made confession of the faith," and cast away the military girdle, afterward return to their vomit again, so as to give money and buy a place in the army, let them be ten years among the prostrators, after they have been three years among the hearers." | The generality of interpreters take this to refer peculiarly to the times of Licinius the persecutor, who by an edict had ordered all such Christian soldiers to be cashiered, as would not sacrifice to the gods; upon which many Christians in the army threw away their girdles, and quitted the military life. But afterward some of them returned again to it | upon the conditions proposed, doing sacrifice and committing idolatry, and giving money to regain their places; against whose prevarication and revolt the discipline of this canon was intended. So Balsamon and Zonaras among the old expositors; and so Grotius" and Ziegler," Sylvius and Coriolanus, Binnius, and Bishop Beverege, with many other modern writers. Albaspinæus thinks it peculiarly respected such penitents only, as vowed to renounce all secular business and employments, and to live in a state of perpetual penance, but afterward returned to a secular life, and took upon them civil offices again, which in the imperial law and canons of the church are sometimes called by the name of militia palatina. And Salmasius advances an opinion not much different from this. However, it is agreed on all hands, that the council of Nice made no general prohibition of the military life, but only in some such special cases. There is therefore no reason to conclude from hence, that they esteemed the vocation of a soldier simply unlawful.

39

Especially considering that Constantine himself allowed the soldiers, who were cashiered by Licinius, to return to their ancient employment again, as is rightly observed by Ziegler out of Theodoret and Eusebius." Nay, the first council of Arles excommunicated all such as threw away their arms in time of peace," on pretence that they were Christians. All which abundantly proves, that the ancient canons did not condemn the military life as a vocation simply unlawful or antichristian, nor consequently such as men were obliged to renounce at their baptism; but all that was required of them, was only what St. John Baptist had exacted before,

35 Conc. Nic. can. 12. Οἱ προσκληθέντες μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς χάριτος, καὶ τὴν πρώτην ὁρμὴν ἐνδειξάμενοι, καὶ ἀποθέμενοι τὰς ζώνας, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐπὶ τὸ οἰκεῖον ἔμετον ἀναδραμόντες, &c.

36 Grot. de Jure Belli, lib. 2. c. 2. p. 36.

37 Ziegler. Animadvers. in Grotium, lib. 1. c. 2. p. 105. 38 Albaspin. Not. in Can. 12. Conc. Nic.

30 Salmas. de Fonore Trapezitico, p. 782. cited by Ziegler. 40 Euseb. de Vit. Constant. lib. 2. c. 33.

41 Conc. Arelat. 1. can. 3. De his qui arma projiciunt in pace, placuit abstinere eos a communione.

42 Constit. Apost. lib. 8. c. 32. ΣтраTIάTηS πрorio di δασκέσθω μὴ ἀδικεῖν, μὴ συκοφαντεῖν, ἀρκεῖσθαι δὲ διδομέν

when they came to his baptism, as appears from the rule in the Constitutions," providing in this case, That a soldier, when he desired baptism, should be taught to do violence to no man, to accuse no one falsely, and to be content with his wages: if he consented to these things, he was to be received; if otherwise, to be rejected. This was the standing rule of the church, and I believe there is no instance of any man being refused baptism merely because he was a soldier, unless some unlawful circumstance, as that of idolatry, or the like, made the vocation sinful.

43

Sect. 11. Whether persons might be baptized,

state of concubinage.

The other case, which has been matter of doubt, is concerning the state of concubinage, which in the wo lived in the common acceptation is a matter of such ill fame, that it seems a wonder to many to hear of any allowance made to it in the civil law and ancient canons. But they made a distinction anciently in this matter, as the Jews and patriarchs of old did, among whom there was one sort of concubines which was permitted, as differing nothing from a wife, save only that she was not married with all the solemnities and usual forms that the other was. And this sort of concubines the ancient canons received both to baptism and the communion. The rule in the Constitutions 3 about this matter is given thus: A concubine that is a slave to an infidel, if she keep herself only to him, may be received to baptism; but if she commit fornication with others, she shall be rejected. A like decree was made in the council of Toledo" concerning the admission of persons to the communion: If any Christian who has a wife, have also a concubine, let him not communicate. But if he have no wife, but only a concubine instead of a wife, he may not be repelled from the communion, provided he be content to be joined to one woman only, whether wife or concubine, as he pleases. Now the difference betwixt such a concubine and a wife, as learned men have observed," was, not that the one was truly married, and the other not; but in the different way of their being married. For she that was called a wife was married publicly, and with great solemnity, and instruments of dowry, and other ceremonies which the civil and canon law required; but she who was

νοις ὀψωνίοις· πειθόμενος προσδεχέσθω, αὐτιλέγων ἀπο βαλλέσθω.

43 Constit. Apost. lib. 8. c. 32. Пaλaký Twos ázise δέλη, ἐκείνῳ μόνῳ σχολάζεσα, προσδεχέσθω· εἰ δὲ καὶ πρὸς ἄλλες ἀσελγαίνει, ἀποβαλλέσθω.

Conc. Tolet. 1. can. 17. Si quis habens uxorem fidelis, concubinam habeat, non communicet. Cæterum is qui non habet uxorem, et pro uxore concubinam habeat, a communione non repellatur, tantum ut unius mulieris, aut uxoris, aut concubinæ, ut ei placuerit, sit conjunctione contentus.

45 Vide Anton. Augustinum de Emendatione Gratiani, lib. 1. Dial. 15. p. 170. Pet. Martyr. Loc. Com, lib. 2. cap. 20. n. 3. p. 273.

called a concubine, was one married in a private way, without the solemnity which the law required: but they both agreed in these three things: 1. That they were unmarried persons before. 2. That they obliged themselves to their husbands to live in conjugal chastity, and in procreation of children, and be joined to no other. 3. And that they would continue faithful in this state all their lives. Now, this sort of concubines, being in the nature of wives married without the formalities required in the civil law, were not reputed guilty of fornication, though they wanted the privileges, rights, and honours that the law allowed to those who were called legal wives and therefore they were admitted to baptism without any further obligation, in case the husband was a heathen. But if the husband was a Christian, the rule in the Constitutions made a little difference. For if he had a concubine, he was obliged to dismiss her, and marry a lawful wife," if his concubine was a slave; and if she was a free woman, he must make her a lawful wife; otherwise he was to be cast out of the church. And so in the decrees of Pope Leo," Christians who had only concubines, were obliged to dismiss them, if they were slaves, unless they would free them, and lawfully endow them, and give them a public marriage as the laws required. And in this these decrees seem to differ from that of the council of Toledo, which allows a concubine to cohabit in private wedlock without any ecclesiastical censure. St. Austin 48 reckons this case one of those dubious and difficult points which cannot easily be determined. But he inclines to think a concubine of this kind might be admitted to baptism, because her case differs much from that of a professed adulteress, who could never be admitted to baptism, whilst she lived in the practice of so flagrant a crime; but the other case, he thinks, is a matter which the Scripture has no where so positively condemned, but rather left in doubt, as many other such points and questions, which the church in her prudence must decide by the best skill she has to determine such difficult questions. I have represented the sense of the ancients upon this point as clearly as I could, because it has occasioned some ill-grounded censures of the ancients, and of Gratian's canon-law, (which is only copied from them,) in some modern authors; as if they had allowed such concubines as we commonly call harlots, to be baptized without giving signs of repentance; whereas, we see, this matter was not

46 Constit. Apost. lib. 8. c. 32. Πιτὸς ἐὰν ἔχῃ παλλακὴν, εί μεν δήλην, παυσάσθω, καὶ νόμῳ γαμείτω, εἰ δὲ ἐλευθέ ραν, ἐκγαμείτω αὐτὴν νόμῳ, εἰ δὲ μὴ, ἀποβαλλέσθω.

Leo, Ep. 92. ad Rusticum, c. 4. Clericus, si filiam viro habenti concubinam in matrimonium dederit, non ita accipiendum est, quasi conjugato ei dederit, nisi forte illa mulier et ingenua facta, et dotata legitime, et publicis nuptiis honestata videatur.--Ibid. c. 5. Ancillam a toro abjicere, et uxorem certæ ingenuitatis accipere, non duplica

so crudely delivered by them, but considered and determined with several necessary cautions and distinctions. And I have been the more particular in making inquiries concerning these several kinds of adult persons, who might, or might not, be admitted to baptism, because these are questions which the reader will not easily find so distinctly examined in modern writers, who have professedly treated of the subject of baptism.

Sect. 12.
A peculiar error

of the Marcionites

ried persons from

in rejecting all mar

baptism.

I only note one thing more, concerning a pretended rule of purity among the Marcionites, which was, that they would admit no married persons to their baptism; but they must be either virgins, or widows, or bachelors, or divorced persons: which, as Tertullian observes, came doubtless from their abhorrence and condemnation 19 of the married life; which error was common to them with many other ancient heretics: though I do not find this peculiarity, of denying baptism to such persons, ascribed to any others. However it was, we are sure there was no such rule ever made to discourage marriage in the catholic church. Her rule was always that of St. Paul, "Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled; but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge." church took upon her to judge adulterers, and by the power of the keys to exclude them from baptism; but beyond this she pretended to no power or commission from God, to be exercised over any others, whom God had left at liberty to be married or unmarried, as they saw occasion.

CHAPTER VI.

OF THE TIME AND PLACE OF BAPTISM.

The

Sect. 1. Why adult persons sometimes delayed baptism by order of

the church.

NEXT to the persons who were the subjects of baptism, it will be proper to consider the circumstances of time and place in the administration of it. As to infants, I have already showed, that no time was limited for their baptism; but they were to be regenerated as soon as they could with convenience after the time of their natural birth; being confined to no day, as circumcision was, by any rule of Scripture: though the church in some places deferred

tio conjugii, sed profectus est honestatis.

48 Aug. de Fide et Operibus, cap. 19. t. 4. p. 33. De concubina quoque, si professa fuerit nullum se alium cognituram, etiamsi ab illo cui subdita est, dimittatur: merito dubitatur, utrum ad percipiendum baptismum non debeat admitti.

49 Tertul. cont. Marcion, lib. 1. cap. 29. Non tinguitur apud illum caro nisi virgo, nisi vidua, nisi cœlebs, nisi divortio baptisma mercata.—Sine dubio ex damnatione conjugii institutio ista const abit.

them, when there was no danger of death, to the solemnity of some greater festival. But for adult persons, the case was something otherwise; for their baptism was generally deferred for two or three years, or a longer or shorter time, by order of the church, till they could be sufficiently instructed, and disciplined to the practice of a Christian life; of which I have given a full account in the last book. Others had their baptism put off a longer time by way of punishment, when they fell into gross and scandalous crimes, which were to be expiated by a longer course of discipline and repentance. This was sometimes five, or ten, or twenty years, or more, even all their lives to the hour of death, when their crimes were very flagrant and provoking. If a catechumen turned informer against his brethren in time of persecution, and any one was proscribed or slain by his means, then, by a canon' of the council of Eliberis, his baptism was to be deferred for five years. And so in case a woman-catechumen divorced herself from her husband, her punishment was five years' prorogation. But if she committed adultery, and after conception used any arts to destroy her infant in the womb, then she was to remain unbaptized all her life, and only be admitted to baptism at the hour of death. From whence it is plain, that the baptism of adult persons was sometimes deferred a considerable time by order of the church; but then this was always either by way of preparation or punishment, whilst catechumens were first learning the principles of religion, or were kept in a state of penance to make satisfaction to the church for some scandalous transgression.

them the yoke of Christ, which they thought would lay greater restraints upon them, and deny them those liberties which they could now more freely indulge themselves in, and securely enjoy. They could spend their life in pleasure, and be baptized at last, and then they should gain as much as those that were baptized before; for the labourers who came into the vineyard at the last hour, had the same reward as those that had borne the burden and heat of the day. Thus Gregory Nazianzen' brings them in, arguing for delaying their baptism, as men now usually do for delaying repentance. This reason was so very absurd and foolish, that many who were governed by it were ashamed to own it. But yet, as St. Basil' observes, though they did not speak a word, their actions sufficiently proclaimed it. For it was the same as if they had said, Let me alone, I will abuse the flesh to the enjoyment of all that is filthy; I will wallow in the mire of pleasures; I will imbrue my hands in blood; I will take away other men's goods, live by deceit, forswear and lie; and then I will be baptized when I shall leave off sinning. Such men had the idol of infidelity still in their hearts, as the author of the Recognitions, under the name of Clemens Romanus, charges them; and that was the true reason why they put off their baptism; for had they believed baptism to be necessary to all, whether just or unjust, they would have made haste to receive it, because the end of every man's life is utterly uncertain. Another sort of men put off their baptism to the end of their lives upon 3. A fear of falling a sort of Novatian principle, because they pretended to be afraid of falling into sin after baptism; and there was no second baptism allowed to regenerate men again to the kingdom of heaven; whereas, if they were baptized at the hour of death, heaven would be immediately open to them, and they might go pure and undefiled into it. In the mean time, if they died before baptism, they hoped God would accept the will for the deed, and the desire of baptism for baptism itself. Now, as this pretence was founded on abundance of errors, so the ancients are copious in refuting them. St. Basil' argues against their practice from the uncertainty of life. For who, says he, has fixed for thee the term of life? Who is it that can promise thee the enjoyment of old age? Who can undertake to be a sufficient sponsor for futurity? Do you not see both young and old suddenly snatched away?

Naz. Orat. 40. de Bapt. p. 650 et 652.

Sect. 4.

after baptism.

Basil. Exhort. ad Bapt. Hom. 13. t. 1. p. 414.

Clem. Recognit. lib. 6. n. 9. ap. Cotelerium, t. 1. Qui moratur accedere ad aquas, constat in eo infidelitatis adhuc idolum permanere; et ab ipso prohiberi ad aquas, quæ salutem conferunt, properare. Sive enim justus, baptismus tibi per omnia necessarius est, &c.

8 Basil. Exhort. ad Bapt. t. 1. p. 415.

And why do you stay to make baptism only the gift of a fever? Gregory Nazianzen' calls it a riddle, for an unbaptized man to think he is baptized in the sight of God, whilst he depends upon his mercy in the neglect of baptism; or to imagine himself in the kingdom of heaven, without doing the things that belong to the kingdom of heaven. This is but a vain hope, says Gregory Nyssen," bewitching the soul with false appearances and pretensions. And as they thus exposed the groundless hopes of these men, so they as zealously demonstrated to them the vanity of their pretended fears. For though there was no second baptism for them that fell into sin after the first, yet it was not impossible for men to avoid falling into damnable sins after their first purgation; or if they did so fall, yet if they were not sins unto death, they might obtain a second cleansing by pardon upon repentance. So that it was plain madness and folly to neglect baptism upon such uncertain fears, because that was to run a much more dangerous risk, whilst they sought to avoid a lesser inconvenience, which was attended with much more safety, and had no such apprehended danger in it.

Sect. 5.

4. Superstitious fancies in reference

nisters of baptism.

Some again there were, who deferred their baptism upon a principle to the time and mi- of mere fancy and superstition, in reference to the time, or place, or ministers of baptism. Gregory Nazianzen" brings in some, making this excuse: I stay till Epiphany, the time when Christ was baptized, that I may be baptized with Christ; I rather choose Easter, that I may rise with Christ; I wait for Whitsuntide, that I may honour the descent of the Holy Ghost. And what then? In the mean time comes death suddenly, in a day thou didst not expect, and in an hour thou art not aware of. Others had a superstitious fancy to be baptized in some certain place, as at Jerusalem, or in the river Jordan, and therefore they deferred their baptism till they could have a convenience to come to the place intended. This seems tacitly to be reflected on by Tertullian," when he says, There is no difference between those whom John baptized in Jordan, and those whom Peter baptized in the Tiber: and by St. Ambrose, in his discourse to the catechumens," where exhorting

647.

Naz. Orat. 40. de Bapt. p. 10 Nyssen de Bapt. t. 2. p. 216. 11 Naz. Orat. 40. de Bapt. p. 654.

12 Tertul de Bapt. cap. 4. Nec quicquam refert inter eos quos Joannes in Jordane, et quos Petrus in Tiberi tinxit.

13 Ambros. Ser. 41. t. 3. p. 268. Debemus, fratres dilectissimi, vobis catechumenis loquor, gratiam baptismatis ejus omni festinatione suscipere, et de fonte Jordanis quem ille benedixit, benedictionem consecrationis haurire; ut in eum gurgitem in quem se illius sanctitas mersit, nostra peccata mergantur. Sed ut eodem fonte mergamur, non nobis Orientalis petenda est regio, non fluvius terræ Judaicæ. Ubi

| them to come with all possible speed to be baptized, he invites them to draw the blessing of consecration from the font of Jordan, and to drown their sins in that stream where Christ's sacred person was baptized: but then, that they might not mistake his meaning, he adds, that in order to their being baptized in the font of Jordan, it was not necessary they should go to the Eastern country, or to the river in the land of Judea; for wherever Christ was, there was Jordan; and the same consecration which blessed the rivers of the East, sanctified also the rivers of the West. Eusebius tells us," that Constantine had a design for many years to have been baptized in the river Jordan, after the example of Christ; and that perhaps might be the reason why he so long deferred his baptism: but God, who knew best what was fit for him, disappointed him in this design, and he was at last baptized at Nicomedia a little before his death. For as to that story, which is so pompously set forth by Baronius,15 concerning his being baptized by Pope Sylvester at Rome, and cured of his leprosy; it is a mere fable, refuted by the testimony of all the ancients, Eusebius, Socrates, Sozomen, Theodoret, Athanasius, St. Ambrose, St. Jerom, and the council of Ariminum, who all speak of his baptism immediately before his death: and the best critics since Baronius, Valesius," and Schelstrate," Lambecius," Papebrochius," and Pagi," agree in their verdict with the ancients against the modern fiction. So that now it is agreed on all hands, that Constantine was one of those who deferred his baptism to the time of his death and the most probable account that can be given of this, is the fancy which he had entertained of being baptized in Jordan, which the providence of God never suffered him to put in execution. Another sort of fanciful men would not be baptized, till they could have one to minister baptism to them, who had some extraordinary qualifications. Gregory Nazianzen takes notice of some such as these, and rebukes them after this manner: Say not thou," A bishop shall baptize me, and that a metropolitan, and also one of Jerusalem: for grace is not the gift of the place, but of the Spirit. Say not, I will be baptized by one that is of noble birth, and that it will be a reproach to thy noble descent to

enim nunc Christus, ibi quoque Jordanes est. Eadem consecratio, quæ Orientis flum.na benedixit, Occidentis fluenta sanctificat.

14 Euseb. de Vita Constant. lib. 4. c. 62. 15 Baron. an. 324. n. 17.

16 Vales. Not. in Socrat. lib. 1. c. 39.

17 Schelstrat. Concil. Antiochen. Dissert. 2. c. 1. p. 43. 18 Lambec. Commentar. de Bibliotheca Vindobonensi, t. 5. ap. Pagi.

19 Papebroch. Acta Sanctor. Maii. t. 5. Vit. Constant. Maii 21. p. 15.

20 Pagi, Critic. in Baron. an. 324. n. 4. 21 Naz. Orat. 40. de Bapt. p. 656.

be baptized by any other. Say not, If I am baptized | by a presbyter, it shall be one that is unmarried, and one that is of the continent and angelic order, as if thy baptism were defiled by any other. Make not thyself judge of the fitness or qualification of the preacher or baptizer, for there is another that judgeth of these things. Every one is qualified to thee, for thy purgation, provided only he be one of those that are allowed, and not condemned, nor a foreigner, nor an enemy of the church. Judge not thy judges, thou that hast need of healing. Tell me not of the dignity of thy purgators; make no difference among thy spiritual fathers; one may be better or more humble than another, but each of them is in a higher rank than thee. By all this it appears, that a superstitious distinction of times and places and persons had an influence upon some, and was pleaded as a reason for deferring baptism. Others pleaded for deferring their follow the example baptism till they were thirty years old, from the example of Christ, because he was of that age when he was baptized. Which pretence is copiously refuted by Gregory Nazianzen, showing in answer to it, that Christ, as God, was purity itself, and had no need of purgation, but what he did in that kind, was only for the sake of men; that there was no danger could befall him by delaying or protracting his baptism; that there were particular reasons for his doing so, which did not belong to other men; and that he did many things which we are not concerned to follow his example in, for all his actions were not designed to be copies and examples for our imitation.

Sect. 6.

5. A pretence to

of Christ.

22

He that would see more of these pleas, may consult the discourses of St. Basil, Nazianzen, and Nyssen upon this subject; or Mr. Walker's treatise of Infant Baptism, in the preface to which, he enumerates no less than nineteen such cases as these, which were the pretended occasions of men's deferring their baptism. Those I have already mentioned, are sufficient to our present purpose, to show, that when men made great delays in this matter, they commonly did it against the rules and orders of the church; and that the ancients with great severity and sharpness always declaimed and inveighed against it, as a dangerous and unchristian practice. Therefore, though there may be some particular instances of persons, who thus carelessly and wilfully, through ignorance or false conceits, neglected their own baptism, and perhaps the baptism of their children too; yet these men's actions are of no account to show us what were the standing measures and methods of proceeding in the church, since they are manifest transgressions of her

22 Naz. Orat. 40. de Bapt. p. 658.

* Ibid. p. 654. Μένω τὰ φῶτα τὸ Πάσχα μοι τιμιώτε ρον, τὴν Πεντηκοτὴν ἐκδέξομαι, &c.

24 Hieron. Com. in Zachar. xiv. 8. Aquas viventes multi

rule, and deviations from her ordinary practice. The church had but two reasons at any time for deferring the baptism of adult persons year after year; the one was, to give sufficient time to the catechumens to prepare them for baptism; and the other, to reform their miscarriages, when they happened to turn lapsers or apostates before their baptism. Both these were grounded upon one and the same principle; which was, that men were obliged to give sufficient security and satisfaction to the church, that they intended to live by the rules of the gospel, before they were admitted to the mysteries of it: and the best security that could be given, was from the experiment and trial beforehand, and therefore this discipline was used to make them give testimony of their intentions by a reasonable prorogation of their baptism.

Upon this account, the church appointed certain stated seasons and solemn times of baptism in ordinary

Sert. 7. The solemn times appointed for ban tism by the church were Easter. Pente

cost, and Epiphany.

cases; allowing her ministers still the liberty to anticipate these times, if either catechumens were very great proficients, or in danger of death by any sudden accident or distemper. The most celebrated time among these, was Easter; and next to that, Pentecost or Whitsuntide; and Epiphany, or the day on which Christ was supposed to be baptized. These three are plainly referred to by Gregory Nazianzen, where he brings in some giving this reason why they deferred their baptism: One said, he stayed till the Epiphany (for the ancients mean that by pŵrá and lumina, not Candlemas, as some mistake it, but Epiphany, the day on which Christ was baptized, and manifested to the world); another said, he had a greater respect for Easter; and a third, that he waited till the time of Pentecost. Which plainly implies, that these three festivals were then the most noted and solemn times of baptism. But Easter and Pentecost were the chief; for they are sometimes mentioned without the other, and sometimes with an express prohibition of it. St. Jerom speaks of the two former, as usual, but says nothing of the latter. He tells us, some referred that prophecy in Zechariah to baptism," "Living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; in summer and in winter shall it be." The Septuagint reads it, " in summer and in the spring." And this they applied to the two solemn times of baptism, Pentecost and Easter, one of which was in summer and the other in the spring, when the living waters of baptism were distributed to all that thirsted after them. He mentions the same in his epistle to Pammachius," against the errors of John of Jerusalem, where he speaks of forty that were bap

ad baptismum referunt, quæ in vere et in æstate, hoc est, in Pascha et Pentecoste, sitientibus largiendæ sunt.

25 Id. Ep. 61. ad Pammach. cap. 16. Circa dies Pentecostes, quadraginta diversæ ætatis et sexûs presbyteris tuis