N00779:122
The order of the Gospel, professed and practised by the churches of Christ in…
The order of the Gospel, professed and practised by the churches of Christ in New England, justified, by the Scripture, and by the writings of many learned men, both ancient and modern divines; in answer to several questions, relating to church discipline / by Increase Mather, president of Harvard College in Cambridge, and teacher of a church at Boston in New England. ; [Five lines of Scripture texts]The order of the Gospel, professed and practised by the churches of Christ in New England, justified, by the Scripture, and by the writings of many learned men, both ancient and modern divines; in answer to several questions, relating to church discipline / by Increase Mather, president of Harvard Colledge in Cambridge, and teacher of a church at Boston in New England. ; [Five lines of Scripture texts]
Boston: printed by B. Green for Benjamin Eliot, 1700
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.
3. There are Scripture Examples to instruct us in our Duty herein. We find, that whe• the Church in Antioch had a weighty Case before them, they sent to another Church for Counsel Act. 15.2. The Apostle Paul sought for the Concurrence, and Right hand of fellowship of other Apostles. Gala. 2.9. Ordinary Elders and Churches, have no less need of each other to prevent their running in vain Gal. 2.2.
3. There are Scripture Examples to instruct us in our Duty herein. We find, that whe• the Church in Antioch had a weighty Case before them, they sent to another Church for Counsel Act. 15.2. The Apostle Paul sought for the Concurrence, and Right hand of fellowship of other Apostles. Gala. 2.9. Ordinary Elders and Churches, have no less need of each other to prevent their running in vain• Gal. 2.2.
4 Such a Communion of Churches is that which we plead for, is no Innovation, but that which has ever been the Profession and practice of those that have been called Congregational There is a Book which bears the Title of, An Answer of the Elders of the several Churches in New England to Thirty two Questions, Printed in the year 1643. Of which Book my Father Mather was the Sole Author. And he wrote it in the Primitive Times of these Churches, (viz. in the year 1639) as himself assured me. What he wrote was approved of by other Elders, especially by Mr. Cotton, unto whom he Communicated it. Now in Answer to Q 18. p. 64. are these words, The Consociation ⟨p. 74⟩