Part 6 (1/2)

[6] Dr. Illingworth calls ”the material order another aspect of the spiritual, which is gradually revealing itself through material concealment, in the greater and lesser Christian Sacraments, which radiate from the Incarnation” (”Sermons Preached in a College Chapel,”

p. 173).

[7] G.o.d is _Spirit_, St. John iv. 24.

[8] The Word was made _Flesh_, St. John i. 14.

[9] The water in Baptism is not, of course, _consecrated_, as the bread and wine are in the Eucharist. It does not, like the bread and wine, ”become what it was not, without ceasing to be what it was,” but it is ”_sanctified_ to the mystical was.h.i.+ng away of sins”.

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CHAPTER V.

BAPTISM.

Consider, What it is; What it does; How it does it.

(I) WHAT IT IS.

The Sacrament of Baptism is the supernatural conjunction of matter and spirit--of water and the Holy Ghost. Water must be there, and spirit must be there. It is by the conjunction of the two that the Baptized is ”born anew of water and of the Holy Ghost”.

So the Prayer Book teaches. At the reception of a privately baptized child into the Church, it is laid down that ”matter” and ”words” are the two essentials for a valid Baptism.[1] ”Because some things essential to this Sacrament may happen to be omitted (and thus invalidate the Sacrament), ... I demand,” says the priest, {64} ”with what matter was this child baptized?” and ”with what words was this child baptized?” And because the omission of right matter or right words would invalidate the Sacrament, further inquiry is made, and the G.o.d-parents are asked: ”by whom was this child baptized?”: ”who was present when this child was baptized?” Additional security is taken, if there is the slightest reason to question the evidence given. The child is then given ”Conditional Baptism,” and Baptism is administered with the conditional words: ”If thou art not already baptized,”--for Baptism cannot be repeated--”I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.” So careful is the Church both in administering and guarding the essentials of the Sacrament.

And notice: nothing but the water and the words are _essential_. Other things may, or may not, be edifying; they are not essential; they are matters of ecclesiastical regulation, not of Divine appointment. Thus, a _Priest_ is not essential to a valid Baptism, as he is for a valid Eucharist. A Priest is the normal, but not the necessary, instrument of Baptism. ”In the absence of a {65} Priest”[2] a Deacon may baptize, and if the child is _in extremis_, any one, of either s.e.x, may baptize.

Again, _Sponsors_ are not essential to the validity of the Sacrament.

Sponsors are safeguards, not essentials. They are only a part--an invaluable part--of ecclesiastical regulation. When, in times of persecution, parents might be put to death, other parents were chosen as parents-in-G.o.d (G.o.d-parents)[3] to safeguard the child's Christian career. Sponsors are ”sureties” of the Church, not parts of the Sacraments. They stand at the font, as fully admitted Church members, to welcome a new member into the Brotherhood. But a private Baptism without Sponsors would be a valid Baptism.

So, too, in regard to _Ceremonial_. The mode of administering the Sacrament may vary: it is not (apart from the matter and words) of the essence of the Sacrament. There are, in fact, three ways in which Baptism may be validly administered. It may be administered by _Immersion_, _Aspersion_, or _Affusion_.

Immersion (_in-mergere_, to dip into) is the original and primitive form of administration. {66} As the word suggests, it consists of dipping the candidate into the water--river, bath, or font.

Aspersion (_ad spargere_, to sprinkle upon) is not a primitive form of administration. It consists in sprinkling water upon the candidate's forehead.

Affusion (_ad fundere_, to pour upon) is the allowed alternative to Immersion. It consists in pouring water upon the candidate.

All these methods are valid. Immersion was the Apostolic method, and explains most vividly the Apostolic teaching (in which the Candidate is ”buried with Christ” by immersion, and rises again by emersion)[4] no less than the meaning of the word--from the Greek _baptizo_, to dip.

Provision for Immersion has been made by a Fontgrave, in Lambeth Parish Church, erected in memory of Archbishop Benson, and constantly made use of. But, even in Apostolic times, Baptism by ”Affusion” was allowed to the sick and was equally valid. In the Prayer Book, affusion is either permitted (as in the Public Baptism of infants), or ordered (as in the Private Baptism of infants), or, again, allowed (as in the Baptism of those of riper years). It will be {67} noted that the Church of England makes no allusion to ”Aspersion,” or the ”sprinkling” form of administration. The child or adult is always either to be dipped into the water, or to have water poured upon it.[5] Other ceremonies there are--ancient and mediaeval. Some are full of beauty, but none are essential. Thus, in the first Prayer Book of 1549, a white vesture, called the _Chrisome_[6] or _Chrism_, was put upon the candidate, the Priest saying: ”Take this white vesture for a token of innocency which, by G.o.d's grace, in the Holy Sacrament of Baptism, is given unto thee”.

It typified the white life to which the one anointed with the Chrisma, or symbolical oil, was dedicated.[7]

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Another ancient custom was to give the newly baptized _milk and honey_.

So, St. Clement of Alexandria writes: ”As soon as we are born again, we become ent.i.tled to the hope of rest, the promise of Jerusalem which is above, where it is said to rain milk and honey”.

_Consignation_, again, or the ”signing with the sign of the cross,”