OFFICES

THE ecclesiastical word Báжтioμа, from which our familiar English word is derived, always associates itself with the idea of purification, although such an association of ideas was not necessarily connected with the classical βαπτίζω, βάπτω, from which it is formed. On the other hand, although the original classical word has the primary sense of dipping (that is, of more or less immersion in some fluid), this sense is not necessarily connected with the ecclesiastical word. It is used in the New Testament with several applications: as, for example, to the baptism of the Jews by St. John the Baptist [John i. 26]; to ceremonial washings of the person and of vessels used for eating and drinking [Mark vii. 4; Heb. ix. 10]; to the ministry of our Lord [Matt. iii. 11]; to the Passion of our Lord [Luke xii. 50; Mark x. 38]; to the operation of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles [Acts i. 5]; and, lastly, in its most customary sense, to the rite of Holy Baptism, instituted by Christ. [Matt. xxviii. 19; Acts viii. 36; Eph. iv. 5; 1 Pet. iii. 21.] In all these applications of the word the idea of purification is plainly latent, even when it is so metaphorically used as in the case of our Lord's words, "I have a baptism to be baptized with;" for although He had no sin from which He could be purified, yet was He "made sin for us," and also "made perfect through sufferings." [Heb. ii. 10.] It is moreover observable, that after the institution of the rite of Christian Baptism by our Lord, the word is not any longer used in other senses in Holy Scripture (except historically), but is restricted to the one which it has commonly held in all subsequent ages.

§ History of Holy Baptism.

It appears from the Holy Gospels that the ordinance of Christian Baptism was a sacramental climax which had been arrived at, and developed out of, other and inferior ordinances. St. John the Baptist prepared the way for our Lord's ministrations among the Jews by leading them to confess their sins; and this confession of their sins was followed up by a Baptism of which no further particulars are given to us than that those who received it went down into the water [Matt. iii. 16]; and we are not told whether any words were used at the time of the immersion.1 Of this rite our Lord Himself was pleased to partake, and by doing so consecrated the element of water to its future and higher use. A Baptismal rite was also used in the ministrations of our Lord, but not by Himself [John iii. 26; iv. 2]; and from the manner in which this was spoken of by the disciples of St. John the Baptist, it would appear that there was no outward distinction between this rite and that which he had used. In both cases an ancient custom of the Jews 2 appears to have been adopted, signifying by a ceremony of ablution the cleansing away of an old life for the purpose of beginning a new one, as a proselyte to a new and a stricter faith. In the case of Jewish baptisms the change signified was from heathenism to Judaism; in that by St. John and our Lord from a sinful life as Jews to a good life as the disciples of the Baptist or of Christ. significant use of water as the outward sign of admission to a new spiritual condition ought doubtless to be regarded as a preparation, by the Providence of Almighty God, for the Sacrament which was to be instituted by our Lord.

This

There were also certain verbal and typical preparations made for that institution by our Blessed Lord Himself. At the outset of His ministry occurred His interview with Nicodemus

[John iii. 1-15], in wh.ch He spoke of a result of Baptism which had evidently never been supposed to accompany it hitherto. Men were to be born of water and the Spirit that they might enter into the kingdom of Heaven: and although Nicodemus must have been familiar with the Baptism of proselytes, the idea of new birth by the use of Baptism was evidently novel to him.3 At the close of His ministry, our Lord washed the feet of His disciples, teaching them that the act, as performed by Him, was not only a sign of humility, but also a means of spiritual purification; a truth the full meaning of which was not then revealed to them, but would be at a later period, when its revelation was to be a part of the instructions given for their appointed work. [John xiii. 4-10.] And in the midst of His ministry Jesus had taken little children in His arms and blessed them, that by His touch and word they might be admitted (even without other Sacrament) to the kingdom of God, and that the Church might learn for ever to suffer little children to come to Him, and forbid them not. Lastly, when blood and water flowed from the side of the Lord, the connection between His Death and the two Sacraments was unmistakeably symbolized.

Thus, by the course of His Providence, our Lord had prepared the Jews, and the Apostles especially, for the institu tion of Christian Baptism. [1] They had become familiar with the use of water as an external sign of a spiritual change; [2] they had been instructed (by words the meaning of which was to be developed to them by the Holy Ghost) that the use of water was to be not a sign only, but also the means of spiritual cleansing and new birth into the kingdom of God; and (3] it had been shewn them that even little children were capable of entering that kingdom. And, thus prepared by our Lord's words and acts, the Apostles received His last command and commission, "Go ye therefore, and disciple [μаontevσare, see margin of English Bible] all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.' Their work was, as it had been hitherto, to "make disciples; as they had long been doing, they were to admit to disciple. ship by baptizing, i.e. by immersing their converts in water: but the rite was now to be distinguished from all previous baptisms by being administered with the most solemn words that man can use, an invocation of the One God in three Persons. [Matt. xxviii. 19.]

The subsequent parts of the New Testament shew that the Apostles carried out this command of our Lord in its most literal sense. When a multitude had been converted on the Day of Pentecost, and asked, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" St. Peter's immediate answer was, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you [Acts ii. 38]; and the same day there were added to the little flock which then made up Christ's mystical Body about three thousand souls. When the people at Samaria "believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the Name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.' [Acts viii. 12.] So it is recorded of the eunuch, Saul, the household of Cornelius, the household of Lydia, the Philippian

This seems beyond doubt, notwithstanding the alleged Jewish use of the expression "new birth" in connection with the baptism of proselytes. The Institution of the Sacrament of Baptism is not to be looked for in an exemplary action of our Lord, as in the case of the other sacrament; for we are expressly told that our Lord did not baptize. [John iv. 2.] The view taken above is substantially that of the ancient handbook of the Clergy, the Pupilla Oculi, in which is the following passage: "Baptismus Christi fuit institutus materialiter et inchoative; quando Christus tactu suæ mundissima carnis vim regenerativa aquis contulit. Præceptive; quando dixit Nichodemo, nisi quis renatus, etc. Effective; quando Christus passus est in cruce. Usus fuit inchoatus; quando misit discipulos suos ad prædicandum et baptizandum. Promulgatus ad omnes; post passionem, Matthaj ult (Piqi, Oculi, ini. 24.1

gaoler "and all his," the household of Stephanas, and many others, that they were baptized according to our Lord's commands as soon as they had been converted to belief in Him: and the cases recorded furnish evidence sufficient to give us a moral certainty that the Apostles universally baptized, or caused to be baptized all, in every place, who desired to be added to the Church.

§ Administration of Baptism in the Primitive Church. Of the manner in which the Sacrament of Baptism was administered in the Apostolic age we have no detailed record beyond the fact that it was ordinarily by immersion, and that the invocation of the Blessed Trinity accompanied the immersion. St. Paul twice speaks of being "buried in baptism" [Rom. vi. 4; Col. ii. 12], and St. Chrysostom uses the expression "a certain burial in water" [Hom. in Johan. xxv.] with an evident reference of the Apostle's words to the act of immersion in baptism. Shortly after the time of the Apostles, Tertullian describes the rites of Baptism in general terms as follows: "To begin with Baptism we do in the Church testify, under the hand of a chief minister, that we renounce the Devil, his pomps, and his angels. Then are we thrice dipped," or, as in another place, "we dip not once but thrice, at the naming of each Person of the Blessed Trinity

'first

pledging ourselves to something more than the Lord hath prescribed in the Gospel. . . . After this, having come out from the bath, we are anointed thoroughly with a blessed unction... next to this the hand is laid upon us, calling upon and inviting the Holy Spirit through the blessing. some undertaking the charge of us, we first taste a mixture of honey and milk, and from that day we abstain a whole week from our daily washing." [TERTULL. de Coron. v. 3, adv. Prax. xxvi. de Bapt. vii. and viii.] From St. Cyprian, in the following century, we learn that the water was cleansed and sanctified by the Priest" (or Bishop), "that it may be able, by Baptism therein, to wash away the sins of the baptized" and that interrogatories were used, "Dost thou believe in eternal life, and remission of sins through the holy Church?" [CYP. Ep. xlix. 6, lxx. 1, 2.] In the latter half of the fourth century St. Cyril of Jerusalem gave his lectures on the Mysteries to the recently baptized; and the first three being on the rites before and after Baptism, we may gather in some detail what was the custom of the Church in that day. "First ye entered into the outer hall of the Baptistery, and there facing towards the West ye heard the command to stretch forth your hand; and as in the presence of Satan ye renounced him. . . with arm outstretched to say to him as though actually present, I renounce thee, Satan, and all thy works, and all thy pomp, and all thy service.' Then thou wert told to say, 'I believe in the Father, and in the Son, and in the Holy Ghost, and in one Baptism of repentance.' And these things were done in the outer chamber. As soon as ye entered into the inner chamber, ye put off your garment, and this was an image of putting off the old man with his deeds. Then when ye were unclothed, ye were anointed with exorcised oil from the very hairs of your head to your feet, and were made partakers of the good olive-tree, Jesus Christ. After these things ye were led to the holy pool of Divine Baptism, as Christ was carried from the Cross to the Sepulchre, which is before our eyes. And each of you was asked whether ye believed in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and ye made that saving confession, and descended three times into the water, and ascended again; here also covertly pointing by a figure to the three days' burial of Christ. selfsame moment ye died and were born; and that water of salvation was at once your grave and your mother. After you had come up from the pool of the sacred streams the unction was given, the emblem of that wherewith Christ was anointed. This holy ointment. . . is symbolically applied to thy forehead and thy other senses; and while thy body is anointed with visible ointment, thy soul is sanctified by the Holy and Life-giving Spirit. And ye were first anointed on your forehead then on your ears. . . then on your nostrils... then on your breast. When ye are counted worthy of this holy Chrism ye are called Christians, verifying also the name by your new birth.' [CYR. Catech. Lect. xix-xxi.] To these early customs of the Church it may be added that white garments were worn by the newly baptized for eight days or more after their Baptism [Ibid. iii. 16, xxii. 8], and that a new name was given, as Peter and Paul received

1 This was said in Jerusalem.

And at the

2 See Notes to the First Sunday after Easter, p. 293.

new names on their conversion, whose names, with that of St. John, were "used by many among the faithful." [Euseb. vii. 25.]

The earliest Baptismal Office that has been handed down to modern times is that contained in the Sacramentaries of Gelasius and St. Gregory; of which the following summary (taken from the Easter-Eve Service of the latter) will give a sufficient view. 3

§ Administration of Baptism in the Sixth Century. [1] The clergy and people being assembled in the church at the eighth hour [2 P. M.], the clergy went within the sacrarium, having on the customary vestments; and two tapers being lighted, and held at each corner of the altar by two notaries or readers, another reader went up to the ambon, and read eight Lessons concerning the creation of man, the temptation of Abraham, and other appropriate subjects from Exodus, Isaiah, and Jonah,-after each of which was said a Collect founded on the preceding lesson; and before the last Collect was sung, "Like as the hart desireth the waterbrooks," etc.

[2] A procession was formed from the Altar "ad fontes," the "school" or quire singing the "Litania septena," the taper-bearers, and a minister carrying the ampulla of consecrated oil, going before the Bishop, who was supported by a

Deacon on either side.

[3] The prayers for the Benediction of the font were said by the Bishop, who, at a particular part of them, divided the water with his hand in the form of a Cross; at a second, held the taper in the water; and, at a third, breathed on the water thrice, afterwards pouring in the chrism in the form of a Cross, and spreading it with his hands. 5

[4] When the benediction of the water was ended, the "infants were baptized, first the boys and then the girls; the Interrogatories being first made of those who brought them in the following form: "Quis vocaris? Resp. Ill. Item interrogat Sacerdos: Credis in Deum Patrem Omnipotentem, Creatorem cœli et terræ? Resp. Credo. Interrogat: Et in Jesum Christum Filium ejus unicum Dominum nostrum, natum et passum? Resp. Credo. Interrogat: Credis et in Spiritum Sanctum, Sanctam Ecclesiam Catholicam, Sanctorum Communionem, remissionem peccatorum, carnis resurrectionem, vitam æternam ? Resp. Credo. Interrogat: Vis baptizari? Resp. Volo: Et dicit. Et ego baptizo te in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti." Then when the newly baptized was taken from the font he was given to one of the priests, who made the sign of the Cross upon the crown of his head with the chrism, saying, "Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath regenerated thee by water and the Holy Ghost, and hath also given to thee remission of all thy sins, anoint thee with the chrism of salvation unto eternal life. Amen."6 After this the baptized infants and adults were confirmed by the Bishop, the names being given by him during the act of Confirmation; and the Service was ended with the Holy Communion.

The medieval Offices for Baptism were founded on this ancient and perhaps primitive one; but several ceremonies were added, and the offices were much increased in length. They were divided into three distinct parts, the first of which was entitled "Ordo ad faciendum Catechumenum;" the second, "Benedictio Fontis ;" and the third, "Ritus Baptizandi." Those of the Salisbury Use are partly represented in the right-hand column and in the footnotes of the following pages, but it may be useful to give a summary, shewing the exact order of their several parts, and the ceremonies with which the Sacrament was administered.

§ The Administration of Baptism in the Mediæral Church of England.

a] Admission of a Catechumen.

[1] The child being held without the doors of the church,

3 The admission as Catechumens of those who were afterwards to be bap tized took place as a separate ceremony some time previously. It has not been thought necessary to give any account of this service above, as, although incorporated with that for Baptism in later times and in our own office, it was really a separate rite.

4 See some notice of the Litania Septena, and the analogous Litania Septiformis, at p. 222. Menard [Notes 94] seems to consider that these were identical, but the Litania Septena was probably sung by those only who were in Holy or in Minor Orders.

5 St. Augustine notices the custom of signing the water with the Cross in his 118th Homily on St. John, and in his 181st Sermon de Tempore. 6 This prayer is found at an earlier date, in the fourth century. [See ST. AMBROSE de Myst. iii. 7.]

the priest made the sign of the Cross upon its forehead and breast, saying, "I put the sign of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ on thy forehead . . . and on thy breast." Then he placed his hand upon the head of the child, while he offered a prayer, beseeching God to open to it the door of His mercy, and grant it the grace of Baptism.

[2] Salt, over which an exorcism had been said, was placed in the mouth of the child with the words, "N. Receive the salt of wisdom, that God may be gracious to thee unto life everlasting. Amen." This was followed by a prayer that God would send His holy angel to take care of His servant N., and bring him to the grace of Baptism.

[3] An exorcism and adjuration of Satan to forsake the child was then said; followed by another signing with the Cross, and a prayer that the child might be turned from darkness to light, and made fit to receive Baptism.

[4] The Gospel was then read.

[5] The ears and nostrils of the child were touched with saliva.

[6] The Lord's Prayer, Hail Mary, and Creed, were said by the priest, sponsors, and congregation.

[7] The child was again signed with the Cross, the words Trado tibi signaculum," etc., being said; and afterwards the priest, taking him by the right hand, led him within the church, saying, "Enter thou into the house of God: that thou mayest have eternal life, and live for ever and ever. Amen."

P] Benediction of the Font.

[1] A Litany was said, similar to that in ordinary use, as far as the end of the Invocations.

[2] The Benediction followed, with similar prayers and ceremonies to those of the Gregorian Sacramentary.

7] The Baptism.

[1] The child being brought to the font, the priest placed his right hand upon him, asked his name, and made the interrogatories of abrenunciation.

[2] The priest anointed the child with chrism, in the form of a Cross, on the breast and between the shoulders.

[3] Then followed the profession of faith, and the “Quid petis?" and "Vis baptizari?"

[4] The act of Baptism followed, with trine immersion, as shewn further on in the Service itself.

[5] This was followed by the signing with the Cross, as in the Gregorian Office.

[6] The chrisom, or white vestment, was put upon the child with the words, "N. Receive a white, holy, and spotless vesture, which thou shalt bear before the judgement-seat of our Lord Jesus Christ, that thou mayest have eternal life, and live for ever and ever. Amen."

[7] A lighted taper was placed in the hand of the child, with the words, "N. Receive a burning light that cannot be taken out of thy hand guard thy baptism, keep the commandments, that when the Lord shall come to the wedding, thou mayest be able to meet Him in company with His saints in the heavenly bridechamber; that thou mayest have eternal life, and live for ever and ever. Amen."1

The changes made in the above Office in 1549 were not very great, but considerable alterations were made in 1552, and all the ancient ceremonies have now disappeared from the English Service except the signing with the Cross. It is scarcely necessary to add that these ceremonies are no part of the essentials of Holy Baptism, and that so much popular superstition had grown up around them as to make their abolition appear desirable to those who reconstructed the Offices of the Church of England. The successive alterations which were 1 At the end of the Office a Gospel was inserted [Mark ix. 17-29], which was to be used, if desired, for the prevention of the falling sickness,in secundum doctores maxime valet pro morbo caduco.” "quir There is, however, a touching anecdote on record which seems to indicate that, like some other changes, these were forced upon the Convocation by considerations of expediency rather than principle. During the reign of Queen Mary, a Mrs. Hickman, whose husband had fled out of the country, "was sent down to a gentleman's house in Oxfordshire for her approaching confinement, as she was not able to bear the voyage to Germany. But when her child was born she was in a dilemma about the baptism, not liking to have it baptized by a Romish priest' according to the ritual then of late restored. So she contrived to send a message to the Bishops then in prison at Oxford to know what she should do, and their answer was, that she might safely employ the priest, for that the Service for Holy Baptism was of all the Services that in which the Church of Rome had least departed from the truth of the Gospel and the primitive practice."" This anecdote is given in MASSINGBERD'S Lectures on the Prayer Book, p. 123, from the leaves of a copy of Beza's New Testament, belonging to a descendant of the family. The testimony is valuable, as two of the imprisoned Bishops, Cranmer and Ridley, were connected with every step taken in the Reformation of the ancient Offices.

made will be found in the notes to the various parts of the Services for the Public and Private Baptism of Infants. The Office for the Baptism of Adults was an addition of 1661.

§ The Essentials of Holy Baptism.

The words of our Lord to the Apostles seem so clear as to place beyond a doubt what is essential to a true Christian Baptism: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." [Matt. xxviii. 19.] Yet questions have arisen, from very early ages, as to the matter and form with which the Sacrament is to be administered, and also as to the person by whom it is to be administered. Tertullian, in the opening of his treatise on Baptism, speaks of a sect which denied the necessity of water in Baptism [TERTULL. de Bapt. i.]; and St. Augustine refers to the rejection of water because created by the evil one, and therefore in itself evil, as one of the heresies of the Manichæans. [AUG, de Hares. xlvi.] In the twelfth century, the Cathari, or Puritans, denied the necessity of the Sacrament altogether, but adopted a ceremony which they called baptism with fire, as a substitute for that with water. The Waldenses also regarded water as unneces sary to a spiritual baptism; and the Flagellants of Germany, Poland, Hungary, and France, held that the only true bap tism was one in blood, effected by scourging the body. With respect to the form of words in which the person is to be baptized, it is sufficiently evident that all who have rejected the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity must necessarily have modified and adapted to their own principles the words used by the Church, if they continued to administer a rite in imitation of Christian Baptism. The Arian form is given by St. Jerome [cont. Lucif.], and the Eunomian by Epiphanius [Hares. lxxvi.]; but both are too irreverent towards the second and third Persons of the Holy Trinity to be set down

here.

Such practices gave rise to strict definitions on the part of the Church, which are represented by the questions in our Office for Private Baptism of Children: "Because some things essential to this Sacrament may happen to be omitted through fear or haste, in such times of extremity; therefore I demand further of you,

"With what matter was this child baptized?" "With what words was this child baptized?"

In the first Rubric of the Office for Public Baptism.. also, the font is directed to be filled with "pure water; and in the Catechism "the outward visible sign or form of Baptism" is clearly stated to be "water; wherein the person is baptized In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Such distinct language being used by the Church of England, it may also be well to add that which was used by the Council of Trent: 'If any one shall say, that true and natural water is not of necessity for Baptism, and, on that account, shall wrest to some sort of metaphor those words of our Lord Jesus Christ, Except a man be born of water and of the Holy Ghost,' let him be anathema." [Sess, vii. Can. ii. de Bapt.] It may also be added that cases of necessity have occasionally arisen, in which pure water was not at hand for the purpose of Baptism, when wine, or even sand, has been used as the element or material of Baptism: but sound theologians have always ruled that this ceremony could not be a true and valid administration of the Sacrament. Such cases of emergency may arise, even in the present day, among missionaries; and it is therefore well to point out this general consent of the Church to take our Lord's words in their literal sense, "baptizing them with water," and to follow literally the practice of His Apostles as recorded several times in the New Testament. [Acts viii. 36, x. 46; 1 Pet. iii. 20. Comp. also Ezek. xxxvi. 25.]

The form of words used by the Church of England is that which is used by the whole Western Church, and that which has been so used from time immemorial. In the Eastern Church a similar form is used, but in the third person, and with a passive verb: "The servant of God, N., is baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." The essential part of the form is the distinct mention of each Person of the Blessed Trinity with reference to the act of Baptism; and both East and West therefore agree in naming [1] the person, [2] the act of Baptism, and [3] the three several Persons of the Holy Trinity. The most ancient records of the Church point to the Western form, as shewn in the citation made above from the Sacramentary of St. Gregory, and this form differs from the Eastern in also naming the person baptizing, "I baptize thee: but it may

be considered that this is included in the Eastern form, since

the statement that the person "is baptized" comprehends elliptically the words "by me, who am now performing the act, and speaking the words." Such an explanation of the Eastern form cannot, however, justify any, the slightest, departure from the other in the Church of England.1

:

The original mode of administering Holy Baptism was undoubtedly by the descent of the person to be baptized into a stream or pool of water. It is probable that the person baptizing also stood in the water [Acts viii. 38], and poured some of it with his hand upon the head of the other, as the latter bowed himself three times (at the naming of each Person of the Trinity by the baptizer) into the stream. St. Paul gave a beautiful symbolical meaning to this practice of immersion when he said, "We are buried with Him by baptism into death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." [Rom. vi. 4.] When fonts were made in churches, they were made with a descent of seven steps, symbolizing the sevenfold gift bestowed by the Holy Ghost [ISIDORE de Ecc. Off. ii. 24]; and this implies a considerable depth of water, reaching to about the waist of an ordinary-sized man. The practice of trine immersion also appears to be of primitive origin. It is mentioned by Tertullian, and other early Fathers, in passages already quoted; and also by St. Ambrose, in his Treatise on the Sacraments; St. Basil, in his work on the Holy Spirit; and St. Leo, in his fourth Epistle and all give substantially the same account of the practice with that given by St. Ambrose: "Thou wast asked, Dost thou believe in God the Father Almighty? Thou didst answer, I believe, and didst dip into the water, that is, thou wast buried. Again wast thou asked, Dost thou believe in Jesus Christ our Lord, and in His Cross? Thou didst answer, I believe, and didst dip into the water: therefore also thou wast buried with Christ for whosoever is buried with Christ, shall rise again with Christ. A third time wast thou asked, Dost thou believe in the Holy Ghost? Thou didst reply, I believe; and a third time didst thou dip into the water.' The Apostolical Constitutions of the fifth century even forbade the practice of single immersion, decreeing in their fiftieth Canon: "If any bishop or priest does not perform the one initiation with three immersions, but with giving one immersion only into the death of our Lord, let him be deposed. For the Lord said not, Baptize into My death; but, Go-baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Yet there seems to have been an early necessity for guarding against error in the use of this trine immersion, and St. Gregory of Nyssa writes: "We immerse to the Father, that we may be sanctified: we immerse to the Son also to this same end: we immerse also to the Holy Ghost, that we may be that which He is and is called. There is no difference in the sanctification." The practice of immersion, whether trine or single, was not, however, regarded as an essential feature of Baptism. The Philippian gaoler "was baptized, he and all his, straightway," in prison, and in the middle of the night; and immersion in such a case seems extremely improbable. It seems almost equally unlikely in the case of Cornelius and his household. In days of persecution, when Christian rites could only be administered in secret, immersion could not have been universal: and there is abundant evidence that "clinic baptism"-that is, the baptism of those who were on their deathbeds-was very common in those primitive days. Respecting the usage in the latter case, St. Cyprian wrote to Magnus [A. D. 255] in the following words: "You have inquired also, dearest son, what I think of those who in sickness and debility obtain the grace of God, whether they are to be accounted legitimate Christians, in that they are sprinkled, not washed, with the saving water. . . . I, as far as my poor ability conceiveth, account that the Divine blessings can in no respect be mutilated and weakened, nor any less gift be imparted, where what is drawn from the Divine bounty is accepted with the full and entire faith both of the giver and the receiver. Nor should it disturb any one that the sick seem only to be sprinkled or affused with water, when they attain the grace of the Lord, since Holy Scripture speaks by the Prophet Ezekiel, and says, Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be cleansed from all your filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse you; a new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you.' He then goes on to refer also to

1 It is supposed that the Eastern form was adopted as a standing refutation of the error that the virtue of Baptism was derived from the person ministering it: an error apparently referred to in the words of the Apostle, "Every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ." [1 Cor. i. 12.]

Numbers xix. 7, 19, 20, viii. 5-7, xix. 9; and adds, "Whence it is apparent that the sprinkling also of water has like force with the saving washing, and that when this is done in the Church," not, i.e. by heretics, "where the faith both of the giver and receiver is entire, all holds good, and is consummated and perfected by the power of the Lord and the truth of faith.' [CYP. Ep. lxix. 11, 12.] The principle thus so plainly set forth by St. Cyprian has ever since been generally accepted by the Church, and ablution, or the actual touch of water during the invocation of the Blessed Trinity, has always been accounted the essential feature in the administration of Holy Baptism. Whether that ablution is effected by the more complete method of immersion, or by the less perfect one of affusion, the result is the same: care being always taken that the actual contact of the water with the person is really effected. And thus the Rubric of the English Office leaves it discretionary whether the infants or adults to be baptized shall be dipped in the water, or have water poured upon them; security being provided for the actual contact of the water by the exclusion of mere sprinkling, which is not recognised at all in the Church of England, and can never be considered a safe method of applying the water, or a reverent way of obeying the command of our Blessed Lord, however much it may, as a minimum of obedience, fulfil the required

conditions.

§ The Minister of Baptism.

Having said so much about the matter and form of Holy Baptism, it remains to be considered who is the proper minister of the Sacrament.

There can be no doubt that in the first instance our Blessed Lord gave to His Apostles a commission to "baptize all nations," and that such a commission was to be handed on to those who were to take up their work after their deaths, those whom they ordained for that purpose according to the words of their Master, "As My Father hath sent Me, so send I you." Very early in the history of the Apostolic Church also, we find a deacon, Philip, baptizing at Samaria, and the Apostles, St. Peter and St. John, ratifying his act by confirming those whom he had baptized. From this it may be concluded that as the Bishops are the one principal channel through which ministerial authority is conveyed from our Lord, the Fountain of all such authority, to others, so they undoubtedly commissioned inferior ministers to baptize in the very beginning of the Christian Church.

But the question soon arose whether the nature of Holy Baptism was not such as to make a Bishop, Priest, or Deacon, absolutely essential to its right administration; and upon this subject three theories have been held. [1] The first and strictest of these was that maintained by St. Cyprian, who esteemed that Baptism only to be true and effective which is administered by those who have been ordained by orthodox Bishops, and are in communion with the Church. [2] The second theory was much more generally held in the early Church, viz. that even schismatics and heretics could give true Baptism, provided they were in holy orders. [3] A third, and this was that held by St. Augustine, made the essence of the Sacrament to consist in the application of the water with the proper words of Invocation, by whomsoever this was done. The Council of Arles [A.D. 314] decided by their eighth Canon against the first theory, and in favour of the second; a decision practically confirmed by the nineteenth Canon of the Council of Nicea, which directed the re-baptism of those only who had been baptized by the followers of Paul of Samosata, and so not in the Name of the Blessed Trinity. No further decision on the subject was ever given by a General Council, and thus the question still remained open whether those who were not in Holy Orders could, by the proper use of water and the proper Invocation, administer a true Baptism. In ancient times this question was not one of very extensive bearing, as none but the Clergy ever baptized, except in cases where there was danger of death, and no clergyman could be found. But in modern times it has become a matter of primary importance, as a considerable portion of the people of England, and the majority of those born in Protestant countries, are baptized by persons who have never been ordained by Bishops, and who are not therefore either Priests or Deacons in the sense of the Church of England, of Churches of the Roman communion, or of the Eastern Church.

The validity of such Lay Baptism was maintained by Tertullian [de Bapt. xvii.], who however adds that a woman is as much forbidden to baptize as to teach in the Church. It was allowed by the Patriarch of Alexandria in the case of some boys baptized by Athanasius when he himself was a boy.