[883] This was not of uniform duration. The Council of Elvira, (c. 24,) indeed, prescribed two years, but the length of the period varied in different places.
[884] “Tanto ardentius concupiscantur, quanto honorabilius occultantur,” says Augustine, of this very practice.—In Johan., 96.
[885] The following resumé of the principal patristic evidence on the practice of infant baptism is corroborated by the testimony of the Catacombs. We omit the passages from Clement and Hermes Pastor, which imply its prevalence in the first century, as being rather vague. Justin Martyr, about A. D. 148, speaks of persons sixty and seventy years old who had been made disciples of Christ (ἐμαθητεύθησαν, the very word employed in Matt. xxviii, 19,) in their infancy, (Apol., 2,) and compares the rite of baptism to that of circumcision.—Dial. c. Tryph. Irenæus expressly speaks of “infants, little ones, children, youth, and the aged, as regenerated unto God,” which phrase he elsewhere applies to baptism—Infantes et parvulos, et pueros, et juvenes, et seniores.—Lib. ii, c. 39. Tertullian, indeed, in the third century, recommends the delay of baptism, especially in the case of infants—Cunctatio baptismi utilior est, præcipue tamen circa parvulos—an indication of the Montanist heresy, into which he fell, which regarded post-baptismal sins as inexpiable.—De Baptis., c. 18. The practice, however, continued, and Origen expressly asserts that little children were baptized for the remission of sins (Parvuli baptizantur in remissionem peccatorum—Hom., 14, in Luc.,) which custom, he says, the church handed down from the apostles—Ecclesia ab apostolis traditionem suscepit.—Id., in Rom., v. 6. When the question arose, in the third century, not whether baptism should be administered to infants, but whether it should be administered before the eighth day, Cyprian and a council of sixty-six African bishops unanimously decreed that the rite should be denied to none, even in earliest infancy—Universi potius judicavimus, nulli hominum nato misericordiam Dei et gratiam denegandam.—Cypr. Ep. 59, ad Fidum. “And this,” says Augustine, “is no new doctrine, but of apostolic authority”—Nec omnino credenda, nisi apostolica esse traditio.—De Genesi ad Literam., x. The later Fathers abound in similar testimonies. The infant children of heathen converts were baptized immediately, and the older ones when instructed.—Cod. Justin., i, 11, Leg. 10. Orphans, foundlings, and even the children of heathens, received this sacred rite. At an early period the eucharist was administered to infants, which was of necessity preceded by baptism.
[886] Hence, when a person died unbaptized, a living substitute sometimes received the rite in his stead. Fulgentius indeed asserts, that unbaptized children, even if they die “in uteris matrum,” are punished with everlasting punishment in eternal fire—ignis æterni sempiterno supplicio puniendos.—De Fide ad Petr., 27. But he alone of the Fathers expresses this abominable opinion. Augustine and Ambrose, though insisting on the importance of baptism, admit that the faith and repentance—fidem conversionemque cordis—of those who die while piously preparing therefor may suffice in its stead.—Aug., de Bap., iv, 22.
[887] In bold and unwarrantable metaphor some of the Fathers speak of the waters of baptism as changed in mystical transubstantiation into the very cleansing blood of Christ.
The prevalence of the Montanist heresy, which regarded as inexpiable all sins committed after baptism, led many to postpone its reception, although this practice was strongly censured by the church. Thus, Constantine remained a catechumen till his sixty-fifth year, and received baptism—”ἐμυήθη," says Sozomen, (ii, 34,) literally, “was initiated,”—just before his death. An inscription at St. John’s Lateran asserts his baptism by Sylvester many years previously: CONSTANTINVS PER CRVCEM VICTOR A S. SILVESTRO BAPTIZATVS CRVCIS GLORIAM PROPAGAVIT: but Dr. Döllinger has shown the entirely mythical character of the legend.—Fables respecting the Popes, etc., by Jn. G. Ign. von Döllinger. 1872.
[888] See the epitaph of an unbaptized catechumen already given.
[889] In a Christian epitaph from Aquileia, of date A. D. 734, we find the scriptural formula—ex aqua et Spu renatus—“born again of water and the Spirit.”—Muratori, Nov. Thesaur., p. 1849.
[890] See McCaul, Christian Epitaphs, p. 64.
[891] De Bapt. Christ.