{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p><span class=\"smcap\">Chap. xxiv.</span>—31. And if any one seek for divine authority\r\nin this matter, though what is held by the whole Church, and\r\nthat not as instituted by Councils, but as a matter of invariable\r\ncustom, is rightly held to have been handed down by\r\napostolical authority, still we can form a true conjecture of\r\nthe value of the sacrament of baptism in the case of infants,\r\nfrom the parallel of circumcision, which was received by God's\r\nearlier people, and before receiving which Abraham was justified,\r\nas Cornelius also was enriched with the gift of the Holy Spirit\r\nbefore he was baptized. Yet the apostle says of Abraham\r\nhimself, that \"he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of\r\nthe righteousness of faith,\" having already believed in his\r\nheart, so that \"it was counted unto him for righteousness.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_300_300\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_300_300\">[300]</a>\r\nWhy, therefore, was it commanded him that he should circumcise\r\nevery male child in order on the eighth day,<a id=\"FNanchor_301_301\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_301_301\">[301]</a> though\r\nit could not yet believe with the heart, that it should be\r\ncounted unto it for righteousness, unless because the sacrament\r\nin itself was of great avail? And this was made manifest\r\nby the message of an angel in the case of Moses' son;\r\nfor when he was carried by his mother, being yet uncircumcised,\r\nit was required, by manifest present peril, that he should<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_113\">[Pg 113]</a></span>\r\nbe circumcised,<a id=\"FNanchor_302_302\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_302_302\">[302]</a> and when this was done, the danger of\r\ndeath was removed. As therefore in Abraham the justification\r\nof faith came first, and circumcision was added afterwards\r\nas the seal of faith; so in Cornelius the spiritual sanctification\r\ncame first in the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the sacrament\r\nof regeneration was added afterwards in the laver of\r\nbaptism. And as in Isaac, who was circumcised on the\r\neighth day after his birth, the seal of this righteousness of\r\nfaith was given first, and afterwards, as he imitated the faith\r\nof his father, the righteousness itself followed as he grew up,\r\nof which the seal had been given before when he was an\r\ninfant; so in infants, who are baptized, the sacrament of regeneration\r\nis given first, and if they maintain a Christian\r\npiety, conversion also in the heart will follow, of which the\r\nmysterious sign had gone before in the outward body. And\r\nas in the thief the gracious goodness of the Almighty supplied\r\nwhat had been wanting in the sacrament of baptism,\r\nbecause it had been missing not from pride or contempt, but\r\nfrom want of opportunity; so in infants who die baptized, we\r\nmust believe that the same grace of the Almighty supplies\r\nthe want, that, not from perversity of will, but from insufficiency\r\nof age, they can neither believe with the heart unto\r\nrighteousness, nor make confession with the mouth unto salvation.\r\nTherefore, when others take the vows for them, that the\r\ncelebration of the sacrament may be complete in their behalf,\r\nit is unquestionably of avail for their dedication to God, because\r\nthey cannot answer for themselves. But if another\r\nwere to answer for one who could answer for himself, it would\r\nnot be of the same avail. In accordance with which rule, we\r\nfind in the gospel what strikes every one as natural when he\r\nreads it, \"He is of age, he shall speak for himself.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_303_303\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_303_303\">[303]</a></p>","headings":["WRITINGS IN CONNECTION WITH THE DONATIST CONTROVERSY.","BOOK FOURTH."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45843-paragraph-156"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"5fd208814a9807829b7654e73b52fb9e8ed8dc22c9d75d591d8c8ed0afd2f18c","edition_title":"Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy","edition_translators":["John Richard King"],"edition_year":1872,"explicit_reference_candidates":[{"book":"JHN","chapter":9,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"John ix. 21","verse":21,"verse_end":21}],"headings":[],"id":"pg45843-Footnote_303_303","license_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html","public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"original-editor-translator-note","review_required":["work and recension attribution","original-work chronology","Bible reference numbering and citation kind","English edition rights and attribution"],"review_status":"needs_review","rights_evidence":"Provider catalog reports public domain in the USA. Title leaves identify J. R. King, T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1872; catalog identifies translator John Richard King (1835-1907). Gutenberg credits Internet Archive/American Libraries without an exact scan identifier. Full provider license preserved with acquired original; republication and per-work metadata remain unreviewed.","source_anchor":"Footnote_303_303","source_ebook":45843,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_303_303\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_303_303\"><span class=\"label\">[303]</span></a> John ix. 21.</p></div>","source_sha256":"a7a04003f4d3c49eb73db6c5936713979fcecadd86884373a9914ac54373ac5b","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45843/pg45843-images.html#Footnote_303_303","text_sha256":"0048f5ff252d60fe003c146f8f8ea3fffa07be412058f590baa850645dd31803","verified":false,"work_id":null}