unconscious."

The common practice as late as the twelfth century is thus described by
a Roman Catholic cardinal of that time, named Pullus:

"Whilst the candidate for baptism in water is immersed, the
death of Christ is suggested; whilst immersed and covered with
water, the burial of Christ is shown forth; whilst he is raised
from the waters, the resurrection of Christ is
proclaimed."--_Patrol. Lat., Vol. CXXX, p. 315 (Baptist
Encyclopedia, art. "Baptism")._

Dean Stanley, of Westminster, one of the first scholars of the Church of
England, wrote:

"For the first thirteen centuries the almost universal practice
of baptism was that of which we read in the New Testament, and
which is the very meaning of the word 'baptize,'--that those
who were baptized were plunged, submerged, immersed into the
water. That practice is still, as we have seen, continued in
Eastern churches. In the Western church it still lingers among
Roman Catholics in the solitary instance of the Cathedral of
Milan; among Protestants in the numerous sects of the Baptists.
It lasted long into the Middle Ages.... But since the beginning
of the seventeenth century, the practice has become exceedingly
rare. With the few exceptions just mentioned, the whole of the
Western churches have now substituted for the ancient bath the
ceremony of letting fall a few drops of water on the face. The
reason of the change is obvious. The practice of immersion,
though peculiarly suitable to the Southern and Eastern
countries for which it was designed, was not found seasonable
in the countries of the North and West. Not by any decree of
council or parliament, but by the general sentiment of
Christian liberty, this remarkable change was effected.
Beginning in the thirteenth century, it has gradually driven
the ancient catholic usage out of the whole of
Europe."--_"Christian Institutions," pp. 21, 22._

The facts are undeniable, and emphasize the importance of reformation
and return in practice to the plain instructions of the Word of God. As
the record shows, it was not the spirit of the New Testament church that
made this change in the divine ordinance; rather it is the spirit of the
church of the "falling away," against which the Lord warns all
believers, "because they have transgressed the laws, changed the
ordinance, broken t