N02341:43
Ratio disciplinae fratrum Nov-Anglorum. A faithful account of the discipline professed and practised; in…
Ratio disciplinae fratrum Nov-Anglorum. A faithful account of the discipline professed and practised; in the churches of New-England. : With interspersed and instructive reflections on the discipline of the primitive churches. : [Seven lines from Ezekiel]
Boston: printed for S. Gerrish, 1726
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.
ARTICLE I. The Gathering of a CHURCH.
§. 1. A Number of Christians, either swarmed into a New Plantation, or finding the Church to which they have belonged, grown to such Circumstances, that it may be for the general ⟨p. 2⟩Advantage to have a New Church formed in the Neighbourhood, first settle their Number, and assure themselves that their Number is Competent and Resolved for the Undertaking.
The Jews of old held, That less than Ten Men of Leisure, could not make a Congregation. 'Tis perhaps in Opposition to this Tradition, that our Saviour said, Matth. XVIII. 20. Where two or three are gathered together in my Name, there am I in the midst of them. And hence Tertullian encourageth himself to say, Ubi tres, Ecclesia est, licet Laici. Nevertheless, because it has been apprehended, that a Rule of Church-Discipline in the Eighteenth Chapter of Matthew, cannot be well reduced into Practice, by any Number under Seven, and for more Reasons that might be rendered, Seven is the least Number that has been allowed among us, as capable to form a Church State for the Enjoyment of all special Ordinances; But usually there is a larger Number expected.
The Jews of old held, That less than Ten Men of Leisure, could not make a Congregation. 'Tis perhaps in Opposition to this Tradition, that our Saviour said,