. (j)
They received the sign of the cross on the brow; the bishop usually dipped
his thumb in the chrism and said: "In name of Father, Son and Holy Ghost,
peace be with thee." In laying his hands on their heads the bishop in many
places, especially in the West, called down upon them the sevenfold spirit.
(k) The first communion followed, with milk and honey added. (l) Usually
the water in the font was exorcized, blessed and chrism poured into it,
just before the catechumen entered it. (m) Easter was the usual season of
baptism, but in the East Epiphany was equally favoured. Pentecost was
sometimes chosen. We hear of all three feasts being habitually chosen in
Jerusalem early in the 4th century, but fifty years later baptisms seem to
have been almost confined to Easter. The preparatory fasts of the
catechumens must have helped to establish the Lenten fast, if indeed they
were not its origin.

Certain features of baptism as used during the earlier centuries must now
be noticed. They are the following:--(1) Use of fonts; (2) Status of
baptizer; (3) Immersion, submersion or aspersion; (4) Exorcism; (5)
Baptismal formula and trine immersion; (6) The age of baptism; (7)
Confirmation; (8) _Disciplina arcani_; (9) Regeneration; (10) Relation to
repentance; (11) Baptism for the dead; (12) Use of the name; (13) Origin of
the institution; (14) Analogous rites in other religions.

1. _Fonts._--The New Testament, the _Didach[=e]_, Justin, Tertullian and
other early sources do not enjoin the use of a font, and contemplate in
general the use of running or living water. It was a Jewish rule that in
ablutions the water should run over and away from the parts of the body
washed. In acts of martyrdom, as late as the age of Decius, we read of
baptisms in rivers, in lakes and in the sea. In exceptional cases it
sufficed for a martyr to be sprinkled with his own blood. But a martyr's
death in itself was enough. Nearchus (_c._ 250) quieted the scruples of his
unbaptized friend Polyeuctes, when on the scaffold he asked if it were
possible to attain salvation without baptism, with this answer: "Behold, we
see the Lord, when they brought to Him the blind that they might be healed,
had nothing to say to them about the holy mystery, nor did He ask them if
they had been baptized; but this only, whether they came to Him with true
faith. Wherefore He asked them, Do ye believe that I am able to do this
thing?"

Tertullian (_c._ 200) writes (_de Bapt