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Infant Baptism

In Joseph Smith’s day there was a great deal of controversy about the baptism of infants. Alexander Campbell published this statement on January 7, 1828: “The question of infant baptism is now generally discussed all over the land, and immense has been the result” (The Christian Baptist, vol. 5, p. 138). On December 3, 1827, this statement appeared in The Christian Baptist: “Now, a disciple who holds infant baptism is, in this respect weak, . . .” (Ibid., p. 109). On page 116 of the same volume, “infant sprinkling” is called “a corruption” in the church. On April 3, 1826, Campbell spoke of “the popish rite of baby baptism or sprinkling” (Ibid., vol. 3, p. 181).

According to his son, Sidney Rigdon—who later became a member of the First Presidency in the Mormon Church—resigned his position in a church because of the fact that he would not teach the doctrine of “infant damnation” (Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Winter 1966, pp. 21-22).

John Taylor, who became the third President of the Mormon Church, made this comment concerning the controversy over infant baptism: We used to quarrel with one another, when we were among the sectarians, about our peculiar doctrines. . . . There was also much wrangling as to whether infants that died went to hell or not. (Journal of Discourses, vol. 5, p. 240)

This controversy over baptism of infants is reflected in the Book of Mormon. About 400 years after the coming of Christ, Mormon was supposed to have written an epistle to his son. In this epistle he stated that those who believed in infant baptism were in danger of “death, hell, and an endless torment”:

For, if I have learned the truth, there have been disputations among you concerning the baptism of your little children. . . . I know that it is solemn mockery before God, that ye should baptize little children. . . . little children are alive in Christ, . . . if little children could not

be saved without baptism, these must have gone to an endless hell. Behold I say unto you, that he that supposeth that little children need baptism is in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity, for he hath neither faith, hope, nor charity; wherefore, should he be cut off while in the thought, he must go down to hell. For awful is the wickedness to suppose that God saveth one child because of baptism, and the other must perish because he hath no baptism. . . . he that saith that little children need baptism denieth the mercies of Christ, and setteth at naught the atonement of him and the power of his redemption. Wo unto such, for they are in danger of death, hell, and an endless torment. I speak it boldly; God hath commanded me. . . . all little children are alive in Christ, and also all they that are without the law. (Moroni 8:5, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22)

The teachings of the Book of Mormon concerning infant baptism are very similar to those of Alexander Campbell. On May 5, 1828, Campbell wrote:

If baptism be connected with the remission of sins, infants require it not; for they have no sins to be remitted—at least the Calvinists and Arminians teach this doctrine; for they say that original sin” is all that is chargeable upon infants. . . . infants, on the Calvinistic and Arminian hypothesis, need not be baptized: and in this I am both a Calvinist and an Arminian. (The Christian Baptist, vol. 5, pp. 231‑32)

In the Book of Mormon, Moroni 8:8 we read: “. . . little children are whole, for they are not capable of committing sin; wherefore the curse of Adam is taken from them . . .” On April 5, 1824, Alexander Campbell wrote: Can the rite of sprinkling an infant with consecrated water, O! Calvinist! alter the decree of heaven? . . . can the neglect of a parent to bring to you their infant offspring, seal the destruction of that infant? Who gave you the right of thus consigning to endless woe unsprinkled infants, and of opening heaven by a few drops of water to those impaled in your fold? (The Christian Baptist, vol. 1, p. 183)

On February 6, 1826, Campbell wrote that he believed that “all infants dying shall be saved.” (Ibid., vol. 3, p. 141)

M. T. Lamb made these interesting comments concerning the Book of Mormon and infant baptism:

In his old age he [Mormon] is alleged to have written some fatherly letters to his son, Moroni, . . . Among other things he bitterly and fiercely assails . . . those who claimed that infants should be baptized. A careful examination of the previous history of the Nephites and of the doctrines taught in the Book of Mormon will make so clear the modern complexion of the whole matter as to give it almost the appearance of burlesque, rather than a sober discussion. . . . It is true that the practice of baptizing infants prevailed from a very early period upon the Eastern continent. But here in this Western world during olden time, the Latter Day Saints [i.e., the Nephites] had things their own way from the very beginning. The instructions upon the mode and the subjects of baptism were plain and unmistakable from Nephi down to Mormon. It is impossible to suppose after a thousand years of the clearest possible revelations, that any professing Christian could, for one moment, have seriously entertained the notion that infants must be baptized. The whole thing is modern. The arguments used against the practice are the arguments of to-day, and not such as would have been presented in any other age of the world. (The Golden Bible, pp. 231, 232 and 234)

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