Page:Delineation of Roman Catholicism.djvu/227

 Cfile. II.] BAPTISM. 219 Trent have we in the am/ of the Church of Rome in her method of converting nations and individuals, and in her preserving them ifl the unity of her faith by the tortures of the inquisition! Refractor)- sons of the Church of Rome, born under her spiritual dominion, and Protestants originally baptized out of her pale, have equally tasted her flames and racks. Nothing, indeed, but want of power, nothing bt the much lamented ascendency of/res or Protestantism, compels the Church of Rome to keep her infallible, immutable decrees in silent abeyance. But the diviae authority of these decrees, the truth of their inspiration, must for ever be asserted by every individual who sincerely embraces the Roman Catholic faith. Reason and humanity must, them, yield to the infallible decree in favour of compulsion in religious maRers. Did our limits permit, we might give examples under the following heads: 1. Compulsory' baptism of mandpia, slaves, at the will of their princes. 2. Compulsory baptism of persons taken in uxrr, bello cti. 3. Baptism of JewA and infutel cldldren. 4. The baptism of keretics, or Protestants, as a plea to subjugate them. How far, to preserve consistency, Rome, in the present tine, would carry the right of punishing dissent, which her last general council confirmed with its most solemn sanction, is difficult to say. It may be. hoped that the spirit of the age and the example of Protestants have extinguished her fires for ever. 6. The baptism of mogsters. The Protestant reader will be surprised to find a head of this import connected with the subject of baptism. But their doctrine, that every unbaptized child must be excluded from heaven, leads them to the superstitious, or rather the useless or sacrilegious administration of baptism. This is instanced in their doctrine concerning the baptism of monsters, which we give by translating one of their distinguished divines. "A monster, says our pastoral manual, according to the Roman ritual, which hath not the human form, cannot be baptized; but the decision concerning this mu especially be taken from the shape of the head, which is the seat reason and of the senses; hence if the head be human, or is near the human form, it must be baptized; but if this be doubtful it should be baptized conditionally, If thou art a man; and so if the head be that of a beast, and the other members humanl it ought to be baptized under this condition." "Althou h the rituals commonl prescribe that a monster is not to g Y . . be bapt;.zed which hath not the human form, yet that m modern times is called in question by many physicians and divines, whether these monsters are destitute of a rational soul.*' "Finally, it may be considered in the following manner respecting monsters, when it is doubtful whether it may be one or more than one petrson. If it hath one head and one breast it is certain it is only one man, although it may have, for example, three hands, feet, &c.; hence in hat case it is simply to be baptized as one individual. Or it is clear the[re are two men if it hath two heads and distinct breasts, although othbr imrts are not double; and in this case they are separately to b I tized; but if there is danger of death they may be baptized by- say- inl ;, I balz /ou. Or if there is a doubt whether there is one or moro

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