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truth_n according_a church_n word_n 2,678 5 4.0797 3 true
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A41563 Spiritual order and Christian liberty proved to be consistent in the Churches of Christ and impositions upon the consciences of believers in religious practices found to be antichristian and destructive to both / by R.G. a protestant. Gordon, Robert, fl. 1669-1675. 1675 (1675) Wing G1291; ESTC R29926 14,410 15

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of Rome from the Tru●h and Order of the Gospel upon this very Principle an External Judge in the Church one or more to have an Infallible Judgment to whom all are to submit though unconvinced the admitting whereof in any Christian-Church is the readiest way I know of to make void their great Principle of Union Conviction and Choice and to introduce the necessity of an Implicit Obedience to all manner of Innovations Church-Rulers shall please to impose without a possibility in the whole Church to remedy it For to add So long as he or they abide in the Conduct of that Spirit in their own particular and so not in a Decay Is no more than what they of Rome assert of themselves and the great question here remains undetermined Viz. Who shall be Judge of the Life or Decay of this one or more Whether the Pope and the Council of Trent or the Dissenting Protestants The very assuming such a Power in themselves at Trent was a sufficient evidence in the Consciences of Dissenting Protestants of their Decay then and it is so now Obj. But if there be no infallible Judgment to be expected now in the Church how are these words of our Lord 's to be understood Lo I am with you to the end of the World the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it And how is the Church the Ground and Pillar of Truth I Answer The necessity of this infallible Judgment in one or more in the Church can no more be concluded from these words than the Pope's Supremacy over Emperours and Kings and the whole Catholick Church from the words of our Lord to Peter Feed my Sheep These Expressions in plainness importing only this That Jesus Christ will be so present with his Holy Catholick Church in the World so long as it shall last that the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it so as in it the truth of the Gospel shall be preserved and prosessed which is not applicable to any one particular Church for many that were such in the days of the Apostles are long since so far prevailed upon by Heresies Persecutions and Devastations that they have lost not only a Church-State according to the Order of the Gospel but also their very Being in the World yet Christ's Presence remains with his Church so as it continues in the World the Ground and Pillar of Truth against which the Powers of Darkness shall never so far prevail so as it shall not have a Being in the World or shall cease to be the Ground and Pillar of Truth Obj. But if there be no Infallible Judgment now to be expected in the Church will not both the Dissenters they that are dissented from be in the Mist both hitting at Random And will not Religion degenerate into Sceptism I Answer There is no such hazard where the Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures and the Illumination of the Holy Spirit of God in the understanding of them is owned and preserved and where People are called upon not to imbrace outward Appointments too hastily but wait the Conduct of the Spirit of the Lord to lead into all Truth according to the Scriptures and this can never be the necessary consequence of this Doctrine however these Masters of Order would impose such an Inference upon it but we do indeed then hit at random and are in the mist blindfolded when being denyed the use of our Reason and Spiritual Understanding we are required to submit to outward Impositions to be first blindfolded and then led by such blind Guides is the shortest way I know of to fall into the Ditch Obj. But if any through unclearness or disobedience do not submit is not the Church to deny them her Spiritual Fellowship If in Civil Corporations or Societies they have power to declare the Breakers of the Fundamental Articles of their Society to have forfeited their Right in the Society why should it not be so in Christian Societies without the brand of Tyranny I Answer The chiefest Liberty pleaded for in this Discourse is not on their behalf who break the Fundamental Spiritual Band of the Churches Unity which is the Spirit of God by Conviction and Choice uniting them together in one voluntary joynt Communion neither is it pleaded for on their behalf who break the Fundamental Articles of a Christian Society as such to wit those who walk scandalously in a disordered prophane Conversation unsuitable to the Holiness of the Gospel and those who avowedly maintain and obstinately adhere unto those damnable Heresies as are manifestly inconsistent with the very Fundamental Principles of the Christian Faith from all such as having a Form of Godliness but denying the Power thereof and as having erred concerning the Truth overthrowing the Faith of some in the Apostles days the Christians were to turn from and it ought to be so now in all Christian Societies walking according to that Pattern as is clear in the New-Testament But if Persons make Outward Bands of Church-Unity as necessary Conditions of Church Communion which was not in the first Churches and impose them contrary to the Apostles Rules of Expediency Edification Peace and Charity obliging all persons in the Church notwithstanding any unclearness in themselves to a submissive obedience thereunto as unto the Judgment of the Spirit of God in the Men's and Women's Meetings or be denied the Spiritual Fellowship of the Church In this Case the standing fast to Christian Liberty not to be subject to Ordinances after the Commandments and Doctrines of Men is no breach of the Fundamental Articles of a Christian Society but a necessary Testimony against Introduced Innovations contrary to them for in any Christian Congregation or Church though there be not an Uniformity in Outward Practices because of unclearness in the Consciences of the Disciples in matters that are not plainly manifest to them all to be of that weight as utterly to dissolve the Spiritual Union and break the Fundamental Articles of all Christian Societies as such the Congregation or Church is not to deny the Dissenters her Spiritual Fellowship Christian Liberty was thus allowed of in the first Churches and will be so still where Church Government is not turned into Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in the hands of a few Church-Rulers to uphold their Authority over all in the Church Neither are Christian Societies like other Corporations because not gathered on the same Grounds nor being gathered preserved by the same Principles nor governed by the same Methods the ground of their being gathered in Societies is their being first joyned to the Lord by his Grace in their Hearts and then a voluntary joyning together for their mutual Edification in the holy things of the Gospel this Principle which first united them and that only preserves them in one joyn● Body in the exercise of that Spiritual Government that is consistent with Christian Liberty in different Outward Practices which Principle of Union and Method of Government no Civil