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the great object of the apostle to prove this, in the comparison which he makes between Adam and Christ, in the fifth chapter to the Romans. I have not time to illustrate the whole passage. It will be sufficient for my present purpose to quote a single verse, (18.) "Therefore, as by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so, by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." These words surely imply that all who were condemned by Adam, have an opportunity under the gospel, of obtaining righteousness and eternal life: but this evidently would not be the case with those who die in infancy, if they were not, in consequence of this atonement, received into glory.

Do you ask, how is this salvation of infants through Christ consistent with the declarations of the gospel, that we become interested in the Saviour only by faith? How can this faith be exercised by infants who are yet without understanding? Without remarking that those passages of scripture, which require explicit acts of faith, relate to adults, it will be a sufficient answer to this question, that although infants may not exercise the same acts of faith with adults, they may have what the apostle calls "the same spirit of faith;" (2 Cor. iv. 13.) a temper of soul in consequence of its renewal by the Holy Ghost, to receive, with proper dispositions, every truth that God will reveal: and this is the most important part of faith, for it is "with the heart man believeth unto righteousness."* (Rom. x. 10.)

6. The nature and design of baptism lead us to the belief of the salvation of infants. It is an ordi

* See M'Knight on Epis. I. 197. 262.

nance in which the Lord meets children at their first entrance into the world, and offers to them the blessings of the new covenant; which blessings they shall enjoy, except they afterwards wilfully reject them. The water of baptism, applied in the name and by the authority of God to the child, is a standing token of his tender and parental regard; denotes the blood of Christ poured out and sprinkled upon the soul for its justification; and also the sanctifying influences of that Spirit, who was promised in the figurative language of the old dispensation, "I will sprinkle clean water upon you." When the seal of God, betokening the two great blessings of the covenant, is by his authority applied to the child, shall we doubt of its salvation, if in infancy it is removed from earth?

But, you ask, Are those children received into heaven who die without baptism? That they are not, is the general sentiment of the Romish church; and has been maintained by a number of protestants, from whom we should have expected more liberal opinions. "It is," says good Bishop Hall, "the hard sentence of a bloody religion." It is true, that those parents who neglect it, where they have an opportunity of having it administered, are criminal, and treat with contempt a precious ordinance of God. But the grace of God is not inseparably attached to the sacraments. Baptism is necessary now, as circumcision was of old; and yet many Israelitish infants died without this in ordinary times, and especially during the forty years it was neglected in the wilderness, and yet were not lost. If every unbaptized child were banished from heaven, the infant would eternally bear the sin of the father, contrary to the express assertion of God; (Ezek.

xviii. 20. Deut. xxiv. 16.) and the everlasting doom of the babe would depend upon a mortal like itself.

7. The accounts that are given us of the proceedings of the judgment-day, prove that infants will not then be condemned. These accounts are numerous and varied, but they without exception concur in representing those who are banished from the presence of the Lord as his enemies by wicked works, and rejecters of the great Redeemer. Every one there bears his own burden; no one is punished except for personal sins, or sentenced to misery except for actual transgressions.

8. The scriptural representation of the torments of hell conducts to the same conclusion. These torments are all connected with the recollection of the past. The remembrance of despised mercies, of neglected opportunities, of a refused Saviour, of sins committed and duties omitted: this remembrance excites the lashes of an enraged conscience, and constitutes the "worm which never dieth." But of such suffering he who died in infancy is utterly incapable.

9. Finally the doctrine which I have been defending perfectly harmonizes with the gospel plan of salvation. The papist, who looks for heaven as the reward of human merit; the Arminian, who acknowledges no election that is not founded on good works foreseen; cannot, without opposition to their respec- ] tive systems, defend infant salvation; since these departed babes possessed no merit, and since in them no good works could be foreseen. But the advocate of the doctrines of grace, who believes that salvation is the gift of undeserved mercy, and that election is founded only on the good pleasure of

God, can consistently maintain the proposition with which I began this illustration, that God has ordained to confer eternal life, through Jesus Christ, on all whom he has ordained to remove from earth before they arrived at years of discretion.

Having thus given you a rapid sketch of the arguments which lead to the belief of infant salvation, I must, with similar brevity, present to you a few inferences from this subject.

1. Learn from it the preciousness of the word of God. The scriptures are indeed the book of the unhappy. They alone can present sufficient consolations under the multiplied afflictions that we experience on earth. In the loss of children, on the death of friends, in poverty, reproach, sickness, or dissolution, they afford consolations no where else to be found. Then prize them more; esteem them your treasure; they are calculated to be" your song and rejoicing in the house of your pilgrimage." Bless God for the sublime prospects they give, and the precious promises they contain; secure an interest in these promises, and you can never be unhappy..

2. Praise God for his unutterable grace. This is the occupation of these departed infants. Who can conceive the sudden and rapturous expansion of their minds when they entered into that glory, with which they now are and ever will be surrounded? Though they had no knowledge of Christ, nor of the plan of salvation through him, till they beheld the displays of his glory, and had a ravishing sense of his salvation in heaven; yet they then perceived the mercy of God, and the duty of eternal love and gratitude to that Jesus who had saved them by his blood, with as much clearness as though this knowledge

had previously been communicated to them on earth.

3. Bereaved parent, rejoice in the dignity and elevation of thy child. To have this child in heaven, is greater cause of triumph than if he swayed ▸ the sceptre over prostrate nations. Bless God, who has honoured thee by making thee the parent of one who now mingles with the angels, and beholds the unveiled face of Immanuel. What though his mortal remains still slumber in the tomb, He who came to ransom us from the grave, will raise him glorious and immortal. To thee the Father of mercies speaks, as he did to an ancient parent bereaved of her children: "Thus saith the Lord, A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping; Rachel, weeping for her children, refused to be comforted, because they were not. Thus saith the Lord, Refrain thy voice from weeping and thine eyes from tears, for thy children shall come again from the land of the enemy." Anticipate that time when death, this last enemy, shall be utterly destroyed, and thy children spring from the grave, clothed in heavenly bodies and in the mean time, view the happiness of their spirits, freed from every mortal pain and wo, saved from the possibility of perdition. When they died, they were born; they died out of this mean earth, and were born into one infinitely more glorious: heaven rejoiced at their entrance into it; and if we are related to heaven, we should bear part in this joy.

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4. Bereaved parent, art thou ready to meet this child? In thy name he has taken possession of the tomb: has he also in thy name taken possession of heaven? Art thou following the Redeemer, and living devoted to him? Then thou shalt soon be

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