About A. D. 530.-D. Joseph Vicecomes, in his treatise records (Bapt. Hist., page 482), the following testimonies from the sixth century.
Of the decree of the Christians, at Agathe, about A. D. 530, he says, lib. 3, cap. 1, "The council of Agathe, cap. 13, says: It is the will of all the church, that on the eighth day before Easter, the confession of faith be preached publicly in the church to those desiring baptism."* * Touching the Jews who embraced the faith, this rule was established, "A Jew shall be tried for eight months among the scholars of the faith, and then, if he assents to it, be baptized."Seb. Franck, Chron., Rom. Cone, fol. 72, col. 3. We do not especially favor the decrees of councils; yet, when -they agree with the Word of God, we accept them, not because men have uttered them,- but because they have been pronounced already in the Word of God. Thus, when it is said of all the churches which existed at that time, that it was their will that the confession of faitb should be publicly preached on the eighth day before Easter; and also that it was added, how and to whom it was to be preached, namely, before those desiring baptism, we find not only that it well accords with the Word of God, Mark 16:15, 16, but, moreover, that not only a few individuals, but all the churches, namely, those which dissented from the church of Rome, held that view, namely, to baptize after previous instruction. In the second place, when it is said here that the confession of faith should be preached to those desiring baptism (this is, not to infants), it clearly follows that the candidates here spoken of, had themselves to desire baptism, yea, that they themselves had to profess the confession of faith preached to them, else there would have been no reason to preach it to them. Vicecomes (lib. 2, cap. 2, page 483), quotes the following words from the 7th chapter of the first council of Constantinople: "As many of the Eunomians and Montanists as desire to embrace the faith, we receive, as we do the Grecians; on the first day we instruct them in Christianity, on the second day we receive them as disciples, and on the third day we bless them (or require them to renounce Satan); and thus we instruct them, taking care that they walk in the church for a considerable time, and hear the holy Scriptures, and then, and not before, if they are found upright, we baptize them. This first council of Constantinople is placed, according to the order of D. I. Vicecomes, in Bapt. Hist., immediately after the council of Agathe, held about A. D. 530; and although we have long searched for it, we have not been able to ascertain the correct date of it; hence we make no change in the order. After this, Vicecomes places the sixth council of Constantinople, in which several things illustrating the point we have in view respecting baptism upon faith are presented; but since we find from other writers, that said council was not held in this century, but many years after, Vicecomes having greatly erred in this, we will not proceed further with it here, but reserve our account of it for the proper time and place. We therefore turn to what is quoted in the 7th chapter of the first council of Constantinople, where it is said in regard to those of the Eunomians and Montanists who should desire to unite with that church, that they should not be baptized until they had been instructed one, two, or three days, yea, had walked for a considerable time in the church, and heard the holy Scriptures.
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