N05035:389
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.
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.
And when such soul Work shall be voluntarily maintained, and the Word of God abused for the Defilement of the Church & Ordinances of God, it is a greater Scandal to the Weak, & to the Schismatics, and a greater Reproach to the Church, and a sadder Case to considerate Men, than the too common Pollutions of others, which are merely through' Negligence, but not justified & defended.
And when such soul Work shall be voluntarily maintained, and the Word of God abused for the Defilement of the Church & Ordinances of God, it is a greater Scandal to the Weak, & to the Schismaticks, and a greater Reproach to the Church, and a sadder Case to considerate Men, than the too common Pollutions of others, which are meerly thro' Negligence, but not justify'd & defended.
We are told by other impartial Inquirers, that all the Reformed do in their Directories and Practices require Professions, as well as Promises, of Parents bringing their Children to Baptism; even Professions of present Faith and Repentance, as well as Promises of future Obedience; and these not merely of the Moral, but the Evangelical Kind.—The Judgment of the Church of Scotland may be known by their adopting the Confession, Catechisms, and Directory of the Assembly of Divines: who, when they require a parental Profession, (as in their Catechisms &c.) intend it not of any lower Kind, than a true Gospel-Faith and Obedience.—The Mind of the Dissenters may be very much judged of by the Reformed Liturgy, presented in their Name upon King Charles's Restoration; where Parents credible Profession of their Faith, Repentance & Obedience is required in order to the Baptism of their Children.—I might bring further ⟨p. 16⟩Evidence from the Writings of particular Divines among them, ancient and modern: But I must for Brevity omit this. Only I will give you a Specimen in two or three Hints. Mr. CHARNOCK, that great Divine, observes, "Baptism supposes Faith in the Adult, & the Profession of Faith, in the Parent for his Child."—The late eminent Dr. WATTS, in his Holiness of Times, places & People, thus declares himself, with respect to the Infants of true Believers: "In my Opinion, so far as they are any Way Members of the visible Christian Church, it is upon Supposition of their being (with their Parents) Members of the invisible Church of God."