Bap
have been firft infti tilted by CHrift himfelf, in that command to his difciples, Go teach all nations, baptizing them, &c. Blit Luther, Cave, Alting, Van Dale, and others, mew, that the Jews are rather to be owned the inftituters of baptijm. Vid. Pfaff. Introd. Hilt. Theol. T. 2. p. 361. Fan Dak, Hifti Bap- tifm. p. 379. Reimman, Catal. Bifal. Theol. p. 25. The deflgn of the Jcwifli baptijm is fuppofed to be, to import 4 regeneration, whereby the profelyte is rendered a new man, and of a Have become free. The effect of it is, to cancel all former relations; fo that thofe, who were before akin to the pcrfon, after the ceremony Ceafe to be fo. It is to this cere- rnony Chrift is fuppofed to have alluded, in his expreffion to Nicodemus, that it was necefTary he fhould be born again, in order to become his difciple. John, iii. 10. Vid. Calm. Diet. Bibb T. r p. 246.
The neceffity of baptifm to falvation, is grounded on thofe two fayings of our Saviour : He that believeth, and is baptized, jhall befaved; and, Except a man be born of water and of the fpirit, he cannot^ enter into the kingdom of God.
The antients did not generally think the mere want of baptifm, where the procuring it was impracticable, to be fuch a crime, as to exclude men abfalutely from the benefit of chuich-com- munion, or the hopes of eternal falvation. Some few of them, indeed, are pretty fevereupon infants dying without baptifm; and fome others feem alfo, in general terms, to deny eternal life to adult perfons dying without it : but when they interpret themfelves, and fpeak more diftinctly, they make fome allow- ances, and except fevcral cafes, in which the want of baptifm may be fuppb'ed with other means.
Such are, martyrdom, which commonly goes by the flame of fccond baptijm in mens own blood, in the Writings of the an- tients ; becaufe of the power and efficacy it was thought to have, to fave men by the invifible baptifm of the fpirit, with- out the external element of water.
Faith, and repentance, were alfo efteemed a fupplemcnt to the want of baptijm, in fuch catechumens as died, while they were pioufiy preparing themfelves for baptifm. Bingh. Orig. Ecclef. 1. io. c. 2. §. 21.
Confrantly communicating with the church, was thought to fupply the want of baptifm, in perfons who had been admitted to communion, on a prefumption of their being duly baptiz- ed, though the contrary afterwards appeared. Idem, ibid. For infants dying without baptifm, the cafe was thought more dangerous ; as, here, no perfonal faith, repentance, or the like, could be pleaded, to fupply the defect, and wafh away original fin : on this account, they who fpoke moft favourably of them, asGreg.Nazianzen, and Severus bifliop of Antioch, only af- figned them a middle fcate, neither in heaven nor hell. But the Latins, as St. Auguftin, Fulgentius, Marius Mercator, C5<r. who never received the opinion of a middle ftate, concluded, as they could not be received into heaven, they muft go to hell. Pelagius, and his followers, who denied original fin, aherted, that they might be admitted to eternal life and falvation, tho' not to the kingdom of heaven ; between which they diffin- guifhed. Where the fault was not on the fide of the child, nor his parents, but of the minifrer, or where any unavoid- able accident rendered baptifm abfolutely impoffible, Hincmar, and others, make an exception, in holding the child faved without baptifm. Idem, ibid. §. 24.
The receiving; baptijm is not limited to any time, or age of life. Some contend for its being adminiftred likecircumcifion, pre- cifely on the eight day, as Greg [Nazianzen ; and others would have it deferred till the child is three years of age, and able to hear the myftic words, and make anfwer thereto, though they do not underftand them '. In the canon law we find divers injunctions againft deferring the baptifm of infants beyond the 37th day n , thirtieth day n , and the ninth day ° ; fome of them
under pecuniary forfeitures. [ ' Bingh. 1. r 1. c. 4. §. 13.
m Johnf. Ecclef. Law, an. 960. §. 15. n Id. ibid. an. 950. §. 10. ° Idem, ibid.]
Salmafius, and Siucerus from him, deliver it as authentic hif- tory, that, for the two firft ages, no one received baptifm, who was not firft inftructed in the faith and doctrine of Chrift, fo as to be able to anfwer for himfelf, that he believed j becaufe of thofe words, He that believeth, and is baptized: which, in effect, is to fay, that no infant, for the firft two ages, was ever admitted to chriftian baptifm. But, afterwards, they own, that paedo-baptifm came in, upon the opinion that baptijmvm neceflary to falvation, But Voffius, Dr. Forbes, Dr. Ham- mond, Mr. Walker, and efpccially Mr. Wall, who has exactly confidercd the teftimony and authority of almoft every antient writer that has faid any thing upon this fubject, endeavour to evince, that infants were baptized even in the apoftolical age. It is certain, Tertullian pleads ftrongly againft giving baptifm to infants; which fhews, at leaft, that there was fome fuch practice in his age, though he difapproved of it p. After all, it mud be owned, that it is from topical and fcholaftical, ra- ther than hillorical arguments, that the advocates for infant- haptifm prove their point. Some think it were better to omit the quefiion dsfaclo, whether infants are commanded to be baptized, or whether they actually were fo in the apoftles age, and infill only on the queftion de jure, that the church has a right or power to enjoin baptifm on infants 1. — \f De Baptifm. c. 18. 1 Vid. Tlmnas, Cautel. T. 2, c. 11. §. 7, feq.j Suppl. Vol. I.
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It is certain, the ordinary fubjei£ts of this facramSnt, in the 1 firft ages, were converts from judaifm and gcntilifm, who, before they could be admitted to baptifm, were obliged to fpend feme time in the ftate of catechumens, to qualify them to make their ptofeflions Of faith, and a chriftian life, in their own perfons : for, without fuch perfonal profeffions, there was or- dinarily no admiffion of them to the privilege of baptifm. Bingh. lib.cit. I. 11. c. ;; §. i.
Thofe baptized in their fick-beds, were called clinic!, and held in fome reproach, as not being reputed true chriftians '. Hence fcveral cenfures, in councils and ecclefiaftical writers* of clinic baptifm. This clinic baptifm was not fufficient to qualify the perfon, in cafe of recovery, for ordination '.—[' Vid. Btf Excrc. de Clinic. Vet. c. 2, & 3; ■ Bingh. 1. 4. c; 3. §. n.J Some had their baptijm put off by way of punifnment, when they fell into grofs and fcandalous crimes, which were to be expiated by a longer courfe of difcipline, and repentance. This was fometimes five, ten, twenty years, or more ; even all their lives, to the hour of death, when their crimes were very flagrant. Bingh. 1. c. c. 6. §: 1.
In the earlicft ages of the church, there was no dated time or place for the reception of baptifm '. Afterwards, Eaftcr, V.'liit- funtide, and Epiphany, became folemn feafons, out of which baptifm was not adminiftred, except in cafes of neceffity ». The catechumens, who were to receive it atthefe times, were called compdentes ; and to thefe it is that St. Cyril addreii'es his Catccbefif.— ['Bingh. 1. n. c. 6. j.q. « Idem, ibid. §. 7. See alfo Johnf. Ecclef. Law, an. 601. §. 8. an. 785. §. 2. an. 740. §. io. an. 1071. §. 7. an. 1268. §. I. an. 123~7. §• 3- an. 1279. §. 4. « Vid. Fabric. Bibl. Grac. 1. 5. c. 14. p. 544.
In the apoftohcal age, and fome time after, before churches arid baptifteries were generally ereded, they baptized in any place ■ where they had convenience ; as John baptized in Jordan, and Philip baptized the Eunuch in the wildernefs, and Paul the jaylor in his own houfe. Bingh. lib. cit. c. 6. §. 1 r; But, in after-ages, baptifteries were built adjoining to the: church ; and then rules were made, that baptifm fhould ordina- rily be adminiftred no where but in thefe buildings. Juftinian* in one of his novels, refers to antient laws, appointing that none of the facred myfteries of the church fhould be celebrat- ed in private houfes. Men might have private oratories for prayer in their own houfes, but they were not to adminifter baptifm, or the eucharift in them, unlefs by a particular li- cence from the bifliop of the place. Such baptifm are fre- quently condemned in tire antient councils, under the name 7r*»»jJa»l^«V, baptifm in private conventicles. Idem, ibid; §.12.
The antients obferved the way of baptizing all perfons nakedj and by a total immerfion under water; except in fome parti- cular cafes of great exigency, wherein they allowed of fprink- ling ; as in the cafe of clinic baptifm, or where there was fear- city of water. And this practice of baptizing naked was fo general, that we find no exceptions made in refpect either to the tendernefs of infants, or the baflifulnefs of the other fex, unlefs in cafe of ficknefs or other disability \ But, to prevent any indecency, men and women were baptized apart. To which end, either the baptifteries were divided into two a- partments, one for the men, the other for the women, as Bing- ham has obferved r ; or the men were baptized at one time, and the women at another, as is fhewn by Voffius, from the Ordo Romanns, Gregory's Sacranuntarium, &c. Add, that there was anciently an order of deaconeffes, one part of whofe bufinefs was to affift at the baptifm of women.— [ x Bingh. 1.- fi. c. ti. §. 2. y Idem, ibid. §.6.] See Baptistery. The ordinary minifters, who had the right of admin iftering this facrament, that is, of applying the water to the body, and pronouncing the formula, were prefbyters, anciently bifhops ; though, on extraordinary occafions, laymen were admitted to perform the fame ; and even women fometimes difcharged this office.
Hobbes gives the king, as head of the church, a power of con- ferring baptifm. Leviath. c. 42. p. 257. In the primitive church, Bingham has fhewn % , that blfhops, as the apoftlcs fucceffors, were the perfons chiefly entrufted with this power j that they granted power to prefbyters to baptize in ordinary cafes ; to deacons, fometimes in ordinary, and fometimes onlv in extraordinary cafes ; to laymen, only in ex- traordinary Cafes of extreme neceftityj that the ufurped bap- tijm of laymen was allowed to be valid, fo far as not to need repeating, though given irregularly ; that the baptifm of wo- men was wholly prohibited ; that the baptifm of Jews and infi- dels was never allowed, though now accepted in the church of Rome ; that the baptijm of heretics, and fchifmaties, was dif- annulled by the Cyprianifts, and fome few others, who required a true faith, as well as a true form, to make a compleat bap- tifm j but that this opinion was rejected by the great body of the catholic church, who thought the defects of heretical bap- tifm might be fupplied by impofition of hands, without refcap- tizing. The church did not think fit to cancel, or wholly dif- anniil the baptifms given by ufurpation, and without any au- thority of the priefthood, fo long as it appeared they were gi- ven in due form, in name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghoft ". ["In Scholaft. Hift. of Lay-Baptifm, r ft and 2d Part, 1712, '4 F an4
