A30189:240
An answer to two treatises of Mr. John Can, the leader of the English…An answer to two treatises of Mr. Iohn Can, the leader of the English…
An answer to two treatises of Mr. John Can, the leader of the English Brownists in Amsterdam the former called, A necessity of separation from the Church of England, proved by the Nonconformists principles : the other, A stay against straying : wherein in opposition to M. John Robinson, he undertakes to prove the unlawfulness of hearing the ministers of the Church of England ... / by the late learned, laborious and faithful servant of Jesus Christ, John Ball.An answer to two treatises of Mr. Iohn Can, the leader of the English Brownists in Amsterdam the former called, A necessitie of separation from the Church of England, proved by the Nonconformists principles : the other, A stay against straying : wherein in opposition to M. Iohn Robinson, he undertakes to prove the unlawfulnesse of hearing the ministers of the Church of England ... / by the late learned, laborious and faithfull servant of Jesus Christ, John Ball.
London: printed by R.B., 1642
Chapter 1 › Section 5 › Can. Stay. Sect. 5. Pag 37.38. › ANSWER.
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.
But if we may speak as you do, A devised constitution is twofold, 1 Absolute and in every respect, when neither Doctrine, Ordinances, office or persons are of God: and this constitution is altogether false, a nullity, an Idol, if you please so to call it. 2 In part corrupt, maimed, defective, but having something of God: and that which is done in such a constitution is not false, a nullity, tainted with the idolatry of the constitution. This distinction is neither devised, strange, nor new, but that which hath ever more been acknowledged in the Church of God, and is manifest in Scripture, if we take the word, devised constitution, as this Author doth. For Heretics and Schismatics, though they be not of the special number of them, that hold the entire profession of divine truth in unity, and in that respect be a false constitution; yet as they profess the truth of God revealed in Christ, though ⟨p. 72⟩maimedly or in part only, and as they administer the ordinances or Sacraments of God, that which they do is not a mere nullity.
But if we may speake as you doe, A devised constitution is twofold, 1 Absolute and in every respect, when neither Doctrine, Ordinances, office or persons are of God: and this constitution is altogether false, a nullitie, an Idoll, if you please so to call it. 2 In part corrupt, maimed, defective, but having something of God: and that which is done in such a constitution is not false, a nullitie, tainted with the idolatry of the constitution. This distinction is neither devised, strange, nor new, but that which hath ever more beene acknowledged in the Church of God, and is manifest in Scripture, if wee take the word, devised constitution, as this Author doth. For Heretikes and Schismatikes, though they be not of the speciall number of them, that hold the intire profession of divine truth in unitie, and in that respect be a false constitution; yet as they professe the truth of God revealed in Christ, though ⟨p. 72⟩maimedly or in part only, and as they administer the ordinances or Sacraments of God, that which they doe is not a meere nullitie.