A53701:111
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.
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 ⟨p. 69⟩in the last and present Age, of Novel Doctrines and Opinions, with Differences, Divisions, and endless Disputes which have ensued thereon, have rendered it very difficult to determine, how to engage in complete Communion with them. For I do not judge, that any man is, or can be obliged unto constant total Communion with any Church, or to give up himself absolutely unto the conduct thereof, wherein there are incurable dissensions about important Doctrines of the Gospel. And if any Church, shall publicly avow, countenance, or approve of Doctrines contrary unto those which were the Foundation of its first Communion, the Members of it are at Liberty, to refrain the Communion of it, and to provide otherwise for their own Edification.
1. IT must be such a Church as wherein all the Fundamental Truths of the Gospel are believed, owned, and professed, without Controversie, 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 joyned 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