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SCOTO-CELTIC. Christianity was preached in Scotland about the same time as in Ireland, and the same words are employed to denote the rite of baptism; baist, “to baptize;" baisteadh, "baptism." The kindred words from the same root, are, baistidh, "drops of water from the eaves," and baiseach, a shower of rain."*

66

MESO-GOTHS. The Goths appear to have been converted to Christianity some time before A. D. 300, as the signature of the Gothic Bishop, Theophilus of Bosphorus, Metropolitan of the Goths, stands to the decrees of the Council of Nice, A. D. 325.† But the Bible was not translated into that language until about A. D. 400, when it was done by Ulfilas, Bishop of the Moso-Goths. He employs daup, cognate

with our word dip, to denote baptism. From the Gothic, this word was adopted into German, and several other northern languages, at a much later period; Dutch, doopen; German, taufen. But that Ulfilas did not use daupen, to denote dipping, is evident from his language. Thus, he says, (Mark i. 8,) "Ik daupja izwis in watin, is daupeith izwis in Ahmin Weihamma; I baptize (dip) you in water, he shall baptize (dip) you in the HOLY GHOST."

ANGLO-SAXON. The Anglo-Saxons were converted, from A. D. 590 to 610, and they also used a word in their own language to denote this rite. The word chosen by them was "fullian," "to whiten, cleanse, purify," from whence came “fulluht," baptism; and “fulluhtere,"|| a baptizer. Nothing

Our

* Dictionarum Scoto-Celticum, 2 vols. 4to. Lond. and Edin. 1836. English word to baste, used in cookery, to signify moistening by pouring on a fluid, is a Brittano-Saxon word.

t Soc. Ecc. H. L. ii. c. 41.

Soc. Ecc. H. iv. 27, Sozem. vi. 37, and Hug. Intd. N. T., P. I. § 138. § Zahn's Ulfilas, Weissenfels, 4to. 1805, in Glossar., and Matt. ii. 11;

Mark i. 4; vii. 4, 8; Luke iii. 3, 21; John xiii. 26.

|| Matt. iii. 1, 11; xxi. 25; Sax. Chron. 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 32, 39, etc. Bede, Ecc. Hist. i. 27, ii. 2, iii. 21. Elf. Ep. i. c. 20, 23,-40.

*

can be certainly learnt from this language, concerning the mode of baptism; but this we may certainly learn, that the Anglo-Saxons regarded the moral signification, and not the mode, as important. Some of the Lexicons give "dyp-pan," to dip, as one of the words used by the Anglo-Saxons, to denote to baptize, but we have never seen an instance of its use in that sense. "Fulluht" is used in the Creeds, in the Scriptures, and such of the Homilies as we have been able to examine.

DUTCH. The Dutch version of the Scripture has been appealed to by some, as evidence on this subject. But that is altogether too late to be pertinent. Besides, the Dutch were converted by Anglo-Saxon missionaries. Willibord, the first missionary there, having been consecrated Bishop by Wilfred, for some time Archbishop of York, A. D. 692,† and founded the See of Utrecht, A. D. 697. The Dutch, therefore, derived Christianity from the Anglo-Saxons, who did not regard the mode of baptism as essential; and they copied their translation of baptizo, from the Meso-Gothic, where daupen could not signify immersion. Besides, doop does not signify immersion. Thus in the Rubric to the baptismal service it is said, "he shall dip ('dompelen') the child in the water;" or "pour water upon it," and shall say: “I baptize (doop) thee," &c. Here is a distinction made between dipping and baptizing and consequently they can not mean the same thing. The same may be said of the German "taufen," to baptize; and "eintunken," "eintauchen," to dip, to immerse. In addition to this, we also give the signification of the following

* Dyp-pan is the common word in the Saxon Scriptures where dip occurs in English; fulluht, when the word baptism is found.

† Bede, v. 11, 12. Alcuin. Vit. Will.

Hist. Episc. Ultraj. p. 1, in Bos. Diss. Orig. Germ. Lang. p. xciv. § Het Boek. der Gewone Gebeden, 12mo. Amsterdam, 1838. See also, Vander Kemp Catechismus, 4to., Rotterdam, 1728, p. 516.

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words: doopen, "to baptize;" dooping, "washing" dompelen, “to dip, to cover with water, to dip in water;" dompeldoop, "to baptize by immersion.”*

These considerations prove most conclusively, to our minds, that the mode of baptism was not regarded as important by the early Christians, for had it been, it is perfectly incredible that those who received Christianity, if not from the Apostles themselves, from their immediate disciples, should make no allusion to it, in the words employed to denote it.

Having ascertained who composed the Apostolic Church, we proceed to inquire, who were communicants in that Church? We answer, only those who had received, or were desirous of receiving the rite of Confirmation. By CONFIRMATION, we mean a rite which existed in the Apostolic Church, sometimes called "receiving the HOLY GHOST," at others, "Confirmation," and at others, "the doctrine of the laying on of hands," and which consisted in the laying on of an Apostle's hands upon those who had been baptized, accompanied by a public profession of the faith of the person confirmed. As the examination of this point belongs properly to the "power and duties of an Apostle," we shall only remark here, that if we find this rite existing in the various Churches, it was the duty of those who had received baptism, to receive this also, for we are not at liberty to suppose that the Apostles established any thing unmeaning or unnecessary.

CHAPTER X.

REQUISITES OF BAPTISM-CREEDS.

HAVING ascertained who were proper subjects of baptism, and how it was to be administered, we shall inquire, what was

Nederduitsche Wortel-Worden, 8vo. Amsterdam, 1741.

required of those who came to baptism? To this inquiry the answer is obvious, in all parts of the New Testament. Faith and repentance are everywhere required, as pre-requisites of baptism. What were all the articles of faith required by the Apostles, we are not told. But in the case of the Eunuch, it was expressly required, that he should profess his faith in the Son of GOD. (Acts viii 37.)

In the age next succeeding the Apostles, we know the arti Icles of belief were embodied in what we now call a Creed. Among the Latin Fathers, it was called The Rule of Faith, (regula fidei.)* It was also called the Canon, or Rule of Faith, by the Council of Antioch, about 265.† In later writers it has still other names.

This Irenæus says was an "unalterable Canon," which "the Church, though it be dispersed over all the world, from one end of the earth to the other, received from the Apostles, and their disciples." And Tertullian frequently mentions its being used at baptism. Several of the early writers have given the substance of the creed, as it was in their day. The following are some of the earliest accounts of it.

Substance of the Creed, as given by Irenæus, A. D. 175 :¶ "The Church, though it be dispersed over all the world from one end of the earth to the other, received from the Apostles and their disciples, the belief in one God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven, and earth, and sea, and all things in them and in one CHRIST JESUS, the Son of God, who was incarnate for our salvation: and in the HOLY GHOST, who preached by the prophets the dispensations of GOD: and the advent, and nativity of a virgin, and passion, resurrection from the dead, and bodily ascension of the flesh of his be

*Iren. i. 19. Tert. De Præs. c. 13, De Veland. Virg. c. i. Jerome, Ep. 54. Ad Marcel.

+ Euseb. vii. 30.

Adv. Hær. i. 1.

See De Bap. c. 6, De Præs. c. 13, 14, 21, 27.

§i. 2.

T L. i. c. 2.

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loved Son, CHRIST JESUS our Lord, into heaven; and his coming again from heaven in the glory of the Father, to consummate all things, and raise the flesh of all mankind: that according to the will of the invisible Father, every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in the earth, and things under the earth, to JESUS CHRIST, our Lord, and GoD, and Saviour, and King; and that every tongue should confess him; and that He shall exercise just judgment upon all, and send spiritual wickedness, the transgressing and apostate an gels, with all ungodly, unrighteous, and blaspheming men, into everlasting fire; but grant life to all righteous and holy men, that keep his commandments and persevere in his love, some from the beginning, others after repentance, on whom he confers immortality and invests them with eternal glory."

Substance of the Creed as given by Tertullian, about 195.* "There is," says he, "one rule of faith only which admits of no change or alteration, that teaches us to believe in one GOD ALMIGHTY, the Maker of the world; and in JESUS CHRIST, his Son, who was born of the Virgin Mary, crucified under Pontius Pilate, the third day arose again from the dead, received into heaven; he sitteth now at the right hand of GoD, who shall come again to judge both the quick and the dead, by the resurrection of the flesh."

In his book de Præscriptis, and also in that against Praxeas, he has other forms substantially the same, with the addition of the doctrine of the procession of the HOLY GHOST, the Sanctifier and Comforter.†

Substance of the Creed as given by Origen, about A. D. 230.‡

"The things," says he, "which are manifestly handed down by Apostolical teaching, are these: first, That there is

* De Veland. Virg. c. 1. Adv. Prax. c. 2.

† C. 13, Prax. c. 2. Peri Archon, in Pref. Tom. i. p. 665, in Bing. Ant. Ecc. B. x. c. 4, § 2.