A26923:829
An end of doctrinal controversies which have lately troubled the churches
An end of doctrinal controversies which have lately troubled the churches by reconciling explication without much disputing. Written by Richard Baxter.
London: printed for John Salusbury, 1691
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.
§. 9. 6. Some say, That it is the Churches Faith, and dedicating them to God in Baptism that is the Condition of their Salvation: But this is not intelligible. If by the Church they mean all the Christian World, or all a National Church, or all a Diocesan Church, yea, or all a Parish-Church, they use not to be all Godfathers, nor to offer other folks Children to be baptized; nor did I ever know one that had so common a •ote, or was so offered: If they mean that the Churches Faith •erveth whoever be the Covenanter or Offerer, then ⟨p. 220⟩all the Pagan World may have their Children saved by the Churches Faith, or all that can be catched up and baptized (and so the Ceremony doth it.) But if they mean by that Church the Bishops or Presbyters, whether it must be all the Bishops of the World, or of the Nation, or one Bishop, or the Presbyter that baptizeth, every one may speak according to his own Invention and Fancy, but with no Proof from the Word of God or Reason (as the aforesaid Disproofs do manifest.)
§. 9. 6. Some say, That it is the Churches Faith, and dedicating them to God in Baptism that is the Condition of their Salvation: But this is not intelligible. If by the Church they mean all the Christian World, or all a National Church, or all a Diocesan Church, yea, or all a Parish-Church, they use not to be all Godfathers, nor to offer other folks Children to be baptized; nor did I ever know one that had so common a •ote, or was so offered: If they mean that the Churches Faith •erveth whoever be the Covenanter or Offerer, then ⟨p. 220⟩all the Pagan World may have their Children saved by the Churches Faith, or all that can be catcht up and baptized (and so the Ceremony doth it.) But if they mean by that Church the Bishops or Presbyters, whether it must be all the Bishops of the World, or of the Nation, or one Bishop, or the Presbyter that baptizeth, every one may speak according to his own Invention and Fancy, but with no Proof from the Word of God or Reason (as the aforesaid Disproofs do manifest.)