A53701:13
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.
This it is supposed is the Liberty and Duty of every Man; for if it be not so, it is the foolishest thing in the World, for any to attempt to get others from one Church unto another; which is almost the whole business of Religion, that some think themselves concerned to attend unto.
But yet notwithstanding these Concessions, when things come to the •ri•l in particular, there is very little granted in compliance with the Assertion laid down. For besides that it is not a Church of Divine Institution, that is intended in these Concessions, when it comes unto the issue, where a Man is born, and in what Church he is Baptized in his Infancy, there all choice is prevented, and in the Communion of that Church he is to abide, on the penalties of being esteemed ⟨p. 5⟩and dealt with as a Schismatic. In what National Church any person is baptized, in that National Church he is to continue, or answer the contrary at his peril. And in the Precincts of what Parish his Habitation falls to be, in that particular Parish Church is he bound to Communicate in all Ordinances of Worship. I say, in the judgment of many, whatever is pretended of mens joining themselves unto the truest and purest Churches, there is no Liberty of Judgment or Practice in either of these things left unto any of the Disciples of Christ
But yet notwithstanding these Concessions, when things come to the •ri•l in particular, there is very little g•anted in complyance with the Assertion laid down. For besides that it is not a Church of Divine Institution, that is intended in these Concessions, when it comes unto the issue, where a Man is born, and in what Church he is Baptized in his Infancy, there all choice is prevented, and in the Communion of that Church he is to abide, on the penalties of being esteemed ⟨p. 5⟩