B20736:163
The way of the churches of Christ in New-England, or, The way of churches…The vvay of the churches of Christ in New-England, or, The vvay of churches…
The way of the churches of Christ in New-England, or, The way of churches walking in brotherly equality, or co-ordination, without subjection of one church to another measured and examined bight golden reed of the sanctuary, containing a full declaration of the church-way in all particulars / by Mr. J. Cotton ...The vvay of the churches of Christ in New-England, or, The vvay of churches walking in brotherly equalitie, or co-ordination, without subjection of one church to another measured and examined bythe golden reed of the sanctuary, containing a full declaration of the church-way in all particulars / by Mr. J. Cotton ...
London: printed by Matthew Simmons, 1645
THE Way of the Churches of Christ in NEW-ENGLAND, Measured by the G… › Chapter 2 › Section 9
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.
SECT. IX.
Object. But if no transcendent acts of Jurisdiction and rule be reserved unto one Bishop alone above other Ministers, how cometh it then to pass, that in Rev. 2.3. each singular Angel in the Churches of Asia, is admonished, and reproved alone for all the faults that are found in his Church, whereof he is the Angel? Why should one Angel alone be charged with the guilt of all those faults in the Church, if it were not in his hand alone to redress and punish them?
Object. BUt if no transcendent acts of Jurisdiction and rule be reserved unto one Bishop alone above other Ministers, how cometh it then to passe, that in Rev. 2.3. each singular Angel in the Churches of Asia, is admonished, and reproved alone for all the faults that are found in his Church, whereof he is the Angel? Why should one Angel alone be charged with the guilt of all those faults in the Church, if it were not in his hand alone to redresse and punish them?
Answ. It is an usual thing with John (and found also in other Scriptures) to use the name of Angel not singularly for one person, but collectively for a company, administering the same work: As the seven Angels that sounded the seven Trumpets, and the seven Angels that poured out the seven Vials, were not seven singular persons, but seven companies, or sorts of persons, performing that service. And when David saith, the Angel of the Lord pitcheth his Tent about them which fear him,