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A49602
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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.; Conformité de la discipline ecclésiastique des Protestans de France avec celle des anciennes Chrêtiens. English
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Larroque, Matthieu de, 1619-1684.; Walker, Joseph.
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1691
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Wing L453; ESTC R2267
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211,783
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388
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according to the Flesh the Divinity remaining impassible that he was buried 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 chapter and in the place I marked After all 't is most certain the Catechumeny were instructed on all the articles of the Symbol which comprehend the principal points of Christianity and the essential and capital points of Religion the Catechisms of St. Cyrill of Jerusalem shew so much seeing he there Explains 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 Operation 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 Wonders 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 proceeded 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 Apostles for the establishing his Kingdom and for Illuminating 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 prepares for it in that which is to come All these thing 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 Pag. 1151 Par. 1617 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 answering the questions put to them on each article according to which Eusebius makes mention in his Ecclesiastical History of a man Lib. 7. c. 9. 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 Baptism is witness of the Truth Firmillian Bishop of Cesaria in Cappadocia teaches us the same thing when speaking of a woman which boasted to be a Prophetess he saith that to give the more colour to her Delusions Apad Cypri Ep. 75. pag. 147. She Baptised 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 Tom. 1. conc Gal. pag. 6. when in the year 314 it appointed in the 8th of it's Cannons not to re-baptise Hereticks if after Examining 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 Trinity of Persons and unity of their Essence St. Pag. 86. Par 1631 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. Pag. 73. it is demanded of the Party to be baptised Do you believe in God the Father 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 Everlasting I do believe Do you desire to be Baptised I do Somthing to this purpose is to be read in the book of Sacraments whereof I made mention in the foregoing Section and in the place I noted Besides there 's great probability that St. Peter made Allusion to this practice 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 signifies properly Interrogation I add for a Conclusion of these
through all the Churches These are the ardent Prayers that are made for you all by Gentlemen and Honoured Brethren Your most humble Servant and Brother in Christ Jesus M. LA ROCQUE Rouen 24o. June 1678. THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE WHat Laws are in a State the same things are Canons in the Church All Societies of Men as well Civil as Sacred have always stood in need of some Rules for the conduct of those whereof it is composed and under their direction to attain the designed end which is pleasure of life with the repose of Conscience and tranquility of Mind Man ought of his own free will be inclined to the obedience of these in the main prospect of the pleasure there is in doing his Duty and in the delight which is to be found in the practise of Vertue besides that in so doing depends the happiness all men seek after but which few do find because they seek amiss Nevertheless according to the manner we are made it 's necessary we should be excited by other motives and be set a work by other principles these Motives are Fear of punishment and Hope of rewards the two great springs that give motion if it may be so said to the whole world and which do powerfully ingage men to eschew evil and do good Legislators have also employ'd it in the world the Apostles and their Successors in the Church and God himself made use of it in regard of Adam promising him Life and Immortality if he continued faithful and obedient to him and on the contrary threatning him with death if he were so foolish as to neglect the keeping his Commands and violate the purity of his Laws In the day thou eatest the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt die the death Man being a reasonable Creature it was suitable to God's wisdom to give him Laws to serve as a Rule and direction through the whole course of his life therefore he had no sooner created him but he imprinted in his heart those instructions which we call the Law of Nature the Exercise whereof was to constitute his joy and felicity so that had he always persever'd in his innocence he would not have stood in need of Judges nor of their Tribunals his conscience would have been sufficient for him its counsels would ever have been safe its decisions just and right and all its Ordinances would have tended to the practise of this important maxim of the Son of God which he drew from the very spring of Nature it self not to do to others but what we would they should do to us But sin having interrupted this Oeconomy and darkned the Lights which attended it all these directions of Nature have been ineffectual and these Instructions of no value Nevertheless 't is certain God preserved in Man after his fall or at least he stirred up in him anew by the efficacy of his Providence some little remains of that clear and pure light wherewith the understanding had been illuminated when 't was immediately made by his hand and thence it is that all men have the common and general Notions That there is one God That he governs all things That he punishes the wicked and rewards the good That to honour him is a Law that 's allowed amongst all men And that he must not only be thought to be immortal and blessed but also to be a Lover of Mankind of whose preservation he takes particular care in daily doing them good it was thereby that the Inhabitants of the Isle of Maltha concluded St. Paul was a Murderer Act. 28.3 they said when they saw a Viper on his hand Divine Vengeance followed him and would suffer him to live no longer It is also from this principle proceeded the knowledg the Apostle attributed to the Gentiles when he saith For when the Gentiles which have not the Law Rom. 2.14 15. do by nature the things contain'd in the law these having not the law are a law unto themselves which shew the work of the law written in their hearts their conscience also bearing witness and their thoughts in the mean while accusing or else excusing one another But at length Sin having almost extinguished the light of Nature and made all its instructions unprofitable God was obliged to renew the knowledg of it by publishing his Law which in substance contains the same precepts as those did which God had writ at first in the heart of Men and seeing the greater corruption is so much the more need there is to multiply Laws to restrain its impetuosity and violence and so hinder its spreading and excess God who knew very well the inclination of the people of the Jews which were a people of a stiff neck and uncircumcised heart as the Scripture speaks a people inclined to disobedience and rebellion God I say not content to divulge the Moral Law he thereunto joyned the Ceremonial and Political Laws to the end the Israelites should the easier be retain'd in their duty under the heavy yoke of this severe Discipline Thence it followed by the Rule of contraries That the more Sanctification is advanced the less need there is of Laws which made St. Paul say That the Law is not made for the just but for the Sinners and wicked The first Christians had but very few Decisions and Decrees in their Discipline because being full of Piety and Zeal and that labouring with unspeakable diligence in the work of their Sanctification they disposed themselves voluntarily according to the nature of the Gospel and intention of Jesus Christ and conscionably practising the Maxim of the Apostle That all things should be done decently and in order in the Church of God they with ease were guided by the Divine motions of Grace and the inspirations of that holy Spirit which God had so plentifully and in great measure poured forth on his Church in the first Establishing of Christian Religion for as to the Canons attributed to the Apostles and the Constitutions which also go in their name they are things forged in the following Ages and after this new people had began to degenerate from the first heat of their zeal and that they had given some check to the innocence of their life and to the purity of their Manners and as corruption insensibly got ground so also was seen to increase the number of Canons and Ordinances for it commonly happens that ill actions do multiply good Laws without which it would be impossible to make head against the many Scandals that licentiousness does introduce where it predominates and where sins are not repressed and punished Something of this kind hapned in our Reformation which had a great resemblance with the first Establishment of Christian Religion for it may truly be said that by a particular blessing of Heaven the first Reformers were so holy in their life so pure in their conversation so wise in their conduct so modest in their words and so humble