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February 10, 1909. THE PRESBYTER]
THE "ELECT INFANT" QUESTION.
The General Assembly has asked the Presbyteries in
our Church whether they desire any change in our Confession
of Faith, on the subject of the salvation of incapables.
The teaching of the Confession as it stands is that
adults arc saved by the regenerating work of the Holy
Ghost, and through Christ's atoning blood. And that
this salvation becomes effective when they take that
step of turning from sin unto God, which is sometimes
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repentance and faith are the same act; repentance is
turning from sin, and faith is turning to God. The
salvation of an adult is God's work, applied to the sinner
when he takes this step.
As regards incapables,?the idiot, the child who dies
in infancy?our Confession teaches that they also are
saved by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, and
through Christ's atoning blood. But inasmuch as these
are taken from earth before they have the capacity of
repentance and faith, our Confession leaves unsaid anything
concerning the time of their exercise of faith.
In so doing it does not speak vaguely. For it teaches
emphatically that the souls of the redeemed are "at
their death made .perfect in holiness and do immedi
ately pass into glory"; and this is equally true of infants
as of adults.
The teaching of the Confession does therefore point
out with clearness the manner of the salvation of those
who die in infancy.
Now comes a question from some: Does the Confession
assert positively and unequivocally that all
these incapables are included in the list of the elect?
There are those who desire that this assertion shall appear
in our Confession of Faith. They have agitated
for it, year after year. The Assembly has given its
decision, over and over, that our people believe this
to be the fact?that all who die in tender years are
included in the redeemed?but it has declined to propose
any amendment to our Confession.
There is good ground for our belief in this matter,
not in any direct statement in the Bible, but by inference
from Bible language. We are right in indulging
this hope and expectation.
But in framing a Confession of Faith we are limited
to those truths which can be absolutely proved from
the Bible. We put into it those truths which are categorically
stated in God's word, and those which come
to us by necessary inference from it. Notice the word
"necessary." Not all our inferences may be written
in our Confession; as for instance our post-millennial
inferences. We believe them; but they are not "necessary"
inferences, and they ought not to be made a part
of our Confession.
In like manner our belief that all incapables are included
in the number of the elect, is an inference in
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which almost every Protestant now concurs. But it
is not a "necessary" inference from any passage of
Scripture, and is not a proper matter for insertion in
our Standards.
But further, the question what persons are included
among the elect is one which Christ refused to discuss
while on earth. To the question, "Lord, are there few
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that be saved?" He replied, "Strive to enier in at the
strait gate." He did not encourage such a question.
The reason is obvious. Election is a prerogative of
the sovereignty of God. God chooses according to
the counsel of his own will. He does not want any
man or any men to tell him whom he has elected or
whom he shall elect. Therefore it does not belong to
the Presbyterian Church nor to any man whatever to
declare what individuals are within the number of the
elect.
To us, therefore, it would appear that the language
of our Confession is very wise. Elect adults are saved
when they exercise repentance and faith. Elect infants
(and the expression implies our hope that all who die
in infancy are elect) are saved by the direct operation
of the Holy Spirit upon their hearts, exercised either
in life, or when (in the article of death) they are "made
perfect in holiness."
Let it be noted that in our Standards, as they now
read, there is not one line to suggest that any one of
these incapables fails of heaven. Romanism excludes
them. Arminianism makes no provision for redeeming
them from the power of sin or the penalty of sin.
Presbyterianism is the only creed which tells us how
an infant, being a sinner, can be saved and is saved,
and made an heir of God. ' T. E. C.
THE FEAT OF THE WIRELESS.
The world Stands amazed and deliodited n<- tlio 1nc?
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demonstration of the power and usefulness of wireless
telegraphy. The "Republic" was struck by the "Florida,"
out upon the high sea. The flood of waters at
once poured in. The great ship and all upon it were
placed in deadly peril. In a similar disaster, many
years ago, a French steamship and all on board of her
went down. But the Marconi wireless teleerraoh was
on the ship. Many have doubted its practical usefulness.
It has been esteemed by thein as a pleasant plaything.
The manager of the apparatus sprang to it and
began with the utmost vigor to send up into the air
unseen, but none the less earnest, cries of distress and
appeals for help. He knew not where they might be
caught up by others out on the seas, but with faith in
his system he told to the air and the clouds the name
of his ship, her situation in the seas, and cried, "In
distress and sinking!" The appeal was not in vain.
Two great vessels out on the ocean, one of them a hun.1
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uicu anu iwciuy nines away, anci two cutters in tne
nearest port caught the silent cry and instantly turned
their prows towards the sinking ship, signalling forward,
as they ploughed their way through the waters
of the great deep, -words of encouragement and cheer,
"We are coming." Back and forth went the invisible,
unwritten, unspoken messages, telling of the distress
and of the coming relief. In a few hours the helping
ships hove in sight, and the vessel in distress and all
upon her were saved.
God has provided a way by which the soul in distress
may send out its signals to him. Men try to say
that it is folly. They tell us that it is against reason
They sav that oraver is but beatinc the air. The Chris
tian who has tried it knows better. The faith which is
the evidence of things not seen sends up to God through