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 Apostle 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 Quest Do you not believe that the baptizing of young Infants is grounded in the Scriptures and in the continual practice of the Church Answ Yes Quest Do you not with all your heart renounce the Errors of those which deny it and are you not sorry for having hitherto slighted it Answ Yes Quest Do you not believe that the Establishing of Magistrates is an Ordnance of God to the which those which refuse 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 Vse 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 't is 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 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 Nevertheless 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 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 therein 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 't is 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 renewing but in his Death and Resurrection but as he communicates 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 Vncircumcision nor any other Creature else which can hinder us from this great Salvation that Jesus Christ will be preached to all Nations and the Covenant 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 Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost And it is this Grace Brother which you desire to partake of by Baptisme 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 Malice 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
in their actions that all their study and care tended only to Piety and Virtue without being needful to incline them to it by any great number of Rules so also their Discipline at first consisted in forty little Articles which were composed by the first National Synod held at Paris in the year 1559 whereas that we have at this time contain'd in 14. Chapters 222. Articles much more large and ample than the first The Reason of this difference proceeds from the change which in time hapned to those that liv'd in our Communion and that were Members of our Churches had they always followed the steps of their Ancestors and that they had been faithful Representatives of their Innocence and of their purity they would have stood in need but of very few Rules because the only love of Virtue would have seasoned all their actions animated all their motions mortified their passions and desires and lighted in their Souls a Divine flame which would have raised their thoughts from Earth to Heaven and the which in snatching them by a holy violence from the love of the Creatures would inseparably have fastned them to the love of the Creator But because there is always some remains of Man in Man and that the flesh too often prevails over the spirit they by little and little degenerated from the zeal of their Fathers and their piety insensibly falling into extream coldness they suffered themselves to fall into many defects which dishonoured the Holiness of their Profession and which obliged their Guides to increase from time to time the number of Laws to restrain by the authority of those Ordinances the course of their disorders and to stop the spring of those abuses wherein they wisely followed the conduct of the Primitive Fathers who seeing a great negligence in the lives of Christians added to their Constitutions new Decrees proportionable as the Sins of Men gave them matter and occasion knowing well that 't was the only means to preserve in its purity a Religion which had been cemented by the blood of Jesus Christ and consecrated by his Spirit In conclusion How large soever our Discipline at this time may be and how much soever is increased the number of its Canons I dare boldly say That never was a better Discipline and that there was never seen an Ecclesiastical Policy more judiciously composed than it is if one take the pains to read it without prejudice one shall agree to this truth and unless one be extreamly prepossest with prejudice against it it must be granted that the Constitutions are just that the Rules are holy and that all the Decrees have no other aim but the glory of God and the holiness of those which submit themselves to the keeping of his Laws all the parts of this body answer one the other they march an equal pace and agree all to the same end the form of Government which it prescribes is indeed very simple but it is Evangelical the order it will have one follow is full of exactness and if the Government it establishes is far from splendor and pomp it is wholly bedew'd in justice and equity In a word All that 's contain'd in it was setled with a spirit of love and sweetness After all this what is there can be blam'd in this Discipline Is it the Establishment of its Ministers But there must be such to instruct the people Is it the manner of their Establishment But it is conformable to that which was observed in the Primitive Church Is it the qualities which is desired to be in them But they are the very same which St. Paul requires in those which consecrate themselves to the holy Ministry Is it the Duties whereunto they are obliged But in this also is followed the precepts of the same Apostle seeing they are obliged to preach the Word of God to administer the Sacraments which he has instituted to live unblameably to be an Example to their Flock in word and actions to edifie them by their Sermons and by their Example under pain of great Censures to those which do not discharge themselves as they ought of these just Duties even to the suspending and deposing those which commit Scandalous offences and such as deserve suspension and deposition Shall our Schools be condemn'd But the use of them is too ancient and too necessary for 't is convenient to instruct youth and teach them with care that they may one day be fit instruments in the hand of God for the propagating his truth and for establishing the Kingdom of his Son If any carp at our Consistories it shall be made appear that from the beginning there was in every Church an Ecclesiastical Senate which informed themselves of all which concerned the good and edification of the Flock If any quarrel at our Lay Church Elders we will make appear that their Institution is almost as ancient as the setling of Christianity and that the Primitive Church having used it successfully several Ages we also make use of it with much utility according to its example As for Deacons all the world knows they were instituted by the Apostles and amongst us they answer very well to the design of their Institution for they take care of the Poor and distribute to them the gifts and charity of good people as their true Patrimony As to the Union of the Churches St. Paul declares sufficiently of what importance it is when he exhorts us to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace and to be one body and one spirit as being called to the hope of one and the same vocation The ancient Doctors have recommended nothing with more care than this holy union nor censur'd any thing with more ardor and zeal than the Divisions and Schisms which divide the Church and tear to pieces the seamless Coat of our Lord Jesus Our Colloquies are nothing else in effect but Assemblies of Ministers and Elders of some certain Association or part of a Country deputed by their Churches to deliberate all together of Affairs which offer and do concern the quiet and comfort of those which sent them so that they cannot be condemned without censuring at the same time the Synods which are called Diocesan to which they have no little resemblance Who can find any fault with our Provincial and National Synods seeing they are grounded on the practice of the Primitive Church and on the authority of the Canons which so frequently recommend the holding and calling of them One must be very ill humoured to blame what we do in our Assemblies all the holy Exercises whereof consist in Invocating the Name of God in Singing of Psalms in Preaching his Word and in the administring the Sacraments These Sacraments being the Seals of his Covenant and Symbols of our Redemption they cannot be Celebrated with too great respect nor too much reverence cannot be shewn when they are administer'd and 't is this respect and reverence which has been
practise but 't is much better to refer to the reader the liberty of judging of our innocence when he shall have Read the whole Treatise for besides that I cannot refute these injuries and slanders without discovering persons who have lately been forward this way unless I would write a Volume and not a Preface would I undertake to answer particularly to all the false accusations which they have alledged to render our Religion odious in censuring our Discipline Laying therefore apart these unjust Accusers 't is needful before ending this Preface that I speak a little of some others whose Learning and Reputation is better known and grounded and yet nevertheless going by a false Zeal or by some other motive unknown to me treading in the steps of the others do no less cruelly devour us I speak of those Gentlemen which accuse us of overthrowing the Morals of Jesus Christ by certain Doctrines which we teach an unjust accusation if ever there was one for if we destroyed the Sanctity of the Gospel it must needs follow of necessity that that which we follow must be pernicious And how can it be that our Morals should be corrupt seeing it produceth a Holy Discipline whose Rules and Directions are so many marks of the Maxims of true Morality I will not be the Judge I desire they would only read what I have writ to prove the resemblance of our Discipline with that of the Ancient Churches and I am perswaded that reading it without prejudice they will freely confess that my parallels are just and that I have drawn the Picture so like the Original that 't will be hard to know the one from the other there 's so much resemblance betwixt them after which I may be permitted to infer from the Holiness of our Discipline the sanctity of our Morals and from the holiness of our Morals and of our Discipline the truth of our Doctrine and by consequence the purity of our Religion I know 't is not absolutely impossible but that there might be a corrupt Moral with a good Doctrine for altho ordinarily these things march together and that the sanctity of the one is followed with the purity of the other nevertheless it may so happen that some may undertake to joyn a pure Doctrine with a corrupt Moral or a holy Moral with dangerous Doctrines Nevertheless because the Moral naturally follows the Doctrine that for the most part an Orthodox Doctrine produces a virtuous Moral and that when the Doctrines are true the Laws of the Moral are just I allow that those which belch out false accusations against us as Enemies of the Morals of Jesus Christ I desire they would judge of our Doctrines by our Morals because then they would judge of our Morals by our Discipline for there 's nothing more just than to judge of the one by the other If our Discipline then be pure 't will follow that our Moral is holy and by consequence our Doctrine is true by their own confession If they say that our Discipline is not pure they accuse of impurity that of the Primitive Church seeing ours is a faithful Copy and Representation of it if they confess it is good then they must confess that all our Religion is pure seeing its Doctrine is true the Moral holy and the Discipline blameless They may forbear then writing such great Volumes to vent untruths nor take such wide circuits to build on ill Principles and to draw false and unjust consequences for there 's nothing falser than what they write that we destroy the Moral of Jesus Christ by our Doctrine of Justification I say illegitimate for if the very consequences they impute to us might be drawn from our Doctrine which cannot be yet they could not in equity be imputed to us because that far from owning them to be ours we abhor them with our Souls What have we done to those Gentlemen that we should be the object of their malice and spight Where is the gentleness and moderation which the Spirit of Jesus Christ inspires Where is that Christian Charity that thinks no harm Would they recover at our charge what they have lost Would they be receiv'd into favour by our prejudice and make us a Sacrifice to appease a Party that would suppress them and against which they are no longer able to resist Must they needs quarrel with us because they could not succeed in their designs Heaven does not prosper mens endeavours when the flesh has as great a share in it as the Spirit when we mingle our Interest with those of God when we make Religion serve the World and when we go about to make I know not what mixtures of the Onions and Garlick of Egypt with the Milk of Canaan The time will come when we shall all appear before the dreadful Tribunal upon which shall sit an Incorruptible Judge who reading in our hearts and searching into the bottom of our Souls will make us give an account of our most secret thoughts of our words and our actions and happy will those be whose Conduct was sincere and whose actions had Faith and Charity for their Principle and the glory of God for their End ADVERTISEMENT THE Stationer hath in his hands the Attestation of Monsieur Cartaut and Monsieur Le Page Ministers at Diep and another of Monsieur Le Gendre Minister at Rouen declaring they have examined this Work and that they have found nothing in it contrary to their Religion In honorem ejus qui ex Anglorum genere natus hoc opus ex Gallorum idiomate in Anglicum transtulit ANte oculos posuit nostros Celeberrimus Author Lumina quae priscos dant prope quosque patres Hique Patre sacrum Domini dant tempore Coetum Quique eadem nostri tempora Coetus habet Os avidum Romae potuit sic claudere clave Ille decus per me perferat egregium Est alius quisquam divino Numine fretus Primam cui generis praebuit ipsa Diem Magna Britannia qui pugnaces quos-ve Britannos Edocet hoc verum voce suâ Patriae Inter eos igitur sit gloria utrique vicissim Eximioque Patri Praesidioque gravi Desaguliers M. Dom. Domino Walkero in Versionem Disciplinae Ecclesiarum Reformatarum apud Gallos QUae tibi plus debet Walkere Britannia forté Gallia forté Tuus seruit utrique labor Nostrorum scripta exornas Sermone diserto Externis anges divitiis patriam L. Rivall Sur le même pour Explication en Francois Sonnet L'Autheur de cet Ouvrage ij paroit dés la France Excellent tout à fait met devant nos yeux Avec beaucoup de soin beaucoup de prudence Les Péres de se siécle ceux du siécle vieux Son travail clairement montre que nôtre Enfance Est celle des Vicillars qui possedent les Cieux Rome tu dois bannir ta Lache médisance Pour la dissiper toute on ne peut faire mieux L'Autheur mérite
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 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 Confession of thy most Holy Faith and of the hope thou hast caused to spring in his Soul enabling him to present himself 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 Regeneration 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 sanctifie 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 honouring him with the Adoption of thy Children Enable him to offer unto thee during the whole course of his Life the Obedience 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 Ordinance may produce its Fruit and Vertue as 't is 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 Father which art in Heaven c. 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 Ministry 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 afterwards 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 never left himself without Witness and has manifested himself to Men not only by his Works but also by Revelation of his Will contained in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament Tom. 1. pag. 93. 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 administration 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 't was a Jewish Proselite he was obliged before Baptisme to renounce particularly all legal Ceremonies to the Ancient Material and Typical Worship 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 Moreover they were to make open profession to believe in God the Father Son and Holy Ghost Holy Consubstantial 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 Proselites Pag. 344. Par. 1647 as we find by a Catechism in the Ritual of the 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 Trinity I believe the Mistery of the Incarnation and the coming 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