ssion of sins is granted, and no one
is debarred from baptism and grace, how much more ought not an infant to
be debarred who, being newly born, has in no way sinned, except that
being born after Adam in the flesh, he has by his first birth contracted
the contagion of the old death; who is on this very account more easily
admitted to receive remission of sins, in that, not his own, but
another's sins are remitted to him." [479:1]

Whilst it is thus apparent that the baptism of infants was the
established order of the Church, it is equally clear that the particular
mode of administration was not considered essential to the validity of
the ordinance. It was usually dispensed by immersion or affusion,
[479:2] but when the health of the candidate might have been injured by
such an ordeal, sprinkling was deemed sufficient. Aspersion was commonly
employed in the case of the sick, and was known by the designation of
_clinic_ or _bed_ baptism. Cyprian points out to one of his
correspondents the absurdity of the idea that the extent to which the
water is applied can affect the character of the institution. "In the
saving sacrament," says he, "the contagion of sin is not washed away
just in the same way as is the filth of the skin and body in the
ordinary ablution of the flesh, so that there should be need of
saltpetre and other appliances, and a bath and a pool in which the poor
body may be washed and cleansed.... It is apparent that the _sprinkling_
of water has like force with the saving washing, and that when this is
done in the Church, where the faith both of the giver and receiver is
entire, [480:1] all holds good and is consummated and perfected by the
power of the Lord, and the truth of faith." [480:2]

Cyprian is here perfectly right in maintaining that the essence of
baptism does not consist in the way in which the water is administered;
but much of the language he employs in speaking of this ordinance cannot
be commended as sober and scriptural. He often confounds it with
regeneration, and expresses himself as if the mere rite possessed a
mystic virtue. "The birth of Christians," says he, "is in baptism."
[480:3] "The Church alone has the life-giving water." [480:4] "The water
must first be cleansed and sanctified by the priest, that it may be
able, by baptism therein, to wash away the sins of the baptized."
[480:5] Tertullian and other writers of the third century make use of
phraseology equally unguarded. [480:6] Wh