"I WISH to know what you believe about little children—those that die before they come to the years of understanding, especially those that died of unconverted parents. I have been told that the Seventh-day Adventists all believe them lost. Now if this is the case I want to know it."
R. M. S.
They who report thus are worthy of blame, they are bearing false witness. We have the plain testimony of the Scriptures that little children will be saved.
1. In Jer. 31:15-17 is a promise that the children shall be brought from the land of the enemy. These children were dead; or in the words of the text, "they are not." Death is that enemy from which they will be brought back. In Matt. 2:16-18 we learn that the children referred to by the prophet were all under two years of age.
2. Jesus called the little children to himself and blessed them, and said, "Of such is the kingdom of Heaven." He also said that we must become as little children in order to inherit the kingdom. It would be absurd to suppose that we, in order to be saved, must become as those who will not be saved.
3. We do indeed find special promises to the offspring of the faithful. But what should be inferred negatively from this we find no hint in the Scriptures. We leave it just where the Bible leaves it. We find a blessing upon little children. If any are excepted we are not informed of it. See on this subject in our pamphlets, "Thoughts on Baptism," and "Vindication of the Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Unjust."
In an interesting letter of queries by a correspondent, we find the following words:—
"It seems to me that baptism by water was a type of baptism by the Spirit. I believe that every Christian is baptized by the Spirit, and as we have only one baptism, water baptism is a thing of the past, or the shadow."
That cannot be so, because baptism is commanded in the gospel. But the baptism of the spirit is promised, never commanded. One is to be received; the other is to be done. See our "Thoughts on Baptism," on this point. No institution of the gospel can be typical of something else in the gospel. We cannot believe that Peter, on the day of pentecost, by inspiration, commanded something to believers in Jesus which is now "a thing of the past." That duty is to be as extensive as the promise of the Spirit which is related to it—"to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call."
Peter was specially directed by the Spirit of God to go to the house of Cornelius, and he commanded them to be baptized after the Holy Spirit fell on them as it had on the apostles. The type could not follow the antitype. Nor did the apostles preach types of the gospel, but the gospel itself, of which the ordinances are a part. Jesus commanded his disciples to go into all the world and preach the gospel and to baptize. This commission reaches to the end of the age, and the age has not yet expired.
Another question by this friend will be answered soon.
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United States in Prophecy. 200 pp. 20 cts.
The Nature and Tendency of Modern Spiritualism. By Elder J. H. Waggoner. 184 pp. 20 cts.
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Miraculous Powers. The Scripture testimony on the Perpetuity of Spiritual Gifts. 128 pp. 15 cts.
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