Page:Delineation of Roman Catholicism.djvu/232

 MI4 itat,. [Boo If. that(6.) If all children dying without haptism are lost, then it will follow an infinite number of children are lost without their fault; which is absurd in the extreme. (7.) Nor will it avail to a/Fn'm that some of the fathers, as  Nazianzene, Hierome, with othe.rs, believed that infants dying tism could not be saved. Because, 1. Some of the fathers held  necessity of the eucharist for children in order to be saved, as weu as to baptism. Why, then, do they not follow the fathers in the one as well as in the other opinion ? 2. Augustine, Fulgentius, and Gregory held that infants dying unbaptized descended to the place of the 8arened, and that they are punished with a sense of pal,; but the Reinartists generally believe that they are not punished with a sense of pain, but merely of/os#; so that they do not follow the judgment of the fathers. (8.) The baptism of infants, among the ancient Christians, was . usually performed at Easter and Pentecost; yet it is not likely that such a custom would obtain, if the want of baptism would prevent their salvation. (9.) The present doctrine of the Church of Rome is the heresy of the Hierarchltes, who denied that children went to heaven.* (10.) Finally, some Roman Catholics believe that infants without baptism are saved. This was the opinion of Ger*o Gabrid. 1. The Catechism of the Council of Trent enumerates seven effects of baptism, which are the following,' and which we give in the word Of the Catechism. (1.) Te ,w,,a of aR n,   /. "Such is tho ad- hdmble efficacy of this sacrament, as to remit original sin and actual guilt, however enormous." The Catechism states, "that or the fuel of sin, however, remains; but it does not constitute sin. It is the effect of sin, and is nothing more than an appetite of the soul in itself repugnant to reason. If unaccompanied with the consent of the will, or unattended with neglect on our part, it ditTers essentially from the nature of sin." (2.) T/ ro, dso of t/ pua/a &u to /n. "But in baptism, 1iot only is sin forgiven, but with it all the punishment due to sin is rentitted by a merciful God." Hence they teach that no penance is due or inflicted for sins committed before baptism. By vrtue of is sacrament, we are not only delivered from what are justly deemed the greatest of all evils, but are also enriched with inva- luable goods. Our souls are replenished with divine grace, by which, rendered just and children of Ood, we are made coheirs to the inherit- ance of eternal life. But grace, according to the definition of the Cotmcil of Trent-- definition tO which, under pain of anathema, we gre boun8 to defer--not only remits sin, but is also a divine qusli inherent in the soul, and, as it were, a brilliant light that effaces these stains which obscure the lustre of the soul, and invests it wi increased brightaess and beauty." Hem grace is put in the place of

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