IV.

was ordered. When the first was presented, he asked, SECT.
What is his name? The attendant answered, John.
John, dost thou believe in

Then he proceeded thus.
God the Father Almighty, the Creator of heaven and
earth? I do believe. Dost thou believe in Jesus Christ
his only Son our Lord, who was born and suffered death?
I do believe. Dost thou believe in the Holy Ghost, the
holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the re-
mission of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life
eternal? I do believe. John, do you desire to be bap-
tized? I do desire it. I baptize thee in the name of the
Father, (dipping him once,) and of the Son, (dipping him
a second time,) and of the Holy Ghost, (dipping him a
third time.) The pontiff added, May you obtain eternal
life. John answered, Amen. The same was then re-
peated to Peter and Mary, the other two. Attendants
with napkins received the children, and retired to dress
them. The attendants of his holiness threw a mantle
over his surplice, and he retired. The rest of the cate
chumens were baptized by deacons, who in clean habits,
and without shoes, went down into the water, and per-
formed the ceremony as the pontiff had set them an ex-
ample. After all was over, and the children dressed,
they waited on the pope in an adjacent room, where he
confirmed them, and delivered to each chrism and a
white garment.'

not "appre

twelve cen

turies.

If relaxation from the supposed unpleasantness of Sprinkling "going down into the water" had been admitted in any ciated" for case, sure the pontiff himself would have claimed exemption; but we find that even the head of the most corrupt of all ecclesiastical bodies had not so far corrupted himself as to depart on this point from the law of Christ so late as the twelfth century. As none dare affirm that the papacy introduced immersion, I ask, Why did the

VI.

CHAP. pope put on waxed cloth trowsers on Easter Sunday, if sprinkling, as the preferable mode, had been in all ages duly appreciated?"

Immersion I close this section with referring the reader to the required by ritual of the church of England. In the baptismal ser

the church

of England vice of that hierarchy, he will find the priest required

ritual.

"to

dip the child, unless it shall be certified to be weakly." Whether all children have become "weakly," or the clergy disobedient, I must leave to their own consciences.f

SECTION V.

INVARIABLE AND UNALTERED PRACTICE OF THE
GREEK AND OTHER EASTERN CHURCHES.

Unaltered practice of

the Greek

church.

It has already been stated that all the Greek rituals require trine immersion; such has also been the invariable practice of that church. Sir P. Ricaut, writing on the present state of the Greek church, observes :-" Thrice dipping or plunging this church holds to be as necessary to the form of baptism, as water to the matter." Dr. King attests that "the Greek church uniformly practises trine immersion ;" and adds, " undoubtedly the most primitive manner;" and Dr. Wall affirms, that "the Greek church, in all its branches, does still use immersion.” b

a

66

f The American episcopal church declares in the preface to the Prayer Book published by authority, that no alterations from the mother church of England have been made, in "doctrine, discipline, or worship, further than local circumstances require." Will its defenders explain the necessity of the alteration in the baptismal service?" Then shall the priest dip the child in the water discreetly, or shall pour water upon it." Are all American infants ་་ 'weakly?"

a Rites and Ceremonies of the Greek church,
P. 192.
History of Infant Baptism, vol. ii. p. 376.

V.

There are several bodies of Christians among the east- SECT. ern nations, who are not under the dominion of either the Greek or Roman churches. Of these the Nestorians, so denominated from Nestor, a patriarch of Constantinople, who separated from the Greek church in the fifth century, are one of the most interesting. Their liturgy is evidently taken from that of the ancient Greek church. This method of baptizing is thus described :—

among the

"The candidate goes into the baptistery, which they Baptism call Jordan, where the priest reads lessons and prayers, Nestorians. after which the auditors are dismissed, the gates shut, and the catechumen repeats the Nicene creed. Next, the catechumen-oil and the baptismal water are blessed, after which a deacon anoints the catechumen all over, and then leads him to the priest, who, standing on the west side of Jordan, turns the face of the catechumen to the east, and laying his hand upon his head bows him forward into the water a first time, saying, such a one, the servant of God, is baptized in the name of the Father, to which the company answer, Amen: then bowing him a second time, he says, and of the Son, answer as before, Amen: then a third time, saying, and of the Holy Ghost, Amen. The baptized is then clothed, and the deacon leads him out of the baptistery and delivers him to his friends in waiting." d

Armenians.

"The Armenians invariably practise immersion. Among the Chardin, who was present at Zulfa, at the Armenian festival called Cachachouran, that is, the baptism of the

...

• ASSEMANI, tom. iii. p. ii. cap. vii. s. 9. De Baptismo. Catechumeni recitant symbolum Nicænum Sacerdos, stans ad partem occidentalum Jordanis, faciem pueri vertit ad orientem, eumque in aquam immergit, imponens manum suam super caput cjus, et dicens, baptizatur talis, &c.

d Robinson's History of Baptism, p. 485, 486.

VI.

e

CHAP. cross, observes, that the Mahommedans call Christian baptism sebjah, dying, because they always see it performed by immersion or plunging: by which, he adds, it may be judged, that they know nothing of the western practice of baptizing by aspersion." Mr. Wolf, the Missionary, says, "the priest (of Armenia) puts the child into the water, and washes the head with three handfuls of water, and prays, and saith, ‘I baptize thee in the name,' &c., and then dips the child,” &c. This is confirmed by Missionaries Smith and Dwight, who say, according to the rules of the Armenian church, baptism consists in plunging the whole body in water three times, as the sacred formula is repeated.1

and Georgians.

Jacobites, The Asian Jacobites, inhabiting principally Syria and Copts, Abyssinians Mesopotamia, the African Jacobites, Copts, and Abyssinians, administer baptism by trine immersion; as also do the Georgians. In fact, as Dr. Wall states, no branch of the nominally Christian church, however corrupt in other respects, has dared to change the law of immersion into sprinkling, except the Roman hierarchy, and those churches which derived sprinkling from that polluted

source.

e Robinson's Hist. Bapt. pp. 490-493.

f I perceive some podobaptist authors, omitting the last words, "and then dips the child," bring this passage in proof of pouring. Is this dishonest, or simply unfortunate?

Bapt. Mag. 1826, vol. xviii. p. 29.
b Miss. Research. in Armenia, p. 312.

VI.

THE history of baptism, so far as the mode is con- SECT. cerned, will be completed by investigating when, where, and how sprinkling was introduced; the opposition it had to contend with, and the triumphs it achieved among the western nations of Europe.

tion of

It has already been found in Africa, in the time of IntroducCyprian, and obtained from him a favourable expression sprinkling of his opinion. In fact, wherever the doctrine of the into France. absolute necessity of baptism to salvation, even in the case of babes, was admitted, it became contrary to nature to maintain that immersion, alone, was baptism; for in that case many dear little infants and others must be lost. It would seem that in France, in the eighth century, many of the clergy had, in cases where immersion was impracticable or very difficult, volunteered to modify their practice by pouring or sprinkling, as the case might require. Such a practice, however, even in this case, having the sanction of no ecclesiastical authority, the French clergy availed themselves of the opportunity presented by the presence of Pope Stephen II. (who having been driven from Rome by the Lombards, had fled to France to claim the protection of Pepin,) to inquire among other points of difficulty, if, in certain cases, pour- The clergy ing or sprinkling might not be considered as valid baptism. specting the inquire reStephen, well inclined to accommodate the French clergy, validity of sprinkling. by the promise of their royal master, to take up his cause and expel the Lombards from his dominions, gave such a reply as they desired. The precise question proposed was, whether in case of necessity, occasioned by illness