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Chapter 17—On Communion, Answering The Proof For Open Communion In John 3:5
Mr. Bridgman: "St. Paul's criterion would not be cold water, little or much, but the living water of the Spirit, such as Christ spoke of to Nicodemus, and at the last day of the feast." John iii. 5. vii. 37. My Reply: 1. If your spirit never be admitted into heaven till you can prove that Paul the apostle as the Lord's servant ever admitted, or that the sentiment as the truth of God ever entered his heart to admit, persons to the table of the Lord without their being first baptized on a personal profession of their faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, you will never, no never, see the face of Jesus, my brother. 2. The work of divine grace in the heart,…
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Chapter 16—On Communion, Answering Another Charge Of Schismatic Communion
Mr. Bridgman: "You call it strict, I call it schismatical communion, because you, not we, keep away the children from their Elder Brother's table, unless they conform to your rules, I say your rules ; for since the national debt is to be paid by one of us, I will pay it twice, if you will find me scripture text which saith, or seem to say, Let men and women first be dipped, and so let them eat of the bread, and drink of the cup." My Reply: 1. Your calling us schismatical is an old popish opprobrium, now and then raked out from among the bats and cobwebs of college cloisters, by the true sons of secular churches, for difference of sentiment only, without…
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Article 16 – The Constitution Of The Church
Articles Of The Faith And Order Of A Primitive Or Strict And Particular Baptist Church Of The Lord Jesus Christ, Based On The Declaration Of Faith And Practice Of John Gill, D. D., 1720 XVI. The Constitution of a Church. We believe that a Church is an independent and organised body of spiritual men and women[1] who have been baptised and are agreed upon the essential truths and ordinances of the Gospel,[2] and have voluntarily given themselves to the Lord and to each other, for their common benefit and the glory of God;[3] and that it is subject (in all spiritual matters) to no authority save that of the Lord as made known in His holy word.[4] ------------------------------- [1] Acts 15:41,42; 18:22; Rom 16:16; 1…
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Chapter 15—On Communion, Answering The Charge Of Discrimation
Mr. Bridgman: "Are the elect, redeemed, and regenerated of the Lord, to be kept from, or thrust back if they approach the Lord's table, because they have not been immersed in cold water—although, as the elect, their names are in the Lamb's book above." My Reply: 1. The Lamb's book above is no rule for our conduct in the church below, but the revealed and written will of God, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, given under heaven. 2. Neither election, redemption, nor regeneration, constitute any perceptive law of institutions, or of order in the church; but the word of the God of all such grace. We are to be neither law-makers for the wicked, nor breakers of divine law for the saints.…
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15 Christian Baptism
Ordination, in its popular sense, is that form of service by which men are admitted to the ranks of the Christian ministry, and to the exercise of its functions. So important a relation does this service sustain to the character of the men who fill their pulpits and become the instructors and guides of the churches, that ritualistic communions hold it as a sacrament. While ordination is but one of the avenues by which worthy men can be admitted to, and unworthy men excluded from, the sacred office, yet it is one, and should be sedulously guarded by watchful churches and conscientious Councils and Presbyteries—that the ministry be kept pure and true to its high calling. For, while neither churches nor Councils can prevent a…
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Chapter 14—On Communion, Answering The Charge Of Exclusivity
Mr. Bridgman: "I would ask that minister in all seriousness, Have you and your denomination exclusively the keys of the Church of Christ." My Reply: In reply to this we say no; nor do we ever pretend to any such thing, "We are but servants, and our great Master's word and the example of his first servants on his New Testament establishment, is our law, rule, and only authority of order and of action. We lock nothing up that the scriptures have not locked up, and we have got no keys to unlock what the word of God does not unlock, if you have. If that word be no law to you it is to us; and you have, for all what you have written…
