BAP 



parland of flowers, for queen Mary II. wlio fat by liim during 

 the greateft part of the time whilft he was empioyed in paint- 

 ing it. He died in 1699. His fon Anthony Baptifl was aUb 

 a painter of flowers in the ftyle and manner of liis father. 

 Pilk.ington. 



Baptist, John, Caspars, a painter of liiftory ard 

 portrait, was born at Antwerp, and was a difciple of Tho- 

 mas Willcborts Bofchaert. During the civil wars he came 

 over to England ; and after the reftoration was emploved by 

 fir Peter Lely, to paint the poilures and draperies of his 

 portraits, and diftinguiiTied by the name of Ltly's Baptift. 

 He made defigns for tapeftry, whicli were accounted good, 

 and his drawing was generally corrcA. In the hall of St. 

 Bartholomew's hofpital there is a portrait of king Charles 

 II. painted by this mafter. He died in 1691. Pilkington. 



BAPTISTERY, in Ecchfnflknl Il^rllers, a place or 

 edilice where water is preferved for perfons to be baptieed 

 in. Anciently, in the churches which baptized by immcr- 

 fion, the baptiftcr)- was a kind of pond wliere the catechu- 

 mens were plnnged ; though in many places the next river 

 fervcd for a baptiftery, which was the cafe in the time of 

 Jufiin Martyr and of Tertullian. 



About the middle of the third century, ther began to 

 build baptifteries ; but there were none that adioined to 

 churches till the year 496, and then they flood without the 

 church, and of this kind the firft was prepared for the bap- 

 tifm of Clovis king of France, who, with his filler Audo- 

 fitdis, was dipped three tim.es by immerfion. But there 

 were none within the churches till the fixth century-; and 

 it is remarkable, that though there were many churches in 

 cue city, yet, with few exceptions, there was but one bap- 

 tiftery. This Cmple circumllance became in time a title to 

 dominion ; and the congregation nearefl the baptiftery, and 

 to whom in forr.e places it belonged, and by whom it was 

 lent to the other churches, pretended that all the others 

 ought to confider themfelves as dependent upon them. 

 When the faftiion of dedication was introduced, the church 

 that owned the baptiftery was generally dedicated to St. 

 John the Baptift, and affumed the title of St. John infonte, 

 or St. John nd f'^ntfs, that is, the church near or at the 

 baptiftei-y. The noble and fplendid cities of Florence, Pifa, 

 Bologna, Parma, Milan, and many others in Italy, had 

 but one baptiftery in each ; and thefe baptifmal churches 

 were ufually built near rivers and waters, as was the cafe 

 with refpeft to thofe of Mdan, Naples, Ravenna, Verona, 

 and many more. In later times, the biftiop of the baptifmal 

 church, having obtained -fecular power, granted licences for 

 other churches to erect baptifteries ; taking care at the fame 

 time to maintain his own dominion over the people. 



By a baptiftery, which muft not be confounded with a 

 modern font, is to be underftood an oftagon building, with 

 a cupola roof, refembling the dome of a cathedral, adja- 

 cent to a church, but forming no part of it. llie whole 

 middle part of this edifice was one large hall capable of con- 

 taining a great number of people ; the fides were parted 

 off, and divided into rooms ; and in fome, roomi were added 

 on the outfide in the fafhion of cloifters. In the middle of 

 the great hall was an octagon bath, which, ftriit'tly fpeaking, 

 was the baptiftery, and from which the whole building de- 

 rived its appellation. Some of thefe were eredled over na- 

 tural rivulets ; others were fupplied by pipes, and the water 

 was conveyed into one or more of the fidc-rooms. Some 

 of the furrounding rooms were veilries, others fchool-rooms, 

 both for tranfafting the affairs of the church, and for the 

 inftruftion of youth. They were large and capacious ; for 

 as baptifm was adminiftered only twice a year, the candi- 

 dates were numerous, and the fpcclators more numerous 



BAP 



than they. In procefs of time there were baptifteries at 

 moft of the principal churches of Rome, as at thofe of St. 

 Peter, St. Laurence, St. Agnes, St. Pancias, and others. 

 The moft ancient is that at St. John Latcrar. Bapti'Ieiiei 

 were alfo erected fcparatc from the churches in all the prin- 

 cipal cities of Italy, as Florence, Ravenna, Milan, Pifa, 

 Parma, and the reft. The baptifter)- anncyed to the {yn. 

 cious and fplendid church cf St. Sophia at Conftantincple, 

 refembled the convocation room of a cathedral ; it va^ 

 very large; councils have been held in it ; and it was called 

 lj.--yy. Ci,Ti,-r^i5», the great illuminatory. In the middle wa« 

 the bath, in which baptifm was adminiftered ; snd there 

 were outer rooms for all concerned in the baptifm of im- 

 merfion, the only baptifm of the place. The Lateran bap- 

 tiftery at Rome, belonging to the church of St. John Late- 

 ran, is an oftagon edifice, the roof of which is fupported 

 by e'ght large polygonal pillars of porphyry- ; and under 

 the cupola, in the centre of the floor, is the baptiftery pro- 

 perly fo called, lined v.ith marble, with three fttps for de- 

 fcent into it, and about five Roman palms, or jyi inches, 

 deep. Ciampini apprehends, after much invciligation of 

 the opinion of .antiquarians, that this baptiftery was origi- 

 ually a bath in the precinfts of the imperial palace ; that 

 it was begun to be converted into a baptiftery bv the em.pe- 

 ror Conftantine ; that the buildings were carried on by pope 

 Xyftus III. ; and that they were completed and ornan:iented 

 by pope Hilary. Baptifteries were in fafhion in Italy from 

 the reign of Conftantine to that of Charlemagne, during a 

 period of about 500 years ; and within this ir.ter%al they 

 were amply adorned and endowed. The firft gifts of the 

 faithful were milk, honey, and wine, for the rcfrcfhment 

 of the catechumens and their attendants ; the next were 

 oils, unguents, and falts ; along with thefe came cups, vafes, 

 plates, and utenfils, marked with the initial letters of the 

 name of John Baptill, I. B. or John the fore-runner, 

 inAN TTPOA. which perhaps is the true origin of baptifmal 

 infcriptions ; then came money for the poor, and for the 

 fupport of thofe who fpent their time in teaching and offi- 

 ciating ; after th.cfc cjme habits, ornaments, pictures of 

 John holding out his right hand, with a lamb lying in it, 

 being a reference to his words, " Behold the lamb of God ;" 

 and thefe were followed bv others more complex ; the whole 

 forming a large body of fiiperftitious theology, glaring ir 

 praftice, but cumberfome to virtue. 



In the baptifm of infants, it was unneceffary for the admi- 

 niftrators to go into the water, and therefore they contrived 

 cifterns, which they called ybn//, in which the children were 

 dipped. Thefe were at firft fmall baths, erefted on a platform, 

 into which thofe who performed the ceremony plunged chil- 

 dren, without going into the water themfelves. In modem 

 practice, the font remains, bnt a bafon of water fct in the font 

 fer\es the purpofe, becaufe it is not thought necelTary either 

 that the admiiiiftrator ftioiild go into the water, or that the 

 candidate ftiould be immerfed. This in England was cuftom, 

 but not law ; for in the time of queen Elizabeth, the go- 

 vernors of the cpifeopal church did in effeCft cxprefsly pro- 

 hibit fprinkling, by forbidding the ufe of bafons in public 

 baptifm. See " A bookc of certaine canons, concerning feme 

 parte of the difcipline of the churche of England," in 15" I, 

 by John Daye, p. 19. Fonts in parifh-churches for the 

 purpofe of baptifing infants were introduced foon after the 

 arrival of Auftin the monk ; and each parifh was enjoined 

 to provide fonts of wood and flone for this purpofe. In 

 the old church of St. Peter at Oxford, built by Grymbald, 

 who was brought over from Flanders into England by 

 Alfred, in the year SS5, there was till lately a very ancient 

 baptifmal font, of a circular form, and elegant fculpture, 

 4 F 2 clevea 



