BAPTISM This word is Greek, and signifies prop. dipping, a ceremonial washing with water, and is the name of one of the two Sacraments ordained by Christ. It is of equal importance with the other Sacrament, for both are "generally necessary to salvation." By Baptism persons are admitted into the visible Church. Baptism of a certain kind, as well as circumcision, was practised by the Jews of our Lord’s time for the admission of proselytes to Judaism, and, it is said, of their families, into the Jewish congregation, and was used by the Baptist under divine direction "unto repentance for the remission of sins." But Christian Baptism was ordained by Christ just before His Ascension (Matt. xxviii. 19). According to His words on that occasion, the essentials of the ordinance are the application of water whether by immersion or by affusion in the name of the Trinity. This is laid down in the rubric at the end of the office for private Baptism. The sign of the Cross is therefore not essential, though it is an expressive symbol enjoined by the Church of England. Baptism is valid, even if thus administered by a lay person or a schismatic or a heretic. But the rubric in the office for private Baptism limits the performance of that rite to "the minister of the parish, or in his absence any other lawful minister." There is certainly no authority for the re-baptism of those who have been thus baptized in another Communion. When, however, after inquiry it may be doubtful whether it has been properly administered, a conditional form is supplied at the end of the office for private Baptism. But in both the Prayer Books of Edward VI. and in Elizabeth’s it was ordered that "one of those present" should baptize the child. The present rubric dates from the Hampton Court Conference…..
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