turns the face of the Catechumen to the Eaft, and laying his hand upon his head bows him forward into the water a first time, faying, fuch an one, the fervant of God is baptized in the name of the Father, to which the company anfwer Amen: then bowing him a fecond time he fays, and of the Son, anfwer as before Amen: then a third time, faying, and of the Holy Ghoft, Amen. The baptized is then clothed, and the deacon leads him out of the baptiftery and delivers him to his friends in waiting. The prieft foon after goes in proceffion from the baptiftery into the church, anoints the forehead of the newly baptized with chrifm, puts on him a white garment, adminifters to him the eucharift, and then difmiffes the affembly with benedi&tions (5). Such rituals it is clear were compofed for adult baptifm.

The Neftorians do not practife exorcifm, for they do not admit, nor did they ever admit the doctrine of original fin (6). They now omit the renunciation of Satan, or more properly of demonology, which was formerly a part of the baptifmal fervice, but which when they accommodated their rituals to children, who being born of Chriftian parents had never lived in a profeffion of Paganifm, they very confiftently laid afide (7). They are well aware of the difficulty of anfwering the queftion: If baptifm be a remiffion of fin, why do you baptize children, who, you fay, are perfectly innocent? and their anfwers are very obfcure (8). They believe the falvation of infants dying unbaptized, and the office for the burial of fuch directs the priest to attend the corpfe to the grave, to say three canticles by the way, or more according to the age of the deceased, and if he were grown up more, put earth upon him, and fign him with the fign of the crofs.

The rubrick for baptifin directs the officiating deacon to lead by the hand into Jordan (the water) fuch as can walk, as men and boys, and to

(5) ASSEMANI ut fup. Tom. ii. P. ii. Cap. vii. S. 9. De Baptifmo. Catechumeni recitant fymbolum Nicænum....Sacerdos, ftans ad partem occidentalem Jordanis, faciem pueri vertit ad orientem, eumque in aquam immergit imponens manum fuam fuper caput ejus et dicens, baptizatur talis, &c.

(6) IBID. p. 256. Negant peccatum originale, &c.

(7) P. 258. Exorcifmos in baptifmo, et Satana abrenunciationem omittunt....Quum Neftoriani ordinem fuum ad baptifmum puerorum accommodaffent, exorcifmos, abrenunciationem, aliaque id genus abftulere, rati ea adultis, non pueris convenire.

(8) TIMOTH. ii. Patriarche De Baptifmo, Cap. iii. S. 20. ut fup. p. 256. Si baptifmus in remiffionem peccatorum eft quare infantes puerofque baptizamus, qui peccato carent?..GEORGII ARBELENSIS De Baptifmo, Quæft. iii. p. 256. Quare in tomo Mar. Jefujabi præcipitur, ut baptizandum facerdos pollice fignet, nunc autem videmus eum fignari indice? Refponfio. Olim viri ac mulieres baptizabantur: et quoniam peccatis impliciti erant et a gratia ad fidem vocati, ideo facerdos illos pollice fignabat. Nunc vero filii chriftianorum Neftorianorum baptizantur, infantes fcilicet puri, nec peccatis inquinati: adeoque eos indice fignari oportet.....TIMOTH . patriarchæ de feptem eccles. facram. Cap. iii. Sect. 20. p. 258. Ideo infantes baptizamus, etfi peccati expertes, ut a fervitute liberentur, et Filii Dei fiant.

carry

carry in his arms fuch as cannot but at what time the baptifin of little children began to be tolerated in the Neftorian church is uncertain: the moft likely opinion is, that it was introduced in the feventh century by the Patriarch Jefujabus iii. who was a monk of great addrefs, and who raifed himself to the patriarchate by a fingular effort. After the decease of the patriarch Marema, the bifhops, of whom Jefujabus was one, affembled to elect a fucceffor. The electors, knowing Jefujabus was a learned man, referred the choice to him, and fubfcribed their names to a deed by which they bound themfelves to obey whomfoever he fhould elect. Jefujabus then informed them, that in his opinion no man was fo worthy of the dignity, or could execute the office with fo much honour as himself, and of courfe he became patriarch (9). Being fuperiour to his clergy in learning and addrefs he introduced many innovations.

As it is well known that the oriental rituals coming into the West through the hands of Roman Catholick miffionaries have been most unconfcionably garbled and interpolated, fo it may very fairly be doubted whether the baptifm of natural infants be practifed by any Neftorians except a few, whom the miffionaries have latinized (1). The Neftorians uniformly deny original fin (2): they have an office for the burial of unbaptized children, with a provifion for fuch as are full grown (3): they are conftantly cenfured for delaying to baptize their children till they are three, four, fix, eight, ten, or eighteen years of age (4): and

(9) EBEDJESU Epifc. Sobens. fcript. eccles. catalog. Cap. lxxiv. apud ASSEMAN. Tom. iii. P. i. Jefujabus Adjabenus, Baftumagi filius, in fchola Nifibena quum literis operam dediffet, monafticum inftitutum in cœnobio Jacobi in Beth-Abe amplexus eft: mox Ninives epifcopus, deinde Moful et Arbelæ metropolita, demum Neftorianorum patriarcha poft Marema obitum electus. ....Neftorianis præfuit ab anno Chrifti 650 ad annum 660. pag. 139. Ordinavit tomum circuli, et baptifmum, id eft ritum adminiftrandi hoc facramentum.....Exftat Cod. Amid. xii. Orda baptifmi Chaldæor. Tom. i. pag. 584.

(1) J. AYMON Monumens Authentiques de la Religion des Grecs. Et de la fauffete de plufieurs confeffins de foi des Chretiens orientaux produites par les prelats de France. A la Haye. 1708. pref. Nous emploierons tout cela dans cet ouvrage, pour y demontrer juridiquement la fauffete de plus de cinq cens attestations, &c.....RENAUDOT. Liturg. Orient, Collect. Tom. i. præfat.

(2) Chronicon Edelfenum apud ASSEMAN. Tem. i. p. 402. An. 739. [i. e. Græcorum, Chrifti 428.] emerfit hærefis afferentium, peccatum naturæ infitum effe.... EBEDJESU Libror. Syror. Catal. Tom. ii. Par. i. Cap. xix. Theodorus Mopfaeftenus duos libros adverfus afferentem peccatum in natura infitum effe. Obiit Theodorus an. Chrifti 429.....SABARJESU Patriarchæ vit. apud ASSEMAN. Tom. iii. Par. i. Cap. xiii. Synodus Sabarjelu congregata fuit [an. Christi 596] ob quofdam monachos, qui pravas opiniones diffeminabant docentes peccatum naturæ humanæ effe infitum.....ASSE MAN. Ita fentiunt hodieque Neftoriani.

(3) ASSEMAN. Tom. i. Index codicum Mfs. quos Clemens. xi. Pont. Max. Bibl. Vatic. addicit. P. 581. Codices Amidenfes iii. Officium defunctorum juxta ritum Chaldæorum. Pro viris et mulieribus, et pro pueris baptizatis. Ritus quoque fepeliendi pueros nondum baptizatos.

(4) Le S'r de Moni [P. Simon] Hift. Critiq. de la creance et des coutumes des nations de Levant. Franckf, 1684. p. 5. Ils rebaptifent tous les latins, qui fe rangent a leur communion. Ils different le baptefme des enfans jufq'a trois, quatre, cinq, fix, dix et dixhuit ans.

they have continued the office of deaconnefs in their churches to this day.

CHRISTIANS OF ST. THOMAS.

The Chriftians of St. Thomas, as they are called, and who refide in the Eaft-Indies, on the coaft of Malabar, and Coromandel, Cochin, and other parts, are a branch of the Neftorian church, and their religion refembles that of the Proteftants of Europe, much more than that of the church of Rome (5). They baptize by immerfion, and often defer the baptifm of their children feveral years (6). Learned men have not been able to afcertain whether thefe Chriftians were denominated from Thomas the apostle, who, it is faid, preached the gospel in India, or from Thomas a Manichæan, or from an Armenian merchant named Thomas, or from fome Neftorian bishop of the fame name. The two laft seem the moft probable opinions, and Mr. Voltaire prefers the first of the two (7).

ASIAN JACOBITES.

The Jacobites, another clafs of oriental Chriftians, feceded from the Greek church in the fifth century. They received their denomination in the fixth century from Jacob Baradæus, or Zanzalus, the most able and fuccefsful of their leaders. They chiefly inhabit Syria and Mefopotamia, and in the laft century were faid to confift of forty or fifty thousand families (8). Their theory of the nature of Christ differs from thofe of the Greeks and Neftorians, but fome affirm the difference is only in words. Their polity is hierarchical, and the Afian Jacobites are fubject to the patriarch of Antioch, who hath a colleague called the Maphrian, that is, the Catholick or primate of the

(5) ASSEMAN. Bibliot. Tom. iii. Par. ii. Cap. ix. De Chriftianis S. Thoma in India: deque Neftorianis in Tartaria et vafto Sinarum imperio....Se&t. iii. Chriftiani S. Thomæ in India.... P. SIMON. Hift. Crit. Chap. viii. Des Indiens ou Chreftiens de St. Thomas.

(6) IBID. Íls differoient de plus affez fouvent le baptefme plufieurs mois, et mefmes plufieurs annes.....LA CROZE Hift. du Chriftianifme des Indes.....DR. GEDDES Hift. of the Church of Malabar. London. 1694.....J. ALB. FABRICII Lux. Evang. Cap. xxxvi. De Orig. Chrift.... in India orientali.

(7) Gen. Hift. Cap.iii. Of the Indies.

(8) SIMON. ut fup. Chap. ix. Ils ne font tout au plus que 40 ou 50 mille families.... LEONARDIS Sidonis Epifc. apud Thomam a Jefu. Lib. vii. Par. i. Cap. xiv. Natio Jacobitica difperfa eft per civitates, terras, et oppida Syriæ, Mefopotamia, et Babyloniæ, mixta aliis nationibus numerum quinquaginta millium domuum obtinens.....Plura vide apud ASSEMAN. Tom. ii. De Monophyfitis.

Eaft (9). The patriarch ufually refides in fome city of Syria, and the primate at a monaftery at Mouful in Mefopotamia. Their baptifm is that of nominal Catechumens by trine immersion (1), and the duration of the baptifm of adults may be gathered from a canon of the patriarch Michael, which fays, that there was no further need of deaconneffes, because now the church baptizes children of tender age, and not women as formerly: however, if it fhould be neceffary in future a deaconnefs of fuch and fuch qualifications might be ordained (2). This patriarch died in the year eleven hundred and ninety-nine.

Another large class of oriental Chriftians is that of the African Monophyfites, or Jacobites, whofe faith, worship, and government are precifely the fame as thofe of the Afian Jacobites, with whom they are in ftrict communion (3). The patriarch of Alexandria is the fpiritual ruler of this church, and he hath a colleague called Abbuna, or father, who prefides over one divifion, for they are divided into Copts who inhabit Egypt and Nubia, and Abyffinians, or Ethiopians. The Copts are very numerous. The Greek patriarch Cyril Lucar faid in the last century, they were ten times more numerous than the Greeks (4). The Abyffinians, or inhabitants of Upper Ethiopia, are incomparably more numerous than the Copts, and as they live under a Chriftian king, their condition is lefs restrained than that of the Copts. All these Christians adminifter baptifm to children by trine immerfion, and immediately after they give them the Lord's fupper; for their offices for baptism were evidently compofed for adults, as all other eaftern rituals

(9) STEPH. EVODII ASSEMANI A. Martyr. Orient. Tom. i. Præfat. Jacobitæ primum poft patriarcham fectæ fuæ epifcopum Catholicum Græca voce dicunt, Syriace vero Maphrianum.......... Jos. SIMON ASSEMANI Bibliot. Orient. Clement, Vatican. Tom. ii. Diff. De Monophyfitis. p. 215. not. Maphrianus. Dignitas apud Jacobitas patriarchali inferior, metropolitica major, primatem recte vertas.

(1) IBID. Diff. de Monoph. De Baptifmo. Syri folo baptifmo, inftar cæterorum Chriftianorum, contenti funt, cui pro orientalium more facramentum confirmationis adjungunt, et euchariftiam demum pueris porrigunt, ut ex ritualibus compertum eft.

(2) IBID. Diaconiffarum opera antiquitus defiderabatur, ac præfertim pro baptifmo mulierum ....diaconiffas jam diu in ecclefia ceffaffe comperimus....nec amplius diaconiffis opus eft, quum nullæ fint mulieres quæ baptizentur, &c.

(3) RENAUDOT. Hift. Patriarch. Alexand. Paris. 1713. YUCAB five Jofephus, Patriarcha. lii. ....ASSEMAN. Diff. de Syris monoph.

(4) CYRILLI Papae ac Patriarch. Alexandriæ D. I. UYTENBOGAERT epift. apud AYMON. Coptæ tam multi funt (in magni Cairi civitate] ut fi Græci certatim illis numerarentur, quomodo de Græcis et Trojanis fcribit Homerus, decies Coptæ numerum fuperarent Græcorum.

were (5). That which is attributed to Severus patriarch of Alexandria, was compofed by Severus patriarch of Antioch. The Alexandrian Jacobites never had a patriarch of the name of Severus (6).

ARMENIANS.

The Armenians form another large eastern hierarchy (7). The ancient and extenfive kingdom of Armenia in Afia, after various revolutions fell under the dominion of the Turks and the Perfians, between whom the country was divided. The inhabitants received Christianity in the Catholick form early. In the fourth century Tiridates the king established an hierarchy, and at the beginning of the fixth under the patriarch Nierfes, the Armenian church feceded from other establishments, became independent, and embraced the theory of the Jacobites, differing from them, however, in a few articles of difcipline.

The learned Schroeder, after Mofes Chorenenfis, who flourished in the fifth century, defcribes Armenia, divides it into fifteen provinces, and fubdivides them into one hundred and ninety-one diocefes. He observes the obfcurity with which Greek and Latin writers through ignorance and false zeal have covered the hiftory, the language, the writings, and the ecremonies of this ancient nation (8). The Armenians celebrate an annual festival called Cachachouran, a word half Armenian and half Perfian, which, travellers fay, fignifies the baptifm of the crofs. It is generally fuppofed, this is a religious ceremony, the fame as the Theophany of the Greeks, and the Epiphany or twelfth day of the Roman Catholicks. It is celebrated on the fixth of January, and the terms fignify manifeftation: but ecclefiafticks have not agreed whether it is in commemoration of the birth of Christ, by which God was manifested in the flesh; or of the vifit

(5) Ordo Baptifmi Sec. ufum Ethiop. Sacerdos defcendit in fontem....et ter mergit, dicens, Ego baptizo te. &c....Orda Baptifmi Severi Patriarcha Alexandr. Et dimittit eum in baptifterium, refpiciens ad orientem, dextramque fuam capiti ejus qui baptizatur imponit, et finiftra fua ter attollit ex. aquis.....Tunc educit eum e medio aquarum.

(6) RENAUDOT. Liturg. Orient, Collectio. Tom. ii. ad liturg. SEVERI obfervat... Tom, i, notæ in Liturg. Copticam S. Gregorii.....Hift. Patriarch. Alexand......BAR-HEBRÆI vulgo ABULPHARAGII Chran. Patriarch. Jacobit. SEVERUS apud ASSEMAN. Tom. ii. p. 321. Obiit an. Chr. 539.

(7) CLEMENTIS GALANI Hift. Armena, Romæ. 1650. 1658. 1661. ·

(8) JOH. JOACHIMI SCHROEDERI De reb. Armenicis. Epift. Vide Oratio Dominica in ́diverJus omnium fere gentium linguas verfa, et propriis cujufque lingua characteribus expressa. Editor: JOAN. CHAMBERLAYNIO. Amftel. 1715. Nofti, vir adelle, quam rara, quam infufficientia fint quæ de antiqua hac natione ejufque regione, lingua, libris, ritibus, aliifque, apud feriptores Latinos et Græcos, addo etiam falfa, poft exortam in facris xaxahar fæpe inve

niantur.