A26965:336
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.
Ans. 1. He that not knowing the Minister to be such a one, or by true necessity useth such a one, yea or by ignorance thinketh that he should not avoid him, if he be himself a true Believer, may have God's Covenant sealed to him by the Sacrament, which such a one delivereth: Yea, by an Usurper or mere Lay-man that is in possession, and mistaken for a Minister: If a man forge his Orders, or intrude uncalled, or be an obtruded usurping Bishop, the people cannot always detect it: Nor do they lose their right to God's Sacraments, because the man hath (unknown to them) no right to administer them: But if they know such an one, they should not own him as a Minister of Christ, so far as to trust ⟨p. 108⟩their souls with him as their Pastor, (at least when they may have a better.) And he that so withdraweth himself from the communion of notorious wicked Pastors whom he hath no power to cast out, not separating causelessly from others or the Church-state, seemeth to us to have all the following reasons to excuse him from the guilt of Schism.
Ans. 1. He that not knowing the Minister to be such a one, or by true necessity useth such a one, yea or by ignorance thinketh that he should not avoid him, if he be himself a true Believer, may have God's Covenant sealed to him by the Sacrament, which such a one delivereth: Yea, by an Usurper or meer Lay-man that is in possession, and mistaken for a Minister: If a man forge his Orders, or intrude uncalled, or be an obtruded usurping Bishop, the people cannot alwaies detect it: Nor do they lose their right to God's Sacraments, because the man hath (unknown to them) no right to administer them: But if they know such an one, they should not own him as a Minister of Christ, so far as to trust ⟨p. 108⟩their souls with him as their Pastor, (at least when they may have a better.) And he that so withdraweth himself from the communion of notorious wicked Pastors whom he hath no power to cast out, not separating causlesly from others or the Church-state, seemeth to us to have all the following reasons to excuse him from the guilt of Schism.