Untitled - Rore Sanctifica

282 Piitualism in its relation to He-union.
which are reallv Catholic are few, and then
\j
proceed to act as if there were none at all.
a considerable num
Again, there is, after all,
ber of Ritualistic observances, which no really
learned man has any doubt about as fulfilling
the quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus ;
that is, as much so as many things which
Anglicans hold as dear as life, Infant Baptism
for instance. We all maintain that the practice
of Infant Baptism is a clear case of quod semper ,
&c., yet the most casual reader of early Church
History cannot but be struck with the fact,
how exceedingly common it was for orthodox
c* t/
Christians to defer the baptism of their children
until they came to years of discretion or ma
turity.
t/
The root of the matter is, what is the authority
upon which we do, or leave undone certain
things ? Is it upon the authority of the Church
Catholic, or because they are enjoined by the
Anglican branch of it, that is, really and vir
tually by a single province
of the Western
Patriarchate, namely Canterbury ? If Angli
cans could be but once led, honestly and
and to follow
seriously, to ask this question,
Truth wherever it might lead them, and develope
it into its fair and legitimate C75 and loo-ical
* - consequences,
the Re-union of Christendom would
be a question almost of clays. Do Anglicans
ever ask themselves the question why they baptise