A26958:198
A moral prognostication I. what shall befall the churches on Earth, till their concord
A moral prognostication I. what shall befall the churches on Earth, till their concord, by the restitution of their primitive purity, simplicity, and charity, II. how that restitution is like to be made, (if ever) and what shall befall them thence-forth unto the end, in that golden-age of love / written by Richard Baxter ...
London: printed for Thomas Simmons, 1680
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.
22. No One Church, shall have the Government of Another Church: And the secular Differences of Metropolitans, Patriarchs, &c. which was set up in one Empire, upon secular Accounts, and from secular Reasons, shall all cease. And no Differences shall be made necessary among them, which Christ hath not made necessary. But Christian Princes shall take warning by the Greek and Latin ⟨p. 51⟩Churches, and by all the Calamities and Ruins, which have been caused in the Christian World; by Bishops striving who should be the Greatest, when Christ decided the Controversy long ago, Luk. 22.
22. No One Church, shall have the Government of Another Church: And the secular Differences of Metropolitans, Patriarcks, &c. which was set up in one Empire, upon secular Accounts, and from secular Reasons, shall all cease. And no Differences shall be made necessary among them, which Christ hath not made necessary. But Christian Princes shall take warning by the Greek and Latine ⟨p. 51⟩Churches, and by all the Calamities and Ruins, which have been caused in the Christian World; by Bishops striving who should be the Greatest, when Christ decided the Controversie long ago, Luk. 22.
23. As Christians hold Personal, Christian Communion, in their several particular Churches; so Churches shall hold a Communion of Churches, by necessary Correspondencies, and Associations: Not making a Major Vote of Bishops in Synods, to have a proper Government over the Minor Part. But that by counsel and concord, they may help and strengthen one another; and secure the common Interest of Christianity. And that he that is a Member of one Church, may be received of the Rest; and he that is cast out of One, may not be received by the Rest, unless he be wronged. So that, it shall not be One Politic Church; but a Communion of Churches.