A53701:112
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.
2. IT must be such a Church as wherein the Divine Worship Instituted or approved by Christ himself, is diligently observed, without any Addition made thereunto. In the Observation of this Worship as unto all external, occasional Incidencies and Circumstances of the Acts wherein it doth consist, it is left unto the Prudence of the Church it self, according to the Light of Nature, and general Rules of Scripture; and it must be so unless we shall suppose that the Lord ⟨p. 70⟩Jesus Christ, by making men his Disciples, doth unmake them from being rational Creatures, or refuseth the Exercise of the rational Faculties of our Souls in his service. But this is so remote from Truth, that on the contrary, he gives them an improvement for this very end, that we may know how to deport our selves aright in the Observance of his Commands, as unto the outward discharge of them in his Worship and the Circumstances of it. And this he doth by that Gift of Spiritual Wisdom, whereof we shall treat afterwards.
2. IT must be such a Church as wherein the Divine Worship Instituted or approved by Christ himself, is diligently observed, without any Addition made thereunto. In the Observation of this Worship as unto all external, occasional Incidencies and Circumstances of the Acts wherein it doth consist, it is left unto the Prudence of the Church it self, according to the Light of Nature, and general Rules of Scripture; and it must be so unless we shall suppose that the Lord ⟨p. 70⟩Jesus Christ, by making men his Disciples, doth unmake them from being rational Crea•ures, or refuseth the Exercise of the rational Faculties of our Souls in his service. But this is so remote from Truth, that on the contrary, he gives them an improvement for this very end, that we may know how to deport our selves aright in the Observance of his Commands, as unto the outward discharge of them in his Worship and the Circumstances of it. And this he doth by that Gift of Spiritual Wisdom, whe•eof we shall treat afterwards.