proselytes and adults, and followed the baptism of children, ended with a public examination (scrutinium) before the con gregation. The Creed-in the East the Nicene, in the West the Apostles'-was committed to memory and professed by the candidates or the god-parents of the children.

The favorite times for baptism for adults were Easter and Pentecost, and in the East also Epiphany. In the fourth cen tury, when the mass of the population of the Roman empire went over from heathenism to Christianity, the baptisteries were thronged with proselytes on those high festivals, and the baptism of such masses had often a very imposing and solemn character. Children were usually incorporated into the church by baptism soon after their birth.

Immersion continued to be the usual form of baptism, espe cially in the East; and the threefold immersion in the name of the Trinity. Yet Gregory the Great permitted also the single immersion, which was customary in Spain as a testimony against the Arian polytheism.'

With baptism, several preparatory and accompanying ceremonies, some of them as early as the second and third centuries, were connected; which were significant, but overshadowed and obscured the original simplicity of the sacrament. These were exorcism, or the expulsion of the devil;' breathing upon the candidates,' as a sign of the communication of the Holy Ghost, according to John xx. 22; the touching of the ears,* with the exclamation: Ephphatha!-from Mark vii. 34, for the opening of the spiritual understanding; the sign of the cross made upon the forehead and breast, as the mark of the soldier

1 Greg. Ep. i. 48, to Bishop Leander of Seville: "Dum in tribus subsistentiis una substantia est, reprehensibile esse nullatenus potest infantem in baptismate vel ter vel semel mergere: quando et in tribus mersionibus personarum trinitas, et in una potest personarum singularitas designari. Sed quia nunc usque ab hæreticis infans in baptismate tertio mergebatur, fiendum apud vos non esse censeo, ne dum mersiones numerant, divinitatem dividant." From this we see, at the same time, that even in infant baptism, and among heretics, immersion was the custom. Yet in the nature of the case, sprinkling, at least of weak or sick children, as in the bap tismus clinicorum, especially in northern climates, came early into use.

* Comp. vol. i. p. 399.

• Insufflare, upvoậv.
• Sacramentum apertionis.

of Christ; and, at least in Africa, the giving of salt, as the em blem of the divine word, according to Mark ix. 50; Matt. v. 13; Col. iv. 6. Proselytes generally took also a new name, accord ing to Rev. ii. 17.

In the act of baptism itself, the candidate first, with his face toward the west, renounced Satan and all his pomp and service;' then, facing the east, he vowed fidelity to Christ,' and confessed his faith in the triune God, either by rehearsing the Creed, or in answer to questions.' Thereupon followed the threefold or the single immersion in the name of the triune God, with the calling of the name of the candidate, the deacons and deaconesses assisting. After the second anointing with the consecrated oil (confirmation), the veil was removed, with which the heads of catechumens, in token of their spiritual minority, were covered during divine worship, and the baptized person was clothed in white garments, representing the state of regeneration, purity, and freedom. In the Western church the baptized person received at the same time a mixture of milk and honey, as a symbol of childlike innocence and as a foretaste of the communion.

$93. Confirmation.

Comp. the Literature of Baptism, especially HöFLING, and ZEZSOHWITZ : Der Katechumenat (first vol. of his System der Katechetik). Leipzig, 1863.

Confirmation, in the first centuries, was closely connected with the act of baptism as the completion of that act, especially in adults. After the cessation of proselyte baptism and the increase of infant baptism, it gradually came to be regarded as an independent sacrament. Even by Augustine, Leo I., and others, it is expressly called sacramentum.* This independ

This was the à¤отayń, or abrenunciatio diaboli, with the words: 'Aroτáoσopal σοι, Σατανᾶ, καὶ πάσῃ τῇ πομπῇ σου καὶ πάσῃ τῇ λατρείᾳ σου. The Apostolic Consti tutions add Toîs pyois. In Tertullian: "Renunciare diabolo et pompæ et angelis ejus.”

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* Συντάσσομαί σοι, Χριστέ.

3 Ομολόγησις, professio.

Aug. Contra liter. Petil. 1. ii. c. 104 (tom. ix. p. 199); Leo, Epist. 156, c. 5. Confirmation is called confirmatio from its nature; sigillum or consignatio, from its design; chrisma or vnctio, from its matter; and impositio manuum, from its form.

ence was promoted by the hierarchical interest, especially in the Latin church, where the performance of this rite is an epis copal function.

The catholic theory of confirmation is, that it seals and completes the grace of baptism, and at the same time forms in some sense a subjective complement to infant baptism, in which the baptized person, now grown to years of discretion, renews the vows made by his parents or sponsors in his name at his baptism, and makes himself personally responsible for them. The latter, however, is more properly a later Protestant (Lutheran and Anglican) view. Baptism, according to the doctrine of the ancient church, admits the man into the rank of the soldiers of Christ; confirmation endows him with strength and courage for the spiritual warfare.

The outward form of confirmation consists in the anointing of the forehead, the nose, the ear, and the breast with the consecrated oil, or a mixture of balsam,' which symbolizes the consecration of the whole man to the spiritual priesthood; and in the laying on of the hands of the clergyman,' which signifies and effects the communication of the Holy Ghost for the general Christian calling.' The anointing takes precedence of the imposition of hands, in agreement with the Old Testament sacerdotal view; while in the Protestant church, wherever confirmation continues, it is entirely abandoned, and only the imposition of hands is retained.

In other respects considerable diversity prevailed in the different parts of the ancient church in regard to the usage of confirmation and the time of performing it.

In the Greek church every priest may administer confirmation or holy unction, and that immediately after baptism; but Xploua. This was afterward, in the Latin church, the second anointing, in distinction from that which took place at baptism. The Greek church, however, which always conjoins confirmation with baptism, stopped with one anointing. Comp. Hahn, 1. c. p. 91 f.

Impositio manuum. This, however, subsequently became less prominent than the anointing; hence confirmation is also called simply chrisma, or sacramentum chrismatis, unctionis.

The formula now used in the Roman church in the act of confirmation, which is not older, however, than the twelfth century, runs: "6 Signo te signo crucis et con firmo te chrismate salutis, in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti."

in the Latin church after the time of Jerome (as now in the Anglican) this function, like the power of ordination, was considered a prerogative of the bishops, who made periodical tours in their dioceses to confirm the baptized. Thus the two acts were often far apart in time.

$94. Ordination.

J. MORINUS (R. O.): Comment. hist. ac dogm. de sacris eccles. ordinationibus. Par. 1655, etc. FR. HALIERIUS (R. C.): De sacris electionibus et ordinationibus. Rom. 1749. 3 vols. fol. G. L. HAHN: 1. c. p. 96 and p. 354 ff. Comp. the relevant sections in the archæological works of BINGHAM, AUGUSTI, BINTERIM, etc.

The ordination of clergymen' was as early as the fourth or fifth century admitted into the number of sacraments. Augustine first calls it a sacrament, but with the remark that in his time the church unanimously acknowledged the sacramental character of this usage."

Ordination is the solemn consecration to the special priesthood, as baptism is the introduction to the universal priesthood; and it is the medium of communicating the gifts for the ministerial office. It confers the capacity and authority of administering the sacraments and governing the body of believers, and secures to the church order, care, and steady growth to the end of time. A ruling power is as necessary in the church as in the state. In the Jewish church there was a hereditary priestly caste; in the Christian this is exchanged for an unbroken succession of voluntary priests from all classes, but mostly from the middle and lower classes of the people.

Like baptism and confirmation, ordination imparts, according to the later scholastic doctrine, a character indelebilis, and cannot therefore be repeated.' But this of course does not exclude the possibility of suspension and excommunication in case of gross

1 Xelрotovía, kalɩépois, ordinatio, and in the case of bishops, consecratio. * De bono conjug. c. 18 (tom. vi. p. 242), c. 24 (p. 247); Contr. Epist. Parmen. Lii. c. 12 (tom. ix. pp. 29, 30). Comp. Leo M. Epist. xii. c. 9; Gregor. M. Expos, in i. Regg. 1. vi. c. 3. These and other passages in Hahn, p. 97.

• Already intimated by Augustine, De bapt. c. Donat. ii. 2: “Sicut baptiz: tus, si ab unitate recesserit, sacramentum dandi non amittit, sic etiam ord'matus, e ab anitate recesserit, sacramentum dandi baptismum [i. e., ordination] nor amittit.'

1

immorality or gross error. The council of Nice, in 325, ao knowledged even the validity of the ordination of the schisin atic Novatians.

Corresponding to the three ordines majores there were three ordinations: to the diaconate, to the presbyterate, and to the episcopate.' Many of the most eminent bishops, however, like Cyprian and Ambrose, received the three rites in quick succession, and officiated only as bishops.

Different from ordination is installation, or induction into a particular congregation or diocese, which may be repeated as often as the minister is transferred.

Ordination was performed by laying on of hands and pray. er, closing with the communion. To these were gradually added other preparatory and attendant practices; such as the tonsure, the anointing with the chrisin (only in the Latin church after Gregory the Great), investing with the insignia of the office (the holy books, and in the case of bishops the ring and staff), the kiss of brotherhood, etc. Only bishops can ordain, though presbyters assist. The ordination or consecraion of a bishop generally requires, for greater solemnity, the presence of three bishops.

No one can receive priestly orders without a fixed field of labor which yields him support. In the course of time further restrictions, derived in part from the Old Testament, iu regard to age, education, physical and moral constitution, freedom from the bonds of marriage, etc., were established by ecclesiastical legislation.

The favorite times for ordination were Pentecost and the quarterly Quatember terms * (i. e., the beginning of Quadrage

'On the character of the ordination of the sub-deacons, as well as of diaconissæ and presbyteræ, there were afterward diverse views. Usually this was considered ordination only in an improper sense.

After the fifth century, but under various forms, tonsura Petri, etc. It was first applied to penitents, then to monks, and finally to the clergy.

⚫ Hence the old rules: "Ne quis vage ordinetur," and, "Nemo ordinatur sine titulo." Comp. Acts xiv. 23; Tit. i. 5; 1 Pet. v. 1.

• Quatuor tempora. Comp. the old verse: "Post crux (Holyrood day, 14th September), post cineres (Ash Wednesday), post spiritus (Pentecost) atque Lucia (18th December), Sit tibi in auguria quarta sequens feria."