Dorothy Page Part 12

"But, Doctor," said Dorothy, "I do not see anything about infant baptism in all that."

"This is related to infant baptism. The point before us now is as to whether the faith or belief of a parent makes the child holy, and Paul says it does. The question was asked where the Bible taught that the faith of the parent was taken for the faith of the infant, and I mentioned this pa.s.sage."

"But does this pa.s.sage teach that?"

"It undoubtedly does. It declares that one believing parent sanctifies the child; that is, makes the child holy, and that is the same thing."

"I am not much on Scripture," broke in the father, "and I guess I had better keep my hands off of this part of the argument, and yet that pa.s.sage sounded to me as if the writer was trying to keep married couples from separating simply because one of them might be an unbeliever."

"That is correct," said the Doctor.

"Exactly," continued Mr. Page. "The writer wanted the Christians who were married to those who were not Christians to understand that their marriage was O. K., and that their children were also O. K. Otherwise a Christian wife might feel that her marriage and her children were unclean. Is that right, Doctor?"

"Yes, but do not lose sight of the main point, which is that the faith or holiness of the parent makes the child holy."

"But look here!" exclaimed Dorothy, as if she had made a discovery. "It says that the believing wife sanctifies not only the child, but also the unbelieving husband. Do you believe that a believing wife sanctifies an unbelieving husband?"

"Of course not the husband. A believing wife cannot make an unbelieving husband holy and a member of the covenant of grace."

"But it says here that the believing wife sanctifies the unbelieving husband," insisted Dorothy.

"That means that in the case under consideration the marriage must not be considered an unclean relation so as to make the wife leave the husband or consider herself involved in an unclean relation."

"When it says the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the believing wife, does his sanctification mean becoming a member of the covenant?"

asked Dorothy.

"No, not at all."

"Why, then, do you say that the child who is made holy by the parent is made a partaker of the covenant? Do the words 'holy' and 'sanctified'

mean the same thing?"

"Yes, they are practically the same."

"It seems clear as a sunbeam to me from that pa.s.sage," broke in the father, "that whatever was done to the child by the faith of the believing parent was also done to the unbelieving husband, for it plainly says so. Let us have that pa.s.sage again, daughter."

She read: "'For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the believing wife--'"

"There you have it plain," said the father. "And the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the believing husband, else were your children unclean but now they are holy."

"And look here!" exclaimed Dorothy, examining the pa.s.sage closely. "In a verse or two below it says: 'For how knowest thou, Oh wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband?'"

"There, now," said the father, "'save thy husband'. He evidently was not saved by his believing wife. It shows that, even though he was sanctified by the faith of his wife, yet he was not saved.

Sanctification did not mean much for him, and maybe it did not mean much either for the children. The writer was trying, I think, to keep those marriages intact, and I guess he had a hard time of it sometimes. Even though that husband was sanctified, yet he needed saving. That looks mightily as if the sanctifying part had reference to the marriage relation of that husband and wife and not to any spiritual or religious condition of the husband, and therefore not to anything spiritual as regards the child."

"Look here," said the Doctor with a smile, "I think Mr. Page will have to start a commentary."

"I see you have a twinkle in your eye," retorted Mr. Page, "and consequently I will not extract any compliment from your remark."

The conversation ended at this point. The Doctor stated that an engagement compelled him to hurry from what to him had been a very interesting discussion, and that he would be glad to renew it. He bowed himself out and Dorothy remarked:

"Father, I cannot tell you how strange I feel. I appreciate Doctor Vincent's efforts to help me to know my duty, but this conversation tonight has made one thing clear to me, and that is that I can never join a church that teaches and practices sprinkling and infant baptism."

"Miss Dorothy," said Mr. Sterling, "I think you could join my church, and I think you ought to do so, even though you do not believe these two doctrines."

"Daughter, if you won't join the Presbyterian church, I don't know which way you will look."

"But why, Miss Dorothy, can you not join my church?"

"Because I feel it would be wrong for me to join your church believing as I do about these matters."

"Wrong for you to join that church, daughter? I can't see where any wrong would be involved in your joining any decent church."

"Don't you think, father, that it would be wrong for me to join a church that teaches that infants ought to be baptized and that sprinkling is baptism, when the Bible seems so clearly to me to teach that infants ought not to be baptized and that only immersion is baptism? What about my baptism? I would have to be sprinkled if I joined your church, would I not, Mr. Sterling?"

"I think you ought to be sprinkled," he replied.

"Do you think I ought to be sprinkled when I think the New Testament teaches so clearly that immersion is baptism?"

"But, Miss Dorothy, will you set your judgment up against the judgment of the learned divines and scholars of the churches?"

"I do not set myself up against them, but Dr. Moreland said that each one of us must study our Bible and go where it led us; and besides, Mr.

Sterling, I have considered all your arguments for sprinkling and all Dr. Vincent's arguments for infant baptism, and I take for granted that you have brought out the strongest pa.s.sages on that side, and yet in the face of them it seems to me that none of the pa.s.sages point to sprinkling and infant baptism, while many pa.s.sages point clearly to the baptism only of believers and to immersion as the only baptism. I must not put away my judgment and go directly against that to follow the judgment of another, must I? Suppose I should join your church, believing that your church was doing wrong in putting something else in the place of Bible baptism; think how uncomfortable I would feel. I would either have to keep silent about what I believed or else I would be constantly engaged in argument with the members."

"Maybe that would be a good thing. You might convert some of us to your way of thinking."

"But is that the right basis on which to select a church? Do you choose a church without reference to what they or you believe, or do those who believe other things go together in another denomination?"

"You will never find a church where everybody in it believes exactly the same thing about Bible teaching."

"Of course not; but I thought you were mentioning the princ.i.p.al doctrines of your church about which all your members are agreed."

"You are correct about that."

"I cannot get away from the belief that I ought to join that church that seems to come nearest to holding those truths that I hold."

"Maybe there is no such church, daughter," said the father. "What other churches are there, Mr. Sterling? I know of a few--the Methodist, the Episcopal, the Catholic--"

"I am sorry I must leave this charming circle, but let us take up the other denominations tomorrow evening."

"Good," said the father. "We shall expect you, then, tomorrow evening."

CHAPTER X.

THE DISCIPLE PREACHER.