FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151  
152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   >>   >|  
sive in favour of submersion, and are often to be regarded as merely rhetorical. The rubrics of the MSS., it is true, enjoin total immersion, but it only came into general vogue in the 7th century, "when the growing rarity of adult baptism made the Gr. word [Greek: baptizo]) patient of an interpretation that suited that of infants only."[2] The _Key of Truth_, the manual of the old Armenian Baptists, archaically prescribes that the penitent admitted into the church shall advance on his knees into the middle of the water and that the elect one or bishop shall then pour water over his head. 4. _Exorcism._--The _Didach[=e]_ and Justin merely prescribe fasting, the use of which was to hurry the exit of evil spirits who, in choosing a _nidus_ or tenement, preferred a well-fed body to an emaciated one, according to the belief embodied in the interpolated saying of Matt. xvii. 21: "This kind (of demon) goeth not forth except by prayer and fasting." The exorcisms tended to become longer and longer, the later the rite. The English prayer-book excludes them, as it also excludes the renunciation of the devil and all his angels, his pomps and works. These elements were old, but scarcely primitive; and the archaic rite of the _Key of Truth_ (see PAULICIANS) is without them. Basil, in his work _On the Holy Spirit_, confesses his ignorance of how these and other features of his baptismal rite had originated. He instances the blessing of the water of baptism, of the oil of anointing and of the baptizand himself, the use of anointing him with oil, trine immersion, the formal renunciation of Satan and his angels. All these features, he says, had been handed down in an unpublished and unspoken teaching, in a silent and sacramental tradition. 5. _The Baptismal Formula._--The trinitarian formula and trine immersion were not uniformly used from the beginning, nor did they always go together. The _Teaching of the Apostles_, indeed, prescribes baptism in the name of Father, Son and Holy Ghost, but on the next page speaks of those who have been baptized into the name of the Lord--the normal formula of the New Testament. In the 3rd century baptism in the name of Christ was still so widespread that Pope Stephen, in opposition to Cyprian of Carthage, declared it to be valid. From Pope Zachariah (_Ep._ x.) we learn that the Celtic missionaries in baptizing omitted one or more persons of the Trinity, and this was one of the reasons why the church
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151  
152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
baptism
 

immersion

 

prescribes

 

church

 

fasting

 
excludes
 
anointing
 

formula

 
features
 

prayer


renunciation

 

angels

 
longer
 

century

 
tradition
 

sacramental

 
silent
 
teaching
 

handed

 

unpublished


unspoken

 

Baptismal

 

beginning

 

Formula

 

trinitarian

 

submersion

 

uniformly

 

baptismal

 

originated

 

instances


rhetorical

 
confesses
 

ignorance

 

blessing

 

regarded

 
formal
 

baptizand

 
Zachariah
 

declared

 
Carthage

Stephen
 

opposition

 
Cyprian
 
Trinity
 

reasons

 

persons

 
Celtic
 

missionaries

 
baptizing
 

omitted