A26912:629
A defence of the principles of love, which are necessary to the unity and…
A defence of the principles of love, which are necessary to the unity and concord of Christians and are delivered in a book called The cure of church-divisions ... / by Richard Baxter ...
London: printed for Nevil Simmons, 1671
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, for my own part, I never dissented from those called Congregational, in England, in the two great points from which their Churches are denominated, viz. 1. That regularly they should consist but of so many as are capable of Personal Communion, which they call a Congregation. 2. And that this Congregation is not jure Divino under the spiritual Government of any superior Church, as Metropolitan, Patriarchal, &c. But my chief dissent from them hath been, in their going beyond Independency, and too many of them coming too near to Separation, 1. By making other terms of mens title to Churchmember-ship, than these here recited by the New-England Synod, and then the understanding, sober profession of Assent and Consent to the Baptismal Covenant is. 2. And for their gathering new Churches in the several Parishes, as if there had been no Churches there before, and the members not gathered by them, were not the subjects of any Church-Discipline; neither the Children nor Adult.
And, for my own part, I never dissented from those called Congregational, in England, in the two great points from which their Churches are denominated, viz. 1. That regularly they should consist but of so many as are capable of Personal Communion, which they call a Congregation. 2. And that this Congregation is not jure Divino under the spiritual Government of any superior Church, as Metropolitane, Patriarchal, &c. But my chief dissent from them hath been, in their going beyond Independency, and too many of them coming too neer to Separation, 1. By making other tearms of mens title to Churchmember-ship, than these here recited by the New-England Synod, and then the understanding, sober profession of Assent and Consent to the Baptismal Covenant is. 2. And for their gathering new Churches in the several Parishes, as if there had been no Churches there before, and the members not gathered by them, were not the subjects of any Church-Discipline; neither the Children nor Adult.
And the reasons why I have ever dissented from them in these points, have been these.