In A Precept for the Baptism of Infants
, Puritan Nathaniel Stephens proves and vindicates the precept for infant baptism from the New Testament, in order to give an answer to the objections of certain anti-paedobaptists. He musters a number of arguments, making a due use of logic, and interpreting Scripture with Scripture. In particular, he applies himself to Matthew 28:19, Acts 2:38-39, and John 3:5—proving the precept for infant baptism from the commission of Christ, from the convertibility between promise and command, and from the corruption of original sin.
This brief but packed book can be used as an introduction to the doctrine of infant baptism, and may be of particular interest to Credobaptists, because, Stephens approaches the topic by focusing more on the New Testament. This is an approach that is typical to Credobaptists. The book is also especially useful at an hermeneutical or interpretive level, as Stephens sets forth several crucial ways to handle texts, distinguishing between the letter
and the sense
of a text, and demonstrating the inseparable relationship between promise and command, as well as the principle of children being comprehended as covenanted to God in their parents.
