THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES LIB 3UM. Books may bo kept two weeks, f/id after that time a fine of six cents for each week or fraction of a week /-ill be exacted. Neither Library books nor cafds may be loaned out of the borrower's family. The utmost care is expectedybf borrowers in preserving the books from damage, and they will be hejft responsible for any mutilation or deface- ment while drawn in their «ame. Writing or pencil marking on books is unconditionally forbidden. Any person who does no/ take proper care of books, or who is in arrears for fines or other charges/will be deprived of the use of the Library. A copy of the Rules any Regulations of the Library will be furnished on application. A % i ? J5V PREFACE Oh, what is life I 'Tis like the bow That glistens in the sky ; We love to see its colours glow — But while we look they die. Life fails as soon ; to-day 'tis here, To-morrow it may disappear. The following work is a very needful one, and will, I hope, prove ac- £Z ceptable and comforting. It is the first, and only American work, ^ exclusively devoted to the consideration of the subject of infant salva- tion, and the comfort of bereaved parents. I have endeavoured to make £_ it as comprehensive, and, at the same time, as much adapted to popular 3 use, as possible. Besides, therefore, the argument contained in the first chapters, I have added a very full selection from various authors, both in prose and poetry ; so that the time, the taste, the circumstances, and the feelings of all classes of readers may be accommodated. The work thus contains a treasury of all the literary gems pertaining to this sub- gj- ject which have been dug up by the force of sanctified genius out of the ir; minds of intellect, or secured from the fathomless depths of the ocean ^ of thought. This collection is ricli in such precious gems, gathered o from all lands ; but will be found especially brilliant in the sparkling lustre of its American productions. Of such a cabinet we may well be proud, and with such comforters we may well be solaced in every hour of grief. The collection in poetry, while it is select, is complete, as far as the author could find resources or references ; and as far as merit and pro- 3 per Christian sentiment warranted their insertion ; and is the result of j£« many years inquiry and research. And it will serve, I think, to prove O that religion is the best inspirer of the muse, and brings out from the O lyre of poesy its softest, sweetest notes. Indeed, in many cases, it has made poets where the fire of genius had slumbered under the ashes of a ^J timid modesty, or the oppressive weight of worldly avocations. —• I have been particular in exhibiting the connexion between the doc- j trine of infant salvation and the doctrines of Calvinism, as taught in -C the XXXIX articles of the Episcopal Church — (as these are interpreted by all its Evangelical members) — and in the Shorter Catechism, and other doctrinal standards of the Westminster Assembly, as these are held or approved of by the Presbyterian, Congregationalist, Baptist, and Reformed Dutch churches. In doing so, however, my object has not been to sectarianize the work, or represent the charitable views it in- culcates as peculiar to these bodies, but to shew to the world, and to our ft A - VI PREFACE. Christian brethren of other denominations, that in holding Calvinistic doctrines, we do not hold their views of what these doctrines teach, nor those awful consequences which, in their concept ion of them, these doc- trines implv. I hope, therefore, that this exhibition of the real nature and tendency of Calvinism will serve to put down misrepresentations; to remove prejudices ; and to draw nearer together, in the bonds of charity and good-will, all who love the Lord Jesus Christ — "both theirs and ours" — in sincerity and truth, and who trust in the word of God onl i/, in the grace of Christ only, and in the sanctifying influences of the Holy Ghost only. The Trinity of the one immutable Godhead, as the source of salvation, of grace, and of power — the author, finisher, and imparter of eternal life — this is the grand platform on which all true Christians can meet, sympathize, hope, rejoice, and triumph. May we all " stand fast" in this faith, and " keep the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of" a more open, more visible, and more consolidating "peace." Not with mistrusting heart, or anxious brow, My little book, I send thee forth again — So thou the suffrage of the good obtain, I seek not what the worldling can bestow, Of perishable praise — enough to know That at the lonely couch of grief or pain, Thy simple page one passing smile may gain, Or kindle in the breast devotion's glow. Yet, shouldst thou find a place in blissful bower, 'Midst happy hearts, unthinking of their doom, In the fond trust of that delusive hour, O whisper to them of the coming gloom , And tell them of the faith whose mighty power Can light the dreary precincts of the tomb. THE AUTHOR. Charleston, Dec. 1845. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAOE Address to a Bereaved Parent 9 CHAPTER II. An Historical Account of the Doctrine of Infant Salvation, wherein it is shown that it was first advocated and received by Calvinists, and based upon Calvinistic Doctrines, including quotations from, or references to, the following Calvinistic writers, — Zuinglius, Cal- vin, Tyndale, (and other reformers or successors of,) Perkins, Cot- ton Mather, Harris, Toplady, Dr. Williams, Scott, Newton, Dr. Gill, Pictet, Whitefield, Watts, Addington, Robert Hall, Howe, Dr. Lawson, the Lime St. Lectures, the National Covenant, the Con- fession of Faith, Dr. Jarkin, Dr. Cumming, Dr. Russell, &c. . 13 CHAPTER III. The necessity for discussing the Doctrine of the Salvation of Infants 47 CHAPTER IV. Children are taken away in Infancy in Mercy to them ... 59 CHAPTER V. Children are taken away m Infancy for the Benefit of the Living . 99 CHAPTER VI. Selections in Prose confirmatory and illustrative of the preceding Views from Charlotte Elizabeth, Rev. H. Mowes, Evangelical Magazine, Dr. Watts, Dr. Doddridge, Dr. Mason, Robert Hall, Erskine, Flavel, Dr. Chalmers, Dr. Henry, Raman oojooloo, &c. . 132 Vlll CONTENTS. CHAPTER VII. PASS Shorter Selections in Prose, adapted to be read ;it short intervals, from Oliver Hey wood, Scott, Tendon, and rmny Authors, with some very interesting and striking anecdotes illustrative of the tri- umph of Christian Faith under such bereavements . . . 1G5 CHAPTER VIII. Selections in Poetry . ........ 205 SOLACE FOR BEREAVED PARENTS. CHAPTER I. ADDRESS TO A BEREAVED PARENT. Bid gentle patience smile on pain Till dying hope revive again ; Hope wipes the tear from sorrow's eye, And faith points upward to the sky. Steele. My Dear Reader, This work is addressed to you as a bereaved Parent. God has given you a child whom you dearly loved, and God has taken that child away. He has " strickened the desire of your eyes," and " wounded you sore." Like Rachel you weep for your departed child, and " refuse to be comforted because it is not." Your grief, my dear friend, is natural, for your afllic- tion is great. Your heart is left lonely and desolate. Its strings are broken. That joy which had swallowed up all remembrance of the hours of solicitude and pain is now turned into melancholy sadness. That current of affection and gladness which had flowed out upon the object of your regard is turned back upon the soul — its channels are dried up, and its fountain gone. The grief of a bereaved parent can only be known by those who have endured it. Of this it may be truly said, " the heart knoweth its own bitterness ami a stranger intermeddleth not with it." There are sus- ceptibilities in man which are only developed by an 10 SOLACE FOR BEREAVED PARENTS. entrance upon the relation of parent. The individual who has never become a Father or a Mother, has never felt the most powerful of human emotions. He is a stranger to that joy which seems to fill the heart to overflowing; and to that outgoing of the soul winch identifies the parent with his child, absorbs all selfish regards, and inspires a willingness to endure all things for the sake of his beloved offspring. Who then can truly sympathize with parents in their joys or sorrows, but he who has been himself a parent? An old writer has quaintly remarked, — as il- lustrative of the adaptation of Christ, by the endurance of human misery, for his present office of Mediator be- tween God and man, — that were his limb broken he should desire to have it set by a physician who had himself experienced a similar calamity. Sure it is that the wounded heart of a bereaved parent can only be bound up by one whose own heart has been in like manner torn, and who can sincerely weep with him who weeps over the grave of his buried offspring. t Young mother ! what can feeble friendship say, To soothe the anguish of this mournful day ? They, they alone, whose hearts like thine have bled, Know how the living sorrow for the dead ; Each tutored voice, that seeks such grief to cheer, Strikes cold upon the weeping parent's ear ; I 've felt it all, — alas ! too well I know How vain all earthly power to hush thy woe ! Goo cheer thee, childless mother ! 't is not given For man to ward the blow that falls from heaven. I 've felt it all — as thovf art feeling now ; Like thee, with stricken heart and aching brow, I 've sat and watched by dying beauty's bed, And burning tears of hopeless anguish shed ; I 've gazed upon the sweet, but pallid face, And vainly tried some comfort there to trace ; SOLACE FOR BEREAVED PARENTS. 11 I 've listened to the short and struggling breath ; I 've seen the cherub eye grow dim in death ; Like thee, I 've veiled my head in speechless gloom, And laid my first-born in the silent tomb. It is on this account I would venture to intrude my thoughts upon your present solitude, and whisper words of consolation to that ear which can never more hear the infant voice now silent in death. Like you, my friend, I have been called to witness the unexpect- ed departure of my children. Two of them I commit- ted to the same grave, where they sleep the sleep of death. They were growing up together like two young flowers, which had intertwined their tendrils, and mingled their sweet fragrance, but which were suddenly withered by the same rude blast. Like them, these children were lovely in their lives, and in death they were not divided. The same storm over- whelmed them both. They lie, as it were, arm in arm, and side by side, in the same deep and narrow bed of earth, until they awake in the morning of the resur- rection. Nor do they lie alone, their narrow bed has been uncovered to receive another sleeper, the victim of a similar malady, whose sun of brightest promise w r ent down while my heart was still rejoicing in the beauty of its day-spring. It w T as when tossed upon that sea of trouble in which these sudden visitations involved me, I was led to the full investigation of the question of the salvation of infants. That examination more than confirmed my hopes. It strengthened them into a comforta- ble ASSURANCE THAT IN THE DEATH OF INFANTS, IT IS WELL WITH THEM, AND WELL WITH THEIR parents — that God's purposes are merciful to both — and that while he glorifies himself in the exaltation of the children to heaven, he would also secure by such 12 SOLACE FOR BEREAVED PARENTS, afflictions the sanctification and the salvation of their parents. Yon will, therefore, allow me to present to your mind, in substance, some of those considerations by which I have been myself comforted of God, and through which you may also, by His blessing", obtain " beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness," and en- able you to believe that the tide of death, whose rece- ding waves withdrew the desire of your eyes for ever from your sight, " like waifs flung for a season upon the shores of this world," has only borne them back again upon " the eternal sea which washes the throne of God." Of one thing be very sure : " God does nothing with- out a reason. That reason may have respect to you — it may have respect to your child, and not unlikely to both. He sees effects in their causes. Your case may have been this : you may have been in danger of lov- ing the world too much, and he removed the cause in time. Its case may have been this : it may have been in danger from the growth of a corrupt nature, and he took it in the bud of being that it might grow without imperfection, ' for of such is the kingdom of heaven.' Think of your child then not as dead but as living, not as a flower that is withered, but as one that is transplanted, and, touched by a divine hand, is bloom- ing in richer colours and sweeter shades than those of earth, though to your eyes these last may have been beautiful, more beautiful than you will hope to see again. " ' With patient mind thy course of duty run, God nothing does, nor surfers to be done, But thou wouldst do tbyself, if thou couldst see The end of all he does as well as he.' " CHAPTER II HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE DOCTRINE OF INFANT SALVATION, WHEREIN IT IS SHOWN THAT IT WAS FIRST ADVOCATED AND RECEIVED BY CALVINISTS, AND BASED UPON CALVINISTIC DOC- TRINES. I stood beside a death-bed scene, a mother bent and wept, But deep within her breaking heart, a deathless faith she kept: She gazed upon her little one, so beautiful and still, And humbly tried to yield him up unto her Maker's will: She bent and k'issed his pallid brow, she joined her hands in prayer, And then I knew the Christian's hope had surely entered there. When I was led to the investigation of this subject, nothing surprised me more than the difficulty with which I could then* find any thing- adapted to my in- quiries. With very ample resources, I could discover but little in the form of direct discussion, on this most interesting subject. It is certainly strange, that while works of consolation and advice had been prepared for almost every other class of mourners in Zion, bereaved parents were left to comfort themselves by those gen- eral considerations only, which leave their peculiar sor- rows unalleviated. With very diligent search I have procured an Essay on this subject by the Rev. Daniel Gillard, pub- lished in London in 1787 ; a similar Essay, entitled Grounds of Hope for the Salvation of all dying in In- fancy, by the Rev. William Harris, LL.D., pub- lished in London in 1821 ; An Essay on the Salvation * Since then many things in prose and poetry have been written. 9 14 SOLACE FOR BEREAVED PARENTS. of all dying in Infancy, by the Rev. David Russell of Dundee, published in Edinburgh in 1823 ;* a little volume addressed to Bereaved Parents, by John Thornton, published in London in 1831 ; a Sermon, by the late Dr. Henry ; and two others, on the death of their children, by Dr. Doddridge, and Dr. Cotton Mather. Besides these, I found only some scattered hints in various volumes.! From an examination of all these, 1 matured that opinion I have embodied in the following chapters, the substance of which was delivered in discourses to my people. Their earnest wishes induced me to pre- pare them for the press. Some work of the kind is imperatively demanded. Almost all parents are called to endure the loss of children, and to feel the need of such a comforter. Within a few months, I have com- mitted to the grave thirteen children, from within the bounds of my official ministration. Now there is no work to which such parents can have access, for of all those enumerated above, I may say, they are printed in England ; they are rare, and therefore inaccessible. Besides, even when parents may have a general per- suasion of the safety of departed infants, yet, when such a belief is not founded on a firm and clearly es- tablished conviction of its truth, it will give way be- fore the flood of sorrow, and fail to support in the hour of need. Just as men sport with death till called themselves to grapple with its terrors, so may men think lightly of the trial of a bereaved parent, until they stand by the bedside of their own dying child. * This is a most full and satisfactory work, and fully answers every objection. t The only other treatise on this subject then known to the author, besides one by Mosheim, a Lutheran, is by Dr. Williams. I believe the same who advocated the cause of Modern Calvinism, and answer- ed Whitby. SOLACE FOR BEREAVED PARENTS. 15 But then will they earnestly look for any light which may irradiate their darkness, calm their fears, and as- suage their grief. A writer in an English magazine speaking of the death of very young children, thus beautifully remarks: — ' : The soul of the cherub child, that dies on its mother's breast, wings its way to heav- en, unconscious of the joys it might share here, as well as of the many, many miseries of which it might be partaker. This can hardly be called death. It is but the calm, soft ebbing of the gentle tide of life, to flow no more in the troubled ocean of existence : it is but the removal of a fair creature — ' too pure for earthly stay' — to make one of that bright band of cherubim which encompasses in glory and in joy the throne of the living God." But glorious as the change may be to the little one, it is hard for the mother to part thus early with her fair-haired innocent — to break off all the delightful ties of prattling tenderness that had bound her even in a few months, to that gentle form forever — 'Tis hard to lay her darling Deep in the cold, damp earth — His empty crib to see, His silent nursery, Once gladsome with his mirth. To meet again in slumber His small mouth's rosy kiss ; Then, wakened with a start By her own throbbing heart, His twining arms to miss ! To feel (half conscious why) A dull, heart-sinking weight, Till mem'ry on her soul Flashes the painful whole, That she is desolate ! 16 SOLACE FOR BEREAVED PARENTS. And then to lie and weep, And think the livedong night (Feeding her own distress With accurate greediness) Of every past delight ; — Of all his winning ways, His pretty playful smiles, His joy, his ecstacy, His tricks, his mimicry, And all his little wiles ! Oh ! these are recollections Round mothers' hearts that cling — That mingle with the tears And smiles of after years, With oft awakening ! That this little volume therefore may be rendered as satisfactory as possible, it will be proper to give some historical account of the views entertained at different periods of the church on the subject of the salvation of infants. This will show the necessity for its present and thorough investigation ; and at the same time ex- pose the groundlessness with which a belief in the fu- ture loss or damnation of infants has been charged upon Calvinists, and upon Presbyterians, as a doctrine peculiar to them, or involved in their system of belief. Among the Jews, the hope of salvation seems to have been confined to themselves, and to their children who had received circumcision. " They imagined that the law of Moses made the very infants of the Gentiles be treated as sinners and hateful to God, because they were uncircumcised, and descended from uncireumci- sed parents. They of course imagined that all their own children were saved, and that all those of the Gentiles perished. It is partly on this account that the apostle, after mentioning the universal reign of SOLACE FOR BEREAVED PARENTS. 17 death from Adam to Moses, distinctly adds, that it came upon infants, as well as upon adults, without dis- tinction of Jew and Gentile ; and then shows that in- fants, whether they descend from Gentiles or Jews, are treated as sinners, not by virtue of the law of Moses, but in consequence of the sin of Adam, the common father of the human race." A corresponding faith was early developed in the Christian Church. Erroneous views of baptism, as in itself communicative of regeneration, led to the belief of its absolute necessity in order to salvation. Of course, those who failed to enjoy the benefits of this or- dinance were believed to be excluded from all participa- tion in the benefits of that gospel, with which it was so essentially connected. And hence it was supposed that the children even of christian parents who were not baptized, as well as all others in the same unfortunate condition, were cast, with unbelievers, into hell for ever ; or, at least, excluded from the divine presence, and the blessedness of heaven. This opinion prevailed generally in the Church un- til after the Reformation. It was the opinion of Au- gustine, of Gregory, Ariminiensis, Driedd, Luther, Me- lanchthon, Tilmanus, Heshusius, " who have all fallen into the worst of St. Austin's opinion, and sentence poor infants to the dames of hell for original sin, if they die before baptism."* " The Catholic faith," says Augustine, " resting on divine authority, believes the first place to be the kingdom of heaven, whence the unbaptized are excluded ; and the second Hell, where every apostate and alien from the faith of Christ will experience eternal punishments. A third place we are wholly ignorant of, nor shall we find it in * See Jer. Taylor's Works, vol. 9. p. 129. 2* 18 SOLACE FOR BEREAVED PARENTS. the Scriptures."* The decree of the Council of Trent, by winch it is determined that " whosoever shall affirm that baptism is indifferent, that is, not necessary to salvation, let him be accursed," is still binding on the Roman Catholic Church : for their catechism also teaches that children, " be their parents christians or infidels, unless regenerated by the grace op baptism, are born to eternal misery and ev- erlasting destruction."! " Nothing," says the Council of Trent, " can be apparently more necessary, than that the faithful should be taught, that the law of baptism was ordained by the Lord for all men ; so that unless they be regenerated by God, through the grace of baptism, they are begotten by their parents, be they believers, or unbelievers, to everlasting mise- ry and perditivnPX " No other means of salvation? adds the Catechism, " is supplied to infants, except baptism be administered to themTh " There is a third place for infants," says Bellarmine, " who die without baptism. This Limbus Puerorum is for the eternal punishment of loss only :" that is, " the loss of the presence of God." II " Since, then," adds this de- fender of the Papacy, " infants are without reason, so that they cannot imitate the sins of their fathers, and are nevertheless punished with the most severe of all punishments, that is to say, death temporal and eter- nal ; it necessarily follows that they have some other sin, for which they are justly punished : and this is what we call original sin. It cannot, therefore, be * August. Hypostgnost. Contra Pelag. lib. V. torn. iii. Col. 1405. C Basil, 1569. t See Cramp's Hist, of Council of Trent, p. 129, and the works quoted. t Concil. Trid. Sess. VII. can. v. p. 51. Romne, 1564. § Catechismus ad Pavochos, pp. 189, 191. Lugduni, 1579. || Bellarm. de Purgat I. II. chap. vi. torn. ii. p. 410. A. Colonise. 162ti. SOLACE FOR BEREAVED PARENTS. 19 doubted that infants (for whom it is shown from the word of Christ and apostolical tradition that Baptism is necessary,) have sin, which they bring with them from their mother's womb."* This belief passed down to the Reformed Churches, and was at first very gene- rally held. The Church of England placed the up- baptized on the same footing with the suicide and the excommunicated, and denied to them the office of bu- rial.t And this still continues to be the doctrine of the church, and of all high-church prclatists who agree on this subject with the Romanists. " Without baptism," say the Oxford Tracts, " none can enter the kingdom of heaven."! " And so momentous is this dogma in their judgment, that one leading object," says Mr. Bridges, himself an Episcopalian, " of their great movement confessedly was to bring it more fully before the church."§ The question of the future condition of infants became thus involved with that of baptism, and was not considered upon its own merits. Eccle- siastics, who were secluded from all personal interest in domestic life, were of course insensible to the happi- ness connected with the enjoyment of children, or to * Bellarm. de Amiss. Gratis et Statu Peccati. lib. IV. c. 7. torn. iv. p. 61. G. 62. B. t See Burns' Eccles. Law, vol. i. p. 266, and Wheatley on the Book of Prayer, p. 477. \ Vol. i. p. 260. See also Dr. Pusey's work on Baptism, passim, Bethel on Baptismal Regeneration, pp. 7, S, 9, &c. § See his Sacramental' Instruction, p. 46, 47, where he quotes a host of authorities, including Perceval, Keble, Dr. Pusey, Sewell, Bishop Munt, &c. It would even appear that some evangelical Episcopalians of our present day are unwilling to say anything about the future con- dition of unlioptized children who die in infancy. See the Church- man's Monthly Rev. May 1843, p. 372. This doctrine of the absolute necessity of baptism to salvation was established in the Western church by papal authority, and was retained in the English church after the reformation, until the year 1604, when it was declared to be necessary " where it may be had." See Hallow on the Order of Baptism, &c, and Ogelby on Lay Baptism, p. 159, 160, &c 20 SOLACE FOR BEREAVED PARENTS. the distress consequent upon their loss. The fate of children awakened, therefore, hut a relative interest, as it affected other truths considered of more impor- tance. The horror naturally associated with this fearful doctrine was nevertheless very early felt, and at differ- ent times manifested. Various theories were adopted to throw over it a veil of charity, and to render it more tolerable to the wounded spirit of mourning pa- rents. In the time of Augustine, Vincentius, Victor and some others believed that infants dying without baptism might, notwithstanding, be saved.* This opinion was favoured by some of the School Divines, in reference to cases where baptism could not be had, inasmuch as it was the will of the parents that it should be enjoyed.t Bernard, Biel, Cajetan, and some others, adopted this charitable supposition.* And so also did Peter Martyr, Wickliffe, the Hussites, and the Lollards, who adopted, preached, and suffered for, all those doctrines which are now denominated Calvinis- tic. But this opinion has been considered as involving unconquerable difficulties. Jeremy Taylor says, " What will be the condition of unbaptized infants, so dying, I do not profess to know or teach, because God hath kept it as a secret."§ Baxter, with all his charity, and perhaps too liberal views of Christian doctrine, could only go so far on this subject as to say, " I think that no man can prove that all unbaptized infants are damned or deni- ed heaven. Nay, I think I can prove a promise to the contrary." Beyond " penitent believers and their seed," he says, " what God may do for others unknown * See Jer. Taylor's Works, vol. ix. p. 00. t See list of in Hooker's Works, vol. ii. p. 219. t Jer. Taylor's Works, vol. ix. p. 91 and 93. ■•. Jeremy Taylor's Works, p. 92, SOLACE FOR BEREAVED PARENTS. 21 to us, we have nothing to do with, but his Covenant hath made no other promise that I can find."* Similar were the sentiments of Bishop Hopkins : " Not only in- fants baptized," says he, " but all infants of believing parents, though they should unavoidably die before baptism, are in the same safe and blessed condition." This, however, is the extent to which he could apply his hopes. t To this charitable view of the matter, which Calvin- ists, and Calvinistic Churches generally adopted, the Pelagians could not fully assent.^ They excluded infants when unbaptized from the kingdom of heaven, but promised to them an eternal and a natural beati- tude. This opinion was embraced by Ambrosius Ca- tharinus, Albertus Pighius, and Hieronymus Savana- rola, Gregory Nazianzen, Athanasius, Ambrose, Pope Innocent III., and others. § Hence arose the present doctrine of the Romish Church, which teaches that there is a limbus patrum, or place on the borders of hell, for those who had believed in Christ before his advent ; and a limbus infantum, for children who die unbaptized. When the mists, however, which had gathered round the ordinance of baptism were gradually dis- persed, this subject was examined on more impartial grounds. The natural feelings of the heart were per- mitted to declare their interest in the decision of the question. The hope expressed by Wickliffe in refer- ence to unbaptized children was eagerly embraced by his followers, who were all Calvinists, and who all re- * See Works, vol. v. p. 326 and 323. t See Works, vol. ii. p. 429. t See the Articles of the Synod of Dort, with Scott's Notes. Works of Scott, vol. viii. p. 576. § See Jer. Taylor, vol. ix. p. 90, 22 SOLACE FOR BEREAVED PARENTS. gardetl baptism in its truly simple and scriptural char- acter. Zuinglius was perhaps the first who proclaim- ed hope for the salvation of all infants, whether christian or heathen, who died in their infancy, and before they became chargeable with the guilt of actual transgression. He maintained, that in conse- quence of the atonement of Christ offered for all, "original sin does not even damn the children of the heathen." For this conclusion concerning children generally, Zuinglius quotes Romans v. ; though he admits that we have but little light upon the subject. He rejects the idea that baptism washes away original sin and condemnation. The blessing, he says, is not tied to signs and symbols ; baptism recognizes and attests the privilege rather than confers it. " What scriptural authority," he asks, " is there for ascribing such an effect to baptism ?" " The words of Mark xvi. 16," says he, " relate to those only to whom the gospel was sent. They that hear the gospel and be- lieve it were blessed ; they who hear it, and believe it not, are accursed. But this is no prejudice to election, for both they who come to Christ are drawn to him by the Father, which is election : and they who come to the Father are chosen by him ; but so that they may at length come to him by Christ. The (infant) chil- dren of Christians are the children of God by virtue of the covenant. Concerning the children of heathens, we decide nothing: though I confess that I incline to the sentiment which considers the death of Christ as available to the salvation of all who are free from ac- tual sin."* For this doctrine Bossuet charges Zuin- glius with being a Pelagian, and pronounces this a * See Epist. fo. 17, 18. Zuingl. Op. 1. 382, and Scott's Coutin. of Milner, vol. iii. p. 143, 144, 146. SOLACE FOR BEREAVED PARENTS. 23 " strange decision."* This opinion of Zuinglius exci- ted considerable controversy.! Eckard says, "perhaps Zuinglius pronounced too liberally when lie included the children of the heathen." The same doctrine was, however, maintained by Cornelius Wigger, and by John Iac-Schultens, who embraced in the decree of predestination to eternal life those who die in infancy, whether born of Gentile or Infidel parents. This was the declared sentiment of Arminius,! Triglandius, Walders, Heidanus, Curcelleus, Mareslus.§ Maresius says, " The question is, whether the decree of Election and Reprobation affects infants. There is not the smallest ground from Scripture to think it does. Let parents then be comforted for departed children. These words of Christ, (" of such is the Kingdom of Heaven,") why are they so general, but that they seem to include the children not only of believers but of un- believers also." II The Remonstrants believed that such infants as were not entitled to heaven by their relation to the covenanted mercies of God, would be consigned only to the punishment of loss, their bodies not being raised, and their souls not being annihilated, yet being eter- nally separated from the beatific vision of God.*H Many, however, regarded the decision of this question as presumptuous. They left the whole matter in the hands of God, determining nothing one way or ano- ther, but quieting themselves with the assurance, that as far as God's purpose of salvation extended it would be secured; and that infants, as far as included in it, would be assuredly ransomed. Infants were, however, * See Hist. Var., vol. i. p. G6. t See an account of in De Moor's Comment, V ol. ii. p. 104, &c. \ See ditto. § See ditto. || See ditto, p. 105. IT See ditto, p. 104. 24 SOLACE FOR BEREAVED PARENTS. universally regarded as involved in all ihe guilt of ori- ginal sin, and as requiring for their salvation the exer- cise of the same mercy, and the bestowment of the same grace, as adults. They were described by some as, " damnabilibus et forte quibus dum etiam dam- iiandis." But even when infants were included by any in the decree of Reprobation, their punishment was believed to consist, not in the positive infliction of misery, but only in the deprivation of heavenly rewards.* Calvin clearly recognized the fact that all infants are involved in the guilt of Adam's sin, and therefore liable to the misery in which it has involved our race. But at the same time he encourages the belief that they are redeemed from these evils by Christ, are capa- ble of regeneration, and are, when taken away in in- fancy, " redeemed by the blood of the Lamb." He ar- gues against those who, like the Anabaptists, asserted that regeneration cannot take place in early infancy. For says he, " if they must be left among the children of Adam, they are left in death, for in Adam we can only die. On the contrary, Christ commands them to be brought to him. Why? because he is life. To give them life therefore he makes them partakers of himself, while these men, by driving them away from him, adjudged them to death."t He then goes on to prove, by incontestible arguments, that infants both have been, and can be, regenerated by God. And in his Commentary on the words of our Saviour, " Of such, &c," without any limitation of his meaning, he une- quivocally declares, that " God adopts infants and washes them in the blood of his Son," and that " they * See Stopfer, vol. iv. p. 518. On the ground of their condemnation, 6ee Buddeus Theol. Dooro. p. 591. t See Institutes, B. IV. ch. XVI. SOLACE FOR BEREAVED PARENTS. 25 are regarded by Christ as among his flock." " In this passage," he adds, " Christ is not speaking of the gen- eral guilt in which all the descendants of Adam are in- volved, but only threatening the despisers of the gos- pel who proudly and obstinately reject the grace that is offered them ; and this has nothing to do with infants. I likewise oppose a contrary argument; all those whom Christ blesses are exempted from the curse of Adam and the wrath of God ; and as it is known that infants were blessed by him, it follows that they are exempted from death."* Certain it is, that Calvinists were foremost in over- throwing the dogma that baptism was essentially con- nected with salvation, and in establishing the truth, mat want of it does not militate against their future safety.t It is well known that the former opinion is still extensively held by those who are opposed to Cal- vinistic sentiments. On this subject Scott in answer to Bp. Tomline, remarks, "a few presumptuous, extrava- gant Calvinists have spoken shocking things of the damnation of infants : but to consign the innumerable multitudes of those all over the world, and in every age, who die before they commit actual sin, and die unbaptized, to eternal damnation, is far more shocking. Even such Calvinists may suppose some of these chil- dren to be elect and saved : but the sentiment that none dying when infants, except such as have been baptized are saved, excludes them all."J " The most unfeeling supra-lapsarian never ventured on so dire an * Institutes, book iv. chap. 16, sec. 31, vol. ii. p. 460. See also pp. 461, 456, 436,435. t See Cartwright's reply to Hooker on this subject, in Hanbury's Hooker, vol. ii. p. 221. See also, Bp. Hopkins' Works, vol. ii. p. 429; Davenant on Col., vol. ii. p. 448; Heywood's Works, vol. iv. p. 447; Pictet's Theology, p. 399. t See Works, vol. vii. p. 502. 26 SOLACE FOR BEREAVED PARENTS. opinion as to consign all the unbaptized infants, in every age and nation, to eternal misery."* Ttiis is the language of a Calvirmt addressed to that larg« body of his own church who oppose Calvinism, ant? take occasion to impeach its charity. Some Calvinistv it is true, have in former times avoided the decision o. this question, leaving dying infants in the hands of ! merciful God. But, " why," asks the same writer " might not these Calvinists have as favourable a hop. of all infants dying before actual sin as Anti-Calvinists can have?"t What doctrine of the most rigid Calvinism is there, with which such a hope can possibly militate? Is it the doctrine of God's sovereignty, whereby is at- tributed to him all power and right of dominion over his creatures, to dispose of them, and to extend or withhold favour, as seemeth to him good — but why may it not please God, in the exercise of this sover- eignty, to extend his favour to all dying infants? Is it the doctrine of election, whereby God, out of his mere love, for the praise of his glorious grace, to be manifest- ed in due time, hath, in Christ, chosen some men to eternal life and the means thereof — but why may not dying infants be among these chosen ones? Is it the doctrine of the divine decrees, whereby, for his own glory, God hath fore-ordained whatsoever comes to pass, especially concerning angels and men — but why may not the salvation of all dying infants have been thus decreed? Is it the doctrine of God's free and rich grace, whereby the holiness, obedience, and right- eousness of Christ are imputed to us for justification ; and inherent grace is wrought in the heart by the Spirit of God, in regeneration ;— but why may not this grace be imparted to all dying infants ? If God gives * See Works, vol. x. p. 407. t Do. vol. viii. p. 5?3. SOLACE FOR BEREAVED PARENTS. 27 us hope for such in his blessed Word, then is it not manifest that their salvation, instead of being thrown upon the contingency of human will ; or being made dependent upon human effort ; or connected with the moral character or personal agency of infants them- selves ; or left at hazard, through the indifference or neglect, of men ; — is based by these doctrines upon the unchangeable purpose, and the all-sufficient grace of God ; and is therefore rendered gloriously certain to the bereaved and mourning spirit of the disconsolate parent? If, however, rejecting these doctrines (which Calvinists love because doctrines of the Bible) we make election to rest on the foreknowledge of good works ; — or moral character to depend on moral conduct; — and salvation to be limited, in its flow, to the channel of Christian ordinances ; — then what hope can be enter- tained for those who have been taken away while as yet they could not discern good from evil ; — while without any moral character, and thus wholly unfit for enjoyment or reward; — and while, as "nameless things," they have never passed through the " purify- ing entrance" to the kingdom of heaven 1 We answer — none that is reasonable or satisfactory. But on the ground of Calvinism this hope is all that can be desired, and arises most naturally from its prin- ciples. " In perfect consistency," says Dr. Harris, in his Essay on this subject, "with their theological creed, have some Calvinists entertained the opinion advocated in the preceding pages ; while others, expressing a hope of its truth to the full extent, have discovered the w T ished-for evidence, in favour of the children of pious persons only ; but none of any consideration are known to have maintained, or even allowed, that the inference in question (i. e. the damnation of any in- fants) is an evident and necessary deduction from Cal- 28 SOLACE FOR BEREAVED PARENTS. vinistic doctrines. In direct opposition to what must, therefore, be considered an unfounded aspersion, it would require but little labour to prove, that the great peculiarities of this system, supply the most tenable AND SATISFACTORY GROUNDS OF HOPE FOR THE SALVATION OF ALL WHO DEPART THIS LIFE ANTE- CEDENT TO PERSONAL TRANSGRESSION." I would here quote the language of one of our oldest and most thoroughly Calvinistic Divines, the celebrated William Perkins, a Puritan : " Infants have no works whereby they may be judged, seeing they do neither good nor evil, as the Scripture speaketh of Jacob and Esau, Rom. ix. 11. Therefore all shall not be judged according to works. Ans. These phrases of Scrip- ture, as a man sows, so shall he reap : every one shall receive according to his works, fyc. are not to be extended to all, but must be restrained to such as have works, and knowledge to discern betwixt good and evil, which, infants have not. For besides that they are destitute of works, they also want the use of reason ; and therefore they shall not be judged by the book of conscience, but by the book of life. For to say as Hugo de S. Vict, doth upon the Romanes, quaest. 59, that they shall be condemned for the sins which their parents committed in their conception and nativ- ity, as though they themselves had actually committed them, is contrary to that, Ezek. xviii. 20., The son shall not bear the iniquity of the Father. " Again, some may say, if children do not apprehend Christ's benefits by their parent's faith ; how then is Christ's righteousness made theirs and they saved? Ans. By the inward working of the Holy Ghost, who is the principal applier of all graces, whereas faith is but the instrument. As for the places of Scripture that mention justification and salvation by faith, they SOLACE FOR BEREAVED PARENTS. 29 are to be restrained to men of years : whereas infants dying in their infancy, and therefore wanting actual faith, which none can have without actual knowledge of God's will and word, are no doubt saved by some other special working of God's Holy Spirit, not known to us." " Infants," he adds, " already elected, albeit they, in the womb of their mother before they were born, or presently after, depart this life, they, I say, being after a secret and unspeakable manner, by God's spirit en- grafted into Christ, obtain eternal life." 1 Cor. xii. 13. Luke i. 35, 41, 64, and Jer. i. 5.* And equally strong speaks the great Coryphaeus of Calvinism, who carried out its principles to their ex- tremest limits, I mean the celebrated Toplady. In his vindication of the Church of England from Arminian- ism, he had asserted his belief in the salvation of all infants dying in infancy. This opinion his opponents interpreted as involving the doctrine of general redemp- tion. " As if," says Toplady, " all died in infancy." '• I testify my firm belief, that the souls of all departed infants are with God in glory : that, in the decree of predestination to life, God hath included all whom he intended to take away in infancy ; and that the decree of reprobation hath nothing to do with them."t « In the mean while (says he) I should be obliged if he would, with the help of Mr. Wesley's irradiation, show me what becomes of departed infants, upon the Armin- ian plan of conditional salvation, and election of good works foreseen." Dr. Gill, who resembled Toplady in carrying out the principles of Calvinism to their extremest limit, also resembled him in holding this comfortable view of the doctrine of election. In his Complete Body of * Works, Fol. vol. iii. p. 386. Vol. ii p. 127, and vol. i. p. 77. i Ditto, vol. i. p. 207. 3* 30 SOLACE FOR BEREAVED PARENTS. Practical and Doctrinal Divinity, he makes the fol- lowing remark on the case of infants dying in infancy : u Now such a number as they are, can never be thought to be brought into being in vain, God is and will be glorified in them ; now though their election is a secret to us, and unrevealed, it may be reasonably supposed, yea in a judgment of charity it may rather be concluded, that they are all chosen, than that none are. But the election of them cannot be owing to their faith, holiness, obedience, good works, and perse- verance, or to the foresight of these things, which do not appear in them." I may refer also to the sentiments of Tyndale, the Translator of the New Testament into English ;* of Pictet the learned Professor of Geneva ;t to the touch- ing letter of Whitefield on the death of his infant son;t of Watts to a lady bereaved of several infant children; and of the pious Rutherford to a lady on the loss of a daughter ;§ of Addington,ll and of Robert Hall ;T of Howe,** and of Cotton Mather,tt Buehanan,U and these are all Calvinists. It may be well, however, to add a few more quota- tions from Calvinistic writers. Dr. Williams, in his " Defence of Modern Calvinism " against the attacks and misrepresentations of Bishop Tomline, at p. 75, says : " That they [infants] are capable of regeneration indeed, is admitted, as well as of remission, justification, * See Works, vol ii. p. 516. + See his Theol. B. xi. Chap. iv. pp. 494, 495, and p. 444, 445. t See Life of, by Philip. § See Letters, Part 2, Letter iii. || Work on Baptism, p. 62-64, 67, 76. % Works, vol. i. p. 88, 89. ** Works of John Howe, vol. iv. p. 4, 5, and vol. vii. p. 544, 5. tt See quoted afterwards. tJ Rev. James Buchanan of Edinburgh, in his Office and Work of the Holy Spirit, Part. 1, ch. viii. on the Regeneration of Infants. SOLACE FOR BEREAVED PARENTS. 31 holiness of nature, and heavenly blessedness ; and we retiect with pleasure, that the Holy Scriptures afford many encouraging intimations relative to the salvation of dying infants — whether baptized or not. Though they have no hope, we have hope concerning them." The same view is also presented in that noble defence of Calvinistic doctrine, the Lime Street Lectures, where it is said, " an elect infant is as capable of being effectually called, or renewed by grace, of being freely justified, and for ever glorified, as a grown person."* Again, at another place, the subject is more fully dis- cussed — " As for infants, we take it for granted, in the present argument, that they are conceived in sin, and shapen in iniquity ; that that which is born of the flesh, is flesh ; that they are, by reason of the disobe- dience of the first man, sinners, and so unworthy of, and unmeet for, the heavenly glory, and must be ex- cluded from it, unless washed in the blood of Jesus and sanctified by the Holy Spirit. To suppose them all. or indeed any of them, to perish is to be cruelly wise above what is written : and to imagine they are so holy, as to need no cleansing, or that any thing defiled can enter into heaven, is directly flying in the face of Scripture : so that, though we are not told positively what is their portion ; yet we may safely DETERMINE THAT THEY ARE MADE MEET, IF IN HEAVEN, FOR THAT INHERITANCE WHICH IS INCOR- RUPTIBLE AND UNDEFILED." I will only add to these authorities the following remarkable cmotation from the National Covenant adopted in Scotland in the year 1581, again in 1590, 1638, 1639, 1640, 1650 and 1651. " But," says this venerable document, in detailing the enormous errors * P. 279, 280, Eng. e