BAP 
In the early ages of the church, there was no dated time 
or place for the reception of baptifm. Afterwards, Eaf- 
' ter, Whitfuntide, and Epiphany, became folemn feafons, 
out of which baptifm was not adminidered, except in ca¬ 
fes of neceflity. The catechumens, who were to receive 
it at thefe times, were called competentes; and to thefe it is 
that St. Cyril addrefies his catechefes. In the apodolical 
age, and tome time after, before churches and baptifte- 
ries were generally eredled, they baptized in any place 
where they had any convenience ; as John baptized in Jor¬ 
dan, and Philip baptized the eunuch in the vvildernefs, 
and Paul tiie jailor in his own houfe. But, in after-ages, 
baptidpries were built adjoining to the church ; and then 
rules were made, that baptifm fhouid ordinarily be admi¬ 
nidered no where but in thefe buildings. Judinian, in one 
cf his novels, refers to ancient laws, appointing that none 
of the facred myderies of the church fhouid be celebrated 
in private houfes. Men might have private oratories for 
prayer in their own houfes ; but they were not to ad ini - 
nifter baptifm or the eucharid in them, unlefs by a parti¬ 
cular licence from the bifhop of the place. Such bap- 
tifins are frequently condemned in the ancient councils, 
under the name ira.^aQsnflicr^cAa^ ‘ baptifms in private con¬ 
venticles.’ 
The following were the attendant ceremonies and man¬ 
ner of baptifm in the ancient church : The perfon to be 
baptized, if an adult, was fird examined by the billvop or 
officiating pried, who put fome quedions to him ; as, fird', 
Whether he abjured the devil and all his works ? fecond- 
Jy, Whether he gave a firm a (Tent to all the articles of the 
Ghridian faith ? to both which he anfwered in the affirma¬ 
tive. If the perfon to be baptized was an infat", thefe 
interrogatories- were anfwered by his fponfores, or god fa¬ 
thers. Whether the ufe of fponfors was as old as the 
apodles’ days, is uncertain : perhaps it was not, fince Juf- 
tin Martyr, fpeaking of the method and form of baptifm, 
fays not a word of therm After the quedions and anfwers, 
followed exorcifm ; the manner and end of which was 
this: The minlder laid his. hands on the performs head, 
and breathed in his face, implying thereby the driving a- 
way or expelling of the devil from him, and preparing 
him for baptifm, by which the good and holy fpirit was to 
be conferred upon him. After exorcifm, followed bap¬ 
tifm itfelf: and fird the minider, by prayer, confecrated 
the water for that ufe. The water being confecrated, the 
perfon was baptized “in the name of the Father, and of 
the Son, and of the' Holy Ghod;” by which “dedication 
of him to the blelfed Trinity, the perfon (fays Clemens 
Alexandrinus) is delivered from the corrupt trinity, the 
devil, the world, and the fledi.”' In performing the ce¬ 
remony of baptiiTn, the tifual cudom (-except in clinical 
cafes, or where there was fcarcity of water) was to ini- 
merle and dip the whole body. Thus St. Barnabas, de- 
feribing a baptized perfon, lays, “ We go down into the 
water full of fin and filth, but we afeend bearing fruit in 
our hearts.” And tins practice of immerfing the whole 
body was fo general, that we find no exceptions made in 
refpecl either to the tendernefs of infants, or the bafhful- 
nefs of the other fox, unlefs in cafe of ficknefs, or other 
dilability. But, to prevent any indecency, men and wo- 
- men were baptized apart. To which end, either the bap- 
tideries were divided into two apartments, one for the men, 
the other for the women, as Bingham has.obferved; or 
the men baptized at one time, and the women at an¬ 
other, as is fiievvn by Vodius, from the Ordo Romanus,. 
Gregory’s Sacramentarium, &c. And there was anciently 
an, order of deacorr'efiles, one part of whofe budnefs was to 
adid at the baptifm of women. The precautions, howe¬ 
ver, rather indicate a fcrupulous attention to delicacy, than 
imply any indecency in the circumdance of immerdon it¬ 
felf. From the candidates being i-mmerfed, there is at 
lead no reafon to infer that they were naked. The pre¬ 
sent Bapfids never baptize naked, though they always im- 
merfe. ■ After immerdon, followed the undtion ; by which, 
feys St. Cyril,, was figuilied that they were now. cut oft' 
from the wild olive, and were ingrafted into Chrid, the 
true olive-tree; or elfe to diew that they were now to be 
champions for the gofpel, and were anointed thereto, as 
the athletae were againd their folenm games. With this- 
anointing was joined the fign of the crofs, made upon the 
forehead of the perfon baptized; which, being done, he 
had a white garment given him* to denote his being wa(h- 
ed from the defilements of fin, or in allufion to that of the 
apodle, “as many as are baptized in Chrid have put on 
Chrid'.” From this cudom the fea-d of Pentecod, which 
was one of the annual feafons of baptifm, came to be Call¬ 
ed Whi fund ay, i.e. White-Sunday. This garrhent was af¬ 
terwards laid up in the church, that it might be an evi¬ 
dence againd fuch perfons as violated or denied that faith 
which they had owned in baptifm. When the baptifm was 
performed, the perfon baptized, according to Judin Mar¬ 
tyr, “was received into the number of the faithful, who 
then fent up their public prayers for all men, for them- 
lelves, and for tliofe who had been baptized.” The or¬ 
dinary minifters, who had the right of adminidering this' 
facrament, that is, of applying the water to the body, 
and pronouncing the formula, were prfilbytprs or bifnops ; 
though, on extraordinary occadons, laymen were admitted 
to perform the ceremony. 
In the Romiflj. church, the prefent form of adminider¬ 
ing' baptifm is the following: When a child is to be bap- 
tiled, the perfons who bring it wait for the pried at the 
door of the church, who comes thither in his furpli.ee and' 
purple dole, attended by his clerks. He begins with quef- 
tioning the godfathers, whether they promife, in the child’s 
name, to live and die in the true catholic and apodolic 
faith, and what name they would give the child. Then 
follows an exhortation to the fponfors ; after which the 
pried, calling the child by its name, afks it as follows : 
What doji thou demand of the church ?' The godfather anfwers, 
Eternal life. The pried goes on-: If you arc defirous of ob¬ 
taining, eternal life, keep God’s 'commandments] thou fnclli love 
the Lord thy God, &c. After which he breathes three times- 
in the child’s face, faying, Come out of this child, thou evil 
fpirit, and make room for the Holy G/ioJl. This faid, he 
makes the fign of the crofs on the child’s forehead and 
Tread, faying, Receive the fgn of the crofs on thy forehead , 
and in thy heart. Then, taking off: his cap, he repeats a 
fhort prayer; and, laying his hand gently on the child's 
head, repeats a fecond prayer: which ended, he bleffes 
fome fait ; and, putting a little of it in the child’s mouth, 
pronounces thefe words, Receive the fait of zoifdom. All. 
tills is performed at the church door. The pried, with 
the godfathers and godmothers, coming into the church, 
and advancing toy-yards, the font, repeat the Apodle’s Creed 
and the Lord’s Prayer. Being come to the font, heexof- 
cifes- the evil fpirit again ; and taking a little of his own 
fpittfe, with the thumb of his right hand, rubs it on the 
child’s ears and nodrils, repeating, as he touches the right- 
ear, the-fame word (Ephatha, be thou opened); which our Sa¬ 
viour made ufe of to the man born deaf and dumb. Laft- 
]y, they drip it below the flioulders, during which the 
pried prepares the oils, &c. The fponfors then hold the- 
child over the font, obferving to turn it due ead and wed : 
whereupon the pried atks the child, Whether he renounces 
the devil and all his works? and,.the godfather having an¬ 
fwered in the affirmative, the pried anoints the child be¬ 
tween the flioulders in the form of a crofs. Then, taking 
fome of the confecrated water, he pours part of it thrice 
on the child’s head, at each perfudon calling on one of 
the Perfons of the Holy Trinity. The pried concludes 
the ceremony of baptifm with an exhortation. The Ro- 
mifli church allows midwives, in cafes of danger, to bap¬ 
tize a child before it comes entirely out of its mother’s' 
womb: where it is to be obferved, that fome part of the 
body of the child mud appear before it can be baptized, 
and that it is baptized on the part which fird appears. If 
it be the head, it is not neceffary to re-baptize the child;, 
but, if only a foot or hand appears", it is neceffary to re¬ 
peat baptifm. A ftiil-born.child, thus baptized, may be 
buried 
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