An answer, then, remains yet to be given, why, if they are saved, they should not be baptized.In the first place, because we have no command from Christ for it. Abraham had received a command from the Lord, to circumcize all males on the eighth day. Now, he had received no command respecting females, nor did he follow his own opinion, but, according to the, command of God, caused only the male children to be circumcised; and circumcision was the sign of the covenant which God had established with Abraham; and still, the women were included in the covenant as well as the men. And afterwards, when Israel was in the wilderness, and had grossly signed against the Lord, so that God said, they should not enter into the promised land, and this on account of their unbelief, He (the Lord) said: But your children which now know neither good nor evil, they shall possess it. Now, if the children, whom the Lord had commanded to be circumcised on the eighth day,* obtained mercy from Him, and He promised to give them the land, and that they should possess it, how much more should now His grace be upon the children for whom Christ died? In the second place, our, opponents say, that the Lord said to Nicodemus;"Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John 3:5). From this, they say, it follows, that no one can enter into the kingdom of God, except he be baptized with water. Answer.-These words of Christ must not be understood with reference to children; for the passage which the Lord spake to Nicodemus, namely: Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be * From this our opponents, nevertheless, form an argument, which they, though without foundation, bring against us.
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