Protestantism in Switzerland - James Aitken Wylie

outward form.
Proceeding on this principle, the sum of what
he maintained in all his disputations with the
Anabaptists, and in all that he published from the
press and the pulpit, was that inasmuch as
circumcision was administered to infants under the
Old Testament, it is clear that they were regarded
as being, by their birth, members of the Church,
and so entitled to the seal of the covenant. In like
manner the children of professing parents under the
New Testament are, by their birth, members of the
Church, and entitled to have the Sacrament of
baptism administered to them: that the water in
baptism, like the blood in circumcision, denotes the
removal of an inward impurity and the washing by
the Spirit in order to salvation; and that as
circumcision bound to the observance of God's
ordinances, so baptism imposes an obligation to a
holy life.[12]
Footnotes:
1. See ante, bk. 9.
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