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FOOTNOTES.
[29] The rubric at the close of the baptismal service is sometimes quoted in opposition to the above statements. “It is certain from God’s word, that children which are baptized, dying before they commit actual sin, are undoubtedly saved.” From this it is argued, that the Church does enter into the particular case of infants, and teach their invariable regeneration. “If saved,” it is said, “they must be justified—and if justified regenerate. Hence, as the Church declares all dying children to be saved, she teaches thereby that all baptized children are regenerate.” The unsoundness of such an argument is best seen by following it to its conclusions: for it would be quite as sound reasoning to say that if justified they must be believers, and if believers, possessed of judgment and responsibility. The fallacy lies in this: it is taken for granted that God applies the saving blood of Christ in the same way, and the same way alone, to unconscious infants and responsible adults. As there is no foundation for this in Scripture, the whole argument falls to the ground. Would that churchmen were content to follow the example of our Church, to accept the assurance of infant salvation without straining it into a system, or attempting to define what God has left unrevealed!