orm, but the
postulant solemnly renounced, not Satan and his works and pomp, but the
harlot church of the persecutors, whose prayers were more deadly than
desirable. He renounced the cross which its priests had signed on him
with their chrism, their sham baptisms and other magical rites. Next
followed the spiritual baptism itself, consisting of imposition of
hands, and holding of the Gospel on the postulant's head. The elder
begins a fresh allocution by citing Matt. xxviii. 19, Mark xvi. 15, 16,
John iii. 3 (where the Cathars' text must originally have omitted in v.
5 the words "of water and," since their presence contradicts their
argument). Acts ix. 17, 18, viii. 14-17, are then cited; also John xx.
21-23, Matt. xvi. 18, 19, Matt. xviii. 18-20, for the Perfect one
receives in this rite power to bind and loose. The Perfect's vocation is
then defined: he must not commit adultery nor homicide, nor lie, nor
swear any oath, nor pick and steal, nor do unto another that which he
would not have done unto himself. He shall pardon his wrongdoers, love
his enemies, pray for them that calumniate and accuse him, offer the
other cheek to the smiter, give up his mantle to him that takes his
tunic, neither judge nor condemn. Asked if he will fulfil each of these,
the postulant answers: "I have this will and determination. Pray God for
me that he give me his strength."

The next episode of the rite exactly reproduces the Roman _confiteor_ as
it stood in the 2nd century; "the postulant says: '_Parcite nobis_. For
all the sins I have committed, in word or thought or deed, I come for
pardon to God and to the church and to you all.' And the Christians
shall say: 'By God and by us and by the church may they be pardoned
thee, and we pray God that he pardon you them.'"

There follows the act of "consoling." The elder takes the Gospel off the
white cloth, where it has lain all through the ceremony, and places it
on the postulant's head, and the other good men present place their
right hands on his head; they shall say the _parcias_ (spare), and
thrice the "Let us adore the Father and Son and Holy Spirit," and then
pray thus: "Holy Father, welcome thy servant in thy justice and send
upon him thy grace and thy holy spirit." Then they repeat the "Let us
adore," the Lord's Prayer, and read the Gospel (John i. 1-17).

This was the vital part of the whole rite. The _credens_ is now a
Perfect one. He is girt with the sacred thread round his naked