ancestry for several generations, was not baptized till he was twenty-seven years old. Addressing Catechumens, he says (A. D. 350), “Do you demur, and loiter, and put it off, when you have been from a child catechised in the Word? Are you not acquainted with the truth? Having been always learning it, are you not yet come to the knowledge of it? A seeker all your life long, a considerer till you are old? When will you become one of us?" Observe-" from a child catechised"-but baptism still delayed.*

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Ephrem of Edessa, a learned writer of the Syriac Church (died A.D. 378), was born of parents who, as Alban Butler remarks, were ennobled by the blood of martyrs in their family, and had themselves both confessed Christ before the persecutors, under Diocletian or his successors. They consecrated Ephrem to God from his cradle, like another Samuel, but he was eighteen years old when he was baptized." They would be called good Baptists in these times. They "consecrated" their child, that is, prayed for him, and trained him "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord;" but they did not think of his being baptized till he was a believer, which was not till he was "eighteen years old." Would they have acted thus, if infant-baptism had been the universal and binding practice of the Church?

Speaking of the Emperor Constantine, the historian Gibbon says, "The example and reputation of Constantine seemed to countenance the delay of baptism. Future tyrants were encouraged to believe that the innocent blood which they might shed in a long reign would instantly be washed away in the waters of regeneration: and the abuse of religion dangerously undermined the foundation of moral

* "Oratio exhortatoria ad baptismum," quoted in Wall's History of Infant Baptism, chap. xii.

+ Lives of the Saints. Art. "St. Ephrem."

D

virtue."* All ecclesiastical history illustrates it. And there is no more melancholy confirmation than that which is afforded by the records of baptism. The figment of baptismal regeneration, one of the earliest corruptions of Christianity, was an outrage on morals and religion. It encouraged men in sin, and bolstered them up with a false hope, substituting the outward form for repentance, faith, and a changed heart and life. Infant-baptism, also, soon unfolded its injurious tendencies and effects. They will present themselves at every step of our progress. It seems astonishing that so gross a perversion of Christianity should have acquired such a firm hold of men's minds. But it is among the things that are doomed, and the day is not far off.

The truth of the last observation is undeniable.

With the sole exception of the clinics, already referred to, baptism still consisted in the immersion of the candidate, who was ordinarily divested of clothing. The same method was adopted for children as for adults. And the immersion was still commonly performed thrice.

The following passages are taken from Bingham's "Antiquities" (book xi. ch. xi).

"Cyril of Jerusalem " (died A.D. 386) "makes it an em blem of the Holy Ghost's effusion upon the Apostles; for as he that goes down into the water and is baptized is surrounded 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 incomprehensibly baptizes the interior soul."

"So St. Ambrose " (died A. D. 396) "explains it. Thou wast asked, Dost thou believe in God the Father Almighty? And didst thou answer, I believe; and then thou wast immerged in water, that is, buried.'" "St. Chrysostom" (died A. D. 407) "proves the resurrec

Decline and Fall, chap. xx.

tion from this practice; 'for,' says he, 'our being baptized and immerged into the water, and our rising again out of it, is a symbol of our descending into hell or the grave, and of our returning from thence.'

"St. Jerome" (died A.D. 420) "makes this ceremony to be a symbol of the Unity as well as the Trinity. For,' says he, we are thrice dipped in the water, that the mystery of the Trinity may appear to be but one; we are not baptized in the names of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, but in one name, which is God.'

"St. Augustine " (died A.D. 430) "tells us there was a twofold mystery signified in this way of baptizing. The trine immersion was both a symbol of the Holy Trinity, in whose name we are baptized, and also a type of the Lord's burial, and of His resurrection on the third day from the dead. For we are buried with Christ by baptism, and rise again with Him by faith.”

Leo the Great (died A. D. 461) says, "The trine immersion is an imitation of the three days' burial; and the rising again out of the water is an image of Christ rising from the grave."

Gregory the Great (died A. D. 604) wrote thus to Leander, Bishop of Seville :-" Concerning the three immersions in baptism, you have judged very truly already, that different rites and customs do not prejudice the Holy Church, whilst the unity of faith remains entire. The reason why we use three immersions at Rome is to signify the mystery of Christ's three days' burial, that whilst an infant is thrice lifted up out of the water the resurrection on the third day may be expressed thereby. But if anyone thinks this is rather done in regard to the Holy Trinity, a single immersion in baptism does no way prejudice that; for so long as the unity of substance is preserved in Three Persons, it is no harm whether a child be baptized with one immersion or three; because three immersions may represent the

Trinity of Persons, and one immersion the Unity of the Godhead."

At first, baptism was administered in rivers, pools, baths, wherever a sufficient quantity of water could be conveniently obtained. In the fourth century, baptisteries began to be erected. These were large buildings, con

tiguous to the churches. There was usually but one in a city, attached to the bishop's or cathedral church. The baptistery proper, or font, was in the centre of the building, and at the sides were numerous apartments for the accommodation of the candidates. Several of these baptisteries yet remain, and have been frequently described by

travellers. The baptisteries at Rome (in the church of St. John Lateran), Ravenna, Florence, Pisa, and Parma may be particularly mentioned. The fonts in these baptisteries are from three to four feet deep, and of proportionate size. Of course they were intended for immersion.

Christian Intolerance-Justinian's Law, enjoining Infant-Baptism-The Novatians-The Donatists-Pelagianism.

THE

HE period now under consideration was marked by one "transition" which can never be sufficiently deplored. Hitherto, Christians had endured afflictions for the Lord's sake, and had willingly suffered the loss of all things rather than renounce the faith. But a