II.

The Augustinian System.

Augustine (354-430) was one of the greatest of the Fathers. He prepared the way for Catholicism by his doctrine of the Church, and, at the same time, the way for the Reformers by his doctrine of sin and grace. He was able, to a certain extent, to unite the extremes which "stand historically opposed to each other." Dr. Philip Scha thinks that "the Reformers were led by his writings into a deeper understanding of Paul, and so prepared for their great vocation." He continues,1 "No Church teacher did so much to mold, Luther and Calvin; none furnished them so powerful weapons against the dominant Pelagianism and formalism; none is so often quoted by them with esteem and love."

I

1022.

History of the Christian Church, Vol. III., p.

There is no doubt that this great thinker had a strong influence over the Roman Catholic Church of a later date as well as over the Reformers. The Reformation produced three great divisions or Churches, namely, the Lutheran, the Anglican, and the Reformed or Presbyterian. It would be interesting to trace the Augustinian influence on the doctrine of infant salvation as developed in the Lutheran and Anglican Churches, but that is beyond the present purpose. It is well known that Calvin and other leaders of the Reformed Churches substantially accepted and developed Augustine's doctrine of predestination. The Westminster Confession of Faith is one of the principal creeds produced by the Reformed Churches; hence it is pertinent to inquire what, if any, influence the writings of Augustine had on the statement as made in Chapter X., Section 3, of this Confession, "Elect infants, dying in infancy," etc.

According to Augustine "original sin and guilt are propagated by natural generation.

The generic character planted in Adam unfolds itself in a succession of individuals, who organically grow one out of another." Augustine teaches that1 "it is manifest that all have sinned in Adam, as it were in the mass; for he himself was corrupted by sin, and all whom he begot were born under sin." And again,2 "They are all born under condemnation of the first Adam; not only those who are born in adultery, but likewise such as are born in wedlock, unless they be regenerated in the second Adam, which is Christ." "Nor, indeed," he continues," "are those sins of infancy so said to be another's as if they had not belonged to the infants at all, inasmuch as all then sinned in Adam, when in his nature, by virtue of that innate power whereby he was able to produce them, they were all as yet the one Adam:

I

Against Two Letters of the Pelagians B. IV., Ch. 7.

On Marriage and Concupiscence, B. II., Ch. 35. 3 On Forgiveness of Sins, and Baptism, B. III., Ch. 14.

but they are called another's, because as yet they were not living their own lives, but the life of the one man contained whatsoever was in his future posterity." In view of what has been quoted, it is not surprising to hear him inquire: "On what account, therefore, is an infant rightly punished with such ruin, if it be not because he belongs to the mass of perdition, and is properly regarded as born of Adam, condemned under the bond of the ancient debt unless he has been relcased from the bond, not according to debt, but according to grace?"

But by what means, according to the teaching of Augustine, could these infants be released from "the bond of the ancient debt?" The answer to this question is twofold. Fist by means of baptism, and second through God's eternal decrees. In reference to the first, Dr. Hagenbach summarizes his position as follows:2

"Every man is

born in sin, and stands, therefore, in need

'On Original Sin, B. II., Ch. 36.

* History of Doctrines, Vol. I., p. 360.

of pardon. He obtains this by baptism; it cleanses children from original sin, and those who are baptized in later years, not only from original sin, but also from their actual transgressions before the baptism. Since baptism is the only and necessary condition of salvation, it follows that unbaptized children are condemned." And the same may be affirmed of unbaptized adults, according to Augustine's theory.

That Dr. Hagenbach, in the foregoing extract, fairly represents the doctrine of this Church Father (Augustine), is proved from the following selections from his writings: 1 "For from the infant newly born to the old man bent with age, as there is none shut out from baptism, so there is none who in baptism does not die to sin. But infants die only to original sin; those who are older die also to all the sins which their evil lives have added to the sin which they brought with them." Here it is plainly taught that baptism removes original sin in infants, and

The Enchiridion, Ch. 43.