2.1 As far as concerns the case of infants, you expressed your view that they ought not to be baptised within the second or third day of their birth; rather, the ancient law on circumcision ought to be respected and you therefore concluded that the newly-born should not be baptised and sanctified before the eighth day.

Our Council adopted an entirely different conclusion. No one agreed with your opinion on the matter; instead, without exception we all formed the judgment that it is not right to deny the mercy and grace of God to any man that is born. 2.2 But seeing that the Lord says in His own Gospel: The Son of man has come not to destroy the souls of men but to save them, we must do everything we possibly can to prevent the destruction of any soul. We need to ask, what can be lacking to one who has been already formed by the hands of God in his mother’s womb? To our way of thinking, indeed, and to our eyes infants after their birth appear to grow and increase as the earthly days go by; but as far as God their Maker is concerned, whatever has been made by Him is perfect and complete thanks to His handiwork and almighty power.

6.1 And so, dearest brother, our verdict at the Council was this: we ought not to be the cause for debarring anyone from access to baptism and the grace of God, for He is merciful, kind, and loving towards all men. 6.2 And whilst this is a rule which ought to be observed and maintained concerning the whole of mankind, it is our view that it should be observed most particularly in the very case of newborn infants; they have all the more claim upon our assistance and God’s mercy for the reason that, right from the very first moment they are born, in their crying and wailing they are doing nothing else but imploring for our help

St. Cyprian of Carthage | The Letters of St. Cyprian of Carthage, Letters 55–66, ed. Johannes Quasten, Walter J. Burghardt, and Thomas Comerford Lawler, trans. G. W. Clarke, vol. III, Ancient Christian Writers (New York; Mahwah, NJ: Newman Press, 1986), 110, 112.

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