This treatise was written about 400 A.D. Concerning it Aug. in Retract. Book II. c. xviii., says: I have written seven books on Baptism against the Donatists, who strive to defend themselves by the authority of the most blessed bishop and martyr Cyprian; in which I show that nothing is so effectual for the refutation of the Donatists, and for shutting their mouths directly from upholding their schism against the Catholic Church, as the letters and act of Cyprian. Aeterna Press

Excerpt from The History of Sprinkling: Being a Compilation of the Best Thoughts of Standard Authors, Historians and Lexicographers of Ancient and Modern Times, Together With Reflections by the Author; Designed to Prove That "Sprinkling for Baptism" Is Not Authorized by the Bible, Making a Valu The following pages contain the testimony of men who have been foremost in recording ecclesiastical history, in criticising what has been written, and in editing lexicons that give us the meaning of words as used by the world's best writers and speakers. If the statements submitted by these men concerning the "History of Sprinkling" are untrue, then their histories and their dictionaries are unreliable, and we are left without the means of proving anything, either pro or con, on this, or any subject on which they discourse. This, no reasonable person can believe for one moment. There are thousands of persons, reasonably well informed on many other subjects, who never thought of the importance that attaches to immersion as taught in the New Testament, nor with what it stands connected. This want of proper information grows out of erroneous teaching and a want of careful reading. Immersion is called "a Church ordinance," a thing that cannot be, since immersion was in practice before the Church was organized, and hence could not have been established by the Church. Christ never gave the Church power to ordain anything pertaining to man's salvation save the appointing of qualified men to fill certain offices. The emblematic grave (immersion) is the womb from which the Church was born. Immersion in the New Testament is never associated with the Church. It is directly associated with "righteousness," with "all authority," with "faith," with "repentance," with "remission of sins," with "the name of Christ," with "the gift of the Holy Spirit," with "regeneration," with "the new birth," with "salvation," with "the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit," with "cleansing," with "a holy life," with "the death of Christ," and with "the resurrection." To tear it away from these divinely associated objects and relate it to the Church only, as an ordinance, is to do violence to the gospel preached by Christ's embassadors. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Translation of 8 instructions on baptism given by St. John Chrysostom, probably at Antioch, about 390 A.D.

The two things that the church of Christ is known for by those who are not members are the fact that we don't use instruments of music in our worship, and we require all to be baptized by immersion. Baptism is not a modern religious invention, it has a history as long as Christianity itself and in this lesson, I'd like to review that with you.