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.
Behold now I have opened my mouth:(My words shall be of the uprightness of my heart.—Job xxxiii. 2, 3.
Confitebatur [Lutherus] dolorem suum, quod ab ipsis reflorescentis Evangelii Primordiis, quosvis abeque Discrimine ad Cœnam Dominicam admisisset, quodque Disciplinam, Fractrum Disciplinæ similem, apud suos non constituisset.—Quia objiciebatur, Fratres non habere Ecclesiam apertam:—Responsum fuit, Sancta dare non Sanctis prohibuisse Christum:—Errorem [in Papatu] corrigi non posse aliter quam ut certa Probatione, nec illa subitanea, Cordium Arcana reveluntur, Novitiique dui et caute tum informentur, tum explorentur.—Ratio Discipl. Fratr. Bohem.
Contents
- The Author’s Preface
- A Preface by the Author’s American Friends
- Advertisement to the Edinburgh Edition
- Part I. The Question Stated and Explained
- Part II. Reasons for the Negative of the Question
- Section I. None Ought to Be Admitted as Members of the Visible Church but Visible and Professing Saints
- Section II. All Capable of It Are Bound to Make an Explicit Open Profession of the True Religion
- Section III. None Ought to Be Admitted to the Privileges of the Church but Those Who Profess Real Piety
- Section IV. Reason Requires a Hearty Profession, Confirmed by Scripture Testimony
- Section V. Christ’s Representations of His Visible Church Make This Manifest
- Section VI. The Manner of Admission of Members into the Primitive Christian Church Confirms the Point
- Section VII. The Epistles of the Apostles to the Churches Prove What Has Been Asserted
- Section VIII. The Visible Church Is a Society United by the Bond of Christian Brotherly Love
- Section IX. Communicants Must Judge Themselves Truly to Accept Christ as Their Only Saviour
- Part III. Objections Answered
- Objection I. The Church Is the School of Christ
- Objection II. Israel Was God’s People
- Objection III. Jews Partook of the Passover
- Objection IV. John’s Disciples Made No Profession of Piety
- Objection V. Many Are Called, but Few Chosen
- Objection VI. Wheat and Tares Grow Together
- Objection VII. The Case of Judas
- Objection VIII. No Certain Rule Given
- Objection IX. If Grace Be Required, It Must Be Known
- Objection X. Perplexity Occasioned
- Objection XI. All Duties of Worship Are Holy
- Objection XII. The Tendency of the Lord’s Supper
- Objection XIII. God Does Not Require Impossibilities
- Objection XIV. Unsanctified Persons May Live as Saints
- Objection XV. Better Admit Hypocrites Than Exclude Saints
- Objection XVI. Hypocrites Will Be Admitted
- Objection XVII. True Saints Doubt of Their State
- Objection XVIII. Men’s Opinion of Themselves Is No Criterion
- Objection XIX. Infant Baptism
- Objection XX. Some Have Been Converted at the Sacrament
- Appendix. A Letter to the Author from Mr. Foxcroft, concerning the Opinion of Protestant Divines