The teaching of our Church, therefore, is that the baptized child
can grow up, a child of Grace from infancy, and that under God, it
rests principally with the parents or guardians whether it shall be
so. And this Lutheran idea, like all others, is grounded in the Word
of God.

We note a few examples: Samuel was a child of prayer, given to
his pious mother in answer to prayer. She called him Samuel, _i.e._,
asked of God. Before his birth even, she dedicated him to God. As soon
as he was weaned she carried him to the Tabernacle and there publicly
consecrated him to the service of the Most High. From this time forth,
according to the sacred record, he dwelt in God's Tabernacle and
"_ministered unto the Lord before Eli_". As a mere child God used him
as a prophet. Of the prophet Jeremiah it is written: (Jer. i. 5)
"_Before thou earnest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee._" Of
John the Baptist it is written: (Luke i. 15) "_He shall be filled with
the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb_". To Timothy, Paul says:
"_From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to
make thee wise unto salvation_," and in speaking of Timothy's faith
Paul says, that faith "_dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy
mother Eunice_." Psalms lxxi. 5-6: "_Thou art my trust from my youth.
By thee have I been holden up from the womb._"

It is therefore possible for God, not only to give His Grace to a
child, but to keep that child in His Grace all its days. To dispute
this is, simply, to dispute the record that God gave.

Lest some one should still say, however, that the examples above
noted are isolated and exceptional, we note further, that the tenor of
the whole Word is in harmony with this idea. Nowhere in the whole