We see what was not his opinion! but let us hear, ⟨p. 65⟩what it was. It was his as well as his master, the great Ramus's principle, that in the Reformation by Churches to be now endeavoured things ought to be Reduced unto the Order wherein we find them at their Primitive, Original, Apostolical Institution And in pursuance of this principle, he Justly Espoused that way of Church-Government which we call, the Congregational; he was fully persuaded, that the Church-state which our Lord Christ hath instituted in the New Testament, is, In a Congregation or Society of Professed Believers, Agreeing and Assembling together, among themselves, with Officers, of Divine Appointment, for the Celebration of Evangelical Ordinances, and their own mutual Edification; For he saw it must be a cruel hardship used upon the Scriptures, to make them so much as Lisp the least intimation of any other Church-state prescribed unto us; and he could assert, That no Approved Writers, for the space of two hundred years after Christ, make any mention of any other Organical, Visible, Professing Church, but that only which is Congregational. He looked upon the Congregational way as a Largess of Divine Bounty bestowed by the Lord Jesus, on his people, that followed him into this Wilderness, with a peculiar zeal for Communion with him, in his pure Worship here. He perceived in it, a sweet sort of Temperament, between Rigid Pre••••erianism, and Levelling Brownism; So that on the one side, the Liberties of the people are not oppressed and ⟨p. 66⟩overlaid; on the other side, the Authority of the Elders is not rendered insignificant, but a die Balance is herein kept upon them both; And hence he closed with our platform of Church-Discipline, as being the nearest of what he had yet seen, to the pattern in the Mount.
We see what was not his opinion! but let us hear, ⟨p. 65⟩what it was. It was his as well as his master, the great Ramuss principle, that in the Reformation by Churches to be now endeavoured things ought to be Reduced unto the Order wherein we find them at their Primitive, Original, Apostolical Institution And in pursuance of this principle, he Justly Epoused that way of Church-Government which we call, the Congregational; he was fully perswaded, that the Church-state which our Lord Christ hath instituted in the New Testament, is, In a Congregation or Society of Professed Believers, Agreeing and Assembling together, among themselves, with Officers, of Divine Appointment, for the Celebration of Evangelical Ordinances, and their own mutual Edification; For he saw it must be a cruel hardship used upon the Scriptures, to make them so much as Lisp the least intimation of any other Church-state prescribed unto us; and he could assert, That no Approved Writers, for the space of two hundred years after Christ, make any mention of any other Organical, Visible, Professing Church, but that onely which is Congregational. He look'd upon the Congregational way as a Largess of Divine Bounty bestow'd by the Lord Jesus, on his people, that follow'd him into this Wilderness, with a peculiar zeal for Communion with him, in his pure Worship here. He perceived in it, a sweet sort of Temperament, between Rigid Pre••••erianism, and Levelling Brownism; So that on the one side, the Liberties of the people are not oppressed and ⟨p. 66⟩overlaid; on the other side, the Authority of the Elders is not rendred insignificant, but a die B•llance is herein kept upon them both; And hence he closed with our platform of Church-Discipline, as being the nearest of what he had yet seen, to the pattern in the Mount.
