The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology - Saint Mary ...

the Church? And yet if we surrender it--if we say the doctrine of Baptism
is not a fundamental one in our system, men lay teach among us on this
point what they please. What is to prevent these views from being
preached in our pulpits and taught in our houses?
A second feature of the Calvinistic view of Baptism is, that to those
perfectly alike in all personal respects, Baptism comes with entirely
different functions. To one infant it signs and seals communion in the
covenant, insertion into Christ, justification and regeneration; to another,
perfectly alike in all personal respects, it signifies and seals nothing. No
parent knows what his child receives in Baptism, whether it be a mere
handful of water on its hair, or the seal of blessings, infinite like God, and
irrevocable to all eternity. The minister does not know what he has done;
whether he has sealed the everlasting covenant of God with an immortal
soul, or thrown away time and breath in uttering mocking words, to that
little being which smiles and prattles, in utter unconsciousness that it is
abandoned to a destiny of endless pain, of unspeakable horror. Can we
give up the baptismal doctrine of our Church for this? Our Church tells us
that Baptism makes the offer of the same blessing to every human creature
who receives it; that a difference in the result of Baptism depends upon no
lack of the divine grace, on no secret counsel of God, but upon the
voluntary differences of adults--and that as there are no such differences in
infants, there is no difference in the effects of Baptism to them. Surely
Lutherans should stand shoulder to shoulder in this, that whatever be the
blessing of Baptism, be it little or great, vague or well-defined, it is offered
alike to all, and conferred alike upon all who do not present in themselves
the voluntary barrier to its reception. Yet if we say the doctrine of Baptism
is non-fundamental, these very errors may be set forth in our theological
chairs, taught in our Catechisms, and set forth in our pulpits.
A third element of the Calvinistic doctrine of Baptism is, that to those
for whom any of the blessings of Baptism are designed, it supposes the
sealing of as great blessings, as on the strongest sacramental theory, even
that of the Church of