that baptism was given to infants without leaving any historical trace and without entailing any special rationale in baptismal theology. This is very nearly what confronts us in the earliest unmistakable evidence for the practice of baptizing both children and babies, in Hippolytus’ Apostolic Tradition. The order it lays down for baptism may confidently be held to reflect Roman practice not only when it was compiled, c. AD 215, but a generation or so earlier, back to c. 180. But its claim to prescribe
Page 6