# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_Januar 1855_S30
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

30 Excerpts as Contributions to Pastoral Casuistry.

Concerning Baptism.

“Whether the children of Calvinists should not be baptized unless the parents profess our religion; likewise, concerning their admission as godparents and their burial.”

Answer to this question from the faculty at Wittenberg: “God’s grace and blessing, together with our prayers and such services as we can render, be with you first of all.—Dear Sirs and Friends, together with your letter we have also received a postscript in which the gentlemen request our opinion on three further points; concerning these, too, we have agreed upon a unanimous answer.”

“First, because the Calvinists bring their children to the people of Jever (in Oldenburg) for baptism, the question is asked whether the Lutheran theologians are right in refusing to baptize any Calvinist’s child unless the parents are willing to profess our religion. Our opinion on this is that baptism should indeed not readily be sought among those who do not adhere to the pure evangelical religion (that is, the Lutheran), if it can be obtained from teachers of the pure doctrine. Nevertheless, if those who do not belong to our religion request the baptism of their children in our churches without any hypocrisy or deceitful scheme, even though they could readily have it among their own fellow believers, it should not be denied to them, although the parents belong to another religion. For by doing this the parents show themselves not to be enemies of our church, but rather pay due honor to our ministry; they regard it as efficacious and bear witness that the true worship of God is found in our churches. Therefore, although they still err in certain points of doctrine, they should nevertheless be received as those who are weak in faith and as poor, misled people. By providing the baptism requested for their children, they should not be compelled to accept the faith—which we ourselves otherwise condemn among the Papists—but rather should be instructed on such an occasion concerning baptism and other points of Christian doctrine as they are practiced in our churches. The practice of the true evangelical church shows that even the children of Jews and Turks are baptized when they are under Christian authority, although their parents do not request it and have not professed the Christian faith; therefore, still less can the Calvinists be denied the baptism of their children when they duly seek it in our churches. God Himself commanded Abraham to circumcise even the foreign slaves he had purchased, who were not of his lineage but were heathens, Genesis 17:12, and whose parents had undoubtedly not yet been instructed in Abraham’s religion. Therefore God will also not—