Baxter - BX5202 B29 1689

[ I2o] how the Reafon. and Will of Man are moved ? How firong Sin and how blind and. bad the Heart of In ? . L. But it is the Sacraments that they are forbidden to go far from an arnpreaching Minder M. a. Other Canons alfaforbid them oft to Hear in other Parifhes. 2. If my Need and' God's Law oblige me to choofea better Pallor than that ignorant Reader,, tho' in another Parilh ; is it not fit, and my Duty to 'Communicate with him that I juftly takefor my Paflör? o Moreover, I muff tell you, that when an Ignorant Fellow ta- -keth on him the Sacred Office which he is unfit for, and fo liveth in the cönflant Sin of omifiion , and of Prophanation of Holy Things, and of betrayingSouls, I take it to be a Sin to harden 'and encourage filch a bold Prefumer in fo great Evil, and to en- courage People that need better.tobe content with fuch a Pallor; Tho' I determine not whether he have the Effentials of the Mï.- nidry , and th& I doubt not but the Sacraments are no nullities to them that take him for a true Minifler. And yet I mutt add, that there are fame Abilities Eíféntial, without 'Which no Man is truly a Minifler of Chrifl : And this ,Effential Ability, as certainly reacheth to the workofTeaching, as to Adminifiring Sacraments : He is not wofthy the Name of a M.iniffer that denies this : I would not firain this Neceffìty over high : But I lay, that he is no Minifter that wants Elfential Ability : And if the Papifts and their Emiffaries would make the People believe that all not ordained by Prelates are no Mini- fiers, and that fuch excellent Men as Blond 1, Gamier, Sadeel, -Dale, and all fuch abroad are none , I think them more excufa= ble who take him for none that cannot Preach, and nufl,be for- bidden to Expound any Doctrine.. If it werefor want ofTongue and Voice he could not read : If it be for want of Knox ledge, can that Man be by Office a Teacher ofChriflian Doctrine that knoweth it not , and cannot teach it ? and cannot do that for his Flock that every Parent and Husband Mould do , whom the Children andWives are commanded to learnof. L. A man may readfound Do5trine that ander f ands it not, and by reading may teach otters. M. But he is not capable of the Office of a Teacher of Chri- flianity, that underftandsit not : no, nor fo mucha' of Chrifia- nity it íelf, or adult Baptifim. A Turk that believeth not the Gofpel

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