N05035:288
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.
ANSW. If this Argument has any Foundation at all, it has it's Foundation in the supposed Truth of the following Propositions, viz. Whosoever is qualified for Admission to one Duty of divine Worship, it qualified for Admission to all; and he that is unqualified for one, and may be forbidden one, is unqualified for all, and ought to be allowed to attend none. But certainly these Propositions are not true. There are many who are qualified for some Duties of Worship, and may be allowed, and are by no Means to be forbidden to attend 'em, who yet are not qualified for some others, nor by ⟨p. 114⟩any Means to be admitted to 'em. As every Body grants, the Unbaptized, the Excommunicated, Heretics, scandalous Livers, &c. may be admitted to hear the Word preached; nevertheless they are not to be allowed to come to the Lord's Supper. Even excommunicated Persons remain still under the Law of the Sabbath, and are not to be forbidden to observe the Lord's Day. Ignorant Persons, such as have not Knowledge sufficient for an Approach to the Lord's Table, yet are not excused from the Duty of Prayer: They may pray to God to instruct them, and assist 'em in obtaining Knowledge. They who have been educated in Arianism and Socinianism, and are not yet brought off from these fundamental Errors, and so are by no Means to be admitted to the Lord's Supper, yet may pray to God to assist 'em in their Studies, and guide them into the Truth, and for all other Mercies which they need. Socrates, that great Gentile Philosopher, who worshipped the true God, as he was led by the Light of Nature, might pray to God, and he attended his Duty when he did so; although' he knew not the Revelation, which God had made of himself in his Word. That great Philosopher that was contemporary with the Apostle Paul, I mean Seneca, who held one supreme Being, and had in many Respects right Notions of the divine Perfections and Providence, tho' he did not embrace the Gospel, which at that Day was preached in the World; yet might pray to that supreme Being whom he acknowledged. And if his Brother Gallio at Corinth, when Paul preached there, had prayed to this supreme Being to guide him into the Truth, that he might know whether the Doctrine Paul preached was true, he therein would have acted very becoming a reasonable Creature, and any one would have acted unreasonably in forbidding him:
ANSW. If this Argument has any Foundation at all, it has it's Foundation in the supposed Truth of the following Propositions, viz. Whosoever is qualified for Admission to one Duty of divine Worship, it qualified for Admission to all; and he that is unqualified for one, and may be forbidden one, is unqualified for all, and ought to be allowed to attend none. But certainly these Propositions are not true. There are many who are qualified for some Duties of Worship, and may be allowed, and are by no Means to be forbidden to attend 'em, who yet are not qualified for some others, nor by