THOMAS VAN IMBROECK.
A. D. 1569.-Now when the papists sat in such darkness, that they immediately put to death those who, having been baptized in infancy, were, when arriving at riper years and' understanding, baptized upon faith, a God-fearing teacher of the church of Jesus Christ, named Jacob de Roore, did nevertheless not hesitate to make, with regard to this matter, a salutary and good confession, writing in his bonds and imprisonment at Bruges, in Flanders, the following words, "Furthermore, I confess a Christian baptism, according to the tenor of the Word of God, as Christ commanded His apostles, saying, "Go, and teach all nations, baptizing them," etc. Afterwards he relates how the apostles executed this command of Christ, saying, "Thus did the apostles, according to their Lord's command," etc. Continuing, he explains the words of Peter, Acts 2:39;"For the promise is unto you, and to your children," etc.; from which the opponents were frequently wont to prove (in their manner) infant baptism, or at least, to give it some plausibility. Thereupon he says as follows, "By this the apostle shows that the gift of the Holy Ghost was to be given, not only to the Jews and their children, but also to the Gentiles, who were far from the kingdom of God, and whom God should also call, as the prophet Joel had foretold.** Thus, he says finally, baptism must be received upon faith, for a burial of sin, a washing of regeneration, a covenant of the Christian life, a putting on of the body of Christ, an ingrafting into the true olive tree and vine of Christ, an entrance into the * Understand, those which were the most important in his time; for afterwards many others were, to the detriment of truth, imagined in addition. to them. * He adduces the prophecy of Joel for the purpose of showing, that the latter speaks of the prophesying of sons and daughters, and not of infants. Chap. 2, verse 28.
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