Boundaries of The Church
The church itself is defined as: "a company of saints by calling, united into one body by a holy covenant, for the public worship of God, and the mutual edification of one another in the fellowship of the Lord Jesus".
Chapter 7 establishes Elders, who attend to the boundaries of the church—admitting members to fellowship, excommunicating offenders, be guides and leaders in church administration, admonish the flock when needed—and deacons, who care only for the temporal goods of the church, handling money, paying the ministers and the poor. A third category is included in this officers section, namely that "ancient widows... minister to the church in giving attendance to the sick and to give succor to them and others in the like necessities."
The church body, by vote, has the power to install officers and to depose them. The platform specifies that no higher ecclesiastical authority, nor any civil authority, has the power to choose officers.
Membership requires "a personal and public confession and declaring of God's manner of working upon the soul".
Read more about this topic: The Cambridge Platform
Famous quotes containing the words boundaries of, boundaries and/or church:
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—Richard Louv (20th century)
“Ideas are not thoughts; the thought respects the boundaries that the idea ignores thereby failing to realize itself.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)
“Baseball is the religion that worships the obvious and gives thanks that things are exactly as they seem. Instead of celebrating mysteries, baseball rejoices in the absence of mysteries and trusts that, if we watch what is laid before our eyes, down to the last detail, we will cultivate the gift of seeing things as they really are.”
—Thomas Boswell, U.S. sports journalist. “The Church of Baseball,” Baseball: An Illustrated History, ed. Geoffrey C. Ward, Knopf (1994)