Show AN OLD CON f A published publia bed in ID aln ces polle in ID the interest inte reet of the lutheran church in this country devotes devotee a couple of columna colemos to the famous letter letier of cyprian on the subject of infant baptism arid and draws drawn the conclusion that from this letter it is indisputable that the belief of the lutheran church iu iti this point is ie in perfect accordance with the doe doctrine triDe of the ancient christian Obria tian martyr church the subject is B somewhat antiquated well rell informed formed iu protestant students stu deate 0 of ecclesiastical history now generally admit the futility of any enu endeavor eavor to establish divine authority for the practice of infant t baptism it if it was taught by the early fathers at all it was wae in such a way that from their writings it cannot be proven but as occasionally the contention is made that the so bo called early fathers prove the rite to be of apostolic origin and as cyprien cyprian in particular is relied upon for this statement it may not net be out of place to give the matter a mo mentis consideration cecilius Cecil lue born in africa was a prominent rhetorician conver teil to christ anity about after christ during the persecution he be was forced to withdraw into concealment me lie was raa a close student of Ter and in much of his bis teachings but re echoes the doctrines of that father his chief celebrity dates from the hour of his bi martyrdom he was called to the office of a teacher before he bad learnt the principles of christianity Abo thoroughly roughly and the subsequent perse curione left him but little leisure for theological research wherefore augustine without scruple controverts contro verts his tec 8 on important questions ois but bat the chief fact to remember in incon con lection with the question of the authority of this father is this that it only a part of what he himself tells about the members of the church with which be was connected is true corruption was such that little credence can be attached to what they unanimously decide to be right or wrong in abe year a council was held at carthage africa where fety sixty six bix bishops were present among the question ors discussed dieco ased was whether lu in taut ant baptism ought to be deferred until the eighth dy doy after the pattern of f circumcision and the decision was unanimous oot not to defer it because we ought not to dev dei y any human being as soon is as boro born the mercy of god from this poe job triumphantly conclude that infant fine was the universal practice of the church at the time of ci cyprian and that the rite has baa apostolic sanction it la is eay easy to see that never was logic so BO misapplied that the churches in africo two sud and a half car after christ other errors also had bad fallen jut int the one of cn ai si dering baptism a christian form of circumcision IA bi indeed indisputable but the te stimmy ry of on this pont point is ie conclusive even without the council of carthage for hr his vehement denunciation ot or to th practice and the tiles on which it rested proves that they were c in operatively par alively ively new at that time and not anaona the teachings handed down rona rom the apostles Apost lea of our lord he nt that the children born under the covenant are holy is ul unanswered answered to this thia day asip by the followers of other african bishops bl lutheran theologians especially should be careful when building arguments on the express lors of the early athers athera because their opponents c ar tainia have the better end of the argument mendus as soon oooo as that mode ot reasoning to is turned against them in the controversy tro versy verey about the lorda lord supper in ID which luthers followers have taken such a decided v lew the whole array of early ecclesiastical writers goes against them the alexandrian clement say says athe the wine in the sacrament alle the blood this Is if calvin calvinism tow tells marcion Mar clon the breau bread taken awl an i distributed to the disciples bisci oles christ made his own body say ealine iniz this is my body which seems t t be pure catholic transubstantiation however he adds trial is the figure of my body which again seems to be calvinism cypriana Cyp rians doctrine on this point is this awe we have the image of the sacrifice of christ in the bread and winell wine 12 and be contends that in the sacrament both wine and water must be used on the queer ground that it if we partake ot wine only the body of christ would be without us it if of water only we would be with ut christ while the water and wine typify a union of christ to his church now if it is 18 possible to comprehend the meaning of we bs argument on this point be may claim to be authority do other doc ri anee nee the fact to is that many of those who argue for infant sprinkling eagerly seizi the early fathers as authority where they perceive an agreement but discard them in other points and no ti eolo gians are more inconsistent in this regard than our lutheran friend how much better in matters of abis kind to rely on the revealed w rd rf god and the guidance of that spirit ahse wh ee office it is to reveal the truth were this the practice of christians there would be unity to in filth faith and in worship |