N00149:134
A discourse concerning the subject of baptism wherein the present controversies, that are agitated…A discourse concerning the subject of baptisme wherein the present controversies, that are agitated…
A discourse concerning the subject of baptism wherein the present controversies, that are agitated in the New English churches are from Scripture and reason modestly enquired into / by Increase Mather, teacher of a church in Boston in New-England. ; [Sixteen lines of quotations]A discourse concerning the subject of baptisme wherein the present controversies, that are agitated in the New English churches are from Scripture and reason modestly enquired into / by Increase Mather, teacher of a church in Boston in New-England. ; [Sixteen lines of quotations]
printed by Samuel Green, 1675
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.
It is in the fourth place objected, that the Administration of Baptism, according to the pleaded for Latitude is inconsistent with the purity of particular Churches? Answer. It is such a pleasant thing to hear men plead for the purity of Churches, as that, though they should miss it, in their Apprehensions, we may well bear with them, yea, the Lord the Searcher of all hearts, when he seeth a […] aim at holiness in his Servants doth many […] not only overlook their mistakes, but also reward their Sincerity, ⟨p. 51⟩and therefore as for those with whom this objection is a real Scruple, we ought to carry it towards them with all manner of Love and Christian moderation. Nevertheless, Let the Considerate Reader mind the Answer, which is,
It is in the fourth place objected, that the Administration of Baptisme, according to the pleaded for Latitude is inconsistent with the purity of particular Churches? Answer. It is such a pleasant thing to hear men plead for the purity of Churches, as that, though they should miss it, in their Apprehensions, we may well bear with them, yea, the Lord the Searcher of all hearts, when he seeth a 〈…〉 aim at holyness in his Servants doth many 〈…〉 not only overlook their mistakes, but also reward their Sincerity, ⟨p. 51⟩and therefore as for those with whom this objection is a real Scruple, we ought to carry it towards them with all manner of Love and Christian moderation. Nevertheless, Let the Considerate Reader mind the Answer, which is,
1. That they whose notion is, that the particular Church is a Spiritual Corporation entrusted with the power of the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, whereof women and Children are only members Inclusively, and not properly Constituent, or whose notion is that membership in the particular Church, is not the formal Reason of Baptism, are not at all concerned in this Objection.