That these ecclesiastical assemblies,¹ remaining in confusion and bondage under this antichristian ministry, courts, canons, worship, ordinances. etc. without freedom or power to redress any enormity, have not in this confusion and subjection, Christ their prophet, priest, and king, neither can be in this estate, (while we judge them by the rules of God’s Word) esteemed the true, orderly gathered, or constituted churches of Christ, whereof the faithful ought to become or stand members, or to have² any spiritual communion with them in their public worship and administration.

1. Jeremiah 15:19; Hosea 4:14ff.; Malachi 1:4, 6, 8; Romans 6:16; 1 Corinthians 14:33; 2 Peter 2:19; Revelation 18:2; compare with Articles 1, 7, 11–15, 17–20, 24, 28–30 aforesaid. ↩︎
2. Leviticus 17; Song of Solomon 1:6–7; Hosea 4:15; 1 Corinthians 10:18–20; 2 Corinthians 6:14–16; Revelation 18:4 ↩︎