(c) Clothing the neophytes. — In the early Church the putting off of the clothes of the candidates before baptism , and tlie clothing of them afterwards, usually in white robes, were emphasized as cere- monial actions ; but of this we have no certain evidence before the 4th century. Constantine Avas buried in his baptismal robes (to. eficpdiria, DCA i. 162). The Church Orders make a great point of the clothing, and the Test, of our Lord mentions white robes (ii. 12, see Maclean, p. 105), as does Ambrose, de Myst. 34 (vii.). Even from the first, whether immersion was total or partial, there must have been an unclothing and a re-clothing ; and this, as it would seem, gives point to the metaphor about 'putting off' (aireKdvcratievoL) the old man, and ' putting on' (ivdvcrdtievoL) the new, in Col 3^^, and about ' putting on ' Christ in baptism in Gal Z^ ; cf. Ro 13''', Eph A^. The metaphor goes back in some degree to OT times ; in Zee 3^^- Joshua the high priest is stripped of his filthy garments as a symbol, and Justin (Dial. 116) perhaps applies this to Christian baptism : ' even so we . . . have been stripped of the filthy garments, that is, of our sins.' Josephus tells us (BJ Ii. viii. 5) that the Essenes clothed themselves in white veils and bathed as a purification, and then partook of a common meal with benediction before and after it ; then, laying aside their garments, they went to work till the evening. But there was apparently no symbolism about this clothing.
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BAPTISM
BAPTISM
{d) The kifis of peace after baptism is common in Christian antiquity. Justin [Ajjol. i. 65) describes it as taking place after the newly-baptized are received among the faithful and after the people's prayers, i.e. at the Eucharist which followed the rite of baptism. Cyprian (Ep. Iviii. 4, ad Fidum) alludes to it at the baptism of infants. In the Church Orders it is used at Confirmation, as well as at the Eucharist, and (apparently) at all times of prayer (Maclean, pp. 18 f., 108). Tertullian {de Orat. 18) says that some did not observe it in times of fasting. There could be no better symbol of Christian love than this, and it is highly probable that it was used in worship in NT times ; such would seem to be the suggestion of the 'hohj kiss' in Eo W^, 1 Co 16-«, 2 Co 13^2, 1 Th 5-^ and of the ' kiss of love ' in 1 P 5'-». But there is no evidence in the NT as to its use in baptism.
(e) For a possible use of anointing in the NT, see 1 ; for the laying on of hands, see 6. The sign of the cross was used in early times, and was often called the ' seal' (Maclean, p. 108 ; Cyr. Jer., Cat. xiii. 36). Some think that this is referred to in the passages cited above in 1 about ' sealing ' ; but this is more than doubtful.
(/) Of three other early baptismal customs there is no trace in the NT. (a) Sponsors are men- tioned by Tertullian in de Bapt. 18 ('sponsores') ; cf. de Cor. 3 {'inde suscepti'). They were called ' susceptores ' (avaSoxoL) because they ' received ' the newly-baptized when they came up from the font ; cf. ava\T)(pdds, Socrates, HE vii. 4. They are found in the Church Orders (Maclean, p. 98 f.); and, especially in the case of infants, when they make the responses for them, they might be the parents or others of their ' houses' {Test, of our Lord, ii. 8). In Justin (Apol. i. 61) 'he who leads the person that is to be washed to the laver ' seems to be the baptizer. (/3) Fasting before baptism is ordered in the Didache (§7), and is mentioned bv Justin (Apol. i. 61) and Tertullian [de Bapt. 20 ; cf. de Jejun. 8), and frequently in the Church Orders (Maclean, pp. 133 f., 137 f.). This is analogous to the fasting in Ac 13^ before the sending forth of Barnabas and Saul. (7) The tasting of milk and honey by the newly-baptized after baptism (and communion) seems originally to have been an Egyptian and ' African ' custom only. It is mentioned by Tertullian [de Cor. 3, adv. Marc. i. 14), by Clement of Alexandria (Paed. i. 6), and in the Egyptian and Ethiopia Church Orders, the Canons of Hippolytus, and the Verona Didascalia (all these four are probabl;^ Egyptian), but not in the Test, of our Lord or in tiie Apostolic Constitutions (see Maclean, p. 46). It was, however, probably introduced into Bome by the 4th cent. , for Jerome mentions it [Dial. c. Luciferianos, 8), and he was baptized in Rome c. A.D. 365. Thereafter it is several times mentioned in the West. It is suggested by Ex 3*, which describes the promised land as flowing with milk and honey ; though tlie Canons of Hippolytus (xix. [ed. Achelis, §§ 144, 148]) say that it is because the neophyte j are as little children whose natural food is milk and honey, or because of the sweetness of the blessings of the future life.
6. The complement of immersion: the laying on of hands. — In Acts we have tMo detailed accounts of baptism in the Apostolic Age (8^"'''' 19^"^), and in both cases we read first of an immersion and then of a laying on of hands, the latter being expressly connected with the gift of the Holy Ghost. In Ac 8 Philip, one of the Seven, had preached to the Samaritans, and they were baptized. But as yet the Holy Ghost had fallen upon none of them, only they had been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. Then the apostles Peter and Jolin, who were sent down from Jerusalem by their