“Did you ever hear one say such a thing?” asked the Doctor.
“No sir; I never did.”
“And did you ever see anybody that heard a Presbyterian minister preach it?”
“No, sir.”
“No; and you never will,” said the Doctor with emphasis. “That is an old slander without the slightest foundation. We would instantly depose any Presbyterian minister who would dare to make such an assertion. The truth is, we believe that all infants that die are saved.”
“Your Confession says something about infants, does it not, Doctor?”
“O, yes. Give me the book, and I will find it for you. Here it is. Chapter X: ‘Elect infants, dying in infancy, are regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit, who worketh when, and where, and how He pleaseth.”
“Elect infants, Doctor? Does not that imply that there are non-elect infants?”
“You can put that construction upon it, if you wish,” said the Doctor; “but the term is explained in several ways. I really do not know which view the framers of the Confession intended we should take. So we are at liberty to construe it in that way which appears most consistent to us.”