A26886:1087
Certain disputations of right to sacraments, and the true nature of visible Christianity defending…
Certain disputations of right to sacraments, and the true nature of visible Christianity defending them against several sorts of opponents, especially against the second assault of that pious, reverend and dear brother Mr. Thomas Blake / by Richard Baxter ...
London: printed by R.W. for Nevil Simmons, 1658
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Answ. Th•s is more than I have heard any good testimony of, ⟨p. 325⟩and therefore am not bound to believe it, Secondly, They in N. England, as we hear do refuse to baptize all that are not children of the members of their own Churches; but so do not we: they baptize not the members of the Universal Church, unless they be in a particular Church; but we do otherwise. And its reported that they required positive proof of Conversion, beyond a profession of faith and Repentance; but so do not we. Thirdly, Mens obstinacy in sin, and proceeding worse, will not warrant us to take an unlawful course in pretence to do them good. Fourthly, Do you give us any reason to believe that a notorious ungodly person in your Church is in any better a state than an Infidel? Nay, that they are not in a state much worse? It is they therefore that should chiefly move you to compassion. Can you so lament the estate of the less miserable, and not of the more miserable?
Answ. Th•s is more than I have heard any good testimony of, ⟨p. 325⟩and therefore am not bound to believe it, Secondly, They in N. England, as we hear do refuse to baptize all that are not children of the members of their own Churches; but so do not we: they baptize not the members of the Universal Church, unless they be in a particular Church; but we do otherwise. And its reported that they requ•red positive proof of Conversion, beyond a profession of faith and Repentance; but so do not we. Thirdly, Mens obstinacy in sin, and proceeding worse, will not warrant us to take an unlawful course in pretence to do them good. Fourthly, Do you give us any reason to believe that a notorious ungodly person in your Church is in any better a state than an Infidel? Nay, that they are not in a state much worse? It is they therefore that should chiefly move you to compassion. Can you so lament the estate of the less miserable, and not of the more miserable?