Right to Sacraments, Title page – Dedication
Certain Disputations Of Right to SACRAMENTS, and the true nature of Visible Christianity; Defending them against several sorts of Opponents, especially against the second assault of that Pious, Reverend and Dear Brother Mr. Thomas Blake.
By RICHARD BAXTER, Teacher of the Church in KEDERMINSTER.
The Second Edition corrected and amended.
Mark 16.16.
He that Believeth, and is Baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned.
Luke 14.33.
Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my Disciple.
Acts 3.23.
Every soul which will not hear that Prophet, shall be destroyed from among the People.
LONDON, Printed by R. W. for Nevil Simmons Book seller in Kederminster, and are to be sold by him there and by Nathaniel Ekins, at the Gun in Pauls Church-Yard. 1658.
Disput. 1. Whether Ministers may admit persons into the Church of Christ by Baptism, upon the bare verbal Profession of the true Christian saving faith without staying for, or requiring any further Evidences of sincerity?
Disput. 2. Whether Ministers must or may Baptize the Children of those that profess not saving Faith, upon the profession of any other Faith that comes short of it?
Disput. 3. Whether the Infants of Notoriusly-ungodly baptized Parents have Right to be Baptized?
Disput. 4. Whether any besides Regenerate Believers have a Right to the Sacraments given them by God, and may thereupon require them and receive them?
Disput. 5. De Nomine, Whether Hypocrites and other Vnregenerate persons, be called Church-members, Christians, Believers, Saints, Adopted, Iustified, &c. Vnivocally, Analogically or Equivocally?
Some Reasons fetcht from the rest of M• Blake's Assaults, and from Doctor Owen's and M• Robertson's Writings against me, which acquit me from returning them a more particular answer.
To the faithful servants of Christ, the Associated Ministers of Worcestershire.
Reverend and dear Brethren.
AS I ow you an account of my Doctrine, when you require it, so do I also in some regards, when it is accused by others: which accordingly I here give you; and with you, to the rest of the Church of God. I take my self also to have a Right to your Brotherly admonitions; which I earnestly crave of you, when you see me go aside. And that I may begin to you in the exercise of that faithfulness which I crave from you, I humbly exhort you, that in the study and practice of such points as are here disputed (yea and of all the Doctrine of Christ,) you would still most carefully watch against Self, and suffer it not once to come in and plead its Interest, lest it entice you to be Man-pleasers, when it hath first made you Self-pleasers, and so no longer the servants of Christ. You are deservedly honored for your Agreements and Undertakings: but it is a faithful Performance that must prepare you for the Reward, and prevent the Doom of the slothfull and unfaithful, Mat. 25.23, 26. But this will not be done, if you consult with Flesh and Blood, Self-denial and the Love of God in Christ, do constitute the New-man; The exercise of these must be the daily work of your Hearts and Lives; and the preaching of these the summ of your Doctrine. Where Love doth constrain you, and Self-denial clense your way, you will finde alacrity and delight in those works, which to the carnal seem thorny and grievous, and not to be attempted. This will make you to be up and doing, when others are loytering, and wishing and pleasing the flesh, and contenting themselves with plausible Sermons, and the repute of being able pious men. If these two Graces be but living in your hearts, they will run through your thoughts, and words and waies, and give them a spirituall and heavenly tincture; They will appear in your Sermons and exemplary lives, and give you a special fertility in good works; They will have so fruitful an influence upon all your flock, that none of them shall pass into another world, and take possession of their everlasting State, till you have done your best for their Conversion and salvation; and therefore that we may daily live in the Love of God, in Self-denial and Christian unity, is the summ of the praiers of
Your unworthy Brother, Richard Baxter. Kederminster, Jan. 17. 1656.