OR, Infant Salvation in the Westminster Symbols. By J. V. STEPHENS, D.D., Murdock Professor of Ecclesiastical History NASHVILLE, TENN.: 1900. 1 PREFACE. The doctrine of infant salvation has been one of peculiar interest in the history of the Church. Strange as it may now seem, the general position of the universal Church, from the days of Augustine to the close of the seventeenth century, was that some infants dying in infancy are lost. Even in the nineteenth century there were Protestant theologians who would not affirm that all who die in infancy are saved. Interesting as the question is, as applied to the Church universal, the present inquiry pertains to this doctrine, historically considered, in the Westminster symbols, only. But since the Westminster Confession of Faith is deeply rooted in Augustinian and Calvinistic soil, it will be necessary, first, to consider some preliminary questions, in order that the reader may have a better understanding of this Confession, and the times and the spirit in which it was made. This little book is written in response to numerous inquiries as to the historical setting of the doctrine of infant salvation as set forth in this Confession of Faith. The subject is not |