CANNE. 333 " None," says he,. " may join in spiritual communion with that ministry which hath not a true calling, election, and approbation of the faithful people to which he is minister. So necessary is a right election and calling to every eccle- siastical office, that, without the same, it cannot possiblybe true or lawful. If the ministers scandalously sin, the con gregation that chose them freely, hath free power to depose them, and put others in their places." He also adds : " And it is sure that Christ bath not subjected any congregation of his to any superior ecclesiastical jurisdiction than to that which is within itself : so that if the whole congregation shall err in a matter of faith or religion, no other church or church- officer hath any warrant or power from the word of God to censure, punish, or controul the same ; but only to advise them ; and so to leave their souls to the immediate judgment of Christ." Mr. Canne, while in a state of banishment, published a work entitled, " A Necessity of Separation from the Church of England, proved from the Nonconformists' Principles," 1634 ; in the preface to which he thus observes :-" I know what I say, and have good experience of this thing ; for there is not ten of a hundred which separate from the church of England, but are first moved thereto by the doctrines of the nonconformists, either in word or writing, taught to the people. And, indeed, upon their grounds, how can any one do less than separate, if his heart be tender against every sin, seeing that they confidently affirm, that,the ministry, worship, and discipline are -from antichrist, and that in the church are swarms of atheists, papists, adulterers, liars, &c. These are their own testimonies, andwe know they are true ; and, there- fore,.in obedience to God, and care of our precious souls, we have left our unsanctified standing in their assemblies, and, through the. Lord's mercy to us, do walk in the holy order of his gospel, although daily sufferers for it."t Soon after the meeting of the long parliament, Mr. Canne returned to his native country. Writers are divided in their opinions whether he espoused the peculiar sentiments of the baptists. Crosby himself leaves the matter undeteimined.# There is no doubt, however, that he belonged to this denomi- nation. For it is observed, that, in the year 1640, the bap- tist congregation in Broad-mead, Bristol; separated from the established church ; soon after which, Mr. Canne was called Bailie's Dissuasive, p. 40-42. + Grey's Examination, vol. i. p. 43, 44. t Crosby's Baptists, vol. iii. p. 41.
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