- A Relation of
Fellowship - A Spiritual
Seed - Gathered in the
Generations - Unconditionally
of Grace - Realized and
Perfected
Believers and Their Seed
by Rev. Herman Hoeksema
Chapter 11
Covenant Children Who Die In Infancy
The last question which we wish to discuss in connection with our subject is that concerning the salvation of children of believers who die in infancy.
Among believers there is a great measure of interest shown in this question. When the question of the salvation of little children who die in infancy is broached, often the thoughts of the heart come to manifestation and the emotions are stirred. There is, of course, good reason for this. In the first place, the entire covenant is frequently considered as nothing else than a way of salvation; and then, of course, the great advantage of that covenant people lies in the fact that also their children are saved. If the subject of the covenant comes under discussion, many think not so much of a relation between God and His people as of a relation between believers and their seed. And if the question of being saved is then presented as the chief idea of the covenant, it follows that the question of the salvation of infants automatically is placed on the foreground. In the second place, this is a question which cuts very deeply into our natural life. For it is a fact that there are very many who are taken away by death in their childhood. Dr. Abraham Kuyper, Sr., writes about this as follows (E Voto Dordraceno, III, pp. 6, 7; we translate): “Of every generation that is born at least half die before they have developed to a full and clear consciousness. Before his twentieth year one is seldom full-grown. Our civil law first grants the right of self- determination to one who has reached the age of 23 years. Now statistics show that of every 100 persons buried in our land in 1886, 73/4% were dead at birth, 28% in their first year, 121/2% from their first to their fifth year, 4% from their fifth to their fourteenth year, and almost 2% in their fifteenth to twentieth years. From the ages of 1 to 20 years, therefore, approximately 56% of those who died. And even if one assumes that children from their seventh or eighth year on know some difference between good and evil, then the number of those who die between the ages of 1 and 7 years old is still approximately 45 out of 100. He who is a serious Christian, therefore, must not say that the question of children who die in infancy is an incidental one. That it certainly is not. Already when we limit the question to those who attain an age of 7 or 8 years old, this question concerns almost half of those born; and if one goes a bit farther, it concerns a generous half.” Now the latter conclusion of Dr. Kuyper is certainly not entirely true. For the basis of the statistics given by Dr. Kuyper above was not the number of those born in 1886, but the number of those who died. And it may be assumed that in all likelihood the latter figure was considerably smaller than the former. One cannot assume, therefore, that if he divides the number of deaths on a percentage basis according to their various age-groups, that this percentage remains the same when he figures on the basis of the number of births. The latter percentage would be considerably smaller. But that does not take away the fact that the great majority of those who die are children – if, at least, one reckons childhood up to the twentieth year. The subject under discussion, therefore, is one of vital concern. Add to this the fact that here one of the tenderest relationships of natural life is involved – for the bond between a parent and his dead infant is a very tender one – then it is quite understandable that at the grave of a little one, of a darling taken away by the Lord, the question arises in the heart of the parents whether that little one whose tiny body is laid away in the grave at that same moment rejoices in glory before the throne of God and of the Lamb. It is also readily to be understood that as often as this question comes under discussion, much interest is shown in it, especially by the many parents who themselves have had to bring their children to the grave.
Thus it is also to be explained, perhaps, that an article concerning this question was included in the Canons of Dordrecht (I, A, 17). Especially when, in connection with this, we take into consideration the fact that the Arminians delighted in depicting the presentation of our Reformed fathers as monstrous, and berated them that they took pleasure in the idea of a hell full of innocent little children, it is understandable that the Synod of 1618-19 undertook to make of this matter a point of confession. We read there: “Since we are to judge of the will of God from his Word, which testifies that the children of believers are holy, not by nature, but in virtue of the covenant of grace, in ‘which they, together with the parents, are comprehended, godly parents have no reason to doubt of the election and salvation of their children, whom it pleaseth God to call out of this life in their infancy.”
This article leaves much to be desired as far as clarity and sharpness of definition are concerned; and it cannot be denied that in the form in which the matter is here cast it really cannot be considered an item for a confession. In a confession the church expresses what it believes concerning the truth of God revealed in the Scriptures. And it can hardly be said that the church here does that. If the Synod of 1618-19 had really wanted to express a definite view concerning the salvation of children who die in infancy, then there would have had to be something entirely different in this article of the Canons of Dordrecht. Then it would have had to say very definitely: “We believe that since we are to judge of the will of God from his Word, which testifies that the children of believers are holy, not by nature, but in virtue of the covenant of grace, in which they, together with their parents, are comprehended, that all children of believers whom God takes away in their infancy are saved according to their election.” Then the church would at least have expressed something definite, something about, the meaning of which there would have to be no doubt. But this the article does not do. There are indeed very many who understand the matter thus. There are not a few who do not hesitate to say that every baptized child who, is taken away by the Lord in infancy is saved. Parents who bring their young children to the grave often say without hesitation that they were, covenant children, and that for that reason those children are certainly saved. And many preachers follow this example and in their funeral sermons comfort the parents by giving them to understand that all covenant children who die in infancy are saved. They even tend to stretch more and more the, age-limit of those who die in childhood; and it even occurs that in such funeral sermons comfort is extended on this same basis when the dead have reached the age of 14 to 18 years old and, besides, have not seldom given reason to fear by a life in and according to the world that they actually went lost. The difference is on the surface. The fathers do not express an objective item of faith and confession in the article quoted above. They only said, “. . . godly parents must not doubt. . . .” But many, especially if they proceed from the idea of a presupposed regeneration as the basis for infant baptism, express it as a matter of faith: all baptized children who die in infancy are saved.
Meanwhile, we would remark, in the first place, that even if one declares *hat all covenant children who die in infancy are saved, he still does not have anything definite whatsoever. For the question remains: who are to be counted as belonging to such children who die in infancy? There will be wide divergence of opinion about this question. The matter is rather elastic. As we have already remarked, there are at the one extreme those who would extend the life-span of those who must be classified as children who die in infancy to the age of 20. Others will condemn this as being extreme; they would rather put this age-limit back to the fourteenth year. But even thus the problem is not solved. He who observes children will have to concede that the difference between those who fear the Lord and those who will have nothing of God’s covenant frequently is noticeable already long before their fourteenth year. There are, indeed, children about whom, judging by their entire life’s manifestation over against the things of God’s covenant in the church, in the catechism class, on the street, or in their homes, one fears the worst long before they have reached the age of fourteen. And, on the other hand, there are children who at that same age have already long revealed that it is their desire to fear the Lord and to walk in the ways of His covenant. Even if you would want to fix the age limit in your confession as extending not farther than the tenth year, you would still not by any means gain agreement on the part of all believers. For one who has stood at the death-bed of children who have not even reached the age of ten it is perfectly clear that the grace of God in Christ can come to manifestation very wonderfully on such death-beds of little children. A dying child of six or eight years old can speak of his confidence that he is going to Jesus, can exhort those who stand about that death-bed not to weep over him, and can presently depart this life singing, while at other death-beds any such manifestation is totally absent. And although the latter certainly cannot be regarded as proof that such little ones therefore went lost, nevertheless many will point you to the fact that the ear-marks of grace can come to manifestation very early in life. We have even more than once met people who maintained that their children already at the age of two years old gave very plain indications of respect and reverence for the things of God’s covenant, while others manifested the very opposite attitude already at that same age. Probably you will remark that this is going to the opposite extreme. But this does not change the fact that from all these divergent opinions it is sufficiently evident that you express very little if you affirm that all children of the covenant who die in infancy are also saved. And it is indeed certain that you would not be able to confess this concerning all the children of the 45% mentioned by Dr. Kuyper.
From this point of view it certainly would not have been any great loss if Article 17 of Canons, I-A, had never been included.
But, in the second place, it ought to be plain that it will not do to say: a child is baptized and comprehended in the covenant, and therefore it is saved if it dies in infancy. The question is not now whether children can be regenerated already in early childhood, and therefore can inherit salvation if they die before they arrive at years of discretion. That this is true, surely, no one will doubt. But the question is rather whether on the ground of their being in the covenant in the historical sense of the word it may be said of all baptized children who are taken away in infancy that they are saved. The latter is not possible. It would indeed be possible if it could also be maintained that all children born in the covenant are also really regenerated and saved. But it has exactly become clear to us that this is not true. If there is anything which is clearly taught in Holy Scripture, then it is this, that not all is Israel that is called Israel. Not all the children who are born of believing parents are therefore also elect and saved. There are reprobate; there are even – to judge from the history of Israel – very many reprobate in God’s covenant in this outward sense of the word. From their being in God’s covenant by reason of birth from believing parents the salvation of infants does not simply follow as a necessary conclusion.
Hence, rather commonly an entirely different consideration is adduced, namely, the fact that the Lord takes such children away in their early childhood. Not so much the covenant as the fact that they are taken away in infancy is then the ground upon which they wish to assume that such children are saved. Now there is indeed a certain validity in this consideration. The reasoning is that one knows nothing else of such children than that they were brought by God into the sphere of His covenant, that they were in no position whatsoever to set themselves against that covenant, and that if it is God’s purpose with the reprobate children of the kingdom that in them sin shall be fully manifest as sin, then this purpose is surely never reached in those little ones who die. And therefore one would rather judge that such children are saved, exactly because of the consideration that the Lord took them away. But although there is indeed something attractive about such reasoning, it will nevertheless have to be admitted that at this point all Scriptural light is lacking. To a sure declaration that all children of the covenant who are taken away in early childhood are saved one can never come along the path of such reasoning. It remains rather a judgment of love than a well-founded item of confession.
Further, appeal is also made to a few expressions of Holy Writ which might seem to shed light on this problem.
In the first place, some like to point to the words of David when the child which he ‘had begotten by Bathsheba was taken away by the Lord. As long as the child was still wrestling with death, the king fasted and wept. But as soon as the child was taken away, the king arose and washed himself and anointed himself and changed his apparel, in order to go to the house of the Lord and worship. And when his servants do not understand this and question him about it, the king answers: “While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether God will be gracious to me, that the child may live? But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me,” (II Samuel 12: 15-23). Especially from these last words some would draw the conclusion that David lived in the conviction that his child had gone to heaven. Now everyone will have to concede that this is a very weak basis on which to build the proposition that all baptized children who are taken away in their childhood are saved. In the first place, it is by no means exegetically certain that David here is thinking of heaven. When he says, “Can I bring him back again?” it is very plain that he is simply thinking of the state of death, and of nothing more. That death is decisive. His fasting and weeping would, from that point of view, be an indication of rebellion if he would continue it also after the child had died. That he does not want. He will submit himself to the Lord and give himself over to Him. But when immediately thereafter it also follows, “I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me,” then it is exegetically improper to think of anything else than of that same state of death. David evidently wants to say that he also will enter into that state of death, that he is journeying toward that same grave, but that the child shall not return out of the grave to him. But even if you would understand the passage differently and accept the idea that the king here actually is thinking of the state of glory, then there is still no ground here for the general proposition that all baptized children who die in infancy are saved. At best one might draw the same conclusion as that which appears in Article 17 of the First Head of the Canons of Dordrecht, namely, that godly parents ought not to doubt concerning the salvation of their children.
Some have also pointed to the example of Abijah, the son of Jeroboam. We are all familiar with the history. Abijah was sick; and Jeroboam sent his wife in disguise to Ahijah the prophet, in order to find out what would become of the child. And with respect to his sick son, the following is prophesied by the prophet in the name of the Lord: “Arise thou therefore, get thee to thine house: and when thy feet enter into the city, the child shall die. And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him: for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam,” (I Kings 14: 12, 13). From this some would draw the conclusion that the Lord takes away children in their youth when He beholds some good in them toward the Lord. Now it strikes one immediately how weak such a proof is as a ground for the proposition that all the children of believers who die in infancy are saved. For, in the first place, we have the instance here of an ungodly king, not of a godly parent. Besides, the Lord does not say that He takes the child away because there is some good found in him toward the Lord, but that for this reason the child, in distinction from the rest of Jeroboam’s house, shall come to the grave. Of how little validity it is, then, to conclude from this that when the Lord takes out of this life a child of believing parents, He has seen some good in that child. Much rather would this incident lead one to the conclusion that the Lord takes away children of ungodly parents in their youth because He sees some good in them. But besides, also the latter is not a valid conclusion. It is very much a question whether this child was so young that he had not already manifested this in his life that good which was found in him before the Lord. We get the opposite impression when we read that all Israel shall mourn for him and bury him. We would much rather say, therefore, that this child had already reached the age at which he plainly revealed that by his piety he distinguished himself from the house of Jeroboam. And thus, also in this passage of Scripture there is no proof for the position that all the children of believers are elect and saved if they are taken away in their early childhood.
Hence, we are of the conviction that such a general proposition cannot be expressed. If it is expressed, then it does not mean much, for the simple reason that the question always remains up to what age children may be counted with those who die in infancy, of whom it cannot yet be expected that in their life they might reveal something either of the grace of God or of the opposite. But this position can never be maintained. It cannot be based on being in the covenant in the outward, historical sense of the word: for all who are born in the sphere of the covenant do not belong to spiritual Israel, and therefore the possibility always remains that also some of the carnal and reprobate seed die in infancy. And on the fact of children’s dying in infancy one can at best base a judgment of love, but never a positive and explicit item of confession. And also from the examples which are sometimes cited from Scripture nothing can be concluded with certainty.
As far as the objective confession of the church of Christ is concerned, as that confession is founded on the Word of God, the matter must certainly be presented differently. By reason of the fact that the Lord establishes His covenant in the line of successive generations, believers will confess in gratitude before the Lord that He counts them worthy to bring forth the true seed of the covenant. This true seed of the covenant, however, does not consist of all children who are born of them, but only of the children of the promise. Certain it is that believers also bring forth another seed. Now, on this side of death and the grave fleshly ties may draw us, so that we say that we wish to see all our children saved, and do not wish that our own flesh and blood goes lost. But in the final analysis, also in this respect the righteous must live out of their faith, not from their flesh. If one lives out of faith, then he will say: “Lord, I thank Thee that Thou hast counted me worthy to bring forth children for Thy eternal covenant. From Thy grace I desire to receive my children. According to Thy covenant I want to bring them up in the fear of Thy name. For the sake of Thy name and Thy covenant, it is also the desire of my heart that all my children walk in the ways of Thy covenant. But ultimately I desire to serve nothing else than Thy good pleasure. And bowing before Thy divine majesty, I thank Thee when Thou dost save Thy children out of my children and dost receive them in glory.”
With objective certainty, therefore, there is nothing more to be said of children who die in their infancy than that the Lord saves His seed out of our seed.
Whether, therefore, there is no room whatsoever for that which the fathers declared in Article 17 of the First Head of the Canons is an entirely different question. Notice that the fathers here express themselves very cautiously. They do not assert that all children of the covenant who die in infancy are also saved,. but that godly parents ought not to doubt concerning the election and salvation of their children. Now this is, in the first place, subjective; and, in the second place, it is negative. The expression “godly parents” says some- thing different than all parents who have their children baptized. Those who have sought an explanation of this article have always called attention to this distinction. Godly parents are such as live a god-fearing life with their children. They bring forth their children in the consciousness that the Lord has counted them worthy to bring forth children for His covenant. Thus they live already before their children see the light of day, in expectant prayer and supplication before the Lord. They desire to serve the Lord, also in the bringing forth of their children. For those children they pray. Those children they consecrate to the service of the Lord. In behalf of those children they also beseech the Lord for the grace of His covenant, in order that they may live to the glory of the covenant God in the midst of the world. If those children may grow up, then they instruct them in the fear of the Lord, in order that they may know the ways of His covenant and walk therein. Such are godly parents!
And if, now, from the midst of such a family children are taken away, children who certainly could not yet consciously assume any attitude toward the covenant of the Lord, then such parents ought not to stand at that death and that grave of their children doubting. They do not say, “My child is baptized, and therefore it is saved.” But they say indeed, also at that grave: “Lord, in Thy name I have brought forth a child. And from Thy hand I have received it. I have consecrated it to Thee, in order that it should be a child for Thy covenant. And now Thou hast taken the child away from me. In that same faith wherein I consecrated him to Thee, I leave him with Thee, without being filled with anxious doubt concerning the salvation and election of this child, but knowing that Thou, according to Thy good pleasure, which by faith to me is always good, dost save Thy children out of my seed!”
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