The Church: Her Books and Her Sacraments Part 6

[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 washing 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,"

dates from a very early period.[8] It marks the child as belonging to the Good Shepherd, even as a lamb is marked with the owner's mark or sign.

Giving salt as a symbol of wisdom (_sal sapientiae_); placing a lighted taper in the child's hand, typifying the illuminating Spirit; turning to the west to renounce the enemy of the Faith, and then to the east to recite our belief in that Faith; striking three blows with the hand, symbolical of fighting against the world, the flesh, and the devil: all such ceremonies, and many more, have their due place, and mystic meaning: but they are not part of the Sacrament. They are, {69} as it were, scenery, beautiful scenery, round the Sacrament; frescoes on the walls; the "beauty of holiness"; "lily-work upon the top of the pillars";[9] the handmaids of the Sacrament, but not essential to the Sacrament. To deny that the Church of England rightly and duly administers the Sacrament because she omits any one of these ceremonies, is to confuse the picture with the frame, the jewel with its setting, the beautiful with the essential.[10]

We may deplore the loss of this or that Ceremony, but a National Church exercises her undoubted right in saying at any particular period of her history how the Sacrament is to be administered, provided the essentials of the Sacrament are left untouched. The Church Universal decides, once for all, what is essential: {70} the National Church decides how best to secure and safeguard these essentials for her own _Use_.

(II) WHAT IT DOES.

According to the Scriptures, "_Baptism doth now save us_".[11] As G.o.d did "save Noah and his family in the Ark from perishing by water," so does G.o.d save the human family from perishing by sin. As Noah and his family could, by an act of free will, have opened a window in the Ark, and have leapt into the waters, and frustrated G.o.d's purpose after they had been saved, so can any member of the human family, after it has been taken into the "Ark of Christ's Church," frustrate G.o.d's "good will towards" it, and wilfully leap out of its saving shelter. Baptism is "a beginning," not an end.[12] It puts us into a state of Salvation. It starts us in the way of Salvation. St. Cyprian says that in Baptism "we start crowned," and St. John says: "Hold fast that which thou hast that no man take thy crown".[13] Baptism is the Sacrament of initiation, not of finality. Directly the child is baptized, we pray that he "may lead the rest of his life according {71} to _this beginning_," and we heartily thank G.o.d for having, in Baptism, called us into a state of Salvation. In this sense, "Baptism doth save us".

But what does it save us from? Sin. In the Nicene Creed we say: "I believe in one Baptism for the remission of _sins_". Baptism saves us from our sins.

In the case of infants, Baptism saves from original, or inherited, sin--the sin whose origin can be traced to the Fall. In the case of adults, Baptism saves from both original and actual sin, both birth sin and life sin.

The Prayer Book is as explicit as the Bible on this point. In the case of infants, we pray:

"We call upon Thee for this infant, that he, _coming to Thy Holy Baptism_, may receive remission of his sins"--before, i.e., the child has, by free will choice, committed actual sin. In the case of adults, we read: "Well-beloved, who are come hither desiring _to receive Holy Baptism_, ye have heard how the congregation hath prayed, that our Lord Jesus Christ would vouchsafe to ... _release you of your sins_". And, again, dealing with infants, the Rubric at the end of the "Public Baptism of Infants" declares that "It is certain, by G.o.d's Word, that children _who are {72} baptized_, dying before they commit _actual sin_, are undoubtedly saved".

In affirming this, the Church does not condemn all the unbaptized, infants or adults, to everlasting perdition, as the teaching of some is. Every affirmation does not necessarily involve its opposite negation. It was thousands of years before any souls at all were baptized on earth, and even now, few[14] in comparison with the total population of the civilized and uncivilized world, have been baptized.

The Church nowhere a.s.sumes the self-imposed burden of legislation for these, or limits their chance of salvation to the Church Militant.

What she does do, is to proclaim her unswerving belief in "one Baptism for the remission of sins"; and her unfailing faith in G.o.d's promises to those who _are_ baptized--"which promise, He, for His part, will most surely keep and perform". On this point, she speaks with nothing short of "undoubted certainty"; on the other point, she is silent. She does not condemn an infant because no responsible person has brought it to Baptism, though she does condemn the person for not bringing it.

She does not limit {73} the power of grace to souls in this life only, but she does offer grace in this world, which may land the soul safely in the world to come.

One other thing Baptism does. Making the child a member of Christ, it gives it a "Christ-ian" name.

_The Christian Name_.

This Christian, or fore-name as it was called, is the real name. It antedates the surname by many centuries, surnames being unknown in England before the Norman invasion. The Christian name is the Christ-name. It cannot, by any known legal method, be changed.

Surnames may be changed in various legal ways: not so the Christian name.[15] This was more apparent when the baptized were given only one Christian name, for it was not until the eighteenth century that a second or third name was added, and then only on grounds of convenience.

Again, according to the law of England, the only legal way in which a Christian name can be given, is by Baptism. Thus, if a child has been registered in one name, and is afterwards baptized {74} in another, the Baptismal, and not the registered, name is its legal name, even if the registered name was given first.

It is strange that, in view of all this, peers should drop their Christian names, i.e. their real names, their Baptismal names. The custom, apparently, dates only from the Stuart period, and is not easy to account for. It would seem to suggest a distinct loss. The same loss, if it be a loss, is incurred by the Town Clerk of London, who omits his Christian name in signing official doc.u.ments.[16] The King, more happily, retains his Baptismal or Christian name, and has no surname.[17] Bishops sign themselves by both their {75} Christian and official name, as "Randall Cantuar; Cosmo Ebor.; A. F. London; H. E.

Winton; F. Oxon.".

We may consider three words, both helps and puzzles, used in connexion with Holy Baptism: _Regeneration, Adoption, Election_. Each has its own separate teaching, though there are points at which their meanings run into each other.

_Regeneration_.

"We yield Thee hearty thanks that it hath pleased Thee to regenerate this infant." So runs the Prayer-Book thanksgiving after baptism.

What does it mean? The word regeneration comes from two Latin words, _re_, again, _generare_, to generate, and means exactly what it says.

In Prayer-Book language, it means being "_born again_". And, notice, it refers to infants as well {76} as to adults. The new birth is as independent of the child's choice as the natural birth.