y is easily performed: no
harm can come of it, but immeasurable good for eternity. It should
properly be performed by the clergy. But if this cannot be done, any
man, woman, or child, even one not a Christian himself, can administer
the sacrament. Every Doctor in a Christian land should understand how to
do it, and do it with unerring accuracy. It were a disgrace for him to
be ignorant of what even an ordinary child is expected to know. The
ceremony is so simple; and yet, being an institution of Christ, no man
can modify it to suit his notions; if what is done is not just what
Christ appointed to be done, it will be of no avail. Notice, therefore,
carefully every detail. You will take a little water, say a cupful, real
water--cold or lukewarm, that matters not--you will slowly pour it on
the head of the child, and, _while you do so_, you will say, "I baptize
thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
That is all. Notice, you must say the words while the water is being
poured on the child. For "I baptize" means "I wash"; pour, therefore, or
wash while you say, "I wash." Should you hereafter wish to refresh your
memories on this matter, you can do so by consulting the "Century
Dictionary," which explains Baptism, and in particular Catholic Baptism,
as "consisting essentially in the application of water to the person
baptized by one having the intention of conferring the sacrament, and
who pronounces at the same time the words, 'I baptize thee in the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.'" If a cup of
water given to the thirsty brings a blessing, how much more the giving
of the water of salvation! Should it happen that the child is in danger
of dying before delivery, it should be baptized in the womb provided it
be at all possible to cause the water to reach or wash its body,
projected upon it by any instrument whatever; but the water should flow
over the body, not merely over the cyst enclosing it, for the cyst is no
part of the child. Even if but an arm or other minor portion of the body
is washed, the baptism is probably valid. If any doubt about the valid
administration is left, the infant after delivery should be carefully
baptized _under condition_, as it is called; that is, with the condition
added that, if the former ceremony was validly conferred, there is no
intention of giving a second baptism. For that would not be right; since
the sacrament cannot be validly rece