her infant in the womb, then she was to remain unbaptised all her life, and only to be admitted' to baptism at the hour of death. From whence it is plain, that the baptism of adult persons was sometimes deferred a considerable time by order of the church but then this was always either by way of preparation or punishment, whilst catechumens were first learning the principles of religion, or were kept in a state of nance to make satisfaction to the church for some scandalous transgression. pe SECT, 2.-Private Reasons for deferring Baptisin against the Rules of the Church. 1. Supinity and Negligence of Salvation. But others deferred their baptism of their own accord against the rules of the church: Of which practice there are frequent complaints in the writings of the ancients, and severe invectives against it, answering the common pleas which men usually urged in their own behalf. Some did it out of a supine laziness and careless negligence of their salvation, which was a very common reason, but such an one as men were ashamed to own, because its own reproach was a sufficient answer to it. 2 SECT. 8.-2. An Unwillingness to renounce the World, and submit to the severities of Religion. Others deferred it out of an heathenish principle still remaining in them, because they were in love with the world and its pleasures, which they were unwilling to renounce to take upon them the yoke of Christ, which they thought would lay greater restraints upon them, and deny them those liberties, which they could now more freely indulge themselves in, and securely enjoy. They could spend their lives in pleasure, and be baptised at last, and then they should gain as much as those that were baptised before; for the labourers, who came into the vineyard at the last hour, had the same reward as those that had borne the burden and heat of the day, Thus Gregory Nazianzen brings them in, ar 2 Naz. Orat. xl. 8 Naz. Orat. xl. de 1 Conc. Eliber. Can. Ixviii. Catechumena si per adulterium conceperit, et conceptum necaverit, placuit eam in fine baptizari, de Bapt. p. 654. Constit. Apost. lib. vi. cap. xv. Bapt. p. 650 and 652. guing for delaying repentance. This reason was so very absurd and foolish, that many, who were governed by it, were ashamed to own it. But yet, as St. Basil' observes, though they did not speak a word, their actions sufficiently proclaimed it. For it was the same as if they had said; let me alone, I will abuse the flesh to the enjoyment of all that is filthy; I will wallow in the mire of pleasures; I will embrue my hands in blood; I will take away other men's goods; live by deceit; forswear and lie; and then I will be baptised when I shall leave off sinning. Such men had the idol of infidelity still in their hearts, as the author of the Recognitions, under the name of Clemens Romanus, charges them; and that was the true reason why they put off their baptism: for had they believed baptism to be necessary to all, whether just or unjust, they would have made haste to receive it, because the end of every man's life is utterly uncertain. SECT. 4.-3. A Fear of Falling after Baptism. Another sort of men put off their baptism to the end of their lives upon a sort of Novatian principle, because they pretended to be afraid of falling into sin after baptism; and there was no second baptism allowed to regenerate men again to the kingdom of heaven; whereas, if they were baptised at the hour of death, heaven would be immediately open to them, and they might go pure and undefiled into it. In the mean time, if they died before baptism, they hoped God would accept the will for the deed, and the desire of baptism for baptism itself. Now, as this pretence was founded on abundance of errors, so the ancients are copious in refuting them. St. Basil3 argues against their practice from the uncertainty of life. For who, says he, has fixed for thee the term of life? Who is it, that can promise thee the enjoyment of old age? Who can undertake to be a sufficient sponsor of futurity? Do you not see both young' and old suddenly snatched away? And why do you stay to 2 Clein. Re 1 Basil. Exhort. ad Bapt. Hom. xiii. tom. i. p. 414. cognit. lib. vi. n. ix. ap. Coteleriun. tom. i. Qui moratur accedere ad aquas, constat in eo infidelitatis adhuc idolum permanere: et ab ipso prohiberi ad aquas, quæ salutem conferunt, properare. Sive enim justus, baptismus tibi per omnia necessarius est, &c. vid. Chrys. Hom. xiii in Heb. p. 1848. Basil. Exhort. ad Bapt. tom. i. p. 415. make baptism only the gift ofa fever? Gregory Nazianzen1 calls it a riddle, for an unbaptised man to think he is baptised in the sight of God, whilst he depends upon his mercy in the neglect of baptism; or to imagine himself in the kingdom of heaven, without doing the things, that belong to the kingdom of heaven. This is but a vain hope, says Gregory Nyssen, bewitching the soul with false appearances and pretensions. And as they thus exposed the groundless hopes of these men, so they as zealously demonstrated to them the vanity of their pretended fears. For though there was no second baptism for them, that fell into sin after the first, yet it was not impossible for men to avoid falling into damnable sins after their first purgation; or, if they did so fall, yet if they were not sins unto death, they might obtain a second cleansing by pardon upon repentance. So that it was plain madness and folly to neglect baptism upon such uncertain fears, because that was to run a much more dangerous risk, whilst they sought to avoid a lesser inconvenience, which was attended with much more safety, and had no such apprehended danger in it.3 SECT. 5.-4. Superstitions Fancies in reference to the Time and Ministers of Baptism. Some again there were, who deferred their baptism upon a principle of mere fancy and superstition, in reference to the time, or place, or ministers of baptism. Gregory Nazianzen⭑ brings in some, making this excuse: "I stay till Epiphany, the time when Christ was baptised, that I may be baptised with Christ; I rather chuse Easter, that I may rise with Christ; I wait for Whitsuntide, that I may honour the descent of the Holy Ghost. And what then? In the mean time comes death suddenly, in a day thou didst not expect, and in an hour thou art not aware of." Others had a superstitious fancy to be baptised in some certain place, as at Jerusalem, or in the river Jordan, and therefore they deferred their baptism, till they could have a convenience to come to the Naz. Orat. xl. de Bapt. p. 647. Nyssen. de Bapt. tom. + Naz. ii. p. 216. place intended. This seems tacitly to be reflected on by Turtullian', when he says; "there is no difference between those whom John baptised in Jordan, and those whom Peter baptised in the Tiber," and by St. Ambrose in his Discourse to the catechumens where exhorting them to come with all possible speed to be baptised, he invites them to draw the blessing of consecration from the font of Jordan, and to drown their sins in that stream, where Christ's sacred person was baptised: but then, that they might not mistake his meaning, he adds, "that in order to their being baptised in the font of Jordan, it was not necessary they should go to the eastern country, or to the river in the land of Judæa: for wherever Christ was, there was Jordan: and the same consecration, which blessed the rivers of the east, sanctified also the rivers of the west." Eusebius tells us, that Constantine had a design for many years to have been baptised in the river Jordan, after the example of Christ; and that perhaps might be the reason, why he so long deferred his baptism: but God, who knew best what was fit for him, disappointed him in this design, and he was at last baptised at Nicomedia a little before his death. For as to that story, which is so pompously set forth by Baronius, concerning his being baptised by Pope Silvester at Rome, and cured of his leprosy, it is a mere fable, refuted by the testimony of all the ancients, Eusebius, Socrates, Sozomen, Theodoret, Athanasius, St. Ambrose, St. Jerom, and the Council of Ariminum, who all speak of his baptism immediately before his death: and the best critics since Baronius, Valesius, and Schelstrates, Lambecius, Papebrochius and Turtul. de Bapt. Cap. 4. Nec quicquam refert inter eos quos Joannes in Jordane, et quos Petrus in Tiberi tinxit, Ambros. Ser. xli. tom. iii. p. 266. Debemus, fratres dilectissimi, vobis catechumenis loquor, gratiam baptismatis ejus omni festinatione suscipere, et de fonte Jordanis quem ille benedixit, benedictionem consecrationis haurire; ut in eum gurgitem in quem se illius sanctitas mersit, nostra peccata mergantur. Sed ut eodem fonte mergamur, non nobis orientalis petenda est regio, non fluvius terræ Judaicæ. Ubi enim nunc Christus, ibi quoque Jordanes est, Eadem consecratio, quæ orientis flumina benedixit, occidentis fluenta sanctificat. 3 Euseb. de Vita Constant. lib. iv. c. lxii. 5 Vales. Not. in Socrat. lib. i. 6 Schelstrat. Concil. Antiochen. Dissert. ii. c. i. p. 43. Lambec. Commentar. de Bibliotheca Vindoboneusi. tom. v. ap. Pagi. • Papebroch. Acta Sanctor. Maii. tom. v. Vit, Constant, Maii xxi. p. 15. ⚫ Baron. an. cccxxiv. n. xvii. c. xxxix. 'Pagi,' agree in their verdict with the ancients against the modern fiction. So that now it is agreed on all hands, that Constantine was one of those, who deferred his baptism to the time of his death: and the most probable account, that can be given of this, is the fancy which he had entertained of being baptised in Jordan, which the providence of God never suffered him to put in execution. Another sort of fanciful men would not be baptised, till they could have one to minister baptism to them, who had some extraordinary qualifications. Gregory Nazianzen takes notice of some such as these, and rebukes them after this manner: "say not thou, a bishop shall baptise me, and that a metropolitan, and also one of Jerusalem: for grace is not the gift of the place, but of the spirit: say not, I will be baptised by one that is of noble birth, and that it will be a reproach to thy noble descent to be baptised by any other: say not, if I am baptised by a Presbyter, it shall be one that is unmarried, and one that is of the continent and angelic order, as if thy baptism were defiled by any other: make not thyself judge of the fitness or qualification of the preacher or baptiser, for there is another that judgeth of these things. Every one is qualified to thee for thy purgation, provided only he be one of those, that are allowed and not condemned, nor a foreigner, nor an enemy of the church. Judge not thy judges, thou that hast need of healing. Tell me not of the dignity of thy purgators; make no difference among thy spiritual fathers; one may be better or more humble than another, but each of them is in an higher rank than thou." By all this it appears, that a superstitious distinction of times, and places, and persons, had an influence upon some, and was pleaded as a reason for deferring baptism. SECT. 6.-5. A Pretence to follow the Example of Christ. Others pleaded for deferring their baptism, till they were thirty years old, from the example of Christ, because he was of that age when he was baptised. Which pretence Pagi. Critic. in Baron. an. cccxxiv. n. iv. Bapt. p. 655. 2 Naz. Orat. xl. de |