There is nothing in all this but what the Presbyterians consent to, with these Explications, which we doubt not but will be allowed. 1. That this excludeth not the Infants of Believers from being Infant Members of the Church without these Qualifications in their Persons. 2. That if Infant Members grow up and claim a place among the Adult, it will1 then be meet that all this be done by them. 3. But yet that it's one thing to admit them into the number of the Adult Members of the Church Universal, (as the Eunuch,2 Acts 8. and others were by Baptism,) and another thing to admit them into a particular Church also And that the consent to Christianity is it that is necessary to the first, and the consent to the Duty of a particular Member in that Church, is necessary only to the Second, (which supposeth also the First) 4. That there is great difference between a Baptized Person that needs but Confirmation or Repentance, and a Converted infidel, that's to be Baptized: It is meet to have some Testimony of the Life of the former, because he is in Covenant already: But the Life of the latter is not to be supposed to be upright, but ungodly, and therefore we may not require of him a Testimony of his upright Life, but a Confession and Lamentation of his ungodly Life, with a Consent and Resolution for new Obedience: Upon this much the Apostles Baptized their Converts, without delay to try their Lives. 5. And there's ⟨p. 17⟩difference to be put between what is necessary ad esse, & ad bene esse: Necessitate medii & praecepti. And the Profession of Christianity, that is, of present Faith and Repentance, and this by any tolerable intimation or signification, is all that is necessary to the Being of such Adult Members: And that the Testimony of his good life is only necessary (when it may be sought) to the performance of our Duty, and the purity of the Church. If we admit a Man of another Country without Testimony or Trial, upon his mere profession, or if we do so through haste, or negligence, or multitude of Persons that we have to deal with in populous places, this doth not nullify his Membership: Nor yet if we admit him upon a dark and less express Confession. And, 6. It is a Mans Profession that is his Title▪condition to Visible Membership; and his Life is but a Confirmation of that;
There is nothing in all this but what the Presbyterians consent to, with these Explications, which we doubt not but will be allowed. 1. That this excludeth not the Infants of Believers from being Infant Members of the Church without these Qualifications in their Persons. 2. That if Infant Members grow up and claim a place among the Adult, it will1 then be meet that all this be done by them. 3. But yet that it's one thing to admit them into the number of the Adult Members of the Church Universal, (as the Eunuch,2 Acts 8. and others were by Baptism,) and another thing to admit them into a particular Church also And that the consent to Christianity is it that is necessary to the first, and the consent to the Duty of a particular Member in that Church, is necessary only to the Second, (which supposeth also the First) 4. That there is great difference between a Baptized Person that needs but Confirmation or Repentance, and a Converted •nfidel, that's to be Baptized: It is meet to have some Testimony of the Life of the former, because he is in Covenant already: But the Life of the latter is not to be supposed to be upright, but ungodly, and therefore we may not require of him a Testimony of his upright Life, but a Confession and Lamentation of his ungodly Life, with a Consent and Resolution for new Obedience: Upon this much the Apostles Baptized their Converts, without delay to try their Lives. 5. And there's ⟨p. 17⟩difference to be put between what is necessary ad esse, & ad bene esse: Necessitate medii & praecepti. And the Profession of Christianity, that is, of present Faith and Repentance, and this by any tolerable intimation or signification, is all that is necessary to the Being of such Adult Members: And that the Testimony of his good life is only necessary (when it may be sought) to the performance of our Duty, and the purity of the Church. If we admit a Man of another Countrey without Testimony or Tryal, upon his meer profession, or if we do so through haste, or negligence, or multitude of Persons that we have to deal with in populous places, this doth not nullifie his Membership: Nor yet if we admit him upon a dark and less express Confession. And, 6. It is a Mans Profession that is his Title▪condition to Visible Membership; and his Life is but a Confirmation of that;
- 1Thes. S•lmur, Vol. 3. p. 59▪ Th. 39. [Sacramenta non conseruntur nisi iis qui vel fidem habent, vel saltem •am prae see ferunt, adeo ut nullis certis argumentis compertum esse possit eam esse ementitam.]Thes. S•lmur, Vol. 3. p. 59▪ Th. 39. [Sacramenta non conseruntur nisi iis qui vel fidem habent, vel saltem •am prae se ferunt, adeo ut nullis certis argumentis compertum esse possit eam esse ementitam.]
- 2Rutherford Due Right, p▪ 231. [Such (as are ignorant of the first Rudiments and Foundation of Religion) are materially not of the Visible Church, and have not a Profession, and are to be taught; and if they wilfully remain in that darkness are to be cast out.Rutherford Due Right, p▪ 231. [Such (as are ignorant of the first Rudiments and Foundation of Religion) are materially not of the Visible Church, and have not a Profession, and are to be taught; and if they willfully remain in that darkness are to be cast out.
