Conformity of the ecclesiastical discipline of the Reformed churches of France with that of the primitive Christians written by M. La Rocque ... ; render'd into English by Jos. Walker.

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Title
Conformity of the ecclesiastical discipline of the Reformed churches of France with that of the primitive Christians written by M. La Rocque ... ; render'd into English by Jos. Walker.
Author
Larroque, Matthieu de, 1619-1684.
Publication
London :: Printed for Tho. Cockbrill ...,
1691.
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Subject terms
Huguenots -- France.
Church polity -- History -- Early church, ca. 30-600.
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"Conformity of the ecclesiastical discipline of the Reformed churches of France with that of the primitive Christians written by M. La Rocque ... ; render'd into English by Jos. Walker." In the digital collection Early English Books Online Collections. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/A49602.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 16, 2024.

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A Form of Baptism of those which shall be Converted to the Christian Faith, as well Pagans, Jews, Ma∣hometans, and Anabaptists, which have not been Baptised; made at the National Synod of the Re∣formed Churches of France held at Charanton, in the year, 1644. the 26 of December, and the following Days.

AFter that the Catechumeny has been sufficiently in∣structed and Catechis'd to give an account of his Faith, and that the Church shall by good Testimonies have taken cognisance of the Integrity of the Persons Life and Learning, they shall by the said Persons be pre∣sented to the whole assembly of believers to be baptised in their presence; And the Minister shall say.

The first Demand.

Do you not confess that you are a Child of Wrath, deserv∣ing death and everlasting damnation?

Answer, Yes.

Demand. Are you not displeased and grieved for all the the sins you have committed ever since you were born, and don't you promise for ever to forsake them?

Answer. Yes.

Dem. Do you not with all your heart forsake the seduce∣ments and temptations of the Devil and his Angels, of all the Pomps and Vanities of the World, and of all the Affections and Lusts of the Flesh.

Answ. Yes.

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If it be a Pagan the Minister shall say to him.

Dem. Do you not believe there is one only God which made Heaven and Earth, who supports all things by his po∣werful Word, and in whom we live, move, and have our being?

Answ. Yes.

Then the following demand shall be made which is common to all, and which are to be offer'd to all.

Dem. Do you not believe this great God which has created Heaven and Earth is one in Fssence, and distinguished into three Persons, Equal and Coeternal, the Father, the Son be∣gotten of the Father from all Eternity, and the Holy Ghost proceeding Eternal from the Father, and the Son?

Answ. Yes.

If it be a Pagan, the three following Questions shall be propos'd.

Dem. Do you not believe this great God never leaving himself without Witness, has manifested himself to Men, not only by his Works, which from their first production continu∣ally publish his Praise and Glory, but also by revealing his Will for the Salvation of Mankind, contained in the Holy Scriptures called the Old and New Testament?

Answ. Yes.

Dem. Do you not believe that all these Holy Scriptures are divinely inspired, and continue the perfect Rule of our Faith and good Living?

Answ. Yes.

Dem. Do you not protest to resist the Devil to the last

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minute of your Life, whom you have hitherto adored, serving sdols made with hands, or the host of Heaven, or to conclude, those which by Nature are no Gods?

Answ. Yes.

If it be a Jew, these sive Questions shall be made, o∣miting the four above expressed, they belonging to Pagans.

Dem. Do you not detest the Rebellion and Obstinacy of the Jews, and do not you beg pardon for having been so long time ingaged therein?

Answ. Yes.

Dem. Do you not believe that what God has been pleas'd to reveal to us of his Will, is contain'd not only in the Books of the Old, but also in those of the New Testament?

Answ. Yes.

Dem. Do you not believe that Jesus the Son of the Bles∣sed Virgin Mary, conceived in her by the ineffable Power of the Holy Ghost, and after condemned to dye on the Cross through the false Accusation of the Jews, by the wicked Sen∣tence of Pontius Pilate, raised from the dead the third day, and now sitting in Glory; is God manifest in the Flesh, the Eternal Word of the Father, by which he created and main∣tains the whole Ʋniverse, the blessed Seed promised to Adam presently after his Fall, by vertue of whom the Serpents head is broken, whose coming all the Patriarchs expected with Hope, and the great Prophet and true Messias foretold as well by Moses, as by the other Prophets which lived after him?

Answ. Yes.

Dem. Do you not believe that the Lord Jesus is the ful∣filling of the Law in Righteousness to all which believe, the truth of his Types and Figures, the true Lamb of God

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which taketh away the Sins of the World, and that in him dwells the fulness of the Godhead bodily?

Answ. Yes.

Dem. Do you not believe that now the observation of Le∣gal Ceremonies is not only superfluous, but also wholly pre∣judicial to a good Conscience?

Answ. Yes.

If the Catecumeny be a Mahometan, the Minister shall ask these following Questions, omitting the for∣mer, which particularly refer to Pagans or Jews.

Dem. Do you not believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are inspir'd of God, and conttain his whole Will for the Salvation of Mankind, and the only per∣fect Rule of Faith and good Living.

Answ. Yes.

Dem. Do you not believe that Jesus the Son of the Blessed Virgin Mary, conceived in her by vertue of the Holy Ghost, and made after the Flesh of her substance, is God and Man blessed for ever, perfect God, and perfect Man, Man made of a Woman in the fulness of time, and God ingender'd of God the Father before all Eternity?

Answ. Yes.

Dem. Do you not believe that the Lord Jesus from his first conception after the Flesh, was Holy, Innocent, with∣out Spot, separate from Sinners, and that he suffer'd not Death for his Sins, but for ours¿

Answ. Yes.

Dem. Do you not believe that his Death is the propitia∣tion of our sins, yea, for the sins of the whole World; and that this propitiation is of infinite Merit, whereby Eternal Glory and Salvation has been acquir'd for us?

Answ. Yes.

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Dem. Do you not believe Mahomet was a Deceiver, and that his Alcoran is a Sacrilegious heap of Dreams full of absurdities, and broached a purpose to set up a false and abominable Religion.

Answ. Yes.

Dem. Do you not believe that the Gospel of our Lord Jesus is the power of God to Salvation in all them which believe, That the only Christian Religion, is the power of God to Salvation in all them which believe, that the only Christian Religion, is that alone whereby God the Father has revealed his good pleasure for the Salvation of Mankind until the end of the World, that since the manifestation thereof, there is no other to be expected, that the Lord Je∣sus Christ only, is the great Prophet promis'd to the Belie∣vers of the Old Testament, and that God having formerly spoken in divers manners to Men, before, and under the Law, has spoke to the Church of the New Testament by the Mouth of his only Son Jesus?

Answ. Yes.

Quest. Repeat the summary of your Faith?

Answ. I believe in God the Father Almighty, Ma∣ker of Heaven, and Earth, &c.

If the Catecumene be an Annabaptist, the Minister shall say,

Quest. Do you not believe that the Lord Jesus is and shall be true God and Man in both Natures Eternally, that he was according to his Manhood like to us in all things sin only excepted, so that he was the true Son of Abraham, of David, of the Blessed Virgin, proceeding from their Blood and Seed, and that the substance of his Body was formed not only of the Virgin, according to what the Apo∣stle saith, that he was of the Seed of David according to the Scriptures, that he was made of a Woman, and that he partook of Flesh and Blood like other Children?

Answ. Yes.

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Quest. Do you not believe that the baptizing of young Infants is grounded in the Scriptures, and in the continu∣al practice of the Church?

Answ. Yes.

Quest. Do you not with all your heart renounce the Er∣rors of those which deny it; and are you not sorry for ha∣ving hitherto slighted it.

Answ. Yes.

Quest. Do you not believe that the Establishing of Magi∣strates is an Ordnance of God, to the which those which re∣fuse to submit, draw down damnation on themselves; And that all manner of Obedience after the Will of God is due to them?

Answ. Yes.

Quest. Do you not believe that this good God which calls us all by the Preaching of his Word to Life and Salvation, has instituted some Signs and Sacraments in his Church, which Seal and Confirm to us the Covenant of Grace, which is offer'd to us by the Preaching of the Gospel?

Answ. Yes.

Quest. How many Sacraments think you there are in the Christian Church?

Answ. Two, to wit, Baptisme, and the Lords Supper.

Quest. Do you not desire to be instructed in the Nature and Ʋse of Baptisme which you desire in the Church?

Answ. Yes.

Quest. The Minister shall say, Our Lord shews us all in what poverty and misery we were born, in telling us we must be regenerated, for if it be needful our Nature be renewed to have admission into the Kingdom of Heaven, it is a sign 'tis wholly sinful and cursed; therein therefore he warns us to be humbled, and cast down in our-selves, and in this manner he prepares us to desire and seek his favour,

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whereby all the perverseness and evil of our first Nature shall be abolished; for we are not capable of receiving it, until first we have wholly laid aside all trust in our own Strength, Wisdom, Righteousness, even to condemning all that is in us.

Now when he has shewn us our misery, he then comforts us by his mercy, promising to regenerate us by his Holy Spirit to a Holy Life, which shall be to us as the entrance into his Kingdom; This Regeneration consists in two parts, which is that we should deny our selves, not following the way of our own reason, our Pleasure, and own Will, but subjecting our understanding and heart to the Wisdom and Will of God, mortifying all that is of us, and of the Flesh, afterwards we should follow the light of God, to comply and submit to his Holy Will, as he commands us by his Word, and bads us by his Spirit. The accomplishment both of the one and the other is in our Lord Jesus, whose Death and Passion is of such Vertue, that partaking thereof, we are as it were Dead to Sin, to the end that our fleshly Lusts should be mortified. In like manner by vertue of his Resurrection, we may be raised to a new Life, which is God, being Govern'd and Conducted by his Holy Spirit which worketh in us things well pleasing in his sight. Ne∣vertheless the first and principal point of our Salvation, is that by his Mercy he pardon and forgives us all our sins not imputing them to us, but blotting them out that they should not rise up in Judgment against us. All these Graces are bestow'd on us when he is pleased to ingraff us into his Church by Baptisme; for in this Sacrament he assures us of the pardon of our sins; And to this end he hath appointed the Sign of Water, to shew us, That as by this Element Bodily filthiness is washed away, he will also wash and purifie our Souls, that there might be no spot in them. Then he shews us our Renovation, the which lyes, as has been said, in the

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Mortification of our Flesh, and in a Spiritual Life which he worketh in us.

So shall we receive double Grace and benefit of our God in Baptisme, provided we do not frustrate the vertue of this Sacrament by our ingratitude, which is that we have there∣in certain assurance that God will be a merciful Father to us, not imputing our Sins and Offences.

Secondly, That he will assist us by his Holy Spirit, to the end we may resist the Devil, Sin, and the Lusts of the Flesh, even till we triumph over them, to live in the liberty of his Kingdom, which is the Kingdom of Righteousness.

Seeing then 'tis so that these two things are accomplish'd in us by the love of Jesus Christ, it follows that the vertue and substance of Baptisme is compris'd in him, and indeed we have no other cleansing but his Blood, nor no other re∣newing but in his Death and Resurrection, but as he com∣municates to us his Riches, and Blessings by his Word, so also he distributes them to us by his Sacraments.

Now herein appears the wonderful Love of God towards us, that those Graces he bestows upon us, having before the coming of the Messias been restrain'd within the People of the Jews, and the partition Wall which separated the Jews and Gentiles being taken away by the Death of Jesus Christ, he shed abroad the Waters of his Saving Grace in such abundant manner, on the Children of Men, that in him there is now neither Jew nor Greek, Male nor Female, Circumcision nor Ʋncircumcision, nor any other Creature else, which can hinder us from this great Salvation, that Jesus Christ will be preached to all Nations, and the Cove∣nant of his Love confirm'd by Baptisme, according to the Commission given to his Apostles, saying, Go Preach to all Nations, Baptizing them in the Name of the Fa∣ther, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; And it is

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this Grace, Brother, which you desire to partake of by Bap∣tisme, is it not true?

Answ. Yes.

Quest. But because entring into the House of God every one should take care of his wayes, fearing to prophane the the Sanctuary, in adventuring according to the saying of the Wise Man, least he should offer the Sacrifice of Fools, and that he should be cleansed from the Leven and Error of Ma∣lice, do you not detest all the Errors which are contrary to the Holy Doctrine taught in our Churches.

Answ. Yes.

Quest. Seeing you are about to receive Holy Baptisme, do not you promise to live and dye in the Faith of the Lord Jesus heretofore confessed by you, accompanying it with a Holy Life and Conversation, and to imploy all your Thoughts, Words, and Actions to glorifie God, and edifie your Neighbours, submitting your self to the Order of the Church, and to the Discipline whereby this Holy Order shall inviolably be maintain'd.

Answ. Yes.

This being done, the Minister shall add, Let us pray to God that he would be pleased to Bless this Holy Action, and shall pray after this manner.

Lord our God, infinitely Wise and Merciful, we Praise and Bless thy Holy Name, for the favour thy good hand has vouchsafed to shed abroad on this thy Servant, who was in the most profound darkness of the shadows of Death when thou didst illuminate him, causing to shine on him the saving and quickning Light of the Day Star from on high, drawing him from a deplorable hardness to soften his heart, and freeing him from the bands of Death, to restore him to Life; as Lord thou hast taken away the vail which

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was on his heart, calling him to confess the only true God, and him whom thou hast sent, Jesus Christ, and hast at this time inspired him with courage to make publick Con∣fession of thy most Holy Faith, and of the hope thou hast caused to spring in his Soul, enabling him to present him∣self in thy sight to receive Holy Baptisme, the Seal of thy Covenant, pledge of the remission of sins, and Symbole of our entrance into thy House by Spiritual Rege∣neration. Look Lord, more and more on him, with the eye of thy favour, forgiving all his sins, sprinkling his Soul with the precious Blood of the Lamb without spot, which taketh away the sins of the Woold, and making him feel the powerful vertue of its propitiation, let thy Spirit sancti∣fie and make him a new Creature, to the end that dying to sin, he may live unto Righteousness, and laying aside the Old Man with its Lusts, he may put on the New Man, which is renewed in Righteousness and true Holiness: And as we are about to pour on his head the water of thy Sacrament, shed forth on him the Gifts and Graces of thy Holy Spirit, receiving him into the number of thy Servants, and honour∣ing him with the Adoption of thy Children. Enable him to offer unto thee during the whole course of his Life, the Obe∣dience and Religious Service which is due unto thee, and for ever to persevere in thy Holy Covenant, to the end that as now in thy Name, we receive him into the Communion of thy Church Militant, thou wilt vouchsafe one day to receive him into thy Church Triumphant, and gather him for ever into the Assembly of the First born whose Names are written in Heaven. Hear us O Father of all Mercies, to the end the Baptisme we confer upon him according to thine Ordi∣nance, may produce its Fruit and Vertue, as 'tis revealed to us in thy Holy Gospel in thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, who has commanded us to pray unto thee, and say, Our Fa∣ther which art in Heaven, &c.

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Speaking to those who present the Catecuminy, the Minister shall say to them.

Quest. As you have been charitably imployed in the Teaching and Instructing our Brother, and are Witnesses of the Baptisme he is to receive at this present by our Mini∣stry; Do you not promise in the presence of God and this Holy Assembly, to continue more and more to strengthen him in the Faith, and exhort him to good Works.

Answ. Yes.

This being done, speaking to the Catecumeny which waits, kneeling to receive Baptisme, powing the Water on his head, the Minister shall say, Having seen the Testimonies of your Faith, N. I Baptise you in the Name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; Amen.

CONFORMITY.

There is nothing in all this formulary as large as it is, which is not found in substance in what we have remaining of the Catechisms of the Antient Doctors of the Church, and in what was practis'd towards those to whom Baptisme was to be conferr'd; and because most part of those which converted themselves to the Christian Faith, turn'd from Paganisme, where they had learn'd to believe and serve several Gods, the first step they were made go in the way of Salvation, was to make them renounce this Diabolical Doctrine, after∣wards to believe, and be throughly perswaded that there is but one True God, which has made Heaven and Earth, that supports all things by his Almighty Word, who gives us our Life, Being, and Motion, who ne∣ver

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left himself without Witness, and has manifested himself to Men, not only by his Works, but also by Reve∣lation of his Will, contained in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament. * 1.1 The first act of Faith of the Catecumeny's, saith St. Cyril of Alexandria in the third Book of Adoring in Spirit and Truth, is to depart from the belief and opinion touching the plurality of Gods, and to imbrace him who is the only true God by Nature.

Theodolphus Bishop of Orleans in a Treatise he made of the Order, which is to be observ'd in the administrati∣on of Baptism, establishes near hand the same practise when he writes in chap. 2. that the first instruction which is given to Catechumenies, is, that there is one true God, to the end that leaving the worship of the creature, they should Consecrate themselves to the Worship of God the Creator.

It's true that when 'twas a Jewish Proselite, he was ob∣liged before Baptisme, to renounce particularly all legal Ceremonies, to the Ancient, Material and Typical Wor∣ship, to the Jewish Washings and Purifications, to their Feasts, their New Moons and Sabbaths, and generally to all that pertained to the Synagogue, especially to the false Messias they yet expect, and will never come. More∣over they were to make open profession to believe in God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, Holy, Consub∣stantial and individual Trinity, that they should admit of the Incarnation of the Eternal Word Jesus Christ our Saviour, in confessing he is come into the World, and that he is made Man, but not ceasing to be God, the Holy Virgin having brought him forth after the Flesh, and by this means being become the Mother of God. It is after this manner they proceeded with the Jewish Pro∣selites, * 1.2 as we find by a Catechism in the Ritual of the

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Greeks, which in substance answers to what's prescrib'd in our Discipline.

But if it was a Mahumetan that imbraced the Christian Religion, the first thing that was requir'd of him, was to Anathematise Mahomet, his Sectators, his Successors, his lying Alcoran, full of Impostures and Dreams, especially in what regards our Saviour Jesus Christ; in a Word, all the impieties which depend of the Carnal Religion of this infamous Impostor of the East; which being done this Proselite made this Declaration; I now adhere to Jesus Christ the only true God, I believe in the Father, the Son, and the holy Ghost, holy, indivisible and consubstantial Tri∣nity, I believe the Mistery of the Incarnation, and the com∣ing into the World of one of the holy Trinity, that is, of the Word and only begotten Son of God, who was begotten of the Father before the World began, by whom all things were made, and I am perswaded he is true Man without being divested of his Divinity, for he is true God and true Man, without confusion, without conversion, and without alteration, with two Natures in one sole Person; I confess also he suffered all things voluntarily, that he was crucified according to the Flesh, the Divinity remaining impassible, that he was buri∣ed, that he rose again the third day, that he ascended into Heaven, and that he will come in glory to Judge the quick and the dead; to conclude, I confess and believe that the holy Virgin is preperly and truly Mother, and the Mother of a God which made himself Man.

Those who desire to be more fully informed of what I have now discoursed, may Read the formulary of Nicetas whereof I have made mention on the 3 article of this chap∣ter, and in the place I marked.

After all, 'tis most certain the Catechumeny were instructed on all the articles of the Symbol, which com∣prehend the principal points of Christianity, and the es∣sential

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and capital points of Religion; the Catechisms of St. Cyrill of Jerusalem shew so much, seeing he there Ex∣plains all those saving truths, which those ought to know which fitted themselves to receive holy Baptism: in effect, they often heard mention made of God the Father and the Work of Creation, with the Titles of Father, of Almighty, and of Creator, which are given to him; of Jesus Christ, and of the work of Redemption with his quality of only begotten Son of God; of the Holy Ghost, and the Work of Sanctification; they were taught there were three Persons in Unity of One and the same Essence; that the second Person of the Trinity took on him our Nature in the Womb of the Virgin Mary by the Ope∣ration of the Holy Ghost, to the end he might dye, and by his death make Expiation for our Sins, fully satisfie his Fathers Justice for us, appease his Wrath, and restore us into his Favour.

They often heard mention made of his Person, of his two Natures, Divine and Humane, of his Imployments and Offices, of the Misteries of his Incarnation, the Won∣ders of his Birth, the Holiness of his Life, the Glory of his Miracles, the meanness of his Cross, the shame of his Sufferings, the power of his Resurrection, and the Glory of his Ascension and of his Triumph; thence they pro∣ceeded to the Explication of the Article of the Holy Ghost whose Divinity and Operations were established; Jesus Christ having sent Him from Heaven on the Apo∣stles for the establishing his Kingdom, and for Illuminat∣ing and Sanctifying those which he was effectually to call to the Communion of his Gospel. To conclude, they were made understand the Nature of the Holy Church which was to beget them anew unto God, of the Graces he bestows on it in this Life, and of the Glory he pre∣pares for it in that which is to come. All these thing

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are at large treated of in the Catechisms of S. Cyril which I have cited; and they are seen more succinctly in the 7 chapter of the little Treatise of Theodulphus of whom I have also spake, and in that of Amalarius Arch-Bishop of Treves, * 1.3 dedicated to Charlemain in the works of Alcuin.

Besides, it must not be thought that in the ancient Church they satisfied themselves with explaining to the Catechumenies the things which I but now touched, it was also necessary they should give an account in answer∣ing the questions put to them on each article; according to which Eusebius makes mention in his Ecclesiastical Histo∣ry of a man, * 1.4 which had assisted at the Baptism of those which had been newly Baptised, and he said, he heard their Questions and Answers: St. Cyprian in his 70 Epistle speaks also of this custom, when he saith, the Question it self made at Bap∣tism, is witness of the Truth. Firmillian Bishop of Cesa∣ria in Cappadocia teaches us the same thing, when speak∣ing of a woman which boasted to be a Prophetess, he saith that to give the more colour to her Delusions, * 1.5 She Baptis∣ed several persons using the usual words which were wont to be implyed in the Interrogations, to the end her Baptism should not seem to differ in any thing from the Ecclesiastical Rule, seeing that neither the Symbol of the Trinity, nor the usual and Ecclesiastical Interrogations was omitted by her.

It is to which doubtless the first Council of Arles had regard, * 1.6 when in the year 314 it appointed in the 8th. of it's Cannons, not to re-baptise Hereticks, if after Examin∣ing them on the Creed, one found that they had been Baptised in the Name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; but only those amongst them who being interrogated, answered not this Trinity, that is to say, to the questions made them touching the Trini∣ty of Persons, and unity of their Essence.

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St. * 1.7 Cyril of Jerusalem has not forgot this Circumstance in his two Mystagogical Catechisms, no more than Optatus of Mileua in his 5th. Book against Parmenian; nor St. Jerom in the 5th. Chapter of his Dialogue against the Luciferians, nor St. Austin in the 20th Chapter of the 5th. Book against the Donatists, and he even tells us in his 23th. Epist. to Bonifacius, that when Little Children were Baptised, those which presented them, answered for them to all the Interrogations which were made, and the Author of the Book of Ecclesiastical Dogma's in the Appendix of the 3d. Tome of his Works, establishes the same Custom in the 52 Chap. The Author of the Book of Sacraments in the 4th. Vol. of the Works of St. Ambrose, also observes this Custom in the 7th. Chap. of the 2d. Book. And a great while before, Tertullian in the 3d. Chap. of the Book of the Crown, had made mention of the Answers of those which were Baptised; therefore he could have wished they had deferr'd the Baptism of Children, until they were in a state of being able to give an account of their Faith; which opinion St. Gregory of Nazianzen seemed also to approve.

In the book of Sacraments of Gregory I. * 1.8 it is demanded of the Party to be baptised, Do you believe in God the Fa∣ther Almighty, maker of Heaven and Earth? He answers, I do believe. Do you believe in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, which was born, and suffered? I do believe. Do you also believe in the Holy Ghost? do you believe the holy Catholick Church, the Communion of Saints, the forgiveness of Sins, the Resurrection of the Body, and the Life Ever∣lasting? I do believe. Do you desire to be Baptised? I do. Somthing to this purpose is to be read in the book of Sa∣craments, whereof I made mention in the foregoing Secti∣on, and in the place I noted. Besides, there's great pro∣bability that St. Peter made Allusion to this practice

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when he said in the 3d. Chap. of his first Epistle, that the Baptism whereby we are saved, is not that whereby the filthiness of the Flesh is washed, but the witness of a good Conscience in the sight of God the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Greek Word which we have translated Witness, sig∣nifies properly Interrogation. I add for a Conclusion of these matters, that those which were to be baptised were bound to recite the Symbol of their Faith, to renounce the Devil, to his Power, and his Angels; to acknow∣ledge that they were by Nature Children of Wrath, and to shew Repentance and Sorrow for their Sins committed during the time of their Ignorance, and if they were instructed in the knowledge of Heavenly things, they were also taught to live well, that is to say, holily, and in a way answerable to their Vocation. The Nature and Fruits of Baptism was explain'd to them. They had also some Light of the Eucharist shewed them, because they did communicate presently after being baptised, and all these things were accompanied with Ardent Prayers to God as well to render him thanks for calling them to his blessed Communion, as to implore his Grace and Bene∣diction on them at the very instant that he honour'd them with the seal of his Covenant, and Sacrament of our Sal∣vation. After all I have said, the perfect resemblance may easily be seen which is found in the Matter I Examin, betwixt our practice and that of the Ancient Church, if you except what regards Anabaptists, which appearing but in the last Century, could be neither the Subject nor Matter of any of the Decrees of the Cannon Law.

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