The Temple Opened, Tract · Chapter 11
CHAP. XI. The Concluſion.
BEing not minded to enlarge this diſcourſe any further at this time, I ſhall only lay down a few Corolary Aſſertions briefly to obviate ſome objections that may riſe in ſome mens minds againſt what hath been ſpoken, which we ſhall be ready to defend, if occaſion requires.
1. That that only is a true conſtituted Church of Chriſt, which is a houſe of Gods Building; it's not mans fancy or pretentions, that renders any thing ſo.
2. That a Chriſtians actual Communion with any one true Viſible Church of Chriſt, makes him a Member in Communion with all the Churches of Chriſt; though he doth not at preſent, nor hath occaſion to communicate with any Congregated Body, beſides what he is actually and immediately in Communion with.
3. Hence barely Non-Communion as to immediate Participation in Ordinances with this or that Church, doth not Unchurch them, (as ſome men phraſe it) i. e. condemn their ſtanding, neither is it any part of Schiſm or culpable Separation.
4. There is a Separation that is abſolutely neceſſary to every True Viſible Church of Chriſt, there can be none without it, and it is the duty of True Churches and Members to practice it.
5. This Separation is from the World, Fleſh and Devil, and therefore from all the children of theſe, and from all falſe Churches whatſoever.
6. That all Antichriſtian Churches, as well as abſolutely Heathen, are Idol-temples, and therefore Communion with them is fellowſhip with Belial and his Idols, 1 Cor. 6.
7. That Chriſt hath had his true Worſhippers and Churches during the whole time of the Antichriſtian Reign and Rage, but in a Wilderneſs, eſpecially as to Viſible Form and Conſtitution; yea trodden down by the Gentiles for the moſt part; preſerved notwithſtanding by Chriſt in ſome times and places in its eſſential myſtical ſtate, at leaſt without any viſible luſtre in Externals, as the Church of Old in Egypt and Babylon; in other times and places he hath ſecured them in ſome retirements, ſo far as to have opportunity to erect Tabernacles of true Goſpel conſtitutions in form and faſhion as he primitively appointed.
8. And thus the true Churches of Chriſt hath ſtood during the time of the Womans militating in the Wilderneſs, under its ſeveral Scatterings, Deformations and Reformations, under which God hath owned them all the dayes of their wanderings in the Wilderneſs.
9. God hath had his degrees of Reformation and Purity of his Church, eſpecially during the laſt part of the Beaſts Reign, and that all ſuch degrees have been progreſſes in Separation, as to Purity of Ordinances and Worſhip, till at laſt there ſhall be a perfect full and clear Redemption of Zion from all her Captivity in this Spiritual Egypt and Babylon.
10. Schiſm is a thing talked more of then underſtood; we only affirm this concerning it, 1. That Separation from a manifeſtly falſe Church is no Schiſm. 2. Non-communion with a ſuſpected Church, is no Schiſm, but a duty. 3. That all Schiſm ſpoken of in Scripture, is actually and immediately in ſome particular Congregation, being a Viſible Politick Body; and thoſe there mentioned are not all amputations, or rentings aſunder; moſt of them are but diviſions in ſome matters of judgment and affection, without a deſtruction of the whole as in the Church of Corinth, though there may be ſome tendency thereunto.
11. Manifeſt Corruptions in Worſhip perſiſted in, eſpecially if ſuch as are taken up again, after they have been abundantly witneſſed againſt, and purged out by former degrees of Reformation, are to be ſeparated from, and witneſſed againſt, and ſuch Churches as maintain them: Yea, ſuch Separation is ſo far from a juſt charge of Schiſm, that it is a neceſſary Duty of all thoſe whoſe Minds and Conſciences are informed in the truth of the Goſpel.
FINIS.
End of the text · Isaac Chauncy, The Temple Opened (1684)