N05035:348
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.
In a Word, the Practice of promiscuous Admission, or that Way of taking all into the Church indifferently,as visible Saints, who are not either ignorant or scandalous, and at the same Time that Custom's taking Place of Persons publishing their own Conversion in common Conversation; where these two Things meet together, they unavoidably make two distinct Kinds of visible Churches, or different Bodies of professing Saints, one within another, openly distinguished one from another, as it were by a visible dividing Line. One Company consisting of those who are visibly gracious Christians, and open Professors of Godliness; another consisting of those who are visibly moral Livers, and only profess common Virtues, without pretending to any special and spiritual Experiences in their Hearts, and who therefore are not reputed to be Converts. I may appeal to those acquainted with the State of the Churches, whether this be not actually the Case in some, where this Method of Proceeding has been long established. But I leave the judicious Reader to make his own Remarks on this Case, and to determine, whether there be a just Foundation in Scripture or Reason for any such State of Things; which to me, I confess, carries the Face of glaring Absurdity.
In a Word, the Practice of promiscuous Admission, or that Way of taking all into the Church indifferently,as visible Saints, who are not either ignorant or scandalous, and at the same Time that Custom's taking Place of Persons publishing their own Conversion in common Conversation; where these two Things meet together, they unavoidably make two distinct Kinds of visible Churches, or different Bodies of professing Saints, one within another, openly distinguished one from another, as it were by a visible dividing Line. One Company consisting of those who are visibly gracious Christians, and open Professors of Godliness; another consisting of those who are visibly moral Livers, and only profess common Vertues, without pretending to any special and spiritual Experiences in their Hearts, and who therefore are not reputed to be Converts. I may appeal to those acquainted with the State of the Churches, whether this be not actually the Case in some, where this Method of Proceeding has been long established. But I leave the judicious Reader to make his own Remarks on this Case, and to determine, whether there be a just Foundation in Scripture or Reason for any such State of Things; which to me, I confess, carries the Face of glaring Absurdity.