Prop. 14. Though in Receiving Adult per∣sons out of Infidelity by Baptism into the Church; a sudden Profession without any stay to see their Reformation, may serve tu•n; yet in the receiving those that were Baptized heretofore, into the Number of Adult-members, or to the Priviledges of such, their lives must be enquired after, which must be such as do not confute their Profession.
VVE find in Scripture, that the Con∣verted were suddenly Baptized, and they stayed not for any Reformation of life to go before. Indeed the Ancient Chrches aferwards kept their Catechumens long in ex∣pectation; but that was not to see their lives first reformed, but that they might have time to teach them the Doctrine of Christ, which they must know before they could be Converts indeed. The Apostles did sudden∣ly Baptize, converted Jews and Proselites,* be∣cause they had so much preparatory knowledg, as that a shorter teaching might acquaint them with the Christian doctrine. But the Heathens Page 131 must belong in learning so much as the Jews knew before Conversion.
Yet if the Catechumens did fall into gross sinne in time of their expectation and lear∣ning, they were so much the longer delayed, because it signifyed, that their first professed desires of entering into the Church, upon Christs terms, were not right.
But the Baptized stand upon other terms: For 1. They are already in Covenant with God the Father, Sonne, and Holy Ghost; and have renounced the flesh, the world, and the Devil, and promised obedience to God, and to live according to their Cove∣nant. And this the Church hath still required of them, as I shewed out of Justin Martyr,and others before*Dio∣nysius (or whoever else) in lib: de Hierarch Eccles.saith, Ipse autem se omni∣no ea quae tradentur, se∣quuturum esse pollicetur: And Ex eo praeterea quaerit, num ita instituat vivere, cum promi∣sit asseverationibus, &c. upon which saithAlbaspinaeus, Quia scilicet fidem Christia∣nam, Christianumque vivendi genus, & mores, sese complexos persequnturisque juca∣bant, antequam baptizarentur. (in Tertul.de Paenit. pag. 289.) & Postea. Non ac∣cedebant Page 132 ad Baptismum nisi de rebus fidei plane instructi, id est, de Dei magnitudine, & po∣testate rebusque quae in Evangeliis continentur, uno excepto Eucharistiae mysterio; neque bap∣tizabantur, nisi post quam ea omnia se credere jurassent, quorum fides a fide poenitentiae inci∣piebat,&c. Et in sequ. Jucabant in Baptis∣mo solennibus verbis, se nunquam* peccaturos; deinde renunciabant Dia∣bolo & pompis ejus. De∣nique Censurâ, si peccarent post baptismum coerceban∣tur.So that men that are engaged in covenant with God, must keep Co∣venant, or manifest them∣selves Penitent, for the violation of it, before they are admitted to fur∣ther Priviledges. There is a long time, in which they grow up from an In∣fant-state to an Adult; and how they live in that time, must be enquired after.
2. Otherwise the Apostate would have equal Acceptance and Priviledges with the Faithfull.
3. And so Penitence and Absolution Page 133 would be excluded and confounded with meer Confirmation.
4. Moreover the Baptized are obliged to be responsible for their lives, being under the Government of Christs Ministers, and among his Saints.
5. For the sake of their own Souls, and of the Church and Ordinances, we must endea∣vour to preserve them from Corruption, which lying Professions would introduce; and therefore must not overlook, or neglect such Evidence as is within our reach.
6. Else Ministers that are by office to judg of their Profession, would be unfaithfull Judges, and forfeit their trust, if they shall wilfully neglect any Evidence within their cognisance, by which they may be enabled to judge.
But yet it is not the certainty of inward sa∣ving Grace, that we must find out by mens lives; for no man can have such certainty of another: but only that their lives be not such, as Null and Invalidate, and confute their Profession, and they live not in the perfidi∣ous violation of their Baptismal Covenant.
