The unhelpful answer is any age. It would depend on where and when and who was about. Officially baptism in the reformed tradition (we don't christen, we baptise) was governed by the Directory for the Public Worship of God. Actually this 17th Century document was practically superseded by local custom and practice. However when we look at this part of the Directory we wee that there are a number of constraints. "BAPTISM, as it is not unnecessarily to be delayed, so it is not to be administered in any case by any private person, but by a minister of Christ, called to be the steward of the mysteries of God. Nor is it to be administered in private places, or privately, but in the place of publick (sic) worship, and in the face of the congregation, where the people may most conveniently see and hear; and not in the places where fonts, in the time of Popery, were unfitly and superstitiously placed." These rules were very well in a country where there was a fair supply of ministers with local Churches. Consider the situation in America, with a population scattered over a wide area. Given that only the Minister could baptise you had to wait until he was in the locality, or the community was gathered in worship (ISTR reading that baptism did happen at camp, meetings but I can't find the reference.) Certainly in Scotland by some time in the 19th Century baptism at home was the norm in many communities. The result was that in America, as happened in Scotland it was not unusual for families to "save up their baptisms" and have all the children "done" at once. You have to remember that it was not necessarily easy for Presbyterians to meet up with a minister. It was because of the difficulties in getting preachers that there was the foundation of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and why that subsequently the frontier went Methodist - with a much simpler way of organising the live of the Christian Community, and then Baptist which was basically a form of independence. On your chronology while they might have had problems with a preacher in Franklin, certainly they would not when they got to the city. Let's ask a few questions. Do you know that they were Presbyterian? Do you know what kind of minister married the parents? Simply because they were Scots you cannot assume that they were Presbyterian. In any case by 1800 there were several "Brands" of Presbyterianism in Scotland and it is not impossible that you family hung about until they could meet up with the same kind of Presbyterianism as they were used to back home. > -----Original Message----- > From: presbyterian-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:presbyterian- > bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of acmbjc@aol.com > Sent: Wednesday, March 11, 2009 10:32 PM > To: presbyterian@rootsweb.com > Subject: [PRESBYTERIAN] age of christening question > > Might anyone know what the age of christening was in the early 1800's?? > The location was Pittsburgh, Allegheny Co., PA, but unfortunately I do?NOT > known?what church this family attended.? I do know they lived in northern > Allegheny Co., Ross Twp.; the first four children were born in Franklin > Co., PA, and the last three in Allegheny; dates of birth were 1808-1812- > 1815, and the family name was THOMSON (without the letter 'P').? They were > Scottish, not Irish. > > > Thank you. > > > Marybeth C. > acmbjc@aol.com > _____________________________ > To contact the list admin send an email to: PRESBYTERIAN- > admin@rootsweb.com > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to PRESBYTERIAN- > request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the > subject and the body of the message

Hello All, Have Presbyterians always had the same sort of baptism? That is we seem to baptise into the church as an infant as a preference or as part of a confirmation (joining) process for those who weren't baptised as infants. But did we ever, over the centuries, embrace the concept of believer baptism as the prefered method? I prefer the later because it seems more scriptural to me, whereas infant baptism seems to be more about denominational organizational process. Anyone have any ideas on this. If the growing churches are more into believer baptism might this cause some of us to rethink what the purpose of baptism is and maybe tend to go in this direction? James R. Davis, Sacramento, CA -----Original Message----- From: presbyterian-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:presbyterian-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Edward Andrews Sent: Wednesday, March 11, 2009 4:58 PM To: presbyterian@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [PRESBYTERIAN] age of christening question The unhelpful answer is any age. It would depend on where and when and who was about. Officially baptism in the reformed tradition (we don't christen, we baptise) was governed by the Directory for the Public Worship of God. Actually this 17th Century document was practically superseded by local custom and practice. However when we look at this part of the Directory we wee that there are a number of constraints. "BAPTISM, as it is not unnecessarily to be delayed, so it is not to be administered in any case by any private person, but by a minister of Christ, called to be the steward of the mysteries of God. Nor is it to be administered in private places, or privately, but in the place of publick (sic) worship, and in the face of the congregation, where the people may most conveniently see and hear; and not in the places where fonts, in the time of Popery, were unfitly and superstitiously placed." These rules were very well in a country where there was a fair supply of ministers with local Churches. Consider the situation in America, with a population scattered over a wide area. Given that only the Minister could baptise you had to wait until he was in the locality, or the community was gathered in worship (ISTR reading that baptism did happen at camp, meetings but I can't find the reference.) Certainly in Scotland by some time in the 19th Century baptism at home was the norm in many communities. The result was that in America, as happened in Scotland it was not unusual for families to "save up their baptisms" and have all the children "done" at once. You have to remember that it was not necessarily easy for Presbyterians to meet up with a minister. It was because of the difficulties in getting preachers that there was the foundation of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and why that subsequently the frontier went Methodist - with a much simpler way of organising the live of the Christian Community, and then Baptist which was basically a form of independence. On your chronology while they might have had problems with a preacher in Franklin, certainly they would not when they got to the city. Let's ask a few questions. Do you know that they were Presbyterian? Do you know what kind of minister married the parents? Simply because they were Scots you cannot assume that they were Presbyterian. In any case by 1800 there were several "Brands" of Presbyterianism in Scotland and it is not impossible that you family hung about until they could meet up with the same kind of Presbyterianism as they were used to back home. > -----Original Message----- > From: presbyterian-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:presbyterian- > bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of acmbjc@aol.com > Sent: Wednesday, March 11, 2009 10:32 PM > To: presbyterian@rootsweb.com > Subject: [PRESBYTERIAN] age of christening question > > Might anyone know what the age of christening was in the early 1800's?? > The location was Pittsburgh, Allegheny Co., PA, but unfortunately I > do?NOT known?what church this family attended.? I do know they lived > in northern Allegheny Co., Ross Twp.; the first four children were > born in Franklin Co., PA, and the last three in Allegheny; dates of > birth were 1808-1812- 1815, and the family name was THOMSON (without > the letter 'P').? They were Scottish, not Irish. > > > Thank you. > > > Marybeth C. > acmbjc@aol.com > _____________________________ > To contact the list admin send an email to: PRESBYTERIAN- > admin@rootsweb.com > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to PRESBYTERIAN- > request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in > the subject and the body of the message _____________________________ To contact the list admin send an email to: PRESBYTERIAN-admin@rootsweb.com ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to PRESBYTERIAN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message