "Who said that?"
"Those are the words of Christ," said Doctor Vincent.
"That looks as if a person had to believe before he could be baptized. But give us another one, daughter."
"Here is one: 'When they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized both men and women.'"
"There it is again," exclaimed the father, "believing coming before baptizing."
"And notice," said Dorothy, "it says they were baptized 'both men and women', but it does not say 'and children'. But here is another: 'See, here is water, what doth hinder me to be baptized? And he said, if thou believest with all thy heart thou mayst be baptized.'"
"There it is again," spoke up the father. "If he believed then he could be baptized. Evidently that writer considered believing essential to baptism."
Dorothy read on: "'Many of the Corinthians hearing believed and were baptized.' Isn't it strange? Every time it is those that believed that were baptized. Here is another: 'Then Simon himself believed also, and when he was baptized he continued with Philip.' And again: 'Then they that gladly received his Word were baptized.' They do not use the word 'believe' in that passage, but the words 'gladly received his Word', and these are practically the same; they not only heard his Word, but received it, and received it gladly."
"Oh, they were genuinely converted," said the Doctor. "There can be no doubt about that. It occurred on the day of Pentecost and those converts continued in the apostles' doctrine and bore good fruit."
"You see, Doctor," said Dorothy, "that those who were baptized in New Testament times first believed. You say that infants ought to be baptized because they have the heavenly and converted nature; but the Bible does not say that. Those who were baptized first believed. Now an infant cannot believe. I do not feel, Doctor, that I know a hundredth part as much of the Bible as you know, but don't you think that Christ meant by those words about little children and the Kingdom of Heaven that they must cultivate the qualities of a little child and that the child nature was a type of the heavenly nature? He did not connect this with baptism."
"Did you know that whole families were baptized?" asked the Doctor. "Many times baptisms were administered in homes not simply on those who believed, but on the whole family, young and old."
"But are you sure, Doctor, that there were infants in those families?"
"Not absolutely sure, but almost; at any rate the burden of proof is on those who deny that infants were in any of those families."
"Show us some of the accounts of family baptisms," said the father. "It does look a little curious, daughter."
They turned first to Acts 16:13-15: "'And a certain woman, named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, which worshiped God, heard us, whose heart the Lord opened that she attended unto the things that were spoken of Paul. And when she was baptized and her household she besought us, saying.'"
"How do you know there were any infants in her household? It does not even say she was married," said Dorothy. "She was a seller of purple and maybe she was an unmarried woman working for her living. At any rate I do not see that you can prove that she had any infants in her household."
"It looks to me," said the father, "as if that woman was a working woman and as if her household were her fellow-workers, and that there were probably no infants among them."
"Here is another passage," said the Doctor, "in 1 Corinthians 1:16: 'And I baptized also the household of Stephanus.' Will you affirm there were no infants there? How many households do you think I could baptize without hitting upon an infant? Why do you exclude infants?"
The brother was busy looking through the concordance to see if he could find out something more about this Stephanus and his household, and in a few moments he exclaimed: "Here is some light on the household of Stephanus in 1 Corinthians 15:15. It reads: 'Ye know the house of Stephanus.' There you have it again—'the house of Stephanus'. That must have been an interesting house: 'Ye know the house of Stephanus, that it is the first fruits of Achaia and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints.'"
"You see, Doctor," said Dorothy, "it seems that that household were intelligent people and acted for themselves, and therefore were not infants. Just notice what it says—that the house of Stephanus were 'the first fruits of Achaia'. What does that mean—'the first fruits'?"
"Why, the first fruits are the first grain that is gathered in a harvest."
"Oh, I see. Then the members of Stephanus' household were the first ones to accept Christianity in Achaia, and if they accepted Christianity of course they were not infants."
"But it may have meant that they were the first ones in Achaia to be baptized—'the first fruits' in that sense—and if so, there could have been infants in the house."
"But notice what comes in the next verse: 'And that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints.' You don't think, Doctor, he would speak of infants addicting themselves to the ministry of the saints, do you?"
"It looks as if you will have to surrender on that point, gentlemen," said Mr. Page. "I am a novice in Bible teaching, and yet it does seem plain that that household were intelligent folks—the first to be converted in Ach——"
"Achaia," spoke up Dr. Vincent.
"Thanks for the word, the first fruits of Achaia, and they also 'addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints'. I don't think you had better look for any young ones in that bunch."
"I give you another household," said the Doctor. "It is in Acts 16:33. It is in the story of Paul and Silas' experience in prison and the conversion of the jailer at midnight. It reads: 'He took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes and was baptized, he and all his straightway.' Now, my fair debater, I suppose you will declare in most solemn tones that there were no infants in the jailer's family. May I ask for your verdict on that point?"
"Look here," said Dorothy, who was examining the passage: "It says plainly that all of them 'did believe'."
"Stop, daughter," said the father. "You are joking about that."
"Listen to the next verse," she said: "'And when he had brought them into his house he set meat before them and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house."
"Take down your flag, gentlemen," exclaimed the father impulsively. "Your guns are silenced. The jailer believed in God with 'all his house'. Well, I guess that means that all his house believed with him, and they must have been very sprightly infants and quite overgrown to have joined their father in that believing."
"It says they all rejoiced also," said Dorothy. "And look at the verse preceding: 'And they spake the Word of the Lord to all that were in the house.' That came before they were all baptized. They 'spake the Word to all'. Notice the 'all', to all that were in the house. I guess that 'all' that were in the house must have been old enough to understand his preaching if he spoke the Word to all of them. Doctor," she asked, "do you think you can find an infant in that attentive, believing, rejoicing household?"
"Read us about another household baptism," as she noted that the Doctor seemed to be closing the Bible.
"This completes the list of household baptisms. I think they are sufficient."
"But, Doctor, not one of these households are said to have had children in them, and if they did have children the children must have been old enough to believe, because it is stated in the case of every one of them that those that were baptized believed or received the word that was spoken. They were all old enough to hear, to understand and to believe the Word."
"From all the passages which I have heard in these discussions," said the father, "one thing seems to stand out very plainly about baptism, and that is that in the Bible times faith had to come before baptism."
"If this is so," said Dorothy, "then infant baptism is unscriptural, because it is a baptism without faith. Infants can not exercise faith."
"Daughter," said the Doctor, "you are mistaken. I can show you that in the case of every infant baptism there is always a faith that precedes the baptism."
"What do you mean, Doctor?" asked Dorothy in great perplexity.
At this moment the telephone bell rang and Dorothy was called to speak to a girl friend, who extended to her an invitation for a carriage ride on the next afternoon. In a few moments the conversation was resumed.