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.

CONFORMITY.

There's nothing in this Establishment but what was practis'd in the Antient Church; St. Justin Martyr te∣stifies in his second or rather his first Apology, that the Christians of those times, would not Baptise those who would turn to their Communion, until after they had believed, and were throughly perswaded of the Truth of their Doctrine; and moreover promised to live con∣formable to the holiness of their Laws, and profession. Pope Victor the 1, ordain'd towards the end of the second Century, as the Pontifical Book saith in his Life; that in case of Necessity, one may Baptise all those that turn from Paganism to Christianity, either in a River, or in

the Sea, or in a Fountain, or in a Lake, upon condition nevertheless, that in the first place they should give an Account of the Christian Faith, and make an open Con∣fession of it. The Ten Books of Recognitions falsly at∣tributed to St Clement Disciple of the Apostles, are very ancient, but forged; and writ before Origen who liv'd in the third Century, in the VI of these Books at the end, we read St. Peter Baptised near the Sea, Those which had fully received the Faith of our Lord and Saviour; that is to say, those which believed in him, and which had been Instructed in the knowledge of his Gospel. St. Jerom expounding these words of our Saviour to his A∣postles, * 1.1 Go teach all Nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, St. Jerom observes, * 1.2 the Apostles taught them first, and that after having instructed them, they baptised them with Water, for saith he, It cannot be that the Body should receive the Sacrament of Baptism, unless the Soul has first received the truth of Faith: * 1.3 which the forty six Cannon of Laodicea also prescribes.

St. Owen writes in the VIII Chap. of the 2d. Book of the Life of St. Eloy Bishop of Noyon, That he baptised every year at Easter, those which in the compass of the year he could Convert, that is to say, those he could turn from the darkness of Paganism to the Light of the Gospel. Paulinus Arch-bishop of York did the like in the same Century, that is in the 7th. as is related by Beda in his Ec∣clesiastical History of England. Theodulph Bishop of Or∣leans follows the same method in his 1 chap. of his Trea∣tise of Baptism. * 1.4 Aleuin who approved not the Saxons should be constrained to be baptised by force, alledged for a Reason, that they ought first of all to be Instructed. But to descend to the last Century, Cardinal Borrome in the Fifth Council of M••llan, of which place he was

Arch Bishop, * 1.5 requires two things of Adults which are to be baptized; First, that they know the Rudiments of the Christian Religion: Secondly, That they repent of their Sins past: I will add to all I have hitherto observ'd, the practice of the Primitive Church, which instructed the Catecumeny, a long while before they Honour'd them with Holy Baptisme, There is in our Discipline, at the end of the Chapter we examine, a Form of Baptisme of those which shall be converted to the Christian Faith, And in the Thirteenth Century Nicetas Choniates composed one for Mahometans, which desired to embrace Christianity. * 1.6 The VI. Council of Paris Authorizes the Decree which it makes in the Year 829. Cannon the Sixth Book the First, by the Practice of the Primitive Church, To. 2. Conc. Gall. pag. 846.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Math. 28.19.
• * 1.2

  In cap. 28. Mat. Tom. 6. pag. 66.
• * 1.3

  Tom. 5. Spirit. pag. 203.
• * 1.4

  Epist. 104, 105.
• * 1.5

  An 1579 Tom. 9. Conc. pag. 6.6.
• * 1.6

  Tom. 12. Bibl. Pat. p. 527. cum 531, 532.