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.

IV.

The Children of Fathers and Mothers of the Romish Church, and of Excommunicate Persons, cannot be admit∣tisme in the Reformed Churches, though they were presented by believing Godfathers, unless their Father and Mother consent to it, and desire it, and resign their Authority, in quitting and yielding up to the Godfathers, their right, as to Instructing them, with promises their Children shall be Educated in the true Religion.

CONFORMITY.

This Article is grounded on that Children depend of their Father and Mother, without whose consent they cannot be disposed of, nor christned against their Will, into a Communion whereof they are not Members; otherwise it were a Forcing People to be Baptized,

which the Church has ever condemn'd. * 1.1 King Chilpe∣rick, as is related by Gregory of Touers, commanded to Baptise the Jews, that is to say, he constrain'd several to be Baptiz'd, which Pope Gregory the First did not approve, as appears by the Letter he wrote to Vir∣gilius, and Theodorus, the former being Bishop of Arles, the other of Marsellia, and is the Forty Fifth of the First Book. So also when King Sisibute had done in Spain, after the same manner as Chilperick had done in France, * 1.2 the Fourth Council of Toledo in the year 633, changed their violent practice in its 56 Cannon, the Decree is contained in these terms,; As for Jews, the Synod has Ordain'd that henceforwards no body shall be for∣ced to believe, for God has compassion on whom he will, and harden whom he pleases, and such should not be saved by force, but voluntarily, to the end to preserve intirely the way of Justice; for as Man was ruin'd by voluntarily obeying the Serpent, he is also saved by believing, and converting to God, when he calls him by his Grace; let perswasion there be used, and not violence, to incline them to be converted truly and without any constraint; * 1.3 And 'tis to be observ'd that the Ordinance of this Prince, com∣prehended Children, * 1.4 and Domesticks; therefore St. Isidore Bishop of Sevil, wrote of him, having regard to this Edict, That he had a Zeal for God but not accor∣ding to Knowledge; And we have already seen on the pre∣cedent Article, that Alcuin Tutor to Charlemain, did by no ways approve the force was put on the Saxons in those times, Read his Letters in 104, and 105, and you'l see the truth hereof, insomuch as he deplored at the begin∣ning of the former, the misfortune of that People; which as he saith, often lost the Sacrament of Baptisme, be∣cause they never had in their hearts the Sacrament of Faith; Thence it is, he teacheth in both of them, that one

must begin by Instruction, that Faith is a thing volun∣tary and not forced, that a Man cannot be forced to be∣lieve that which he does not believe.

But that it may not be thought, the Subject I examin is of little importance, and that it might be put amongst things indifferent, to be done or left undone at pleasure, it must be shewn there is nothing more contrary to the tenour of the Gospel than to constrain Men to imbrace the profession of it; Jesus Christ the Author of this Heavenly Doctrine, and the Soveraign Doctor of this Truth never imployed force nor violence to have it received, he was content in Exhortations and Instru∣ctions which he accompanied with a hidden and secret vertue in regard of those he intended to call to his Communion, and which he drew with efficacy, but also at the same time, with Sweetness, with Cords of Love and Bands of Humanity and Charity. The Apo∣stles exactly followed his Example, Exhorting Men to repent and believe the Gospel, and praying them in the Name of Jesus Christ to be reconciled to God.

The Christians which succeeded the Apostles did just after the same manner. * 1.5 Tertullian in his Appollogetick declares positively that the Liberty of Religion cannot be taken away, nor deny Men the choice of the Divini∣ty which they adore, without rendring themselves guilty of the crime of Impiety and Irreligion, because, he pretends, the Service of God ought to have a willing mind for its first principle. And in his Book to Scapula he saith, That 'tis no Act of Religion to force the Re∣ligion which one should imbrace of free will, and not by constraint. Lactantius in the 20th chap. of the Fifth Book of his Divine Institutions, saith, There is nothing so voluntary as Religion, which ceases to be, * 1.6 at the very moment one has any aversion or hatred to it. St. Hilary

of Poictiers in his First Book to the Emperour Constan∣tius, * 1.7 writes, That God has taught the Knowledge Men have of him, before he required it, Authorising his Commandments by his Miracles, not desiring a for∣ced Obedience, nor an unwilling Confession; And in his Book against Auxentius, * 1.8 he reproaches the Arrians to have imployed Prisons and banishment to constrain Men to be of their side, and to enter into their Com∣munion. St. Athanasius was of the same Opinion, as he shews in several parts of his Works, particularly in his Epistle to the Solitaries, * 1.9 where he saith, That the Nature of Piety and Religion is not to constrain, but to perswade, after the Example of our Saviour who forced no body, but left it at every bodies choice to follow him, saying to all the World, If any one will come after me, and to his Disciples, and you, will not you also go? Af∣ter which he extreamly blames the Conduct of the Em∣perour Constantius, who at the desire of the Arrians, tormented the Catholicks, and used great violence to make them declare in his favour, violence which he exaggerates with comparisons too strong, the which I forbear to write. I might alleage other Testimonies of the Fathers, but I would not be too tedious.

Therefore it shall suffice to observe, * 1.10 that there is mention in Mr. Justels African Code of a Law that was published, by the which it was left to every bodies free choice, to imbrace the Christian Religion. The Em∣perour Jovian which succeeded Julian the Apostate, * 1.11 is praised in Socrates, in that he had suffer'd every body to make profession of what Religion he pleas'd, Ammianus Marcellinus has not failed to praise for the same thing, the Great Valentinian who succeeded Jovian in the Em∣pire, * 1.12 in his Thirtieth Book, which the Prince testifies of himself in the Theodocian Code, where he declares,

that as soon as he began to Reign, he made Laws, whereby every body had liberty to profess the Religion wherein he had been instructed and train'd up; I can't tell if I should mention Constantine Pagonat, or the hairy, who in the Letter he writ to the Bishop of Rome, on occasion of the Sixth Universal Council he assembled at Constantinople, * 1.13 he speaks to him in this manner, We may excite and exhort all the World to amend, and to joyn with the Christians, but we will not constrain any body: But I know I ought not, and examining this matter without speaking of the Emperour Mar••i••n, by whose Authority the Council of Chalcedon was assem∣bled in the Year of our Lord 451, for in the Letter he writes to the Archimandrites, and to the Friers of Je∣rusalem, and the parts thereabouts, he saith, speaking of this Council, That no body was constrained by his Order to subscribe and consent to it, and see here the reason he gives; For saith he, * 1.14 we will not force or hale any body into the way of truth by threats nor violence: Words becoming that wise Prince; and which deserves to be graven in the mind of all Soveraigns: And it is to be wished for the Honour of Charlemain, * 1.15 that he had so acted in regard of the Saxons, and not to have threat∣ned with Death those amongst them as refused to be baptiz'd.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Hist. lib. 6. cap. 17
• * 1.2

  Tom. 4. Conc. pag. 593.
• * 1.3

  Ib. p. 603;
• * 1.4

  Hist. Go∣thor. in si se buto.
• * 1.5

  cap. 24.28.
• * 1.6

  p. 82. G. Par. 1544
• * 1.7

  Pag. 82. G Paris. 1544.
• * 1.8

  Ib. p. 84.
• * 1.9

  Tom. 1. p 855.
• * 1.10

  pag. 388.
• * 1.11

  Hist. lib. 3. cap. 25. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.12

  Lib. 9. tit. 16. de Males. & Ma••••em.
• * 1.13

  Tom. 5. Conc. pag. 11.
• * 1.14

  Tom. 3. Gonc. p. 488.
• * 1.15

  Collect. part 2. pag. 179. cap. 7.