Quomodo autem non violatores legis fuere, qui legi subditi quum essent, præter legem, Baptismum susceperunt? Sin sub lege Baptismus gratiæ non fuit, neque secundum legem, neque supra legem, neque præter legem dictus, quomodo tandem exstitisse reperietur?

RESPONSIO.

Baptismus Joannis præmium fuit Evangelii gratiæ: quocirca et supra legem fuit, alioquin non admisisset eos qui secundum legem peccaverant, ut in hoc per pœnitentiam et fidem Christi, reciperent commissorum peccatorum remissionem.

English translation:

QUESTION XXXVII.

If the Baptism of John was not according to the law, as it was not, how could it be otherwise than contrary to the law, and how was it received by those who lived under the law? But how could those be any thing else but violators of the law who, though they were subject to the law, received Baptism contrary to the law? But if the Baptism of grace was not, so to say, under the law, nor above the law, nor contrary to law, how will it be found to have existed at all?

ANSWER.

The Baptism of John was the reward of the gospel of grace; wherefore it was both above the law, otherwise he would not have admitted those who had sinned according to the law, that in this matter by penitence and the faith of Christ they might receive remission of their sins committed by them.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ νς'.

Εἰ τὰ τελευτῶντα βρέφη ἔπαινον ἢ μέμψιν οὐκ ἔχουσιν ἐξ ἔργων, τίς ἡ διαφορὰ ἐν τῇ ἀναστάσει τῶν ὑπὸ ἄλλων μὲν βαπτισθέντων καὶ μηδὲν πραξάντων, καὶ τῶν μὴ βαπτισθέντων καὶ ὁμοίως μηδὲν πραξάντων ;

ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ.

Αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ διαφορὰ τῶν βαπτισθέντων πρὸς τὰ μὴ βαπτισθέντα τοῦ τυχεῖν μὲν τὰ βαπτισθέντα τῶν διὰ τοῦ βαπτίσματος ἀγαθῶν, τὰ δὲ μὴ βαπτισθέντα, μὴ τυχεῖν· ἀξιοῦνται δὲ τῶν διὰ τοῦ βαπτίσματος ἀγαθῶν, τῇ πίστει τῶν προσφερόντων αὐτὰ τῷ βαπτίσματι.

In Latin:

QUESTIO LVI.

Si Infantes mortem oppetentes, ex operibus nec laudem nec reprehensionem habent; quod discrimen erit in resurrectione, inter eos qui ab aliis sint baptizait, et nihil egerint; et eos qui baptizati non sint, et similiter nihil egerint?

RESPONSIO.

Hoc discrimen est inter baptizatos et non baptizatos, quod illi bona per Baptismum obvenientia consequuntur, hi vero non consequuntur. Digni autem fiunt Baptismi commodis, fide eorum qui illos ad Baptismum offerunt.

English translation:

QUESTION.

If infants who die receive neither praise nor blame from works, what difference will there be in the Resurrection between those who have been baptized by others and done nothing, and those who have not been baptized and likewise have done nothing.

ANSWER.

There is this difference between those who have been baptized and the unbaptized, that the baptized obtain the advantages which result from Baptism; but But they the unbaptized do not obtain them. become worthy of the advantages which result from Baptism, through the faith of those who bring them to be baptized.

XVII. IRENEUS.

MOSHEIM, in his "Ecclesiastical History," vol. i, p. 162, gives the following account of this famous Father of the Church :

Irenæus, bishop of Lyons, a Greek by birth, and probably born of Christian parents, a disciple also of Polycarp, by whom he was sent to preach the gospel among the Gauls, is another of the writers of this [i. e. the second] century whose labours were remarkably useful to the Church. He turned his pen against its internal and domestic enemies, by attacking the monstrous errors which had been adopted by many of the primitive Christians, as appears by his five Books against Heresies, which are yet preserved in a Latin translation,* and are considered as one of the most precious monuments of ancient erudition.

DR WADDINGTON, in his "History of the Church," 2nd edition Svo, London, 1835, at page 62 of the first volume, has these remarks of Irenæus :

Irenæus was Bishop of Lyons, about the year

• NOTE "The first book is yet extant in the original Greek; of the rest we have only a Latin version, through the barbarity of which, though excessive, it is easy to discern the eloquence and erudition that reign throughout the original. See Hist. Literaire de la France."

vol. I.

26

'178 A. D. He is chiefly celebrated for his five books 'Against Heresies," containing confutations of most of the errors which had then appeared in the Church. Though the language which he employs in this contest is not always that best adapted either to persuade or to conciliate, his sincere aversion from religious dissension is not questioned. It is proved indeed by the epistle which he addresses to Victor, Bishop of Rome, on his insolent demeanour in the controversy respecting Easter, and which breathes a generous spirit of Christian moderation.

DUPIN, in his account of Irenæus, does not mention that any of his works relate to Baptism.

But CARY, in his "Testimonies of the Fathers," Oxford, 1835, quotes Irenæus on the Twenty-seventh Article, thus:

Irenæus, speaking of Christ, says:

Giving his disciples the power of regeneration to God, he said to them, "Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."

In the Latin:

ADV. HERESES III, xvii, 1.

Et iterum potestatem regenerationis in Deum dans discipulis, dicebat iis, "Euntes docete omnes gentes, baptizantes eos in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti."

Cary, also on the Twenty-seventh article, writes thus:

And Irenæus says that "Christ came to save all men by himself; all, I say, who through him are born again unto God; infants, and little ones, and

boys, and young men and old men.

Therefore he

went through the several ages; for infants being made an infant, sanctifying infants; for little ones he was made a little one, sanctifying those of that age, &c.

In Latin thus:

ADV. HÆRESES III, xxii, 4.

Omnes enim venit per semetipsum salvari; omnes, inquam, qui per eum renascuntur in Deum, infantes, et parvulos, et pueros, et juvenes, et seniores. Per omnem venit ætatem, et infantibus infans factus est, sanctificans infantes; in parvulis parvulus, sanctificans hanc ipsam habentes ætatem, &c.

Cary continues:

Irenæus, in saying that "Christ saves all who through him are born again," undoubtedly means that they are born again by Baptism. It is unnecessary to prove at any length that this manner of speaking was common with Irenæus and others of the Fathers: the passage from the same author, which has been given under the first part of this Article, may be referred to, as affording a fair exposition of his meaning in this last abstract.

Cary also, on the Ninth Article, quotes Irenæus :

As, in the beginning, all of us were by our first parents brought into bondage through the obligation we were under to suffer death, so at length, by the latter Adam, all, who from the beginning have been his disciples, being cleansed and washed from such