A26965:331
The nonconformists plea for peace, or, An account of their judgment in certain things…
The nonconformists plea for peace, or, An account of their judgment in certain things in which they are misunderstood written to reconcile and pacify such as by mistaking them hinder love and concord / by Richard Baxter.The nonconformists plea for peace, or, An account of their judgment in certain things in which they are misunderstood written to reconcile and pacifie such as by mistaking them hinder love and concord / by Richard Baxter.
London: printed for Benj. Alsop, 1679
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.
2. It is not the validity of the Sacrament that is all that is to be looked at: Quod factum valet saepe fieri non debuit. Men must avoid sin as well as Nullities in Sacraments: We take it to be a sin to own a man as Christ's Minister who is none, through utter incapacity: Yet we know that Reading is a sort of Preaching, and that all Presbyters, where one Church had many, did not publicly and constantly Preach in the ancient Churches: But they were godly men capable of other Ministerial Offices to the People, to pray, counsel and direct them, which must be regarded as well as Sacraments. He that can administer a Sacrament that's valid, may be unfit for men to take for their Pastors or Guides.
2. It is not the validity of the Sacrament that is all that is to be looked at: Quod factum valet saepe fieri non debuit. Men must avoid sin as well as Nullities in Sacraments: We take it to be a sin to own a man as Christ's Minister who is none, through utter incapacity: Yet we know that Reading is a sort of Preaching, and that all Presbyters, where one Church had many, did not publickly and constantly Preach in the antient Churches: But they were godly men capable of other Ministerial Offices to the People, to pray, counsel and direct them, which must be regarded as well as Sacraments. He that can administer a Sacrament that's valid, may be unfit for men to take for their Pastors or Guides.
3. There is a double work of Sacraments to which they may be called Effectual: one is God's own collation of our Covenant-right to the promised Benefits, viz. Pardon and Salvation: To this we believe that the Sacrament is effectual to meet receivers, when it is so delivered as to be no Nullity; and so many heretofore thought that Baptism delivered by a Lay-man is effectual, that is, not Null, but investeth the person in his Covenant Relation; and yet that it is unlawful for a Lay-man to administer it, or others to desire it of him: The other work of the Sacrament is on the Peoples hearts, to which the manner ⟨p. 107⟩of administering much contributeth, as experience proveth.