BAPTISM OF IN FANTS. the Lord's of eternal life, and make him partaker of his everlasting PRIVATE kingdom.' In the thanksgiving after the Lord's Prayer: 'Give thy Holy Spirit to this infant, that he, being born again, and being made an heir of everlasting salvation, through our Lord Jesus Christ, may continue thy servant, and attain thy promise,' &c. And in the address after the reception into the congregation it is said,'that this child is by Baptism regenerate, and grafted into the body of Christ's Church. The change of cir- Position of cumstance will also account for the different position of Prayer. the Lord's Prayer, which, in the Public Office, is placed before the thanksgiving for the grace of baptism which has just been received; but, in this Office, comes before the thanksgiving which closes the Exhortation upon the words of the Gospel. The child having been baptized, this becomes in fact the thanksgiving for the grace of baptism previously received, and which is therefore preceded by the Lord's Prayer1: and the second thanksgiving, which follows the signing with the cross, is in this Office a thanksgiving for the child's reception into the congregation. The examination of the sponsors is retained in the same terms in which it ordinarily precedes baptism: for, if the child lives, it is fit that the rule of the Church should not be broken by reason of the charitable action of administering the rite when there seemed to be no need of any to undertake for the future behaviour and training of the child. After the concluding exhortation to the Godfathers and Godmothers, the words were understood in their plain meaning, as if referring to actual possession; which is more than the heirship, which is declared in the Catechism to belong to baptized children: wherein I was made a member of Christ, the child of God, and an inheritor of the 1 In the American Prayer-Book, BAPTISM OF INFANTS. PRIVATE ending with the words,-'daily proceeding in all virtue and godliness of living,' followed in the Prayer-Books previously to the last revision, &c. As in Public Baptism, or And so forth, as in Public Baptism." This was omitted in 1661, apparently with the intention of placing here the Address about Confirmation, which was added to the Office of Public Baptism. It was overlooked, however, and the rubric does not supply any direction : but according to its manifest intention, the Address should be added in this place1. SECT. III.-The Ministration of Baptism to such as are of Riper Years, and able to answer for themselves. This Office was added at the last revision of the Prayer-Book in 1661: the composition being attributed to Dr George Griffith, bishop of St Asaph. The want of such an Office was felt at that time owing to the growth of Anti-Pædobaptism and the general neglect of the ordinances of the Church during the rebellion. It is now used on the occasion of the Baptism of converts from heathenism or judaism by our missionaries, and of persons who have not been baptized in infancy through the carelessness or 1 The address about Confirmation is placed here, as in the office of Public Baptism, in the American Prayer-Book. The following direction is also given: If Infant Baptism, and the receiving of infants baptized in private, are to be at the same time, the minister may make the Questions to the Sponsors, and the succeeding Prayers, serve for both. And again, after the Immersion, or the pouring of Water, and the receiving into the Church, the Minister may use the remainder of the Service for both.' This is an attempt to solve a difficulty which must occur to the minister of a parish; whether it is possible with any propriety to unite the two baptismal offices for infants. The common mode of using the office of public baptism, and receiving the privately baptized child amongst the others into the congregation, is unsatisfactory, since it is hardly possible to avoid the appearance at least of praying for the future regeneration of a regenerate child, or to disentangle the clauses in the part of the service preceding the baptism, which cannot be applied to the child who has already been baptized. OF perverse notions of their parents1. A rite of this nature BAPTISM is therefore seldom administered in a Christian country; ADULTS. and whenever it is called for, it is an occasion of peculiar solemnity. tion of a for Baptism. of the Ser The rubric directs not only the examination of the The preparacandidate, but that timely notice shall be given to the Catechumen bishop2, or whom he shall appoint for that purpose, a week before at the least, to secure a due preparation, and instruction in the principles of the Christian religion. The catechumen is also exhorted to prepare himself with prayers and fasting for the receiving of this Holy Sacrament, according to the rule of the primitive Church3. The variations Service is formed upon that for the Baptism of Infants, vice from with many changes, however, which adapt it to the fant Bapdifferent circumstances of the persons who are to be baptized. The Gospel is taken from our Saviour's discourse with Nicodemus concerning the necessity of a new birth of water and of the Spirit; and the exhortation that follows it treats of repentance in connexion with baptism. Moreover, since the catechumens are able to 1 Cases will occur in which it may seem doubtful whether this Office, or that for the Baptism of Infants should be used. The rubric at the end of this Office directs the use of the latter for the baptism of persons before they come to years of discretion to answer for themselves. And Confirmation and Communion should immediately follow the baptism of an adult. Hence the office for the Baptism of Infants should be used for all persons who are not fitted either by age or intelligence for Confirmation, changing the word infant for child or person, as occasion requireth. 2 This rubric is altered in the American Prayer-Book to suit the actual practice in such cases: 'timely notice shall be given to the minister, 3 Justin. Mart. Apol. c. 79, p. that for In lism. OF BAPTISM make in their own persons the Christian profession of ADULTS. faith and obedience, the demands are addressed to them. Godfathers and Godmothers are required to be present, but only as chosen witnesses of their profession1, with the further duty of putting them in remembrance of their vow, and calling upon them to use all diligence to be rightly instructed in God's holy Word2'. The concluding exhortation warns the newly baptized, that as they are ‘made the children of God and of the light by faith in Jesus Christ,' it is their part and duty to walk answerably to their Christian calling, and as becometh the children of light 3.' 1 1 Tim. vi. 12; Guericke, p. 227. 2 Shortly before their admission to the rite itself, the competentes received all necessary instruction on the nature of Baptism and of the Lord's Supper; but a more detailed teaching on these subjects (such as has come down to us in St Cyril's κατηχήσεις μυσταγωγικαὶ) was reserved until after their admission to baptism and their first communion.' Guericke, pp. 229 sq. See Cyril. Hierosol. Catech. XVIII. $$ 32, 33, pp. 224 sq. ed. Par. 1631. 3 The American Prayer-Book adds the following rubrics: 'Whereas necessity may require the baptizing of adults in private houses in consideration of extreme sickness; the same is hereby allowed in that case. And a convenient number of persons shall be assembled in the house where "If the sacrament is to be performed. CHAPTER V. The Occasional Offices. SECT. I. The Catechism. PREVIOUSLY to 1661 the Catechism was inserted in the Order of Confirmation. The title in the Prayer-Books of Edward VI. and Elizabeth was, Confirmation, wherein is contained a Catechism for Children; and in 1604, The Order of Confirmation, or laying on of hands upon children baptized, and able to render an accouut of their faith, according to the Catechism following; with a further title to the Catechism itself, that is to say, An Instruction to be learned of every Child, before he be brought to be confirmed by the Bishop. The insertion in the Prayer-Book of such an authorized exposition of the elements of the Christian faith and practice, belongs to the Reformation'. English versions and expositions of the Lord's Prayer and Creed had existed in early times2. But immediately before the Reformation, it appears that these elements were by no means generally known. The origin of our rubrics about catechising may be referred to the Injunctions issued in Catechizing 1536 and 15383, which ordered the curates to teach the fore the 1 The idea is probably due to Hermann's Consultation, where, after Baptism follows (fol. 183), 'Of the Confirmation of children baptized and solemn profession of their faith in Christ, and of their obedience to be shewed to Christ, and to His congregation ;' and a catechism is inserted in this order of Confirmation, to be re- source. 2 See above, p. II. 3 Strype, Eccl. Mem. Hen. VIII. i. 42. ordered be Reformation. |