| 341 course of trial and preparation, offered themselves as candidates for the profession of christianity. * * * * We have already mentioned the principle rites that were used in the administration of baptism; and we have only to and, that no persons were admitted to this solemn ordinance, until by the menacing and formidable shouts, and declamation of the exorcist, they had been delivered from the dominion of the prince of darkness, and consecrated to the service of God. The origin of this superstitious ceremony may be easily traced, when we consider the prevailing opinions of the times. * * * * The expulsion of this demon was now considered as an essential preparation for baptism, after the administration of which, the candidate returned home, adorned with crowns and arrayed in white garments, as sacred emblems; the former, of their victory over sin and the world, the latter their inward purity and innocence.' Thus we trace the gradual inroads which the theories of men have made upon the institutions of the church of Christ. The Bible tells us nothing of these 'stated times' for baptism, this 'long course of trial and preparation,' the 'menacing and formidable shouts and declamation of the exorcist,' this adorning with 'crowns,' and 'array in white garments as sacred emblems.' Of thess [these], the apostles are completely silent; yet, as early as the third century, such disgusting ceremony and show, accompanied the sacred ordinance of God. O, shame! where hast thou hid thyself? Acts, XVI; 29-33; 'Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas; and brought them out, and said: Sirs, what must I do to be saved?-And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved and thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.' We learn from this that all the preparation for baptism in early times, was for people to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. There is nothing in this like the sectarian system of six months trial, mourner's benches, &c. Paul and Silas spake unto the jailor [jailer] and his household the word of the Lord, and the same hour that they believed, they were baptized. So in case of Philip and the eunuch, as may be seen from the 8th chapter of Acts. As soon as the eunuch believed with all his heart, that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, Philip commanded the chariot to stand still, 'and they both went into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.' This is the way they done up business in early times. O, that the world would learn wisdom by the examples that are set them! But to trace this ordinance into the fourth century, from the same author: On page 99, 7th paragraph: 'Baptism was administered during the vigils of Easter and Whit-Suntide, with lighted tapers, by the bishop and the presbyters, commissioned by him for that purpose. * * * * In some places salt was employed as a symbol of purity and wisdom, and was thrown with this view into the mouth of the person baptized, and a double unction was every where used in celebration of this ordinance, one preceding its administration, and the other following it.-The persons who were admitted into the church by baptism, were obliged after the celebration of that holy ordinance to go clothed in white garments during the space of seven days.'-Thus we see the pure and legitimate ordinances, which were placed in the Apostolic church, degenerating into all the senseless and hypocritical mummery so prevalent in the churches of the nineteenth century. These mock ceremonies and monkish rituals must be considered as the mere coungerings [conjuring] of man, hatched up in his own brain and sanctioned by his own darkened understanding. The idea of these lighted tapers, is a novel one. They are now used in the churches, and over dead bodies, at the full hour of mid-day. What this is practiced for we are not able to conceive, unless it be for the lighting of the holy spirit. It is probably thought that the eyes of the Almighty are so very dim that he cannot see even by day, without the pale sickly blaze of a taper. We would take it as a great favor if some Catholic friend could make us see the utility of this idolatrous practice. This salt using too, is to us a mystery, and probably will remain so until some one skilled in Royal Priesthood Legerdemain, has the magnanimity to unravel the secret. We have thought some times, whether or no, it was not used by the Priests in consequence of its saving properties. This is the only rational conclusion we can come to, considering the little prospect there is of these pontifical dignitaries being saved by the rules which God has laid down. We see also, from the above extract that the order of the kingdom of God was beginning to be reverse, or transposed by man. We see the bishop, who, in the primitive church, merely officiated in some ministerial office to the sick, in a temporal capacity, whereas they have now ascended the step-stones of ambition, seized the crown of ecclesiastical royalty, seated themselves upon the throne of power, and assumed a universal dictatorship over the religious faculties of the church.
This is derogatory to that great constitution
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