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y * B as yf successors of y Apostles iit y * d £ y ^ w <* was fixgd ai $ peritfa ^ iieitfe TKe Scripture hath givsii directions for Bishops ; why gave it not the li ¥ e for Areh-B * as 1 & their ^ teetion , ordination , the limits of their power afed diocesses ?
< c If they have jurisdiction over y B % then also over y people , omne rtJajus continet in se minus , then it will be easie to graunt to them a regulation of church members , and power of excommunication , so y (
mutatis nominibus ) wee are well enough in England already , especially since y * magistrate is : also Christian , and will have it so . Why did not Ignatius , so near y Apostles , say Presbyters be subject to y * Bishops , and Bishops be subject to y Arch-JBP ?
" Cyprian sayth y every B is absolute in his owne church ; see Br . Barrow ^ s Pope ' s Supremacy , p . 220 : againe , de Simpl . praelat . Episcopatus umis est cujus a singulis in soliduin , parstenetur ; how in solidum ?
" If ao Arch-B may controull him , and to y e Bp 8 in y Councell of Carthage : Nemo nostrum se constituit episcopum episcoporum , yet lie was President B of a large province . —
Tertullian , lib de Pudiciti& , III I . 6 , mocks theB ^ of Rome , as if lie would be episcopus episcoporum , as Mr . Thornedyke sayth , though Janius excnseth it , it was an old proverb , y no man was to be Bp in another man ' s
diocesse . " If an Arch-B , why not pr imates and patriarchs , &c , w were most certainly but of imperial constitution , as Dr . Barrow also sayth . " If one Bp be unsound , another in ay keepc his church pure , therefore I argue ex paritate with Gregorius M . 6 : thefii if an Arch-B ^ should faile all
the churches in a kifigdome should fall with him ; this hath been proved by vvoftill experience : there is no such thing as an cecumenicall governing church , nor a national governing church as a corporation , jure divino , Matth . iv . 17 , ergo , there is neither Pope nor Arch-B . 4 €
One B would excommunicate an equal B ^ and a councell of B would doe so much more ; but was such a sovereign power in Arch-B P 8 ( w too . scandalously ^ emulates y grandure of jealotts princes ) to depose ' heretical Bp ? usual , and graunted before the
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Nieene Gouncell , who set tlie fii ^ t horn upon y « two horned beast , and before toy imperial sanction . " You seemed to me also in one or two placeis to equal ! the Presbyters too much to their B , not that I thinke but that secondary presbyters should assist their B in preaching , if they
be able , especially in private houses and with his consent , forr X * to be sure appointed things as most useful ! and best for saveing soules , not as cadaverous rites , cbarmes or formalities , not as painted idols , pageants and puppetts , trinked : up to stupjfie
and delude the vulgar . But the cheife office of such presbyters was to goveriiie the manners of y people being ( except in a few great churches ) but as our ordinary and more understanding tradesmen . The Scots prohibited
elders to preach , &c , be y circumstances what they would , else y London jus divinutri ministerii deserves to be considered . I never saw a good answer yet to 1 Tim . v . 17 , c Let the elders that rule well / &c . ; but I conceive that in a , small church where
there is no great difference in y qualifications of the members , there is no necessity of eyther Presbyters - or Deacons , and much lesse of Deacons , now y magistrate is X tian , as we have no Deaconesses .
"Since my writing this I had a cursory sight of Mr . Sherlock's defence - I see he catcheth at that of Arch-BP s : some thinke you will be concerned to answer , not to all y t book , but to the cheife passages , especially in ch . vii ., where he speakes of the multitude of
believers and greatnesse of churches in great cityes , ( urged long since in the London jus divhmm , ) yet- but one B in a city , never so great . To w a ffriend of mine , who seemed to be moved by this authour , I answered thus :
"Mr . Sherlock confessed * y a man may be a true B of a small church , and who can denie it ? But his adversaries will not graunt so much of his monstrous Diocesan , especially if
he doth not reside and preach , therefore 'tis safest to be of y way w all graunt to be true , y * the people may be surest to reape the benefitt , and y e Bp in some hopes to be able to discharge his office to all his church , at least with the assistance of elders . Suppose a thing hath- been in some
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4 & 4 i ; Original Leitiers from the Baxter Manuscripts ^ Dr ^ J ^ liiam ^ s Library
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1824, page 454, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2527/page/6/
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