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from a presumption generated by a truly wicked disposition. They considered God, from thinking of whom they would gladly have been exempted, only as the almighty Judge; their conscience, not altogether silenced, threatened them with his vengeance, and they sought, in baptism, a safeguard from this punishment, without being willing, at the same time, to relinquish their sinful desires. They wished, in truth, to compound with God by a kind of negociation and exchange, in order, as long as possible, to enjoy their lusts, and then, at last, being cleansed in a moment from all sin, by the magical efficacy of baptism, to obtain salvation. Hence, many procrastinated their baptism until they were warned of impending death, by mortal sickness, or some other sudden peril. And thus it was, that upon the occurrence of public calamities, earthquakes, or danger of war, great multitudes hastened to baptism, and the number of ecclesiastics present scarcely sufficed to give assistance to all.

In the case of many who were baptized late in life, this practice had undoubtedly one good effect, that it led them more fully to manifest the true import of the rite. As soon as they were impelled by internal or external circumstances to the resolution, to be Christians with all the heart, they received baptism, which was to them something more than a mere opus operatum; but marked, in their case, the commencement of a life cordially devoted to God. Thus it happened, that many, from the moment of their baptism, subjected themselves to the literal observances of the commands of Christ; they took no oaths; many publicly abjured the world and became monks; which, at least, serves to show what the import of baptism was to them. But, on the other hand, this procrastination of baptism caused, in many, an indifference to religion, so that they grew up and lived in a mixture of Gentile and Christian superstitions; and it is, therefore, undeniable, that the neglect of infant baptism was specially conducive to the propagation of these melancholy results. By baptism, children would have come into a certain connexion with the Church, to the influence of which they would have been brought nearer, instead of being, from their very birth, impelled to heathenish superstitions, and remaining in their earliest training often removed from any contact with Christianity. Children were not offered to God and to the Saviour by prayer, but old women were called in, who were expected

to insure their lives by amulets and other senseless preservatives of Gentile superstition.

We observed in the foregoing period, that the Catechumens were divided into two classes. To these, a third was added about the beginning of the fourth century. At first, there was a general distinction between those who professed Christianity, though, as yet, they had received neither a competent knowledge of Christian doctrine, nor baptism,-Catechumens in the large sense of the word, likewise called, in a less restricted signification, Christians; and those who were fully instructed and baptized Christians. The lowest class of these comprised the axpowμerot, axpoarai, auditores, audientes, or hearers, who were so called, because they were permitted to hear only the lessons from the Scriptures, and the sermon, and were then dismissed.

The second class comprised those who had already received particular instruction in Christianity, for whom a special prayer was offered, and who received, kneeling, the benediction of the Bishop. Hence the names υποπίπτοντες, γονυκλινοντες, Genuflectentes, Prostrati, and Catechumens, in the more restricted sense of the word. This prayer was so adapted as to impress on their minds the necessity of illumination by the Holy Ghost, without which divine truth cannot be vitally received, and the necessary connexion of faith with the life; and to assure them of the participation of the whole Church in all their interests.

*

From this class, and from among those who offered themselves for baptism, proceeded the candidates for baptism, competentes, poriousvot. These committed the creed to me

As a specimen of the manner in which Christian sentiments were expressed in these prayers, we give the form of this prayer according to the Liturgy of the ancient Church of Antioch: "May the all-merciful God hear your prayer, open the ears of your hearts so that you may apprehend what no eye hath seen, and no ear heard; may he instruct you in the word of truth, sow the fear of God in your hearts, and confirm in your souls the belief of his truth; may he reveal to you the Gospel of righteousness; communicate to you a divine sense, a prudent understanding, and a virtuous conversation, so that you may always think and practise that which is of God, abide in the law of God both day and night; may he rescue you from all evil beings, from all diabolical sins, and all temptations of the wicked one; may he make you worthy in due time of regeneration, the forgiveness of sins, the putting on of the new, imperishable, divine life; may he bless your coming in and going out, your families, your domestics, multiply your children, bless you and bring you to good old age, make you wise, and order all that awaits you for the best." Chrys. Hom. II. § 5. in Ep. II. ad Corinth.

mory, intimating that it must be implanted by the living word, inscribed on the heart, and not attached to the dead letter of a writing, (see vol. i. part 2, p. 540) and this profession, as the actual summary of Christian doctrine, was expounded to them by the Bishop or Presbyter. In addition to the symbolical usages preparatory to baptism, and attending the rite itself, of which we have spoken in the preceding period, there were some novelties added, but not the same in all Churches. It seems to have been a custom quite extensively spread, for these persons to have their head and face covered while in the Church, until the eighth day after the consummation of baptism, at which time they were solemnly introduced to the congregations; a custom, which, as explained by Cyrill of Jerusalem, originally served to warn them against distraction from the presentation of foreign objects; to which was added an idea drawn from the language of the Apostle Paul, in the first epistle to the Corinthians, that as the veil was a mark of dependence and minority, so the removal of the veil should be a sign of freedom and maturity, and a recognition of them as new-born persons. To exorcism there was now added insufflation, or "breathing upon," (povoar, insufflare); and as the former betokened the liberation from the evil spirit, so the latter signified the communication of the Holy Ghost. The Bishop then touched the ear of the candidate, saying, with reference to Mark vii. 34, epphatha, "be opened, may God give you an opened understanding, that you may be apt to learn and to answer."* In the north African Church, when the Bishop made the sign of the cross upon the competentes, in token of their consecration, he also gave them some of the salt, over which a blessing had been pronounced at the altar; whereby the divine word communicated to the candidates was represented as the true salt for human nature.t At the time of baptism, the person about to receive the rite, was brought into the vestibule of the baptisterium; he turned himself first towards the west, as the symbol of darkness, which he must now abjure, and pronounced, addressing Satan as if present, the formula of abjuration, the origin and meaning of which we have noticed under the foregoing period: "I renounce thee, Satan, all thy works, all thy pomps, and all thy service." He then turned towards the east, as the symbol of light, to which he would

* Ambros. de iis qui myst. initiantur, c. i.

+ Aug. de Catech. c. 26.

now pass out of darkness, and said, as if addressing Christ: "To thee, O Christ, I dedicate myself."

We have already, under the preceding period, remarked the custom of anointing at baptism. In this period, when men had become fond of multiplying symbols, the custom of a two-fold unction arose: the one preparatory, indicative of the consecration imparted through fellowship with Christ to the believer, whereby he was liberated from the sins of the old man, the putting off of which was represented by the laying aside of the clothing.* The second chrism, or unction with the consecrated oil, (xpoua,) the same symbolical action which we observed in the former period, denoted the consummation of baptism by the complete and divine community of life with the Saviour, the imparting of the Holy Ghost as a consecration to the spiritual Christian priesthood. In the former chrism, the head only was touched; in the latter the head, ears, nose, and breast, to show how this consecration, by means of the divine life, should penetrate and thoroughly illuminate the whole human nature.

We observed in the foregoing period, that in the western Church, confirmation, or the laying on of hands by the Bishop, as a symbol of the communication of the Holy Ghost, which at first constituted one whole in connexion with the act of baptism, became, in process of time, a particular sacrament. The ideas which were connected with the chrism and the episcopal imposition of hands were undoubtedly so allied, that there was an easy occasion for embracing both under one conception, and uniting them in the same act. There was, however, some variation with respect to this.

The baptized persons were now invested with white garments, in token of their regeneration to a new and divine life, and of their child-like innocence, just as the laying aside of former clothing was symbolical of the putting off of the old man. A usage also obtained in the western churches, derived from the former period, according to which a mixture of milk and honey was given to them, as a symbol of childlike innocence, and a type of the communion subsequently to be received.t

In addition to the particular times of baptism, which were usual in the foregoing period, among which the Easter Sabbath was still the principal, the feast of Epiphany now came Hieron. adv. Luc. § 8.

Cyrill. Mystagog. II. c. 3.

into use, and was a favourite season, on account of the reference to the baptism of Christ; while, on the other hand, Whitsuntide was not one of the usual times in the Greek Church. The liberal and evangelical spirit of Chrysostom led him to oppose those who restricted baptism to any particular times, and who thought that there could be no valid baptism except at these times; in opposition to such, he cites examples out of the Acts of the Apostles. The narrow spirit of the Romish Church, on the contrary, here first operated in restricting Christian liberty; for the Roman bishop Siricius, in his decretal to the bishop Himerius, of Tarraco in Spain, (A. D. 385) calls it an act of temerity in Spanish priests, that they baptized immense crowds even at Christmas, Epiphany, and the festivals of the Apostles and martyrs: he ordered that, except in cases of baptism, immediately after birth, or in great necessity, the ordinance should be administered only at Easter and Whitsuntide.

In correspondence with these two constituent parts of ecclesiastical assemblies, viz: the Catechumens and the baptized, the whole service divided itself into two branches, that in which the Catechumens might take part, which comprised the reading of Scripture and the sermon, or the didactic part, and that in which baptized persons might participate, comprising all that related to the representation of Christian fellowship, the communion and the prayers which preceded it; that is, into the missa catechumenorum and the missa fidelium,* a distinction which would naturally fall into disuse upon the general introduction of infant baptism.

We pass now from the Missa Catechumenorum, to the Missa fidelium, and shall speak first of the preparations for celebrating the communion. The disjunction of the Lord's Supper from the Agapae (or Love-feasts) took place as early as the preceding period; as we have already remarked, Vol. I. p. 582. The original mode of celebrating the latter was so

* The word Missa is a substantive in the latinity of this period, and synonymous with missio. The dismission of any assembly was called missa. Avitus of Vienne, ep. 1. In ecclesia palatioque missa fieri pronuntiatur, cum populus ad observantia dimittitur. In this sense Augustin uses the word, p. 49. § 8. Post sermonem fit missa Catechumenorum. And as the word strictly signified the dismission of the Catechumens, it was by metonymy transferred to the dif ferent parts of divine service, as they preceded or followed this dismission; and finally to the Communion itself thereafter following, and by synechdoche to the whole of a complete celebration of divine service. Hence arose the subsequent use of the word Missa or "Mass."

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