Question 18: At what age then are the children to be baptized? Is it not proper to use all dilige...

Question 18: At what age then are the children to be baptized? Is it not proper to use all diligence to help them to be baptized as early as at all possible, even in their infancy?

Answer: Children are to be presented to the Lord Jesus in prayer, but baptism should be delayed until they are able to prove and profess their faith. This may be considered the "eighth day" or the first day of the new creation of a person. If they were to be baptized in their state of ignorance, it would be as if the Jews had practiced circumcision before the eighth day. This would have been a violation of circumcision rather than an obedient act.