14-False Argument 9

Argument 9
Infant Baptisers Argue from Silence
Another way the infant baptisers try to justify their practice is to argue
from silence, though, as we saw a little earlier, some of them, at least,
appreciate the difficulties involved, and are not always so keen on it.
The attempt to justify infant baptism from silence is remarkable.
Apparently, so we are told, since there is no direct command not to
baptise infants in the New Testament, infants ought to be baptised. As
Marcel put it, and put it very dogmatically: ‘The silence of the New
Testament regarding the baptism of infants militates in favour of... this
practice. To overthrow completely notions so vital, pressed for more
than two thousand years... to withdraw from children the sacrament of
admission into the covenant, the apostolic church ought to have
received from the Lord an explicit prohibition’.