the influence of the Holy Ghost, that I may possess and enjoy the fulness of the truth, through thy Christ, by whom all glory be to thee in the Holy Ghost for ever. Amen." St. Chrysostom' also mentions their repeating the Lord's Prayer presently after their coming up out of the water; and that standing also, not falling upon their faces, but looking up to Christ, to whose body they are united, as he sits above in Heaven, where Satan has no access. And this was the first time they were allowed to use this prayer. For t ll men were baptised, and made sons of God by regeneration, they were not allowed to call God their Father. And though they learned the Lord's Prayer before baptism, yet they were not permitted till after baptism to use it as a prayer publicly in the Church.

SECT. 8.-Received with Psalmody.

Among other ceremonies after baptism, Gregory Nazianzen mentions their reception with psalmody,' which he says, was a præludium or foretaste of those hymns and praises which should be the employment of the life to come. But whether this means any particular psalms appointed to be sung at baptism, or the common psalmody of the Church he does not inform us. If I may be allowed to conjecture, I should conclude for the former, because the common psalmody of the Church was no more than what Catechumens were allowed to hear before, as being part of the Missa Catechumenorum, or first service, at which not only catechumens, but professed Jews and Heathens might be present. Perhaps they sung the cxviiith psalm, in which are these words, "This is the day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it," because St. Austin speaking of the Easter festival seems to refer to it, saying,s" This is the day which the Lord hath made, higher than all, brighter than all, in which he hath acquired to himself a new people by the

2 Naz. Orat. xl. de Bapt.

1 Chrys. Hom. vi. in Colos. p. 1359. p. 672. 3 Aug. Serm. 163. de Tempore, tom. x. p. 332. Hic est dies, dilectissimi, quem fecit Dominus, celsior cunctis, lucidior universis, in quo sibi novam plebem, ut videtis, regenerationis Spiritu conquisivit, &c.

spirit of regeneration, and hath filled our minds with joy and gladness." And Paulinus' speaks of singing Hallelujahs upon this occasion. But in doubtful matters I will not be over positive to determine.

SECT. 9.—And admitted ́immediately to the Communion of the Altar.

It is more certain, that as soon as the ceremonies of baptism were finished, men were admitted to a participation of the eucharist. For this was To Tisov, the perfection,.or consummation of a Christian, to which he was entitled by virtue of his baptism. Therefore all the ancient writers speak of this as the concluding privilege of baptism, which in those days was always, immediately subjoined to it. And this was observed, not only with respect to adult persons, but children also. For proof of which custom at present it will be sufficient to allege the testimony of *Gennadius; who joins the baptism of infants, and confirmation, and the eucharist all together. And this continued to the Ninth Century, as appears from the Rituals of the rage, some of which have been produced before and many rothers might be added; but these belong to another place, where it will be more proper to treat of the communion of infants among other things, that relate to the subject of the eucharist, which together with the ancient psalmody, reading the Scriptures, preaching and prayers, which make up the whole ordinary service of the Church, under the name of Missa Catechumenorum, and Missa Fidelium, will be the subject of the next volume, which is intended to give an account of the Liturgy of the Church.

SECT. 10. Of the; Ceremony of Washing the Feet, retained in
.some Churches.

There was one ceremony more, used in some Churches, but rejected by others, which it will not be improper to give

1 Paulin. Ep. 12. ad Fever. p. 145.

Hinc senior sociæ congaudet turba catervæ,

Alleluia novis balat ovile choris.

* Gennad. de Eccles. Dogm. cap. 52. Si parvuli sint, qui doctrinam non capiant, respondeant pro illis qui eos offerunt, juxta morem baptizandi : et sic manûs impositione et chrismate communiti, eucharistæ mysteriis admittantur.

3 Book xii. chap. i. n. 2.

some acconnt of here in the close. That was the custom of washing the feet of the baptised. Vicecomes thinks,' at first it was a ceremony preceding baptism, and used on: Maundy-Thursday, or the same day that our Saviour, from whose example it was taken, washed his disciples' feet. And this seems to be clear, he says, from St. Austin's words, who has occasion to mention. it in two of his Epistles. But in the former Epistle, St. Austin is speaking of the custom of bathing the whole body before Easter, that the catechumens, who had neglected themselves in the observation of Lent, might not appear offensive, when they came to be baptised: therefore Maundy-Thursday was chosen as the day to cleanse themselves by bathing from the bodily filth, which they had contracted. And, becausethis was allowed to the catechumens, many others choseto bathe themselves with them on that day also, and relax. their fast, because fasting and bathing would not agreetogether. So that this washing was not the washing of the feet, however Vicecomes came to mistake it, but the bathing of the whole body; and not used as a religious ceremony, but, as a ceremony of convenience and civil decency, that they might not be offensive to the senses of others, when they came to baptism. In the other Epistle he speaks particularly of washing the feet, but that was after baptism, on the third day or the octaves, or such, other time as those Churches which retained the ceremony,. thought fit to appoint it. For many Churches, he says,.

3

1 Vicecom. de Ritib. Bapt. lib. iii. cap. 20. 2 Aug. Ep. 118 ad ' Januarium, p. 213. Si autem quæris, cur etiam lavandi mos ortus sit: nihil mihi de hac re cogitanti probabilius occurrit, nisi quia baptizandorum corpora per observationem Quadragesimæ sordidata, cum offensione sensûs ad fontem tractarentur, nisi aliquâ die lavarentur. Istum autem diem potius ad hoc electum, quo cœna Domini anniversariè celebratur. Et quia concessum est hoc baptismum accepturis, multi cum his lavare voluerunt, jejuniumque relaxare. Aug. Ep. cxix. ad Januar. cap. xviii. De lavandis verò pedibus, cum dominus hoc propter formam humilitatis, propter quam docendam venerat, commendaret, sicut ipse consequentur exposuit, quæsitum est, quonam tempore potissimùm res tanta etiam facto doceretur, et in illud tempus occurrit, quo ipsa commendatio religiosius inhæreret. Sed ne ad ipsum sacramentum baptismi videretur pertinere, multi hoc in consuetudinem recipere noluerunt. Nonnulli etiam de consuetudine auferre non dubitarunt. Aliqui autem, ut hoc sacratiore tempore commendarent,

would never admit of this custom at all, lest it should seem to belong to the sacrament of baptism, when our Saviour only intended it as a lesson of humility. And other Churches for the same reason abrogated the custom, where it had been received. And others, who retained it, that they might recommend it by fixing it to some more sacred time, and yet distinguish it from the sacrament of baptism, chose either the third day of the Octaves, or the Octave after baptism itself, as most convenient for this purpose. Among the Churches, which wholly refused, or abrogated this custom, the Spanish Church is one, which in the Council of Eliberis made a canon against it; forbidding at once, the exacting any gift or reward for administering baptism, lest the priest should seem to sell what he freely received; (of which I have given a full account,' in speaking of the revenues of the Church ;) and also forbidding the priests,2 or any other of the clergy, to wash the feet of such as were baptised. Among those Churches which never received this custom, we may reckon the Roman Church; and among those which always received it, the Church of Milan, whose practice is opposed to the Roman by St. Ambrose, or whoever was the author of the Book "De sacramentis, et de iis qui mysteriis initiantur," among works. He says, in the Church of Milan, the bishop

his

et à baptismi sacramento distinguerent vel diem tertium octavarum, quia ternarius numerus in multis sacramentis maxime excellit, vel etiam ipsum octavum, ut hoc facerent, elegerunt.

2 Con. Eliber. can. 48. Emendari

1 Book v. chap. iv. s. 14. placuit, ut hi qui baptizantur (ut fieri solet) nummos in concham non mittant, ne sacerdos, quod gratis accepit, pretio distrahere videatur. Neque pedes eorum lavandi sunt à sacerdotibus vel clericis. 8 Ambros.

de Sacram. lib. iii. cap. i. Succinctus summus sacerdos pedes tibi lavit.— Non ignoramus quòd Ecclesia Romana hanc consuetudinem non habeat, cujus typum in omnibus sequimur et formam: hanc tamen consuetudinem non habet, ut pedes lavet. Vide ergò ne propter multitudinem declinarit. Sunt tamen qui dicant, et excusare conentur, quia hoc non mysterio faciendum est, non in baptismate, non in regeneratione: sed quasi hospiti pedes lavandi sunt. Aliud est humilitatis, aliud sanctificationis. Denique audi, quia mysterium est, et sanctificatio. "Nisi lavero tibi pedes, non habebes mecum partem." Hoc ideo dico, non quòd alios reprehendam, sed mea officia ipse commendem. In omnibus cupio sequi Ecclesiam Romanam, sed tamen et nos homines sensum habemus.'" Ideò quod alibi rectiùs servatur, et nos rectè custodimus.

1

1.

was used to wash the feet of the baptised. But the Roman Church had not this custom: and he thinks, they might decline it, because of the multitude of those that were baptised. But they of the Roman Church pleaded, "that it was not to be done by way of mystery in baptism or regeneration, but only by way of humility, as the custom of washing the feet of strangers." But on the contrary, the Church of Milan pleaded, "that this was not merely a business of humility, but of mystery and sanctification, because Christ said to Peter, except I wash thy feet, thou hast no part with me." "This I urge," says our author," not to reprehend others, but to commend my own office. For though we desire to follow the Roman Church, yet we are men that have our senses about us. And therefore we observe that practice which we conceive to be righter in other churches." He adds further,' "that this was not done to obtain remission of sins, for that was already done in baptism: but because Adam was supplanted by the devil, and the serpent's poison was cast upon his feet, therefore men were washed in that part for greater sanctification, that he might have no power to supplant them any further." These were the reasons given by the Church of Milan, for their adhering to this practice: but they were not so strong as to prevail with others, and so this custom never got any great footing in the Christian Church.

SECT. 11.-A General Reflection upon the whole preceding Discourse, with Relation to the Practice of the present Church.

I have now gone over the most material ceremonies and usages of the Church observed about the administration of baptism, as well those that went before, as those that accompanied the action itself, and those that followed after; and, as near as I could, delivered them in the same order and manner as she herself observed

1 Ibid. in Baptismate omnis culpa diluitur. Recedit ergò culpa; sed quia Adam supplantatus à Diabolo est, et venenum ei suffusum est supra pedes, ideo lavas pedes ut in eâ parte, in quâ insidiatus est serpens, majus subsidium sanctificationis accedat, quo posteà te supplantare non possit. He repeats this reason in his Book de Initiatis, cap. vi.