vii. 34, for the opening of the spmtual understanding ; the sign of the cross made upon the forehead and breast, as the mark of the soldier ' Greg. Ep. i. 43, to Bishop Leander of Seville : " Dum in tribus subsistentiis una substantia est, reprehensibile esse nullatenus potest infantem in baptismate vel ter vel semel mergere : quando et in tribus mersionibus personarum trinitas, et in una potest personarum singularitas designari. Sed quia nunc usque ab hsereticis infans in baptismate tertio mergebatur, fiendum apud vos non esse censeo, ne dum mersiones numerant, divinitatem dividant." From this we see, at the same time, that even in infant baptism, and among heretics, immersion was the custom. Yet in the nature of the case, sprinkling, at least of weak or sick children, as in the bap- tismuR cliniconim, especially in northern climates, came early into use. '^ Comp. vol. i. p. 399. ' InsufHare, ificpvaav. * Sacramentum apertionis. § 93. CONFIRMATION. 487 of Christ ; and, at least in Africa, the giving of salt, as the em- blem of the divine word, according to Mark ix. 50 ; Matt. v. 13 ; Col. iv. 6. Proselytes generally took also a new name, accord ing to Rev. ii. 17. In the act of baptism itself, the candidate first, with his face toward the west, renounced Satan and all his pomp and ser- vice ; ' then, facing the east, he vowed fidelity to Christ,^ and confessed his faith in the triune God, either by rehearsing the Creed, or in answer to questions.' Thereupon followed the threefold or the single immersion in the name of the triune God, with the calling of the name of the candidate, the deacons and deaconesses assisting. After the second anointing with the consecrated oil (confirmation), the veil was removed, with which the heads of catechumens, in token of their spiritual mi- nority, were covered during divine worship, and the baptized person was clothed in white garments, representing the state of regeneration, purity, and freedom. In the Western church the baptized person received at the same time a mixture of milk and honey, as a symbol of childlike innocence and as a fore- taste of the communion. § 93. Confirmation. Comp. the Literature of Baptism, especially Hofling, and Zezsohwitz : Der Katecliumenat (first vol. of his System der Katechetik). Leipzig, 1863. Confirmation, in the first centuries, was closely connected with the act of baptism as the completion of that act, especial- ly in adults. After the cessation of proselyte baptism and the increase of infant baptism, it gradually came to be regarded as an independent sacrament. Even by Aug^ustine, Leo I., and others, it is expressly called sacramentiiTYi.^ This independ- ^ This was the h.-Kora-yiu or ahrenundiatio diaboli, with the words : 'ATrordtraofiai ffot, SaravS, Kol ■Ko.ari ttj iro/iTrj) (tov koI irdari rrl Xarpela (tov. The Aposlohc Consti- tutions add ToTs epyois. In Tertullian : " Renunciare diabolo et pompas et angelis ejus." ' ^uvTaffcTOfxai troi, XpiffTC. ^