The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-01-11 00:00:00

ROMISII BAPTISM.
lb the El;tor of the" Observer."

Sza,—A. letter hAS appeared in a contemporary paper,
wriiten by a Roman Catholic, which plainly shows that
all II ale ei Catholics d a II at know or believe what baptism,
as taught by their faith, is. The doctrine that is not
believed is that the pi hist blown thrice in the face of the
baby to blow the levil out of it before ho will admit the
sponsors with it into the churela. Not only is this liter-
ally true, lit by is. enrol means the priest tries to get rid
of the devil before Ile will hoptise the baby. Many of
your Protestant readers uo doubt will be interestod Ia
the matter. and perltap Solo Itinamn Catholics will
learn what their faith teaches through year truly Pro-
testant paper. I will, therefore, give a brief outline of
the fader of baptism as taught by Rommism. I will
not give my own words, but those of their own works
written !Tau the subject, and designed specially to in-
struct Roman Catholics; but I do not believe these are
much read since the I tter above referred to has appeared.
I always thought they were rather ashamed of some
things in their filth, but I never thok;ht they were so
ignorant.
Lit is, now see what Romaniam really does teach and
practice about baptism. I shall quote from three of
their own books. The first is The order of the Sacra-
ment of Itaptistu according to the Roman Ritual." I
shall refer to this by the initials 0. It. The second bock
is the " Path to Heaven." I shall refer to this by the
initials I'. It. And the third book is oue of the greatest
authority among all Raman Catholics of every country,
it is the Catechism of the Council of Trent. 'ibis I
shall refer to by the initials C. C. T. I may just observe
that all three teach the same doctrine, which must be
the case if Itomaiiiiim never alters, and this is the boast
of all Roman Catholics. Well let us ace what Oda un-
alterable doctrine is.

The priest vested in a white surplice and violet stole,
"goes outside the dime!, to the person to be baptised,
to teach us that, being still the Cl Vore of sin, he is sot
worthy of being admitted iuto the house of the Lord."
0. It., p. 3. Ile then asks the sponeore, •• What name
give yea to this child?" 0.8 , p. 3. "Thee he breathes
thrice geutly upon the face of the person to be baptised,
and say, since, • Go oat of him, thou unclean epirit, and
give piece unto the Holy Spirit, the Pereclete.• " O. 8.,
p. g. The P. IL, p. 701, bays this breathing " is done to
drive away Use devil." The C. C. T., p. 172, says—
Wherefore the priest breathes three times into the face
ef him who I. to be Waisted, that he may expel the
power of the Old Serpent, and may eatch the breath of
lost life." Again, "the priest's breathing three times
on the person to be baptised, which is doxie to drive away
the devil. It also expresses the contempt which Chris.
Cane have of him, and the ease wills which he may be
Put to fl'etst, like a straw with a pelf of wind." 0. IL,
r, 4. We shall see presently that the devil is not so
easily driven away as they make out, for the priest will
r„,,ye to tinier hint cdr three or ' four times, awl he will
not go until "God, great and mighty, draweth near."
0. 8., p. 12. Now let me tuk, do Roman Catholios really
believe that the priest breathes or blows the devil out of
this child? And let me ask you as Protestants, will you en-
'ounce by any means such a ridiculous system? One other
eimation on this point. In the C. C. T., p. 171, the elec-
tion is proposed •' Why the persons to be bletiseS ere
not at once admitten into the Church' " The answer is
"The person to be initiated in baptism are carried to the
door of the church, and are ste;cagfo•Lithicis its entrance,
as uneorthy to lie admitted into the house of God, until
they have east off the yoke of the most degrading eirvi•
tude." If the devil is to easily breathed out of the
child, and the child rcleased from his "most degrading
sersitede" the (picker all children aro baptieed the bet.
ter. Do the nfterlives of Roman Catholic children sheer
that the devil is any more out of them than other chil-
dren 9 And yet the priest is confident he has done it,
and Roman Catholics must believe it, for 'sear how con.
fident they are. We read, "After having pot to flight
the tyrant who holds in captivity every nue that cometh
into the world, the priest imprints on the person to be
baptised the veal of a very different maater. It. ,igns
him with the sign of the cross." 0. It., p. 4. This lie
does with his thumb on the forehead and breaist. We
shall see that the priest does not think the devil gene,
or else he thinks he hat soon come back again. My

Printe.l 1 i by the Hole Proprietor, SIMEO7I
1IE1.1). at his (111... 92. High-xtret.t, Staerhridge,
the ConLty of Will e.ter to which piece all lakes and
other ementonientienq most be addrussod.
Saturday, danuarY Al, 11168.