Christian Baptism: Teachings of the Holy Apostles Concerning Baptism, Part 3

Since the ordinance of Jesus Christ reads like this, and since the one follows from the other, Paul here teaches us that God sanctifies us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. For if true faith and obedience are separated from each other, as sometimes happens, as when people grieve the Holy Spirit and sin against him, then such faith does not profit us; for it has no promise, because of disobedience, and besides that it is useless and dead before God, James, chapter 2.

To all those who, by their own choice and contrary to the Scriptures, assert that infants are regenerated because they were baptized, even though there are no fruits in them, as may be plainly seen, I reply: First, that such a one does not know what the new birth is. Second, that with the same propriety and reason bells are baptized. God in his word has no more commanded the one than the other, for by their nature there is as little faith and fruit in the one as in the other. O Lord! When will this awful abomination at last stop being practiced? When will those who now call themselves Christians be Christians? Indeed, when will the blessed Lord Jesus Christ be acknowledged as wise, true and perfect in his holy word? I fear, never. These miserable, carnal men esteem and love false teaching, unbelief and opinion far above the doctrine of Jesus Christ and his holy apostles. Nevertheless we say in Christ Jesus: let them baptize their infants as much as they will, let them teach it as long and as strongly as they will, and let them assert it on the strength of garbled Scriptures, of learned men and of long usage; yet it is all vain and useless before God, for the regeneration of infants cannot be maintained by the word of God.

Chosen brothers, let them freely cry out against us, let them bring forward all the doctors, the learned and famous men who lived centuries ago, let them console themselves with long usage, even from the apostles’ time; yet where there is no new birth, no baptism can be administered in accordance with the commandment of Jesus, for baptism is the washing of regeneration, Titus, chapter 3; and no one has that regeneration except the believing alone, as we have shown our readers before.

Therefore I would admonish all my beloved readers in the Lord not to heed the philosophy of the learned, nor to look to long usage, but to the plain and unmixed word of God; and you will surely find by this Scripture of Paul, and others, that according to the commandment of Christ, Christian baptism should be administered to none but those who by grace have become believing and regenerated through the word of God. As long as baptism is administered to infants, it is no washing of regeneration. For the new birth is of the word of God, as has often been said, and infants cannot hear and understand that word; therefore they cannot be born again as long as they have the mind of a child. Everything the Father has not planted should be plucked from the heart by the word of God, Matthew, chapter 15. God’s word will stand forever, and every pious Christian shall and must build the structure of his faith according to the divine word, if his work is to be pleasing before God; he should not build it according to his own pleasure. For God, the Almighty Father, who rules all things by his word, will not be honored by human doctrine and commandments, Matthew 15, verse 9; Mark 7, verse 7; Colossians 2, verse 22; Jeremiah 29, verse 8.

In the fifth place holy Paul teaches us, saying, For you are all children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ,” Galatians 3, verse 27; Romans 6, verse 3.

My beloved children in Christ Jesus, you know that all the world, in their blind and foolish unbelief, have until now whored after outward works and ceremonies. Yet you should not do the same. But you should know that the righteousness which avails before God does not consist in any ceremonies and outward works, but solely in a true, pious and fruitful faith and in nothing else, in this way. For the faith which comes by the word of God cannot be without fruit, except only in those who sin against the Holy Spirit, as was said above; but it leads into every kind of righteousness, it willingly submits itself in all obedience, and it cheerfully complies not only with baptism but with all the words and ceremonies which God, the gracious Father, has so clearly taught and commanded through his blessed Son in his holy gospel.

Therefore true faith is the fullness of righteousness, Romans, chapters 3 and 6; indeed, it is the true begetter of all Christian virtues; and for this reason the word of God ascribes to it righteousness, Romans 3, verse 23, the blessing, salvation and life everlasting, John 3, verse 36; John 17, verse 4, and does not ascribe these to ceremonies. If ceremonies are commanded by him, it is not for the sake of the ceremonies, but for the sake of the faith which compels us to observe these ceremonies because they are commanded by God. Therefore you should know, kind reader, that when ceremonies in God’s word are coupled with the promise, as the Israelite offerings were in the law and baptism is under the gospel, then it is not because of the ceremonies but by virtue of faith, which obediently and in love fulfills not only the commanded ceremonies but also everything God has commanded, as has been said above.

For this reason holy Paul taught the Galatians that they had become the children of God through faith and not by baptism, saying, “You are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” And again, because they were the children of God by faith, they showed obedience to his word, and therefore Paul said to them, “As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” So the principal thing lies in faith, and not in ceremonies. But this godly, fruitful faith, in which everything consists, together with its Christian fruits, is not known to many; and for that reason they always seek their righteousness in outward ceremonies, indeed, even in the most useless ceremonies of human invention, which are neither taught nor commanded by God, as they have shown these many centuries in baptizing infants. Read what we told you above about the parents, godfathers and baptizers, and you will see that all the world is led into a false trust by infant baptism, has become estranged from God, and is blinded in all Christian matters. And to give their false pretensions a beautiful, holy and divine appearance, they mutilate and twist the precious word of God to suit them, as they fully show in this case. For by this Scripture of Paul, and other garbled Scriptures, they have fooled and deceived the poor, ignorant people these many years, teaching them that infants put on Christ in baptism, and so plainly showing by such doctrine that they do not know what regeneration is, nor what it is to put on Christ Jesus.

Most beloved brothers, truly it is the nature of all heretics to tear a fragment out of the holy Scriptures and with it to prove their chosen worship, never observing what is written before or after, by which we may find out the right meaning, as they have so plainly shown in this instance. For they pick out this sentence, “as many of you as are baptized have put on Christ,” to give their infant baptism an appearance of truth; but the sentence before it, “You are all the children of God because you believed in Christ Jesus,” from which, as we have shown above, all the rest must follow, they seem not to have noticed; and so they seek merit in ceremonies and not through faith in Jesus Christ.

Besides, since they are not clothed with Christ and have not put him on, either actively or passively, and have not tested his heavenly, spiritual nature and Spirit, because they are carnally minded, therefore they do not understand, however much they write and teach, what it means to put on Christ Jesus, I repeat, either actively or passively.

So that we may convince all who speak against the word of the Lord, and so that we may neither stumble nor err in these words, I would refer all my readers to holy Paul. He shows who they are that put on Christ, and what fruits they show by which we may know that they have put on Christ, saying, “If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life because of righteousness,” Romans 8, verse 10; Romans 6, verse 5.

Kind reader, however skillfully the scribes and infant baptizers may argue under a false show of the divine word, no one can deny that Christ dwells in those who have put on Christ. Since the truly baptized put on Christ Jesus, he is in them; and if he is in them, then the body is dead to sin and the spirit is life because of righteousness. This being so, I again call on all reasonable persons to judge impartially for themselves whether this is found in truly believing persons or in infants. If they say in the believing, their judgment is right; for Christ Jesus dwells in the hearts of the believing, Ephesians 3, verse 17. But if they say in infants, then I would ask again by what means we can find this out, since in these infants the death to sin and the spiritual life are neither shown nor found. For all of them, from infancy, as long as they do not believe the word of God, are, in spite of their baptism, not only prone to evil but also to disobedience, as daily experience openly shows in all the baptized of this world.

Therefore I conclude from this Scripture of Paul and say: If the infant baptists remain constant in their opinion and belief that infants put on Christ by their baptism, then by the word of God they must come to the conclusion that Christ Jesus is unbelieving, proud, ambitious, envious, vain, drunk, adulterous, refractory and disobedient to the word of God. For whoever has put on Christ Jesus does not live himself, but Christ lives in him. If, then, they have put on Christ by their baptism, as they claim, and if, according to Paul, Christ lives in them and rules their actions, it must follow that Christ is vain and useless in them, or that their accursed works are begotten of Christ; for they still live in every kind of carnality and ungodliness. And so it follows that they have not put on Christ.

No, truly, no. For Christ Jesus cannot be without fruits; but whoever has put on the humble, long-suffering, merciful, kind, peaceable, sober, chaste and obedient Christ, in such a one the accursed works mentioned above are not found. For whoever has put on Christ is dead to sin and lives in righteousness, Romans, chapter 8; is led by the Holy Spirit, born with Jesus from above, of the Father; and therefore he lives according to the will of the Father, and cannot sin because he is born of God, First John 3, verse 9; First John 5, verse 18.

All those who are baptized without faith prove the contrary by their life, and do not show the nature and virtues of Christ whom they claim, falsely, to have put on; instead they show in their whole walk the nature and vices of the flesh and of Satan. This proves clearly that they have not put on Christ, who is from heaven, but that they have put on the devil, who is from hell; for it is he who drives and leads them at will, as may be plainly seen. For all their thoughts and works of the flesh and of Satan are natural, inborn fruits, which are found all over the world in all men, no matter what their state, trade, condition, class or sect.

Beloved reader, you will acknowledge that every tree brings forth fruit after its own kind, and that by the fruit we may know the tree, Matthew 7, verse 20; Matthew 12, verse 33. Therefore it cannot fail that where Christ Jesus is, there are the good fruits of life everlasting; but where the devil is, there are the wicked fruits of eternal death. Indeed, whoever has put on Christ, in him the works of the devil are not found. On the other hand, where the devil is, there Christ is not; the one must give way to the other. For they are two princes so very different that it is impossible for them to dwell in one heart, or for the two to be conceived and contained in one human heart, Matthew 6, verse 24; Ephesians 2, verse 2.

For this reason I would admonish all God-fearing Christians in the Lord to ponder these words of Paul well and to understand them according to the divine truth, and you will plainly see that by this Scripture Paul taught just what Christ had commanded, Mark 16, verse 16. The believing alone put on Christ Jesus in their baptism, and they alone bring forth true fruits, and not the infants, as we have sufficiently proven to all the pious and true believers here and also in our first writings.

Most beloved brothers, let the infant baptizers, to their own condemnation, scornfully ridicule such plain Scriptures in this way, and let them cunningly garble and twist them as much as they please; yet this Scripture will always remain unbroken by them. It will remain so firm and binding that they will stumble on it, be shamed by it and have to stand back, in spite of all their flattering. If they would only look into the matter rightly and then judge according to the word of God what it means according to Paul, what it implies, to put on Christ, whether spoken in the active or in the passive (for all those who are not content with the active may apply the passive to Romans, chapter 13, although Paul has it in the active, according to the translation of Erasmus), they would soon see that it makes no difference in this matter whether it is used in the active or in the passive. But what good will it do? If the learned have nothing with which to obscure the truth, they garble things before the ignorant, simple common people with strange tongues, false explanations, lies and high-sounding philosophical reasons. O how justly Christ Jesus said to the Pharisees, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you suffer those who are entering to go in,” Matthew 23, verse 13.

In the sixth place, Paul teaches, saying, “For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body, whether we are Jews or Gentiles, whether we are bond or free; and have all been made to drink into one Spirit,” First Corinthians 12, verse 13.

By these words of Paul the baptism of the believing is again plainly taught and confirmed, and on the other hand the antichristian infant baptism is rejected and made of no effect, because God, the merciful Father, in his holy gospel points us to faith alone through Jesus Christ, and to the new birth. Because the believing or regenerated act rightly before God, and diligently seek and fulfill his holy will according to the grace they have received, we must of necessity acknowledge that we cannot be led to this godly gift of faith and of regeneration in any other way than by the word of God, through his Holy Spirit. All writing, reading and teaching is in vain when the Holy Spirit of God, the true Teacher of all righteousness, does not quicken, pierce and turn the hearts of the disciples or hearers by the only means God has given for this purpose, which is his word.

Since we are baptized by one Spirit into one body, according to the teaching of Paul, and since this same Spirit must quicken and turn the hearts by the word of God, it follows beyond dispute that no one should be baptized except those alone whose hearts are quickened and turned by this Spirit through the word of God.

All those, then, who hear the holy gospel of Jesus Christ and sincerely believe it, and are so inwardly quickened and pierced by the Holy Spirit (let them be of whatever nation or sex), are baptized by this quickening Spirit into one holy, spiritual body, of which Christ is the head, that is, into the church. And so Paul has taught by this Scripture in agreement with the command of Christ, Mark 16, verse 16.

Beloved reader, since those should be baptized who are urged by faith and driven by the Spirit, as Paul teaches, I will again leave it to your judgment who they are that are led and impelled by this Spirit: the believing, or the infants? If you say the believing, your answer is right. For the believing die to their flesh, lusts and desires, Galatians 5, verse 24; they put off the old man and all his works, Ephesians 4, verse 23; they seek Christ Jesus in purity of heart; they bring forth the precious fruits of the Spirit which is in them, and show outwardly and inwardly in all their actions that they are taught, led and impelled by this Holy Spirit, Galatians 5, verse 18; Romans 8, verse 14. But if you answer the infants, then I would ask you, Where are their spiritual fruits? For nothing appears in a child but childish actions, as we said above. Yet they are baptized and called Christians without doctrine, faith and commandment; and from this it follows that in all the baptized of the world nothing is found but abominable blindness, idolatry, hypocrisy, evil thoughts, vain words, madness against the truth, disobedience, blasphemy, trickery and a very wicked life, contrary to God and his blessed word.

I know, brothers, that children have spiritum vitalem, that is, the spirit by which they live, which God breathed into Adam and into all flesh so that they might live, Genesis 2, verse 7; Acts 17, verse 25. But they do not have the Spiritum justificantem, aut innovantem, that is, the spirit which sanctifies or regenerates. For if that spirit were in them it would surely show itself in the fruits; since it is impossible that the Holy Spirit of God, which of itself is awake, living and fruitful, and by which all true Christians are justified, taught, led and urged, should be idle, dormant and fruitless in those in whom it dwells. Let the infant baptists argue against this as much as they please, whether they are old, learned or of high renown; yet it will never be proven by the word of God that the Holy Spirit of God is ever idle, useless and without fruits. I know that a person may stumble even though he has the Spirit of God, as is shown in the pride, adultery and manslaughter of David, the hypocrisy of Peter, and the quarrel of Paul and Barnabas; but such will not long continue in it, but will soon be admonished to repentance, either by the kind admonition of the brothers or by the Spirit. For it is impossible that those in whom is the spirit of love and the fear of God can continue long in a shameful sin and transgression. Now if the baptized infants have the Holy Spirit, as the infant baptists affirm, then they must admit that it is a dead, unfruitful and powerless spirit, which can beget in these children neither faith, love, fear of God, obedience, nor any evangelical, divine righteousness.

Because they have taught infant baptism by their own choice, contrary to all scriptural truth, and by their own righteousness, they cunningly seek to clothe and adorn it with a garbled form of the divine word, so that the adulterous, enchanting wine which is in the cup of the Babylonian whore may be swallowed as a good and pure wine, saying: “That infants should be baptized so that they may be the better trained in the word and commandments of God; cleansed of their inborn sins; buried in the death of Christ; regenerated and put on Christ Jesus, indeed, baptized into the body of Jesus Christ and so become partakers of the Holy Spirit.” This teaching is truly nothing but open deceit, lies, garbling of the Scriptures and a deception of Satan. For in all the baptized of the world we find the very opposite in their fruits, all through their lives, as every intelligent Christian may plainly observe.

Most beloved brothers in the Lord, never let such shameful and abominable lies find a place in your hearts, but examine all things rightly and according to the word of God, so that you may rightly understand all evangelical truth. For to ornament infant baptism in this way with the virtues which belong only to the baptism of the believing is just as reasonable as to clothe an ape in purple and silk, as the common saying of the learned implies, which reads, Simia semper manet simia, etiamsi induatur purpura; which means: an ape is an ape even though he is clothed in purple. In the same way infant baptism will remain a stench and abomination before God, however finely the learned ornament it with garbled Scriptures. For an infant, as long as it is in its infancy, will remain ignorant, simple and of childish mind, even if it is baptized a hundred times and its baptism is still more cunningly asserted by six hundred garbled Scriptures. For it is plain to all intelligent persons that in infants are found neither doctrine, faith, spirit, fruits nor any idea of God’s commandment, and that therefore they should not be baptized; that is, if we believe that the word of God is true and will always remain true, as we have abundantly proven in our first writings concerning baptism, and also in this one.

O kind reader! Truly, if this bitter, cancerous lime spittle of false doctrine and long usage had not eaten so deeply into the eyes of your hearts, you would acknowledge at once that this large church, in its young days, was not embodied into the pure, chaste, God-serving and unblamable body of Jesus Christ by the office of a clean and Christian spirit, but rather into the adulterous, idolatrous and blamable body of antichrist by an unclean and antichristian spirit.

For if they were incorporated into the most holy body of Jesus Christ, as they persistently boast, they should prove by their works that they are serviceable and fruitful members of the body into which they are incorporated. For we plainly see that no member of the human body is created except for some use and purpose; be it ever so small and trifling, it is in its own way profitable and useful to the body to which it belongs. But how useful the infants mentioned above are to the body of Christ Jesus will be seen by all who are taught by the Spirit.

From this it follows beyond dispute that if they are the body of Christ, as they claim, and Christ is the head of his church, then Christ is the head of the unbelieving, the greedy, perjurers, gamblers, drunkards, adulterers, fornicators, Sodomites, thieves, murderers, liars, idolaters, the disobedient, the bloodthirsty, traitors, tyrants, the proud, and all rogues and knaves. For where is there one in the whole church of those who were baptized in infancy who walks unblamably in all the commandments of our beloved Lord Jesus Christ, and who is not guilty before God, either inwardly or openly, of some or many of the crimes mentioned above? O no, kind reader, no. The most holy and glorious body of Jesus Christ is wonderfully far different from such a cruel, ungodly, refractory, disobedient, carnal, bloody and idolatrous body.

Most beloved brothers, since they are plainly such transgressors, blasphemers and willful sinners, judge for yourselves from these and other scriptural reasons what kind of body they are; by whose doctrine, commandment and practice, and by what Spirit, they were and still are daily incorporated into this very horrible body; indeed, a body that has neither gospel, faith, Christian baptism, Supper, nor Christian life, and therefore neither God, prayer, promise nor eternal life, but only false doctrine, false faith, false sacraments, false promise, ungodly life and eternal death. O Lord, save all your beloved children from such an abominable, bloody body.

But in the most holy body of Jesus Christ there is a true and orderly state of things according to the word of God, such as the true doctrine, faith, baptism, Supper, love, life, worship and true excommunication; and therefore also grace, favor, mercy, forgiveness of sins, prayer, God’s promise and eternal life. See, brothers, where these are, there also is the true body of Jesus Christ, of which Christ Jesus is the head. They are the true brothers of Jesus Christ, who with him are born of God the Father; the spiritual Mount Zion which will never be moved; the spiritual house of Israel, which is wisely ruled by Christ Jesus our only King, according to the Spirit, with the unbroken scepter of his divine word; the spiritual Jerusalem, in which the great King, the blessed Christ Jesus, has placed the glorious, kingly throne of his honor; the spiritual temple of the Lord, in which his holy name is sincerely glorified; the spiritual ark of the covenant with his heavenly bread, blooming rod and stone tables, on which the mercy seat, the blessed Christ Jesus, is found under the two cherubim of his testaments according to his promise. Indeed, the lovely bride of Jesus Christ, flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone, Ephesians 5, verse 30; whom he brought into his chamber, Song of Songs 1, verse 4, and kissed with the mouth of his eternal peace, Colossians, chapter 1; Ephesians, chapter 1. Therefore no one can be a profitable member of this most holy, glorious and pure body of Christ who is not believing, regenerated, converted, changed and renewed; who is not kind, mild, meek, obedient, merciful, chaste, sober, humble, forbearing, peaceable, just and constant, and heavenly and spiritually minded with Christ. For it is impossible, according to Scripture, that Christ Jesus will or can be the Prince or head of those who do not conform themselves to him, that is, of those who do not sincerely seek, hear, believe and serve him, but rather trample on, blaspheme and resist him. [Note 1]

But those who hear and believe the word of God are baptized into the body of Christ, by the Holy Spirit which has taught, begotten and enlightened them, on their own faith, according to the commandment of Christ. For these are regenerated by the word of God; they bury their sins and are raised up with Christ into new life; they have a good conscience; they receive forgiveness of sins; they put on Christ Jesus; they become true members of the most holy body of Jesus Christ, members that are fruitful, useful and serviceable according to their strength, First Corinthians 12, verse 13; Romans 6, verse 5; First Peter 3, verse 21; Acts 2, verse 38; Galatians 3, verse 27. On all such rest the affectionate eyes of the Lord, the heavenly blessing, and the merciful mind, protection and care of the eternal Father; because they have sincerely and fully denied themselves, and have obediently followed the will of God, to live according to the will of him who has graciously called them, Christ Jesus. Beloved reader, since infants do not have this mind, and since the Holy Spirit does not work in them or show itself to be in them, and since they cannot serve in the body of Christ as the word of God requires, as is plain to all intelligent persons, they should not be baptized; for without the quickening Spirit of God no one should be baptized, as we have abundantly proven from his word to all the pious children of God.

Therefore I conclude this matter of baptism with these plain words: Christ Jesus, the true Teacher sent by the Father, has commanded us to baptize the believing, Mark 16, verse 16; the holy apostles, in the Scriptures brought forward above, have explained what baptism represents as belonging to none but the believing; and infant baptism is no such baptism, because it is evident that infants have neither faith nor its fruits, and that faith and those fruits are what baptism truly represents. Therefore we are again of necessity compelled by the word of the Lord, by faith and by the love of God, diligently to teach and receive the baptism of the believing, and to assert it to the praise of the Lord before lords, princes and the whole world, at the risk of life and goods, as true witnesses of Jesus Christ.

In the third and last place, we are compelled to assert the Christian baptism of the believing, even at the risk of life and blood, for this reason: the holy apostles of God baptized none except those alone who desired to be baptized, as Christ expressly and plainly commanded them, saying, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature; he who believes and is baptized shall be saved,” Mark 16, verse 15. The apostles received this commandment from the mouth of the Lord, and they proclaimed the holy gospel, the glad tidings of grace, throughout the world, Romans, chapter 10, and preached it to every creature under heaven, Colossians, chapter 1. They baptized all who accepted this gospel by faith, and no others, as is shown and seen in many Scriptures dealing with the acts of the apostles. I will set some of these Scriptures before the reader, and by them all the rest of the Scriptures will easily be explained.

When Philip was led by the angel of the Lord to the chariot of the eunuch, who had come from the land of Ethiopia and was reading the gospel of Jesus Christ from Esaias the prophet, “Philip preached Jesus to him; and as they went on their way, they came to a certain water; and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what hinders me from being baptized? And Philip said, If you believe with all your heart, you may. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God,” Acts 8, verses 35 to 37.

My chosen, beloved brothers, if all the earth were full of learned orators or highly renowned doctors, and these were exalted as high as the stars by sharp subtlety and human philosophy, yet by the grace of God this word will never be wrung from us, namely: that where there is no faith, no baptism should be administered, according to the word of God. Otherwise we must admit, first, that the command of Christ Jesus is wrong; second, that the holy apostles taught wrongly; third, that the holy Philip asked wrongly here; fourth, that the eunuch was concerned about this matter more than all the rest of humanity.

No, kind reader, no. But as Peter and Paul, together with all the pious witnesses of Christ, always had their eyes fixed on the commandment of the Lord Jesus Christ and did not act against it, so also the holy Philip, the true servant of God, who preached and taught with the same spirit, would not baptize until the illustrious and famous man had sincerely confessed his faith; for so it was commanded him by Christ Jesus, his true Master, our Redeemer and Savior, Matthew 28, verse 19; Mark 16, verse 15.

Since the holy apostles first required of those who were to be baptized a confession of their faith before baptism, I ask you, beloved reader: How can we require a confession of faith of infants before they are baptized, and who will confess for them? If you say the godfathers, then I reply that the godfathers were first devised by Pope Higinius, as we have shown above. Higinius is the one who devised them; and infant baptism has been practiced ever since the time of the apostles, as Origen and Augustine write, and as I believe, because those who do not rightly confess Christ always seek their righteousness in ceremonies they have made, even though it is no divine command nor apostolic usage, as may be particularly proven by the holy Scriptures and also by Tertullian and Ruffinus and others. Therefore I truly do not see who answered by the faith of infants for those infants who were baptized in the period between the apostles and Pope Higinius, since the godfathers were first devised by Higinius, who was either the ninth or the tenth pope, and since the infants who lived before him had as little doctrine, hearing, voice or understanding as the children of the present day, as they plainly prove by their fruits.

Observe, kind reader, that all their doings with children, such as catechism, godfathers, baptism, chrism and the like, are nothing but open hypocrisy, human righteousness, idolatry, useless fantasy and opinion. [Note 2]

Since Christ Jesus has commanded only one baptism, on the confession of faith, and since the apostles taught and practiced it, the infant baptists must consent and admit, by the word of God, that infant baptism does not come from the commandment of Christ, nor from the teaching and practice of the holy apostles, but from the doctrine of antichrist and the practice of his preachers.

I repeat that the holy apostles baptized none but those who desired it, or those who confessed the most holy faith either in words or proved it by their walk, as holy Peter did. For although he had already been told by a heavenly vision that he might go among the Gentiles to teach them the gospel, yet he refused to baptize the pious, noble and godly centurion and his companions as long as he did not see that the Holy Spirit had descended on them, that they spoke with tongues and glorified God. But when Peter plainly saw that they truly believed and that the Spirit had descended on them, he said, “Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord,” Acts 10, verses 47 and 48.

See, kind reader, here you are plainly taught that Peter commanded that only those should be baptized who had received the Holy Spirit, who spoke with tongues and glorified God; and this belongs only to the believing and not to unconscious infants. So the practice of Peter was in accordance with the commandment of Christ, Mark 16, verse 16. Therefore Peter did not command infant baptism; for the Holy Spirit does not work in them, as may be plainly seen. This may also be understood from a passage of Paul; for he says, “When they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women,” Acts 8, verse 12. Observe, nothing is said of infants.