CHAPTER XI.

OF THE DIFFERENT WAYS OF BAPTIZING, BY IMMERSION, TRINE IMMERSION, AND ASPERSION IN THE CASE OF CLINIC BAPTISM.

Sect. 1.

All persons anciently divested in

tized.

HAVING thus far considered all things preceding the very act of baptizing, order to be bap- We are now to inquire into the manner how that was usually performed, whether by dipping and total immersion, or by aspersion and sprinkling, which is now the more general practice of the church. There is no question made but that either of these ways does fully answer the primary end of baptism, which is to purify the soul, and not the body, by washing away sin. But yet the ancients thought, that immersion, or burying under water, did more lively represent the death and burial and resurrection of Christ, as well as our own death unto sin, and rising again to righteousness; and the divesting or unclothing the person to be baptized, did also represent the putting off the body of sin, in order to put on the new man, which is created in righteousness and true holiness. For which reason they observed the way of baptizing all persons naked and divested, by a total immersion under water, except in some particular cases of great exigence, wherein they allowed of sprinkling, as in the case of clinic baptism, or where there was a scarcity of water. That persons were divested in order to be baptized is evident, partly from what has been said before of the unction, which was administered not only on the head, but on other parts of the body; partly from express testimonies which affirm it; and also from the manner of baptizing by immersion, which necessarily presupposes it. St. Chrysostom, speaking of baptism, says, Men were as naked as Adam in paradise, but with this difference; Adam was naked' because he had sinned, but in baptism, a man was naked that he might be freed from sin; the one was divested of his glory which he once had, but the other put off the old man, which he did as easily as his clothes. St. Ambrose says, Men came as naked to the font, as they came into the world; and thence he draws an argument by way of allusion, to rich men, telling them, how absurd it was, that a man who was born naked of his mother, and received naked by the church, should think of going

Chrys. Hom. 6. in Coloss. p. 2358. 'Evтavba yvμvóτns, κἀκεῖ γυμνότης· ἀλλ' ἐκεῖ μὲν ἁμαρτήσας ἐγυμνώθη, ἐπειδὴ ἥμαρτεν ἐνταῦθα δὲ, ἵνα ἀπαλλαγῇ γυμνοῦται, &c.

2 Ambros. Serm. 20. Nudi in sæculo nascimur, nudi etiam accedimus ad lavacrum.--Quam autem incongruum ac absurdum est, ut quem nudum mater genuit, nudum suscipit ecclesia, dives introire velit in cœlum ?

Cyril. Catech. Myst. 2. n. 2. Amphiloc. Vit. Basil. cap. 5.

rich into heaven. Cyril of Jerusalem takes notice of this circumstance, together with the reasons of it, when he thus addresses himself to persons newly baptized: As soon as ye came into the inner part of the baptistery, ye put off your clothes, which is an emblem of putting off the old man with his deeds; and being thus divested, ye stood naked, imitating Christ, that was naked upon the cross, who by his nakedness spoiled principalities and powers, publicly triumphing over them in the cross. O wonderful thing! ye were naked in the sight of men, and were not ashamed, in this truly imitating the first man Adam, who was naked in paradise, and was not ashamed. So also Amphilochius in the Life of St. Basil, speaking of his baptism, says, He arose with fear and put off his clothes, and with them the old man. And Zeno Veronensis, reminding persons of their baptism, bids them rejoice, for they went down naked into the font, but rose again clothed in a white and heavenly garment, which if they did not defile, they might obtain the kingdom of heaven. Athanasius, in his invectives against the Arians, among other things, lays this to their charge, that by their persuasions the Jews and Gentiles broke into the baptistery, and there offered such abuses to the catechumens as they stood with their naked bodies, as was shameful and abominable to relate. And a like complaint is brought against Peter, bishop of Apamea, in the council of Constantinople, under Mennas,' that he cast out the neophytes, or persons newly baptized, out of the baptistery, when they were without their clothes and shoes. All which are manifest proofs that persons were baptized naked, either in imitation of Adam in paradise, or our Saviour upon the cross, or to signify their putting off the body of sin, and the old man with his deeds.

Sect. 2. No exception in this case either with or children.

And this practice was then so general, that we find no exception made, either with respect to the tenderness respect to of infants, or the bashfulness of the female sex, save only where the case of sickness or disability made it necessary to vary from the usual custom. St. Chrysostom is an undeniable evidence in this matter. For writing about the barbarous proceedings of his enemies against him on the great sabbath, or Saturday before Easter, among other tragical things which they committed, he reports this for one, That they came armed into the church, and by violence expelled the clergy, killing many

5 Zeno, Invitat. 2. ad Bapt. Bibl. Patr. t. 2. p. 442. Gaudete, in fontem quidem nudi demergitis, sed ætherea veste vestiti, mox candidati inde surgitis, quam qui non polluerit, regna cœlestia possidebit.

Athan. Ep. ad Orthodoxos, t. 1. p. 946.

7 Conc. Constant. Act. 1. p. 53. ed. Crab. Cum essemus in baptisterio neophytarum, sine tunicis et calceamentis existentium, venit episcopus noster Petrus, et ejecit nos foras una cum neophytis, &c.

in the baptistery, with which the women, who at that time were divested in order to be baptized, were put into such a terror that they fled away naked, and could not stay in the fright to put on such clothes as the modesty of their sex required. And that so it was in the case of children also, is evident from the custom of immersion, which continued in the church for many ages; as also from what is particularly said of infants in the Ordo Romanus," and Gregory's Sacramentarium, That after the priest has baptized them with three immersions, they are to be clothed, and brought to the bishop to be confirmed. For this clothing supposes that they were unclothed before in order to be baptized.

Sect. 3.

so ordered as that no

committed,

But yet, that no indecency might Yet matters were appear in so sacred an action, two indecency might be things were especially provided for by ancient rules. 1. That men and women were baptized apart. To which purpose the baptisteries were commonly divided into two apartments, the one for the men, the other for the women, as I have had occasion to show from St. Austin in another place." Or else the men were baptized at one time and the women at another, as Vossius observes out of the Ordo Romanus, Gregory's Sacramentarium, Albinus Flaccus, and other writers. 2. There was anciently an order of deaconesses in the church, and one main part of their business was to assist at the baptism of women, where, for decency's sake, they were employed to divest them, and so to order the matter, that the whole ceremony, both of unction and baptizing, might be performed in such a manner as became the reverence that was due to so sacred an action; of all which I have given sufficient proofs in a former Book," which I need not here repeat.

are a great many passages in the Epistles of St. Paul, which plainly refer to this custom : Rom. vi. 4, "We are buried with him by baptism; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." So again, Col. ii. 12, "Buried with him in baptism, wherein ye are also risen with him, through the faith of the operation of God, who raised him from the dead." And as this was the original apostolical practice, so it continued to be the universal practice of the church for many ages, upon the same symbolical reasons as it was first used by the apostles. The author of the Apostolical Constitutions" says, Baptism was given to represent the death of Christ, and the water his burial. St. Chrysostom proves the resurrection from this practice: For, says he, our being baptized and immerged in the water," and our rising again out of it, is a symbol of our descending into hell or the grave, and of our returning from thence. Wherefore St. Paul calls baptism our burial. For, says he, "we are buried with Christ by baptism into death." And in another place," When we dip our heads in water as in a grave, our old man is buried; and when we rise up again, the new man rises therewith. Cyril of Jerusalem makes it an emblem of the Holy Ghost's effusion upon the apostles: For as he that goes down into the water" and is baptized, and surrounded on all sides by the water; so the apostles were baptized all over by the Spirit: the water surrounds the body externally, but the Spirit incomprehensibly baptizes the interior soul. The fourth council of Toledo keeps to the former reason," The immersion in water is as it were the descending into the grave, and the rising out of the water a resurrection. And so St. Ambrose" explains it: Thou wast asked, Dost thou believe in God the Father Almighty? And thou didst answer, I believe : and then thou wast immerged in water, that is, buried. It appears also from Epiphanius and others, that almost all heretics, who retained any baptism, retained immersion also. Epiphanius" says, The Ebionites received baptism as it was practised in

15 Chrys. Hom. 40. in 1 Cor. p. 689. Tỏ yàp ßantíZeoθαι καὶ καταδύεσθαι, εἶτα ἀνανεύειν, τῆς εἰς ἅδου καταβά σεως ἐστὶ σύμβολον, καὶ τῆς ἐκεῖθεν ἀνόδου, &c. 16 Chrys, in Joh. iii. 5. Hom. 25. P. 656.

17 Cyril. Catech. 17. n. 8. p. 247.

18 Conc. Tolet. 4. can. 6. In aquis mersio quasi ad infernum descensio est: et rursus ab aquis emersio resurrectio est.

19 Ambros. de Sacram. lib. 2. cap. 7. Interrogatus es, Credis in Deum, Patrem Omnipotentem? dixisti, Credo, et mersisti, hoc est, sepultus es. Add also Tertul. de Bapt. c. 2. Homo in aquam demissus, et inter pauca verba tinctus, non multo vel nihilo mundior resurgit. Paulin. Ep. 12. ad Severum. Mira Dei pietas; peccator mergitur undis, &c. Nyssen. de Bapt. Christi, t. 3. p. 372. Athanas. de Parabolis, qu. 94. t. 2. p. 422.

20 Epiphan. Hær. 30. Ebion. n. 2 et 16.

the churcn, but they added to it a quotidian baptism, immerging themselves in water every day. So the Marcionites were guilty of many errors in other respects about baptism: they would baptize no persons but either virgins" or widows, or unmarried men; they repeated their baptism three times; and introduced some other errors about it: but still the baptisms which they administered, were in this respect conformable to those of the church, that they baptized by a total immersion, as Tertullian witnesses of them. Other heretics, as the Valentinians, to their baptism by water, added another baptism by fire," which is mentioned by Tertullian. But yet we find no charge brought against them for their first baptism, as if it were administered in any other way than by a total immersion. The only heretics against whom this charge is brought, were the Eunomians, a branch of the Arians, of whom it was reported by Theodoret," that they baptized only the upper parts of the body as far as the breast. And this they did in a very preposterous way, as Epiphanius relates, rodę módag ávw, kai tǹv kepaλýv kárw, with their heels upward, and their head downward. Which sort of men are called histopedes, or pederecti. Whence the learned Gothofred" conjectures, that in one of the laws of Theodosius, where it is now read, Eunomiani spadones; it should be Eunomiani histopedes, which signifies men hanged up by the heels, as he proves from Pausanias, Pollux, Hesychius, Harpocration, and others. So that these were the only men among all the heretics of the ancient church, that rejected this way of baptizing by a total immersion in ordinary cases.

Sect. 5.

26

Indeed the church was so punctual

Yet aspersion, or to this rule, that we never read of any

sprinkling, allowed

nary cases.

in some extraordi- exception made to it in ordinary cases, no, not in the baptism of infants. For it appears from the Ordo Romanus, and Gregory's Sacramentarium, that infants, as well as others, were baptized by immersion, and the rules of the church, except in cases of danger, do still require it. But in two cases a mitigation of this rule was allowed. 1. In case of sickness and extreme danger of life. Here that excellent rule, "I will have mercy and not sacrifice," was always allowed to take place.

21 Tertul. cont. Marc. lib. 1. c. 29. Non tinguitur apud illum caro, nisi virgo, nisi vidua, nisi cœlebs, &c.

* Epiph. Hær. 42. n. 3. Οὐ μόνον παρ' αὐτῷ ἓν λουτρὸν δίδοται, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἕως τριῶν λουτρών, &c.

23 Tertul. cont. Marc. lib. 1. cap. 28. Carnem mergit exsortem salutis.

24 Tertul. Carmen cont. Marc. lib. 1. cap. 7. Namque Valentino Deus est insanus.-Bis docuit tingui, transducto corpore flamma. Vid. Hieron. in Ephes. iv.

25 Theod. Hær. Fab. lib. 4. cap. 3.

26 Epiphan. Hær. 76. Anomæorum, p. 992.

27 Gothofred. in Cod. Theod. lib. 16. Tit. 5. de Hæreticis, Leg. 17. 28 Book IV. chap. 3. sect. 11. Cypr. Ep. 76. al. 69. ad Magnum, p. 185. Quæsisti

| Therefore that which the ancients called clinic baptism, that is, baptism by aspersion or sprinkling upon a sick bed, was never disputed against as an unlawful or imperfect baptism, though some laws were made to debar men who were so baptized, from ascending to the dignities of the church. For if men by neglect deferred their baptism to a sick bed, the church, in her prudence and discipline, (because this delay was a fault she always declaimed against,) thought fit to deny such men the privilege of ordination, as I have had occasion to show in a more proper place." But yet she did not at any time attempt to annul such baptisms, or judge them imperfect as to what concerned the essence or substance of the action. This very question was moved by some, together with that of heretical baptism, in the time of Cyprian: but Cyprian, who determined against the validity of heretical baptism, makes no scruple in this case, but offers arguments to prove such clinic baptism by aspersion, to have all the necessary conditions of a true baptism. For though this was the case of Novatian, who had not been washed, but only sprinkled upon a sick bed; yet Cyprian" had no objection against his Christianity upon that account: but declares, that as far as he was able to judge, all such baptisms were perfect, where there was no defect in the faith of the giver or the receiver: for the contagion of sin was not washed away, as the filth of the body is, by a carnal and secular washing. There was no need of a lake or other such like helps to wash and cleanse it. The heart of a believer was otherwise washed, the mind of a man was cleansed by the merit of faith. In the sacraments of salvation, when necessity requires, God grants his indulgence by a short way of performing them. This lawfulness of aspersion in such cases he proves from those words of God in Ezekiel xxxvi. 25, " I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you." And from several other texts, Numb. xix. 19; viii. 7; and xix. 9, where the water of sprinkling is called the water of purification. Whence he concludes, that the sprinkling of water was as effectual as washing; and what the church did in

etiam, fili charissime, quid mihi de illis videatur, qui in infirmitate et languore gratiam Dei consequuntur, an habendi sint legitimi Christiani, eo quod aqua salutari non loti sint, sed perfusi.Nos quantum concipit mediocritas nostra, æstimamus in nullo mutilari et debilitari posse beneficia divina, nec minus aliquid illic posse contingere, ubi plena et tota fide et dantis et sumentis accipitur, quod de divinis muneribus hauritur. Neque enim sic in sacramento salutari delictorum contagia, ut in lavacro carnali et seculari sordes cutis et corporis, abluuntur, &c. Aliter pectus credentis abluitur, aliter mens hominis per fidei merita mundatur. In sacramentis salutaribus, necessitate cogente, et Deo indulgentiam suam largiente, totum credentibus conferunt divina compendia.

us.

32

this case in compliance with necessity and men's infirmities, was neither displeasing to God, nor detrimental to the party baptized, who received a full and complete sacrament by the power of God, and the truth of his own faith together. And therefore he blames those who nicknamed these men clinics, instead of Christians. It further appears from the canons which speak of these," that they were only denied orders, not the name of Christians. The council of Neocæsarea allows them in time of great exigence, or in case of great merit, to be ordained, as Novatian was for his pregnant parts, and the hopes which the church had conceived of him, as Eusebius" out of the epistle of Cornelius informs The council of Laodicea appoints such, if they recover, to learn the creed, but says not a word of rebaptizing them. And it appears from the council of Auxerre," that these clinics were allowed to be baptized at any time when necessity required, without a solemn festival. So that many things were indulged to them, which were not allowed by the ordinary rules of the church. 2. Another case in which sprinkling was accepted instead of immersion, was in times of difficulty, when a sufficient quantity of water could not be procured; as when a martyr was to be baptized in prison, or was to baptize any other under such a confinement. Thus we read in the ancient Acts of St. Laurence, referred to by Walafridus Strabo," how one Romanus, a soldier, was baptized by him in a pitcher of water. And again, how one Lucillus was baptized by the same martyr" only by pouring water upon his head. But as both these were extraordinary cases, they only show us, how far the church could dispense with this rule upon reasons of necessity or charity, not what was her standing and ordinary practice. Some learned persons think Tertullian alludes to the allowance of sprinkling in extraordinary cases, when, speaking of men's pretending to be baptized without true repentance, he says, No man would grant such false penitents so much as one aspersion of water. And Gregory Nyssen perhaps refers to it also in that famous story, which he tells of one Archias, who having neglected his opportu

30 Conc. Neocæsar. can. 12.

31 Euseb. lib. 6. c. 43.

36

37

32 Conc. Laod. can. 47. Conc. Antissiodor. can. 18. Non licet absque Pascha solennitate ullo tempore baptizare, nisi illos quibus mors vicina est, quos grabatarios dicunt.

34 Acta Laurentii, ap. Surium, t. 4. Unus ex militibus, Romanus nomine, urceum afferens cum aqua, opportunitatem captavit, qua eam offerret B. Laurentio, ut baptizaretur. Vid. Strabo, de Rebus Eccles. cap. 26.

35 Acta, ibid. Cum exspoliasset eum, fudit aquam super caput ejus.

36 Vid. Bevereg. Not. in Can. Apost. 30.

37 Tertul. de Pœnitent. cap. 6. Quis enim tibi tam infidæ pœnitentiæ viro asperginem unam cujuslibet aquæ commodabit ?

38 Nyssen. de Bapt. t. 2. p. 220.

nity of receiving baptism, was at last suddenly surprised with death at a season when there was no possibility of obtaining it: and then he cried out in that languishing condition, O ye mountains and woods, baptize me; O ye trees, and rocks, and fountains, give me this grace: and with these words, being wounded to death, he expired in the hands of his enemies. This man's condition he compares to those, who have the sudden summons of death upon a sick bed: they then begin to call for a vessel of water, a priest, and words to prepare them for baptism; but the violence of their disease prevents them from obtaining it. This seems to imply, that such a sprinkling as men might have upon a sick bed, in cases of extremity, was reputed a saving baptism; and it was an unhappiness in some, that they could not obtain even that at their last hour, which the church allowed as the last refuge only in such extraordinary cases.

43

Sect. 6.

Trine immersion,

the general practice

for several ages. The

reasons of this.

But I must observe further, that they not only administered baptism by immersion under water, but also repeated this three times. Tertullian speaks of it as a ceremony" generally used in his time: We dip not once, but three times, at the naming every person of the Trinity. The same is asserted by St. Basil," and St. Jerom," and the author under the name of Dionysius," who says likewise, that it was done at the distinct mention of each person of the blessed Trinity. St. Ambrose is most particular in the description of this rite: Thou wast asked, says he, Dost thou believe in God the Father Almighty? And thou repliedst, I believe, and wast dipped, that is, buried. A second demand was made, Dost thou believe in Jesus Christ our Lord, and in his cross? Thou answeredst again, I believe, and wast dipped. Therefore thou wast buried with Christ. For he that is buried with Christ, rises again with Christ. A third time the question was repeated, Dost thou believe in the Holy Ghost? And thy answer was, I believe. Then thou wast dipped a third time, that thy triple confession might absolve thee from the various offences of thy former life. Two reasons are commonly assigned for this

39 Tertul. cont. Prax. cap. 26. Non semel, sed ter, ad singula nomina in personas singulas tinguimur. Id. de Coron. Mil. cap. 3. Dehinc ter mergitamur, &c. 40 Basil. de Spir. Sancto, c. 27.

41 Hieron, adv. Lucif. c. 4.

42 Dionys. de Hierarch. Eccles. cap. 2.

43 Ambros. de Sacram. lib. 2. cap. 7. Interrogatus es, Credis in Deum, Patrem Omnipotentem? Dixisti, Credo, et mersisti, hoc est, sepultus es. Iterum interrogatus es, Credis in Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum? Dixisti, Credo, et mersisti. Ideo et Christo es consepultus. Qui enim Christo consepelitur, cum Christo resurgit. Tertio interrogatus es, Credis et in Spiritum Sanctum? Dixisti, Credo. Tertio mersisti, ut multiplicem lapsum superioris ætatis absolveret trina confessio.