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tutlionty of Tortulllan, to the commencement of the fecond 

 century ; who were ufed in the haptifm of infants that 

 could not anfwer for themftlves. (Sec Godfathers.) The 

 catechumens were not forward in coming to baptifm : St. 

 Ambrofe was not baptized before he was elefled bifliop of 

 Milan ; and fome of the fathers not till the time of their 

 death. Some deferred it out of a tender confjienqe ; and 

 others out of too much attachment to the world ; it bcino- 

 the prevailing opinion of the primitive times, that baptifm, 

 whenever conferred, waihed away all antecedent ftains and 

 fins. Accordingly they deferred this fanclifying rite as 

 long as pofiible, even till they apprehended they were at 

 the point of death. Cafes of this kind occur at the begin- 

 ning of the third century. Conftantine the Great was not 

 baptiicd till he was at the lad gafp, and in this he was fol- 

 lowed by his fon Conftantius ; and two of hii other fons, 

 Conftantine and Conitans, were killed before they were bap- 

 tizcd. Divers of the fathers rallied this fupeillitious deli- 

 cacy to fuch a degree, that they introduced a different ex- 

 treme ; the ridiculous zeal of fome people canying them to 

 baptize even the dead, by proxy. Epiphanius, Chryfollom, 

 and Theodoret, obferve, that this cullom prevailed in fome 

 places in their time. See Bafnage Hill, dcs Egliies Refor- 

 mees, vol. i. p. 137. 



The opinion of the necefSty of baptifm in order to 

 falvation, is grounded on thefe two fayings of our Saviour : 

 ♦' He that believeth, and is baptized, (hall be faved ;" and, 

 " Except a man be born of water, and of the fpirit, he 

 cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Mark xvi. 16. 

 John iii. 5. In the age immediately following that of the 

 apoftles, we find that baptifm and regeneration were ufed as 

 fynonymous terms ; and whereas, originally, the pardon of 

 fin was fuppofed to be the confeqncnce of that reformation 

 of life which was only promiled at baptifm, it was now ima- 

 gined that there was fomething in the rite itfelf, to which 

 that grace was annexed ; and in general it feems to have 

 been imagined that this faniflifying virtue was in the water, 

 and in no other part of the ordinance as adminilleied by the 

 prieft. TertulUan fays, that the Holy Spirit was always 

 given in baptifm ; and he fays, that the fpirit of God de- 

 fcends upon the water of baptifm like a dove. Chryfoilom 

 afferts, that the water ceafes to be what it was before, and 

 is not fit for drinking, but is proper for fandlifying ; and 

 that the Chriftian baptifm is fuperior to that of John, as 

 his was the baptifm of repentance, but had not the power 

 of forgiving fin. Audin fays, that it touches the body, and 

 purifies the heart. Bafnage (ubi fupra), p. 138. And it 

 appears bv a paffage in Auftin, that the African Chriftians 

 ufually called haptifm /ahation, and the eucharift /ife, pre- 

 ferring the former to the latter. WicklifF thought baptifm 

 to be neceflary to falvation. " The prieft," he fays, " in 

 baptifm adminifters only the token or fign, but God, who 

 is the prieft and bifhop of our fouls, adminifters the fpiritual 

 grace." Gilpin's Life of Wickl. p. 64. It is alfo the lan- 

 guage of the public forms of the church of England, that 

 baptifm is ncceftary to falvation, and that by baptifm an 

 infant is regenerated, becomes a child of God by adoption, 

 and is incorporated into God's holy church. Similar to 

 this is the doftrine of the church of Scotland ; for, in 

 their confcffion of faith, baptifm is faid to be a fign or fcal 

 of the covenant of grace, of perfons ingrafting into Chrift, 

 of regeneration, of remiflion of fins, &c. As to the ne- 

 ceffitv o*^ baptifm, we may obferve, however, that, though 

 fome feem to have laid too great ftrefs upon it, as if it were 

 indifpenfahly neceflary in order to falvation ; it niuft be al- 

 lowed, th:it for any pcrfon to omit baptifm, when he ac- 

 knowledges it to be an inilitution of Chrift, and that it is the 

 Vol. III. 



BAP 



will of Chrift that he (hould fubmit to it, is an aft of difobe.' ■ 

 dience to his authority, which is inconfiftent with true faith.- 

 Mr. Dodwell maintains that the ordmance of baptifm, if 

 adminiftertd by perfons duly ordained, conveys an immor- 

 talifing fpirit ; whereas perfons dying unbaptifed are not 

 immortal. Mr. Hallet alfo (Notes on Script, vol. iii. p. 299 

 — 3 1 1.), though he does not affert it in exprefs terms, feem« 

 to intimate fomething ver)' hke it, when he fays, that cir- 

 cumcifion was that which gave the infant a right to im- 

 mortality ; and that baptifm in this refpect comes in the 

 room of circumcifion ; and yet that no infants are mifcra- 

 ble in a fu'ure ftate. 



Some have maintained that the commlfTion to baptize 

 was addreffed by Jefus only to the apoftles ; and hence 

 they argue that none but apoftles and apoftolical men, 

 their fucceflors, have any right to adminifter baptifm. But 

 it has been alked by others, is it a true fact that during 

 the lives of the apoftles, none but they baptized ? Philip 



the deacon baptized the Samaritans (Acts xviii. j 14) • 



there was no apoftle at Damafcus when Paul was baptized, 

 but he was baptized by a certain difciple named Ananias. 

 Afts ix. 18. Rom. vi. 4. See alfo Ads xviii. 2, &c. Aft* 

 X. 5 — 23. It is alfo inquired further by perfons of thit 

 latter clafs, who are the fucceflors of the apoftles ? and 

 whctlier or not Jefus inftituted a priefthood or any order of 

 men to fucceed the apoftles ? It is, however, a fad which 

 cannot be contefted, that in the eariieft age of the Chriftian 

 church, the bifhop only, or the priefts by his permilfion, 

 adminiftered baptifm ; as, with his leave, they alfo performed 

 any other of his funftions : but it appears from Tertullian, 

 that in his tim.e laymen had in fome cafes' the power of 

 baptizing. This baptifm, neverthelefs, feemcd to have re- 

 quired the confirmation of the biftiop, and would not be 

 allowed but in cafe of neceflity, as at the approach of 

 death, S;c. At a fynod at Elvira, in 306, it was allowed, 

 that a layman, provided he had not been married a fecond 

 time, might baptize catechumens in cafe of neceflity ; but 

 it was ordered, that if they furvived they fliould be brought 

 to the biftiop for the impofition of hands. Afterwards, 

 when the bounds of the church were much enlarged, the 

 bufinefs of baptifm was left almoft entirely to the priefts, 

 or the country bifhops ; and the birtiops of great fees only 

 confirmed afterwards. It feems, however, to be decent and 

 proper, that baptifm fliould be adminiftered only by the 

 teachers and miniftcrs of the church, where their afliftance 

 can be had ; not only becaufe it appears that thefe were the 

 perfons by whom it was adminiftered in the New Tefta- 

 ment, but becaufe, ctteris paribus, they muft be moft capa- 

 ble of judging who are the fit fubjefts of it. 



Great doubts were raifed in early times about the validitT- 

 of baptifm as adminiftered by heretics. Tertullian, before 

 he became a Montanift, wrote a treatife to prove that here- 

 tics, not having the fame God or the fame Chrift with the 

 orthodox, their baptifm was not vahd. Cyprian called a 

 fynod at Carthage, in which it was determined, that no 

 baptifm was vahd out of the CathoUc church, and therefore, 

 that thofe who had been heretics fliould be re-baptized. 

 But Stephen, the biftiop of Rome, did not approve of 

 this decifion ; and by degrees his opinion, which continued 

 to be that of the church of Rome, became every where 

 prevalent. Indeed, when fo much ftrefs was laid upon bap- 

 tifm itfelf, it would have introduced endlefs anxiety, if 

 much doubt had remained about the power of adminiftering 

 it. For a further account of the fubjeds and mode of 

 baptifm, fee Baptists, and P*dobaptists ; fee alfo Ana- 

 baptists. 



Baptism of the Dead, a cuftom which anciently pre. 

 4F railed 



