CHILDREN BROUGHT TO CHRIST, NOT TO THE FONT – Charles Spurgeon
Children Brought to Christ, Not to the Font
Introduction to the Passage
“And they brought young children to Him, that He should touch them; but His disciples rebuked those who brought them. But when Jesus saw it, He was much displeased and said to them, Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly I say to you, whoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it. And He took them up in His arms, put His hands on them, and blessed them.” Mark 10:13-16 (NKJV).
My attention has been especially directed to this passage because it has been quoted against me by most of the authors of those sermons and letters which are, by a stretch of imagination, called “replies” to my sermon on “Baptismal Regeneration” (See #573, Volume 10—BAPTISMAL REGENERATION—by the Grace of God, for all 63 volumes of C. H. Spurgeon sermons in Modern English, and 574 Spanish translations, visit: www.spurgeongems.org). Replies they certainly are not, except to one another. I marvel that a church so learned as the Anglican Church cannot produce something a little more worthy of the point in hand. The various authors may have read my discourse, but by reason of mental absorption in other meditations or perhaps through the natural disturbance of mind caused by guilty consciences, they have talked with confusion of words, and have only been successful in refuting themselves and answering one another. They must have been aiming at something far removed from my sermon, or else I must give them credit for being the worst shots that ever practiced with controversial artillery! They do not so much as touch the target in its extreme corners, much less in its center.
The whole question is, “Do you believe that baptism regenerates?” If so—prove that your belief is Scriptural! Do you believe that baptism does not regenerate? Then, justify your swearing that it does! Who will reply to this? He shall merit and bear the palm.
Misapplication of the Passage
The Scripture before us is, by several of the champions on the other side, exhibited to the people as a rebuke to me. Their reasoning is rather ingenious than forcible—indeed, because the disciples incurred the displeasure of Jesus Christ by keeping back the little children from coming to Him—therefore, Jesus Christ is greatly displeased with me, and with all others like me, for keeping children from the font, and the performance there enacted! And they are especially displeased with me for exposing the Anglican doctrine of baptismal regeneration! Observe the reasoning—because Jesus was much displeased with disciples for hindering parents from seeking a blessing upon their children, therefore, He is much displeased with us who do not believe in godfathers and godmothers, or the signing of the cross on the infant brow.
I must say at the outset that this is rather a leap of an argument and would not ordinarily be thought conclusive, but this we may readily overlook since we have long ceased to hope for reasonable arguments from those who support a cause based upon absurdity.
The True Meaning of the Text
My brethren, I concluded that there must be something forcible in such a text as this, or my opponents would not be so eager to secure it. I have, therefore, carefully looked at it, and as I have viewed it, it has opened up to me with a sacred splendor of divine grace! In this incident, the very heart of Christ is published to poor sinners, and we may clearly perceive the freeness and the fullness of the mighty grace of the Redeemer of men, who is willing to receive the youngest child as well as the oldest man; and is greatly displeased with any who would keep back seeking souls from coming to Him, or loving hearts from bringing others to receive His blessing.
No Connection with Baptism
In handling this text, in what I believe to be its true light, I shall commence, first of all, by observing that this text has not the shadow of a ghost of a connection with baptism. There is no line of connection as substantial as a spider’s web between this incident and baptism, or, at least, my imagination is not vivid enough to conceive one. ThIs I will prove to you, if you will follow me for a moment.
It is very clear, dear friends, that these young children were NOT brought to Jesus Christ by their friends to be baptized. “They brought young children to Him, that He should touch them,” says Mark. Matthew describes the children as being brought, “that He would put His hands on them and pray.” There is not a hint about their being baptized; no godfathers or godmothers had been provided, and no sign of the cross was requested. Surely, the parents themselves knew tolerably well what it was they desired, and they would not have expressed themselves so dubiously as to ask Him to touch them when they meant that He should baptize them! The parents evidently had no thought of regeneration by baptism, and brought the children for quite another reason.
In the next place, if they brought the children to Jesus Christ to be baptized, they brought them to the wrong person. For the evangelist, John, in the fourth chapter and the second verse, expressly assures us that Jesus Christ baptized not, but His disciples—this settles the question once and for all, and proves beyond all dispute that there is no connection between this incident and baptism!
The Disciples’ Reaction
But you will say, “Perhaps they brought the children to be baptized by the disciples?” Beloved, the disciples were not in the habit of baptizing infants, and this is clear from the case in hand. If they had been in the habit of baptizing infants, would they have rebuked the parents for bringing them? If it had been a customary thing for parents to bring children with such intent, would the disciples, who had been in the constant habit of performing the ceremony, have rebuked them for attending to it? Would any church clergyman rebuke parents for bringing their children to be baptized? If he did so, he would act absurdly contrary to his own views and practice; and we cannot, therefore, imagine that if infant baptism had been the accepted practice, the disciples could have acted so absurdly as to rebuke the parents for bringing their little ones. It is obvious that such could not have been the practice of the disciples who were rebuked.
Christ’s Silence on Infant Baptism
Moreover, and here is an argument which seems to me to have great force in it, when Jesus Christ rebuked His disciples, then was the time, if ever in His life, to have openly spoken concerning infant baptism, godfathers and godmothers, and the whole affair. If He wished to rebuke His disciples most effectually, how could He have done it better than by saying, “Why keep these children back? I have ordained that they shall be baptized; I have expressly commanded that they shall be regenerated and made members of My body in baptism; how dare you, then, in opposition to My will, keep them back?” But no, dear friends, our Savior never said a word about “the laver of regeneration,” or “the quickening dew,” when He rebuked them—not a single sentence! Had He done so, the time would have been most appropriate if it had been His intention to teach the practice; in the whole of His life, there is no period in which a discourse upon infant regeneration in baptism could have been more appropriate than on this occasion—and yet not a single sentence about it comes from the Savior’s lips.
Christ Did Not Baptize
To silence all—Jesus Christ did not baptize the children. Our Evangelist does not inform us that He exclaimed, “Where are the godfathers and godmothers?” It is not recorded that He called for a font, or a prayer book! No. But, “He took them up in His arms, put His hands upon them, and blessed them.” He then dismissed them without a drop of the purifying element.
Now, if this event had any connection with baptism whatever, it was the most appropriate occasion for infant baptism to have been practiced. Why, it would have ended forever the controversy! There may be some men in the world who would have raised the question of engrafting infants into the body of Christ’s Church by baptism after all this, but I am certain no honest man would have done so who reverently accepted Christ as His spiritual leader.
The Absurdity of the Argument
I, my brethren, would sooner be dumb than speak a single word against an ordinance which Christ Himself instituted and practiced; and if on this occasion, He had but sprinkled one of these infants, given him a Christian name, signed him with a cross, accepted the vows of his godparents, and thanked God for his regeneration, then the question would have been settled forever, and some of us would have been saved a world of abuse—besides escaping no end of mistakes, for which we are condemned, in the judgment of many good people, for whom we have some affection—though for their judgment, we have no respect.
Conclusion: No Connection Between Baptism and the Passage
So, you see the parents did not ask for baptismal regeneration; Christ did not personally baptize; the disciples were not in the habit of baptizing infants, or else they would not have rebuked the parents; Christ did not speak about baptism on the occasion, and He did not baptize the little ones. I will put a case to you which may exhibit the weakness of my opponents’ position. Suppose a denomination should rise up which should teach that babies should be allowed to partake at the Lord’s Table. Such teaching could plead precedents of great antiquity, for you are aware that at one period, infant communion was allowed, and logically, too; for if an infant has a right to baptism, it has a right to come to the Lord’s Table. For years, children were brought to the Lord’s Table, but rather inconvenient accidents occurred, and therefore, the thing was dropped as being unseemly. But if someone should revive the error, and try to prove that infants are to come to the Lord’s Supper, he might prove it from this passage quite as clearly as our friends can prove infant baptism from it.
Moreover, do not forget that even if infant baptism could be proved from this text, the ceremony prescribed in the prayer book is quite as far from being established. Whether the baptism of infants may or may not be proven from other Scriptures, I cannot now stay to inquire, but even if it can be, what are we to say for godfathers or godmothers, or the assertion that in baptism children are made “members of Christ, children of God, and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven”? Truly, I might as well prove vaccination from the text before me, as the performance which the prayer book calls, “infant baptism.” I do not hesitate to say that I could prove any earthly thing, if I might but have such reasoning granted to me as that which proved infant baptism from this passage. There is no possible connection between the two.
The True Teaching of the Passage
The teaching of the passage is very plain and very clear, and baptism has been imported into it, but not found in it. As a quaint writer has well said, “These doctrines are raised from the text as our collectors raise a tax upon indigent, unsolvent people—by coming armed with the law and a constable to seize and hold that which is not to be had. Certainly, never was a text so strained and distrained to pay what it never owed; never man so racked to confess what he never thought; never was a pumice stone so squeezed for water which it never held.” Still, hundreds will catch at this straw, and cry, “Did not Jesus say, ‘Let the little children come to Me’?” To these we give this one word—see that you read the Word as it is written, and you will find no water in it, but Jesus only. Are the water and Christ the same thing? Is bringing a child to a font bringing the child to Christ? No, there is a wide difference, as wide as between Rome and Jerusalem, as wide as between Antichrist and Christ, between false doctrine and the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Invitation to Come to Christ
On Sundays, I have labored to clear up the doubts and fears which afflict coming sinners; I have entreated God the Holy Spirit to enable me so to speak, that those things which hindered you from coming to the Savior might be removed. But how sad must be the case of those who delight themselves in putting stumbling blocks in men’s way. The doctrine of election, for instance—a great and glorious truth of God, full of comfort to God’s people—how often is that made to frighten sinners from Jesus! There is a way of preaching that doctrine, in which you make it put on a black and ugly face, and stand with a drawn sword and say, “You must not come unless you know you are one of God’s elect.” That is not the way to preach the doctrine! The true way of preaching it is, “God has a chosen people, and I hope you are one of them; come, lay hold on Jesus, put your trust in Him.”
Then, there are others who preach up dispositions and feelings as a preparation for Christ. They do in effect say, “Unless you have felt so much depression of spirit, or experienced a certain quantity of brokenness of heart, you must not come to Christ.” Instead of declaring that whoever will is permitted to come, and that the true way of coming to Christ is not with a qualification of dispositions and feelings and mental depressions, but just as you are. Oh, it is my soul’s delight to preach a gospel which has an open door to it—to preach a mercy seat which has no veil before it; the veil is torn in two, and now the biggest sinner out of hell, who desires to come, is welcome! You, who are 80 years of age, and have hated Christ all this time; if now the Spirit of God makes you willing to come, Christ seems to say, “Let the gray-headed come to Me, and forbid them not.” While to you little children, He stretches out His arms in the same manner, “Let the little children come to Me.”
O my beloved, see to it that your heart longs to come to Christ, and not to ceremonies! I stand here this day to cry, “Come you to the cross, not to the font.” When I forget to lift up the Lord Jesus, and to cast down the forms of man’s devising, “Let my right hand forget her cunning,” and “Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth.” None but Jesus, none but Jesus, Can do helpless sinners good!” The font is a mockery and an imposition if it is put before Christ. If you have baptism after you have come to Christ, well and good, but to point you to it either as being Christ, or as being inevitably connected with Christ, or as being the place to find Christ, is nothing better than to go back to the beggarly elements of the old Romish harlot instead of standing in the “Liberty wherewith Christ has made us free,” and bidding the sinner to come as a sinner to Christ Jesus, and to Christ Jesus alone.
The Wrong Grounds for Discouraging Others
In the third and last place, let us also gather from our text, that when we discourage any, we always go upon wrong grounds. Here was the case of children. I suppose that the grounds upon which the apostles kept back the children would be one of these—either that the children could not receive a blessing, or else that they could not receive it worthily. Did they imagine that these little children could not receive the blessing? Perhaps so, for they thought them too young.
Now, brethren, that was a wrong ground to go upon, for these children could receive the blessing and they did receive it, for Jesus took them in His arms and blessed them. If I keep back a child from coming to Christ on the grounds that he is too young, I do it in the face of facts; because there have been children brought to Christ at an extremely early age. You who are acquainted with Janeway’s Tokens for Children have noticed many beautiful instances of early conversion. Our dear friend, Mrs. Rogers, in that book of hers, The Folded Lamb, gave a very sweet picture of a little son of hers, soon folded in the Savior’s bosom above, who, as early as two or three years of age, rejoiced and knew the Savior.
I do not doubt it at all, I cannot doubt it because one has seen such cases, that children of two or three years of age may have blossoms of knowledge and of divine grace—a blessing which, in almost every case, has betokened early death—but which has been perfectly marvelous to those who have talked with them. The fact is that we do not all at the same age arrive at that degree of mental stature which is necessary for understanding the things of God. Children have been reported as reading Latin, Greek, and other languages at five or six years of age. I do not know that such early scholarship is any great blessing—it is better not to reach that point so soon—but some children are all that their minds ever will be at three or four, and then, they go home to heaven; and as long as the mind has been brought up to such a condition that it is capable of understanding, it is also capable of faith if the Holy Spirit shall implant it!
Faith in Children and Early Conversion
To suppose that He ever gave faith to an unconscious babe is ridiculous! That there can be any faith in a child that knows nothing whatever, I must always take ground to doubt, for, “How shall they believe without a preacher?” And yet they are brought up to make a profession in their baby clothes, when they have never heard a sermon in their lives? But those dear children to whom I have before referred, have understood the preacher, have understood the truth of God, have rejoiced in the truth, and their first young lispings have been as full of grace as those glorious expressions of aged saints in their triumphant departures!
Children are capable, then, of receiving the grace of God. Do mark, by the way, that all those champions who have come out against me so valiantly have made a mistake. They have said that we deny that little infants may be regenerated—we do NOT deny that God can regenerate them if He pleases! We do not know anything about what may, or may not happen to unconscious babies; but we did say that little children were not regenerated by their godparents telling lies at a font—we did say that, and we say it again—that little children are not regenerated, nor made members of Christ, nor children of God, nor inheritors of the kingdom of heaven, by a solemn mockery, in which godfathers and godmothers promise to do for them what they cannot do for themselves, much less for their children! That is the point; and if they will please to meet it, we will answer them again, but till such time as that, we shall probably let them talk on till God gives them grace to know better.
Receiving the Blessing Worthily
The other ground upon which the apostles put back the children would be that although the children might receive the blessing, they might not be able to receive it worthily. The Lord Jesus, in effect, assures them that so far from the way in which a little child enters into the kingdom of heaven being exceptional, it is the rule; and the very way in which a child enters the kingdom is the way in which everybody must enter it.
How does a child enter the kingdom of heaven? Why, its faith is very simple; it does not understand mysteries and controversies, but it believes what it is told upon the authority of God’s Word, and it comes to God’s Word without previous prejudice. It has its natural sinfulness, but grace overcomes it, and the child receives the Word as it finds it. You will notice in boyish and girlish conversions, a peculiar simplicity of belief—they believe just what Christ says—exactly what He says. If they pray, they believe Christ will hear them—if they talk about Jesus, it is as of a Person near at hand. They do not, as we do, get into the making of these things into mysteries and shadows—little children have a realizing power.
Then, they have great rejoicing. The most cheerful Christians we have are young believers; and the most cheerful old Christians are those who were converted when they were young! Why, see the joy of a child that finds a Savior! “Mother,” he says, “I have sought Jesus Christ, and I have trusted Him, and I am saved.” He does not say, “I hope,” and “I trust,” but “I am,” and then, he is ready to leap for joy because he is saved!
Simplicity of Faith in Children
Of the many boys and girls whom we have received into church fellowship, I can say of them all, they have all gladdened my heart, and I have never received any with greater confidence than I have these! This I have noticed about them—they have greater joy and rejoicing than any others; and I take it, it is because they do not ask as many questions as others do, but take Jesus Christ’s Word as they find it, and believe in it.
Well now, just the very way in which a child receives Christ, is the way in which you must receive Christ if you would be saved. You who know so much that you know too much; you who have big brains; you who are always thinking, and have a tendency to criticism, and perhaps to skepticism—you must come and receive the gospel as a little child. You will never get a hold of my Lord and Master while you are wearing that quizzing cap; no, you must take it off, and by the power of the Holy Spirit you must come trusting Jesus, simply trusting Him, for this is the right way to receive the kingdom.
The Conversion of Great Sinners
But here, let me say the principle which holds good in little children holds good in all other cases as well.
Take, for instance, the case of very great sinners—men who have been gross offenders against the laws of their country. Some would say they cannot be saved; they can be, for some of them have been! Others would say they never receive the truth of God as it is in Jesus in the right manner; yes, but they do. How do great sinners receive Christ? There are some here who have been reclaimed from drunkenness, and I know not what else. My brethren, how did you receive Christ? Why in this way—You said, “All unholy, all unclean, I am nothing else but sin; but if I am saved, it will be grace, grace, grace.”
Why, when you and I stood up, black, and foul, and filthy, and yet dared to believe in Christ, we said, “If we are saved, we shall be prodigies of divine mercy, and we will sing of His love forever!” My dear friends, you must all receive Jesus Christ in that very way! That which would raise an objection to the salvation of the big sinner is thrown back upon you, for Christ might well say, “Except you receive these things as the chief of sinners, you cannot enter the kingdom.”
The Example of the Apostle Paul
I will prove my point by the instance of the apostle Paul. He has been held by some to be an exception to the rule, but Paul did not think so, for he says that God, in him, showed forth all long-suffering for a pattern to them who believe, and made him, as it were, a type of all conversions. So, that instead of being an exception, his was to be the rule. You see what I am driving at. The case of the children looks exceptional, but it is not; it has, on the contrary, all the features about it which must be found in every true conversion. It is of such that the kingdom of heaven is composed, and if we are not such, we cannot enter it.
A Call to Prayer for Souls
Let this induce all of us who love the Lord to pray for the conversion both of children and of all sorts of men. Let our compassion expand, let us shut out none from the plea of our heart! In prayer and in faith, let us bring all who come under our range, hoping and believing that some of them will be found in the election of grace—that some of them will be washed in the Savior’s blood, and that some of them will shine as stars in the firmament of God forever!
Let us, on no consideration, believe that the salvation of any man or child is beyond the range of possibility, for the Lord saves whom He wills. Let no difficulties which seem to surround the case hinder our efforts; let us, on the contrary, push forward with greater eagerness believing that where there seems to be some special difficulty, there will be manifested, as in the children’s case, some special privilege!
O labor for souls, my dear friends! I beseech you live to win souls! This is the best rampart against error—a rampart built of living stones—converted men and women. This is the way to push back the advances of popery, by imploring the Lord to work conversions. I do not think that mere controversial preaching will do much, though it must be used; it is grace-work we need; it is bringing you to Christ; it is getting you to lay hold of Him—it is this which shall defeat the devil and expand the kingdom of Christ!
O that my God would bring some of you to Jesus! If He is displeased with those who would keep you back, then see how willing He is to receive you! Is there in your soul any desire towards Him? Come and welcome, sinner, come! Do you feel now that you must have Christ or die? Come and have Him! He is to be had for the asking. Has the Lord taught you your need of Jesus? You thirsty ones, come and drink! You hungry ones, come and eat! Yes, this is the proclamation of the gospel today, “The Spirit and the bride say, Come! And let him who hears say, Come! And let him who is thirsty come! And whoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”
I do trust there may be encouragement in this to some of you. I pray my Master make you feel it. If He is angry with those who keep you back, then He must be willing to receive you, glad to receive you; and if you come to Him, He will in no way cast you out! May the Lord add His blessing on these words for Jesus’ sake. Amen.