{29} The rubric at the close of the baptismal service is sometimes
quoted in opposition to the above statements. “It is certain from God’s
word, that children which are baptized, dying before they commit actual
sin, are undoubtedly saved.” From this it is argued, that the Church
does enter into the particular case of infants, and teach their
invariable regeneration. “If saved,” it is said, “they must be
justified—and if justified regenerate. Hence, as the Church declares all
dying children to be saved, she teaches thereby that all baptized
children are regenerate.” The unsoundness of such an argument is best
seen by following it to its conclusions: for it would be quite as sound
reasoning to say that if justified they must be believers, and if
believers, possessed of judgment and responsibility. The fallacy lies in
this: it is taken for granted that God applies the saving blood of Christ
in the same way, and the same way alone, to unconscious infants and
responsible adults. As there is no foundation for this in Scripture, the
whole argument falls to the ground. Would that churchmen were content to
follow the example of our Church, to accept the assurance of infant
salvation without straining it into a system, or attempting to define
what God has left unrevealed!