N05035:235
An humble inquiry into the rules of the Word of God, concerning the qualifications…
An humble inquiry into the rules of the Word of God, concerning the qualifications requisite to a complete standing and full communion in the visible Christian church. By Jonathan Edwards, A.M. Pastor of the First Church in Northampton. ; With an appendix by Mr. Foxcroft. ; [Ten lines of quotations]An humble inquiry into the rules of the Word of God, concerning the qualifications requisite to a compleat standing and full communion in the visible Christian church. By Jonathan Edwards, A.M. Pastor of the First Church in Northampton. ; With an appendix by Mr. Foxcroft. ; [Ten lines of quotations]
Boston: : Printed & sold by S. Kneeland in Queenstreet, 1749
Title page typeset from the transcription.
An Inquiry into the Qualifications for full Communion in the visibl… › Part 3
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.
I answer; When God gave those Commands, he knew that the Commands, in all their Strictness, would reach many Persons who in the Time of the Passover would be without so much as moral Sincerity in Religion. Every Man in the Nation, of every Generation, and which should be in Being each Year, from the first Institution 'till the Death of Christ, were all (excepting such as were ceremonially unclean, or in a Journey) strictly required to keep the Feast of Passover; and yet God knew that Multitudes would be without the Qualification of moral Seriousness in Religion. It would be very unreasonable, to suppose, that every single Person in the Nation was morally serious, even in the very best Time that ever passed over the Nation; or that ever there was such a happy Day with that ⟨p. 94⟩Nation, or any other Nation under Heaven, wherein all were morally sincere in Religion. How much then was it otherwise many Times with that Nation, which was so prone to Corruption, and so often generally involved in gross Wickedness? But the strict Command of God to keep the Passover reached the morally insincere, as well as others; they are no where excepted, any more than the unconverted. And as to any general Commands of God's Word, these no more required Men to turn from a State of moral Insincerity before they came to the Passover, than they required 'em to turn from a graceless State.
I answer; When God gave those Commands, he knew that the Commands, in all their Strictness, would reach many Persons who in the Time of the Passover would be without so much as moral Sincerity in Religion. Every Man in the Nation, of every Generation, and which should be in Being each Year, from the first Institution 'till the Death of Christ, were all (excepting such as were ceremonially unclean, or in a Journey) strictly required to keep the Feast of Passover; and yet God knew that Multitudes would be without the Qualification of moral Seriousness in Religion. It would be very unreasonable, to suppose, that every single Person in the Nation was morally serious, even in the very best Time that ever pass'd over the Nation; or that ever there was such a happy Day with that ⟨p. 94⟩Nation, or any other Nation under Heaven, wherein all were morally sincere in Religion. How much then was it otherwise many Times with that Nation, which was so prone to Corruption, and so often generally involved in gross Wickedness? But the strict Command of God to keep the Passover reach'd the morally insincere, as well as others; they are no where excepted, any more than the unconverted. And as to any general Commands of God's Word, these no more required Men to turn from a State of moral Insincerity before they came to the Passover, than they required 'em to turn from a graceless State.