A53732:779
The true nature of a Gospel church and its government
The true nature of a Gospel church and its government ... by the late pious and learned minister of the Gospel, John Owen ...
London: printed for William Marshall, 1689
Title page typeset from the transcription.
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.
AND this is that which constitutes him formally to be what he is, that is Antichrist; and the Church-State arising from its ⟨p. 239⟩Union unto him, holding him as its Head, subsisting in a Communion by virtue of power received through various Orders and Constitutions from him, to be Anti-christian. For he and it, are set up in the room of, and in direct opposition unto the Lord Christ, as the Head of the Catholic Church, and the Church state thereon depending. This we have described, Ephes. 4.15, 16. Speaking the Truth in Love, may grow up, &c. As also, Col. 2.19. Where there is a Rejection of them who belong not unto the Church Catholic, taken from its Relation unto Christ, and the nature of its dependence on him; not holding the Head, &c.
AND this is that which constitutes him formally to be what he is, that is Antichrist; and the Church-State arising from its ⟨p. 239⟩Union unto him, holding him as its Head, subsisting in a Communion by virtue of power received through various Orders and Constitutions from him, to be Anti-christian. For he and it, are set up in the room of, and in direct opposition unto the Lord Christ, as the Head of the Catholick Church, and the Church state thereon depending. This we have described, Ephes. 4.15, 16. Speaking the Truth in Love, may grow up, &c. As also, Col. 2.19. Where there is a Rejection of them who belong not unto the Church Catholick, taken from its Relation unto Christ, and the nature of its dependance on him; not holding the Head, &c.
WHEN Men shall cease to be wilfully blind, or when the powers of the strong Delusion that begin to abate shall expire, they will easily see the direct Opposition that is between these two Heads and two Churches, namely Christ and the Pope, the Catholic Church and that of Rome.