N05035:290
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.
'Tis said, There can be no Reason assigned, why unsanctified Persons may attend other Duties of Worship, and not the Lord's Supper. But I humbly conceive, this must be an Inadvertence. For there is a Reason very obvious from that necessary and very notable Distinction among Duties of Worship, which follows:
1. There are some Duties of Worship, that imply a Profession of God's Covenant: whose very Nature and Design is an Exhibition of those vital ⟨p. 115⟩active Principles and inward Exercises, wherein consists the Condition of the Covenant of Grace, or that Union of Soul to God, which is the Union between Christ and his Spouse, entered into by an inward hearty consenting to that Covenant. Such are the Christian Sacraments, whose very Design is to make and confirm a Profession of Compliance with that Covenant, and whose very Nature is to exhibit or express the uniting Acts of the Soul: those Sacramental Duties therefore can't, by any whose Hearts do not really consent to that Covenant, and whose Souls do not truly close with Christ, be attended, without either their being self-deceived, or else wilfully making a false Profession, and lying in a very aggravated Manner.
1. There are some Duties of Worship, that imply a Profession of God's Covenant: whose very Nature and Design is an Exhibition of those vital ⟨p. 115⟩active Principles and inward Exercises, wherein consists the Condition of the Covenant of Grace, or that Union of Soul to God, which is the Union between Christ and his Spouse, entred into by an inward hearty consenting to that Covenant. Such are the Christian Sacraments, whose very Design is to make and confirm a Profession of Compliance with that Covenant, and whose very Nature is to exhibit or express the uniting Acts of the Soul: those Sacramental Duties therefore can't, by any whose Hearts do not really consent to that Covenant, and whose Souls do not truly close with Christ, be attended, without either their being self-deceived, or else wilfully making a false Profession, and lying in a very aggravated Manner.