Owen - BX5085 O84x 1681

(z) Defigning therefore to treat of Churches, their Original, .Nature, 7Jje and End, my firft Enquiry muff be, whether they are from Heaven or of Men : that is, whether they are ofa Divine Original, having a Divine Inflitution; or whe- ther they are an Ordinance or Creation of Men : For their Pedigree mutt be derived from one ofthefe fingly; they never concurred in the Conftitution of any part of DivineWorship, or any thing that belongs thereunto. This would feem a cafe andenquiry ofan exceeding eafiee determination : For the Scripture every where makesmen- tion of the Church or Churches as theOrdinancesand Inflitu- tions of God. But fuch things have falln out in the World in latter Ages, as may make men juflly queftion , whe- ther we underhand the mind of God aright or no in what is fpoken of them. At leaft if they Mould allow, that the Churches fo mentioned in the Scripture, were of DivineAp. pointment; yet it might be highly queftionable, whether' thole which have f nce been in the World, be not a meer pro - duet of the invention and power of men. a. For many Ages, fuch things alone werepropofed unto the world, and impofed on it, for the only Church, as were from Hell rather than from Heaven, at leaft from Men,. and thofe none of the beft : For all men in thefe Weflern parts of the world, were obliged tobelieve and profefs on the penalties ofEternal andTemporal leftru&ion, that the Pope of Rome and thofe depending on him, were the only Church in theWorld. If this thould be granted, as it was almoft univerfally infome Ages, and in this is earneftly contended for, there would be a thouland evidences to prove that the inftitution ofChurches is not from Heaven, but fromAin. Whether the inventions of men in the my fiery of iniquitybe tobe received again or no, menof fecular Wifdom and In- tereft may do well to confider ; but he muff: be blind and mad and accurfed in his mind and understanding, who can think

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