SECTION VIII.

CONCLUSION OF THE OFFICE.

The administration of baptism was succeeded by various rites in the primitive church. In Gaul, Spain, and Milan, the priest washed the feet of the newly baptizedb; but this ceremony has long become obsolete in all parts of the Christian church. At this time also the newly baptized received a taste of milk and honey, and were clothed in white garments. But the former of these rites has long been extinct in almost all parts of the church, and the English church has not deemed it expedient to continue the latter. Formerly also, confirmation followed immediately after baptism. And in the eastern churches, where presbyters are permitted to confirm, the same custom prevails to the present days. But as the discipline of the western churches has not so far relaxed as to concede to presbyters the power of administering confirmation ordinarily, it became necessary that when they administered baptism, confirmation should be deferred to some future time, when the bishop was present.

b See Bingham's Antiquities, book xii. ch. 4. sect. 10. Compare Miss. Goth. p. 231; Miss. Gall. Vet. p. 364; Mabillon, Liturg. Gallican. This rite was abolished in Spain by the council of Eliberis.

c Tertullian de Corona Militis, c. iii. p. 102, speaks of this as one of the ancient traditions of the church. It is also mentioned by Clement of Alexandria, and Jerome, &c. See Bingham, book xii. ch. 4. §. 6.

d See Bingham ut supra §. I. This custom is still preserved in some degree in many rituals of the east and west.

e I say almost all, because the Ethiopians or Abyssinians still retain this and many other rites of immense antiquity. See Ludolfi Hist. Æthiopic. lib. iii. c. 6. No. 34.

f See Bingham, b. xii. c. 1. g Goar, Rit. Græc. p. 355,

356.

The conclusion of the office of baptism resembles that described in the Apostolical Constitutions, where the newly baptized are directed to repeat the Lord's Prayer and another concluding prayerh. An order also, somewhat similar to ours, is observable in the monuments of the ancient Gallican church.

Seeing now, dearly beloved brethren, that this child is regenerate, and grafted into the body of Christ's church, let us give thanks unto Almighty God for these benefits; and with one accord make our prayers unto him, that this child may lead the rest of his life according to this beginning.

Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed, &c.

We yield thee hearty thanks, most merciful Father, that it hath pleased thee to regenerate this infant with thy Holy Spirit, to receive him for thine own child by adoption, and to incorporate him into thy holy church. And humbly we beseech thee to grant, that he being dead unto sin, and living unto righteousness, and being

Apost. Const. lib. vii. c. 44, 45.

i Miss. Bobiense ante annos 1100. scriptum. Muratori Lit. Rom. Vet. tom. ii. p. 852.

This may also be compared with the prayer in the ritual of the monophysites of An

VOL. II.

buried with Christ in his death, may crucify the old man, and utterly abolish the whole body of sin; and that as he is made partaker of the death of thy Son, he may also be partaker of his resurrection; so that finally, with the residue of thy holy church, he may be an inheritor of thine everlasting kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The office of baptism is followed by an exhortation addressed to the sponsors, instructing them in their duties towards the child recently baptized. The ancient offices of the churches of Salisbury and York appointed a similar exhortation to be made on the same occasion. What may be the antiquity of this custom I know not. Nor have I observed a similar order in any of the western offices, except in those of the English church, and in an ancient ritual of the church of Limoges in France, published by Martenek.

SECTION IX.

THE ADMINISTRATION OF PRIVATE BAPTISM.

The catholic church has always been accustomed to permit the private baptism of persons who are unable from sickness to receive that sacrament in public. In such cases of necessity baptism was administered with

fulgentem lumine tuo, et coram sacro altari tuo adstantem : dignum effice eum beatitudine tua cœlesti; quoniam gloriosum est nomen tuum, semperque benedictum, nunc et semper et in sæcula sæculorum." Ordo sacri baptismatis auctore

Severo patriarcha Antiocheno monophysita. Asseman. Cod. Lit. tom. ii. p. 305.

j Manuale Sarisb. fol. 43. Manuale Eboracens. ad finem baptismi.

k Martene, tom. i.

p. 208.

very few forms, and often consisted of nothing more than the affusion of water on the person baptized, with a repetition of the words of baptism. It is unnecessary for me to enter on the discussion relative to the proper ministers of baptism, which has been treated with his usual learning by Bingham, in his Scholastical History of Lay-Baptism. The church of England has not encouraged the practice of baptizing children by the hands of laymen or women, even in urgent cases. But it cannot with reason be apprehended, that infants who depart before baptism can be administered, are without the benefits of that sacrament. Because the catholic church has always held that the wish to receive baptism is sufficient in a case of necessity; and if the church who hath the power of administering this sacrament, be prevented by the visitation of God from fulfilling her intentions, her desire and wish are sufficient to remove apprehension1. It is needless to make any lengthened observations on the practice of the church of England in the administration of baptism in private. The minister is directed to perform the office, by repeating the Lord's Prayer, and any other collects of the office of public baptism which the time permits. Amongst these it would certainly seem proper that the benedictions beginning "O merciful God, grant that the old Adam," &c. and the following prayer for the sanctification of the font of water should be used. For we observe that in the ancient offices for the baptism of the sick in the church of Constantinople, and in the sacramentary of Gelasius, there is a short form for consecrating the waterTM.

1 Hooker, b. viii. 60.

m Goar, Rit. Græc. p. 370.

Gelasii Sacramentar. Muratori, tom. i. p. 595, &c.

The rules of the English church, as to supplying that portion of the rites of baptism which was omitted in a case of private baptism, are nearly the same as those which prevailed before the reformation of our offices".

The rubric informs us, that we should "not doubt but that the child so baptized is lawfully and sufficiently baptized, and ought not to be baptized again." This is also a rubric in the manual of the church of Salisbury °. In case the child recovers, the rubric directs him to be brought into church; and if the minister himself baptized the child, he is directed to notify it to the congregation; but if he did not, he is directed to inquire whether the sacrament was rightly performed, and in like manner to notify to the congregation the validity of that baptism. This is also prescribed in the manual of the church of Salisbury, except the two cases of notification P. After notifying to the congregation the validity of the private baptism, the priest is directed to perform the whole office of baptism, with the exception of the benediction and consecration of the water before mentioned: and the same directions occur in the manuals of Salisbury and York 9.

n Manuale Sarisb. fol. 44. o Et si puer fuerit baptizatus secundum illam formam, caveat sibi unusquisque ne iterum eundem baptizet." Manuale Sar. fol. 44.

p" Sed si hujusmodi parvuli convalescant, deferantur ad ecclesiam, et dicantur super eos exorcismi et catechismi cum unctionibus et omnibus aliis supradictis præter immersionem aquæ et formam baptismi, quæ omnino sunt omittenda—.

Et ideo si laicus baptizaverit puerum antequam deferatur ad ecclesiam, interroget sacerdos diligenter quid dixerit, et quid fecerit et si invenerit laicum discrete et debito modo baptizasse, et formam verborum baptismi ut supra in suo idiomate integre pertulisse, approbet factum, et non rebaptizet eum." Man. Sarisb. fol. 44. Eboracens. ad finem baptismi. q See former part of last

note.