obed in the white
vesture which West and East alike considered meet, and which was
sometimes worn for the octave after baptism, confessed his faith in the
Blessed Trinity, was baptized in the name of Father, Son and Holy
Ghost, and was anointed with the holy chrism and signed with the sign
of the cross. Baptism not only admitted into the Christian Church, but
was invested with the associations of the human family, and thus had
transferred to it some of the conditions in which students of
anthropology find such interesting survivals, of primitive ideas. The
conception of spiritual relationship was endowed with the results which
belonged to natural kinship. The sponsors became spiritual parents.
The code of Justinian forbade the marriage of a godchild and godparent,
because "nothing can so much call out fatherly affection and the just
prohibition of marriage as a bond of this kind, by means of which,
through the action of God, their souls are united to one another."
This led to the growth of as elaborate a scheme of spiritual
relationships as that which already hedged round among many tribes the
eligibility for marriage among persons even remotely akin to one
another. In the East, as in the West, baptism was most frequently
conferred at the time of the great Christian festivals, Christmas (as
in the case of Chlodowech), Epiphany, and especially Easter; and Easter
Eve became, later {178} on, especially consecrated to the sacred rite.
In the East baptism was often postponed till the infant was two years
old; and everywhere there was for long a tendency even among Christian
parents to hold back children from the laver of regeneration for fear
of the consequences of post-baptismal sin. It was thus that a name was
often given, and a child received into the Church, some weeks or even
months before the baptism took place. The Greek Syntagma of the
seventh century contains interesting information as to the baptism of
heretics. It is ordered that Sabellians, Montanists, Manichaeans,
Valentianists and such like shall be baptized just as pagans are, after
instruction and examination in the faith, and, after insufflation, by
triple immersion.

[Sidenote: Confirmation.]

Throughout these centuries baptism was not separated from Confirmation,
except in the case of some converts from heresy. The two rites were
regarded as parts of the same sacrament, or at least the former was not
considered complete without the latter. The s