BAP 



B A F 



vailed among fome people in Africa. The tliird council 

 pf Carthage fpcaks of it as a thing that i^'-oraiit ClirilUsiw 

 were fond of. Gregory Nazianzer. alio takes notice ot i]ii 

 fame fiiperllitimis opinion prevailing among ionic wlio delay- 

 ed to be baptized. In his addvefs to this kind of men, he 

 alks, whether they llaid to be baptized after deatli ? Phi- 

 laltrin? a!fo notes it as the general error of tiie MontaniiU 

 or Cataphrygiaiis, that they baptized men after death. 



The pra;lice feems to be grounded on a vain opinion, 

 that when men had negleftcd to receive baptifm in their 

 Hfe-time, fome conipenfaiion might be made for this default 

 by receiving it after death. 



Dap risM sf t/ji: Di\id was alfo a fort of vicarious baptifm 

 formerly in ufe, where a perfon dying without baptifm, 

 another was baptized in his Head ; a pradlice founded on 

 I Cor. XV. 29. concerning the fcafe of which paffage ciitics 

 have been much divided. Several Catholics und^rlland it 

 of the baptifm of tears, penance, and prayers, which the 

 living undergo for the dead, and allege it as a proof of the 

 belief of purgatory in the apollles' days. See Hcinlius's 

 Exerc. ad Nov. Te!l. hb. vii. cap, 13. 



Michaelis underflands, with Grotins and Simon, by B^-t- 

 tiTiiQi; i/T!j) vixf j,7, or baptifm for the dead, a vicarious bap- 

 tifm for the dead. Whether this vicarious baptifm was 

 praftifed in the firll century, and meant by the apolUe, it is 

 difficult at prefcnt to determine ; and Dr. Teller, one of 

 the moft fenfible expolkors of the New Tellament, candidly 

 ConfefTcs, that ho is unable to comprehend the meaning of 

 the paffiige. It is, however, certain that the custom was 

 not unknown in the fourth century, as appears from Chry. 

 follom's 40th homily to the f:rlt epiille to the Corinthians ; 

 and in the fame century it was not unufual to defer baptil[n 

 till the approach of death, and if the patient died fudienly, 

 to baptize even the dectafcd. Michaelis's Iiitrod. by 

 Mardi, vol, i. p. 359. 



Others have fnppofed that the fuperftilious cuftom 

 of baptizing a living perfon as the nprefentative of one 

 who had died uabaptized, is more likely to have arifen 

 from an erroneous interpretation of this palTage than to 

 have been fo early prevalent. Some conceive that ^ly-fut 

 is here put for vexsa, and refers to thofe who were bap- 

 tized into the religion of Jefas, who on the iiypothtlis 

 of the adverfaries againll whom the apoftle reafons, is JJill 

 (lead. Sir Richard EUys, in his " Fortuita Sacra," p. 137. 

 interprets thele words in the following manner : " -what 

 Jhould ihey do ivho an baptized, i.i token pf their embracing 

 the Chrillian faith, in the room of the dead, who are jull 

 fallen in the caufe of Chrill, but are yet fupported by a fuc- 

 ceffion of new converts, who immediately offer themfelves 

 to fill up their place, as ranks of foldiers that advance to 

 the combat in the room of their companions, who have jull 

 been ilain in their light". Doddr. in loc. Wakefi'.ld (Tranf- 

 lation, vol. ii. p. S9. ) renders the words : " Belides, what 

 advantage above the other dead will they have, who are fub- 

 mitting conftantly to baptifm ? Why indeed are they thus 

 baptized, if the dead will certainly live no more ? Why 

 fliould we too expofe ourfclves to the danger of it every 

 hour ?" The apollle, fays this critic, here begins a new 

 argument of the refurredlion, grounded on the praflice of 

 the apoitles themfelves, who had been eye-witnefl'cs of their 

 mailer's revival. What contributed not a little to obfcure 

 this paffage, he adds, was the fecond vTCf Tm >iy.^m, a claufe 

 not acknowledged by the Coptic and Eihiopic verfions. 

 For this fenfe of baptifm, the reader may confult Matt. xx. 

 22. Luke xii. 50. Eufeb. Eccl. Hill. vi. 4. fin. ; and for an 

 illaflratioa of the argument, Rev. xx. 4. 



fiArrisM, Lay, fecms to have been allowed in the rubric 



of tlie Englifh liturgy, till the time of king James I. though 

 there werj great dfputts among the bilhops at the H.imp- 

 ton-court conference in 1603, whether the words of the 

 liturgy imported fuch allowance or not. The bifhop of 

 ^Vorcelhr allowed them to be doubtful ; but that the con- 

 trary praClice of the church, which cenfured women for 

 conferring baptifm, flicwed, that the compilers of the 

 book did not intend them as a permiffion : they had indeed 

 propounded them ambiguonfly, bccaufe otherwilc, perliaps, 

 the book would not have paffed the parliament. The arcli- 

 bifliop of Canterbury infilled, that the adminillration of 

 private bjptifm by women and laymen was not allowed iiv 

 the pradice of the chinch, but, on the contrary, cenfured 

 by the billiops in their vilitations. He even added, that 

 the words of the liturgy do not infer any fueh meaning. To 

 which king James excepted ; urging and prelTing the words 

 of the book, that they could iiv/t but intend a permiflio:i 

 of women and private perfons to baptize. Till this time 

 it had been cullomary for bilhops to licenfe midwives to 

 their office, and to allow their right to baptize in cafes of 

 ncceffity, under an oath which was prefcribed to them. 



At prefcnt, the Englilh divines condemn it as invalid ; 

 and Buriiirt, bilhop of Sarum, was fevcrely handled by 

 fome of them, for affcrting that faith in the Trinity give» 

 every man a right to baptize. Colliub's Dilc. on Free- 

 Think, p. 73. 



Baptism, Clinic. See CtiNic. 



Baptism is alfo applied abufively to certain ceremonies 

 ufed in giving names to many inanimate things. 



Baptism, in Sea Liingtia^e, is a ceremony in long voy- 

 ages aboard merchant-lhips ; pradlifed both on perfons and 

 vcflels which pal's the tropic, or equinodial line, fur the 

 firil time. 



That of vefTcls is fimple, and confills only in tl'.e wafliing 

 them throughout with fea-water ; that of palTengcrs is lu- 

 dicrous : but neither the one nor the other is done without 

 making the crew drunk ; the fcamen, on chriftening the 

 fhip, pretending to a right of cutting off the beak-head^ 

 unltfs redeemrd by the ma.ler or captain. 



Baptism of Bells. See Bell. 



BAPTISMAL Font. See Baptistery. 



Baptismal Prcfenis are in ufe in Germany, made hj 

 the fponfors to the infant, conlifting of money, plate, or 

 even fometimes fiefs of lands ; which, by the laws of the 

 .country, are to be kept for the child tdl of age, the parents 

 having only the trull, not the right of difpoling of them. 



An anonymous author has pubhihed a difcourfe exprefs 

 on this occallon, intitled, " IJe Pecunia Luilrica." 



Baptismal Voiv, or Covenant, a profcffion of obedience 

 to the laws of Chrill, which perfons, ia the ancient church, 

 made before baptifm. 



It was made by turning to the Eaft, but for what myf- 

 tical reafons is nut well agreed. 



BAPTIST, John, Monhoyer, in Biography, an eml- 

 nent painter of flowers and frait, was born at Lifle in 

 1635, and educated at Antwerp. The compolition and 

 colouring of this mafter are in a bolder ft vie than thofe of 

 Van Huyfum, but his pictures are not fo exquifitcly finilhtd. 

 The difpolition of his objects is fo elegant and beautiful 

 as to form a tell by which his compofitions may be dillin- 

 guifhed from thofe of other mailers. He was invited to 

 England by the duke of Montagu, and employed in con. 

 jundtion with La Folfe and Roulfeau, to embellilh Monta- 

 gue houfe, which is now the Brilifh Mufeum, and in which 

 are prcfcrved fome of the fineil performances of Baptill. A 

 very celebrated work of this artill is a looking-glafs pre- 

 fervcd in the royal palace at Kenfington, decorated with a 



garland 



