How the Atonement Saves Dying Infants

QUESTION: Show with Bible proofs how the Atonement saves dying infants.

ANSWER: The Bible shows the fact of infant salvation, not the "how." "Jesus... by the grace of God tasteth death for every man" (Heb. 1:9). "Therefore, as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even some by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification, of life." (Rom. 5:18). The sin of Adam and the merits of Christ are pronounced, to be co-extensive. The free gift exempts the whole human race from the punishment of Adam's sin. Infants have no sins, no guilt of their own. Hence there is no ground for their "sentence to the easiest room in hell," as tender hearted Calvinists used to say. Heaven is the only place appropriate for their abode. Adults have sins of their own which are conditionally covered by Christ's free gift. Faith in Christ is the condition. John 3:16, "whosoever believeth." The sin of which the Paraclete convicts the world is "because they believe not on me," said Christ. Infants are incapable of this sin. Hence, "He that believeth not shall be damned," does not apply to them. The poet represents Christ as tenderly saying:

"Death may the bands of life unloose,
But can't dissolve my love,
Millions of infant souls compose
The family above."

— Steele's Answers pp 155, 156.

Is Baptism Necessary to Salvation?

QUESTION: Does this verse teach that water baptism is necessary to salvation, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved"?

ANSWER: The rest of the verse (Mark 16:16), "but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned," makes unbelief the sole cause of condemnation. Water baptism is not saving, but contempt of it is damning. An involuntary absence of it, as in the case of the thief converted on the cross, cannot be the ground of condemnation.

— Steele's Answers pp 138, 139.

Put Yourself Into Christ's Hands

A friend of the writer, travelling abroad, became sick in Paris. He sent for the most eminent physician in the city, who, after a careful diagnosis, informed his patient that he was attacked with a fatal fever then prevailing in the French capital. Said he to him, "You will soon lose your reason, and then sink into a state of insensibility, from which it is not certain that you will rally. But I will do my best to carry you safely through the deadly disease. Make your will, and deposit it with me. Put into my hands your trunk and its key, your watch, your purse, your clothes, your passport, and every thing else which you prize." The sick man was thunderstruck at such demands by an entire stranger, who might administer a dose of poison, and send the patient's body to the potter's field, and appropriate the surrendered treasures to his own use. A moment's reflection taught him that the demand was made out of pure benevolence, and that it was more safe to trust himself and his possessions to the hands of a man of high professional repute than to run the risk of being plundered by the hungry horde of hotel servants. He surrendered all his goods and himself into the charge of the physician. He sat by his bedside, saw his prophecy fulfilled, reason go out in delirium, and intelligence sink into stupor. He watched the ebbing tide of life with all the solicitude of a brother. At length he saw the tide turn, and detected the first faint refluent wave which was to bring the sick man back to the shores of life. He recovered, and found his purse and all his treasures restored to him.

Thus must you do if you would avail yourself of the skill of the all-healing Physician, Jesus Christ. Make your will, and give it to him. Commit your purse to his keeping. A consecrated pocket-book always attends a sanctified heart. Without this attendant, the heart-work is not real and genuine. Put yourself, your possessions, your reputation, your future, into Christ's hands by an act of consecration, and then BELIEVE that he will do his work without any assistance from you. You cannot improve your own condition. You cannot expel the dire disease of sin from its hold upon your very vitals. Jesus only can free you.

"His precious Blood both wounds and heals,
When faith the balm applies,
My peace restores, my pardon seals,
My nature sanctifies.
His precious Blood the life inspires
Which angels live above,
And fills my infinite desires,
And turns me all to love." 

— from Love Enthroned, Chapter  21.