Newspaper Page Text
August 16, 1911]
THE NEW AMENDMENT TO THE
"ELECT INFANTS" PARAGRAPH.
By Rev. A. M. Eraser, D. D.
"Infants dying in infancy are regenerated
and saved by Christ through the
Spirit who worketh when and where and
liow he pleaseth. So also are all others
who are Included in the election of grace
and are incapuble of being outwardly
called by the ministry of the Word."
Such are the wordB the Assembly recommends
to the Church as a substitute
for ChapterX., Section III of the Confession
of Faith.
Let it not be taken for granted because
the Assembly adopted this by an
enonmous majority that the whole question
Is settled. A little reflection will
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there has been a revoluton in the church
of the dimensions of a "land slide." See
how the Church stood on the amendment
which was recently rejected. The
Assembly's special committee reported
that forty Presbyteries voted for that
amendment and that twenty-two voted
against it. It is fair to assume that at
least some of those twenty-two Presbyteries
voted against that amendment because
they were opposed to any change
in the Confession whatever, or in other
words because they were satisfied with
the Confession just as it stands. The
whole number of Presbyteries voting
(both pro and con) was sixty-two. Subtract
that from eighty-eight (the whole
number of Presbyteries) and it leaves
twenty-six Presbyteries that did not
vote at all. Those twenty-six certainly
were not very violently opposed to the
present attitude of the Confession. So
as against twenty-two Presbyteries that,
for one reason or another, voted adversely
on the last amendment, there
were at least sixty-six that either wanted
no change at all or if they wanted
any, wanted the amendment that was
lost?an amendment that changed the
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change the doctrine. So it Is evident
that the Assembly in Louisville did not
represent the Presbyteries on this point.
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THE PRESBYTER I,
I concede that the members were not
under any obligatiin to vote according
to the views of their Presbyteries.
Nevertheless, the figures I have
given prove that the Presbyteries
did not agree with their commissioners
in the Assembly. Unless
therefore, some revolution in opinion
has taken place throughout the Church
or shall yet take place, the new amendment
is a predestined failure. It will
probably be defeated by a majority double
that which defeated the other one.
That it ought to be defeated, I now
respectfully submit.
What did the Assembly mean by the
words, "Infants dying in Infancy?" Did
it mean all "Infants dying in infancy,"
or did it mean to be "silent" as to the
number of dying infants who are saved?
Tho Phnn<)i lll .J i ti-ii. j
* "v vumivu mu ucuiauu ail CApllCll Qeclaration
on that point- It demanded of
the framer8 of the late amendment (of
blessed memory) whether that amendment
meant to say that all dying infantB
are saved or to be "silent" as to the
number. I spoke confidently for my
associates that it meant to be "silent."
Will not the Church be equally insistent
upon knowing what the new amendment
means on that point? For my associates
and for the whole Church, I
ask, Where does the new amendment
stand?
I utterly repudiate the suggestion that
it was intended to be ambiguous, that,
like " the double doctrine of the Church
of Rome," it was intended to have one
meaning for the initiated and another
meaning for the unitiated, suggesting
the universal salvation of dying infantB
to the superficial reader, while grammarians
and logicians know that it does
not assert it. I repudiate such a thought
as unworthy of a Presbyterian General
Assembly and wholly out of keeping
with the character of the sincere and
fearless men who composed the Assem
bly. No! The language means to be
"silent" (save the mark!) or else, it
means to tell us candidly that all "infants
dying in infancy" are saved. One
or the other, not both! Both is unthinkable.
Now, if it means to be "SILENT," then
wherein is the advantage of the new
amendment over the old one? Indeed
wherein do they difTer at all? Why
should the Church defeat an amendment
and immediately adopt another that
means exactly the same thing and is
no better expressed? Will the brethren
who voted for this amendment (if there
were any) on the ground that It was silent
as to the number of dying infants
who are saved, please to give us a reason
for declining to adopt such an attitude
in the one case and voting to do
It in the other?
As a matter of fact, whatever may
have been the Intention of the Assembly,
the language Is not "silent-" The
word "all" is not used but it is understood.
So confident am I of thlB that I
dare to hazard a guess that the language
as it stands is acceptable to
those members of the Assembly who
wished the word "all" put in, and that
they voted for the paragraph in its present
form. Despite all over-strained contentions
to the contrary, I submit that
such Is the meaning of the words and
that the overwhelming mass of those
who read the words will understand
that they mean to assert that all "infants
dying in infancy" are saved. If
the Church adopts this language it will
be hailed as a victory by those who
oppose the silence of the Confession on
this point, and the enemies of the Confession
will acclaim it as a surrender
to their attacks.
The fact that the next clause refers to
those Infants as being "included in the
election of grace," does not alter the
case at all. To say that they are "saved"
and to Bay that they are "included
X N OF THE SOUTH)
in the election of grace," are tantamount
to the same thing. All who believe
in election at all imiBt believe that
the "elect" and the "saved" are the
same individuals. Th? "saved" are the
"elect" and vice versa. So the clause
referring to election does not modify
the statement at all.
Believing then that the new amendment
is intended to teach the salvation
of all "infants dying in infancy," I affirm
that it says more than the Bible
warrants us to say in a credal statement;
that it is a departure from the
spirit of the Confession of Faith; that
it is not consistent with itself and that
it is built upon an Armenian foundation.
I indict the new amendment upon each
one of these several counts.
1. This amendment goes farther than
the Bible warrants (a) There is no
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Scripture that expressly declares it.
If there is one text to declare it, why
not bring it out and blazon it upon the
pages of every church paper? If there
be one, I yield to it It will fall into no
more congenial soil than my heart is.
But there iB none- It is admitted on
every hand that there is none.
(b) It is only not declared by any express
statement, it is not "a good and
necessary consequence" of any Scripture
text or texts. The protracted discussion
of the subject which took place
before the meeting of the Assembly
proves this contention. Texts were ad
duced, expounded and declaimed aa
proving the universal salvation of infants.
Upon closer examination it was
shown that the conclusion was neither
a "good" nor a "necessary" inference
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