A Source Book for Ancient Church History - Mirrors

§ 49. The Development of the Cultus 257And how long shall we draw the saw to and fro through thisline when we have an ancient practice which by anticipationhas settled the state of the question? If no passage of Scripturehas prescribed it, assuredly custom, which without doubt flowedfrom tradition, has confirmed it. For how can anything comeinto use if it has not first been handed down? Even in pleadingtradition written authority, you say, must be demanded. Let usinquire, therefore, whether tradition, unless it be written, shouldnot be admitted. Certainly we shall say that it ought not to beadmitted if no cases of other practices which, without any writteninstrument, we maintain on the ground of tradition alone, and thecountenance thereafter of custom, affords us any precedent. Todeal with this matter briefly, I shall begin with baptism. Whenwe are going to enter the water, but a little before, in the churchand under the hand of the president, we solemnly profess thatwe renounce the devil, and his pomp, and his angels. Hereuponwe are thrice immersed, making a somewhat ampler pledge thanthe Lord has appointed in the Gospel. Then, when we are takenup (as new-born children), we taste first of all a mixture of milkand honey; and from that day we refrain from the daily bath fora whole week. We take also in congregations, before daybreak,and from the hands of none but the presidents, the sacramentof the eucharist, which the Lord both commanded to be eatenat meal-times, and by all. On the anniversary day we makeofferings for the dead as birthday honors. We consider fasting onthe Lord's Day to be unlawful, as also to worship kneeling. We [233]rejoice in the same privilege from Easter to Pentecost. We feelpained should any wine or bread, even though our own, be castupon the ground. At every forward step and movement, at everygoing in and going out, when we put on our shoes, at the bath, attable, on lighting the lamps, on couch, on seat, in all the ordinaryactions of daily life, we trace upon the forehead the sign [i.e., ofthe cross].