On Baptism
This is a very rough translation from the original manuscript written in old French on the History of the Vaudois Churches in the Piemont mountains. I read this section on Baptism (which I found is a lot easier to just read than to actually translate!) and I found that some of the things sounded strangely like the "new" Federal Vision stuff...
We are pretty certain that the Vaudoises are our ancestors, specifically Henri Arnaud, a Vaudois Huguenot pastor who led an army of Huguenots back into the Piemont Valley in 1690 (?). This book was given to my father by his father, and tells of the persecutions of the Huguenots during this time period.
We are pretty certain that the Vaudoises are our ancestors, specifically Henri Arnaud, a Vaudois Huguenot pastor who led an army of Huguenots back into the Piemont Valley in 1690 (?). This book was given to my father by his father, and tells of the persecutions of the Huguenots during this time period.
On Baptism
The first [sacrament] is called baptism, that is to say in our language, washing by water or from a river, or from a fountain. It must be administered in the Name of the Father, Son, and of the Holy Spirit, to those who, first of all, by the grace of God the Father, looking to his Son, and by participation of [in?] Jesus Christ, who has redeemed us, and by the renewing of the Holy Spirit, who imprints living Faith in our hearts, the sins of those baptized are forgiven, and they are received in grace : and after having persevered [in grace], they are saved in Jesus Christ.
The Baptism with which we are baptized, and that with which our Lord himself wanted to be baptized, in order to accomplish all justice, just as he wanted to be circumcised, is [the baptism] which he commanded his Apostles to baptize with.
Moreover, this baptism is visible and material; [the baptism] does not make a person either good or bad, as we learn in the Scripture of Simon Magus, and of St. Paul. And the reason that the baptism is administered in the midst of the congregation of the faithful is so that he who is received is reputed and held by all for a Brother and Christian, and so that all might pray for him, that he be Christian of the heart, just as he is externally considered to be a Christian. And it is for this reason that we present the Children to Baptism. Those who the children touch the closest ought to do this, just as their parents do, and those to whom God has given this charity.
Jean Leger, L'Histoire Generale Des Eglises Evangeliques Des Vallees De Piemont ou Vaudoises, (France, Leyde: Jean le Carpentier, 1669), 67.
The Baptism with which we are baptized, and that with which our Lord himself wanted to be baptized, in order to accomplish all justice, just as he wanted to be circumcised, is [the baptism] which he commanded his Apostles to baptize with.
Moreover, this baptism is visible and material; [the baptism] does not make a person either good or bad, as we learn in the Scripture of Simon Magus, and of St. Paul. And the reason that the baptism is administered in the midst of the congregation of the faithful is so that he who is received is reputed and held by all for a Brother and Christian, and so that all might pray for him, that he be Christian of the heart, just as he is externally considered to be a Christian. And it is for this reason that we present the Children to Baptism. Those who the children touch the closest ought to do this, just as their parents do, and those to whom God has given this charity.
Jean Leger, L'Histoire Generale Des Eglises Evangeliques Des Vallees De Piemont ou Vaudoises, (France, Leyde: Jean le Carpentier, 1669), 67.
Labels: Arnaud, Baptism, Covenant, Federal Vision, Huguenots, Lompnieu, Reformation
posted by Daniel Foucachon | Saturday, June 30, 2007
1 Comments:
Actually it differs from the Federal Vision at several points.
In the first paragraph, talking about our benefits in Christ, it says that those who are in Christ will "persevere [in grace]". The Federal Vision says that we can be in Christ ("recipients of all that is Christ's" by virtue of our baptism) yet not persevere.
Then it says that "baptism is visible and material", which means that we should consider the baptised as a Brother and Christian, and pray "that he be Christian of the heart, just as he is externally considered to be a Christian". The Federal Vision, however, says that "baptism unites us to Christ", and that "by virtue of our union with [Him], we have wholeness and restoration--new birth, regeneration, new life" (Wilkins, The Federal Vision).
The Vaudois would probably not have said that by virtue of our baptism, we have regeneration.
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