Samuel Stennett
Published: 2017-09-17
Total Pages: 514
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Excerpt from The Works of Samuel Stennett, Vol. 2 of 3 Here our views are confined within a circle of a difi'erent de scription from the former. All good men, wherever situated and however distinguished from one another, compose one large family, society, or kingdom, of which God is the Father, and Christ is the Sovereign and King. And our duty, as belong ing to this one catholic church or body, is, in general, to main tain steadily the grand principles on which it is united, to con tend earnestly for its rights and privileges, to endeavour, by all possible means, to promote its prosperity and increase, and to cherish in our breasts a cordial and unreserved affection to every individual of which it is composed. But as the various situations and circumstances of Christians, and their different modes of thinking respecting matters which do not affect the existence of the whole, make it necessary that they should be formed into distinct societies, so there are du ties which the members of such societies owe to one another. And it is an important expression of a public spirit to pay a faith ful attention to these duties, as hereby not only the particular interests of these separate societies are promoted, but the gene ral welfare and glory of the whole. And here I might mention the various mutual otiices required of ministers and their people towards each other, ln regard of public worship, the celebration of divine ordinances, and the maintenance of good order, fellow ship, and love. He is a man of a public catholic spirit, who in respect of these matters seeks not his..own things but the things of Christ, and can say with the apostle, For me to live 18 Christ, it is my grand object to promote his kingdom and interest who endeavours with all his might to preserve the Christian doctrine and institutions inviolable; and to that end often foregoes his own ease, emolument, and honour: and who, abhorring from his very heart a narrow, uncandid, bigotted spirit, feels a cordial affection for all other Christian societies, who hold Christ as the head, though they differ in many circumstantials of doc trine and duty; and most heartily concurs with them in every laudable scheme for the general good. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.