A53704:355
An enquiry into the original, nature, institution, power, order and communion of evangelical churches.…
An enquiry into the original, nature, institution, power, order and communion of evangelical churches. The first part with an answer to the discourse of the unreasonableness of separation written by Dr. Edward Stillingfleet, Dean of Pauls, and in defence of the vindication of non-conformists from the guilt of schism / by John Owen.An enquiry into the original, nature, institution, power, order and communion of evangelical churches. The first part with an answer to the discourse of the unreasonableness of separation written by Dr. Edward Stillingfleet, Dean of Pauls, and in defence of the vindication of non-conformists from the guilt of schisme / by John Owen.
London: printed by J. Richardson for Nath. Ponder, 1681
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Chapter 5: The Sate of the First Churches after the Apostles to the end of the Second Century.
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 Religious Body or Society thus united by Covenant, did meet together in the same Assembly or Congregation. Corpus su•us, •o•mus in coe•um & Congregationem, ut ad Deum quasi manu facta precationibus ambiamus orantes. And cogimur ad divinarum literarum commemorationem, ⟨p. 112⟩&c. Designing to declare, as he doth in particular, Negotia Christianae factionis, as he calls them, or the Duties of Christian Religion, which in their Churches they did attend unto, he lays the foundation in their meetings in the sa•• Assembly or Congregation.
This Religious Body or Society thus united by Covenant, did meet together in the same Assembly or Congregation. Corpus su•us, •o•mus in coe•um & Congregationem, ut ad Deum quasi manu facta precationibus ambiamus orantes. And cogimur ad divinarum literarum commemorationem, ⟨p. 112⟩&c. Designing to declare, as he doth in particular, Negotia Christianae factionis, as he calls them, or the Duties of Christian Religion, which in their Churches they did attend unto, he lays the foundation in their meetings in the sa•• Assem•ly or Congregation.
In these Assemblies there presided the Elders, that upon a Testimony of their meetness unto that Office, were chosen thereunto. President probati quique seniors, honorem istum non preti• sed Testimonio adepti. And in the Church thus met together in the same place, Assembly, or Congregation, under the rule and conduct of their Elders, among other things they exercised Discipline, that is, in the presence and by the consent of the whole. Ibidem etiam, exhortationes, castigationes; & censura divina. Nam & judicatur magno cum pondere ut apud certos de Dei conspectu; summumque futuri judcii praejudicium est, s quis ita deliquerit, ut à communicatione Oratinis & conventus, & omnis sancti commercii relegetur. The loss of this Discipline and the manner of its Administration, hath been one of the principal means of the Apostasy of Churches from their Primitive Institution.