A53701:110
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.
From what hath been thus declared, it will appear on the other hand, what Church it is that a Disciple of Christ▪ who takes due care of his own Edification and ⟨p. 68⟩Salvation, ought in duty to join himself unto in complete Communion. To answer this Enquiry, is the end of all those Discourses and Controversies which have been about the Notes of the true Church. I shall briefly determine concerning it, according to the Principles before Evinced.
From what hath been thus declared, it will appear on the other hand, what Church it is that a Disciple of Christ▪ who takes due care of his own Edification and ⟨p. 68⟩Salvation, ought in duty to joyn himself unto in compleat Communion. To ans•er this Enquiry, is the end of all those Discourses and Controversies which have been about the Notes of the true Church. I shall briefly determine concerning it, according to the Principles before Evinc•d.
1. IT must be such a Church as wherein all the Fundamental Truths of the Gospel are believed, owned, and professed, without Controversy, and those not born withal by whom they are denied or opposed. Without this a Church is not the Ground and Pillar of Truth, it doth not hold the Head, it is not built on the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles. Neither is it sufficient, that those things are generally professed or not denied. A Church that is filled with wranglings and contentions about fundamental or important Truths of the Gospel, is not of choice to be joined unto. For these things subvert the Souls of Men, and greatly impede their Edification. And although both among distinct Churches, and among the Members of the same Church, mutual Forbearance be to be exercised, with respect unto a variety in Apprehensions in some Doctrines of lesser Moment; Yet the Incursion that hath been made into sundry Protestant Churches