A53701:101
A guide to church-fellowship and order according to the gospel-institution
A guide to church-fellowship and order according to the gospel-institution wherein these following particulars are distinctly handled, I. The necessity of believers to join themselves in church-order, II. The subject matter of the church, III. The continuation of a church-state, and of the administration of evangelical ordinances of worship, briefly vindicated, IV. What sort of churches the disciples of Christ may and ought to join themselves unto as unto entire communion / by ... John Owen ...A guide to church-fellowship and order according to the gospel-institution wherein these following particulars are distinctly handled, I. The necessity of believers to joyn themselves in church-order, II. The subject matter of the church, III. The continuation of a church-state, and of the administration of evangelical ordinances of worship, briefly vindicated, IV. What sort of churches the disciples of Christ may and ought to joyn themselves unto as unto entire communion / by ... John Owen ...
London: printed for William Marshall, 1692
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.
(4.) It is required that they be Examples, unto the Flock, in the Expression of the Nature and Power of the Doctrine which they Preach, in their Conversation, especially in Zeal, Humility, Self-denial, and readiness for the Cross.
Where these things are not, there is such a defect in the Fundamentals of Church Practice, us unto the Ministry of it, that no Man who takes care of his own Edification, can join himself unto a Church, labouring under it. For Ministers and Churches are nothing but instituted means of the Conversion of Sinners, and the Edification of Believers. And when any of them through their own default cease so to be, there is no obligation unto any man to join or continue in their Communion; nor do they contract any Guilt in a peaceable departure from them, but discharge their Duty. That this be done peaceably without strife or contention, without judging of others, as unto their Interest in Christ, and Eternal Salvation, the Law ⟨p. 65⟩of Moral Obedience doth require. That it be done with Love and Compassion and Prayer towards, and for them who are left, is the peculiar Direction of that moral Duty by the Gospel. Such a Practice at present would fall under severe charges and accusations, as also brutish Penalties in some places. But when all Church Craft shall be defeated, and the uses that are made of its imaginary Authority be discarded, there will be little occasion of this Practise, and none at all of Offence.
Where these things are not, there is such a defect in the Fundamentals of Church Practice, us unto the Ministry of it, that no Man who takes care of his own Edification, can joyn himself unto a Church, labouring under it. For Ministers and Churches are nothing but instituted means of the Conversion of Sinners, and the Edification of Believers. And when any of them through their own default cease so to be, there is no obligation unto any man to joyn or continue in their Communion; nor do they contract any Guilt in a peaceable departure from them, but discharge their Duty. That this be done peaceably without strife or contention, without judging of others, as unto their Interest in Christ, and Eternal Salvation, the Law