N00779:80
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.
5. Nothing else can be mentioned as Constituting a Particular Church, but only a Covenant, Agreement, or Consent to walk with God and one another according to the Rules of the Gospel. Mere Cohabitation does not make a Church Member, for then Jews and Pagans would be Members of Evangelical Churches. Nor does Profession do it, for then i• would be impossible to cut off Scandalous Members by Excommunication. Nor Baptism: For then upon the ceasing of Membership in a Particular Church, a man must be rebaptized.
5. Nothing else can be mentioned as Constituting a Particular Church, but only a Covenant, Agreement, or Consent to walk with God and one another according to the Rules of the Gospel. Meer Cohabitation does not make a Church Member, for then Jews and Pagans would be Members of Evangelical Churches. Nor does Profession do it, for then i• would be impossible to cut off Scandalous Members by Excommunication. Nor Baptism: For then upon the ceasing of Membership in a Particular Church, a man must be rebap•ised.
6 There are Scriptures in the New-Testament which imply such a Covenant, as that which we plead for. Act 2.42. They Continued, The Greek word signifies, They joined and Cleaved together. So Act. 5.13. None durst Join themselves, i. e. give themselves to the Church; they were afraid of being Married to the Church The word is the same with that Matth. 19▪ 6 It is in respect of the Covenant (as Dr. G•odwin (m)observes) that they who are Co•jugally related, are said to be joined together