N01147:41
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.
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, Cant. 5. 7. Eat O Friends, Drink O Beloved. Unregenerate persons are not his Friends, nor does he take Complacency in them, so as to invite them to sit down with him at his Table. Christ would have the Gates of his Church set open that the Righteous Nation who keeps the Truth may enter in, Isa. 26. 2. How contrary is this to those that would open the Doors of the Church to a Nation of Unconverted men, and who invite those who they think have no Sincerity, or truth of Grace in their Hearts to enter in? There is another Scripture in the Old Testament, which relates to New Testament times, tho' expressed in Old Testament Phrases. It is that, in Ezek. 44. 7, 9. You have brought into my Sanctuary strangers, uncircumcised in Heart, and uncircumcised in Flesh, to be in my Sanctuary, to pollute it, even my House, when you offer my Bread, the Fat, and the Blood, and they have broken my Covenant;—Thus faith the Lord God, No stranger uncircumcised in Heart, shall enter into my Sanctuary. The Jewish Masters inform us, that their Fathers were very strict in their admitting Proselytes: