N00779:37
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. The trial to be used should be such as may make it appear to the Judgement of rational Charity, that the persons be so qualified as all Church-Members ought to be. It has been proved that Church Members ought to be Believers, Saints, Regenerate persons. And therefore the Church should put the persons, who desire Admission into their Holy Communion, to declare and show whether it be thus with them, whether they have truly Repented of their Sins, and whether they truly Believe on Christ. Thus we read that Philip Examined the Eunuch whether he did believe on Christ with all his Heart or no. Act. 8.37: And John Baptist put those whom he admitted to his Baptism to manifest their unfeigned Repentance. Matth. 3.2.
2. The tryal to be used should be such as may make it appear to the Judgement of rational Charity, that the persons be so qualified as all Church-Members ought to be. It has been proved that Church Members ought to be Believers, Saints, Regenerate persons. And therefore the Church should put the persons, who desire Admission into their Holy Communion, to declare and show whether it be thus with them, whether they have truly Repented of their Sins, and whether they truly Believe on Christ. Thus we read that Philip Examined the Eunuch whether he did believe on Christ with all his Heart or no. Act. 8.37: And John Baptist put those whom he admitted to his Baptism to manifest their unfeigned Repentance. Matth. 3.2.
Nevertheless,