"People's minds have very much changed in late years respecting the use of the Cross," said Mr. Acres. "A few years ago not only was the sign of the Cross in baptism considered superstitious, but it was considered even wrong to use it in church architecture, or as an ornament within the church, or as a part of a memorial in the churchyard; there are few now, I suppose, who regard such use of the sacred symbol as superstitious. I was in a bookseller's shop the other day when a 'Baptist' preacher came in to purchase a Prayer Book to present to a friend; the bookseller said to him, 'Of course that will not suit you, sir, as it has a Cross upon it.' 'I like the book very much,' was his reply; 'and as for the Cross, why the Puritans may object to that if they like, I don't.' But I am of opinion that people are going a little in the opposite extreme, and, at least as a personal _ornament_, the Cross is become too common." "Why _do_ you fall into the popular error, my good friend," said the Vicar, reprovingly, "of calling these Anabaptist preachers, _Baptists_? Surely they ought to be called any thing rather than _Baptists_, for they make more light of Baptism than any other people who can properly be said to believe in Baptism at all. Do let us call things by their proper names;--why, to call them _Baptists_, is almost as bad as to call Roman Catholics, _Catholics_, and so to ignore our own claim to be members of the Christian Church, because we allow them a name which would imply that _they_ are the _only_ Church in the world. I need not tell you that the word ANA_baptist_[76] exactly expresses what they are, namely, they who _baptize a second time_ those who have already been baptized in infancy. The term 'Baptist' is far more applicable to Church people than to them." "I see, I deserve your rebuke: mine is a mistake too often made. By-the-bye, Mr. Vicar, I was very pleased to hear your reply to Mr. Dole, when he inquired what was the _fee_ to be paid for his baptism. I heard you tell him that the sacraments of the Church were always _free_." "Yes, certainly I did; and I confess I cannot understand how any one can dare, in these days, to demand a fee for Baptism; the claim is as _illegal_ as it is _unchristian_, and I believe goes far to make the poor take a low view of this holy rite. I wish, too, I could make the poor understand that _Baptism_ has nothing to do with _Registration_; many of the most ignorant of them really regard them as the same thing. Some of them, too, will persist in thinking that to be _privately baptized_, is to be '_half baptized_.' Of course _they must be altogether baptized, or not baptized at all_; but they do not readily see that the _baptism_ is complete, though the _reception into the Church_ is not perfected till the service is concluded in the face of the congregation." _CHAPTER XVI_ THE PULPIT "He commanded us to preach unto the people." _Acts_ x. 42