N00061:105
Communion of churches: or, The divine management of Gospel-churches by the ordinance of councils,…
Communion of churches: or, The divine management of Gospel-churches by the ordinance of councils, constituted in order according to the Scriptures. : As also, the way of bringing all Christian parishes to be particular reforming congregational churches: humbly proposed, as a way which hath so much light from the Scriptures of truth, as that it may lawfully be submitted unto by all; and may, by the blessing of the Lord, be a means of uniting those two holy and eminent parties, the Presbyterians and the Congregationals. : As also to prepare for the hoped for resurrection of the churches; and to propose a way to bring all Christian nations unto an unity of the faith and order of the Gospel. / Written by John Eliot, teacher of Roxbury in N.E. ; [Two lines of Scripture texts]Communion of churches: or, The divine management of Gospel-churches by the ordinance of councils, constituted in order according to the Scriptures. : As also, the way of bringing all Christian parishes to be particular reforming congregationall churches: humbly proposed, as a way which hath so much light from the Scriptures of truth, as that it may lawfully be submitted unto by all; and may, by the blessing of the Lord, be a means of uniting those two holy and eminent parties, the Presbyterians and the Congregationals. : As also to prepare for the hoped for resurrection of the churches; and to propose a way to bring all Christian nations unto an unity of the faith and order of the Gospel. / Written by John Eliot, teacher of Roxbury in N.E. ; [Two lines of Scripture texts]
printed by Marmaduke Johnson, 1665
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.
II. When Twelve of the first Order of Councils, or any other Number under Twenty four, shall, with the express consent of all their particular Churches, agree to hold Communion in a Council for Mutual Help, and for the benefit of all the Churches combined; and to that end, shall send forth from among themselves, at least one principal and eminent Teaching Elder, and one Ruling Elder, to manage the Ordinance of Counsel, in a Provincial Synod, in the behalf, and for the benefit of all the Churches herein combined: These do constitute the second Order of Councils. These are a Provincial Council; these do represent very many Churches, and all the people in them, with their express consent, and yet they are but Twenty four Elders, so denominated by their least and constituting Number, though the Numbers represented be very great, according to Rev. 5.8, 9, &c. These all are Church-Messengers ▪ sent forth to manage the Ordinance of Counsel, though immediately sent forth by the first Councils, with the express consent of all the Churches combined. These are the second Row of Churches compacted by the Number Twelve; the second ⟨p. 15⟩Row of Chambers in the Temple, of equal dimensions to the first, and built upon the first, standing upon the same bottom and foundation, the Twelve Apostles. It is both needful and attainable, that these should meet quarterly.
II. When Twelve of the first Order of Councils, or any other Number under Twenty four, shall, with the express consent of all their particular Churches, agree to hold Communion in a Council for Mutual Help, and for the benefit of all the Churches combined; and to that end, shall send forth from among themselves, at least one principal and eminent Teaching Elder, and one Ruling Elder, to manage the Ordinance of Counsel, in a Provincial Synod, in the behalf, and for the benefit of all the Churches herein combined: These do constitute the second Order of Councils. These are a Provincial Council; these do represent very many Churches, and all the people in them, with their express consent, and yet they are but Twenty four Elders, so denominated by their least and constituting Number, though the Numbers represented be very great, according to Rev. 5.8, 9