with him four priests,-Cedd, Adda, Betti, and Diuma,*-by whose assistance he was enabled to proceed in his labour of love to an extent which, without their help, must have been comparatively limited. Oswy, King of Northumberland,† whom Bede calls " Regem Christianissimum," the most Christian king,-exercised a happy influence over Sigebert, King of Essex, by inducing him to attach himself to the faith, in which he took such a pure and active interest.‡ And no better reason can be assigned for the explicit publication of the name of the minister, by whom this king was admitted into the Christian covenant, by so many historians, who unanimously bear each other out in the confirmation of a most important fact, than that the influence which the baptism of such a powerful prince might be supposed to have on the thousands who were connected with him, subject to him, and likely to be benefited or corrupted by his example, would be commensurate with their perception and estimation of the fact that he had been inaugurated by one who was a commissioned vicegerent in a perpetuated succession from the apostles. The same may be said of their consentient testimony regarding the conversion and baptism of Penda, King of the Mercians,§ and his subjects, by this same bishop, who afterwards consecrated Diuma, one of his presbyters, to be their presiding bishop.

• "Baptizatus est ergo (Penda) a Finano episcopo cum omnibus qui secum venerant comitibus ac militibus, eorumque famulis universis, in vico regis inlustri qui vocatur Ad Murum; et acceptis quatuor presbyteris qui ad docendum baptizandumque gentem illius, et eruditione et vita videbantur idonei, multo cum gaudio reversus est. Erunt autem presbyteri Cedd et Adda et Betti et Diuma, quorum ultimus natione Scottus, cæteri fuere de Anglis. Adda autem erat frater Uttan, presbyter inlustris, et abbatis monasterii quod vocatur Ad Capra Caput, cujus supra meminimus. Venientes ergo in provinciam memorati sacerdotis cum principe, prædicabant verbum, et libenter auditi sunt, multique quotidie et nobilium et infirmorum abrenunciata sorde idolatriæ fidei sunt fonte abluti."-Bede, lib. iii. ch. 21, A D. 653.

“Baptizatus est igitur Pedæ cum suis a Finano Episcopo in vico qui dicitur Ad Murum; acceptisque presbyteris secum Ceadda et Adda et Betti et Diuma reversus est ad propria."-Hen. Huntingd. lib. iii. in loc.

"Ad quem," Sigbert, "cum sæpe veniret et prædicaretur ab eo, baptizatus est a Finano Episcopo in vico Ad Murum, qui est 12 millibus a mare Orientali.”—Hen. Huntingd. lib. iii. in loc.

+ Mediterrenei Angli sub Peada principe filio Pendan regis Merciorum fidem et sacramenta Christi perceperunt, ipso principe primitus, a Finano Episcopo apud regem Oswium in Northimbria cum omnibus qui secum venerunt baptizato: postmodum vero eo domum reverso, exteris de sua gente baptizatis a presbyteris quatuor, Cedd, Adda, Betti et Diuma, quos secum de præfata adduxerat provincia."Florent. Wigorn. D.C.LIII.

"Et facto cum suis consilio" (rege Sigeberto)" cum exhortationibus faventibus cunctis et adnuentibus fidei baptizatus est cum eis a Finano Episcopo in villa regia cujus supra meminibus quæ cognominatur Ad Murum."-Bede, lib. iii. ch. 22, A.D. 653.

"Penda Rex obiit et Mercii baptismum suscipiunt Christi."-Chron. Etherw. lib. ii. ch. 7, A.D. 653.

"Eo tempore Rex Orientalium Saxonum Sigebert, qui post Sibertum cognomento Parvum regnavit, in provincia Berniciorum fidem Christi per exhortationem regis Oswii cum ad eum venerat suscipiens a Finano Northimbrorum Episcopo baptizatus est."-Florent. Wigorn. D.C. LIII.

"Hic Sigebertus hortatu regis Oswii in Northumbria ab Episcopo Finano baptizatus gentem suam ad fidem quam cum Mellito abjecerant per Episcopum Ceddam reduxit."-Willielmi Malmsb. De Reg. Orient, Sax. ch. 6.

In the middle of this century, Cedda, consecrated Bishop of Mercia by Wine, Bishop of Winchester, and two Welsh prelates, devoted much of his time to the work of evangelizing the East Saxons. His new and additional (episcopal) authority had a beneficial effect, and the increased demands upon his exertions soon convinced him of his obligation to ordain priests and deacons whose authority being unquestioned might be auxiliaries to him in setting forth the "word of the faith," and " in the ministry of baptism."* Separate from the arguments derivable from the solicitude evinced by the chroniclers to indicate the person by whom, the locality in which, and the time when, the powerful and influential were baptized,-to evolve the feeling which then pervaded the British church,-of the unchangeableness of the means of admission into the gospel kingdom,† we have solid reasons for affirming that they would inexorably have protested against an unspeakably hallowing influence being supposed to be communicated through the strange domination of ambitious or ignorant innovators upon the sanctuary. We derive evidence of this position from the venerable Bede, who describes Ordilvald, King of the Deirii, as having the "sacramenta fidei" administered to him and his family by a cousin-german of Bishop Cedda, "because he was a priest, and therefore no uneasiness could exist as to the character of his ministration."+

About the year 670, Wilfred was appointed to the see of York, from whence, being expelled, he went to Rome, and after a short sojourn returned to Britain, settling, after many vicissitudes, among the South Saxons, and with the assistance of his priests, Eappa, and Padda, and Burghelm, and Oiddi, baptizing the royalty, aristocracy, and commonalty of the nation. § Now Wilfred's attachment to Rome

"Qui" (Cedd) "accepto gradu Episcopatus rediit ad provinciam et majore auctoritate coeptum opus explens fecit per loca ecclesias, Presbyteros et Diaconos ordinavit qui se in verbo fidei et ministerio baptizandi adjuvarent maxime in civitate quæ lingua Saxonum Ythan Cæstir apellatur."-Bede, lib. iii. ch. 22, A.D. 653.

"Successit autem Sigberto in regnum Suidhelm filius Secbaldi, qui baptizatus est ab ipso Cedde in provincia Orientalium Anglorum, in vico regio quæ decitur Rendlesham."-Bede, lib. iii. ch. 22, A.D. 660.

"Nam neque alia ipsis sacerdotibus aut clerices vicos adeundi, quam prædicandi, baptizandi, infirmos visitandi, et ut breviter dicam animas curandi causa fuit."Bede, lib. iii. cap. 26, A.D. 664.

"Cui frater suus Suitbelmus in regnum successit, et ab ipso Cedda in EastAnglia baptizatus est."-Florent. Wigorn. Append. East-Sax. A.D. 653.

"Successit autem Sigherto Switelm baptizatus ab ipso Ced in Est-Anglia in Rendlesham, id est, mansione Kendli, suscepitque eum de lavacro Adelwald rex ipsius gentis."-Hen. Hunting. lib. iii. East-Ang.

"Post eum frater Switelmus regnavit ab eodem Cedda in Orientali plaga baptizatus."-Willielm. Malmsb. lib. i, ch. 6.

"Habuerat autem idem Rex" (Ordilvald)" secum fratrem germanum ejusdem episcopi" (Cedd) “vocabulo Cælin virum æque Deo devotum, qui ipsi ac familiæ ipsius verbum et sacramenta fidei, erat enim presbyter ministrare solebat, &c."— Bede, lib. iii. ch. 23, a.d. 653, 4.

Pulsus est autem ab episcopatu suo Uilfrid, et multa diu loca pervagatus, Romam adiit, Brittanniam rediit; et si propter inimicitias memorati regis in patria sive parochia sua recipi non potuit non tamen ab evangelizandi potuit ministerio cohiberi; siquidem divertens ad provinciam Australium Saxonum, quæ post Cantuarios ad Austrum et ad Occidentem usque ad Occidentales Saxones pertingit, habens terram familiarem septem millium, et eo adbuc tempore paganis cultibus serviebat; buic verbum fidei et lavacrum salutis ministrabat. Erat autem rex

and Roman usages is unquestionable; indeed, we have reason to believe he was the first who boldly attempted to bring the British church into subjection to Roman authority; yet it does not appear that he had learned abroad, any more than he had been taught at home, the "factum valet" of baptism by any other than the church's ministers, else why were all the articles of the synod of Hertford enacted contemplating all the doctrines and rites of the church as under the jurisdiction alone of its acknowledged clergy, but because no attempt had been made to profane the sacraments by an aggression on the part of those who had not been duly "called ?" An interdiction could not have been necessary where evils, if discussed, could have been only inaginary.

Whenever a desire was expressed to embrace the truth as it is in Jesus, as in the case of Wilfred nominating Hiddila, a priest, to minister to a district, if the bishops did not act in their own persons, they deputed men apostolically sent to "minister the word and laver of life to all who desired it."

In the year 688, Ceadwalla, King of the West Saxons, furnishes us with an incontrovertible argument in defence of the opinion of the times as expressing practically the necessity of being admitted into the assembly of the saints by a member of a divinely-organized society, and in aid of the now controverted position, that the value attached to baptism depends on the source from which it is derived, and equally on the channel through which it is conveyed; for imagining that Rome held the primacy among the apostolic sees, and regarding the ministrations of its bishop as more than commonly hallowed, inasmuch as they were supposed to convey justification through

gentis ipsius Ædilvalch, non multo ante baptizatus in provincia Merciorum, præsente ac suggerente rege Uulphere a quo etiam egressus de fonte, loco filii susceptus est; in cujus signum adoptionis, duas illi provincias donavit, Vectam videlicet inaulam et Meanvarorum provinciam in gente Occidentalium Saxonum. Itaque episcopus, concedente, immo multo gaudente rege, primas provinciæ duces as milites sacrosancto fonte abluebat; verum Presbyteri Eappa, et Padda, et Burghelm, et Oiddi, cæteram pletem vel hinc vel tempore sequente baptizabant. Porro Regina nomine Eaba in sua, id est, Huicciorum provincia, fuerat baptizata. Erat autem filia Eanfridi, fratris Eanheri, qui ambo cum suo populo Christiani fuere. Cæterum tota provincia Australium Saxonum Divini nominis et fidei erat ignara."-Bede, lib. iv. cap. 13, a. d. 678.

"Et quoniam illi" (Uilfridi) “rex Eegfrid cum præfata loci possessione omnes qui ibidem erant, facultates cum agris et hominibus donavit, omnes fide Christi institutos, unda baptismatis abluit, inter quos servos et ancillas ducentos quinquaginta; quos omnes ut baptizando a servitute dæmonica salvavit, etiam libertate donando humanæ jugo servitutis absolvit.”—Bede, lib. iv. cap. 13, A.d. 685.

"At ipse," Uilfred, "partem quam accepit commendavit cuiquam de clericis suis, cui nomen Bernuuii et erat filius sororis ejus, dans illi presbyteram nomine Hiddela qui omnibus qui salvari vellent verbum et lavacrum vitæ ministraret."-Bede, lib. iv. cap. 16, A.D. 686.

Septima pars sequitur de conversione Australium Saxonum per Wilfridum Episcopum facta, qui ab episcopio pulsus (ut supra dixi) Roma petita, Brittanniam rediit, et Australes Saxones, qui sunt familiarum septem millium, ad fidem convertit. Rex autem eorum Adelwald, paulo ante baptizatus fuerat in provincia Merciorum suasione regis Wulfere, a quo etiam de lavacro susceptus est." "Concedente igitur, immo gaudente rege Wilfridus prædicans, primo duces et milites deinde plebem sacro fonte abluit."-Hen. Huntingd. lib. iii. in loc.

VOL. XX.-July, 1841.

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the most sacred episcopal and sacerdotal branch of the succession, he went to Rome, and was admitted into the church by baptism, at the hands of Sergius, the Roman bishop, and died while yet clad in his initiatory garments.†

*

Ina succeeded Ceadwalla in the kingdom of Wessex. In the breviate of his ecclesiastical laws, he subjects all parents to the forfeiture of thirty shillings should their children remain unbaptized for more than thirty days from their birth, and of all their inheritance should they die unbaptized. Had the Anglican church in this age recognised the sacrament of baptism as validly conferred otherwise than through the apostolic continuity, this law of Ina must inevitably have been attended with numerous instances of irregular ministrations. Self-interest, dread of the penalties, or solicitude for the salvation of the child, must not seldom have conducted to the triumph of the "valet" over the "fieri non debuit;" but history has not left upon record that legitimate agents were ever superseded, from any motive; therefore we presume that they were judged essential.

Which presumption amounts to something more than probability when we analyse the colloquy that Bede relates to have taken place between John, Archbishop of York, and Herebald, a deacon, in the beginning of the eighth century. Without entering into the merits of, or discussing its details, it is a perpetual memorial of the judgment of that era of our church on the constitution of valid baptism. It reveals much in support of the affirmative of the question under discussion, inasmuch as it goes to prove not only that none but the church's minister could baptize, but that any informalities or personal defects which were supposed to null his orders were supposed also to null his baptisms; for the archbishop tells Herebald, that he is not perfectly ("perfecte") baptized if baptized by the person represented to him, who at his ordination was incapacitated from imbecility of mind from fulfilling the duties of his office, and therefore could not have been perfectly ordained. Herebald acquiesces in the soundness of the archbishop's reasoning, is impressed with the necessity of being again sprinkled with what he calls "the water of life," acts upon it, and is, in common parlance, rebaptized.‡

"This year King Ceadwalla went to Rome, and received baptism of Pope Sergius, and he gave him the name of Peter."-Sax. Chron. A.D. 688; Bede, lib. v. cb. 7, A.D. 688; Chron. Ethelw. lib. ii. cap. 10; idem. Geneal. Reg. West-Sax.; Hen. Hunt. lib. iv. in loc.; Willielm. Malmsb. lib. i. cap. 2; De Regn. West-Sax. Geffrei Gaimar. l. 1531-3.

+ Florent. Wigorn. Geneal. Reg. Northundhym. contin. (note.)

"Cœpitque" (Joan. Epis. Ebor.) "me" (Herebald Diaconus)" divino ut mox patitur admonitus instinctu an me esse baptizatum absque scrupulo nossem : Cui ego absque ulla me hoc dubietate scire respondi, quia salutari fonte in remissione peccatorum essem ablutus; et nomen presbyteri a quo me baptizatum noverim dixi; At ille: Si ab hoc inquit sacerdote baptizatus es, non es perfecte baptizatus; novi namque eum, et quia cum esset presbyter ordinatus, nullatenus propter ingenii tarditatem potuit catechizandi vel baptizandi ministerium discere, propter quod et ipse illum ab hujus præsumptione ministerii quod regulariter implere nequibat omnimodus cessare præcepi. Quibus dictis, eadem hora me catechizare ipse curavit;""Nec multo post plene curatus, vitali etiam unda perfusus sum."-Bede, lib. v. cap. 6, A.D. 721.

Roger de Hoveden gives a letter of Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury, to Gilbert, Bishop of London, in which letter it is argued, on scriptural authority, that the "powers that be"-viz., princes and priests" are ordained of God,"the one to minister, the other to govern; and that if any one subtract from their divine right, he resists the ordinance of God; but the reconciling the subtraction from the divine right, and the resistance of the ordinance of God, with a full participation in the holy mysteries of Christianity, will ever remain a scheme of contradictions terminating in an impossibility, because there exists no coincidence between the means and the gifts, but rather, as we proceed to resolve the question, an increasing divergency.

The annals of Hoveden also contain the decrees of the council of York, in the reign of Richard the First, which prohibit even a deacon from baptizing, except in cases of urgent necessity, on the ground that it was the decision of antiquity that the administration of this sacrament belonged to the sacerdotal order; but the council left in charge of the merciful goodness of God all those who were not within the sphere of the ministrations of an ordained ministry, rightly judging that it is better to repose with confidence on his love, where we cannot avail ourselves of his prescribed privileges, than try to modify his ordinances, and adapt them, according to constitutional or educational bias, to contingencies.+

Amongst all the records of the authors whom I have quoted, I have found but one passage which the advocates of the validity of lay-baptism could by possibility introduce in behalf of their theoryviz., a decree of Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury, concerning doubtful baptisms or confirmations; such the decree requires to be conferred, because they cannot be said to be iterated; but in the case of baptism, not even by a deacon, except under a double necessityviz., in the absence of the priest, or because he will not attend, and where there is immediate danger. But if (as in the decree) the child should be baptized by a laic, as may be done by a father or mother in case of necessity, the baptism must be perfected by a priest afterwards. Thus, even where "necessity" urged, the baptism was held to be imperfect; nor has any hypothesis been ventured towards defining the character of God's promised blessing in its deficiency, for at no period of the British, Roman, or Greek churches was the rite, conferred by any but the priesthood, contemplated as attended with the fulness of the grace of God. Every interference with the allotted

"Sciat ergo et intelligat te intimante, Dominus meus quod qui dominatur in regno hominum, sed et Angelorum, duas sub se potestates ordinavit, principes et sacerdotes, &c.;" "qui vero his vel illis de suo jure substrahit, Dei ordinationem resistit. Terrenis enim potestatibus non sunt commissæ claves regni cœlorum: sed sacerdotibus. Inde scriptum est Labia sacerdotis custodient scientiam, et legem requirent ex ore ejus quia Angelus Domini est.'"-In loc. Henrico, Secund. Reg.

"Decrevimus etiam ut non nisi summa et gravi urgente necessitate Diaconus baptizet vel corpus Christi cuiquam eroget, vel penitentiam confitenti imponat, ut juxta paternorum tenorem canonum huic ordini sacerdotali proprie convenire decernat antiquitas."

"Decreta Eborac. Conc. Richard. Prim. Regn."