N01147:40
A dissertation, wherein the strange doctrine lately published in a sermon, the tendency of…
A dissertation, wherein the strange doctrine lately published in a sermon, the tendency of which, is, to encourage unsanctified persons (while such) to approach the holy table of the Lord, is examined and confuted. With an appendix, showing what Scripture ground there is to hope, that within a very few years there will be a glorious reformation of the church throughout the world. / By I. Mather, D.D. ; [Six lines of Scripture texts]A dissertation, wherein the strange doctrine lately published in a sermon, the tendency of which, is, to encourage unsanctified persons (while such) to approach the holy table of the Lord, is examined and confuted. With an appendix, shewing what Scripture ground there is to hope, that within a very few years there will be a glorious reformation of the church throughout the world. / By I. Mather, D.D. ; [Six lines of Scripture texts]
Boston: printed by B. Green for Benj. Eliot, 1708
Title page typeset from the transcription.
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 must be of our Godliness, Examine what Work of God hath been upon the Soul, how God hath brought the Soul to Himself, and what Graces of the Spirit of God are there, & how we have been brought into Covenant with God. Now if only those can receive Worthily, and are to come that first Examine themselves, then certainly Such only as are Godly are to come, for they only can perform those acts that are required. It is a Sacrament of Communion with God, & Communion with the Saints, Now what Communion hath Light with Darkness? What fellowship hath Christ with Belial? If it be a Sacrament of Communion, of coming to the Table of God; will God have Enemies to come to his Table? You will invite no Enemies to your Tables, ⟨p. 12⟩but your Children and Friends: So they must be the Children of God, and the Friends of God; those that are reconciled to God in the Blood of his Son, and those that are his Children, that must sit at his Table: therefore they must be Holy. Thus blessed Mr. Burroughs.
The Scriptures which have been already mentioned, are a sufficient Confirmation of the Truth, in opposition to Mr. S. Assertions. In another Discourse of his, he supposeth (as did Mr. Johnson, the famous Separatist in Amsterdam) that we must fetch our Schemes of Church Discipline out of the Old Testament, and not out of the New only. By the way, if it be so, why does he in that other Discourse, maintain that there is no Scripture for a Church Covenant, when the Old Testament speaks so much of it, as has rendered it needless to be expressly required in the New Testament. But let us consider, whether there are not Scriptures in the Old Testament, which his Notions do not at all comport with. What else shall we say to that Scripture, Cant. 4. 12. Where Christ compares his Church to a Garden enclosed, a Spring shut up, a fountain sealed? But Mr. S. his Doctrine has a tendency to break down the enclosure, and lay it open to the Wide World, ⟨p. 13⟩for almost all comers to enter into it. Our Saviour Christ invites his Friends to Feast with him at his Table,