N00779:151
The order of the Gospel, professed and practised by the churches of Christ in…
The order of the Gospel, professed and practised by the churches of Christ in New England, justified, by the Scripture, and by the writings of many learned men, both ancient and modern divines; in answer to several questions, relating to church discipline / by Increase Mather, president of Harvard College in Cambridge, and teacher of a church at Boston in New England. ; [Five lines of Scripture texts]The order of the Gospel, professed and practised by the churches of Christ in New England, justified, by the Scripture, and by the writings of many learned men, both ancient and modern divines; in answer to several questions, relating to church discipline / by Increase Mather, president of Harvard Colledge in Cambridge, and teacher of a church at Boston in New England. ; [Five lines of Scripture texts]
Boston: printed by B. Green for Benjamin Eliot, 1700
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. Not only Congregational Men, but many of the Presbyterian Judgment, and others also, esteem the Imposition of Hands to be an indifferent and not a necessary thing. That which may be either done or left undone without Sin. Thus do the Presbyterians in Scotland declare. In the History of the Church ⟨p. 93⟩of Scotland written by Mr. Calderwood, p. 26. It is asserted that Imposition of hands they judge not necessary in the Admission of Ministers ▪ And when in the year 1597. that Question was by the King put to the General Assembly, (x)[…] he a Lawful Pastor who wants Imposition of hands? Their Answer was in these words, Imposition or Laying on of hands is not Essential and necessary, but Ceremonial and indifferent in the Admission of a Pastor. This does Mr. Gillespy also maintain in his Learned Discourse against English Popish Ceremonies p 285 The Dutch Churches esteem Imposition of hands to be Adiaphorous. And therefore sometimes in the Ordination of Pastors they omit that Ceremony; and they never use it in the Ordination either of Ruling Elders or of Deacons. So far as I can learn, the Churches of New England are the only ones in the World that Ordain Ruling Elders or Deacons with the Imposition of hands. (y)Piscator, Danous, Alting Zepperus, Polanus, declare it to be Indifferent. So do Ba•duinus, Gerhard and other writers (of the Lutheran persuasion. In some places in (z)Germany they use this Ri•e of Imposing hands, in the Ordination of Ministers, in Baptism, and in Confirmation, and at Marriage also, but in all as a thing Added phor•us.
2. Not only Congregational Men, but many of the Presbyterian Judgment, and others also, esteem the Imposition of Hands to be an indifferent and not a necessary thing. That which may be either done or left undone without Sin. Thus do the Presbyterians in Scotland declare. In the History of the Church