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Tage 29. B.VPTISTKHY OF BISHOP PAULINUS.
Frontispiece
THE BAPTlSxM
Ages and of the Nations.
WILIi.
I HE PA PAT; SViJ-TKlM.' VHD OF
PiriLADELPHIA : •^^T BAPTIST PUBLICATK '
1420 CriESTVUT STREl :
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■'la'ji'^yAii^yi-zHi.
r»ge 29. B.\FriSTERY OF BISH<»P I»AUI.!N
THE BAPTISM
OF THE
Ages and of the NatioiNS.
BY
WILLIAM CATHCART, D.D.,
AUTHOR OF "the PAPAL SYSTEM," AND OF "THE BAPTISTS AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION."
PHILADELPHIA :
AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY,
1420 CHESTNUT STREET.
^
-Sr ,^. LENOX ANO T.UO.^ FOUNPAT10..3.
l897.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1878, by the
AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
Westcott & Thomson, Ftcreolypers and Ekctrotypers, PliUada.
PEEFAOE.
The primary object which claimed the attention of the writer of this little work when he began its preparation was to secure and record reliable infor- mation about the mode of baptism used by the great missionaries w^ho planted Christianity among the pagan communities now constituting the chief na- tions of the earth. How did St. Remigius baptize Clovis and his three thousand soldiers? How did St. Patrick baptize the Irish ? How did St. Augus- tine baptize King Ethelbert and ten thousand of his subjects ? How did Paulinus baptize the thronging thousands of Englishmen whom he was the means of converting in Northumberland ? How did Boni- face baptize his hundred thousand Germans ? How did St. Anschar baptize the Scandinavians? How were the whole people of Kieff baptized when their Russian master, Vladimir the Great, just rescued from heathenism, ordered them to become Christians? The work has expanded beyond the original plan, and it is chiefly a book of facts and baptismal testi- monies.
INTEODUCTIOH".
The name of the work, " The Baptism of the Ages and of the Nations," has been chosen be- cause it describes its contents. Its joages afford ample evidence that for twelve centuries immersion was the baptism of all Christian countries, whether the climate was bitterly cold or intensely hot, and that it is the baptism of about a fourth part of all who bear the Christian name to-day. And the author has by no means exhausted this evidence by the large amount of it placed before his readers.
The important portions of this work were writ- ten by the Latin and Greek Fathers, by historians, schoolmen, monks, bishops, archbishops, cardinals, and popes of the Koman Catholic Church — men who are ranked among her most honored sons and holiest saints — and by eminent clergymen, travellers, and other authors of modern Protestant communi- ties. In short, all that is valuable in the book was written by some of the leading men of all the Christian ages, and in a fevr cases by the inspired penmen themselves.
5
6 INTRODUCTION.
No fecial effort has been made to secure descrip- tions of baptism and of baptisms from Greek Chris- tian writers, and some valuable testimony from these sources has been designedly passed by, because it is universally known by well-informed persons that immersion is now, and ever has been, the baptism of the Greek Church and of all other considerable Eastern Christian communities. Nevertheless, every part of Christendom is represented in these pages, either by creeds, by leading men teaching immer- sion, or by the immersion of candidates for bap- tism.
The quotations so frequently used in the follow'- iug pages are all sustained by reliable authorities.
The meaning of "baptizo" is never discussed. Efforts in that field can add nothing to the results already obtained. The sole object of this work is to present narratives or descriptions of baptism by immersion in all countries — a field largely neglect- ed by Baptists.
The work is divided into geographical, not chrono- logical, sections. The baptismal records of each country are placed together, and for this reason the earliest baptisms are not found on the first pages.
In conmion with all regular Baptists, the writer firmly believes in salvation by faith alone — bij faith in the merits and imputed righteousness of the glorious
INTRODUCTION. 7
Redeemer. But he denies the authority of any being outside the eternal throne to alter in any particular, or to set aside, any precept ever given by the sov- ereign Lamb. As the Roman Catholic wafer without the cup is a counterfeit, and not the Lord's Supper which it chiims.to be, so baptism without immersion is not the baptism the Saviour received in the river Jordan. It is a mere human contrivance, with less resemblance to Christ's baptism than the Romanist wafer bears to the Lord's Supper. This little work has been prepared to extend the practice of baptiz- ing those only ivhose sins have been already washed away by faith in the Saviour s blood, and who in immersion solemnly and symbolically profess their burial and resurrection with Christ.
The writer is greatly indebted to the " Bucknell Library" of Crozer Theological Seminary for the use of its very valuable collection of the ecclesias- tical writings of all ages — literary treasures of the highest worth. For facilities in the nse of the library he is under lasting obligations to his friend the honored President of the Seminary, and to the other professors.
He has also received important assistance from the noble library of the American Baptist Histori- cal Society.
His grateful acknowledgments are due to the
8 INTnODUCTlON.
Rev. Dr. A. N. Arnold of Chicago, the Rev. Dr. H. Malcom, the Rev. A. J. Rowhind, the Rev. Dr. G. AV. Anderson, the Rev. J. S. Gubelmann, and Alfred T. Jones, Esq., editor of The Jewish Record, Phila- delphia, and to several other friends in Europe and America, for valuable articles and information.
Praying tliat the heavenly Head of the militant Church, -who honored immersion by observing it him- self in the river Jordan, may bless this effort to the advancement of his gospel, we commit it to the ex- amination of all who love the truth as it is in Jesus.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
TRINE IMMERSION 5
ENGLAND. The English. — Their Pagan state in 596. — Bertha. — Augustine in Kent. — Baptism of the Ten Thousand. — Gregory's Letter to Eulogius. — Three witnesses: Fuller, Green, Tradition. — The Swale in Kent. — Gocelin and the Ten Thousand. — Importance of this Baptism. — Baptism of King Edwin and many others. — The Spring in York in which it Occurred. — Three Thousand Baptized in a Spring at Harbottle, — The Statue of Paulinus. — The Crucifix and Inscription. — Tradition. — Camden. — The Old Memory. — Paulinus Baptizes for Thirty-six Days in the Eiver Glen and in the Swale. — He Baptizes a Multitude in the Trent. — The Mercians Baptized. — Caedwalla Immersed at Rome. — Bede and his Baptism. — The Council of Celichyth and Immersion. — Fridegod and Immer- sion.— Ethelred's Immersion. — Ancient Font. — Anlaf, a Royal Robber, is Immersed. — Lanfranc and Im- mersion.— Cardinal Pullus and Immersion. — The Christening of Prince Arthur and of the Princess Margaret. — Immersion in the time of '' Bloody Mary." — Immersion in 1644. — Immersion in the Westminster Assembly of Divines. — Lightfoot's Journal. — Coleman. — Marshall. — Westminster Assem- bly's Commentary. — Dr. Chalmers. — Cave's Descrip-
10 CONTEXTS.
PAGE
tion of Early Baptism. — The Manual of Sarum. — Bingham's Description of Early Baptism. — Milman and Immersion, — Maitland and Immersion. — Brad- ford Episcopal Church Baptistery. — Immersion com- pulsory in the State Church in England if demanded. 18
IRELAND.
•
St. Patrick Baptizes Hercus and many Thousand others. — He Baptizes the Amalgaidhs and Twelve Thousand Men in the well Tobiir-en-Adare. — Many Converts Bap- tized at a Fountain. — Another Baptism of St. Patrick near Dublin. — Usher Mentions it. — Immersions Re- corded by O'Farrell. — The Irish Immersed three times. — An Irish Bishop and Immersion 62
AMERICA.
John Wesley Immerses a Child in Georgia. — He seem- ingly Refuses to Sprinkle another. — A Baptism by Henry Ward Beeclier in his Church. — Professor Ly- man Coleman on Immersion as " the first Departure from the Teaching and Example of the Apostles ".... 71
FRAXCE.
Clovis and the Franks. — Clovis and the Battle of Ziilpich. — Christ on tlie Side of Clovis. — Avitus on the Baptism of Clovis. — Gregory of Tours on the Battle-prayer of Clovis. — Clotikla. — Remigius. — The Baptism of Clovis and of Three Thousand Soldiers. — Gregory's Mode of Baptism. — Alcuin on tlie Baptism of Clovis. — Alcuin's Letter to the Canons of Lyons on Baptism. — Hincmar's Account of the Baptism of Clovis, his Army, his Sisters, and others. — His Baptistery. — Archbishop Magnus of Sens on Immersion. — Leidradus, Bisliop of Lyons, on Immersion. — Tlieodiilphus, Bishop of Orleans, on Iiu-
CONTENTS. 11
PAGE
mersion, — Hincmar of Eheims on Immersion. — Im- mersion of Hastein, a Danish Pirate. — Immersion of another Pirate. — St, Fulbert and Immersion. — Ivo, Bishop of Cliartres, on Immersion. — Hugo of St. Vic- tor on Immersion. — Abelard and Immersion. — Peter Lombard and Immersion. — Dupin and Immersion.... 79
SPAIN.
St. Isidore on Immersion. — The Fourth Council of To- ledo on Immersion 105
SWEDEN AND DENMAEK. St. Anschar. — His Character^ his Baptisms. — Poppo's Baptizing Brook 109
GEEMANY. Boniface, the Missionary. — Othlon. — Pope Gregory II. — Pope Zacharias. — Boniface Baptizes many Thousands. — Samson the Irishman. — Pope Zacharias and Immer- sion.— The Oath of Boniface. — Willibrord Baptizes Three Men in a Fountain. — Alcuin's Standing. — Spain and One Immersion. — The Fathers favored Trine Im- mersion.— Alcuin doubts the Genuineness of the Letter of Gregory the Great to Leander. — Kohlrausch Sprin- kles the Saxons in a Eiver. — Alcuin's " Divine Offices." — Two Bishops describe Baptism to Charlemagne. — Eabanus Maurus and Trine Immersion. — Haymo and Immersion. — Wilafrid Strabo and Immersion. — Sup- posed Cases of Pouring. — Eegino and Immersion. — St. Bruno and Immersion. — Otto Immerses Seven Thousand in Pomerania. — Eupert and Immersion. — Luther and Immersion 112
SWITZEELAND. Calvin and Immersion 132
12 CONTENTS.
ITALY.
PAGE
Clinic Baptism jor Death. — First Baptism for Death was Pouring. — It was Defective for some Offices if the Per- son Recovered. — Cave, Eusebius, Pope Cornelius, No- vatian, tlie Council of Neo-Caesarea, Chrysostom. — Called "Clinics" in mockery, instead of Christians. — Cyprian defends Clinics. — Its Decline after Infant Baptism sprang up. — Immersion of a Paralyzed Jew in A. D. 408 in Constantinople. — Martyrdom the Sec- ond Baptism for Death. — Cyprian. — Immersion only for those likely to Live. — Justin Martyr on Immer- sion.— Ambrose on Immersion. — Pope Leo the Great and Immersion. — St. Maximus of Turin and Immer- sion.— Arator on Immersion. — Gregory the Great. — Arian Trine Immersion in Spain. — Gregory's Letter to Leander approving of One Immersion in Spain. — Maxentius of Aquila on Immersion. — The Catechism of the Council of Trent and Immersion. — Dr. Malcom describes a Catholic Immersion which he Witnessed in Milan. — Dean Stanley on Immersions in Milan. — The Baptistery of St. John de Lateran and its Immersions. — The Waxen Drawers anciently worn by Popes when Immersing 134
EUSSIA.
Vladimir the Great.— His Baptism.— The City of Kieff Immersed in the Dnieper. — Kelley, Dean Stanley, MouraviefF. — The Archdeacon's Story who Accom- l)anied Macarius.— The Synod of Vladimir and Trine Immersion. — Kohl's account of a Russian Baptism whicli lie Saw. — The Russian Dissenters Immerse. — Immersion of a Convert through a Hole in the Ice in 18G'J in Russia 155
CONTEXTS. 13
TURKEY AND GEEECE.— The Greek Church.
PAGE
The Constitution and Canons of the Holy Apostles. — Their . Antiquity and Authority. — They Command Immersion. — Dionysius Exiguus, Strabo. — Gregory of Nyssa and Immersion. — Chrysostom, his Views of Baptism. — Philostorgius and vSingle and Trine Immersion. — Bay- ard Taylor describes a Baptism in Athens. — Dr. Ar- nold's Translation of the Greek Baptismal Service. — Dr. Arnold on Greek Immersion. — Dean Stanley on Greek Immersion 163
SEE VI A. Baptism of Prince Milan's Son 1S5
TUEKEY, PEESIA, AND THE EAST.
A Miracle by Immersion. — Baptismal Service of the Nestorians now in Use. — The Armenians and Im- mersion 186
PALESTINE.
Jewish Proselyte Baptism. — Lightfoot. — A Modern Eabbi. — The New Testament and Immersion. — Lightfoot. — Jerome and Immersion 190
NOETH AFEICA.
Tertullian. — His Baptism is Immersion. — Tingo. — The Bishops of North Africa and Immersion. — Character of Augustine. — His Baptism. — Baptism of Epidophorus in Carthage. — Primasius of Adrumeta and Immersion. 196
EGYPT.
Boys Baptized by Athansius. — Immersion among the Copts 206
2
14 CONTENTS.
ABYSSINIA.
PAGE
Account of Immersions by Bruce 209
CONCLUSION.
AVhat has been Proved. — Thousands can be Immersed in One Day. — Probably a Majority of all Living and Dead Christians were Immersed. — Increase of the Baptist Denomination. — Immersionists will never yield. — Jus- tification by Faith burst from under a Mountain of venerable Papal Heresies. — Immersion will arise from the Grave of Six Centuries 212
Index 217
THE
Baptism of the Ages and tlie Nations.
TEIl^E IMMEESIOH".
Trixe immersion was the general practice of Christians from the end of the second till the close of the twelfth century. The proof of this state- ment is overwhelming. But the proof that triple immersion was the usual mode of baptism prevailing for a thousand years among Christians begins with Tertullian at the end of the second century, not with Christ. Beyond Tertullian no record in the literature of men, in the hook of God, or in any symbol known to mortals utters a single loord about three immersions in baptism. There is not the faintest shadow of evi- dence, before the close of the second century, that ever has been brought forward, or that can be secur- ed, to prove the existence of trine immersion.
The impossibility of finding evidence for this prac-
15
16 THE BAPTISM OF THE
tice before Tertiillian's day is a deadly defect. If it only occupied a place in the Scriptures and in the observances of the inspired apostles, and perished immediately after the death of the beloved John, trine immersion could defy all opposition. But it is not in the " Book of books," where all Christ's insti- tutions are described and recorded ; the apostles, and the men who learned the truth directly from them, never even hint at it; and its advocates can only appeal to conjectures to establish its existence before the end of the second century. Jerome presents the truth about the origin of trine immersion when he says : " Many other things which are observed by tradition in the churches have secured the authority of written law for themselves, as, for example, to im- merse the head three times in the font." ^ No man that ever lived cherished an established religious practice like trine immersion more affectionately, and clung to it more tenaciously, than Jerome. Ko writer of the fourth century was better informed about the customs, present and past, of the Christian Church, than Jerome. And he was right ; trine im- mersion was only a tradition, and of course ought to
^ Mnlta alia qiite per traditionein in ecclesiis observan- tur, authoritatem sibi scriptse legis iisurpaverunt, veliit in lavacro ter caput mergitare. — Adver. LuciJ'ereanos, vol. iii. p. 63. Basil, Froben, 1516.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 17
be rejected by all friends of Bible Christianity. Sup- pose that a vessel is near the shore in a fierce storm ; the anchorage is excellent, and the ship has an an- chor capable of saving her in any hurricane where it can secure a proper hold. The vessel carries a massive chain, whose huge links no power of the tempest can snap, and by this the anchor is bound to the ship. But half a dozen links next the anchor are gone, and some tarred rope, just strong enough to sustain the weight of the anchor whilst it is lowered into the sea, fastens the anchor to the great chain ; and as soon as the fierce storm rages the rope breaks, the anchor is lost, and the ship is dashed to pieces on the rocks. The cable of history proving the long continuance of trine immersion stops with Tertullian ; there is only the tarred rope of conjecture to reach from his day to Christ ; and with Baptists that rope has given way long ago. As our fathers refused to receive infant baptism with nothing to support it but conjectures, so they rejected trine immersion resting on that poor basis ; and their successors in the faith have followed their example.
2* B .
18 THE BAPTISM OF THE
ENGLAND,
AND THE PEOPLE AVHO USE THE LANGUAGE OF BRITAIN.
St. Augustine Immersed Ten Thousand in the River Swale in a. d. 597.
"When the Euglish first invaded Britain, their future home, they found its inhabitants a Christian people. The ancient Britons had been led to the Sa- viour by missionaries from the East, now unknown, in the first or second century ; and long before the conquest of their country by " the Angles, Jutes, and Saxons" in the fifth century, the nation worshipped Jesus. The victorious English were fierce, persecut- ing Pagans. They burned the churches, tortured and murdered the clergy, and slew the people without mercy ; and those who escaped their ferocious wrath had to fly for refuge to Cornwall and Wales. The new settlers reared temples in honor of their ancient gods all over Britain. In the end of the sixth century England was divided into several petty kingdoms by its heathen masters, the most powerful one of which, at that time, was Kent. The wife of Ethelbert, its king, was a French lady and an earnest Christian.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 19
There is reason for believing that it was largely in response to her appeals that, in a. d. 596, Pope Greg- ory the Great sent forty missionaries into Kent with Augustine at their head. The preachers were so wonderfully successful that in a short time the whole people of Kent were professors of Christianity.
Ten Thousand Baptized on One Day.
Pope Gregory in a letter to Eulogius, Patriarch of Alexandria, informs him of this remarkable triumph. He writes : " More than ten thousand English, they tell us, were baptized by the same brother, our fellow- bishop [Augustine], which I communicate to you that you may know something to announce to the people of Alexandria, and that you may do something in prayer for the dwellers at the ends of the earth." ^
The numbers baptized on this celebrated Christmas Day present no obstacle to our belief in the statement of Gregory. If the forty missionaries were engaged in baptizing, the ten thousand would only have fur- nished tATo hundred and fifty for each. But it is extremely probable that the converts baptized each other, w^hile Augustine stood in some prominent place blessing the people and the waters.
^ Plus quam decern millia Angli . . . sunt baptizati. Gregor. Mag., torn. iii. lib. viii. Ep. 30., p. 952. Migne. Parisiis, 1849.
20 THE BAPTISM OF THE
Paulinus baptized several tliousand on one baptis- mal occasion ; Reraigius enjoyed a similar blessing ; and the apostles on the day of Pentecost were favored with an ingathering of three thousand.
Three Witnesses who give Testimony about THLS Baptism.
Dr. Thomas Fuller, a learned Episcopalian, in his Church History states ^ that '* The archbishop [Augus- tine] is said to have commanded, by the voice of criers, that the people should enter the river oonfidently, two by two, and in the name of the Trinity baptize one another by turns." This was clearly a grand immersion.
Green's History of the English People is a recent work of great research and fidelity. Its Episcopa- lian author is ** Examiner in the School of Modern History " in Oxford. In his history, Mr. Green writes : "As yet the results [of the labors of the Roman mis- sionaries] were still distant. A year passed before even Etlielbert yielded, but from the moment of his conversion the new faith advanced rapidly. TJie Kent- ifth men crowded to baptism in the river Swale. The under-kings of Essex and East Anglia received the
^ FuHoi-'h Church llii^tory of Britain, vol. i. pp. 97, 98. Lon- don, 1837.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 21
creed of theii; over-lord." ^ The Swale spoken of by Green was in Kent. The Yorkshire Swale could not have been used for baptism until thirty years after the immersion of the ten thousand, as the people of that region were not converted till A. d. 627. With this fact Mr. Green is perfectly familiar. This river- baptism was an immersion.
Tradition bears strong testimony about this bap- tism. In an English almanac of recent date, on the lower half of one page, there is a record of the visit of Garibaldi to England, and of the birthdays of Prince Leopold, the Princess Beatrice, and George Canning; and then a statement that on the "20th of April, A.D. 597, Ethelhert, King of Kent, and ten thousand Saxons ivere baptized in the river Swale."" This is the uniform testimony of tradition, except about the day itself.
An intelligent gentleman of another denomination, now residing in Canterbury, in a private letter before me, after describing the river Swale, remarks : " This is the Swale in Kent. There is a river of the same name in Yorkshire, hut it was in the Swale in Kent, according to tradition^ in ivhich the haptism took ]} lace" [of the ten thousand].
^ Green's History of the English People, p. 55. New York,
1877.
22 THE BAPTISM OF THE
The River Swale, in which the Ten Thou- sand WERE Baptized. Ireland's History of Kent gives the following ac- count of the Swale : " The stream which flows be- tween the Isle of Sheppy and the mainland is called the Swale (Plate I.), and its two extremities the East and the West Swale. It extends for twelve miles, and is navigable for ships of two hundred tons burthen.'' " The East Swale is nine miles from Can- terbury." According to Ireland, the Swale was a river deep enough to be dangerous for ten thousand persons to throng its waters.
Gocelin's Account of the Baptism of the Ten Thousand.
This monk is called Joscelyn by William of Malmesbury, Gotzelin by Dupin, and Gocelin by the Patrologice Latince. He was a Frenchman by birth, and he came to England in the eleventh cen- tury. He was familiar with the Chronicles of Kent — ivritten long before his day — *^ two of which were collated by him." ' William of Malmesbury tells us'^ that he was regarded as a man " of un-
^ Bede's Eadesiadicdl Hidonj, p. 37, preface. Bohn, Lon- don, 1870.
^ Knyliifh Chronicle, ]\h. iv, cap. i. p. 355. London, 1847.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 23
common learning " and of great worth. In his Life of St. Augustine he speaks of him —
"As rejoicing in success, as men delight in the harvest, and as conquerors exult in the spoils they have captured. He secured," says he, " on all sides large numbers for Christ, so that on that birthday of the Lord, celebrated by the melodious anthems of all heaven, more than ten thousand of the Eng- lish were born again in the laver of holy baptism, with an infinite number of women and children, in a river which the English call Sirarios, the Swale, as if at one birth of the Church, and from one womb.
"These persons, at the command of the divine teacher, as if he were an angel from heaven calling upon them, all entered the dangerous depth of the river, two and tivo together, as if it had been a solid plain ; and in the true faith, confessing the exalted Trinity, they were baptized one by the other in turns, the apostolic leader blessing the w^ater. . . , So great a progeny for heaven horn out of a deep whirlpool !" ^
' "In flu vio qui Sirarios Anglice dicitur, . . . omnes pariter bini et bini, minacem fluminis profunditatem, ac si soUdum campura ingrediuntur . . . alter ab altero. . . . Tanta pro- genies in coelum de profundo gurgite nasceretur." Vita Sand. August., Patrologice Latitice, vol. 80, pp. 79, 80. Migne. Parisiis.
24 THE BAPTISM OF THE
The word " whirlpool " is a striking figure of the chasm made in the waters by plunging the candidate under their surface, and of the returning waters as they rush together over the immersed body.
Gocelin, like many others, in his Life of Augus- tine makes the mistake of giving to the Swale of Yorkshire the credit which was due to the Swale of Kent; but this is a matter of no moment, and a very natural mistake in a foreigner.
Gocelin had the original Chronicles of Kent, cen- turies old in his day ; and when he describes these throngs as " hcqAized in the river Sivcde," as having " entered the dangerous depth of the river,''" and as being " horn for heaven [baptized] oid of a deep whirlpool," the evidence of their immersion is over- whelming.
We might refer to the universal practice of im- mersion throughout the whole Christian communi- ties on earth in the sixth century as evidence that Augustine would be likely to follow the custom of all other churches in his mode of baptism. We might point to the fact that Pope Gregory sent him to England ; that the pontiff exercised over him the authority of a spiritual director; and that he received from him unquestioning obedience. Bede^ has a list of queries sent by Augustine to Gregory, ' BtL'dio, Hist. Fecks., i. 27, p. 4G. Oxonii, 184G.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 25
■with the answers returned by the pope, which prove that after Augustine's consecration to the see of Canterbury he administered the entire affairs of his new office, even in insignificant matters, accord- ing to the wishes of his master at Rome. And as Gregory w^rote, at this very time, about the baptis- mal usages of Rome and Italy, " We immerse three times," ^ we might establish a moral certainty that Augustine immersed three times. We might ex- hibit the convincing evidence that the English Church immersed her members for nine hundred years after Augustine's death, and Ave might natu- rally infer that she only followed the instructions and example of her founder Augustine ; but it is needless. The testimony already given renders it certain that the first great baptism of " more than ten thousand of the English " in Kent was by im- mersion.
This was the first baptism in that race which owns the British Islands, and India, and territories and fleets all over the lands and the oceans of the globf — a race that has reared this glorious republic, co- lossal in resources, in area, and in mental, moral, and material powers — a race that exerts the great- est influence over the nations of the earth of any
^ Tertio mergimus. Patroloylce Latince, vol. 77, p. 497. Migne. Parisiis.
26 THE BAPTISM OF THE
kindred peoples in human history — and a race that was snatched from barbarism, poverty, and insignificance by the religion of Jesus, and by his gospel invested with all its spiritual and temporal glories. In view of these considerations Augustine's baptism in the Swale is one of the most important events in the annals of mankind.
Paijlinijs Baptizes Edwin, King of Northum-
BRiA, AT York, with Many of his People,
in a.d. 627.
Alcuin relates that " Easter having come, w^hen the king had decided to be baptized with his peo- ple under the lofty walls of York, in which, by his orders, a little house [of wood, according to Bede] was quickly erected for God, that under its roof he might receive the sacred water of baptism. During the sunshine of that festive and holy day he was dedicated to Christ in the saving fountain,^ with his family and nobles, and with tlie common people following. . . . York remained illustrious, distin- guished with great honor, because in that sacred place King Edwin was washed in the water ^^ [of baptism].
Dr. Giles, in a note in his translation of Bede's
^ Fonte salutifero . . . fiiit lavatus in unda. Alcuini Carmina, Patrol. Lett., vol. 101, p. 818. Migne. Parisiis.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 27
Ecclesiastical History, states that " parts of the original wooden structure of King Edwin were discovered in making repairs in the present cathe- dral of York." And he refers to Brown's History of St. Peter's Church of York [the cathedral], Avhich in Plate III. shows "the probable position of the wooden baptistery enclosing a spring still remaining." ^
Edwin, his family, his nobles, and the common people, probably numbering several thousand, " were dedicated to Christ in the saving fountain/' " ivere washed in the water-/' and the Episcopalian trans- lator of Bede's Ecclesiastical Hidory makes himself responsible for a statement that the spring is in the cathedral of York to-day, in which, probably, this vast immersion took place. This was the first triumph of Christianity in the north of England. It occurred A. d. 627.
Three Thousand were Baptized by Paulinus IN Northumberland at Easter, a. d. 627. About eleven miles from the Cheviot Hills, which separate England from Scotland, and about the same distance from Alnwick Castle, the well-known resi- dence of the dukes of Northumberland, and two miles from the village of Harbottle, there is a re- * Bede's Ecclesiastical Ilistonj, p. 97. Bohn, London, 1870.
28 THE BAPTISM OF THE
markable fountaiu. It issues forth from the top of a slight elevation, or little hill. It has at present as its basin a cavity about thirty-four feet long, twenty feet wide, and two feet deep. By placing a board over a small opening at one end, its depth can be considerably increased. A stream flows from it, which forms a little creek. A few shade trees with knife-marks, and benches similarly adorned, bear witness to the presence of visitors. Indeed, the spring is a place of public resort for the population for many miles around, and for numerous strangers, on account of its early baptis- mal associations. The author of this little work in the August of 1869, during the half hour which he sjDcnt beside this beautiful fountain, saw several small parties of visitors who had come to examine " The Lady's Well," as it is called, — that is, un- doubtedly, " Our Lady's Well," the Virgin Mary's AVell.
An ancient statue, as large as life, lay prostrate in the fountain for ages — probably from the period when the monasteries were destroyed in the time of Henry VIII. This statue, wdien the writer saw it, was leaning against a tree at the fountain. It was most likely the statue of Paulinus. It was called " the bishop." Its drapery, the action of the atmo- sphere upon the stone of which it is made, and its
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 29
general appearance show that it was set up at a very remote period, perhaps two or three centuries after Paulinus baptized the Northumbrian multi- tude in the fountain.
The traditions of Northumberland point out the Lady's Well as one of the baptisteries of Paulinus, the apostle of the north of England. The History of Norihiimherland confirms its traditions. A large crucifix was standing in the centre of the fountain in 1869 (Plate IL), erected under the superintend- ence of the Episcopal Vicar of Harbottle — a worthy clergyman, a graduate of Oxford, then living. On one side of the base of the crucifix it bears the fol- lowing inscription : " In this place Paulinus, the bishop, baptized three thousand Northumbrians, Easter, 627,"
The learned Camden, whose authority on such a question is universally respected by those competent to judge, speaks of " Harbottle on the Coquet Eiver, near to which is Holystone, where it is said that Paulinus, when the Church of the English was first planted, baptized many thousands of men." ^ Cam- den was born in 1551, and the tradition about the bap-
1 Harbottle, cui contiguura est Holyston . . . ubi in primi- tiva Angloruni ecclesia Paulinum multa liominum millia baptizasse fama obtinet. Guih. Camdeni, Britannia, p. 365. Amsterdami, 1639.
30 THE BAPTISM OF THE
tism rested upon a strong foundation, or he would not have inserted it in his celebrated Britannia.
The village of Holystone is almost within call of the " Lady's Well." A nunnery stood for ages in this village, to which the fountain belonged, and which was most probably built there to commem- orate the sanctity and to appropriate the efficacy of so holy a font ; and its existence is strong cor- roborative evidence of the sacred use to which the pure waters of the fountain were devoted by Pau- linus. Some scanty remains of the convent are still to l)e seen in Holystone.
More Great Baptisms in the North of England.
Bede, the father of English history, was one of the purest and best men that ever lived. He was a prolific writer on several important subjects ; and though he died in A. d. 735, a new edition of his entire works in five volumes has been issued in Paris within twenty years. Treating of the conversion of his Northumbrian fathers in England, in A. d. 627, he says :
" Paulinus, coming witli the king and queen of the Northumbrians to the royal country-seat of Adgefrin,' stayed there with them thirty-six days,
' Yevcrin in Oleivlalo, near Wooler, in Northumberland.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 31
fully occupied iu catechising and baptizing ; during which days, from morning fill night, he did nothing else but instruct the people resorting from all the villages and places, in Christ's saving word ; and when instructed, they were washed in the river Glen^ which was near by, with the water of absolution." "^ He adds : " These things happened in the province of the Bernicians ; but in that of the Deiri also, where he was accustomed often to be with the king, lie baptized in the river Swale,^ which flows past the village of Cataract." ^ Bede records
The Baptism of a Multitude.
He speaks of an old man who said that " he and a great multitude" were baptized at noonday, in the presence of King Edwin, in the river Trent, by the bishop Paulinus, near the city which in the English tongue is called Tiovulfingacestir." ^ These baptisms in rivers were surely immersions. The places where
^ The river BoAvent.
'^ Fluvio Gleni . . . lavacro remission is abluere. Hist. Eccles., lib. ii. 14, p. 104. Oxonii, 1846.
^ Baptizabat in Sualo fluvio . . . praterfluit. Ibid.
* Carrick, Yorkshire.
* Baptizatum se fuisse . . . et raultam populi turbain in fluvio Treenta. Ibid., ii. 16, p. 107. Oxonii, 1846.
^ Southwell, Nottinghamshire.
32 THE BAPTISM OF THE
the ordinance was administered show the mode clear- ly enough. Then Pauliniis was a missionary from Rome, where, according to a letter of Gregory the Great to Leander, they practised trine immersion.
Baptism of the Merciaxs, a Powerful Saxon Kingdom in England.
Alcuin states that after the death of Penda, the fierce heathen king of the Mercians, their sovereign, Osway, *' caused them to he ivashed in the consecrated river of baptism." ^ This occurred about A. d. 658. Baptism in England at first was administered in fountains and rivers, until baptisteries were erected.
Caedwalla, King of the West Saxons, is Immersed at Rome.
This ferocious tyrant shed blood as if it was worth less than water, and, finding death drawing near, he resolved to go to Rome in a. d. 689 and wasli away his sins in l^aptism ; and if possible he wanted to die soon after. Alcuin tells us that he passed over the ocean and the Alps, and entered Rome, where his presence gave delight to its cour- teous citizens, and special joy to the clergy ; " Whilst
• Sacrato facicns baptismatis amne lavare. Pidrol. Lat., vol. 10],p. R24. Migne. Parisiis.
AGES AXD THE NATIONS. 33
the happy kiDg," he declares, " was deemed worthy to be immersed in the ivhirlpool of hajitism.''^ ^
The word " whirlpool," as noticed elsewhere, de- scribes the chasm made in the waters by the body of the baptized person as he sinks in them, and the rushing of the waters to cover the candidate for immersion.
The Venerable Bede and Immeesion.
Bede, whom Catholics and Protestants unite in regarding as a faithful servant of Jesus Christ — the first great English author who appeared in the new country of the "Angles and Jutes and Saxons," a man of vast information for his times, and of re- ligious knowledge which is a treasure to-day — writes these words about baptism :
" For he truly who is baptized is seen to descend into the fountain — he is seen to he dipped in the waters — he is seen to ascend from the imters ; but that which makes the font regenerate him can by no means be seen. The piety of the faithful alone perceives that a sinner descends into the font, and a cleansed man ascends [from it] ; a son of death de- scends [into it], but a son of the resurrection ascends
^ Mergi meruit baptismi gurgite. Patrol. Led., vol. 101, p. 1310. Migne. Parisiis.
34 THE BAPTISM OF THE
[from it]; a son of treachery descends [into it], but a son of reconciliation ascends [from it] ; a son of wrath descends [into it], but a son of compassion ascends [from it] ; a son of the devil descends [into it], but a son of God ascends [from it]." ^
Bede, the father of English history, who died A. D. 735, had no conception of any baptism which did not require a descent into the font — an immer- sion in its waters, and an ascent out of those waters.
The Council of Celiciiyth, held in England IN A. D. 816, ON Baptism.
The second canon of this council reads : " Let the presbyters know when they administer sacred bap- tism, not to j)our holy water upon the heads of the in- fants, hut always to immerse them in the laver, after the example given by the Son of God himself to every be- liever u'hen he ivas three times immersed in the waters of the Jordan.'' ^ Whilst at this period, either in or
^ Nam videter quidem, qui baptizatur, in fontem descen- dere, videtur aquis intingi, videtur de aquis ascendere . . . peccator in fontem dcsccndet, sed pnrificatus ascendit. . . . ]5aeda Yen., in St. Joannis, Evang. Expos., iii. 5, vol. 92, pp. 6G8, 669 ; Patrol. Lat. Migne. Parisiis.
' Ut non eflundant a<|uam sanctam super capita infantiura sed .semi)er mergantur in lavacro . . . quando esset ter mer- SU8 in undis Jordan is. Can. 11. Cone. Cclich., Havdu, Cone. Collec, vol. iv. p. 1224. Parisiis, 1715.
AGES AXD THE NATIONS. 35
out of England, the question of pouring iu baptism was evidently agitated, the decision of the British bishops plainly showed that in their judgment pour- ing was the destruction of the truth. This canon is recorded by Harduin, another learned Jesuit, in his standard work Conciliorwn Collectio.
Fkidegod and Immersion. Fridegod was a monk of Canterbury in the tenth century, who, at the request of Odo, his archbishop, composed lives of St. Wilfred and St. Owen in verse. In his Life of St. Wilfred he states that " he showed that those to be saved should be immersed in the clear waters." Elsewhere he asserts that the " com- mon people seeking holy baptism are immersed." ^
King Ethelred's Immersion. William of Malmesbury, an author whose veracity and care have been deservedly commended, declares that " when the little boy [Ethelred] ivas immersed in the font of baptism, the bishops standing around, the sacrament was marred by a sad accident which made St. Dunstan utter an unfavorable prophecy." ^
^ Liquidis salvandos tinguere . . . tinguntur plebes sanc- tum baptisma petentes. Frideg., De Vita Si. Wilfr., Patrol. Lat., vol. 133, pp. 993, 1003.
^ Cum pusiolus in fontem baptism! mergeretur circumstanti-
36 THE BAPTISM OF THE
Ethelred ascended the throne A. d. 979, and reigned for thirty years.
The font, a picture of which ^ve give (Plate III.), is now in the clmrch of St. Martin, Canterbury, Eng- hiiid. The church is very small and of great age. The Canterbury Guide of this year says that "the quantity of Koman bricks which may be detected in many parts of the structure would indicate that it was originally a Roman building. The walls of the chancel are almost entirely of Roman brick." ^ The same Guide says : " The font is certainly one of the first in England. It has no stand, but rests on the ground. It is about three feet in height, and capacious within. The sculptures upon it are a sort of ornamental interlacing in low relief." In a pri- vate letter fi-om a courteous gentleman in Canter- bury, who recently measured the font for me, he states that "the font itself is very ancient. It is thirty-eight inches high, twenty-niue inches deep [the cavity], thirty-three inches wide [evidently the diameter including rim]. The rim is five and a quarter inches thick. The inside is lined with lead, which, of course, is not so old as the font itself; and
bus cpiscopis, alvi j)rofliivio sacramcnta interpolavit. Willelmi Mahnh.y Gesta. Beg. J »<//., cap. ii. 164. Patrol. Lat., vol. 179, p. 1131. Migne. Paris! is.
^ The New Illustrated Canterbury Guide, p. 31.
Baptism of the Ages.
FONT IN CmiU'lI OF ST. MAKTIN. CANTERBURY
Page 36.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 37
the depth, as it is now used ivith this lining, forms a sort of basin which is only thirteen inches. The font is circular in shape."
From this letter we learn that the original cavity of the font, before the introduction of the leaden lining, was twenty-nine inches deep and twenty-two and a half inches ivide. In such a font Ethelred was baptized by immersion, the only form of bap- tism practised in England till after the Reforma- tion. And it Avas intended to accommodate persons of some growth as well as infants.
Anlaf, King of the Norwegians, is Immersed IN England.
Roger of Wendover wrote a work which he called The Flowers of History^ relating the history of Eng- land from A. D. 449 to A. d. 1235. The following is from the translation of that work by Dr. J. A. Giles, late fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, an Episcopalian :
" Sweyn, king of the Danes, and Anlaf, king of the Norwegians, arrived at London with ninety-four cogues on the nativity of the blessed Mary, and made a fierce assault with a view to take it ; but being repulsed with great loss by the citizens, they turned their rage against the provinces. King Ethelred thereupon, with the advice of his nobles, made them
38 THE BAPTISM OF THE
a payment of sixteen thousand pounds, collected from the ^vhole of England, to induce them to cease from robbing and slaughtering the innocent people. King Ethelred at this time despatched Elfege, Bishop of Winchester, and Duke Athehvold to King Anlaf, whom they brought in peace to the royal vill -where King Ethelred then was, and at his request dipped him in the sacred font, after which he was confirmed by the bishop, the king adopting him as his son, and honoring him with royal pres- ents ; and the following summer he returned to his own country in peace." ^
Many of these Scandinavian royal pirates were baptized after wholesale robberies and murders in the British Islands and in France, but the ordin- ance was shockingly profaned by its aj^plication to such impenitent enemies of the human race.
LA^^FRANC AND IMMERSION.
Lanfranc was an Italian who reached England by way of Normandy, where he was abbot of the famous monastery of Bee. As an instructor at Bee his reputation spread over a large part of Eu- rope, and drew throngs of students to the abbey schools. He enjoyed the confidence of William the Conqueror, who made him Archbishop of Canter-
^ Flou-crs of History, at A. p. 994, p. 272. London, 1849.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 39
bury four years after the victory of Hastings had placed the crown of England on his head. His reputation was greatly increased by his Exposition of the Epistles of Paul. Commenting on Philip- pians iii. 20, he says :
^^For as Christ lay three days in the sepulchre, so in baptism let there be a trine immersion." ^ This was the testimony of a native Italian, a great French teacher and the head of the English Church.
Cardinal Pullus on Immersion.
This cultivated Englishman occupied a very prom- inent place in theological and general learning. He read lectures for five years in Oxford, and after- ward he was professor of divinity in Paris. He resided for a considerable period in Rome, where he was such a favorite with the pope that he was created a cardinal in A. d. 1144.
In his only work which has come down to us, a valuable system of divinity, he writes of baptism:
" Whilst the candidate for baptism in water is im- mersed the death of Christ is suggested ; whilst im- mersed, and covered with ivater, the burial of Christ is shown forth ; whilst he is raised from the waters, the
^ Ut enim tribus diebus jacuit Cliristus in sepulcliro, sic in baptismate trina sit immersio. Vol. 150, p. 315 ; Patrol. Lat. Migne. Parisiis.
40 THE BAPTISM OF THE
resurrection of Christ is proclaimed. The immersion is repeated three times, out of reverence for the Trinity and on account of the three days' burial of Christ. In the burial of the Lord the day follows the night three times ; in baptism also trine emersion accom- jxinies trine immersion."^ The most beautiful ex- position of Rom. vi. 4 ever penned !
The Christening of Prince Arthur and of THE Princess Margaret.
Arthur was the oldest son of Henry VIL, King of England, and the brother of Henry VIII., first the persecutor of the Reformation and then its jDrotector. Arthur was born A. H. 1486. He married Catharine of Aragon, who after his death became the wife of Henry VIII. and the mother of the bloody Queen Mary. Leland, whose authority in such a matter is unquestionable, says, in a very lengthy account of Arthur's baptism : " The body of all the cathe- dral church of Winchester Avas hung with cloth of arras, and in the middle, beside the font of the said
' Dum baptizanihis aqure inimergitnr, mors Christi insinu- atur ; dnm sul) aqua latet mersus, sepultura Christi roprsesen- tatur ; dum sublevatur ex aquis, resurrectio Christi declara- tur. Mersio repetitur tertio ... in baptismo quoque trinam trina mersionem emersio comitatur. Card. Eob. Pull., lib. Oct. ; Patrol Lai., vol. 186, p. 843.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 41
church, was ordained and prepared a solemn font^ in manner and form as ensueth. First, there was ordained in manner of a stage of seven steps, square or round like, an high cross covered with red worsted, and up in the midst a post made of iron to bear the font of silver gilt, which ivithiii side was well dressed [lined] with fine linen cloth [to protect the babe from touching the cold stone or metal], and near the same on the west side was a step, like a block, for the bishop to stand on, covered also with red saye ; and over the front, of a good height, a rich canopy with a great gilt ball, lined and fringed without curtains. On the north side was ordained a travers hung with cloth of arras, and upon the one side thereof, within side, another travers of red sarsnet. There was fire without fumigations, ready against the prince's com- ing. And without, the steps of said font were railed with good timber. . . . And Queen Elisabeth was in the church abiding the coming of the prince. . . . Incontinent [immediately] after the prince was put into the font the ofl[icers-at-arms put on their coats, and all their torches were lighted." ^ Here the bap- tism was by dipping in the font.
^ A new font was commonly made for the baptism cf a
royal child.
^ Lelandi Collectanea, vol. iv, pp. 204-206. London, 1774. 4*
42 THE BAPTISM OF THE
The Baptism of Arthur's Sister. Margaret was baptized in 1490. When very- young, in 1502, she was married to James IV., King of Scotland. She was the grandmother of Mary, Queen of Scots, and aunt of Queen Elisa- beth. Writing of her baptism, Leland says : " On the morning of her baptism the aforesaid newborn princess was christened in the following manner: The rich font of Canterbury and Westminster Church was prepared, as of old time the custom was for kings' children, with a rich round canopy, with a great gilt ball. The aforesaid princess was brought from the queen's chamber into the White Hall, borne by the Marchioness of Berkeley ; and to her gave assistance the Earls of Arundel and Shrewsbury. My Lady Anne, the queen's sister, bore next before her the chrism, with a marvellous rich cross lace ; and before her the Viscount Wellis bore a rich salt of gold garnished with precious stones ; and before him the Earl of Essex bore a taper. . . . When the said princess was brought to the porch of Westminster Church, the Lord John Alcock, Bishop of Ely, was there ready in pon- tificals, who christened the princess. As soon as she was put into the font all the torches were light- ed. ..." ^ I have given but a small part of this ^ Lclandi Collectanea, vol. iv. pp. '253, 2o4, London, 1774.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 43
royal Romish christening as treasured up by Le- land, but I have quoted enough to show that the little princess was put into the font instead of be- ing sprinkled with water. In Leland there are substantially the same accounts given of the bap- tisms of Edward VI. and Queen Elizabeth.
In the reign of EdAvard YI., Walker, a very high authority on baptismal customs, says : " Dipping was at this time the more usual, but sprinkling was sometimes used."^ These times were probably still times of real weakness.
Immersion in England in the Reign o " Bloody Mary."
Watson, Bishop of Lincoln, in 1558 published a volume of sermons, in one of which he says :
"Though the old and ancient traditio7i of the Church hath been from the beginning to dip the child three times, etc., yet that is not of such necessity ; but that if he be but once dipped in the water, it is sufficient. Yea, and in time of great peril and neces- sity, if the water be but poured on his head, it will suffice." 2
^ Walker's Doctrine of Baptisms, chap. x. p. 147. London, 1678.
^ Holsome and Catholyke Doctryne Concerninge the Seven Sacraments, pp. 22, 23. London, 1558.
44 THE BAPTISM OF THE
Immersion in England in 1644.
The Kev. Thomas Blake, living in Tamworth in Staffordshire, in 1644, writes of immersion :
" I have been an eye-witness of many infants dip- ped, and I know it to have been the constant prac- tice of many ministers in their places for many years together.''^ ^
Mr. Blake practised infant baptism, and had no sympathy with the people who rejected it.
Immersion in the Westminster Assembly of Divines.
This great council of godly men framed the Con- fession of Faith still received by all Scotch Pres- byterians, by all Scotch-Irish and English Pres- byterians, and by the great majority of American Presbyterians — a Confession held in high esteem by many Baptists and others.
Neal, the historian of the English Puritans, de- clares that " there was not one professed Anabaptist in this Assembly." ^ It is remarkable, under these circumstances, that any member of it should advo- cate dipping, if immersion had not been a common custom of all Christians a few ages before. Dr.
1 The Birth Privilege, etc., by Thomas Blake, A. M., p. 33. London, 1644.
2 Xeal's Jlidonjof the Puritans, iii. IIG. Dublin, 1755.
AGES AND THE XATIOXS. 45
John Lightfoot, one of the ablest members of the Assembly, kept a journal of the proceedings of that body, and he says that on August 7th, 1644 —
" Then fell we upon the work of the day, which was about baptizing of the child, whether to dip or sprinkle him ; and this proposition, ' It is lawful and sufficient to besprinkle the child,' had been canvassed before our adjourniug, and was ready now to vote. But I spoke against it, as being very unfit to vote that it is lawful to sprinkle when every one grants it. Whereupon it was fallen ujDon, sprinkling being granted, whether dipping should be tolerated with it. And here fell we upon a large and long discourse, whether cUpinng luere essential, or used in the first institution, or in the Jews' cus- tom. Mr. Coleman went about in a large discourse to prove tauveleh [Hebrew for dipping] to be dip- piug over head, which I ansAvered at large. . . . After a long dispute it was at last put to the ques- tion whether the Directory [for Worship] should run, ' The minister shall take water and sprinkle or pour it with his hand upon the face or forehead of the child ;' and it Avas voted so indifferently that we were glad to count names twice ; for so many icere univilling to have dipping excluded that the vote came to an equality ivithin one ; for the one side was twenty four, the other twenty-five — the twenty-four
46 THE BAPTISM OF THE
for the reserving of dipping, and the twenty-five against it. And then grew a great heat upon it; and u'hen we had done all, we concluded upon nothing in it; but the business was recommitted." The next day, in opposition to the friends of the primitive mode of baptism — of whom Mr. Marshall on the second day was the principal leader — it was decided that the Directory should read, " He is to baptize the child with water, which for the manner of doing is not only lawful, but also suflicient and most expedient, to be by pouring or sprinkling water on the face of the child, without any other ceremony." ^ This was a singular discussion in the venerable Assembly that framed the great Presby- terian Confession of Faith. To-day our Presby- terian brethren in general regard immersion with an honest, manly hatred, and a hatred that consid- erably exceeds the repugnance shown by any other religious community. Mr. Coleman was " so per- fect a master of the Hebrew language that he was commonly called Pabbi Coleman ;" and when he died " the whole Assembly did him the honor to attend his funeral in a body, March 30, 1646." - Mr. INIar^hall was a great favorite with the Long
^ The Whole Works of Lighffoot, vol. xiii. 300, 301. Lon- don, 1824.
2 Neal's History of (he Furitanf!, iii. 294. Dublin, 1755.
AGES AXD THE NATIONS. 47
Parliament, before which he often preached, and it was accustomed to ask his opinions on all questions relating to religion. He was employed in most, if not in all, the treaties between the king and Parliament. A bitter enemy spoke of him as " a famous incendiary and assistant to the Parliamentarians ; their trumpet in their fasts, their confessor in their sickness, their counselor in their assemblies, their chaplain in their treaties, and their champion in their disputations." ^
"Annotations of the [Westminster] Assembly OF Divines " on Baptism.
On Romans vi. 4 this valuable commentary says : " Buried with Him by baptism. In this phrase the apostle seemeth to allude to the ancient manner of baptism, which was to dip the parties baptized, and as it were bury them, wider the water Jor a while, and then to draw them out of it and lift them up, to represent the burial of our old man and our resurrection to newness of lifer ^ The authors of this commentary undoubt- edly believed that Paul's baptism was immersion.
It is denied that the "Westminster Assembly ever authorized or approved of this commentary. It is admitted, however, by very respectable authority that the Parliament which created the Assembly
^ Neal's IllsUrnj of the Puritans, iv. p. 130.
'^ Rom. vi. 4. London edition, 1651.
48 THE BAPTISM OF THE
by one of its committees named the commentators and fiirnislied tliem with books, and that seven of the committee of eleven persons ^vho prepared the ^vork were members of the AYestminster Assembly of Divines/
The great Dr. Chalmers of the Free Church of Scotland agreed with the exposition of Romans vi. 3-7 given in The Annotations of the Assembly of Di- vines. Commenting on that passage, he says :
" The original meaninc/ of the ivord ' baptism ' is * immersion ;' and though we regard it as a matter of indifference whether the ordinance be performed in this way or by sprinkling, yet we doubt not that the j^Tcvalent style of the administration in the apostles' days was by an actual submersion of the whole body under water. We advert to this for the purpose of throwing light on the analogy that is instituted in these verses." ^
Dr. Chalmers in this quotation places himself with the great Church Fathers, and ecclesiastical historians of all ages, as to the original mode of baptism, and witli the Baptists of every land.
Dk. AVilijam Cave on Immersion. Cave was born A. i). 1G34 in England. He was
^ Nc-al's llidory of the Puritans, pp. 38G, 387. Dublin, 1755. ' Chalmers's works, Commentary on Bomans, at vi. 4.
AGES a:st> the nations. 49
educated at tlie University of Cambridge, and he lived and died an Episcopalian. Cave's Primitive Chridianity is a work of great learning, rare merit, and commendable candor. It has come down to our times in recent editions. The copy before me was published at Oxford, in 1840, and no doubt it will journey down the ages in other editions for gen- erations to come. Treating of baptism, he writes : "Their baptlsteria, or fonts as we call them, were usually very large and capacious, not only that they might comport with the general customs of those times [the times of the early Christians] of persons baptized being immersed or put under water, but because the stated times of baptism, returning so seldom, great multitudes were usually baptized at the same time. In the middle of the font there was a partition, the one part for men, the other for women, that to avoid offence and scandal they might be baptized asunder." ..." The party to be baptized was wholly immerged, or pid under water, which was almost the constant and universal custom of those times, whereby they did more notably and signifi- cantly express the three great ends and effects of baptism ; for as in immersion there are, in a manner, three several acts — the putting the person into water, his abiding there for a little time, and his rising up
again — so by these w^re represented Christ's death, 5 D
50 THE BAPTISM OF THE
burial, and resurrection ; and in conformity there- unto our dying unto sin, the destruction of its power, and our resurrection to a new course of life. By the persons being put into water was lively repre- sented the putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, and being washed from the filth and pollution of them ; hy his abode under it — which was a hind of burial in the ivater — his entering into a state of death or mortification, like as Christ remained for some time under the state or power of death ; there- fore, ' as many as are baptized into Christ ' are said ' to be baptized into his death, and to be buried with him by baptism into death,' that, the old man being crucified with him, the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth he might not serve sin, for he that is dead is freed from sin, as the apostle clearly explains the meaning of the rite ; and then by his emersion, or rising vp out of the ivater, was signified his entering upon a new course of life, differing from that which he lived before ; ' that like as Christ was raised uji from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.' " '
" This immersion was performed thrice, the person baptized being three several times ]mt under ivater." The authority of Dr. William Cave for an ancient * Cave's Priviilive Christianity^ pp. 152, 155-157. Oxford, 1840.
AGES AND THE XATIOXS. 51
Christian custom will seldom be questioned by per- sons competent to judge.
The Eev. William Wall, A. M., Vicar of Shoreham, Kent, England, on Immersion.
Mr. Wall was an eminent scholar. His History of Infant Baptism is a work of very great merit; and though we dissent from its main conclusion, yet its hearty endorsement of immersion makes it a welcome w^itness for that truth.
On the 9th of February, 1705, he received the thanks of the Convocation of the English Church for his learned book. This was a very unusual compli- ment, and at the time there were men of great learning in that ancient ecclesiastical parliament. In his erudite work, Wall states that "their gen- eral and ordinary way was to baptize by immersion^ or dipping the person, whether it were an infant or grown man or woman, into the water. This is so plain and clear by an infinite number of passages, that as one cannot but pity the weak endeavors of such Pedobaptists as would maintain the negative of it, so also we ought to disown and show a dis- like of the profane scoffs which some people give to the English Antipedobaptists [Baptists] merely for the use of dipping. It is one thing to maintain that that circumstance is not absolutely necessary
52 THE BAPTIS^f OF THE
to the essence of baptism, and another to go about and represent it as ridiculous and foolish, or as shameful and indecent, ivJien it ivas in all j^robabll- itij the ivay by which our blessed Saviour, and for cer- tain ivas the most usual and ordinary way by which the ancient Christians, did receive their baptism.''^ ^
" The Greek Church, in all the branches of it, does still use immersion, and they hardly count a child, except in case of sickness, well baptized with- out it. And so do all other Christians in the world excejjt the Latins. That which I hinted at before is a rule that does not fail in any particular that I know of: All those nations of Christians thai do now or formerly did submit to the authority of the Bishop of Home do ordinarily baptize their infants by pour- ing or sprinkling. And though the English did not receive this custom till after the decay of Popery, yet they have since received it from such neighbor na- tions as had begun it in the times of the pope's power. But all the other Christians who never owned the pope's usurped j^ower do and ever did dip their i)fants in the ordinary use.
" And if we take the division of the world from the three main ])arts of it, all the Cliristians in Asia, all in Africa, and about one-third part of Europe,
' Wall's Hislori/ of lujunt J^aptism, p, 700. Nashville, 18G0.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 63
are of the last sort [immersionists] ; in which third part of Europe are comprehended the Christians of Grsecia, Thracia, Servia, Bulgaria, Rascia, Wallachia, Moldavia, Russia, Nigra, etc., and even the Musco- vites, who, if coldness of the country will excuse, might plead for a dispensation with the most reason of any." ^ Wall gives excellent testimony for the Baptists, though an Episcopalian.
The Manual for the Use of Sarum, and Im- mersion.
This was a document of great authority in Eng- land, and it was occasionally quoted on the Euro- pean continent. Speaking of it, Wall says : " The offices or liturgies for public baptism in the Church of England, so far as I can learn, did all along enjoin dipping, ivithout any mention of pouring or sprinkling. The Manuale ad usum Sarum, printed 1530, the twenty-first of Henry VIII., orders thus for the public baptisms : Then let the priest take the child, and having asked the name, baptize him by dipping him in the water thrice, etc. And John Frith, writing in the year 1533 a treatise of bap- tism, calls the outward part of it 'the plunging down in the water and lifting up again,' which he
^ Wall's History of Infant Baptism, pp. 727, 728. Nash- ville, 1860. 5*
54 THE BAPTISM OF THE
often mentions Avithout ever speaking of pouring or sprinkling." ^
Joseph BI^'GIIAM and the Baptism of the Primitive Church.
Bingham ^vas a learned Episcopalian. His An- tiquities of the Christian Church for more than one hundred and fifty years has enjoyed the unbounded admiration of students of primitive church history of all countries and communities.
It contains a larger amount of exact scholarly in formation about the doctrines and practices of the early Christians and errorists than any work ever % written. Of baptism Bingham says :
''Persons were visually bcqytized by immersion, or dij)j)ing of their whole bodies under water, to repre- sent the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ together, and therewith to signify their own dying unto sin, the destruction of its power, and their resurrection to a new life. There are a great many passages in the Epistles of St. Paul which l)lainly refer to this custom. Rom vi. 4 : ' We are l)uried 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 new-
^ "Wall's llisiory of Iifant Baptism, pp. 715, 716. Kash- villc. ISGO.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 55
uess of life.' So again, Col. iii. 12: 'Buried with him in baptism, wherein ye are also risen with him, through the faith of the operation of God, who raised him from the dead.' And as this was the original apostolical practice, so it continued to be the universal practice of the Church for many ages, upon the same symbolical reasons as it was first used by the apostles. St. Chrysostom proves the resurrection from this practice; 'for,' says he, 'our being baptized and immersed IxaradusffOat'] in the water, and our rising again out of it, is a sym- bol of our descending into hell, or the grave, and of our returning from thence.' Wherefore St. Paul calls baptism our burial. For says he, 'were buried with Christ by baptism into death.' And in another place, ' When we dip our heads in water as in a grave, our old man is buried ; and when we rise up again, the new man rises therewith.' Cyril of Jerusalem makes it an emblem of the Holy Ghost's effusion upon the apostles : ' For as he that goes down into the water and is baptized and sur- rounded on all sides by the water, so the apostles were baptized all over by the Spirit: the water surrounds the body externally, but the Spirit in- comprehensibly baptizes the interior soul.' It ap- pears also from Epiphanius and others that almost all heretics who retained any baptism retained im-
66 THE BAPTISM OF THE
mersion also. The only heretics "who did not ob- serve a total immersion in baptism were the Euno- mians, a branch of the Arians, of whom it was reported by Theodoret that they baptized only the upper parts of the body as far as the breast. And this they did in a very preposterous way, as Epi- phanius relates, * With their heels upward, and their head downward.' So that these ivere the only men among all the heretics of the ancient Church that rejected this way of baptizing by a total immer- sion in ordinary cases} Indeed, the Church was so punctual to this rule that we never read of any ex- ceptio?i made to it in ordinary cases — no, not in the baptism of infants. For it appears in the ' Ordo Bomanus' and Gregory's ' Sacramentarium' that in- fants as well as others were baptized by immersion; and the rules of the Church, except in cases of dan- ger^ do still require it.
'* But I must observe further that they not only administered baptism by immersion under water, but also repeated this three times. Tertullian speaks of it as a ceremony generally used in his time : * We dip not once, but three times, at the naming of every person of the Trinity.' The same is as- serted by St. Basil, St. Jerome, the author under the name of Dionysius ; and St. Ambrose is most
^ Yet this was an iramorsion as far as it went. — W. C.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 57
particular in his description of trine immersion. Two reasons are commonly assigned for this prac- tice: That it might represent Christ's three days' burial, and his resurrection on the third day, and that it might represent their profession of faith in the Holy Trinity, in whose name they were baptized.
"In the apostolic age, and some time after — before churches and baptisteries were generally erected— they baptized in any place where they had convenience. After this manner the author of the Recognitions, under the name of Clemens Komanus, represents Peter preaching to the people, and telling them that ' they might wash away their sins in the watei of a river or a fountain or the sea when they were baptized, by invoking the name of the blessed Trinity upon them.'
"Baptisteries were anciently very capacious, be- cause, as Dr. Cave truly observes, ' the stated times of baptism returning but seldom, there were usu- ally great multitudes to be baptized at the same time.' And then the manner of baptizing by immersion, or dipping under water, made it neces- sary to have a large font likewise ; whence the author of The Chronicon Alexandrlnum styles the baptistery whither Basilicus fled the 'great illuminary;' which was indeed so capacious that
68 THE BAPTISM OF THE
we sometimes read of couneils meeting and sitting therein." V
IMlLMAN AND ImMERSION.
This learned Episcopalian makes the follo-sving statements in regard to early baptismal usages :
"At Easter and at Pentecost, and in some places at the Epiphany, the rite of baptism was admin- istered publicly to all the converts of the year, excepting those Jew instances in which it had been expedient to perform the ceremony without delay, or where the timid Christian put it off till the close of life. It was a complete lustration of the soul. The neophite emerged from the waters of baptism in a state of perfect innocence.
'' The candidate approached the baptistery — in the larger churches a separate building. There he ut- tered the solemn vows which pledged him to his religion. The catechumen turned to the west, the realm of Satan [of darkness], and thrice renounced his power. He then turned to the east [the region of the rising sun], to adore the Sun of Righteous- ness and to proclaim his compact with the Lord of life. The baptism ivas usually by immersion.'' ^
' Bingliam's Antiquities of the Christian Church, book viii. cliap. 7, sec. 2; book xi. cliap. 6, sec. 11 ; cliap. 11, sees. 4-6. ' Milman's History of Christian iiy, p. 466. New York, 1841
ages and the nations. 59
Maitland's " Church in the Catacombs," and Immersion.
Maitland was an Episcopalian, whose sympathies were not drawn out toward the Baptists. He speaks of a stone " which seemed to have belonged to a subterranean baptistery," from which he quotes and translates the following inscription :
" The living stream cleanses the spots of the body, as well as of the heart, and at the same time washes away all [sin]." ^ Of course the stream that washed soul and body was the stream in which the baptismal immersion occurred. Elsewhere he says :
" The immersion was required to be threefold, or trine, as it was technically termed, and the renun- ciation of the devil and his works was thrice re- peated." ^ This was the baptism of the ancient Roman Christians, according to Maitland.
In 1850 there was a Large Stone Baptis- tery IN THE Parish Church of Bradford, Yorkshire, England. The vestibule of the sacred edifice was entered by
an iron gate, and in it stood the baptistery, meeting
^ The Church in the Catacombs, p. 221. London, 1846. 2 Ihid., p. 224.
60 THE BAPTISM OF THE
the eye of eveiy worshipper as he entered the build- ing. The writer has seen this baptistery several times. It was a large block of stone about twelve feet long, about six feet wide, and about four feet high. On one side of it there was a cavity the necessary size for the immersion of an adult, and on the other an opening large enough for the im- mersion of a child of three years old. This block of stone, I was informed, was placed in the church by one of the vicars of Bradford about fifty years ago, to immerse a young lady of Baptist education who wished to unite with the Episcopal Church.
A friend, at my request, on a visit to Bradford, within a few months, went to the church to measure the stone, and there he learned that in repairing the church some time since the stone with two fonts had been broken up and removed.
Immersion is the only Authoritative and
Legal Mode of Bartism for Persons of
Sound Health in England at this Hour.
The service prescribes that "The priest shall
take the child into his hands, and shall say to the
godfathers and godmothers, Name this child. And
then, naming it after them (if they shall certify him
that the child may well endure it), he shall dip it in
the water discreetly and warily; but if they certify
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 61
that the child is weak, it shall suffice to pour water upon it."^
Dipping is required by the ecclesiastical law of the Church of England, unless where the clergy- man is certified that the child is weak. And as the Episcopal Church is established by act of Parlia- ment as the church of the nation, its ceremonies have the force of civil laws ; so that a healthy child which has never been baptized in any way, whose parents want it immersed, can compel by legal penalties the clergyman of their parish to immerse it.
^ J3ook of Common Prayer : Public Baptism of Infants. Printed at the University Press, Oxford, 1863.
62 THE BAPTISM OF THE
lEELAND.
Early Baptisms in Ireland.
The life of St. Patrick, Aj^ostle of Ireland, by Dr. Todd, is a Avork of rare value. The author, at the time of publishing his book (1864), was senior fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, regius professor of He- brew in that university, and, what is of far greater importance to us at present, a superior scholar in the Irish language and thoroughly acquainted with the scanty remains of ancient Irish literature. Of course he was an Episcopalian. He gives the fol- lowing in regard to one of Patrick's baptisms :
" Patrick entered into the king's palace, and he said to Hercus [after some conversation], 'Wilt thou receive the baptism of the Lord, which I have with me ?' He answered, ' I will receive it ;* and they came to the fountain Loirjles, and when he had opened his book and had baptized the man Hercus, he heard men behind his back mocking him one to another about the matter, for they knew not what he had done. And he baptized many thou- sand men on that day." ^ Now, why St. Patrick and 1 St. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland, p. U2. Dublin, 18G4.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. G3
Hercus should leave an Irish j^alace, even though it were but a hut, for baptismal purposes, and go to a fountain, is a puzzle, unless Hercus Avas immersed. Todd mentions another baptism of St. Patrick: " Patrick then went to the place of assembly of the clan Amalgaidh, not far from the present town of Killala. Here, according to The Trijoartite Life, he found a great assembly of the people Avith their chieftains. He stood up and addressed the multi- tude. He penetrated the hearts of all," says our author, " and led them to embrace cordially the Christian faith and doctrine. The seven sons of Amalgaidh, with the king himself and twelve thou- sand men, were baptized. They were baptized in a well [fountain] called. Tobur-en-adare." ^ Of course they were immersed, as they were bajMzed in the well. Nennius, in his History of the Britons, mentions " the baptism in one day of seven kings, the seven sons of Amalgaidh." ^ Nennius wrote at some period between the eighth and the tenth centuries.
Another Baptism by St. Patrick. Dr. Blackburn, in his St. Patrick and the Early Irish Church — a comparatively recent issue of the Presbyterian Board of Publication, Philadelphia —
^ St. Fatrich, Apostle of Ireland, p. 449. Dublin, 1864. 2 Nennius's History of the Britons, p. 411, Bohn, London, 1848.
64 THE BAPTISM OF THE
describes the kidnapping of some of St. Patrick's converts, just after their baptism, by Caroticus, or Carodoc, a Welsh man-stealer, as follows :
" It appears that one evening there was a multi- tude witnessing a baptism. A goodly number of converts dad in white robes ivere at the fountain. The minister, who seems not to have been Patrick, was baptizing them. Very soon after a band of pirates rushed upon them. Some were slain while the drops of water were scarcely dry from their foreheads [or from their clothing, for they were immersed]. Others were carried away in their white robes. The captives were taken to the sea- shore, put into boats, borne away into a foreign land, and sold into slavery." ^ Dr. Blackburn, by speaking of " drops of water on their foreheads," tries to leave the impression that these people were sprinlded. But ichat brought them to the fountain, unless to enter it like Amalgaidh and his sons and all Christendom at the timef The "Holy Wells" of Ireland were doubtless all ancient fonts of St. Patrick.
Another Baptism by St. Patrick.
The Abbe McGeoghegan wrote a history of Ire-
» St. Patrick and the Early IrUh Church, p. 188. Pliila- delphia.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 65
land in French, which enjoys considerable credit and bears some merited censures. He gives an account of a baptism by St. Patrick near the future capital of Ireland. He says : " The high reputation of sanc- tity which St. Patrick had acquired, added to the number of miracles he wrought everywhere, having made him known and respected, even by the Pagans, the inhabitants of Dublin went out in crowds to him. These appearances were a happy omen of the faith they were about to receive from this saint. He bap- tized them all, with Alphin, son of Eochaid, who was at that time their king. The ceremony ivas performed in a fountain near the city, called since that time the fountain of St. Patrick, and ivhich became an object of devotion to the faithful for many centuries, till it was filled up and enclosed within a private dwelling in the beginning of the seventeenth century. The saint had a church built near this fountain, which after- ward became a cathedral, bearing his name." ^
St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, built about A. d. 1190, is still standing. St. Patrick in A. d. 448 im- mersed a throng in this fountain. On examination of Archbishop Usher's work, to which the Abbe Mc- Geoghegan refers as an authority, we find that the learned primate of Ireland " saw himself the fountain
* McGeoghegan's History of Irelaml, p. 145. Dublin, 1849.
6* E
66 THE BAPTISM OF THE
of St. Patrick, -which had very lately in his time been enclosed and filled up within a private house." ^ The archbishop also speaks on the same page of the bap- tism of the seven sons of Amalgaidh. And just as the neighborhood of the Lady's Well in Northumber- land, England, where Paulinus immersed three thou- sand persons at the Easter of A. d. 627, was selected as the site of a Benedictine nunnery, so a church was erected near this holy fountain to commemorate the grand event, and to gather the blessings which were supposed to come from such a blessed conse- cration.
Immersions Eecorded by Father O'Farrell.
The Reverend Michael J. O'Farrell, in his Popular Life of St. Patrick, dedicated to Monsignor Wood- lock, rector of the Irish Catholic University in Dub- lin, and published in 1863 by D. & J. Sadlier of New York, speaking of the Irishman who had just re- nounced Paganism for Christianity, says : "At every step, indeed, the transition to the new faith was smoothed by such coincidences or adoptions. The convert saw in the baptismal font when he was im- mersed the sacred icell at which his fathers had wor-
^ Ilium Patricii fontem vidimus (intra privatas sedes inclu- 8ura nuperime et obstructum), Britannic. Eccles. Antiqiiit., p. 449. London, 1687.
AGES AXD THE NATIONS. 67
shipped."^ St. Patrick's font, according to Father O'Farrell, was a well, and his baptism immersion.
Speaking of a celebrated Irish idol called Cean Croithi — that is, the head of all the gods — made of gold and silver, around which twelve inferior gods of brass stood, which St. Patrick destroyed at a time when great numbers of persons were present, O'Farrell says : "And many, beholding it, believed in the true and living God, and being baptized, ac- cording to the apostle, * put on Christ.' And in that place St. Patrick by his prayers produced out of the earth a fountain of the clearest water, wherein many were afterward baptized'' ^
St. Patrick ascended the mountain Croagh Pat- rick, in county Mayo, for prayer and religious med- itation, and, according to O'Farrell, " after descend- ing from the mountain, invigorated for the sacred duties of the ministry, St. Patrick came to the dis- trict of Corcothemne — not far distant, it would seem — and to the fountain of Sinn, where he baptized many thoumndsJ' ^
O'Farrell gives the following account of the con- version and baptism of the Amalgaidhs and many others, already mentioned : " When the saint entered Tirawly, the seven sons [of Amalgaidh] assembled
1 Popular Life of St. Patrick, p. 110. New York, 1863.
2 Ibid., p. 135. 3 26i-c?., p. 157.
68 THE BAPTISE! OF THE
Avith their followers. Profiting by the presence of so vast a multitude, the apostle entered into the midst of them, his soul inflamed with the love of God, and with a celestial courage preached unto them the truths of Christianity; and so powerful was the effect of his burning words that the seven princes and over twelve thousand men were con- verted on that day, and were soon after' baptized in a well called Tobar-Enadhairc, the well of Enadhairc.'' ^
At another time, when St. Patrick was near Lough Neagh, he was opposed by a chieftain named Carthen, and compelled to leave the neighborhood ; but his younger brother listened to the divine word and became a convert. " Of him, perhaps," says O'Farrell, "the following is related: While on a certain time the saint was baptizing in the holy font a chief named Cartan, together- with his wife, he fore- told to the woman that she should have a daughter to whom he would give the veil." ^
Preaching in Ulster, a robber band, seeing him on a journey, first thought of stealing everything he might possess, but moved with compassion, they changed their minds, and pretended that one of their company who feigned to be dead was really gone into the world of spirits ; and for amusement they
1 Popular Life of St. Patrick, p. 163. New York, 1863.
2 Ibid., p. 182.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 69
plead with Patrick to restore him to life. The Irish apostle understood the trick, and earnestly prayed for the man's conversion ; and as Patrick went his way, as O'Farrell says, " the wretched man, Garbanus, was no more. His pretence was turned into a reality, and they saw before them the corpse of their luckless companion. Affrighted lest the same should happen to them, they followed the saint and fell at his feet, and by their contrition obtained pardon. They all believed in the Lord, and in his name they were baptized. Then did the saint revive the dead man, and baptizing him in the holy font, associated him unto them in the faith of Christ." '
We do not assert the truth of all these incidents in the life of St. Patrick, though some of them are undoubted facts ; but his baptism, when described to any extent, is in a fountain, in a well, or it is plainly declared to be immersion. St. Patrick gives an account of his own conversion in his Confession, just as a regenerated candidate for baptism in a Baptist church would. He required apparently the same regeneration in his converts, and then he im- mersed them. The story of his life makes him so like a Baptist missionary that we believe he was one.
1 Popular Life of St. Patrick, pp. 238, 239. N. Y., 1863.
70 THE BAPTISM OF THE
The Irish Immersed Three Times in Water OR IN Milk. Michelet needs no coniniendation as a historian of great learning and of unusual exactness. He says of the ancient Irish that their " infants luere thrice plunged in water, or in viilk if the jiarenU were wealthy y ^
Gilbert, Bishop of Limerick in Ireland, on Immersion.
Gilbert was a correspondent of Anselra, the godly and learned Archbishop of Canterbury. He lived in the early part of the twelfth century. In his lit- tle work on The Constitution of the Church he writes of the priest :
" It is his duty to administer baptism, to dip be- lievers who have been exorcised and who have con- fessed the Holy Trinity, with three immersions in the sacred font.'' ^
^ Michelet's Ilislory of France, vol, ii. p. 102. New York, 18G9.
^ Sub trina imnicrsione sacro fonte intingere. St. Anselmus, Patrol. Lat., vol. lo9, p. 1000. Migne. Parisiis.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 71
AMERICA.
John Wesley and Immersion.
A couple of curious facts are recorded by Mr. Wesley, in his journal, in connection with the bap- tism of two children. While he was in Georgia, in 1736, he makes this record:
" Saturday, 21st February. — Mary Welsh, aged eleven days, was baptized, according to the custom of the first church and the rule of the Church of England, by immersion. The child was ill then, but recovered from that hour."^ In the following May he writes :
" Wednesday, May 5th. — I was asked to baptize a child of Mr. Parker, second bailiff of Savannah. But Mrs. Parker told me, ' Neither Mr. Parker nor I will consent to its being dipped.' I answered, *If you certify that your child is weak, it will suffice, the Eubric says, to pour water upon it.* Slie replied, ' Nay, the child is not weak, but I am resolved it shall not be dipped.' This argument I could not confute. So I went home, and the child 1 Wesley's Works, vol. i. p. 130. Philadelphia, 1826.
72 THE BAPTISM OF THE
was baptized by another person.''^ Mr. Wesley im- merses Mary Welsh "according to the custom of the first church and the rule of the Church of England," and he requires an assurance from the mother of another child, ^vhich he is requested to baptize, that it is weak, before he can set aside the rule of the English Church which demanded im- mersion ; and on the mother's declaration that the child is not weak, he goes away without baptizing it, another performs the office, and Mr. Wesley clearly leaves us to understand that in his opinion immersion was an imperative mode of baptism in every case where there was not satisfactory evi- dence of weakness.
A Baptism in Brooklyn, New^ York.
A Baptist lady of superior intelligence gives the following very interesting account of an immersion by the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher in his own church in Brooklyn :
" Being in Brooklyn for a few days, I have had the opportunity of witnessing a baptism by immer- sion, the administrator being none other than the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher. Twenty-five years ago, shortly after he became i:»astor of Plymouth Church, he avowed his willingness to administer the rite of * Wesley's Works, vol. i. p. 134. Philadelphia, 1826.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 73
baptism by immersion to any one who preferred it. For some years, by the courtesy of the pastors, Mr. Beecher used the baptisteries of Baptist churches. But at a time when the edifice of Plymouth Church was undergoing repairs he expressed a desire that a baptistery should be placed in it, that they might not be dependent on the kindness of their friends. His request was cheerfully acceded to. On his large pulpit platform stands a movable desk, table, and chair. On setting these aside and turning up the carpet, a long door is seen, the opening of which uncovers the pool, with steps at each end for de- scending and ascending. On the occasion when I was present — and I was told that it was the usual custom — the ordinance was administered after the Friday evening prayer-meeting. At the close of the service on that evening Mr. Beecher mentioned in the simplest manner that candidates w^ere to be baptized, and he invited the congregation to repair to the main audience-room. This large room, hold- ing three thousand persons, of course was not filled, but there were perhaps five hundred persons there. The room was lighted principally at the point where the interest centred. There was a solemn stillness ■while the people waited for the coming of the ad- ministrator. The candidates were but two, a young man and a young woman. Their youthful appearance
74 thp: baptism of the
and peaceful countenances added to the interest of the scene. After singing and prayer he led them down successively into the water and immersed them in the name of the Trinity.
" His views on the subject are well known. He believes that baptism is typical, and that the appli- cation of water in any form answers the require- ment. But never were candidates more completely buried in baptism than those I saw laid in the liquid grave by Mr. Beecher ; and none who heard his solemn tones and noticed the interest he took in his part of the ceremony could doubt that he felt he was fulfilling the Saviour's command — ' Teach all nations, baptizing them.' His manner was charac- terized by simplicity and reverence, and there w^as nothing to distinguish it from the same ordinance as administered by any regular Baptist minister. Although I have witnessed inany baptisms in the course of my life, this, from the outward circum- stances, was of peculiar interest to me, and one not soon to be forgotten."
Coleman ox Immersion.
The Kev. Lyman Coleman, D. D., for many years a professor in Lafayette College, Pennsylvania, is the author of a work of considerable merit on Cliristian antiquities. Dr. Coleman is a Presby-
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 75
terian minister, "past eighty years of age at the present time, highly esteemed in the community in which he resides, and revered by his Presbyterian brethren. He is a man of deliberation and candor, and his opinions have much weight among his people." ^
Writing of immersion. Professor Coleman says :
" We cannot resist the conviction that this mode of baptism was the first departure from the teach- ing and example of the apostles on this subject. . . . If it ivas a departure from their teachings, it was the earliest, for baptism by immersion unquestionably was very early the common mode of baptism."
^^ Trine immersion. — In the second century it had become customary to immerse three times, at the men- tion of the several names in the Godhead. This is only an expansion of. the idea of the indispensable importance of immersion, and indicates more fully, the foreign origin of this rite." ^
" In the primitive church, immediately subsequent to the age of the apostles, immersion, or dipping, was undeniably the common mode of baptism. The utmost that can be said of sprinkling in that early period is, that it was in case of necessity permitted
^ From a Baptist friend of Dr. Coleman. . 2 Ancient Christianity Exemplified, pp. 366, 368. Philadel- phia, 1852.
76 THE BAPTISM OF THE
as mi exception to a general rule. This fact is so well established that it icere needless to adduce au- thorities in x>rooJ of it.
" It is a great mistake to suppose that baptism by immersion was discontinued -when infant baptism became generally prevalent. The practice of immersion continued even until the thirteenth or fourteenth century. Indeed, it has never been for- mally abandoned, but is still the mode of adminis- tering infant baptism in the Greek Church and in several of the Eastern churches.
"After the lapse of several centuries, aspersion, or sprinkling, gradually took the place of immer- sion without any established rule of the Church or formal renunciation of the rite of immersion. The form was not esteemed essential to the validity of the ordinance. The Eastern Church, however, in direct opposition to these views, has uniformly retained the form of immersion as indispensable to the validity of the ordinance, and repeated the rite whenever they have received to their communion persons who had been previously baptized in an- other manner." *
Professor Coleman in these declarations speaks as an honest man who had read the writings of the
^ Ancient Christianity Exemplified, pp. 395-397. Philadel- phia, 1852.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 77
first twelve hundred years of the Christian era, which were penned by the followers of the Saviour. He who speaks otherwise has not surveyed the rich and large harvest-field of testimony, or he misrep- resents it. It is due to Professor Coleman to state that he contends as ably as any man could with such miserable witnesses that immersion was not Christ's mode of baptism or that of his apostles. " Immersion was the first departure from the teach- ing and example of the apostles." ..." If it w^aa a departure." " Immediately subsequent to the age of the apostles immersion, or dipping, w^as undeni- ably the common mode of baptism." But he no- wliere admits that it was the mode of administer- ing baptism approved by the apostles.
Dr. Coleman declares that " aspersion [sprink- ling] did not become general in the West until the thirteenth century, though it appears to have been introduced some time before that period. Thomas Aquinas [he died A. D. 1274] says: 'It is safer to baptize by immersion, because this is the general practice. Tutius est baptizare per modum immer- sionis, quia hoc habet communis usus.' " ^ The cele- brated St. Thomas, whom Dr. Coleman quotes, does not agree with the professor of Lafayette, that
^ Coleman's Ancient Christianity Exemplified, p. 398. Phila- delphia, 1852.
78 THE EArTISM OF THE
aspersion was ^^ general in the thirteenth century." He expressly declares, in his own clear words and in Dr. Coleman's translation, that immerdon is the general practice. We have, however, the testimony of Professor Coleman that immersion was the gen- eral mode of baptism throughout the whole Chris- tian Church down to the end of the twelfth cen- tury, and that from the time "immediately sub- sequent to the age of the apostles, immersion, or dipping, was undeniably the common mode of bap- tism."
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 79
FRANCE.
The Conversion and Baptism of Clovis. Before the conversion of Clovis he was the chieftain of a small tribe of the Franks of Tournai. In a time of great danger the different tribes united together under a chieftain of their choice and made war upon the common foe. But the union ended with the close of the war, if it held together so long. The kingdom of France had no existence before the conversion of Clovis, and the royal rulers of sec- tions of the Franks were often treated with as little ceremony as the lowliest members of their clans.^ Clovis was a brave and ambitious Avarrior, deter- mined to extend his authority and his territory. The aim of his life was to subdue all his neighbors and become the head of a great empire.
In A. D. 496, the Alemanni threatened to cross the Rhine; the Franks gathered from all quarters to resist them. Clovis was elected general of their army. They attacked the Alemanni'^ at Ziilpich,
^ Michelet's Histonj of France, vol. i. pp. 84, 85. New York, 1869.
^ Neander's History of the Christian Religion and Church, iii. 8. Boston, 1869.
80 THE BAPTISM OF THE
about twenty-two miles south-west of Cologne, and for a time the situation of the Franks was des- perate. Clovis vainly appealed to the gods for as- sistance. As a last resort he cried to Christ, the God of his truly pious wife Clotilda, and soon the army of the Alemanni was killed or captured, and Clovis gathered increased military glory from his victory in this deadly conflict.
He appears with all honesty to have believed that Christ gave him his triumph in the battle of Ziil- pich, and soon after he was baptized — a rough, bloody, and most probably unconverted man, but a sincere believer in the might and rule of Jesus over the nations. From that battle it was every- where spread abroad that Christ was on the side of Clovis. The Christian clergy were active in giving currency to these representations. The king was grateful to Christ and a munificent benefactor of his churches for his divine assistance; and Clovis, aided by the prestige of victory, by confidence in his new God, and by the active eflTorts of all the Christian communities scattered throughout France, marched in triumph over the territories of his enemies, sweeping away hostile armies and Pagan gods and priests, and rearing a magnificent French and Christian empire — Christian only in part ; but the part of Christianity planted in the days of
AGES AND THE XATIOXS. 81
Clovis finally produced most of the other fair por- tions of the system of Jesus. Avitus of Vienne, Gregory of Tours, Aleuin, and Hincmar of Rheims will furnish us with some facts about the baptism of Clovis.
Avitus of Vienne and the Immersion of Clovis.
Bishop Avitus occupied the see of Vienne in the end of the fifth century and in the beginning of the sixth. He was useful in reclaiming leading Arians from their heresy and in advancing the general wel- fare of the Frankish Church. He wrote a letter to Clovis congratulating him on his baptism, in which he says:
"That it might appear in due order that you were horn again out of the water for salvation on that day [Christmas Day] on which the world received the Lord of heaven, born for its redemp- tion."^
In the baptism of Clovis, of which Avitus writes, the king was born again out of the water — that is, he was immersed in it and lifted up out of it.
^ Eegenerari ex iinda. Ep. Aviti Viennen., Episc, ad Clod. Megem. S. Greg., Touronensis opera omnia, Appendix. Pa- trol. Lat, vol. 71, p. 1154.
F
82 THE BArXISM OF THE
Gregory of Tours and the Immersion of Clovis.
Gregory was descended from an illustrious family, and became Bishop of Tours in A. d. 574. His uncle, Gall us, was Bishop of Clermont. Gregory wrote a history of the Franks in ten books, which has been repeatedly published, and which was reissued ten years since in the Patrologke Latince, the finest col- lection of Christian Latin writers ever giyen to the world. " The History of Gregory," says Dupin, " is very useful, and contains many things of great con- sequence." ^ In this Avork he gives the following account of the baptism of Clovis :
" The queen did not cease to charge the king that he should know the true God, and that he should despise idols ; but he could by no means be moved to believe these things until at last war was stirred up against the Alemanni, in which he was compelled by necessity to confess that which, of his free will, he had previously denied. Moreover, it came to pass that when both armies were hotly engaged there was a great slaughter, and the army of Clovis began to rush to sure destruction ; but he, seeing this, pained at the heart, moved to tears, and with eyes lifted up to the heavens, said : 'O Jesus Christ, whom Clotilda
^ Dupiii's Ecclesiastical Illstonj, i. 561. Dublin, 1723.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 83
declares to be the Son of the living God, thou who art said to give help to the struggling and victory to those hoping in thee ; devoted to thee, I entreat the glory of thy assistance; and if thou wilt indulge me with victory over these enemies, and I shall have full experience of that valor which the people dedicated to thy name proclaim that they have put to the proof, I shall believe upon thee, and I shall be baptized in thy name. For I have called upon my gods, and they have been far from helping me ; from which con- sideration I believe that the gods v.ho do not come to those obeying them are invested with no power. Now I call upon thee, and I desire to believe upon thee, only let me not be overthrown by my adversaries.' And when he said these things, the Alemanni began to seek flight ; and when they perceived that their king was killed, they put themselves under the au- thority of Clovis, saying, ' We entreat that no more people may be killed ; we are thine.' But he, when the war was prohibited and the people collected to- gether, returning with peace, informed the queen in what way he was enabled to secure the victory, by the invocation of Christ's name. Then the queen secretly ordered St. Eemigius, Bishop of Kheims, to be brought, entreating him to recommend the word of salvation to the king.
" The priest, when brought, began secretly to ad-
84 THE BAPTISM OF THE
vise him to believe on the true God, the Creator of heaven and earth, to despise idols, which were of no service either to him or to others. But he said, * Most holy father, I can hear you joyfully. There is, however, one difficulty ; the people who follow me will not permit me to forsake their gods. But I will go and speak to them about your proposal.' Meet- ing with his people, the power of God ran before him before he uttered a word. The whole people shouted together, ' We cast away mortal gods, O pious king, and we are prepared to follow the immortal God whom Kemigius proclaims!' These things were com- municated to the chief priest, who, full of great joy, ordered the [baptismal] laver ^ to be prepared. The wide streets to the church were shaded by painted canvas and adorned with white curtains, the baptis- tery was put in order, balsam was poured out, burn- ing wax-lights with a sweet odor shone, and the whole temple of the baptistery "^ was sprinkled with a celestial perfume, and God bestowed such favor upon those standing there that they reckoned that they were placed beside the odors of paradise. Then the king demanded that he should be baptized first by the ])()ntiff. Tlie new Constantine proceeded to the later, about to blot out the disease of ancient lep- rosy and the filthy stains borne a long time, in a * Lavacrum. ' Templum baptisterii.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 85
fresh fountain} The saint of God addressed him as he walked to baptism with eloquent lips, saying, * O Sicamber, meekly bow thy head; adore what thou hast burned, burn what thou hast adored.' For the holy Bishop Remigius was a man of eminent knowledge, and especially imbued with rhetorical tastes ; but he was also so distinguished for sanctity that he was regarded in virtues as the equal of holy Silvester. For there is now the book of his life which tells that he was awakened from the dead. There- fore the king, confessing the omnipotent God in the Trinity, was baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."
" From his army there were baptized more than three thousand ; and his sister Albofledis was bap- tized." '
The " laver " in which Clovis was baptized is literally a hath, and could not be used to represent a basin for sprinkling or pouring. But Gregory describes his own view of the mode of baptism very clearly in the following curious miracle which occurred somewhere in Spain, if it is not a fable : " The bishop and the citizens found the [baptismal]
^ Eecenti latice. S. Gregor. Episc. Turonem., Hist. Franc, lib. secund. cap, 31; Patrol. Lat., v. 71, pp. 226, 227. Migne. Parisiis.
2 Ibid., lib. ii. cap. 30, 31 ; Patrol. Lat., vol. 71, pp. 225-227.
86 THE BATTISM OF THE
pool full which they liad left empty, and the [water] rising in a heap higher thaii its sides, as when a measure of wheat is heaped up above its mouth ; and you could see the waters rippling hither and thither, and not flowing in an opposite direction.
"All the people out of devotion drink, and carry home a vessel full for their health ; and they pro- tect their fields and vines by a very wholesome sprinkling ; and after an uncounted multitude of amphorw were filled, not yet even is the heap [of waters] diminished. Howbeit, when the fii-st infant was immersed the water began to withdraw." ^
The word wliich Gregory uses for pool is piscina^ a fishpond, from piscis, a fish. The same word is often used to describe a pool, a cistern, a tank ; and in this piscina the infant is immersed. That was Gregory's mode of baptism for Clovis and all other recipients of that sacrament.
Alcuin's Account of the Immersion of
Ci.ovis.
lii his Life of St. Vedastus, Alcuin informs us that
Clovis received religious instruction from that saint,
and that lie recommended him to St. Remigius for
' PiHcina . . . infuns primus intinctus fiierit. S. Greg. Tnronen. EpUc. Mivuc, lib. i. cap. 24; De Gloria Mart., Patrol. Lai., vol, 71, p. 72o, Migne. Parisiis.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 87
further enlightenment. Writing of the baptism of the king of the Franks, Alcuin says :
" The king, with no doubts about the faith, with great alacrity, with eagerness on the way, hastened to see the most holy pontiff Kemigius, that by his most sacred ministry, through the power of the divine Spirit, he might be washed in the living fountain of catholic baptism for the remission of sins and for the hope of eternal life. He led the eager king to the fountain of life, and when he came he washed him in the fountain of eternal sal- vation [baptism]. So the king was baptized with his nobles and people, who rejoiced to receive the sacrament of the healing bath, divine grace having been previously given them." ^ The man who is washed m a fountain or in a font is clearly not sprinkled with water, nor does he receive the pour- ing of water for baptism in such a situation.
In a letter to the canons of Lyons, Alcuin rep- resents a man as becoming one of the catechumens when formerly he had been a Pagan, and then in the name of the Trinity " he is baptized by trine immersion." ^ And when he represents Clovis as
' In fonte salutis eternse venientem abluebat. Ak'uinus, Vita Si. VedasL, FatroL Lat., vol. 101, pp. 686-690. Migne. Parisiis.
^ Trina submersione baptizatur. Alcuini Episloke, ep. 90 ; Patrol. Lat., vol. 100, pp. 289, 290.
88 THE BAPTISM OF THE
wa.<lie(l in a fbuntaiu, he means that " he was hap- t'lzed by trine immersion in a fountain " — the only baptism which Alcuin was accustomed to tolerate.
The Immersion of Clovis, as described by
HiNCMAR OF KhEIMS, WHOSE PREDECESSOR, St. ReMIGIUS, BAPTIZED THE KlXG.
The baptism of Clovis took place at Rheims, and it is probable that it equalled in grandeur any bap- tismal service in Christian history, and that it sur- passed every other similar scene except two or three.
Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims in the first half of the ninth century, living in the place where the memorable baptism occurred, and the successor of the bishop who officiated at it — a writer with every qualification to give a correct account of the most prominent and influential event in French history — describes the baptism of Clovis as follows :
** In the mean time the way leading to the bap- tistery was put in order. On both sides it was hung with painted canvas and curtains; overhead there was a protecting shade ; the streets were levelled ; the baptistery of the church was prepared for the occasion, and sprinkled with balsam and other perfumes.
" Moreover, the Lord bestowed favor on the peo-
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 89
pie, that they might think that they were refreshed with the sweet odors of paradise.
"And the holy pontiff Remigius, holding the hand of the king, went forth from the royal resi- dence to the baptistery, followed by the queen and the people, the holy Gospels going before them, with all hymns and spiritual songs and litanies, and with the names of the saints loudly invoked. IMoreover, whilst they proceeded together the king interrogated the bishop, saying, ' Patron, is this the kingdom of God which you promised me?' And the bishop said, ' This is not that kingdom, but the beginning of the way by which you approach it.' The new Constantino advanced to the healing font in wdiich the leprosy of chronic disease and the filth of the ancient pollution of iniquity might be completely removed. The blessed Remigius officiated on the solemn occasion, by whom, in apostolic doctrine and in a holy life, another Silvester ^ seemed to be represented.
" Clovis having entered the life-giving fountain, the holy bishop delivered this eloquent address : ' O Sicamber, meekly bow thy head, and adore what thou hast burned, and burn what thou hast adored.' Framing salutary laws, with lowly reverence he
^ In alkision to a fable, believed for centuries in Western
Europe, that Pope Silvester baptized Constantine the Great.
8^i'
90 THE BAPTISM OF THE
honored the cliurclies built for religious worship, that he might adore God in the houses which with fierce profanity he was accustomed to give to the flames. . . . After confessing the orthodox faith in answer to questions put by the holy pontiff, accord- ing to ecclesiastical custom he icas hajotlzed by trine immersloi,^ in the name of the holy and undivided Trinity — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and, re- ceived by the pontiff himself from the holy font, he was anointed with sacred chrism, with the sign of the holy cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
" ISIoreover, from his army three thousand men were baptized, without counting women and chil- dren. His sisters also, Albofledis and Landeheldis, were baptized ; and there was great rejoicing that day among holy angels in heaven and godly men on earth.
" Finally, a great host of the Franks, not yet con- verted to the faith, lived with Regnarius for some time beyond the river Somme. King Clovis, hav- ing gained famous victories, killed Regnarius, who was covered with flagitious crimes, and who had been delivered to him bound by the Franks ; and he induced all the Frankish people, through the
^ Secundum ecflesiasticam niorem bapti;catu8 est trina mer- sionc. Vita Sand. Remifj., Patrol. Lat., vol. 125, pp. 1160- llGl. Mitrne. Parisiis.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 91
blessed Remigius, to be converted to the faith and to be baptized."
The Rev. George W. Anderson, D. D., of this city, at my request gives the following account of the baptistery in Paris, represented by tradition to be the one in which Clovis was baptized :
"The baptistery in which Clovis is said to have submitted to the ordinance has long been in the Bibliotheque Rationale in Paris. My attention was called to it some years ago, but I never saw it till the summer of 1872. On that occasion I visited the library and made a careful examination of the bath. It is of polished porphyry, fully seven feet long, about two and a half feet deep, and nearly the same in width. There can be no doubt of its suitableness for the purpose. In the latter part of March in the same year I had seen three men bap- tized in Rome by the Rev. James Wall, the English Baptist missionary in that city. The baptistery w^as smaller in every way than the one in Paris, but it was quite large enough for the due observance of the ordinance. As to the authority on which it is said to have been used on the occasion of the bap- tism of Clovis, I cannot give any information."
This vessel was probably used for the baptism of Clovis, his sisters, his warriors, and a number of women and children; and that immersion ivas the
92 THE BAPTISM OF THE
mode of hajjtism by ^vhifh the king and so many of his people were initiated into the Christian Church is beyond all doubt, whether this laver was used or not.
Archbishop Magnus of Sens, and Immersion.
Magnus was honored by being consecrated by the pope himself, Leo III., at Kome, A. d. 801. By order of Charlemagne he prepared a work on baptism for the information of the clergy and the faithful. In this treatise he says :
" Baptism in Greek is translated immer'sion in Latin, . . . and therefore the infant is immersed three times in the sacred font, that trine immersion may mystically show forth the three days' burial of Christ, and that the lifting up from the waters may be a likeness of Christ rising from the tomb." ^
The account given by Magnus of baptism, which is quoted above, has the same ideas and chiefly the same words as were given to Charlemagne by one of his bishops, and appear in this work. But there are verbal variations in the original Latin which indicate two authors.
^ Biiptisnuim Grsece Latine tinctio interpretatur . . . in- fans tor inergitur in sacro fonte ut sepulturam triduanani ChristI trina demersio mystice designaret, et ab aquis ele- vatio Christi resurgentis similitudo est de sepulcro. Patrol. Lat., vol. 102, p. 981. Migne. Parisiis.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 93
Leidradus, Bishop of Lyons, on Baptism, A.D. 816.
This author has left us three epistles and a tract on baptism. He was a man of distinction among the ecclesiastics of his day. He was sent twice into Spain by Charlemagne to reclaim Felix and Elipandus, who taught that Christ as a man was the Son of God only in name and by adoption. Speaking of baptism, he says :
"But we immerse three times that we may show forth the mystery of the three days' burial ; that whilst the infant is drawn out of the water three times, the resurrection [at the close] of three days may be shown forth, ... in the baptism of infants there ought to be no censure for immersing once or thrice, since in three immersions the Trinity of per- sons [in the Godhead] can be exhibited, and in a single immersion the oneness of Jehovah."^
Theodulphus, Bishop of Orleans, on Im- mersion.
Theodulphus, an Italian who enjoyed the special friendship of Charlemagne and of Louis the Pious,
^ Nos autem tertio mergimus . . . infantum in baptismate vel ter vel semel mergere ; quando in tribus mersionibus personarum trinitas, et in una potest divinitatis singularitas designari. Leidrad. Episc. Ltigdun., Patrol. Lat., vol. 99, p. 863. Migne. Parisiis.
94 THE BAPTISiC OF THE
became Bishop of Orleans a.d. 794, and died A.d. 821. He wrote several works in prose and poetry. There is still in existence a beautiful copy of the Holy Scriptures which was prepared at his expense, and to which he prefixed a preface and some poems in golden letters. In his tract On Baptism he says : " ^ye are buried with Christ when, at the invoca- tion of the Holy Trinity, ive descend by trine immer- sion into the font of the laver as if into a certain grave. When divested [by baptism] of all sins as ive go out from the font, ive arise ivith Christ." ^
HiNCMAR AND IMMERSION.
Two French bishops in the ninth century bore this name. Hincmar, Bishop of Laon, was arrogant and quarrelsome. He had bitter controversies with the king, his clergy, and his uncle until he w^as deposed. Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims, the uncle of Hinc- mar of Laon, was a man of superior intellect and culture, and of very great influence in the Church and in the State. He gives his views of baptism in the following words :
" Jf I/O'* believe and coifcss three iimnersions in the
' Sub trina iinmersione in fonte lavacri, quasi in quoddam sepulcrura descendiraus . . . de fonte quasi egredimur. T/teo- dulf. Aurelian. Fpisc, Patrol. Lat., vol. 105, p. 223. Migne. Parisiis.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 95
name of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Sacred Spirit, to be one baptism, because there is one God. the Father and Son and Holy Spirit, of one essence, of one Deity, of one nature, in ^vhose name catholic baptism is administered — . . . if you are silent about this question, lue shall therefore say that the three im- mersions are one baptism^ ^ Hincmar is defending the Trinity.
Baptism of Hastein, a Danish Pikate, in France, a. d. 887.
In the Flowers of History, written by Roger of Wen- dover, a monk of St. Alban's, in the thirteenth cen- tury, we have an account of the ravages and mur- ders perpetrated by Hastein, or Hasting, in England and France ; and to crown all his infamies Roger records his impious baptism. He says :
"At length he sent his servants to the Bishop and Count of Lunis [a French city he vainly tried to capture], informing them that he was seized with a mortal illness, and humbly requesting to be made a Christian by them. On hearing this, the bishop and count rejoiced greatly, and making peace with the enemy of peace, allowed his people free admis-
^ Tres mersiones. . . . Dicimus ideo tres mersiones unum esse baptisma. Hincm. lihem., De Una ei Non Trina Dictate., Patrol. Lai., vol. 125, pp. 554, 555. Migne. ParisiLs.
96 THE BAPTISM OF THE
sion to the city. At length the wicked Hastein •Nvas carried to the church and immersed in the sacred font, from which the bishop and mayor raised him again to their own destruction; and after re- ceiving the holy anointing he was carried back to his ships by the hands of his servants. After this, in the depth of night he was clad in armor and laid on a bier, having directed his followers to wear their coats of mail under their tunics. His comrades then with feigned sorrow bore him from on board ship to the church, where the bishop in his holy garments was ready to sacrifice the host for the deceased ; when, behold, Hastein, that son of perdition, suddenly sprang up from the bier, put the bishop and count to the sword, and fell with wolfish rage on the people." ^
The Immersion of a Pirate.
Ivicherus, a monk of Rheims, in the tenth cen- tury, the author of a history in four books, gives the following description of the baptism of one of the numerous outlaws who at that time infested the coasts and rivers of Europe :
" On the appointed day, in the basilica of St. Marcial the Martyr, the services of the bishops
' Eoger of Wcnclover, at A. D. 887, vol. i., pp. 223, 224. London, 1849.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 97
being over, he [a pirate], received from the king himself, descended into the holy font, and was bap- tized by trine immersion in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." ^
St. Fulbert and Immersion.
St. Fulbert, Bishop of Chartres, in the beginning of the eleventh century, Avas a warm friend to learning and theology. He gave lectures to the public on various important subjects in the schools of the church of Chartres. Throngs of students from France and Germany went forth from his instructions to extend his fame and enlighten the benighted.
Kobert, King of France, highly esteemed St. Fulbert, and for nearly a quarter of a century he was the honored head of the church of Chartres. Expounding Romans vi. 3, 4—" Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Christ, were baptiz- ed into his death ? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life," etc. — he says :
"As, therefore, we have been informed that the
^ In sacrum fontem descenderet . . . trina immersione. Hist., lib. iv. ; Patrol. L:it., vol. 133, p. 24. Migne. Piirisiis.
08 THE BAPTISM OF THE
body of our Lord Je^ius Christ was buried in an earthly grave three days and three nights, so also a man immersed three times under an element allied to the earth [wafer'] is covered; and thus, whilst he is immersed in imitation of a vital mystery, he is buried; ichen he is raised [from the ivater] he is awakened. In connection -with this topic, reflect a little upon what the water accomplishes and upon what the Holy Spirit performs: The water brings down the person dying, as it were, into the tomb ; the Holy Spirit brings him, as if rising again, through to heaven^ ^ At this period, from end to end of Christendom, baptism ^vas thus described.
Ivo, Bishop of Chartres, and Immersion.
Ivo was a man of extensive learning and of un- usual reverence for the old customs of the Church. His morals were unblemished, and his influence was great in every department of his country and among all classes of society. He died A. d. 1115.
"Writing of baptism, he quotes the language of Pope Leo the Great as his own :
' Et liomo ila sub cognato terr?e elemcnto trina vice de- mcrsiis operitur, ac sic vitalis iniitutione mysterii dum de- mergitur sepclitur. . . . Aqua velut morientem deducit in tumulnm ; Spiritus Sanctus vehit resurgentum perducit ad c<L'luin. S. Falberll Carnot. Episc. Ep. ; Patrol. La(., vol. 141, p. 200. :Migne. Parisiis.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 99
" Trhie immersion is an imitation of the three days' burial, and the rising from the waters is a likeness of the resurrection from the sepidchre." ^
Gregory the Great and Leo the Great are quoted very frequently before and during the twelfth cen- tury as authorities on the baptismal question.
Hugo of St. Victor and Immersion.
Hugo was born a. d. 1096, and died A. d. 1140. He was a monk of the monastery of St. Victor in Paris, and one of the most prominent literary men in Europe in the twelfth century. His works are numerous, and treat of theology, philosophy, and other questions. He Avas a great admirer of St. Augustine ; and such was his reputation that ob- scure authors placed his name U2:>on their produc- tions to secure for them the respect paid to the works of such a distinguished writer. Treating of baptism, he states that " trine immersion itself is spoken of as the sacrament of the Trinity or of the three days' burial [of Christ]. Immersion is made baptism by the invocation of the Trinity. After you promised to believe we imrnersed your heads three times in the sacred font " ^ [candidates for baptism were
' Sepulturam triduanam imitatur trina demersio. De Fide, Patrol. Lat., vol. 161, p. 73. Migne. Parisiis.
^ Ipsa trina immersio sacramenturn dicitur vel Trinitatis
"r^7i/=
100 THE BAPTISM OF THE
placed ill the water up to the neck by deacons if men, or by deaconesses if women, after which the bishop came and dipped their heads in the water]. " This order of baptism is observed to show forth a double mystery ; for ye were rightly immersed three times who have received baptism in the name of the Trinity, and ye were rightly immersed three times who have received baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, who arose from the dead on the third day ; for this trine immersion is a figure of the Lord's burial, through which [immersion] ye have been buried with Christ by baptism."^
Hugo then proceeds to quote the letter of Gregory the Great to Leander, approving of one immersion in Spanish baptisms, though he admits that in Rome they had three. He also cites Haymo, Bishop of Halberstadt, who declares in his Commentary on the Epistle to the Bomans that "he immersed little chil- dren once in baptism."
In another place Hugo, addressing the adminis-
vel . . . baptisnuis immersio facta est. . . . Postquam vos cre- dere promisistis tertio capita vcstra in sacro fonte deniersimus. ' Recte enim tertio niersi cstis. . . . Kecte enim tertio mersi estis. . . . Ilia enim trina immersio typum dominje exprimit sepultura;. . . . Semel mergebatin baptism© parvulos. Summa sentent., Trad. v. cap. 3 ; Pulrol. La/., vol. 176, p. 130. Migne. ParLslls.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 101
trator of baptism, says: '^You immersed a man, and said, 'J baptize you in the name of the Father , and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit f and you say to me, * This man is a Christian. He has been baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. / have immersed him three times in the ivater,^ and I said when I immersed him, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit:"
In the twelfth century immersion was the recog- nized mode of baptism in Europe and out of it, or such language could not have come from the great writer of St. Victor.
AbelapvD and Immersion.
Abelard in the twelfth century astonished France, his own country, and all Europe by the splendor of his genius and by the rapidity with w^hich he reached the loftiast heights of fame. This acute reasoner adopts the language of Pope Gregory the Great about baptism as his own, and declares that " In baptism it is of no consequence whether you immerse the infants once or three times ; by three im-
^ Mersisti liominem. . . . Ego ilium mersi tertio in aquam. Ego dixi cum mergerem. . . . Hugo, de St. Vict., De Sacram., lib. ii. pars vi. ; Patrol. Lat., vol. 176, p. 443. 9*
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viersions the Trinity can be exhibited, and by one the unity of the divinity." ^
But Abclard did not say, "It is of no consequence in baptism ^vhether you pour, sprinkle, or immerse once or three times."
Peter Lombard and Immersion.
Lombard "was a native of Italy, and at first a student at Bologna. In pursuit of a theological education he came to Paris, Avhere he employed his advantages so successfully that he was appointed a professor of theology and afterward Bishop of Paris. He composed a system of theology based upon the writings of the Fathei^, and chiefly from Hilary, Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine, which was received with enthusiasm throughout Europe, and which became tlie "text-book of divinity" for some generations. He died A. d. 1164, after wield- ing for years an influence seldom equalled. Writ- ing of baptism, he says :
"Baptism is called dipping — that is, the external washing of the body — administered with a prescribed form of words." Then he approvingly quotes the following from Pope Zachary : "An English synod positively decreed that any one immersed without
^ In baptismate vel ter vel seinel mergere, qnando tribus iiicnsionibus. FcdroL Lat., vol. 178, p. 1510. Mignc. Parisiis.
AGES AND THE XATIOXS. 103
the invocation of the Trinity had not the sacra- ment of regeneration, which is undoubtedly true, because if any one is jolunged info the font of bap- tism without the invocation of the Trinity, his Christianity is not comiDlete.
" If you inquire about the immersion — in what way it ought to be performed — we answer briefly : Either once or three times, according to the different customs of the Church." ^ Lombard then proceeds to quote Gregory's letter to Leander, giving his sanc- tion to trine or single immersion in Spain,
As an authority for the baptismal customs of Western Christendom no man stood before Peter Lombard in the twelfth century.
Durix, THE Church Historian, and Immersion.
This learned Roman Catholic, though writing for his own community, gave the world, in the end of the seventeenth century, the most extensive, exact, and in the main impartial history of the writers of tlie Christian Church ever penned ; and his
' Baptismus dicitur intinctio . . , sine invocatione Trini- tatis mersus fnisset . . . mersus in fontem baptismi. . . . De immersione vero si qneeritur . , . vel semel, vel ter pro vario more eccleslse. Sentent. Qaatuor., lib. iv. dist. iii., 1, 2, 9, vol. 192, pp. 843, 815 ; Patrol. Lat. Migne. Parisiis.
104 THE BAPTISM OF THE
record of the movements in and around the Church of Christ is unusually reliable.
Speaking of baptism in the third century, he says : " They baptized, -with some ceremonies, those that were well instructed in their religion, and who had given satisfactory signs of their sincere conversion. They generally dipped them thnce in the water." ^
Of the fourth century he says: "Baptism was administered to infants and adults with many cere- monies. They were dipped three times into the water," ^ etc.
Of the thirteenth century he says : " The triple immersion was still in use."^
^ Dupin's Ecclesiastical HUtory, i. 589. Dublin, 1723. 2 Ihiil, i. 630. 3 j5,-^^ ii 395_
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 105
SPAIN.
St. Isidore and Immersion.
Isidore was the grandson of Theodoric, King of Italy. He was born at Seville in Spain, and after the death of his brother Leander he became bishop of his native city, A. d. 595. Isidore was a man of profound learning for his day, and a prolific writer. He made a deep impression upon his countrymen and the Western nations, which ages did not remove. The Eighth Council of Toledo gives him this com- mendation : " The excellent doctor of our age, Isi- dore, the greatest ornament of the Catholic Church, the last of the Fathers Avith regard to the times, but such as may for his learning be compared to the first, the most learned man of past ages." ^
Speaking of baptism, Isidore says : " Once it be- hooves us to be washed for Christ, as Christ has once died for us ; for if there is one God and one faith, of necessity also there is one baptism, seeing there is one death of Christ, into the image of which we are immersed through the viysiery of the holy font, 1 Dupin, ii. 4. Dublin, 1824.
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that dijing to this world we might he buried with Christ, and that ive might be raised up from the same waters in the likeness^ of his remrrectiony
St. Isidore speaks on the mode of baptism as an American Baptist pastor of the nineteenth century.
The Fourth Council of Toledo and Im- mersion.
This Spanish council was convened by King Sise- naud A. D. 633. It was composed of the archbish- ops of Seville, Narbonne, Braga, Merida, Toledo, and Tarragona, Avith fifty-three suffragan bishops, and with seven presbyters representing bishops. Many of the orthodox Christians in Spain were very indig- nant at the change in baptism from trine to single immersion ; and neither Pope Gregory's letter nor the authority of their own most venerable bishops was able to silence them. To calm this disturb- ance and unite the Spanish Catholics the council decreed:
"For, shunning the scandal of schism or the use of an heretical practice, we observe a single immersion in baptism. Nor do they who immerse three times ap-
' In ciijiis iniaginein inergiimir per mystoriuin sacri fontis, lit t'onsepeliumur C'hristo niorientes huie inundo, et ab iisdem aquis in forma resurrcotionis ejus emerglmur. De Eccles. Offic., Patrol. Lat., vol. 83, p. 821. Mlgne. Parisiis.
AGES AXD THE NATIONS. 107
pear to us to approve of the claims of heretics, al- though they follow their custom [of trine immersion]. And that no one may doubt the propriety of this single sacrament, let him see that in it the death and resurrection of Christ are shown forth. For the im- mersion in the waters is a descent, as it were, into the grave ; and again the emersion from the waters is a resurrection. Likewise, he may see displayed in it the unity of the Deity and the Trinity of persons — the unity whilst we immerse once, and the Trinity whilst Ave baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." ^ The council first quote the letter of Pope Gregory to Leander, which they emphatically commend. Gregory's let- ter from this time became a celebrated document, to which for centuries there was continual reference to show that either trine or single immersion was orthodox.
This canon of Toledo, with Gregory's letter, is in Labbe and Cossart's Sacrorum Conciliorum. The authors of this immense work were learned Jesuits,
' Simplicem teneamus baptismi mersionera ; ne videantur apud nos, qui tertio mergunt. . . . Nam" in aquis niersio, quasi ad infernum descensio est ; et rursus ab aquis eraersio, resurrectio est . . . unitatem, dum semel mergimus ; Trini- tatem. . . . Cbne. Tolet., iv. can. 5, Labbe et Cossart., vol. x. pp. 614, 615. Florentise, 1764.
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and nothing supposed to be lacking in Catholic or- thodoxy is likely to be found in its pages.
The fifth canon of the Fourth Council of Toledo breathes the spirit of the apostle Paul or of a mod- ern Baptist.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 109
SWEDEN AND DENMAEK.
St. Anschar and Scandinavian Immersions.
Till the ninth century little had been done by Christians for the conversion of the Danes and Swedes. Anschar, though *iot the first laborer among these hardy Pagans, obtained such a meas- ure of well-deserved success that he is justly called " the apostle of the Scandinavians." He was born A. D. 801 ; he was • educated in the monastery of Corbie in France, of which he became a monk, and he died A. d. 865, having been a legate of the pope and the first archbishop of Hamburg. He was a true successor of the heroic band chosen by the Teacher of Nazareth to carry his gospel over the nations. The leader of an enterprise which was so successfully started, and which, under the labors of his successors, became everywhere triumphant, was honored as a canonized saint among the Swedes and Danes, and as a bishop worthy of the love of Chris- tendom.
His biography was written in prose by his com- panion Rimbertus, and in a poetic form by Gualdo,
10
110 THE BAPTISM OF THE
a monk of Corbie iu the eleventh century. These two works were published in Stockholm in 1677, iu Latin, under the title of The Double Life of St. Anschar. Peter Lambecius, an eminent scholar, wrote notes for The Double Life. Claudius Arrhe- nius, professor of history in the great Swedish Uni- versity of Upsala, added some contributions to the work. Gualdo, describing the success of Anschar in the time of King Horicus [Eric], relates that " both sexes hastened to be immersed in the sacred waters.^' ^ And again : " When the king had ac- complished what he wished, he called the saint to himself, and he gave him liberty to build churches throughout the region, to have priests with him, and to immerse freely all who wished [baptism] in the liquid ivaters." ^
Commenting on The Double Life, and especially on the conduct of some of Anschar's converts who wanted to defer baptism till near death, that its waters might wash away all their sins just as they were about to enter heaven, the learned Lambecius says :
*' They who delay baptism for this reason are not
^ Sexus uterque sacris mergi properabat in iindis. St. An- echarii Vila Gcmina, p. 195. Ilohniie, 1G77.
* Qui vellent, liquidis mersare licenter in undis. Ibul., p. 202.
AGES AXD THE NATIONS. Ill
SO censurable as those who put it off as long as pos- sible through bashfulness and shame; since for- merly men and women, laying aside their bashful- ness, their whole bodies being entirely nude, were baptized in the presence of all ; and that not by sprinkling indeed, but by immersion or sinking them." '
Poppo, an honored missionary among the Danes, was so highly esteemed, according to Neander, that many places were named after him — such as Popp- holz, a forest between Flensburg and Schleswig, where, as tradition relates, he built himself a hut. "In a brook which flows by the spot, Hillegenbach, he is said to have baptized his disciples.'' ^ No climate for ages was too cold for the Saviour's en- joined immersion.
^ Non per aspersionem scilicet, sed per immersionem, seu Karadvaiv. St. Anscharii Vita Gemina, p. 255. Holmise, 1677.
2 Neander's Histwy of the Christian Religion and Church, vol. iii. p. 289. Boston, 1869.
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GERMANY.
Baptisms by St. Boniface, the Apostle of THE Germans.
St. Boniface, whose proper name was Winfrid, was born in Devonsliire, in England, in 680. When he was thirty years of age he was filled with en- thusiasm to preach Christ to the heathen, and soon after he assisted the aged Willibrord, Archbishop of Utrecht, in spreading the gospel among the Pagan Frieslanders for three years. Afterward he came to Upper Hesse as a missionary. There, in the presence of a great multitude of idolaters, he cut down an ancient oak consecrated for ages to Jupiter. In its fall the tree, instead of killing him, broke into four pieces, and the daring Boni- face denounced the absurdity and wickedness of worshipping such an idol. Hosts of Pagans forth- with gave up their false gods and were baptized as Christians.
Othlon, one of the biographers of Boniface, was a German monk of the eleventh century. His LifCj Letters, and Sermons of St. Boniface is an excellent work.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 113
Gregory the Second was chiefly remarkable for exacting an oath of obedience to the pope from the first German bishop — an act of wrong which is now universal in the Papal Church.
Pope Zacharias, whose letter to Boniface on bap- tism is so explicit, was a prelate of signal ability, and his opinions on the initiatory sacrament of the Christian Church were those accepted by all Roman Catholics in his day.
Othlon, in his life of Boniface, after speaking of his great success in Frisia, says : " There also he en- tered other parts of Germany that he might preach. He went to the Hessians located on the confines of the Saxons, whom in like manner he converted in large numbers from Paganism, and he washed many thousands of men in the sacrament of baptism." ^ This was one of the largest baptisms that ever oc- curred, and the solemn rite was administered by immersion. The word wash is never employed to describe sprinkling or pouring in baptism. Gar- ments are washed by dipping.
^ Tunc etiam alias Germanise partes prsedicandi causa adiil, Hessones videlicet in Saxonum confinio positos. Quos cum similiter a paganica3 superstitionis cultu magna ex parte con- verteret, multaque millia hominum baptismatis sacraraento abluisset. St. Bonifac. Mogunt. Archiepisc, Vita, cap. 12; Script. Ecdesiast., viii. ssec. Mignc. Parisiis, 1863. 10 * H
114 THE BAPTISM OF THE
Pope Gregory the Second, in a letter to the Ger- man clergy and laity commending Boniface, uses the same word to describe his baptism. " Some persons," says ho, " who had no knowledge of God or of holy baptism, icere ivashecV in -water" — that is, bathed in water.
Pope Zacharias, in a letter to Boniface shoAving the need of baptism and of invoking the Trinity in ad- ministering it, with special reference to the error of an Irish presbyter in Germany named Samson, who taught that a man might be made a Christian with- out the bath of regeneration and without the invo- cation of the Trinity, says : " Whosoever has been washed without the invocation of the Trinity has not the sacrament of regeneration [baptism], as it is as- suredly true that if any one has been immersed in the baptismal fountain without the invocation of the Trinity, he has not been made perfect until he shall have been baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. . . . Whosoever is immersed, the Trinity being invoked in gospel lan- guage after the rule laid down by the Lord, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, has that sacrament without doubt. . . . But
* Aliquos vero, qui nee Dei cognitionem habentes, nee bap- tismatis sacri unda sunt loti. Ep. IIL, Grccjor. Papce IL, Script. Ec4ilei*i(ist., viii. sapc. p. oOl. Migne. Parisiis, 1863.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 115
about those who immerse in the fountain of baptism without the invocation of the Trinity, it is known to thy fraternity that the series of sacred rules contains something which we advise you to hold tenaciously : ' Be ye holy, as I also am holy.' " ^ Here there is no difficulty about the mode of baptism between the errorists of that day and the pope. It was immer- sion in both cases. The evil which Zacharias sought to banish was the rejection of the names of the Trin- ity in the administration of baptism. The bajitism, which he first calls washing, he describes as immer- sion three times afterward.
Boniface had taken a solemn oath to obey Greg- ory the Second and his successors. In it he swears :
^ Quicunque sine invocatione Trinitatis lotus fuisset, sacra- mentum regenerationis non haberet. Quod omnino verura est, quia si mersus in fonte baptismatis quis fuit sine invocatione Trinitatis perfectus non est, nisi fuerit in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti baptizatus ... si evangelicis quis verbis, invocata Trinitate, juxta regulam a Domino positam, quicunque mersus esset in nomina Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti, quod sacramentum sine dubio haberet. . . . Sed de his qui sine invocatione Trinitatis mergunt in fonte baptismatis, fraternitati tuae notum est quid de illis sacrorum canonum series continet, quod et tenere te firraiter hortamur. . , . Sancti estote, quoniam et ego sanctus sum. Zach. Papce, Ep. XL, ad Bonif. Archiepisc, pp. 943, 994; Script. Ecclesi- a^f., viii. saec. Migne, 1863.
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" I, Boniface, bishop by the grace of God, will ren- der to you, blessed Peter, the chief of the apostles, and to thy vicar, the blessed Pope Gregory, and his successors^ allegiance in everything,^ and the purity of the holy catholic faith ; and I will abide in the unity of the same faith, by the help of God." This was a new oath, voluntarily taken by Boniface, which he carried out to the letter in everything ; and there can be no doubt of his strict compliance with Zacharias's baptismal instructions in the im- mersion of candidates as well as in the sacred names invoked in the celebration of the ordinance. Trine immersion was universal among his coun- trymen in England, and those of them who left their country as missionaries buried the baptized in the waters. Willibrord, the honored predecessor of Boniface in one of his continental mission-fields, and one of his own countrymen, who had the great Alcuin for his biographer, was once in an island called Fositeland, from its god, Fosite ; and in that island, according to Alcuin, there was a fountain which boiled up, the water of which no one might presume to drink unless he did it secretly, because it was dedicated to the god. Alcuin declares that
' Oinnem fideni ... in imitate ejiisdem fidei Deo operante persistere. Juramcnt. quo S. BoniJ'ac, Script. Ecdes., viii. saec. Migne. Parisiis, 1863.
AGES AND THE XATIOXS. 117
" Willibrord baptized three men in that fountain, with the invocation of the holy Trinity." ^ The baptism took place in a fountain boiling up from bubbling springs and overflowing its sides.
Immersion was the baptism of Willibrord of England and of Zacharias, whom Boniface was bound by a solemn oath to obey in religion in every- thing; and Boniface administered immersion to the hundred thousand converts whom he baptized in Germany.
Alcuin ox Immersion.
This distinguished Englishman was a graduate, and subsequently the principal, of the celebrated school at York, at that time the chief seat of learn- ing in Western Europe. He wrote freely and cor- rectly in Latin, and he was familiar with Greek and Hebrew. He revised the Latin Vulgate, and pre- sented it to Charlemagne. He taught astronomy, philosophy, rhetoric, mathematics, and theology in the court of Charlemagne, and he founded schools throughout the vast empire of that monarch at his expense and under his patronage. He wielded an influence over the emperor and Europe, over churches, states, and seats of learning, greater than
^ Tres homines in eo fonte cum invocatione sanctse Trinita- tis baptizayit. Vita St. Willibrordi, Patrol. Lat., vol. 101, p. 700. Migne. Parisiis.
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any otlier man who lived in the eighth century. His religious opinions were in perfect harmony with the doctrines held by Christians in England, France, Germany, and Italy. He is therefore a first-rate witness for the general practices of bap- tism in his times.
Trine Immersion.
In a learned letter to the canons of Lyons he says:.
" Spain, formerly the nurse of tyrants, is now the nurse of scliismatics. There, contrary to the universal custom of tJie holy Church of God, a doubt in regard to baptism has been proclaimed. Certain persons affirm that there should be one immersion [only], performed with the invocation of the Trinity. The apostle seems to differ from that doctrine where he says, * For ye are l)uried with Christ by baptism.' Rom. .vi. 4. And though tliis is to be understood figu- ratively, yet we know that Christ was three days
' Universalem sanctae Dei ecclesiae consuetudinera . . . affirniantes quidam sub invocatione Trinitatis unam esse mer- sionem agendani. . . . Possunt tres noctes tres mersiones, et tres dies elevationes designare ... in nomine sanctaa Trini- tatis trina subniei-sione bajjlizatur . . . epistolam vero qiiara a beato Gregorio de-simpla niersione dicunt esse conscriptam. Alcuini Epistola, Ep. 90; Patrol Lat., vol. 100, pp. 289-293. Migne. Parisiis.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 119
and three nights in the sepulchre. . . . The three nights may signify three immersions, and the three days thrice lifting up from" [the water]. He cor- rectly quotes St. Jerome, St. Ambrose, and Pope Leo the Great to jwove that they administered bap- tism by trine immersion. " This testimony,^' says he, ^^ was left to us by the chief teachers and most holy Fathers." He then appeals to the baptismal usages known to the canons of Lyons : " The Pagan be- comes one of the catechumens. He renounces Satan and all his hurtful pomps, etc., and in the name of the holy Trinity he is baptized by trine immer- sion." This is Alcuin's baptism, and the baptism of all Christians East and West when he wrote, ex- cept some Koman Catholics in Spain, who gave but one immersion in baptism. Alcuin proceeds to no- tice a letter of Pope Gregory the Great to Lean- der, a Spanish bishop, written in the end of the sixth century, in which he approves of a toleration for a single immersion in that countrj/, for certain reasons which he gives ; and Alcuin declares that " he did not find that letter in the book of his epis- tles which was brought to him from Rome, . . . and he doubted whether it was written by Gregory or by some founder of that party."
Alcuin had considerable reason for doubting the genuineness of Gregory's letter, for he knew that
120 THE BAPTISM OF THE
all Europe, and all Christians outside of it, observed one baptism in three immersions, except some Span- iards who administered one immersion ; and this doubt of such a man as Alcuin about the authen- ticity of Gregory's letter is a strong proof of the "universal custom," as he calls it, of "trine immer- sion." If immersion, once or thrice, or pouring or sprinkling, were all usual and held in equal esteem, why does the most intelligent man of the age send to Rome for Gregory's Book of Epistles to see if the pope had written a letter tolerating one immersion in Spain and exacting three elsew^here? It was a long and costly and dangerous journey to Rome, and it is clear that Alcuin recognized no baptism but trine immersion, or he would never have sent to Rome on such a business ; and he believed there should be no other in Spain than the plungings practised in all other countries.
And when Alcuin failed to find the letter among Gregory's Epistles, he concluded that it must be a forgery, as no pope could set aside the trine immer- sion administered in all the churches for ages.
But Gregory did write the letter, and kept no copy of it. Leander received and preserved it. The same thing happened to other epistles of the same pope, copies of which were not in his Book of Epistles in Alcuin's time.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 121
It would have amazed Alcuin to have seeu the work of a descendant of one of his adopted Ger- man fellow-citizens, had he been able to look down the ages, and to have read in it that his imperial patron "Charles sufficiently experienced how little durable was the conversion of the Saxons, when at his command hundreds at the same moment stepped into a river and had water poured over them in sign of baptism." ^ Alcuin saw these Saxons bap- tized on several occasions ; and if he had given an account of what he witnessed, he would have de- scribed them as being driven into the river, and as having been immersed three times, and he would not have uttered a word about pouring, for Alcuin was a writer of strict veracity.
On another occasion Alcuin writes about baptism :
" In the name of the holy Trinity a man is bap- tized by trine immersion, and he who was made for an image of the sacred Trinity, by the invocation of the holy Trinity is directly restored to the same image." ^
In a treatise On the Divine Offices Alcuin writes of baptism:
^ Kohlrausch's History of Germany, p. 97. New York. 1870.
"^ Trina submersione. Alcuini de Baptismi Cceremoniis, Patrol. Lat, vol. 101, p. QU. Migne. Parisiis. 11
122 THE BAPTISM OF THE
" Then tlie priest baptizes the infant by trine im- mersion, invoking the holy Trinity only once, and speaking thus : * I baptize^ you in the name of the Father,' and he immerses him once; 'and of the Son,' and he immerses him again; 'and of the Holy Spirit,' and he immerses him a third time." Such is the testimony of Alcuin — the Dr. Francis Way- land of the eighth century — about the mode of baptism in his day.
Descriptions of Immersion sent to Charle- magne AT his own Request by Two of his Bishops.
In the works of Charles the Great the following ac- counts of baptism are given by two of his prelates :
" What the Greeks call baptism [baptism is a Greek word] is called immersion by the Latins. The infant is immersed three times in the holy font, that triple immersion may figuratively exhibit the three days* burial of Chrid. The lifting up from the waters is a likeness of Christ rising from the grave" '^
^ Delude baptizat eum sacerdos aub triua mersione . . . ego te baptize in nomine Patris, et mergat gemel ; et Filii, et mergat iterum ; et Spiritus Sancti, et mergat tertio. De Divi Ojjic., cap. 19; Patrolog. Lat., vol. 101, p. 1219. Migne. r:irisiis.
^ Latine tinelio dieitur, infans ter mergitur in saero fonte ut sepulturam triduanam Christi trina demersio mystice de-
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 123
The second writes : " Thus a man made for an image of the Holy Trinity, dipped by trine immer- sion, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, is restored to the image of the same Trinity." ^
Eabanus Maurus on Immersion.
This distinguished man, after presiding over the great abbey of Fulda for twenty years, and found- ing a seminary for the education of clergymen, which sent forth many able ministers, became Archbishop of Mentz in 847. His conspicuous abilities as a teacher and writer placed him at the head of the German bishops, and conferred honor upon his great instruc- tor, Alcuin. Treating of baptism, he says :
"After these things the fountain is consecrated, and the candidate draws near to baptism itself; and thus in the name of the holy Trinity he is baptized by trine immersion ; . . . baptism ought therefore to be conferred by trine immersion ivith the invocation of the holy Trinity^ ^
signaret, et ab aquis elevatio Christi resurgentis instar est de sepulcro. Carolus Magnus^ ii. p. 940. Migne. Parisiis, 1862.
^ Trina submersione tinctus. Ibid., p. 938.
'^ Trina submersione baptizatiir . . . oportet ergo cum in- vocatione Sanctse Trinitatis sub trina mersione baptismum con- fici. Lib. de Sacr. Ordin., cap. 14; Patrol. Lai., vol. 112, p. 1175. Migne. Parisiis.
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Haymo, Bishop of Halberstadt, ox Im- mersion.
Haymo was a disciple of Alciiin. He flourished about the middle of the ninth century. He was the intimate friend of Rabanus Maurus. Commenting on Romans vi. 4, he says of Christ :
"He himself arose on the third day alive, and we, after a third immersion, shall arise to life from the death of sins."^
WiLAFRID StRABO (oR StRABUS) AND IM- MERSION.
This author was a German abbot who lived in the ninth century. He wrote in prose and poetry, and his works possess learning and merit. Of baptism he says :
"In the beginning believers were freely baptized in rivers or fountains. Our Lord Jesus Christ himself, to consecrate the same laver for us, was baptized by John in the Jordan. And we read elsewhere that John was baptizing in Enon near Salim, because there was much water there. And Philip the evan- gelist baptized the eunuch in a fountain which he found by the way.
^ Post t4?rnani morsioncm resurgemus de morte. Expos, in EpiM. ad Rom., Patrol. Lat., vol. 117, p. 412. Migne. Parisiis.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 125
" So7ne want trine immersion, because of its resem- blance to the three days' burial [of Christ], and because the Apostolic Canons and the custom of the Romans required it/
^'Others contended for a single immersion to exhibit the unity of the Godhead.'' Strabo then refers to the controversy in the Fourth Council of Toledo about trine and single immersion, and to the letter of Pope Gregory the Great advising the Spaniards to practise one immersion for the sake of their Arian neighbors, though declaring that the Romans ad- ministered baptism with three immersions. He then adds : " It is to be noticed that 7nany were baptized, not only by immersion, but by pouring water over them ; and if there was any necessity ' baptism could still be administered in that way ; as in the Passion of the blessed Laurence we read that a certain per- son was baptized from a pitcher brought in. This was customary when the height of very tall persons would not permit them to be dipped in small bap- tisteries."
^ Primo simplicitur in fluviis vel fontibus baptizatos cre- dentes. . . . AHi trinam immersionem vohint . . . et Eoman- orum consuetude observat.
2 Alii unam propter divinitatis unitatem contendunt . . . non solem raergendo, verum etiam desuper fundendo ... si necessitas sit. De Bebus Eccles., Patrol. Lat., vol. 114, pp. 957-959. Migne. Parisiis. 11*
126 THE BAPTISM OF THE
St. Laurence was martyred about A. d. 258, and the Avork in which Strabo read the story of the man whom Laurence baptized by pouring — The Acts of St. Laurence — is notoriously mixed with falsehoods/ and can gather no authority from the fact that Strabo quoted it, for sacred forgeries were alarm- ingly numerous long before his day. And as the practice of immersion in baptism in the time of St. Laurence was universal except in the case of a handful of Clinics — so small that they scarcely deserve to be named — the story is unworthy of notice. Strabo appeals to no occurrence of pour- ing in his day except m case of necessity. Immer- sion, trine or single, was the baptism of Christen- dom.
Kegino on Immersion.
Regino was Abbot of Prum, in the diocese of Treves, in the end of the ninth and in the begin- ning of the tenth century. He was regarded as an author of some standing in his own times, and men who love to examine the writings of the distant past still read Abbot Regino. In his work on Ecclesi- astical Discipline he says :
" Those xchoin we baptize we immerse three times ;
' Wall's Ifi'.ftonj of Infant Baptism, part ii. chap. ix. 2, p. 710. Xa.shville, 1860.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 127
and we instruct them to renounce in words Satan and his angels." ^
St. Bruno and Immersion.
Bruno in the eleventh century was twelve years Bishop of Wiirtzburg. He was Duke of Carinthia, but preferred the service of God to the pursuits which generally engaged nobles. He wrote ex- positions of the ancient creeds and of the Psalms. Commenting upon the word *' deluge " in one of the Psalms, he says :
"Here deluge signifies baptism, or the waters of baptism, through which a man is purified, as the world was cleansed by the Deluge." ^
According to St. Bruno, baptism covers the bap- tized person with water just as completely as the Deluge covered the earth. Of the completeness of its submersion there can be no question.
Immersions in Pomerania. Otto, Bishop of Bamberg, in the year 1124 was
^ Ter mergiraus quos baptizamus. De Eccles. Dis., Patrol. LciL, vol. 132, p. 338. Migne. Parisiis.
^ Hie significat diluvium baptismnm sive aquas baptismi. Expos. Pscd., PairologixB Lat., vol. 142, p. 129. Migne. Par-
128 THE BAPTISM OF THE
preaching as a missionary in Pomerania, and in Py- ritz lie gathered a large body of converts. ** Seven days," says Neander, " were spent by the bishop in giving instruction. Three days were appointed for spiritual and bodily preparation to receive the ordi- nance of baptism. They held a fast and bathed themselves, that they might with cleanliness and de- cency submit to the sacred ordinance. Large vessels filled with water were sunk in the ground and sur- rounded with curtains. Behind these baptism was administered, in the form customary at that period, by immersion. During their t^Yenty days' residence in this town seven thousand were baptized, and the persons baptized were instructed in the matters con- tained in the confession of faith and respecting the most important acts of worship."^
Rupert on Immersion.
Rupert, Abbot of Deutz, in Germany, on the banks of the Rhine, opposite Cologne, in the twelfth century, was an author of great industry. But of his numerous works his commentary on almost the entire Scriptures is best known. He speaks of bap- tism in the following terms :
' Ncandcr's History of the Christian Religion and Church, vol. vi. p. 8. Boston, I860.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 129
" Otherwise why hy trine immersion are we baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit?"^
Luther and Immersion.
The great German Reformer, who rendered harm- less the thunders of the Vatican and inflicted blows upon the Papacy from which it will never recover, speaks strongly in favor of immersion. In his essay On the Sacrament of Baptism he begins with the fol- lowing :
" First, baptism is a Greek word. In Latin it can be translated immersion, as when we phmge something into water that it may he completely covered with water; and although that custom has been given up by most persons, for they do not wholly submerge the chil- dren, but only pour on a little water, yet they ought to he completely immersed and straightway draivn Old.'' ^ Such is the testimony of one of the greatest
^ AHoque cur sub trina raerslone baptizamur? . . . Trin. et Oper., Patrol. Lai., vol. 167, p. 1034. Migne. Parisiis.
" Prirao nomen baptismus Grsecum est ; Latine potest verti mersio, cum inimergimus aliquid in aquam, ut totum tegatur aqua. Et quamvis ille mos jam aboleverit apud plerosque (neque enim totos demergunt pueros, sed tantum paucula aqua perfundunt) debebant tamen prorsus immergi, et statim re- trahi. . . . De Sacram. Bnpf., Opera Lutheri, vol. i. fol. p. 31 9, 1564.
I
130 THE BAPTISM OF THE
iiistruinents ever used by Jehovah to extend the empire of truth.
Counsel and Advice of Dr. Martin Luther TO a Minister [as to] how a Jewess [a Vikc.in] is to be Baptized. Anno, 1530.
[Translated from the German by the Rev. J. S.
GUBELMANN, PHILADELPHIA.]
" Grace and peace in the Lord : It is not neces- sary, dear pastor, to remind you that you are first, for a time, diligently to instruct the person who is to be baptized regarding the sum of the Ten Com- mandments, of the Christian faith [creed or confes- sion], and of the Lord's Prayer; also concerning ■what baptism is, what it benefits and signifies.
" But as regards the [her] public baptism, I am content that, covered with a cloth (as women in the bath), she shall sit in a tub, with the water reaching to the neck,' clad with the bathing-cloth, and that she shall be three times dipped with the head into the water ^ ))y the baptizer, ^vith the usual words — iKiuK'ly, * I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.' . . .
'' The dead also are clad with a white garment or winding-sheet, thereby to remind us of our baptism,
' Ini Wasser bis an don Ilals reichend.
' Mit dem Ilanpt drcimal ins "\V;vsscr getaucht wiirde.
AGES AXD THE NATION'S. 131
by which we are with Christ buried into death, etc. By both, by baptism and by death, the resurrection of the dead is signified and expressed, as baptism itself is nothing else than a passage through death into the future eternal life.
" You may also give to her my greeting in Christ and service of Christian love. Farewell in the Lord. From my solitude. Anno MDXXX." '
In Luther's small Catechism, Halle edition, print- ed and published by Christoph Salfeld's Wittwe und Erben [widow and heirs of Christoph Salfeld] in the year 1713, the following passage occurs in the appendix to the Catechism,^ added to give in- struction and direction concerning baptism :
" Do you wish to be baptized ? Yes.
" Thereupon let him take the infant and dip ^ it into the baptism,^ saying, 'I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.' "
^ LxdJiers Worki^, 1560 (in 8 folio volumes), vol. i., p. 183.
^ Anhang oder Tauf biichlein.
^ The word here used by Luther, " tauchen," cannot pos- sibly mean anything else than " to dip," as all who under- stand the German language will grant. J. S. G.
* Tauche es in die Taufe.
132 THE BAPTISM OF THE
SWITZEELAND.
John Calvin and Immersion.
The Reformer of Geneva possessed a penetrating and powerful intellect, an extensive and accurate acquaintance with the divine word, the ancient Fathers, and the beliefs and practices of Christians of all ages, and a royal influence over a multitude of believers in many lands and generations.
The apostle Paul, Augustine of Hippo, and John Calvin were three of the mightiest ministers ever commissioned by the Saviour. Of baptism Calvin ■writes :
"And that he as truly and certainly j^erforms these things internally on our souls as we see that onr bodies are externally washed, siibmerged, and enclosed in neater " [when baptized].^ Again :
'• Whether the baptized person is wholly immersed^ and tliat three times or once, or whether water is only poured or sprinkled upon him, is of no con- sequence. In tliat matter churches ought to be free,
' Viilennis corpus nostrum extra ablui, snbraergi, circura- (Inri. Iiisdt. ClirUt. lielig., lib. iv. cap. 15, sec. 14, p. 641. London, 157G.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 133
according to the difference of countries. The very word baptize, however, signifies to immerse; and it is certain that immersion ivas observed by the ancient Church:' '
Our Presbyterian brethren in this country, the direct foHowers of Calvin, refuse the liberty of baptizing by single or trine immersion, as well as by pouring or sprinkling, as we have lately no- ticed in their disapproval of the immersion ad- ministered by the Rev. Mr. Clark, one of their ministers in this State.
As the very word baptize means to immerse, and as it is certain that the ancient Church immersed the baptized, according to Calvin, how is it that a sturdy Presbyterian like Calvin should license any change ?
^ Quanquam et ipsum baptizandi verbum raergere significat, et mergendi ritum veteri ecclesise observatum fuisse constat. Inst it Christ. Relig., lib. iv. cap. 15, sec. 19, p. 644. London, 1576.
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134 THE BAPTISM OF THE
ITALY.
Clinic Baptisms, or Baptisms "for Death" AND Baptism " for Life " in the Primitive Church.
Many of the early Christians after the days of the apostles fell into the pestilent heresy that by baptism tlieir sins were remitted ; and while they universally and earnestly insisted that immersion was the only baptism for the living and healthy, yet to secure forgiveness through baptism for the dying they created two other baptisms. The first was pouring water all over a dying man who could not be immersed, so that he was as completely drenched with it as if he had been plunged in it. This bap- tism was regarded loith tolei^ation for the dying only. If a man recovered from threatened death, his bap- tism was regarded as defective, and it disqualified him from ministerial service except under certain conditions. Dr. Cave, the Episcopalian author of Primitive Christianity, says of clinic baptism — that is, the baptism of those who were in their beds through disease — that " it was accounted a less solemn and perfect kind of baj^ism, partly because
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 135
it was done, not by immersion, but by sprinkliDg — partly because persons were supposed at such a time to desire it chiefly out of a fear of death." ^
The historian Eusebius says: "It was not lawful to promote one baptized by pouring on his sick bed to any order of the clergy." '^ And while occasion- ally favoritism or necessity might set this order aside, yet for a great while the stigma of a vital defect rested upon couch baptism if the diseased person was restored.
Eusebius quotes with approval a description of clinic baptism by Cornelius, Bishop of Rome, in which he expresses doubts about the validity of Novatian's baptism, who was "poured around" in a time of sickness, and he a4ds, " If, indeed, it be proper to say that one like him did receive bap- tism." The Council of Neo-Csesarea in its twelfth canon decreed that " if any man was baptized only in time of sickness, he shall not be ordained a presbyter, because his faith was not voluntary, un- less his subsequent faith and diligence recommend him, or else the scarcity of men makes it necessary to ordain him."^ Chrysostom doubted the salva- tion of such men. "They receive baptism," says
^ Cave's Primitive Chridianily, p. 150. Oxford, 1840.
2 Eccles. Bist., vi. 43, p. 244. Parlsiis, 1659.
^ Bingham's Antiquities, hook iv. chap. 3, sec. 11.
136 THE BAPTISM OF THE
he, " lying upon their beds, you receive it in the bosom of the Church. They receive it weeping, and you with joy. They with groans, and you with thankso-ivintr. While the sacrament is ad- ministered children cry, the wife tears her hair, friends are dejected, servants weep, the whole house is in mourning ; and if you observe the spirit of the sick person you shall find it more full of sorrow than that of the bystanders." ^ Chrysostom's '^ idea of a sick-bed baptism is the opinion we entertain of the death-bed repentance of one whom God had often called, but whose ears were stopped until he felt that he was just stepping into his presence, and then, while terror was his master, he would be bap- tized somehow, givings. a sorrowful illustration of the doctrine that "conscience doth make cowards of us all."
These sick-bed professors on their recovery were greeted with sneers, and their piety subjected to merriment. The clergy sometimes had to appeal to Christians to treat them as brethren, and not as slaves driven to make a profession of faith through fear. It was common to call them " Clm-
1 Dupin, i. p. 319. Dublin, 1773.
' This article is placed with Italian descriptions of baptism and baptisms, because Xovatian, the most notorious clinic of all time, was a Roman presbyter.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 137
ic«," instead of Christians. The word means liter- ally a bed, and as applied to those baptized on their couches it contained the idea that they were ailing disciples, professors from fright, sick-bed ser- vants of God, who were not likely to honor him in health. Cyprian is indignant at these reproaches, and gives utterance to his feelings in these words : "As to the nickname which some have thought fit to fix upon those who have thus [by baptism on their beds] obtained the grace of Christ through his saving water and through faith in him, and their calling such persons Clinics instead of Chris- tians, I am at a loss to find out the original of this appellation," etc.^
But clinic baptism never spread, and the number of times when it occurred is very much smaller than is commonly supposed. It could only exist, even to a limited extent, when believers' baptism was the custom of Christians, when a host of men like Constantine the Great and Ambrose and Augus- tine, with Christian principles, remained unbap- tized after reaching adult or mature years. As infant baptism became general, the candidate never put off baptism through shame or fear, or to have all his sins washed out just before entering heaven ; and as a consequence clinic baptism declined, and
J Ep. 76, ad Magnum, pp. 121, 122. Colonic, 1607. 12*
ins THE BAPTISM OF THE
was limited to dyiug babes. But a brand marked clinic baptism as long as it existed.
More than a century after Novatian had his memorable baptism by " pouring around," Socrates, the historian, tells us that a Jew had been confined to his bed by j^aralysis, and liad been benefited neither by medical skill nor by the prayers of his Jewish brethren, and that he determined to have recourse to Christian baptism.
Atticus, the Archbishop of Constantinople, in- structed him in the first principles of Christian truth, and preached to him the hope in Christ, and then, instead of going to his bed and pouring water around him, he directed him to be brought in his bed to the font. And the paralytic Jew receiving baptism with a sincere faith, as soon as he was taken out of the water found himself perfectly cured of his disease.^ In the Centurioe Magdehurgenses it is said of this convert, ''He was brought, together with his bed, to the baptistery, and he ivas let down into the sacred font, and on the completion of the rite he was lifted up again from it." ^ This baptism occurred at the capital of the empire and of the intelligence of the Eastern world, and it is clear
J Eccles. IlisL, vii. 4.
^ In sacrum lavacrum demissus, et, peracto ritu, inJe rur- suin levatus. Centu. Magde., iv. p. 576. Xoriniburgap. 1765.
AGES AXD THE KATIONS. 139
testimony that even the paralyzed shunned pouring around for baptism, and that such an act was only " the forlorn hope " of the dying — an act which should be carefully avoided by all who wanted obedience without serious defects.
Martyrdom was the second baptism for the depart- ing. If a man, without baptism in water, died by the persecutions of the Saviour's enemies because he loved Jesus, he was regarded by the primitive Christians as baptized ; and his baptism in his own blood, it was universally understood, would wash away his sins. Cyprian says of unbaptized catechu- mens who were slain for Jesus' sake: "These were not deprived of the sacrament of baptism, since they were baptized in the most glorious and power- ful baptism of their own blood." ^ But this was a baptism for the grave, and valid only if the man departed. If he recovered after being half or two- thirds martyred, he must be immersed in water to have his sins forgiven.
The ancient Christians, after the apostles, had two baptisms for those going into eternity — profuse pour- ing and martyrdom. If the man recovered, the first was regarded as defective; the second could only have value when completed by death. Bat for those in health there ivas but one baptism, and
' C'upr. Ep. 73, ad Jab., p. 108. Coloniai, 1607.
140 THE BAPTISM OF THE
it was the eomjylete immersion of the whole body in water.
Justin Martyr and Immersion.
The reputation of this sufferer for Jesus as a man of intelligence and as a believer of undoubted piety has always stood high in the Church of Christ. Treating of baptism, he writes :
"As many as are persuaded and believe that the things which we teach and declare are true, and promise that they are determined to live accord- ingly, are taught to pray to God, and to beseech him with fasting to grant them remission for their past sins, while we also pray and fast with them. We then lead them to a place where there is water,^ and there they are regenerated in the same manner as we also were ; for they are then washed in that water in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit." This is Professor Coleman's trans- lation.^ He makes the following comment upon the
^ "'EiTTELTa ayovrai v(f iifiihv ivOa viSup sen . . . ~b tv tl> vihri t6'te XovTpov TToiovvTai. Just. Philos. et Mart., Apol. I. Pro Christ., Patrolocjia Grceca, vol. vi. p. 240. Migne. Parisiis. 1857.
^ Ancient Christianity Exemplified, p. 271. Philadelphia, 1852.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 141
statement of Justin in another part of his work : " Justin Martyr gives us the first and intelligible account of a Christian baptism [after the Kew Testament]. The conducting of the candidate to a place ivhere there is ivater, and then baptizing him, instead of causing Avater to be brought, seems to intimate that at this time the Eastern Church, or at least the Church of Ephesus, had begun to baptize by immersion." ^ Dr. Coleman gives his views with a frankness which Justin's simple words in the original Greek would naturally inspire. The re- nowned martyr and apologist for Christianity, like his Master, the Son of Mary, was an immersionist beyond a doubt.
Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, on Baptism.
The world has had many greater but few better men than St. Ambrose. He entered a church in Milan as governor to quiet a violent controversy about a successor to Auxentius, the dead Arian bishop. While in the sacred edifice he was unan- imously proclaimed bishop, though not yet baptized. He accepted the ofiice, and he discharged its duties in a spirit of fearless fidelity, and he lived to stand among the first bishops in the Christian world. In
' Coleman's Ancient Christianity £xe???p/y?ec?, p. 368. Phila- delphia, 1852.
142 THE BAPTISM OF THE
the little work lie wrote — On the Sacraments — he says to a baptized person :
" Thou wa^t asked, Dost thou believe in God, the omnipotent Father ? and thou saidst, I believe ; and thou ivast immersed — that is, thou ivast buried. Again thou wast asked. Dost thou believe in our Lord Jesus Christ and in his cross ? and thou saidst, I believe ; and thou wast immersed, and therefore thou wast buried with Christ, for he who is buried with Christ shall rise with Christ. A third time thou wast asked, Dost thou believe in the Holy- Spirit? and thou saidst, I believe; and a third time thou ivast immersed; . . . for when thou dost immerse, thou dost form a likeness of death and burial."^ Ambrose uses the language of Paul as correctly as if he had been a Baptist.
Pope Leo the Great and Immersion.
Leo became Pope of Rome A. d. 440. Like Gregory VII. and Innocent III., he was endowed with splendid talents. In any position in humau society, and in any age of earthly history, Leo would have shone as a star of the first magnitude.
' Mersisti, hoc est, sepultus es, . . . et mcrsisti, ideo et Christo es consepultus : qui eniin Christo consepelitur cum Christo resurgit, . . . tertio mei-sisti , . . cum enim mergis, mortis suscipis et sepultura? similitudinem. De Sacramentis^, lib. iv. 7 ; Patrol. Lat., vol. IG, p. 448. Migne. Parisiis.
AGES AND THE XATIOXS. 143
Nothing of importance to the interests of Christen- dom during his pontificate was effected without his powerful assistance. He gave the see of Rome more help in her efforts to secure the mastery of Christ's Church than any of his predecessors. Few of the popes have had ''Great" added to their names, and few of them have deserved it ; but Leo's shining abilities justly earned this title. Speaking of baptism, he says :
" Trine immersion is an imitation of the three days' burial [0/ Chrid'], and the elevation from the waters is a figure [of the Saviour'] rising from the grave.'' ^ These words of Leo were used for centuries by the Church teachers of the Old World, as the Nicene Creed was quoted as a general expression of ortho- doxy.
St. Maxtmus, Bishop of Turin, and Immersion.
This prelate was the author of sixty-three hom- ilies that have come down to our times. Though not a man of remarkable ability, he possessed an unusual amount of piety. His works were pub- lished in Paris, with the writings of Pope Leo the
^ Sepulturam triduanam imitatur trina demersio, et ab aquis elevatio, resnrgentis instar est de sepiilcro. Ep. 16 St. Leo. Mag., Patrol. Lat., vol. 54, p. G99. Migne. Parisiis.
144 THE BAPTISM OF THE
Great, in 1623. He was Bishop of Turin in the latter part of the fifth centtiry. Of baptism and of the baptized he writes :
"After you promised to believe we plunged your bodies three times in the sacred fountain. This order of baptism is observed to express a double mystery ; for ye are rightly immersed three times who have been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, who arose on the third day from the dead ; for this im- mersion, thrice repeated, is a figure of our Lord's burial, through ivhich ye are buried with Chrid in baptism, that ye may rise again with Christ in faith ; that, Avashed from sins, you may live by imitating Christ in the sanctity of virtues." '
Arator's Description of Baptism.
Arator was born in Italy, and flourished from a. d. 527 to A. D. 544. He followed for a time the legal profession, then he became an officer in the palace of King Athalaric. Pope Vigilius made him a subdeaeon of the Church of Rome.
In his poetical account of the facts recorded in
^ Tcrtio corpora vestra in sacro fonte deniersimus. . . . Rccte cnim tertio niersi estis. Ilia enim tertio repetita de- niersio . . . per qiiain Christo consepulti estis in baptismo. S. Maxim. Episc, Taurcn., De Bap., Patrol. Lat., vol. 57, p. 778. Migne. Parisiis.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 145
the Acts of the Apostles, speaking of the Pente- costal converts, he says :
" The Shepherd multiplied the sheep, and he washed not less than three thousand of the common people III the river of the Lamb on that day. Here first by the command of God the practice of bap- tism arose." ^
Speaking of the baptism of the eunuch, he writes : " The abounding faith of the eunuch began hastily to burn for the waters in sight; and, im- mersed in the gulf, he laid aside the burden of the serpent." ^
Pope Gregory the Great and Immersion.
Gregory the Great was chosen pope at the end of the sixth century. He honestly and earnestly tried to be relieved of the responsibility and honor of the Koman see, but he did not succeed ; and his mod- esty greatly increased his popularity. The success of his mission to the Pagan English extended his fame among all Christian nations. He was warm- hearted and sincerely religious ; he was sometimes
^ Fhimina dekiit Agni . . . baptismatis usus exoritur. De Aetibus ApostoL, lib. i. 77; Patrol Laf., vol. 68, p. 114. Migne. Parisiis.
^ Conspectis properanter aquis . . . gurgite mersus. Ibid., Hb. i. 132 ; vol. 68, p. 152.
13 K
146 THE BAPTISM OF THE
tyrannical and superstitious ; lie was modest and he was meddlesome ; he was great in zeal, in shrewd- ness, and in the estimation of all Christians ; he was for a few years the most influential man in Christendom. No pope was ever more venerated than the first of the- Gregories. Of baptism this pope writes :
" The body is immersed, the soul is washed." * This declaration is clear enough about immersion, and no hint is given that pouring or sprinkling will do as well.
When Gregory became pope the Arians in Spain were numerous and annoying. Like Christians in all other lands, they had three immersions in bap- tism, and they said that the immersion in the name of the Father, coming first, showed that the Father was above the Son and the Spirit — that the second and the third immersions were but inferior honors for persons subordinate to the Father. This argument against the divinity of the Son and of the Spirit was extensively used, and it was felt by many to be very powerful. To oppose this heresy some of the orthodox conceived the idea of having but one im- mersion in the three sacred names, which must bestow undivided and equal h(Hior upon each person in the
^ Corpus intingitur, aiiiina abhiitur. Gregor. May., torn. V. ; Patrol. Lai., vol. 70, p. 493. Migne. Parisiis.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 147
Trinity. One immersion, however, was considered an innovation, and many denounced it as if it were not baptism, just as a man's arm is not the man. To obtain the assistance of Gregory's great popularity, Leander, Bishop of Seville, the leading prelate of Spain, wrote for the pope's opinion on the disputed question. Gregory sent a reply, from which we quote :
"About the three immersions in baptism, no one could ansAver more truly than you yourself have judged. We immerse ^ three times, to show the mys- tery of the three days' burial, and that the infant drawn out of the waters may show forth the resur- rection on the third day. But if any one thinks that this is done for veneration of the exalted Trin- ity, immersing but once in the waters in baptizing brings no opposition to that, because whilst in three subsistences there is one substance, there will be no fault in immersing once or three times, since in three
^ De trina meisione baptismatis nil responderi verlns potest quam sensisti. Nos aiitem quod tertio mergimiis Iridnanse sepulturae sacraraenta signamus, ut dum tertio infans ab aquis educitur, resurrectio triduani temporis exprematiir . . . rep- rehensible esse nullatenus potest infantem in baptismate vel ter, vel serael mergers, quando et in tribus mersionibus per- sonarum trinitas, et in una potest divinitatis singularitas desig- nari. Greyor. Mag., torn. iii. ep. 43, ad Leand. ; Patrol. Lat., vol. 77, pp. 497, 498. Migne, Parisiis.
148 THE BAPTISM OF THE
{mmersions the trinity oj jjersons can he represented, and in one the nnit]) of the Godhead. But because DOW, evGU by heretics, the infant is immersed three times in baptism, I think among you it should not be done, lest while we count up the immersions, they divide the Godhead."
Gregory was a pontiff of whom Catliolics in all ages have been proud, and whom other Christians have regarded witli favor. Thoroughly versed in the customs of all Christians, he was competent to testify about the universal mode of baptism. Greg- ory knew nothing of sprinkling or pouring in bap- tism. If either had been customary, how easy it would have been to tell Leander, what so many are accustomed to say at the present day, that "the mode of baptism was of no account; anything would serve if water was used " ! But Gregory only knew of triple or single immersion in baptism.
Maxentius of Aquila and Immersion.
jNIaxentius owed his exalted ecclesiastical dignity to the special favor of the Emperor Lothaire. He jiresided over his see in the early part of the ninth century. Of bai)tism he writes :
" In the name of the holy Trinity they are baptized by trine immersion, and the man who was made in the image of the holy Trinity is properly restored
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 149
to the same image a second time by the invocation of the sacred Trinity." ^
The Roman Cathlic Church and Immersion.
A committee appointed by the Council of Trent compiled a system of divinity called the Catechism of the Council of Trent, and three years after the dissolution of the council the Catechism was given to the world by command of Pope Pius V. In this work it is said :
" Wherefore, baptism by the apostle is called a bath ; ^ but the ablution is not rendered more perfect when any one is immei*sed in water, although we perceive that this mode ivas long observed from the earliest times in the Church, than either by the pour- ing of water, which we recognize as a frequent practice now, or by sprinkling."^ The Catechi&in decreed by the Council of Trent and issued by Pope Pius V. declares that immersion was long observed, and that from the earliest times of the Church. No statement could be given by the
^ Ti-ina submersione baptizatur. Patrol. Led., vol. 106, p. 57. Migne. Parisiis.
"^ Vulgate, Titus iii. 5, per lavacrum regenerationis,
^ Ablutio autem non magis fit, quum aliquis aqua mergi- tur, quod diu a primis temporibus in ecclesia observatum animadvertimus. Catech. Cone. Trident., p. 136. Lipsise, 1865.
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loO THE BAPTISM OF THE
Roman Catholic Church of greater authority on any question than this solemn assurance in regard to the baptism of the early ages.
An Immersion by a Roman Catholic Priest IN Milan, witnessed by Howard Malcom, D. D., LL.D.
The doctor writes in 1875 :
" AVhen I was visiting portions of Europe in 1830, I went to Milan in Italy to see the Duomo, or cathedral, second only to St. Peter's in Rome. While surveying the vast interior I noticed a small party entering the principal door. They proceeded to something at one side which looked like a high- post bedstead with crimson curtains. As they ap- proached it, it was rolled out on wheels, and I saw that it was a beautiful baptistery made of marble, holding water about four feet deep, and of the size used in America for adult baptisms.
" I approached the party, which stood at one side, while a handsome priest stood at the other. When he liad recited the appointed liturgy, he stretched out his hands toward one of the babes. The lady stand- ing by the nurse unfastened its dress at the neck, and with one skilful effort removed all its clothing, leaving it wrapped round and round with a swad- dling-clotli from head to foot. The i)riest received
AGES AND THE NATIOXS. 151
it, and taking his place at the side of the font, he carefully lowered the child into the ivater, with the appropriate form of words. I stood at the end of the baptistery, and not one of the little ones made any outcry, and of course they could not kick.
" As the party was dispersing I respectfully ap- proached the priest and inquired if he spoke French. He answered in the affirmative. I then told him that I admired his form and his skill in baptizing children — that I was an ecclesiastic from America, and that I was not aware that the Church of Rome practised immersion. He said that immersion was the only mode of baptism at the beginning, and it continued till the Roman hierarchy in the third century [it was many centuries later] introduced sprinkling; but Milan continued the original prac- tice till that time."
As Dr. A. P. Stanley, Dean of Westminster, Lon- don, declares :
" With the two exceptions of the Cathedral of Milan and the sect of the Baptists, a few drops of water are now the Western substitute for the threefold plunge inio the rushing rivers or the wide baptisteries of the East." '
^ Stanley's History of the Eastern Oiurch, p. 1 17. New York, 1870.
152 the baptism of the
The Baptistery of St. John de Lateran, and AN Ancient Baptism annually Administered
IN IT.
The Rev. A. J. Rowland, pastor of the Tenth Baptist Church, Pliiladelphia, has at our request kindly furnished us with the following account of the Lateran baptistery and pool :
" I visited the baptistery of St. John Lateran, in Rome, on Sunday afternoon, Sept. 24, 1876. The building is octagonal in form, and stiinds a little distance from the fine old church which gives it its name. One is struck immediately on approaching with the antiquity of its appearance, and is not sur- prised to learn fi'om the guide that it dates back to the time of Constantine, and that in this very build- ing the first Christian emperor of Rome was bap- tized, A. D. 337. The building is about fifty feet in diameter. The pool of the baptistery is of green ba- salt, and it is about twenty feet long by fifteen wide, the form being that of an ellipse. There seemed to be a false wooden floor in the bottom, but the depth even iclth this was something over three feet. I asked the 'cicerone' who showed us the place, who seemed to belong to one of the lower orders of the clergy, the meaning of this large font, so unlike those in modern chui'clus, and he replied that it^ size was
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 153
due to the fact that anciently 2Jeoj)le were immersed. I inquired if it was ever used for immersion now. ' Yes,' he said ; ' on EaMer Eve Jews and Pagans ivho accept the faith of the Church are baptized, here in that ivayJ This fact I subsequently found also in Bi^e- deker's celebrated guide-book.
*' On the right and left of the baptistery building doors open into two small apartments, now known as oratorios or chapels ; on the ceiling of one of them is an old mosaic, datiiig back to the fifth century, repre- senting John the Baptist 'performing the rite of im- mersion. It struck me that these two apartments may have been originally dressing-rooms for bap- tismal occasions. Between the font and the outer walls there is space enough, I think, for four or five hundred spectators to witness a baptism. On the day of my visit this space was occupied in part by a number of classes of boys who were taught by Kom- ish priests very much after the fashion of our Sunday- schools.
" Altogether, the building proclaims in the most positive way the antiquity of the practice of immer- sion. It seems absurd to suppose that the ancient Church would have gone to the trouble of erecting this large building for no other purpose than to im- merse its members, had not this been the primitive and prescribed mode. I left the building with my
3 54 THE BAPTISM OF TIIF
fiiith iu l)apti.<in by immersion deeply coufirmcd and strengthened." '
The baptismal service in this church at Easter was in full exercise a thousand years ago ; and the mode Avas immersion and the time Easter.' Tlie pope ad- ministered baptism in the font of St. John do Lat- eran^ wearing "a pair of waxed drawers" — that is, waterproof drawers. ^ History of Baptism, by Kubiniion, p. lOG. Xayhville, 1860.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 155
RUSSIA.
The Baptism of Vladimir the Great, Prince OF Russia, and of the People of Kieff. Vladimir, the ruler of the Russians in A. d. 988, was a fierce warrior and conqueror, and guilty of a licentiousness unsurpassed by sultans or Solo- mons. He was as heartless a despot and tyrant as ever trod on human rights and bleeding hearts. He was also a furious idolater, and would not scruple to offer human sacrifices to his abominable god. He made a new statue of Perune, his deity, with a silver head, which he placed near his palace. He waged war on the city of Kherson, the ruins of which still exist near Sevastopol, that he might compel the Greek emperors, its sovereigns, to give him their sister Anna in marriage, and through some exalt- ed ecclesiastic to confer Christian baptism upon him. He captured the cit}'-, and the fair princess became his wife, to the grief or deliverance of nearly a thousand women whom he forthwith dis- missed,
Kelly, in his History of Rusaia, describes the
156 THE BATTTSM OF THE
bapti.-nis followiiifr tlie capture of Kherson: "Vlad- imir," says he, " listened to some catechetical lec- tures, received the rite of baptism and the name of Basil, and restored to his brothers-in-law the conquests he had recently made.
"He had Perune tied to the tail of a horse on his return to Kieff, dragged to the Borysthenes, and all the way twelve stout soldiers, with great cudgels, beat the deified log, which was afterward thrown into the river.
" At KiefF, one day, he issued a proclamation or- dering all the inhabitants to repair the next morn- ing to the hanks of the river to he hajytized, which they joyfully oheyed." ^
The Immersion at Kieff, according to Dean Stanley. " The whole people of Kieff," says he, " were im- mersed in the Dnieper, some sitting on the banks, some i)lunged in, others swimming, while the priests read the prayers. The spot was consecrated by the first Christian church, and Kieff henceforward be- came the Canterbury of the Russian empire." ^
^ Kelly's Hidory of Russia, pp. 32, 33. Bolin, London, 1854.
2 Stanley's llhtory of the Eastern Church, p. 409. New York, 1870.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 157
Mourayieff's Account of the Baptisms after THE Capture of Kherson.
]VIoura\aeff in 1842 was chamberlain to the Em- peror of Russia, and " under-procurator of the most holy governing synod," St. Petersburg, 1838. The Rev. R. W. Blackmore, an Episcopalian chaplain in Cronstadt, who translated MouraviefF's work, says : *' He gives a clear, succinct, and regular account of the events which marked the introduction and prog- ress of Christianity in his native country." ^
Mouravieff himself says : " On the arrival of the Princess Anna at Kherson, she induced Vladimir to hasten his baptism, for it was so ordered by the wisdom of God that the sight of the prince was at that time much affected by a complaint of the eyes ; but at the moment that the Bishop of Kherson laid his hands upon him, ivhen he had risen up out of the bath of regeneration [baptism], Vladimir suddenly re- ceived not only spiritual illumination, but also the bodily sight of his eyes.
" Vladimir made a proclamation to the people, ' That whoever, on the morrow, should not repair to the river, whether rich or poor, he should hold him for his enemy.' At the call of their respected
^ MouraviefF's History of the Church of Biissia, Preface, p. 10.
14
158 THE BAPTISM OF THE
lord all the multitude of the citizens in troops, with their uives and children, flocked to the Dnieper, and ivlthout any manner of opposition received holy bap- tism as a nation from the Greek bishops and priests " [who came with Vladimir from Kherson].
"Nestor," says Mouravieff, "draws a touching picture of this baptism of a whole people at once. Some stood in the water up to their necks, other's iip to their breasts, holding their young chil- dren in their arms; the priests read the prayers from the shore, naming at once whole companies by the same name. He who was the means of thus brino-inc: them to salvation, filled with a transport of joy at the affecting sight, cried out to the Lord, offering and commending into his hands himself and his people : * O great God, who hast made heaven and earth, look down upon these thy new people. Grant them, O Lord, to know thee, the true God, as thou hast been made known to Christian lands, and confirm in them a true and unftiiling faith ; and assist me, O Lord, against my enemy that opposes me, that, trusting in thee and in thy power, I may overcome all his wiles.' " ^
This baptism of a whole city in the river Dnieper was the grand commencement of the triumph of
' MouravicfT's History of (he Church of Russia, pp. 18, 15. Oxford, 1842.
AGES AXD THE NATIONS. 159
Christianity throughout Russia. Many thousands were immersed in the Dnieper at this time, and im- mersion has been ever since, and is to-day, the only baptism of the Russians. There is a note in Mou- ravieff on this great baptism in the Dnieper, Avhich states: "The archdeacon who accompanied Macarius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, into Antioch in the time of Nikon gives a very similar description of the bap- tism of a whole tribe at once, of which he himself and the patriarch were witnesses."^
The Synod of Vladimir in Russia, and Trine Im3iersion. In A. D. 1274, Cyril, the Metropolitan of Kieff, called a synod at Vladimir to restore the discipline of the Church, and among other regulations "it forbade the practice of using affusion instead of trine immersion in holy baptism, which was probably creeping into our churches through Galich from the West." ^ This decree will be found in MouraviefF.
A Baptism in the Russian Church, w^itnessed BY Kohl, a German Traveller, about Thirty Years Since. "As the child, so long as it is unchristened, is a
little heathen, and as such a subject of the Evil
^ Mouravieff's History of the Church of liussia, p, 354. Ox- ford, 1842. 2 ji,j^i^ p 48^
160 THE BAPTISM OF THE
Spirit, the priest's first address to it is a demand that it will renounce him. ' As the child does not answer, the godfathers do so for him, and then the priest spits behind him, and all those present follow his example : they spit at the retreating devil ! This is the first act of the baptism. As an inter- lude, the priest offers up a prayer, and if he has brought singers with him, they sing. During this time the child is in 'a neutral condition, and it is in fact hard to say to which kingdom his soul belongs. The evil spirits have left him, but the good have not yet taken possession. Before the immersion the whole party, preceded by the priest and the godfathers, make a solemn procession around the font. This is repeated three times — in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Then the priest consecrates the water and puts a metal cross in it, and afterward immerses the child three times, again in the three sacred names, and lastly pronounces the baptismal names bestowed on him. After the third immersion the child is a Christian, as the visible sign of which the priest suspends a metal cross to the neck by a black string, and this is kc})t on the breast as an amulet through life. It is then dressed, the procession around the font repeated, the godfather carrying the child instead of the godmother. Burning tapers are carried be-
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 161
fore them, whose flame is always supposed to sym- bolize the Holy Ghost in the Kussian Church ; they must not begin to flame, therefore, till the child is supposed to be filled with that Spirit. The child is then anointed on the body, eyes, ears, mouth, hands, and feet. Lastly, from four places on its little head the priest cuts crosswise a piece of its silky hair. This is rolled up sometimes with a little wax into a ball and thrown into the font." ^
The Great Dissenting Community of Sta- ROVERS, OR Old Believers, in Russia, prac- tise Immersion.
This denomination numbers about eight millions, wdio have an almost idolatrous regard for ancient national customs and religious observances and peculiarities. They regard the smoking of tobacco as a sin of such unusual magnitude that the drink- ing of brandy in comparison is a trivial offence. Their converts from the Established Church are solemnly rebaptized. Dean Stanley describes one of their villages which lies " beyond the uttermost barrier of Moscow," called Preobajensk, or the Transfiguration, and according to him its people are industrious, commercial, and in many cases wealthy. "A straggling lak^,'' he says, " extends
1 Russia, by J. G. Kohl, pp. 251, 252. London, 1842. 14^:^ L
162 THE BAPTISM OF THE
itself right and left into the village, m ivhich the Starovers hajMze those ivho come over to them from the Established Church." ^
Converts of Adult Years are Immersed in THE Russian Church.
In the February number of Harper^s Magazine for 1869 there is a woodcut representing an im- mersion, as above. (Plate IV.)
The traveller who witnessed it says: "About fifty versts from Nijne Novgorod the population of a large village was gathered in Sunday dress upon the ice. A baptism was in progress, and as we drove past the assemblage I caught a glimpse of a man plunging through a freshly-cut hole. Half a minute later he emerged from the crowd and ran toward the nearest house, the water dripping from his garments and hair."^ The plate from which our picture is taken was furnished to us by the proprietors of Harper'' s Magazine.
' Stanley's History of the Eastern Church, pp. 509, 511, 516. New York, 1870.
^ Harper's Magazine, vol. 38, p. 300.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 163
TUKKEY AND GREECE.
THE GKEEK CHUKCH.
" The Constitutions and Canons of the Holy Apostles."
This work is divided into eight books, the last one of which ends with the eighty-five Canons.
The entire work is full of Scripture quotations, and while it occasionally teaches error it is rich in l^recious truths. It is of great antiquity; nearly all its latest parts come but a short way into the fourth century, and its earliest portions stretch up almost to the first. The whole work treats of doc- trines, the rights and duties of the clergy, and the principles that should govern all Christians.
In canon twenty-two ^ it condemns all deeds like the one known as "the heroic act of Origen." This canon must have been adopted when the excite- ment against the fanaticism of Origen was at its height.
Canon six : " Let not a bishop, presbyter, or
^ Constiiidions and Canons of the Holy Apodles. New York, 1848.
164 THE BAPTISM OF THE
deacon cast off his own -wife under pretence of piety ; but if he cast her off, let him be suspended. If he continue to do it let him be deposed." ^ At the Council of Nice, A. d. 325, the spirit of celi- bacy had so intensified and extended itself that only Paphnutius, an Egyptian bishop brought up in a comnuinity of monks and held in the greatest rev- erence, saved the clergy from the disruption of their families.
The Constitutions expressly declare that a life of " virginity [in monks or nuns] is not commanded by the Lord ; the practice is a voluntary one, and must not be used to the reproach of marriage." ^ This decree is as old as the end of the second century.
It gives advice repeatedly to Christians about the proper course to pursue in persecutions, showing that it was written before Constantine the Great crushed his Pagan and persecuting enemies. Whatever these " Constitutions and Canons " lack of the inspired au- thority claimed for them, and for ages freely accord- ed to them by nmltitudes, no competent scholar ever doubted the correctness of the account which they give of the government, discipline, and practices of the churches.
^ Constitulions and Canons of the Ilohj Apostles, lib. i. cap. 11. New York, 1848.
2 Ibid, lib. viii. Const. 24.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 165
The Baptism of the Constitutions and Canons.
"He who is to be initiated into Clirisfs death ought first to fast, and then be baptized, for it is not reasonable that he who has been buried with Christ and is risen again with him should appear dejected at his very resurrection." ^
"Thou, therefore, O bishop, according to that type, shalt anoint the head of those that are to be baptized, whether they be men or women, Avith the holy oil, for a type of the spiritual baptism. Then, either thou, O bishop, or a presbyter under thee, shall pronounce over them the sacred name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and shall dip them in the ivater. And let a deacon receive the man, and a deaconess the woman, that so the conferring of this invaluable seal may be done with a becoming decency." ^
" If any bishop or presbyter shall not perform three immersions of one mystery, but shall immerse once in baptism, which is given into the death of the Lord, let him be deposed.'' ^ This is the version of this section
^ Constitutions and Canons of the Holy Apostles, lib. viii. Const. 22. New York, 1848.
2 Ibid., lib. iii. Const. 16.
' 'Et Ttc; iTTiCKonoq r] 7rp£a(3vTepog, /uij rpia BanTLOfiara fiiac fj.VT]ciig £7TLr£7IaTj, a7JX' ev lidir-Lajia elf rov davaruv tov Kvpiov, KaOaipEicdo). Harduin Cone. Collec.,\o].xn.i>. 22. Paris, 1715.
166 THE BAPTISM OF THE
of the celebrated fiftieth canon given by Dionysius Exigmis ; ^ and it was unqucstioDably the understood meaning of the canon about trine immersion from the beginning. The Bibliotheca Veterum Patrum renders zftia i^a-r irTij.azo., three immersions.'"* And Strabo, in the ninth century, says: "Some want trine immer- sion, because of its resemblance to the three days' burial (of Christ), and because ^The Apostolic Canons and the custom of the Romans required it' " ^ " The Constitutions and Canons of the Holy Apostles " en- joyed the highest authority for many centuries in the Church, and they demand trine immersion.
Gregory of Nyssa and Immersion. Gregory Nyssen was one of the most prominent and popular bishops of the Eastern Church. He wielded a powerful influence in the councils of bishops and in the public aflliirs of the Eastern Empire. He occupied a conspicuous place in the General Council of Constantinople, A. d. 382, and by its appointment delivered before the council the
^ Trinam mersionem .... semel mergat in baptismate. Codex Canon. Ecclcs., Patrol. Laf., vol. 67, p. 148. Migne. Parisiis.
"^ Si quis episcopus, aut presbyter, non tres mersiones fece- rit, sed unam mersionem. Biblio. Vet. Patrum, Gallan, torn iii. 244. Venet., 1767.
3 See Wilafrid Strabo.
AGES AND THE NATIONS 167
funeral oration of Meletius, Patriarch of Autioch. In A. D. 385 he preached in Constantinople the fu- neral discourse of the Empress Placilla. Speaking of baptism, he says :
" Coming to the water, we hide ourselves in it, as the Saviour hid himself in the earth." ^ With him bap- tism concealed or covered the baptized person with water.
Chrysostom and Immersion.
Chrysostom, the persecuted patriarch, eloquent preacher, and earnest Christian, had a widespread popularity, and a popularity that has journeyed down the ages for fifteen centuries, and is never likely to suffer any abatement. In his day many of the clergy hated him, and for some reason the Empress Eudoxia, who took special charge of Ar- cadius, her unresisting husband, and of his sceptre, regarded Chrysostom with bitter dislike. Once, through her influence, he was sent into exile, but the threatenings of the people and the persuasive terrors of an alarming earthquake made it neces- sary to recall him to his church. A silver statue of the empress, standing upon a column of por-
1 To v(^ojp epxo/uevoc eKEivcj tavrovq hyKpvKTOfiev. Greg. Nys- sen, torn, iii,, De Bap. Christ., vol. xlvi., p. 585 ; Patrol. Grceca. Migne. Parisiis, 1858.
168 THE BAPTISM OF THE
pliyiy, had been placed only the half breadth of the street from the church of St. Sophia. To this statue such honors were paid, and around it such shouting, confusion, and wickedness prevailed, as appeared to Chrysostom to be a disgrace to the temple of Jehovah. In a moment of excitement he denounced the statue and the scenes that were constantly occurring around it. The empress was indignant, and John had to leave the cai)ital of the Eastern Caesars again. Chrysostom is the grand representative of the Greek Church of the fourth century. AVriting of baptism, he says :
" For we shiJcing our heads in the water, as if in some grave, the old man is buried; and the whole man, having sunk entirely down, is concealed. Then, we emerging, the new man arises again. For as it is easy for us to be immersed and to emerge, so it is easy for God to bury the old man and bring to light the new. This is done three times." ^
The ancient deacons led the man to be baptized into the fountain up to the neck in the water ; and
^ KadaTrep yap ev tlvl Td<p(l>j tC> w^ari Kara 6v6vtuv ?}uo)v rag Ke<paldg, 6 iralaLoq avdpuTcoc ddTZTerat, Kai Karadvg Karu Kpvirre-' rat u7lO£ Kaftarra^. Elra dvavevovruv ////wv, 6 Kaivbg avetai TrdTitv. 'Q<77rep yap evKoXov 7]uiv iSarrTiaaodat koI avavevaai. Ovruq evkoT^ov T(i) deci ddil>ai t6v dvdpuKOV t6v Tca/iatbv Kal dvacki^ai rov veov. Toi-ov de TovTo yiverai. Chrysos. on John iii. 5, vol. viii. p. 168. Parisiis, 1836.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 169
if the candidate was a woman, the deaconesses placed her in the same situation; and the act of baptism after this consisted simply in sinking the head of the person in the water three times in the name of the Holy Trinity; and in this way, ac- cording to Chrysostom, " the whole man, having sunk entirely down, was concealed.^'
Philostorgius and Immersion.
Philostorgius was born in Cappadocia about A. d. 364. He was educated in Constantinople, and it is not known whether he was a lawyer or a religious teacher. He wrote an ecclesiastical history, from the origin of Arianism to A. d. 425, which is lost.
Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople in the latter part of the ninth century, made an abridgment of the work of Philostorgius, which still remains ; and in the abridged history Philostorgius says :
" The Eunomians baptized not ivith trine immer- sion, hut with one immersion, baptizing, as they said, into the Lord's death." ^
The word used by Photius, and most probably by Philostorgius, means sinking or causing to sink.
From the way in which Philostorgius expresses it,
1 Karadvaiq. Philostorg. Eccles. Hist. Epiio., lib. x. cap. 4, p. 523. Parisiis, 1673. 15
170 THE BAPTISM OF TFIE
it is clear that all but the Eunomians had trine im- mersion in baptism in the fourth century.
A Baptism ix Athens according to the Rites OF THE Greek Church.
Bayard Taylor, the well-known traveller, while in Athens, witnessed in a private house the immer- sion of a child. He says :
"I neglected no opportunity of witnessing the ceremonials of the Greek Church. In the East, the sacraments of the Church have still their ancient significance. The people have made little or no spiritual progress in a thousand years, and many forms which elsewhere are retained by the force of habit — their orif^inal meanino; havins; lon^ since been lost sight of — are still imbued with vital j^i'incij^le.
" The parents received us at the door. Every- thing was in readiness for the ceremony. The priest — a tall, vigorous Macedonian, a married man — and the deacon — a very handsome young fellow, with a dark olive complexion and large languish- ing eyes — now prepared themselves by putting long embroidered collars over their gowns. They then made an altar of the chest of drawers, by placing u])on it a picture of the Virgin, with lighted tapers on either side. Then a small table was brought into the centre of the room as a pedestal for a tall
AGES AXD THE NATIONS. 171
tri-forked wax candle, representing the Trinity. A large brazen urn, the baptismal font, was next carried in ; the priest's son, a boy of twelve, put coals and incense into the censer, and the ceremony began. The godfather, who was a venerable old gentleman, took his station in front of the font. Beside him stood the nurse holding the babe, a lively boy of six weeks old. Neither of the parents is allowed to be present during the ceremony.
"After some preliminary chants and crossings, in the latter of which the whole company joined, the priest made the sign of the cross three times over the infant, blowing in its face each time. The object of this was to exorcise and banish from its body the evil spirits which are supposed to be in possession of it up to the moment of baptism. The godfather then took it in his arms, and the Nicene Creed was thrice repeated — once by the deacon, once by the priest's son, and once by the godfather. A short liturgy followed, after which the latter pro- nounced the child's name — 'Apostolos' — which he had himself chosen. It is very important that the name should be mentioned to no one, not even to the parents, until the moment of baptism ; it must then be spoken for the first time.
" The position of godfather in Greece carries with it a great responsibility. In the two Protestant
172 THE BAPTISM OF THE
sects which still retain this beautiful custom it is hardly more than a form, complimentary to the person who receives the office, but no longer carry- ing with it any real obligation. Among the Greeks, however, it is a relation to which belong legally acknowledged rights and duties, still further pro- tected by all the sanction which the Church can confer. The godfather has not only the privilege of paying all the baptismal expenses and present- ing the accustomed mug and spoon, but he stands thenceforth in a spiritual relationship to the family which has all the force of a connection by blood. For instance, he is not allowed to marry into the family within the limits of consanguinity prohibited by the Church, which extend as far as the ninth degree, whatever that may be. He also watches over the child with paternal care, and in certain cases his authority transcends even that of the pa- rents. The priest and deacon put on embroidered stoles, rather the worse for wear, and the former rolled up his sleeves. Basins of hot and cold water were poured into the font, and stirred together till a proper temperature was obtained. The water was then consecrated by holding a Bible over it, blowing upon it to expel the demons, dividing it with the hand in the form of a cross nine times — three apiece for each person of the Trinity — and
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 173
various other mystical ceremonies accompanied with nasal chanting. The censer, now puffing a thick cloud of incense, was swung toward the Virgin, then toward us, and then the other guests in succession, each one acknowledging the compliment by an in- clination of the head.
"A bottle of oil was next produced, and under- went the same process of consecration as the water. The priest first poured some of it three times into the font in the form of a cross, and then filled the godfather's hollow hand, which was extended to re- ceive it. The infant, having been meanwhile laid upon the floor and stripped, was taken up like a poor, unconscious, wriggling worm as it was, and anointed by the priest upon the forehead, breast, elbows, knees, palms of the hands, and soles of the feet. Each lubrication was accompanied by an ap- propriate blessing, until every important part of the body had been redeemed from the evil powers. The godfather then used the child as a towel, wiping his oily hands upon it, after which the priest placed it ^ in the font.
" The little fellow had been yelling lustily up to
this time, but the hath soothed and quieted him.
With one hand the priest poured ivater p>lentifully on
his head, then lifted him out and dipped him a second
''None of the italics after this are Bayard Taylor's. 15*
174 THE BAPTISM OF THE
time; but insiead of affimon, it was this time com} immersion. Placing his hand over the child's mouth and nose, he ijlunged it completely under three times in succession.
" The Greek Christians skilfully avoid the vexed question of 'sprinkling or immersion,' on which so much breath has been vainly spent, by combining both methods. If a child three times sprinkled and three times dipped is not sufficiently baptized, the ordinance had better be set aside.
" The screaming and half-strangled babe was laid on a warm cloth ; and while the nurse dried his body the priest cut four bits of hair from the top of his head — in the form of a cross, of course — and threw them into the font. A gaudy dress of blue and white, with a lace cap, the godfather's gift, was then produced, and the priest proceeded to clothe the child. It was an act of great solemnity, in which each article assumed a spiritual significance. Thus : ' I endow^ thee with the coat of righteousness,' and on went the coat ; ' I crown thee with the cap of grace,' and he put it on ; . . . . " ^
^ IVavels in Greece and Bussia, by Bayard Taylor, pp. 54- 59. New York, 1859.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 175
"Office of Holy Baptism" of the Greek Church, by A. N. Arnold, D. D., Chicago.
"B. The priest enters, and changing his priestly ivhite robe and sleeves, and touching all the candles, having taken the censer, he goes to the font and incenses it with a circidar motion ; and having laid aside the censer, worships. Then the deacon says :
' Bless, O Lord.'
"R. Then the priest, ivith a loud voice: ' Blessed be the kiogdom of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and always, and world without end. Amen.'
''R. The deacon:
* In peace let us beseech the Lord.'
"i2. The choir:
' Lord, have mercy ! In behalf of the peace that is
from above and salvation ; in behalf of the peace of
the whole world ; in behalf of this Holy Family and
of those in the faith ; in behalf of the sanctification
of this water, by the power, and the energy, and the
impartation of the Holy Spirit, let us beseech the
Lord.'
(Then follow twelve other short prayers, occupy- ing a page of the book, all ending as above : then the following :)
' Help, save, have mercy, and keep us ;
176 THE BAPTISM OF THE
Through tlie all-holy, undefiled, hyper-blessed, our glorious Lady, the Mother of God.'
"i2. And while the deacon is saying these things, the priest says by himself the following prayer secretly.
(Here follo^YS the prayer, occupying nearly a page.)
"jR. It is necessary to understand that he does not speak aloud, but even the 'amen' he says to himself. Afterward he says this prayer aloud.
(Here follows a prayer, occupying a whole page, and ending as follows, after a reference to Christ's sanctifying the waters of the Jordan by his baptism :)
* Be thou present, therefore, O merciful King, now also by the impartation of thy Holy Spirit, and sanctify this water.'
"i?. [Bepeat three times.)
* And give to it the grace of redemption, the bless- ing of the Jordan. Make it a fountain of incor- ruption, a gift of sanctification, a deliverance from sin, a medicine against diseases, destructive to de- mons, inaccessible to hostile powers, filled with an- gelic strength. Let those who plot against thy creature flee from it; because, O Lord, I have in- voked thy name, which is wonderful and glorious, and terrible to the adversaries.'
"E. Then he makes the sign of the cross and breuthes upon the water three times^ and prays, saying :
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 177
* Let all the hostile powers be shattered under the sign of the venerable cross (three time^). Let all the aerial and invisible idols depart, and let there not hide in this water any dark demon ; neither let there descend upon the baptized, we beseech thee, any wdcked spirit, bringing darkness of thoughts and perturbation of mind. But do thou, O Lord of all, make this water a water of redemption, a water of sanctification, a purification of flesh and spirit, a release from bonds, a remission of trans- gressions, an enlightenment of souls, a laver of re- generation, a renewal of spirit, a grace of adoption, a garment of incorruption, a fountain of life. For thou, O Lord, hast said, " Wash you, make you clean, put away the wickedness of your souls." Thou hast given to us the regeneration from above, through water and Spirit. Manifest thyself, O Lord, in this, and grant that the one baptized in it may be transformed, so as to put off* the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and may put on the new^ man, which is re- newed after the image of Him that created him, in order that, being planted together in the like- ness of his death by baptism, he may become a partaker also of his resurrection, and preserving the gift of the Holy Spirit and increasing the deposit of grace, may receive the prize of the
178 THE BAPTISM OF THE
heavenly calliug, aud be numbered with the first- born who are registered in heaven, in thee, our God aud Lord Jesus Christ. For to thee belong glory, power, honor, and worship, together with thine eternal Father, and thy holy and good and life-giving Spirit, now and always, and world with- out end. Amen.
* Peace be with all. Bow your heads to the Lord.'
"R. And he breathes upon the vessel of oil three times, and makes the sign of the cross three times upon the oil, which is held by the deacon; and when the deacon says, 'Let us beseech the Lord,' the priest shall say the following prayer :
' O Lord God of our fathers, who didst send to those who were in Noah's ark a dove, having a twig of olive in its mouth, a symbol of reconcilia- tion and of salvation from the deluge, and didst foreshadow by these things the mystery of grace, and didst furnish the fruit of the olive tree for the fulfilment of thy holy mysteries, and by this didst fill with the Holy Spirit those under the law, and dost perfect those under grace, do thou bless also this oil, by the power and energy and impart- ation of thy Holy Spirit, so that it may become an ointment of incorruption, a weapon of righteous- ness, a renewing of soul and body, an antidote of every diabolical influence, a deliverance from all
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 179
evils to those anointed in faith, and partaking of it to thy glory, and of thy only-begotten Son, and of thy all-holy and good and life-giving Spirit, now and always, and world without end.'
''B. The choir, 'Amen.^ The deacon, ^Let us give attention,'' *'i2. The priest, singing the hallelujah three times with the people, makes the sign of the cross three times with the oil on the water. Then he says aloud,
'Blessed be God, who enlightens and sanctifies every man coming into the world, now and always, and world without end.'
"i2. The choir, ^Amen.^ "B. And the one to be baptized is brought forward. And the priest takes of the oil, and makes the sign of the cross upon the forehead and th* breast and the bad., saying,
' The servant of the Lord [name] is anointed with the oil of gladness, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and always, and world without end. Amen.'
"i2. And he makes the sign of the cross upon his breast and his
back.
"B. {Making it) upon his breast, he says :
' For healing of soul and body.' "B. {Making it) upon his ears, he says :
' For the hearing of faith.'
"B. {Making it) upon his feet, he says:
* That his steps may go in thy ways.'
180 THE BAPTISM OF THE
"R. {Making it) vpon his hands, he says: ' Thy hands have made me and fashioned me.' "JR. And when the whole body has been anointed, the priest bap- tizes him, holding him in an erect posture, and with his face to the east, and saying,
' The servant of the Lord [name] is baptized in the name of the Father, amen, and of the Son, amen, and of the Holy Spirit, amen, now and al- ways, and world without end. Amen.'
"R. At each invocation sinking him and raising him.
"R. And after the baptism the priest washes his hands,
'^R. Singing uith the people,
' Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.'
"R. And the rest of the psalm three times. "J2. And putting on him the vestments, he says:
' The servant of God [name] is clothed with the robe of righteousness, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and always, and world without end. Amen.'
"R. And a short hymn [troparion'] is sung.
* Supply to me a shining robe, O merciful Christ, our God, who clothest thyself with light as with a garment.' "R. And after he is clothed the priest prays, saying this prayer:
'Let us beseech the Lord. Blessed art thou, O Lord God Almighty, the Fountain of blessings, the
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 181
Sun of righteousness, who sheddest the light of sal- vation upon those in darkness, by the appearance of thy only-begotten Sou and our God, and who hast given to us, who are unworthy, the blessed puri- fication in the holy water and the divine sanctifica- tion in the life-giving anointing, and who hast now been pleased to regenerate thy servant, the one newly enlightened by water and Spirit, and hast given to him the remission of all sins, voluntary and involuntary. Do thou, O most royal and merciful Lord, grant to him also the seal of the gift of thy holy, almighty, and adorable Spirit, and the participation of the holy body and the vener- able blood of thy Christ. Keep him in thy sancti- fication, confirm him in the orthodox faith, deliver him from the wicked one, and from all his devices, and keep his soul in thy saving fear, in purity and righteousness, in order that, pleasing thee in every work and word, he may become a son and heir of thy heavenly kingdom.'
"R. Aloud. ' For thou art our God, a God of mercy and sal- vation, and to thee we ascribe glory, to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and always, and world without end. Amen.' "B. And after the prayer he anoints the baptized icith the holy ointment, making the sign of the cross upon his forehead,
182 THE BAPTISM OF THE
and Ids eyes, and his nostrils, and his mouth, and both his ears, and his breast, and his hands, and his feet, saying : ' The seal of the gift of thfe Holy Spirit. Amen.'
"B. Then the priest, ivith the sponsor and the child, make the form of a circle, and we sing :
' As many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ. Hallelujah!'
"i2. This is done three times; then the text, *The Lord is my Light and my Saviour. The Lord is the Defender of my life.'
"i2. 'The Epistle.
Komaus vi. 3-11.
"i2. Gospel from Matthew ocxviii. 16-20.
"R. Then the bidding prayer and dismission.
>jC 5jC ^ ?jC ?}v 5fi
"B. After seven days the child is again brought to the church for the ablution [cnroTiovaig). After three short prayers,
"B. The priest loosens the child's girdle and garment, and unit- ing the ends of than, wets them with clean water and sprinkles (I'mivec) the child, saying:
'Thou hast been justified, thou hast been enlight- ened,' etc.
"B. And taking a new sponge with water, he wipes the child's face, and head, and breast, saying:
' Thou hast been baptized, thou hast been enlight- ened, thou hast been anointed, thou hast been sanc- tified, thou hast been washed in the name of the
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 183
Father, aod of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and world without end. Amen.' ^
" The lines marked R. in the margin are the rub- rics, and are printed in red letters in the book.
" The confirmation service is united with the bap- tismal. The anointing, or chrism, mentioned is the Greek rite of confirmation.
"The short service of ablution is appended, be- cause of the sprinkling mentioned in it, which it is supposed may have been mistaken for baptism by some of those not very well informed travellers who have testified so positively that they have seen bap- tism performed by sprinkling in the Greek Church."
Dr. Arnold and Immersions in Greece.
Dr. Arnold — until recently a professor in the Baptist Theological Seminary of Chicago — is one of the most scholarly men in or out of the Baptist denomination in the United States. He was for several years a missionary in Greece, with the most favorable opportunities for becoming familiar with the religious observances of the Greeks. AVriting of modern baptism among them, he says :
" The writer has repeatedly seen baptism admin- istered according to the Greek ritual, and in every instance it has been a trijjle immersion. If, as may ^ Translated from the Ei';i;o?id)'fov, pp. 137-147.
184 THE BAPTISM OF THE
sometimes happen, any little portion of the body is not completely submerged ivhen the child is placed naked in the font, the priest, by a movement of his hand, sends a ivave over it.'' ^
The Greek Church and Immersion.
Deau Stanley, an eminent Episcopalian, makes the following statement :
" There can be no question that the original form of baptism — the very meaning of the word — was com- plete immersion in the deep baptismal waters, and that for at least four centuries any other form was either unknown or regarded, unless in the case of dangerous illness, as an exceptional, almost a mon- strous, case. To this form the Eastern Church still rigidly adheres, and the most illustrious and vener- able portion of it — that of the Byzantine Empire — absolutely repudiates and ignores any other mode of administration as essentially invalid." '^
" The validity of the baptisms [sprinklings] of the Western Church is to this day denied by the Church of Constantinople." ^
Dean Stanley might have said that twelve cen- turies instead of four was the period during which immersion was the baptism of Christendom. 1 The Baptist Quarterly, vol. iv. 1870, p. 83.
^Stanley's History of the Eastern Church, p. 117. New York, 1870. 3 ji,ij^ p 4(5Q^
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 185
SEEY I A.
A Servian Baptism in 1876.
Milan, Prince of Servia, through the war which his principality lately waged with Turkey and the conflict of 1877 between Russia and the Ottoman Porte, has become well known to the reading world. In 1876 a respectable English^ paper gave the fol- lowing account of the baptism of his child :
" The infant son of Prince Milan was baptized at the palace, according to the rites of the Greek Church. He received the name of Milosh. Consul Kartzoff represented the Emperor of Russia as spon- sor. There was no godmother. The service is a long one. The infant is stripped naked and eom- pletely immersed in the font A collect was sung for the prince, the princess, and the Emperor of Russia. With the exception of M. Kartzoff, all the foreign consuls were in plain clothes. In the evening there was a display of fireworks, but no illumination."
^ Deal, Walmer, Dover, and Kentish Telegraph, Oct. 28, 1876. 16*
186 THE BAPl'ISM OF THE
TUEKEY, PERSIA, AND THE EAST.
A Miraculous Baptism, a. d. 1299.
Matthew of Westminster, in his Flowers of Hidory, written in the early part of the fourteenth century, tells a very curious Eastern story. He says :
" Paganus, brother of the great Cassanus, King of the Tartars, loved the daughter of the King of Ar- menia, who was a Christian ; accordingly, he begged the father that the girl might be given to him in marriage ; but the King of Armenia would not grant his request unless he laid aside the errors of heathen- ism and became a Christian. . . . His daughter, wish- ing to spare the people, voluntarily consented [to the marriage]. Afterward, when they had a child born of the male sex, he was found to be hairy and shaggy like a bear. And when he was brought to his father, he said that he was not his, and immediately ordered him to be burned in the fire. But his mother resist- ed, and ordered him to be baptized; and immediately, as soon as he had been thrice immersed ' i)i the sacred ^ Flowers of History, vol. ii. p. 531. London, 1853.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 187
font all the hairiness fell from the child, and he ap- peared smooth and the most beautiful of infants."
A Portion of the Nestorian Baptismal Ser- vice NOW IN Use.
"The deacons shall bring the children into the baptistery, their earrings, rings, and bracelets having been taken off, and they shall inquire the names to be given to the children, and shall communicate the same to the priest. The deacons shall then bind up their - loins, and place their stoles under the vessel containing the oil. And every child who is admitted shall be provided with a napkin to be wrapped in after baptism, which shall be carried by the deacon on his shoulder. . . . Then those present shall care- fully and properly anoint all over the person of him whom the priest anointed ; and they shall not leave any part of him unanointed. Then they shall take him to the priest standing by the font, who ah^iW place him therein, with his face to the east; and he shall dip him therein three times, saying at the first time, * A. B., be thou baptized in the name of the Father.' R. ' Amen.' The second time : ' In the name of the Son.' E. * Amen.' And at the third time : ' In the name of the Holy Ghost.' i?. * Amen.' In dipping him he shall dip him up to the neck, and then j^ut his hand upon him, so that his head may be submerged.
188 THE BAPTISM OF THE
Then the priest shall tuhe him out of the font and give him to the deacon, Avho shall wrap him up in a white napkin and commit him to his godfathers. Then his clean clothes shall be put on, but his head must be left bare until the priest shall bind on his head-dress after the last signing."^
The Armenians and Immersion.
The Rev. H. G. O. Dwight — a Congregational missionary in Turkey of great worth and of ex- tensive usefulness — in his work called Christianity in Turkey, published in 1854, writes:
" The whole number of Armenians now in the world is estimated at not far from three millions. More than half of these — perhaps two-thirds —are inhabitants of Turkey. Large numbers are found in Russia, especially in the Georgian provinces, and very many also in Persia. They live in various parts of India, and some are fouud in Burmah and China. Wherever they go they are marked for their enterprise, ability, and intelligence, and it is acknowledged on all hands that they possess the elements of a superior character. In Turkey the principal merchants are Armenians, and nearly all the great bankers of the government; and whatever
' The Nestorians and their Rituals, by Badger, Episcopalian, vol. ii. pp. 207, 208. London, 1852.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 189
arts there are that require peculiar ingenuity and skill, they are almost sure to be in the hands of Armenians. They are the Anglo-Saxons of the East."^
Giving an account of their religious rites, Dwight states that
"BajMsm is performed by triple immersion, also by pouring water afterward three times upon the head." '
The triple pouring after baptism has been per- formed is a custom in the Greek Church, as will be seen by looking at the closing portion of Dr. Arnold's translation of The Office of Holy Baptism of that Church. It takes place seven days after the baptism, and is called the "ablution."
The baptism of the Armenians is a "triple im- mersion," no matter what additions have been made to it.
^ Christianity in Turkey, pp. 13, 14, London, 1854. 2 Ibid., p. 11.
190 THE BAPTISM OF THE
PALESTINE.
Jewish Proselyte Baptism.
Dr. John Lightfoot, a member of the AVest- minster Assembly of Divines that framed the Cod- fession of Faith of our American Presbyterian brethren, a Hebrew scholar of unusual research, represents the baptism of proselytes as ages more ancient than Christ's day, and he gives the follow- ing account of the method of performing it :
" They do not baptize a proselyte by night, nor on the Sabbath, nor on a holy day. It is required that three men who are scholars of the wise men be present at the baptism of a proselyte, who may take care that the business be rightly performed, and may briefly instruct the catechumen [candidate].
"As soon as the proselyte grows whole of the wound of circumcision they bring him to baptism, and being placed in the water, they again instruct him in some weightier and in some lighter com- mands of the Law ; which being heard, he plunges himself and comes uji, and, behold ! he is an Israelite in all things. The women place a woman in the
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 191
waters up to the neck, and two disciples of the wise men, standing without, instruct her about some lighter precepts of the Law and some weightier, while she in the mean time stands in the waters ; and then she plungeth herself, and they, turning away their faces, go out, while she comes up out of the water.
"Now, what that plunging was you may know from those things which Maimonides speaks in Mikvaoth : * Every person baptized must dip his whole body, now stripped and made naked, at one dipping. And w^heresoever in the Law washing of the garments or body is mentioned, it means nothing else than the washing of the whole body; for if any wash himself all over except the very tip of his little finger, he is still in his un cleanness.' " ^ This by some is supposed to be the source of Chris- tian baptism.
Jew^ish Proselyte Baptism by a Learned Kabbi now Officiating in a Congregation OF American Israelites.
" 1. The Mikveh is a rabbinical institution of very ancient date. \_Mikveh, a bath, a gathering of running waters.]
^ Lightfoot's Whole Works, vol. xi. pp. 59-61. London, 1823.
192 THE BAPTISM OF THE
" 2. It must possess dinieDsions enabling a person of average size to plunge into it, Avithout leaving a particle of the body exposed.
" 3. The -water must flow from the main source, and not be simply poured into it.
" 4. Persons voluntarily joining the Hebrew faith must make an immersion as described above, typi- cal of their having cleansed themselves of errone- ous ideas and of having become mentally regene- rated." This is a very old and a very complete immersion.
A Jewish friend, of marked intelligence and of literary tastes, says of the writer of the above: "He is one of the purest and noblest followers of God's word that ever lived."
Immersion in the New Testament.
" Then went out to John Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about Jordan, and were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins." Matt. iii. 5, 6.
" Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him ; but John forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and com- est thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him. Suffer it to be so now : for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 193
and Jesiis when he was baptized went up straightway out of the water r Matt. iii. 13-16.
"John did baptize in the -wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance, for the remission of sins ; and there went out to him all the land of Judea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins." Mark i. 4, 5.
"And John also was baptizing in Enon near to Sa- lim, because there was much water there." John iii. 23.
" Therefore 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.
^^ Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him, through the faith of the operation of God." Col. ii. 12.
Matthew says that " Jerusalem, and all Judea were baptized in Jordan ;" he says that " when the Sa- viour was baptized he went up straightway out of the water." Mark says that " all the land of Judea, and they of Jerusalem, iver-e baptized by John in the river Jordan ;" and the apostle John declares that John the Baptist " was baptizing in Enon near to Salim, be- cause there was much water there." These baptisms were undoubted immersions.
Professor Coleman, commenting on the words of Justin Martyr, " We then lead them [candidates for 17 N
194 THE BAPTISM OF THE
baptism] to a place where there is water," says: "The conducting of the candidate to a place where there is water, and there baptizing him, instead of causing water to be brought, seems to intimate that at this time the Eastern Church, or at least the Church of Ephesus, had begun to baptize by immersion."^ If the professor is right in his conjecture about the mode of Justin's baptism, then every one baptized in the Jordan or at Enon wcis immersed. And as in the New Testament there was " one Lord, one faith, and one baptimn,'' it would follow that all baptisms recorded in the New Testament were immersions.
The great Dr. John Lightfoot says of John's bap- tism : " That the baptism, of John was by plunging the body, after the same inanner as the washing of unclean persons and the baptism of proselytes, seems to appear from those things which are related of him — namely, that he * baptized in Jordan ;' that he baptized * in Enon, because there was much water there/ and that Christ, being baptized, * came up out of the water/ to which that seems to be parallel (Acts viii.), * Philip and the eunuch went down into the ivater/"^ etc. That Dr. Lightfoot is right to us is certain. And if this statement appeared in some public journal, " On the
* Coleman's Ancient Chriatianity Exemplified, p. 368. Phila- delphia, 1852.
'' LirjhlfooCs Whole Worh, vol. xi. p. G3. London, 1823.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 195
second Sunday in May twenty-five persons were bap- tized in the Mississippi Kiver at Vicksburg," what person of intelligence would dream that they were sprinkled or had water poured upon them ?
St. Jerome and Immersion.
The monk of Palestine, who revised the New Tes- tament of the Latin Vulgate and translated the Old, was a power in the fourth century and for ages afterward. He was learned and pious and crotch- ety ; a troublesome neighbor, yet a blessing to the Church. He makes the following statement about trine immersion :
"And many other things which are observed in the churches claim the authority of the written law for themselves, as in the font to plunge the head three times under the ivater.^^ ^
Commenting on " one Lord, one faith, and one baptism," Eph. iv. 5, he asserts that
"We are immersed three times, that the one mys- tery of the Trinity might appear." ^
' In lavacro ter caput mergitare. Adver. Lnciferianos, torn. ill. p. 63. Basle, 1516.
2 Ter mergiraur. Ibid., torn. ix. p. 109.
196 THE BAPTISM OF THE
NORTH AFRICA.
Tertullian on Baptism.
Tertullian was born in Carthage A. d. 160. He was originally a lawyer, and . had become a presbyter of the church in his native city. His style and his temper are stiff. He was so conscien- tious as to be crotchety. After A. d. 200 he joined the Montanists, who are said to have had an ex- aggerated opinion about the amount of the Spirit possessed by their founder. Before he became a follower of Montanus he wrote his tract on baptism. Tertullian, during and after his own time, enjoyed the warm regards of Christians, especially of Cyp- rian, the master-spirit of the Church in North Af- rica in the third century. Tertullian was a lowly Christian, as his last words in De Baptismo show. "Ask," he says, "and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and it shall be opened unto you ; and when you ask, I only pray that you would remember Tertullian the sinner." He was the first Christian writer who used the Latin tongue, and Tertullian composed the first work on baj^tism ever
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 197
given to the world by a disciple of Jesus. In his treatise on baptism he says :
" We little fish are horn in the ivater.'' ^ " It is of no consequence whether (^in bajytism) a man is washed in the sea or in a pool, in a river or in a fountain, in a lake or in the channel oj a river ; 7ior is there any difference between those whom John im- mersed in the Jordan and those whom Peter immersed in the Tiber." ^ " The act of baptism itself belongs to the flesh, because we are immersed in water ; ^ its effect is spiritual, because we are freed from sins." " Christ himself ivas immersed in the water." ^ " It is one thing to be sprinkled or taken unawares by the violence of the sea, and another to be immersed by the discipline of religion." '" Quoting from Paul's letter to the Corinthians about their controversies his saying that " He was not sent to immerse men,
^ Nos pisciciiU ... in aqua nascimur. De Baptismo, cap. 1. Lipsise, 1839.
^ Nulla distinctio est, mari quis an stagno, fluraine an fonte, lacu an alveo diluatur. Nee quicquam refert inter eos, quos Joannes in Jordane et quos Petros in Tiberi tinxit. Ibid., caj). 4.
^ Ipsius baptism! carnalis actus, quod in aqua mergimur. Ibid., cap, 7.
* Christus ipse aqua tinguitur. Ibid., cap. 9.
^ Aliud adspergi vel intercepi violentia maris, aliud tingui disciplina religionis. Ibid., cap. 1 2. 17 «
198 THE BAPTISM OF THE
but to preach," he says that "He should first preach, and then immerse. . . . He could lawfully immerse who had a right to preach." ^ Elsewhere in his works Tertullian says of baptism : " But first in the church, under the management of the bishop, we bear some testimony that we have renounced the devil and his pomps and angels. Then, answering somewhat more fully than the Lord appointed in the Gospel, we are immersed three times.^'^
"Our Saviour commanded us to immerse^ into the Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit ; not into one person, and not once, but three times. At each name we are immersed * into each j^erson.^'
^ Non ad tinguendum . . . licuit et tinguere. De Baptismo, cap. 14.
2 Ter mergitainur. De Corona, Patrol. Led., vol. ii. p. 99. Migne. Parisiis.
' Ut tinguerunt . . . in personassingulas tinguimur. Liber ad Prap., cap. 2G ; Ibid., ii. 213.
* Tertullian, in his sixteen duodecimo pages on baptism, uses tingo forty-six times in the sense of dipping, and meryo, to immerse, abluo, to wash, and lava, to bathe, ten times to describe baptismal immersion. Tingo and mergo, imviergo and mergito, with Tertullian were identical in meaning. He uses Ungo and mergi(o on this very page and in exactly the same sense. Tingo is used in the Vulgate when the rich man cries, " Father Abraham, have compassion upon me, and send Lazarus that he may dip (intingat) the tip of his finger into water and cool my tongue." Luke xvi. 24. Tingo is used
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 199
in Matt, xxvi. 23 and in Mark xiv. 20 to express d'ppwg. Hugo of St. Victor (Summa Sentent., tract v. cap. 3 ; Patrol. Led., vol. 176, p. 130) quotes Gregory's letter to Leander as if he had said : " There will be no fault in immersing (lingere) once or thrice, since in three immersions (mersionibus) the Trinity can be represented." AVith Hugo tingo and me^-go meant, in baptism, the same immersion. Boniface, the apostle of the Germans, uses tingo in the same sense. He tells the English Abbess Eadburga about spirits which he saw in a vision, " some of which were dipped {tingehantur) as if the whole body were immersed " {mersare. Ep. Bonif., 20 ; Script. Eccles., viii., Saec. Migne. Parisiis). In the beginning of the thirteenth century it lost, like baptize, the idea of mode entirely, and came to be employed as the compilers of the Catechism of the Council of Trent {Catech., pars ii. cap. 2, quaest. 17, p. 136. Lipsise, 1865) use it when they say: "For those who ought to be initiated by this sacrament are either plunged into water {in aquam merguntur), or water is poured upon them, or they are tinged (tinguntur) — that is, baptized — by sprinkling." But for 1000 years in Latin Christian litera- ture tingo meant baptism by immersion, and it was used ap- parently in the first Latin version of the New Testament ever made. Jerome, in his revised New Testament of the Vulgate in the fourth century, transfers baptize in the commission. Matt, xxviii. 19. Tertullian, in De Baptismo, cap. 13, in the end of the second century, quotes, most probably from the very earliest Latin translation, the same commission ; and " baptizing them " is immersing them [tinguentes).
200 THE BAPTISM OF THE
The Baptism of the Bishops of North Africa, A. D. 2o6.
In that part of the world as early as the end of the second century Christians were numerous. In the middle of the third century a council was held in Carthage to settle the controversy then raging about rebaptizing heretics. The council was com- posed of eighty-five bishops.
Each bishop gave his opinion, and Cyprian re- corded each declaration and numbered it. He was the leading prelate in the council, and he gives his decision last. Munnulus, Bishop of Girba, was the tenth speaker, and the following is his deliverance, as translated by a learned Episcopalian : ^
" The true doctrine of our holy mother, the Cath- olic Church, has always been with us, my brethren, and especially in the article of baptism, and the trine immersion wherewith it is celebrated, our Lord having said, ' Go ye and baptize the Gentiles in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, etc' " '' Munnulus then proceeds to repudiate all baptisms administered by persons outside the
^ St. Cyprian's Works, translated by Nath. Marshall, LL.B., Vicar of St. Yedastus, London, p. 241. London, 1717.
^ Vol et maxime baptismatis trinitate. Cypriani Opera^ Cone. Carth., p. 230. Colonic, 1G17.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 201
Church. Cyprian breathes no word of dissent from the judgment of Munnulus ; and no living man in such a meeting was so likely to relieve his mind as the Bishop of Carthage. Tertullian, sixty years before in Carthage, wrote about baptism : We are immersed three times ; and Cyprian, when asking for Tertullian's works, was accustomed to say, " Give me my master ;" so that an agreement on all great questions existed between the bishop and his master the presbyter. Seventy-five bishops followed Mun- nulus, and no one of them differed from him.
St. Augustike of Hippo and Immersion.
Augustine was a native of North Africa. His father's name was Patric, and his mother's Monica. Like the mothers of many other great men, Monica possessed remarkable talents, and she was a devoted Christian. For many years she labored unsuccess- fully for Augustine's conversion. His education, except in Greek, was respectable, and he became a popular teacher of rhetoric in Carthage, Rome, and Milan. His unconverted life was very immoral, and a considerable part of it was spent among the heretical Manichees. At Milan the discourses of the devout Ambrose led Augustine to the Saviour and to a holy life ; and the Epistles of Paul the apostle were peculiarly blessed in shaping his opin-
202 THE BAPTISM OF THE
ions and guiding his affections. He was baptized by Ambrose at Milan A. d. 387, in the thirty-second year of his age. In A. d. 395 he became Bishop of Hippo ; and from that obscure spot the light of Au- gustine's genius went abroad throughout the whole world. He died A. D. 430.
Augustine for ages was the great Church teacher of Christendom ; ecclesiastics of all ages, Reformed, Papal, and Greek, have joyfully taken a place at his feet. John Calvin, and John Knox, and Arch- bishop Cranmer, and John Gill occupied the very spot on which famous popes and cardinals and doc- tors knelt before the mighty teacher of Hippo. No prelate, in the Papal chair or out of it, enjoyed the reverence accorded to Augustine for years during the later period of his life. He had some errors and a good many faults, but he was unquestionably at the head of the Christian churches in his day ; and he was without a superior, after the apostle of the Gentiles, before and since his day. He writes of baptism as follows, in his sermon on '' The Mysteries of Baptism " :
" After you promised to believe we plunged your heads three times in the sacred fountain. This order of baptism is observed to express a double mystery ; for you have been rightly immersed three times who have received baptism in the name of the Trinity, and you
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 203
have been properly immersed three times who have received baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, who arose from the dead on the third day ; for that im- mersion thrice repeated gives a type oj the three days' harial of the Lord, through which [immersion] ye are buried with Christ in baptism, and with Christ in faith, that, washed from sins, you may live in the sanctity of virtue by imitating Christ. Hence the blessed apostle says, 'Are ye ignorant that they who are baptized in Christ Jesus are baptized in his death? for we are buried with him by baptism into death, that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also should walk in newness of life.' " ^ Such, undoubtedly, were the universal views of the mode of baptism and of its significance in Augustine's day.
Some persons have doubted whether Augustine ever wrote our quotation. But, on the other hand, men of profound learning, like Bingham, the author
^ Postquam vos credere promisistis tertio capita vestra in sacro fonte demersimus. Qui ordo baptismatis duplici mys- terii significatione celebratur. Recte enim tertio mersi esti.s qui accepistis baptismura in nomine Trinitatis. Recte tertio mersi estis qui accepistis baptismum in nomine Jesus Christi, qui tertio die resurrexit a mortuis. Ilia enim tertio repetita demersio typum dominicse exprimit sepulturse. Per quam Christo consepulti estis in baptismo. Tom. vi., appendix, Patrol. Lai., vol. 40, pp. 1207, 1208.
204 THE BAPTISM OF THE
of The Antiquities of the Christian Church, have un- hesitatingly received it as a genuine work of the great teacher of Hippo. The sentiments of the quotation were those of Ambrose, who baptized him, and of Jerome, his correspondent, which ap- pear in this volume, and of the whole of orthodox Christendom at this period.
Baptism of Epidophorus, in Carthage, in the Fifth Century.
In that highly respectable authority, the Ceniurice Magdeburgenses, it is written :
"Victor, in the Yandalian persecution, mentions in his third book a certain Epidophorus, who was baptized in Carthage, whom Milrita, a venerable deacon, received as regenerated from the inside of the fonty ^ He was in the font, and of course im- mersed in his baptism, and Milrita received him as one born again from the cavity of the font.
Premasius, Bishop of Adrumeta, on Baptism.
This prelate lived in the sixth century, and pre- sided over a diocese in Korth Africa. In his com- mentary, at Kom. vi. 4, he writes:
"So that in this way from sons of perdition we
' De alveo fontis generatum. Cenhi. Magde., iv. p. 573. Norirahergae, 1765.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 205
are made sons of adoption. We die beforehand to our former nature by a second birth. And whilst ive are immersed in an element allied to earth [water], we are hurled; and whilst we arise from the heart of the font, we are quickened ; and from this the sacrament of baptism is very great ; and therefore [Paul] says, ' We are buried with him by baptism into death.'" ^
^ Submergiraur . . . sepelimur ; dum e sinu fontis assur- gimus. Ad Eput. a Rom. Comm., Patrol. Lat., vol. 68, p. 444. Migne. Parisiis. 18
206 THE BAPTISM OF THE
EGYPT.
A Baptism by Athanasius.
The immortal defender of the divinity of the Saviour when a boy baptized some other boys in sport. The story is told by Sozomen/ Socrates,^ and by Dean Stanley, chiefly on the authority of Ku- iinus. Stanley says :
"Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria, was enter- taining his clergy in a tower or lofty house overlook- ing the expanse of sea beside the Alexandrian harbor. He observed a group of children playing on the edge of the shore, and was struck by the grave appearance of their game. His attendant clergy went, at his orders, to catch the boys and bring them before the bishop, who taxed them with having pkiyed at religious ceremonies. At first, like all boys caught at a mischievous game, they denied, but at last confessed that they had been imitating the sacrament of baptism — tliat one of them had been selected to perform the part of bishop, and that he had duly dipped them in the sea
' Sozomen, lib. ii. cap. 17. ^ Socrates, lib. i. cap. 15.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 207
with all the proper questions and addresses. When Alexander found that these forms had been ob- served, he determined that the baptism was valid ; he himself added the consecrating oil of confirma- tion, and was so much struck with the knowledge and gravity of the boy -bishop that he took him under his charge. This little boy was Athanasius." ' Notwithstanding the doubts of some, Dean Stanley is right in saying that " the story has every indica- tion of truth."
The Copts and Immersion.
The Copts number about 150,000. They are the descendants of the ancient Egyptians of Joseph's time, and they form a Christian community to which the Abyssinians belong. Their chief prelate is the Patriarch of Alexandria, whose residence is in Cairo. They regularly choose for the Abyssinians their highest ecclesiastical ruler, called the " Abuna," when the office is vacant. The antiquity of their race and some religious peculiarities make them a remarkable people. The Right Reverend Richard Pococke, Lord Bishop of Ossory, in Ireland, de- scribing their customs, says :
^^At baptism they plunge the child three times into
^ Stanley's Histcxry of the Ettstem Church, p. 324. New York, 1870.
208 ' THE BAPTISM OF THE
the xoater, then confirm it and give it the sacra- ment." ^ A more recent and. unquestionable author- ity says : " The Copts baptize by immersion, and prac- tise unction, exorcism, and auricular confession." ^
^ Compendium of Modern Travels, vol. ii. p. 30. Dul)lin, 1757.
2 Chambers's Encydopcedia. Philadelphia, 1870. •
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 209
ABYSSINIA.
Immersions in Abyssinia, Doubtful and Reliable.
James Bruce, the celebrated Scotch traveller, who visited Abyssinia a little over one hundred years since, and whose descriptions of the country, the people, and their customs have been so fre- quently confirmed in our own times, gives an ac- count of the baptismal rites of the Abyssinians. In this part of his work he quotes the narrative of a sort of annual commemoration of the Sa- viour's baptism, published by Alvarez, chaplain to the Portuguese embassy under Don Rodrigo de Lima, which reads :
" Before the pond a scaffold was built, covered around with planks, within which sat the king looking toward the pond, his face covered with blue taffeta, while an old man, who was the king's tutor, was standing in the water up to the shoul- ders, naked as he was born, and half dead with cold, for it had frozen violently in the night. All those that came near him he took by the head and plunged them m the water, whether men or women, J8* 0
210 THE BAPTIbM OF THE
saying in his own language, 'I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.' " ^
Bruce advances a number of plausible reasons Avhy the account of Alvarez should be discredited. We have no desire to take sides in the controversy between the two travellers. If Alvarez tells the truth, the baptism he describes is a baptism by im- mersion. If he is indebted to a fertile imagination for his facts, his story shows that he knew well how an Abyssinian baptism should be performed, as we shall presently see. He would not have represented a mass of his own countrymen as being baptized in his day by plunging them in a pond.
Baptisms seen by Bruce Himself.
" But this I can bear witness of," says our intel- ligent traveller, " that at no time when I was pres- ent— and / have been present above a hundred times at the baptisms of both adnlts and infants, ay, and of apostates too — and I never heard other words pro- nounced than the orthodox baptismal ones, ' I bap- tize you in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,' immerging the child in pure water, into which they first pour a small quantity of oil of olives in the form of a cross." ^ Immerging is only
» Bruce» Travels, vol. iii. pp. 667, 668. Dublin, 1791.
^Ibid., vol. iii. p. 663.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 211
an older English form of the Latin word immergo, to immerse, as the poet says:
" Ye dying sons of men, Immerged in sin and woe " —
that is, overwhelmed, immersed, in sin and woe.
No one acquainted with Bruce's perspicacity and veracity would doubt his account of an occurrence which he saw but once, and still less would he hesi- tate to believe his description of an event which he had seen " above a hundred times ;" and so many times Bruce had seen persons immerged in Abyssinia when baptized. In one of his journeys he writes: "At half-past eight we began a gradual descent, at first easily enough, till we crossed the small brook Maitemquet, or the water of baptism." ^
When a brook or creek is called the water of bap- tism, it must refer to immersion as the mode of that baptism from which its name is derived.
^ Bruce's Travels, vol. iii. p. 48S. Dublin, 1791.
212 THE BAPTISM OF THE
CONCLUSION.
The testimony examined makes it certain that Augustine immersed King Ethelbert and ten thou- sand of his subjects on Christmas Day, that Paulinus immersed King Edwin and thousands of his subjects at one time, and that immersion was the mode of baptism commonly used in England till the Refor- mation. It shows that Clovis, with three thousand soldiers and with many women and children, was immersed by St. Remigius in Rheims, and that im- mersion was the mode of baptism in France till at least the end of the twelfth century. It shows that the great baptisms of St. Boniface were immersions, and that all succeeding baptisms for about five hundred years in Germany were administered in the same way. It shows that Vladimir the Great and the whole population of KieflT were immersed on the introduction of Christianity into Russia, and that immersion is the mode of baptism universally observed by the whole Russian Church down till this hour. It shows that in Italy, the land of the popes, immersion was the custom of the Roman Catholic Church till the twelfth century had passed, and that
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 213
the ancient form is still observed in Milan ; and it shows that in Spain, Turkey, Greece, Persia, North Africa, Egypt, Abyssinia, and Palestine immersion was once universal, and that in some of these coun- tries it is still the only baptism recognized. In short, immersion was universal over all the churches of the West for twelve hundred years after Christ, and it is at this hour the baptism of the various sects of the Eastern Church.
The baptism of the three thousand on the day of Pentecost has often been disputed, because of the difficulty of immersing them ; but the missionaries of Russia, Germany, France, England, and Ireland baptized an equal number, or four times as many, at one time, in wells, rivers, baptisteries, or foun- tains, just as persons were baptized in New^-Testa- ment times.
Sometimes immersion is represented as the prac- tice of only an insignificant fraction of Chris- tians. About one-fourth of all the Christians on earth administer baptism only by immersion now; and as the "whole Christian world immersed for twelve centuries, and a fourth part of it has im- mersed ever since the end of the tw^elfth century, it is probable that a great majority of all the persons that ever bore the Christian name, regarding immer- sion as the only divinely-appointed mode of baptism,
214 THE BAPTISM OF THE
were plunged in the sacramental waters. So that if truth were established by the number of its ad- herents, the living and the dead would give us the majority.
The Baptist denomination in this country is in- creasing at a very rapid rate. With little or ho aid from emigration, with an army of prejudices assailing us all around, by the grace of (:rod we have spread over this goodly land, until from 471 churches in 1784 we have now, in 1878, 23,908 churches, with a membership of 2,024,224.^ We have forty-two colleges and theological seminaries, and fifty academies with instructors of a high order to impart literary and theological knowledge to stu- dents of all denominations. AVe have twenty-nine weekly newspapers, five semi-monthly, and thirteen monthly. We have divinely-honored missions in Burmah, China, Japan, Germany, Sweden, France, Spain, Africa, Italy, and among the white men of the West, and in the Indian territories. We have principles as pure as Jehovah's word, and we have unlimited confidence in their divine Author; and as a result our people plan and foster a spirit of holy
^ For facts and figures in regard to our history, growth, and numbers in this country see The Baptists in the United States, by George W. Anderson, D. D., and The American Baptist Year-Book, Philadelphia.
AGES AND THE NATIONS. 215
enterprise that stops at no difficulty, and that is ready for any undertaking, however gigantic, that promises to honor God ; and abounding success has followed our sacrificas and exertions. Our views of the mode and subjects of baptism have entered Pedobaptist communities, and as a consequence the baptism of infants has been declining rapidly for years, and the practice of immersion is believed to be largely on the increase ; and the conviction that it is the original mode of baptism, observed by the Saviour and enjoined upon his servants, is now quite common.
Immersionists have no disposition to surrender their revealed mode of baptism. In the East and in Russia the people Avould make any sacrifice — even give up their lives — rather than surrender New-Testament dipping. In England our honored brethren, notwithstanding the lax views on the Lord's Supper supposed to prevail among many of them, stand firmly where their fathers planted them- selves, and demand Bible baptism. In this country our people at this moment are more a unit in utterly refusing any countenance to pouring or sprinkling than probably at any period in our history. One- fourth of Christendom demands immersion for all the servants of Jesus with a resolute voice ; and with the history of the Church during the first twelve
216 BAPTISM OF THE AGES AND NATIONS.
liuiidrecl years of its existence "wholly on their side, with the Scriptures, and Jehovah who gave them, leading on their heroic warriors to battle, their triumph is certain, though for a season it may be deferred. For long ages the doctrine of justification by faith was buried under a vast mass of Komish fables and soul-destroying heresies. This mountain was high and broad and heaven-defying, but the truth under it had volcanic power. In Luther's time the mountain began to heave, the buried power of a Saviour's merits tore an opening from its base to its top, and the laboring volume of burning love, rising up through its hardened strata, burst its sides and scattered them to the four winds of heaven, and sent the doctrines of glowing love over the nations. And now the true mode of baptism is buried deeply from three-fourths of the Christian family. For six hundred long years it has slept in its grave; but, like justification by faith, it will surely spring to life again — the trumpet of the great angel guardian of truth will yet be sounded, and the divinely-given baptism will come forth from the buried past and take its place in all the churches of Jesus everywhere, and one Lord, one faith, and one baptism will become the creed of reunited and purified evangelical Christendom.
INDEX.
A.
Abelaed, 101.
Ablution after baptism, 182, 189.
Abuna, the, 207.
Adgefin, 30.
Africa, North, baptism in, 200.
Albofledis, sister of Clovis, 85, 90.
Alcock, Lord John, Bishop of Ely, 42.
Alcuin, 26,32, 81, 86, 116,117,123, 124.
Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria, 206.
Alnwick Castle, 27.
Alphin, son of Eochaid, 65.
Alvarez, 209.
Araalgaidh, 63, 67.
Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, 56, 102, 119, 137, 141, 201, 202, 204.
America, baptism in, 71.
American Baptist Historical So- ciety, 7.
American Baptist Year-Book, 214.
Anderson, Rev. Dr. (ieo. W., 8, 214. account of baptistery in Paris by, 91.
Anlaf, baptism of, .37.
Anna, wife of Vladimir, 155.
Annotations of tlie Westminster Assemt)ly, 47.
Anointing after baptism, 207.
Anointing at baptism, 159, 16-5, 173, 179, 181, 187.
Anselm, Archbishop of Canter- bury, 70.
Anschar, St., 3, 109.
Aquinas, Thomas, 77.
Arator, 144.
Arcadius, 167.
Ariaus on immersion, 146.
Armenians, 188.
Arnold, Rev. Dr. A. N., 8, 175, 183.
Arrhenius, Claudius, 110.
Arthur, son of Henry VII., 40.
19
Athalaric, King, 144.
Athanasius, 206.
Athelwold, Duke, 38.
At tic us, 138.
Augustine of Hippo, .3, 18, 19, 24,
99, 102, 132, 137, 201, 212. Auxentius, 141. Avitus of Vieune, 81.
B.
Baptism, Abyssinian, 210-,
Ambrose on, 141.
among the Armenians, 189.
Arator on, 145.
Augustine on, 202.
by H. W. Beecher, 72.
by immersion, 5, 7, 170, 189.
by martyrdom, 1.39.
by pope at Easter, 1.54.
bV pouring water, 125,
Clinic, 134, 1.35.
Council of Celichyth on, .34.
deferred till near death, 110.
emblem of the etfusion of the Holy Ghost, .55.
Gregory's mode of, 86.
Hincmar of Rheims on, 94.
how first administered in Eng- land, 32.
in Athens, 170.
in the Dniejjer, 1.57.
in Ireland, 62.
in rivers or fountains, 124.
in Russian Church, 159.
Leidradus on, 93.
Leo the Great on, 143.
Lombard, Peter, on, 102.
Martyr, .lustin, on, 140, 19.3.
martyrdom a baptism, 139.
miraculous, 186.
mode of, 3.
Munnulus on, 200.
of Albofledis, 85, 90.
of ancient Roman Christians, 59.
217
218
INDEX.
Baptism of Atlianasius, 206.
of Clovis, 79, 82, 86, 88.
of "Constitutions and Canons," 165.
of converts hy each other, 20, 23.
of Copts, 207.
of Epidophorus, 204.
of Eunomians, 169.
of (Ireek Church, 6, 52.
of llasteiu, 95.
of Jesus, 192.
of Jewess, 130.
of Jewish proselyte, 190.
of Mercians, .S2.
of paralytic Jew, 138.
of pirate, 96.
of Triniitive Church, 54.
of robbers by Patrick, 69.
of Saxons, 121.
of seven kings, 6.3, 66, 67.
of son of Priuce Milan, 185.
of ten thousand in one day, 19.
of twins, 58.
of upper part of body only, 56.
place of, 57.
Pococke. R., on, 207.
Preniasius on, 204.
profanation of, 38.
remission of sins by, 134.
salvation bv, 160.
Stanley, Dr. A. P., on, 151.
symbol of the grave and resur- rection, 94, 98, 107. 131.
Terlullian on, 196, 199. Baptist denomination, its increase,
214. Baptistery in Plymouth Church, 73.
in Rome, 91.
of Clovis, 85, 91.
of St. John Lateran, 152. Baptisteries, 57, 58.
at Bradford, England, 59.
subterranean, 59. Baptizo, 6, 133. Basil, 56. Basilicus, 57. Bee, monasterv of, 38. Bede, 24, 26, 30.
on immersion. 33. Beecher, Rev. Henry Ward, bap- tism by, 72. Bingham, Joseph, 54, 203. Blackburn, Dr., 63. Blackmore, Rev. R. W., 157. Blake, Rev. Thomas, 44. Boniface, 3, 112, 199, 212. Bradford in Yorkshire, England, baptistery at, 59.
Britons, ancient, conversion of, 18. Brown, " Hist, of St, Peter's Church
of York," 27. Bruce, James, 209, 210. BriJno, St., 127. Buckuell Library, 7.
o.
Caedwalla, 32.
Calvin, John, 132, 202.
Camden, 29.
Canterbury, letter from a gentle- man in, 21.
Caroticus, or Carodoc, 64.
Cartan, baptism of, 68.
Carthage, Council of, 200.
Carthen opposes St. Patrick, 68.
Cassanus, King of the Tartars, 186.
Cave, William, 134. "Primitive Christianity," 49, 57.
Cean Croithi, the Irish idol, 67.
Celibacy, 164.
Chalmers, Dr., on baptism, 48.
Charlemagne, 92, 93, 117, 122.
Child's name not spoken till the moment of baptism, 171.
Christening of Prince Arthur and Princess Margaret, 40.
"Chronicon Alexandrinum," 57.
Chrvsostom, 55, 135, 167.
Clark, Rev. Mr., 133.
Clemens Romanus, 57.
Clinic baptism, 134.
Clinics, 126, 136.
Clovis, 3, 79, 80, 82, 212.
Coleman, Rev. Lyman, on immer- sion, 75, 140, 141, 193.
Coleman of Westminster Assem- bly, 45. called " Rabbi," 46.
Consecration of the fountain be- fore baptism, 123.
Constantiue the Great, 137, 152, 164.
"Constitutions and Canons of the Holy Apostles," 163.
Copts, the, 207.
Corbie, monastery of, 109.
Corcothemne, 67.
Cornelius, Bishop of Rome, 135.
Council of Celichyth on baptism, 34. of Neo-Ctesarea, 135. of Trent, Catechism of, 149. of Toledo, 105, 106.
Cranmer, Archbishop, 202.
Croagh Patrick, 67.
Crozer Theological Seminary, 7.
INDEX.
219
Crucifix in the Lady's Well, Nor- thumberland, 29. Cyprian, 137, 139, 196, 200, 201. Cyril of Jerusalem, 55, 159.
D.
Deluge signifying baptism, 127. Dionvsius Exiguus, 56, 166. Dunstan, St., 35. Dupin, 22, 82, 103. Dwight, Rev. H. G. 0., 188.
E.
Eadbuega, 199. Edward IV., 43. Edwin, King, baptized by Pauli-
nus, 26, 212. Elfege, Bishop of Winchester, 38. JZlizabeth, Queen, 43. Elipandus, 9.3. England, immersion practised in,
18. English rear temples in Britain, 18. Epidophorus, 204. Epiphanius, 55, 56. Eric, or Horicus, King, 110. Ethelbert, 3, 20, 21, 37, 212.
immersion of, 35.
wife of, 18. Eudoxia, 167. Eulogius, 19. Eunomians, 56, 169. Eusebius, 135.
F.
Fasting before baptism, 128, 165. Felix, 93. Font, 57.
St. Martin's Church, Canterbury, 36.
St. Patrick's, 67, Fositeland, fountain in, 116. France, baptism in, 79. Fridegod on immersion, 35. Frith, John, 53. Fulbert, St., 97.
Fuller, Dr. Thomas, " Church His- tory," 20.
G.
Gallcs, Bishop of Clermont, 82. Garbanus, death and resurrection
of, 69. Gilbert, Bishop of Limerick, 70, Giles. Dr. J. A., 26, 37.
Gill, Dr. John, 202.
Gocelin, 22.
Godfather in Greek Church, 172.
Greek Church, baptism in, 6, 52,
163. Green's "History of the English
People," 20. Gregory the Great, 19, 24, 25, 32, 99,
100, 103, 106, 107, 145. Gregory II., 113, 114. Gregory VII., 142. Gregory Nyssa, 166. Gregory of Tours, 81, 82, 85. Gualdo, 109. Gubelmann, Rev. J. S., 8, 130,
H.
Harbottle, Tillage of, 27.
Harduin's Conciliwum Oolleciio, 35.
Hastein, baptism of, 95.
Haymo, 100, 124.
Hercus, baptism of, 62.
Hilary, 102.
Hillegenbach, the brook. 111.
Hincmar of Rheims, 81, 88, 94.
Hincmar of Laon, 94.
Holy wells of Ireland, 64.
Holystone, village of, 30.
Horicus, King, 110.
Hugo of St, Victor, 99, 199.
I.
Immergo, 211. Immersion, 165, 21.3, 215.
Abelard on, 101, 209.
Alcuin on, 117.
Aquinas on, 77.
Arian theory of, 146.
Arnold, Dr., on, 183.
baptisms bv, 212.
Bede on, 33*.
Bingham, Joseph, on, 54.
Bruno on, 127.
by Augustine, 24.
by Beecher, Rev. H. W., 72.
by Boniface, 117.
by Clark, Rev. Mr., 133.
by Copts, 208.
by heretics, 55.
by Roman Catholics at Milan, 150.
by Patrick, 69.
by the Starovers, 161.
Calvin on, 132.
Cave, William, on, 48.
Chrysostom on, 168.
Coleman on, 74.
220
INDEX.
Imtnersion, Dnpin on, 103. in En<,'land in 1644, 44. Fourth Council of Toledo on, 106,
12.-). Fridegod on. 35. Frith, John, on, 53. Fiilbert, St., on. 97. GilWert on, 70.
Gresory the Great on, 119, 125, 145. Gregory of Nvssa on, 167. Ilayino on, 100. Hugo of St. Victor on, 99. in Abyssinia, 209. in St. John Lateran, 153. in Greek Church, 184. in milk, 70.
in New Testament, 192. in Pomerania, 127. in reign of Bloody Mary, 43. in rivers, .32.
in thirteenth century, 78. in Westminster Assembly, 44. Isidore on, 105.
Ivo on, 99.
Lambecius on, 111.
Lan franc on, 38.
Leidradus on, 93.
Leo the Great on, 142.
Lombard, Peter, on, 102.
Luther on, 129, 130, 131.
Magnus, Archbishop, on, 92.
Maxentius of Aquila on, 14S.
Maximus of Turin on, 143.
^laurus, Rabanus, on, 123.
Mil man on, 58.
of adults in Russian Church, 162.
of Clovis, 81.
of infants, 76.
of Jewish proselyte, 191, 192.
of three thousand, 213.
onlv baptism for those in health, 139.
only legal baptism in England, 60.
Philostorgius on, 169.
Pullus, Cardinal, on, 39.
Regino on, 126.
Roman Catholic Church and, 2, 149.
Rupert on, 128.
Strabo, Wilafrid, on, 124.
Theoduiphus on, 93.
trine, 32, 39, 40. 43, 50, 56, 59, 70, 75, 87, 90, 92-94, 97-99, 101, 103, 104, 106, 116, 118, 123-125, 129, 1.30, 132, 142-144, 147, 148, 159, 160, 166, 168, 173, 187, 189, 195, 198-200, 202, 207. not in the Bible, 16.
only a tradition, 17.
origin of, 16.
reasons for, 57.
Wall on, 51, 53.
Wesley on, 71.
when practised, 15. Immersions recorded by Father
O'Farreil, 66. Innocent III, 142. Inscription on a subterranean bap- tistery, 59. Ireland, 22.
earlv baptism in, 62. Isidore, St., 105. Ivo, Bishop of Chartres, 98.
James IV. of Scotland, 42.
Jerome, 16, 56, 102, 119, 195, 199, 204.
John, baptism of, 193, 194.
John the apostle on baptism, 193.
Jones, Alfred T., Esq., 8.
Justin Martyr, 140, 193.
Kartzoff, Consul, 185. Kent, missionaries in, 19. Kherson, capture of, 155. Kidnapping of converts, 64. Kietf, baptism at, 3, 156. Killala, 63. Knox, John, 202. Kohl, 159.
Labbe and Cossart's " Sacrorum
Concilioruui," 107. Lady's Well, Northurabria, 28, 66. Lambecius, Peter, 110. Landeheldis, sister of Clovis, ^0. Lan franc, 38. Lawrence, St., 125, 126. Leandor, 32, lOO, 103, 107, 119, 146. letter of Gregory to, 120, 125, 147, 199. Leidradus on baptism, 93. Leland, 40, 42. Leo III., 92.
Leo the (ireat, 98, 99, 119, 142, 143. Lightfoot, Dr. Joiin,45, 190, 194. Loigles, the fountain, 62. Lombard, Peter, 102. Long Parliament, 47. Lothaire, Emperor, 148. Louis the Pious, 93. Luther, 129, 130, 216.
INDEX.
221
M.
Macarius, Patriarch of Jerusalem,
159. McGeoghegan's, Abbe, " History
of Ireland," 64. Magnus, Archbishop, 92. ISIaimonides, 191.
Maitland's "Church in the Cata- combs," 59. Maitemquet, the brook, 211. IMalcom, Rev. Dr. H., 8, 150. Maniohees, 201.
Margaret, Princess, baptism of, 42. Mark on baptism, 193. Marshall, 46. Martyrdom considered baptism,
139. Mary, Bloody, 43. Matthew on baptism, 193. Matthew of Westminster, 186. Maxentius of Aquila, 148. Maximus, Bishop of Turin, 143. Meletius, Patriarch of Antiocli, 167. Michelet, 70. Mikveh, the, 191. Milan, Prince of Servia, 185. Milan, sprinkling not practised in,
151. Milk, immersion in, 70. Milman on immersion, 58. Milosh, 185. Milrita, 204. Miracle performed by Patrick, 65,
67. Miraculous filling of a baptistery,
85. Monica, 201. Mi>ntanists, the, 196. Mosaic in St. John Lateran, 153. Mouravieff, 157, 159. Munnulus, Bishop of Girba, 200.
N.
Nkagh, Lough, 68,
Neal, 44.
Neander, 111, 128.
Nennius, 63.
Nesturiau baptismal service, 187.
Northumberland, 3.
Novatiau's baptism, 135, 138.
o.
Oak consecrated to Jupiter, 112. Oath taken by German bishop to obey the popes, 113, 116, 19^^
O'Farrell, Rev. Michael J., 66.
" Office of Baptism of Greek
Church," 175. Ordo Romanus, 56. Origen, 163. Oswav, 32. 0th Ion, 112. Otto, Bishop of Bamberg, 127.
P.
Paganus, 186.
Parker, Mr., baptism of child of, 71.
Patric, 201.
Patrick, the apostle of Ireland, 3.
baptism by, 62, 63, 64.
conversion of, 69.
destroys the Irish idol, 67.
fountain of, 65.
and the robbers, 68. Paul the apostle on baptism, 54, 55,
1.32. Paulinus, 3, 20, 26, 27, 30, 66, 212. Penda, 32.
Perune the idol, 155, 156. Peter, 57.
Philip and the eunuch, 194. Philostorgius, 169. Photius, 169. Pius v., 149. Placilla, Empress, 167. Pococke, Richard, 207. Premasius, Bishop of Adrumeta,
204. Pullus, Cardinal, on immersion, 39.
R.
Rabanus Maurus, 123, 124. Regeneration required before bap- tism, 69. Regino, 126. Regnarius, 90.
Remigius, St., 3, 20, 83, 86, 89, 212. Riclierus, 95, 96. Rimbertus. 109. Roger of Wendover, 37. Roderigo de Lima, 209. Roman Christians, baptism of, 59. Rowland, Rev, A. J., 8, 152. Rupert, 128.
s.
Sacramentarium, Gregory's, 56. Sadlier, D. and J., 66. St, Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, 65.
222
INDEX.
Salfeld, Cl)ristopher, 1S1. Samson, an Irish presbyter, 114. "Sarum Manual," 53. Saxon.«, baptism of, 121. Scandinavians, 8. Scandinavian immersions, 109. Sheppv, Isle of, 22. Sicainlier, 85, 89. Silvester, 85, 89. Sinn, fountain of; 67. Sisenand, King, 106. Socrates, 138, 206. Sozomen, 206. Spain, baptism in, 105, 118. Spring in York Cathedral, 27. Sprinkling, 132. 149, 151.
discussed in Westminster Assem- bly, 45.
its validity denied by Greek Church, 184.
sometimes used, 43, 75. Stanley, Dean, 151, 156, 184, 206. Starovers, 161. Statue of Paulinus, 28. Strabo, Wilafrid, 124, 166. Swale, the River, in Kent, 21, 22. Swale, the, in Northumberland, 31. Swevn, King of the Danes, 37. Synod of Vladimir, 159.
T.
Taylor, Bayard, describes a bap- tism, 170.
Ten thousand baptized in one day, 19.
Tertullian, 15, 56, 196, 199, 201.
Theodoret, 56.
Theodoric, King of Italy, 105,
Theodulphus, 93.
Three thousand baptized by Pauli- nus, 27.
Tiovulfingacestir, 31.
Tirawly, 67.
Tobur-en-adare, well of, 63, 68.
Todd, Dr., " Life of Patrick," 62.
Trent, baptism in the, 31.
Triforked candle symbol of the Trinity, 171.
Trinity, invocation of the, in bap- tism, 114, 123, 148.
u.
Usher, Archbishop, 65.
V.
Vedastus, St., 86. Victor, 204. Vigilius, Pope, 144. Vladimir the Great, 3, 155, 212. his miraculous restoration of
sight, 157. Vows taken by the candidate for
baptism, 58.
w.
Walker on baptism, 43.
Wall, Rev. William, "History of
Infant Baptism," 51. Wall, Rev. James, 91. Wash, use of the word in baptism,
113, 114, 115, 140, 145. Watson, Bishop of Lincoln, 43. Welsh, Mary, baptism of, 71. Wesley, baptism of two children
recorded by, 71. Westminster Assembly of Divines,
44. Whirlpool, 24, 32. William the Conqueror, 38. William of Malmesbury, 22, 35. Willibrord, 112. 116. 117. Winfrid. See Boniface. Wooden church built by King
Edwin at York, 27. Woodlock, Monsignor, 66.
Y.
York, baptism at, 26.
Z.
Zacharias, or Zachary, Pope, 102, 113, 114.
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