Baptism

At the first origin of Christianity, when it was important to spread the Christian church quickly, those who confessed their faith in Christ the Messiah, or their faith in the One God and the Savior of the world, were immediately baptized after previous instruction. As long as they were in preparatory instruction, they were called catechumens.
Baptism in the first century was done in such a way that the baptized immersed himself completely under the water, in remembrance of the words of Paul: "We are buried with Christ through baptism into death." At the same the baptized must renounce the devil and all his works and all his nature (pomp), and thereupon confess his faith with the words of the apostolic symbolum. In the second century, baptism was publicly administered at Easter and Pentecost. Witnesses to baptism were also common. In the third century, the baptized were invoked before and during baptism (exorcism), and great power began to be attached to these invocations. The baptized returned to their homes adorned with a crown and a white garment, the former the sign of victory, recalling the word of the Lord, "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life," Revelation 2:10; the latter the word of Paul, "As many as are baptized of you have put on Christ," Gal. 8:27. In the first and second centuries baptism was administered as often as any desired baptism. In the second century, baptism was publicly administered at Easter and Pentecost. Witnesses to baptism were also common. In the third century, the baptized were invoked before and during baptism, and exorcism began to have a magical power. Baptism in emergencies was permitted to the laity as early as the second century, in the opinion that children who died unbaptized could not escape eternal damnation, to which Augustine gave occasion by his doctrine of baptism. In the Lutheran Church, if the child remains alive, it must be carried into the church to examine the correctness of the baptism performed by the layman and to confirm it, so that it will not doubt it in later life. It was also formerly held that the faith of the church and of the godparents was for the benefit of the person baptized, and not merely for the asking, but vicariously. Among the Catholics the water of baptism is specially consecrated, while among the Lutherans it is said in the Catechism: "Baptism is not only bad water, but it is the water set forth in God's commandment and connected with God's word." Essential, however, is the utterance of the baptismal formula and the threefold pouring or sprinkling of water. Among the Catholics the baptismal water is solemnly consecrated on Easter Sunday and Pentecost Sunday. After baptism, in the Catholic Church, the baptized is given milk and honey as a sign of his spiritual youth, which was done as early as the third century, and his spiritual endowment with the gifts of the Spirit by many a symbolical act, e.g. The anointing with chrism (anointing oil) on the crown of the head; the impartation of the salt of wisdom, by the clothing with the vestment, the garment of innocence and purity, since, according to St. Paul's word, Galatians chapter 3, the baptized put on Christ and indicated both on forehead and breast with the sign of the cross. The Westerhemde, which derives its name from vestis, dress, best, joy, and from the old German word Hemd, arose from the fact that a white garment was put on the catechumens after they had been baptized. Even among the Lutherans the Westerhemd is here and there still in use, in that the baptizer spreads a little white garment over the child, saying, "Almighty God, who hath born thee again by the water of baptism, and forgiven thee all thy sins, strengthen thee with his grace unto everlasting life, Amen." In all denominations the act of baptism is begun or concluded with the addition of the baptismal names.
In the Catholic Church, even unborn children are baptized in the womb. Likewise also the bells, since the beginning of the eighth century, and one gives them thereby a name.