he draws a comparison between St. Paul giving imposition of hands to those whom he baptised at Ephesus, Acts xix., and the bishop's giving imposition of hands to such as returned from heresy or schism to the unity of the Catholic Church. So likewise the Anonymous Author,' who writes of Baptism of Heretics, at the end of St. Cyprian's works, makes imposition of hands the office of bishops, in imitatation of the Apostles giving imposition of hands to those who were baptised by Philip, the deacon, Acts viii. And in another place he says, "If bishops were present at baptism, they gave imposition of hands together with baptism; but if any were baptised by the inferior clergy, in time of necessity, then the bishops supplied this afterwards, or else the Lord supplied it as he saw fit." The Council of Eliberis not long after made two canons to this purpose. In one of which it is ordered,3“ that if a layman baptised a catechumen, when he was dangerously sick at sea, or where there was no church near at hand, he should afterward bring him to the bishop, that he might perfect his baptism by imposition of hands." And in the other canon it is also ordered, "that in case a deacon governing a country-people, where there is no bishop or presbyter present, shall baptise any of them, the

dem possint per solam manas impositionem venientibus hæreticis dare Spiritum Sanctum; Paulus autem idoneus non fuerit, qui à Joanne baptizatus Spiritum Sanctum per manûs impositionem daret, nisi eos prius etiam Ecclesiæ baptismo baptizâsset. Anonym. de Bapt. Hæreticorum. ap. Cypr. p. 23 in Appendice. Per manus impositionem episcopi datur unicuique credenti Spiritus Sanctus, sicut Apostoli circa Samaritanos post Philippi baptisma manum eis imponendo fecerunt. Id. p. 25. Et

ideò cùm salus nostra in baptismate Spiritûs, quod plerumque cum baptismate aquæ conjunctum, sit constituta, siquidem per nos baptisma tradetur, integrè et solenniter et per omnia quæ scripta sunt, adsignetur, atque sine ullâ ullius rei separatione tradatur: aut si à minore clero per necessitatem traditum fuerit, eventum expectemus, ut aut suppleatur à nobis, aut à Domino supplendum reservetur. 3 Con. Eliber can. 38. Peregrè

navigantes, aut si ecclesia in proximo non fuerit, posse fidelem, qui lavacrum suum integrum habet, nec sit bigamus, baptizare in necessitate positum catechumenum: ita ut si supervixerit, ad episcopum eum perducat, ut per manûs impositionem perficere possit. Ibid. can. 77. Si quis diaconus regens plebem, sine episcopo vel presbytero aliquos baptizaverit, episcopus eos per benedictionem perficere debebit. Quòd si ante de seculo recesserint, sub fide quâ quis crediderit, poterit esse justus.

bishop shall afterward perfect them by his benediction. if they chanced to die before this could be done, they wer to be reputed in a salvable condition, by the faith in which they were baptised." We have heard St. Jerom befor testifying of this,' as the general practice of the Church for bishops to go about the country villages and remoter places in their dioceses, to give imposition of hands to such as were baptised by presbyters and deacons: and some of these died before the bishop could come to them; which implies, not only that it was the bishop's ordinary office, but that presbyters and deacons did not administer imposition of hands, even in such cases of necessity; otherwise the party who wanted it, could not have died without it. This was evidently the practice of the Roman Church, where, though the office of chrismation was in part allowed to presbyters, yet the consignation in the forehead with imposition of hands, was still reserved to the bishop, as his peculiar office in confirmation: as we learn from the Letters of Pope Innocent, Gelasius,3 and Gregory the Great, which have already been mentioned in the last section. To which we may add the testimony of Cornelius, who lived before all these in the time of Cyprian, as it is recorded by Eusebius. He there,5 speaking of Novatian, who was baptised only with clinic baptism, upon a sick bed, says, "when he recovered from his distemper, he never received those things, which by the laws of the Church he was obliged to receive, to wit, consignations by the hand of the bishop, &c." All those testimonies likewise, which require heretics to have imposition of hands from the bishop, in order to obtain the gift of the Holy Ghost, are a further evidence of this practice. To which purpose we have the Decrees of Pope Leo, and Siricius, who particularly observes this to have been the

1 Hieron. Dial. cont. Lucifer. cap. iv. See before, chap. i. s. 1. Innocent. Ep. i. ad Decentium, cap. iii.

Episc. Lucan. cap. viii.

Gelas. Ep. ix. ad Gregor. lib. iii. Ep. ix.

• Euseb. lib. vi. c. xliii. Οὐδὲ τῶν λοιπῶν ἔτυχε, διαφυγὼν τὴν νόσον, ὧν χρῆ μεταλαμβάνειν κατὰ τὸν τῆς ἐκκλησίας κανόνα, τῇ τε σφραγισθῆναι ὑπὸ τῇ ἐπισκόπε. 6 Leo Ep. 37. ad Leonem Raven. cap. ii. Si

ab hæreticis baptizatum quempiam fuisse constiterit-hoc tantum quod, ibi defuit, conferatur, ut per episcopalem manûs impositionem virtutem Sancti Spiritus consequatnr. Siric Ep. i. ad Himerium, cap. i. Arianos nos

of imposition of hands descends from the Acts of the Apostles; yet in many places it was observed rather for the honour of the chief priesthood, than for any absolute necessity of the thing. For otherwise, if the Spirit was only obtained by the prayer of the bishop, those men must be in a deplorable condition, that were baptised in villages and castles and remote places by presbyters and deacons, and died before the bishop could come to visit them." All therefore that was necessary to salvation, was conferred in baptism, which ministered such a portion of the Spirit, as was sufficient to cleanse men from sin, and qualify them for eternal life. So that when some of the Ancients say, "That baptism does not minister the Spirit, which was only given by imposition of hands in confirmation," as Cornelius pleads in his letter against Novatian; and Tertullian, who says, "that we do not obtain the Holy Ghost in baptism, but are only cleansed in the water, and prepared for the Holy Ghost;" they are to be understood, as meaning only that the Holy Ghost is not given in that full measure at baptism, as afterward by imposition of hands. They do not deny, that baptism grants men remission of sins by the power of the Holy Ghost; but only, that there are some further effects and operations of the Holy Spirit, which are not ordinarily conferred on men but by the subsequent invocation of the Spirit, the increase of which men were to desire, and to receive imposition of hands in order to obtain it. In which sense it is said in the Gospel," that the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because the Apostles had not yet received that plentiful effusion of it in the gift of tongues, which they afterwards had on the day of Pentecost," though they had before received such a measure of it, as both enabled them to work several sorts of miracles, and also qualified them in every respect for the kingdom of Heaven.

qui in Villulis aut in castellis aut in remotioribus locis per presbyteros et diaconos baptizati ante dormierunt, quàm ab episcopis inviserentur. Ap. Euseb. lib. vi. cap. xliii. Te're μr) ruxŵv, ñŵç àv tõ'Ayia Пvevματος ἔτυχε. Tertul. de Bapt. cap. vi. Non quòd in aquâ Spiritum Sanetum consequamur, sed in aquâ emundati, sub angelo Spiritui Sancto præparamur.

VOL. III.

SECT. 8.-How they punished those that neglected it.

But though the Ancients did not think this imposition of hands so absolutely necessary, as that the want of it should exclude those, who were baptised, from the kingdom of Heaven: yet they thought fit to punish the neglect of it, by setting some marks of disgrace and public censure upon such, as voluntarily and carelessly omitted it, when they had opportunity to receive it. Such men were ordinarily denied the privilege of ecclesiastical promotion and holy orders. As appears from the objection made against Novatian," that he ought not to be ordained, because being baptised privately with clinic baptism, he had afterward neglected to receive his consummation from the hands of the bishop, which he ought to have done by the laws of the Church," and to this purpose the Council of Neo-Cæsarea has a canon, forbidding such to be ordained; which is made part of the code of the Universal Church. The Council of Eliberis also excludes such, as have not " Lavacrum integrum," their own baptism completed by imposition of hands, from the privilege of giving baptism to others, which in cases of necessity they allowed to all other laymen. So far they thought fit to discountenance the contempt and neglect of confirmation, though they neither esteemed it a distinct sacrament from baptism, nor of absolute necessity to salvation, but only as a proper means to strengthen men in their Christian warfare.

CHAP. IV.

Of the remaining Ceremonies of Baptism following Confirmation.

SECT. 1.--Persons newly baptised, clothed in White Garments.

MUCH about the same time as the unction of confirmation was administered to persons newly baptised, they were also

1 Euseb. lib vi. c. 48.

Con. Eliber, can. 38.

Con. Neo Cæsar. can. 12.

clothed in white garments. In the Latin Church it came immediately before confirmation; but in the Greek Church it seems to have followed after. For Cyril of Jerusalem speaks of it as following the unction.' This was to represent their having" put off the old man with his deeds, and having put on the new man Christ Jesus." Hence they were called Aεvxeшovšvτes, et Grex Christi Candidus et niveus, the white flock of Christ, as we find in Lactantius and many others. Palladius, in the Life of St. Chrysostom,3 notes it particularly, as a great piece of barbarity in Arcadius, that, when St. Chrysostom's presbyters in his exile had baptised three thousand persons at one festival, the Emperor sent his soldiers to disperse them, as they were euxeμovovтes, clothed in their white garments. This was otherwise called, the garment of Christ, and the mystical garment. For so Socrates and Sozomen' speaking of the ordination of Nectarius, bishop of Constantinople, which was immediately given him after his baptism, say, " He was ordained whilst he had his mystical garment on," meaning this white robe, which had just before been given him at his baptism. St. Jerom also, writing to Fabiola, seems to allude to this, when he says, "We are to be washed with the precepts of God, and when we are prepared for the garment of Christ, putting off our coats of skins, we shall put on the linen garment, that hath nothing of death in it, but is all white, that rising out of the waters of baptism, we may gird about our loins with truth, and cover the former filthiness of our

1 Cyril. Catech. Myst. iv. n. 2. 'Evôvoáμèvog tà πvevpatikà Xevkà, χρὴ λευχειμονεῖν διαπαντὸς, &c. Lactant. Carmen de Resur. Dom.

Fulgentes animas vestis quoque candida signat,

Et grege de niveo gaudia pastor habet.

-Moschus Prat. Spir. cap. ccvii. 'Idóvreg aúrýv λevкopoρšσαι, &c. Paulin. Ep. 12. ad Sever. p. 145.

Unde parens sacro ducit de fonte sacerdos

Infantes niveos corpore, corde, habitu.

Pallad. Vit. Chrysost. cap. ix.

Socrat. lib. v. cap. viii.

Sozom. lib. vii. cap. viii. Tv μvsikýv kodñta čтi ǹμpieoμévos, &c. 6 Hieron. Ep. cxxviii. ad Fabiol. Præceptis Dei lavandi sumus, et cum parati ad indumentum Christi, tunicas pelliceas deposuerimus, tunc induemur veste lineâ, nihil in se mortis habente, sed totâ candidâ, ut de baptismo consurgentes, cingamus lumbos in veritate, &c.