N00779:74
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.
QUESTION. V. HAS the Church Covenant as Commonly practised in the Churches of New-England, any Scripture Foundation?
Answ. This Question was Considered at a General Convention of Ministers at Boston, May 26▪ 1698. And all the Ministers then present (one only excepted.) did Concur in the Affirmative. The Reasons to prove that this Practice of our Churches is not an humane Invention, but grounded on the Word of God, are such as these.
Answ. This Question was Considered at a General Convention of Ministers at Boston, May 26▪ 1698. And all the Ministers then present (one only exc•pted.) did Concur in the Affirmative. The Reasons to prove that this Practice of our Churches is not an humane Invention, but grounded on the Word of God, are such as these.
1. Nothing is more Indisputable then that under the Old Testament, the Church was Constituted by a Covenant. Nor was any Proselyte admitted into that Church, but by laying hold of the Covenant. A Proselyte was Filius faederis a Son of the Covenant. The Jews were Unchurched by being Discovenanted. Zech. 11 10. Things abundantly insisted on in the Old Testament, are more sparingly mentioned in the New. Such as the Sanctification of the Sabbath, and the Church State of the Infant Children of the Lords People. The like may be said as to the Church Covenant. Several Eminent Divines have given this reason why the Word Covenant is not mentioned by the Apostles, when they speak of particular Churches. viz Because it is founded ⟨p. 40⟩