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The act of baptism in the history of the Christian church
The act of baptism in the history of the Christian church Author:Henry Sweetser Burrage Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. FROM THE COUNCIL OF NICA TO THE COUNCIL OF TOLEDO. A.. 3D. 335-633. The first witness in this period is Athanasius (296-373 circ.), who wa... more »s made Bishop of Alexandria in 328. In his Discourse on the Holy Passover, 5, he says: " In these benefits thou wast baptized, O newly- enlightened ; the initiation into the grace, O newly- enlightened, has become to thee an earnest of resurrection; thou hast the baptism as a surety of the abode in heaven. Thou didst imitate, in the sinking down, the burial of the Master; but thou didst rise again from thence before works, witnessing the works of the resurrection."2 The same writer, in his Questions on the Psalms, Prop. 92, says: " For that the child sinks down thence in the font and comes up, this shows the death of Christ, and the resurrection on the third day." a Another witness is Cyril (315-386), who wasmade Bishop of Jerusalem in 350. The following was the order of baptism in the church in Jerusalem, as recorded by Cyril in the sermons for the instruction of the newly baptized (Cate- cheses Mystag., 1, hi.), which he preached in the church of the Holy Sepulchre, about the year 350 or 360: " You went first into the porch (baptistery); and being placed toward the west, you heard the command to stretch out your hands and to renounce Satan as if he were present, . . . and to say, ' I renounce Satan . . . and all his works .. . and all his pomp and all his service.' After this thou wast turned toward the east, and wast commanded to say,' I believe in the Father, and in the Son, and in the Holy Ghost, and in a baptism of repentance.' All this was done in the porch. But when you were entered into the inner house, you took off your garment, and thus you were anointed with the holy oil from the top of the head ...« less