BAPTISM. 



BAPTISTERY. 



defend till the ofbpring of Christian parents are sufflcienUy advanced 

 in religious knowledge to have Uw faith, and, if need be. the repenfautce 

 of the convert? or shall those who are born in Chrutian households, and 

 for whom there U the eriou intention entertained by thoee who are 

 their natural proteoton to bring them up in the faith and knowledge of 

 the Christian, be derotod early by their protecton to the faith of 

 Christ, and admitted, in their cob unconscious state, to whatever advan- 

 tages may be euppoeed to attend the performance of thi rite f Without 

 enuring at Urge into the controrery which was raised on this |H,int, 

 ae early a* the doee of the ted century, by Tertullian, we may obMnre 

 that, on the one hand, any profession of faith or repentance caa only 

 be tnmAm by penom of come maturity of judgment, and that there- 

 fore the ordinance seems bettor adapted to the caw of persons who 

 hare attained to thoee yean in which it may be expected that there 'us 

 .nfiw. Acquaintance with the evidence by which the divine commission 

 of our Saviour U proved, tome knowledge of the nature of the doctrine 

 taught by him, and iome real MOM of the advantage* which attend the 

 true believers in Christ. On the- other hand, it U alleged that there U 

 nothing in the New Testament which relates to the baptism of the 

 of&pring of parents themselves Christian, but only to the baptism of 

 converted persons, leaving us without an authoritative direction in the 

 tiTt ; that it was natural for the first converts, who were Jews, to 

 infer an analogy between this rite and the initiatory rite of Judaism, 

 which, by the divine command, was to be performed in infancy, and 

 which brought the person who received it within the scope of the 

 promises to Abraham and his seed, as baptism did within the scope of 

 the promises to believers in Christ ; that we read in the Scripture* of 

 whole households being baptised at once (Acts xvi. 15, 33) ; that infant 

 baptism certainly did prevail in the Church at a very early period ; 

 that it has been received by the authorities in the Roman Church, and 

 in the Churches of England and of Scotland, and other Protestant 

 Churches ; and, lastly, that among those who attribute a saving efficacy 

 in any form to the ordinance, it is to be supposed that a parent 

 would think himself criminal if he neglected to obtain this blowing 

 for his child at the earliest period possible, as St. Paul, in 1 Cor. vii. 14, 

 says, " else were your children unclean, but now are they holy ;" and 

 even among those who regard it as but initiator}', that there is a 

 propriety in Christian parents presenting their offspring newly-born in 

 a Christian temple, and pledging themselves to a Christian minister, 

 and in the presence of a Christian congregation, that they will bring it 

 up in the knowledge and fear of < ! l through faith in Jesus Chriat. 



The Quakers and some other Christians contend against the per- 

 petuity of the ordinance. They say that it was intended only for the 

 apostolic age, or, at most, only for persons of mature age who have 

 been converted from heathenism or Judaism. Against this opinion 

 there is the constant practice of the Church. We find, at the very 

 close of the Scripture history, the apostles and other Christians pro- 

 ceeding with their baptisms ; and at the very beginning of that history 

 of the affairs of the Church which is to be collected from writers whose 

 works are not in the Mew Testament, we find the ordinance in use 

 among believers. The inference drawn from this is, that the words of 

 our Lord, by which he instituted the ordinance, were understood by 

 his apostles to mean, that all persons should be admitted into his 

 Church by this rite, and that they transmitted this sense of them t<> 

 those who afterwards were the teachers in the Church. 



When baptism was received as a permanent ordinance of the Chris- 

 tian Church, suitable places were provided, called baptisteries, which, 

 in ~ 'inc instances, preceded churches, and were, in fact, the point about 

 whi.b other edifices arose, forming an entire church. [K.U-TISTKIIY.] In 

 many of the larger churches of England, a portion of the building is 

 set apart for the performance of this rite, and contains the font, so 

 called from /, a fountain, perhaps in reference to the original bap- 

 tisteries, the springs or running streams of the East, or as the Spring 

 of that water which was supposed to be life-giving. The maintenance 

 font in the church for baptism is enjoined on every parish. 

 Many of the old fonts of England have capacious basins, Urge enough 

 to receive the entire body of the infant It was the practice of the 

 English Church, from the beginning, to immerse the whole body. 

 (See Fuller's ' Church History? p- I'**-) Tyndale, writing at the eve 

 of the Reformation, speaks of it as the general practice, and says that 

 the exceptions were in cases of sickness, when the water was only 

 poured on the head of the infant. Dr. John Jones writing in 1579 

 on the early culture of children, incidentally notices the fact that some 

 of the old priest* of that time were accustomed to dip the child very 

 xeoknialy to the bottom of the font. A few years Uter the practice 

 was giving way, and the custom of sprinkling only becoming gener 

 for Chappell, Bishop of Cork, in the account which he has left of hi 

 self, says that he was dipjird, as was the custom of the parish in which 

 hewasborn. He was born in Nottinghamshire, in the reign of Elizabeth. 

 Since then the lptism of infants by immersion has been almost 

 entirely disused in England. [ FONT. ] 



At tin- Reformation it was intended to continue an ancient practice 

 in the baptism of infants the trine immersion ; and there was an ordi- 

 nance for the purpose in the reign of Edward VI. This has i< 

 to the three persons in the Oodhead named in administering the rite ; 

 and when performed according to what in supposed to be the genuine 

 ancient usage, at the first immersion the right side must be downward, 

 at the second the toft, and at the third the face. Instances do some- 



time* occur in which the ^-ptitm of infants in the English Church is 

 thus performed. 



It has always been an object with the authorities in the- cliui 

 England to enforce the attendance at the public font in tlie Church. 

 Private baptism U rather connived at than allowed, except in cases in 

 which there U sickness or hazard of life ; nor is the clergyman in these 

 cases to perform the full service, but only so much as may be needful, 

 in the estimation of himself ami the parents, for satisfaction that the 

 child, if it dim, .lie not iinUiptued. The friend* of the infant mu-t, 

 *till re|ur to the church for the completion of the ceremony. Among 

 Dissenters, the baptism of infants has been, for the most part, peformed 

 at home. 



It is not absolutely necessary that the rite should IN* performed by a 

 clergyman. The Church of England allows, in certain cases, of lay 

 baptism ; and it was on this allowance, in a great measure, that Sir 

 John Nicholl rested the case in his judgment pronounced >i tin 1 Hli 

 of December 1801), in the case of Kemp and v. 



were offered against the clergyman for refusing to inter the child of 

 two of his parishioners on the ground that it had not been ba: 

 It was proved that it had been baptised by a Dissenting ministei 

 John Nicholl's judgment was, that the baptism was so far sufficient, 

 and that the clergyman had acted contrary to the Uw. 



The Church requires that at baptism there shall be ipoiuon, from 

 tpondco, to promise, or, in our own Saxon tongue, godfathcn and /' 

 mothm, who pledge themselves that the infant shall be brought up in 

 a Christian way. They are to be not less than three : for a male child, 

 two men and one woman; for a female child, two women anil on< 

 This practice is of great antiquity in the Church. It probably was 

 adopted correlative!}- with infant baptism, as the infant could 

 itself make the necessary profession of faith, and which was th< 

 promised for him ; and Tertulliaii uses this as an argument against 

 infant baptism, because the obligation undertaken by the sponsors was 

 one that many circumstances might prevent their fulfilling. The. 

 practice however remains, and its effect is to introduce one 

 social tie among private families and friends. Persons who volun- 

 tarily undertake the office cannot hold themselves absolutely excused 

 from some attention to the religious education of the infant, especially 

 in the case of the death, or the criminal negligence, of its natural 

 protectors. 



Another incident to baptism, as administered in the English Church, 

 is the giving a name to the child. If the child is registered - 

 baptism, a name must be given, and this name must be retained, but 

 additional names may be bestowed at the time of baptism. In this 

 Christians seem to have followed the example of the Jews, who assigned 

 a name when the rite of circumcision was jierioriiicd. The name thus 

 given during the performance of one of the sacraments is appropriately 

 called the Christian name. The surname, or name of addition, i nt 

 on this occasion mentioned ; and it is observable, that though there are 

 frequent instances of the change of the surname in after life, the 

 instances are extremely rare of any change in the Christian name. In 

 the Roman Catholic Church indeed this name is not uufreqiicntly 

 changed by persona who enter holy orders, or into any religious < 

 but the English Protestant Church seems not to have pointed out the 

 way in which the change can be legally effected, though sonn 

 maintained that it may be changed by the authority of the bishop, if 

 solicited by the party at the time when presenting himself for confir- 

 mation. 



The Church of England retains the signing the infant with the sign 

 of the cross, as a token that it is hoped it will become a good sol. 

 Jesus Christ. This is one of the ceremonies which the r:iu;lMi 

 reformers thought it expedient to retain from nun 

 which this ordinance had been loaded in the earlier times of the 

 Church. These additions to the simplicity of the ordinance began at a 

 very early period. Tertullian, a Christian writer, who flourished fivm 

 about A.D. 194 to 216, says that it was then the custom to give th-- 

 baptised person milk and honey, and that he abstain.-.! from washing 

 for the remainder of the day. The giving of salt, the touching the 

 mouth and ears with saliva, anointing, the imposition of hands, and, 

 lastly, formal exorcism, were by degrees introduced into the ordinance; 

 and most, if not all, of them were the practice of the Kn^-H-li 

 formed Church. The sign of the cross was alone p ,t. this 



gave great offence to the party of reformers call,-,! 1'uritan 

 would have brought back everything in respect of reli^i 

 they conceived to be the precedent, or the express directions of 

 Scripture. 



The most ini|>ortant treatises on the subject of baptism are ' The 

 History of Infant Baptism/ by William Wall, D.K., IT''-',; 'Refli 

 on Mr. Wall's History of Infant Baptism,' by John <;.,!,-, D.D., 1711 ; 

 History of llaptism,' b\ l;,.t.,it liobinson, 1 7i0 ; 'The Nature and 

 Design of Christian llapti.-iii,' by R. A. Lancaster, 1855. 



BAPTlsTKKY.a building in" which th.- .-.irlj cliri.~ti.in-i | K ->f 



- riiMiiv of baptism. The word is derived Iron 



0aTTi<rrfy>iof, n Urge vase, labriim, or piscina of the frigidarium used 

 to wash in. [BATH.] (I'lin. lib. 2. c]>. 17 ; lib. 5,ep. 6.) Itwa.- 

 by the Romans IMI, ,.-.! the word baptistery, 



a place in which the cerem ,ny of Christian baptism was performed.' 

 It is most probable that the early Christians baptised for a long time 

 after the primitive manner which was practised by St. John (Mat. iii. 



