in the Objection the several Acts are these That no one Canon of the Church have the force of a Law but what is appointed by such Inspector of the Canons as he shall name and appoint That no Appeals be made to Rome upon the Penalty and Danger contained and limited in the Act of Provision and Premunire made in the 16th year of King Richard II. That all the Canons not repugnant to the Laws of the Realm or to the Damage of the King's Prerogative Royal are to be used and executed as they were before the making this Act. That no license is to be required from the See of Rome for the Consecrating and Investiture of Bishops That 't is in the King alone to nominate and present them That the Pope has no Power in Spiritual Causes to give Licenses Dispensations Faculties Grants c. all this is to be done at home by our own Bishops and in our own Synods and Councils cap. 21. and this Provision is particularly made Sect. 19. ibid. provided that this Act or any thing or things herein contained shall be hereafter interpreted or expounded that your Grace your Nobles and Subjects intend by the same to decline or vary from the Congregation of Christ's Church in any thing concerning the very Articles of the Catholick Faith of Christendom or in any other things declared in Holy Scripture and the Word of God necessary for yours and their Salvation but only to make an Ordinance by Policies necessary and convenient to repress Vice And for good conservation of this Realm in Peace Vnity and Tranquility from Ravine and Spoyl insuing much the old ancient Customes of this Realm in that behalf not minding to seek for any Relief Succor or Remedies for any worldly things and humane Laws in any case of necessity but within this Realm at the hands of your Highness your Heirs and Successors Kings of this Realm which have and ought to have an Imperial Power and Autority in the same and not obliged in any worldly Causes to any Superior § VII IN the 26th year of his Reign cap. 1. when declared Supreme Head of the Church of England in Parliament as before recognized by the Clergy the Power he thereby is invested with is also declared viz. To visit redress reform order correct restrain and amend all such Errors Heresies Abuses Offences Contempts and Enormities whatsoever they be which by any manner of spiritual Autority or Jurisdiction ought or may lawfully be reformed repressed order'd redressed corrected restrained or amended most to the pleasure of Almighty God the increase of Virtue in Christ's Religion and for the conservation of Vnity Peace and Tranquility of this Realm cap. 14. he appoints the number of suffragan Bishops the Places of their residence and the Arch-Bishop is to consecrate them In the 28th year of his Reign cap. 10. The King may nominate such number of Bishops Sees for Bishops Cathedral Churches and endow them with such Possessions as he will In the 31th year cap. 14. he defends the Doctrine of Transubstantiation the Sacrament in but one kind enacts that all Hereticks be burnt and their Goods forfeited that no Priest may marry for Masses Auricular Confession c. in the 34 5. cap. 1. recourse must be had to the Catholick Apostolick Church for the decision of Controversies And therefore all Books of the Old and New Testament in English being of Tindal 's false Translation or comprising any matter of Christian Religion Articles of the Faith or Holy Scripture contrary to the Doctrine set forth sithence Anno Domini 1540. or to be set forth by the King shall be abolished no Printer or Book-seller shall utter any of the said Books no Persons shall play or interlude sing or rhime contrary to the said Doctrine no Person shall retain any English Books or Writings concerning Matter against the holy and blessed Sacrament of the Altar or for the maintenance of the Anabaptists or other Books abolished by the King's Proclamation There shall be no Annotations or Preambles in Bibles or new Testaments in English the Bible shall not be read in English in any Church no Women c. to read the New Testament in English nothing shall be taught contrary to the Kings Injunctions and if any spiritual Person preach teach or maintain any thing contrary to the King's Instructions or Determinations made or to be made and shall thereof be convict he shall for his first Offence recant for his second abjure and bear a fagot for the third he shall be adjudged an Heretick and be burnt and loose all his Goods and Chattels In the 37. year cap. 17. The full Power and Autority he hath by being Supreme Head of the Church of England is To correct punish and repress all manner of Heresies Errors Vices Sins Abuses Idolatries Hypocrises and Superstitions sprung and growing within the same and to exercise all other manner of Jurisdiction called Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Sect. 1. and Sect. 3. 'tis farther added To whom by Holy Scriptures all Authority and Power is wholly given to hear and determine all manner of Causes Ecclesiastical and to correct Vice and Sin whatsoever and to all such Persons as his Majesty shall appoint thereunto And so far is all this from deriving to himself and exercising any thing of the Priest-hood that he is totidem verbis declared and reputed only a Lay-Man in the first Section of that Chapter nor do any one of these Instances here produced amount to any more than to the defending and guarding by Laws Truth and punishing and repressing Errors whether in Doctrines or in Manners at least such as are so reputed by the Church and State § VIII 'T IS true and easily observable that just upon the assuming to himself the Title of the supreme Head of the Church there was ground enough for suspition that the Church her self and all her Power was to be laid aside and whereas the reason and end of every particular Parliament before and of each of his till then is still said to be for the honor of God and holy Church and for the Common-Weale and Profit of this Realm 't is abated and said only for the honor of God and for the Common-Weale and Profit of this Realm the benefit of holy Church is in words at least left out and in the room of it is once added to the conservation of the true Doctrine of Christ's Religion As if the design was according to the Models now adayes framed and endeavour'd by private Persons to be set up That the care was to be only of Doctrines in which and in charity and love and abatements to one another the Essence of Church-Unity in general and each Christian with another consists But yet however this so hapned or upon what design either in himself or others 't is certain he abridged not the Church-Men of any one Instance of that Secular worldly Power as that of the supremacie derived unto them is called 25
Castelvetrus her second Husband as Mr. Selden suggests or by the Archbishop himself what is necessarily hence to be inferr'd I 'le here again give in the words of our always to be reverenced Mr. Herbert Thorndike of the Laws of the Church Cap. Vlt. Pag. 394. Neither is the Publishing Erastus his Book against Excommunication at London to be drawn into the like Consequence that those who allow'd and procur'd it allow'd the substance of what he maintain'd so long as a sufficient Reason is to be rendred for it otherwise for at such time as the Presbyterian Pretences were so hot under Queen Elizabeth it is no marvel if it was thought to shew England how they prevail'd at home first because he hath advanced such Arguments as are really effectual against them which are not yet nor never will be answered by them though void of the Positive Truth which ought to take place instead of their Mistakes and besides because at such times as Popes did what them listed in England it would have been to the purpose to shew the English how Machiavel observes they were hamper'd at home and for the like Reason when the Geneva Platform was cried up with such Zeal here it was not amiss to shew the World how it was esteem'd under their own Noses in the Cantons and the Palatinate § XVII I am now to shew the concurrency of our Doctors in the Church and who still go along with me and say the same thing that Church Power as such is not from the Civil Magistrate and his supremacy in all Causes and over all Persons infers it not an induction would be too numerous the Particulars being so many I 'le only instance in two the one is Thomas Bilson then Warden of Winchester and afterward Bishop there in his Book entituled The true difference between Christian Subjection and un-christian Rebellion perused and allowed by publick Autority and dedicated to Queen Elizabeth and for writing of which he had his Bishoprick the other is Robert Sanderson then the King's Professor at Oxford and after Bishop of Lincolne in his Book called Episcopacie as establed by Law in England not prejudicial to the Regal Power written in the time of the long Parliament by the special Command of King Charles the I. but not published by reason of the Iniquity and Confusion of the Times and since printed and dedicated to our present gracious Soveraign King Charles II. two Divines as they flourished in our Church at a great distance of time from one another so are they at as great distance for their Worth and Merit beyond the generality of the Divines of their times and by which as we have the advantage of their greater Autority as to themselves to which add That they acted herein as publick Persons by Autority appointed to write in the Name of the Church of England and in such Cases Men generally are more careful how they vent their own private Niceties and Conceptions so also have we a farther benefit hereby that this was and is the continued constant Doctrine of our Church and Church-Men from Queen Elizabeth to King Charles II. Bishop Bilson thus speaks part 2d pag. § XVIII 124. printed at Oxford It is one thing who may command for truth and another who shall direct unto truth We say Princes may command for Truth and punish the refusers this no Bishop may challenge but only the Prince that beareth the Sword no Prelate has Autority from Christ to compel private Men much less Princes but only to teach and instruct them these two Points we stand on pag. 125. 126. he tells the Jesuite the Prince is Supreme to establish those things Christ has commanded and so he all along shews it the design of the Oath of Supremacy against the pretended outward Jurisdiction of the Pope claiming as Christ's Vicar on Earth a coercive Power in order to spiritual things over the Persons of all Christians whatsoever whose Subjects soever and in whatsoever Causes even our Kings themselves And that it is no more thence to be inferr'd that Princes because supreme Governors over all Persons in all Causes are therefore supreme Judges of Faith Deciders of Controversies Interpreters of Scripture Appointers of Sacraments Devisers of Ceremonies and what not then if it should be inferr'd Princes are supreme Governors in all Corporal things and causes ergo they are supreme Guiders of Grammar Moderators of Logique Directors of Rhetorick Appointers of Musick Prescribers of Medicines Resolvers of all Doubts and Judges of all Matters incident any wayes to reason art or action We confess them to be supreme Governors of their Realms and Dominions and that in all Spiritual things and causes not of all Spiritual things and causes we make them not Governors of the Things themselves but of their Subjects we confess that her Highness is the only Governor of this Realm the Word Governor doth sever the Magistrate from the Minister and sheweth a manifest difference between their Office for Bishops be no Governors of Countries Princes be these bear the Sword to reward and punish those do not pag. 127. They have several Commissions which God signed those to dispense the Word and Sacraments these to prescribe by their Laws and punish by the Sword such as resist them within their Dominions pag. 128. That no Clergy-Man by God's Law can challenge an exemption from earthly Powers pag 129. Princes have full Power to forbid prevent and punish in all their Subjects be they Lay-Men Clerks or Bishops not only Murders Thefts Adulteries Perjuries and such like Breaches of the second table but also Schisms Heresies Idolatries and all other Offences against the first Table pertaining only to the Service of God and Matters of Religion pag. 130. as the Kings of Israel did who are the Christian Princes example pag. 132. and it is the duty of Christian Kings to compel from Heresies and Schisms to the confession of the truth consent of Prayer and Communion of the Lord's Table to compel Hereticks and Schismaticks to repress Schism and Heresie with their princely Power which they receive from above chiefly to maintain God's glory by the causing the Bands of Virtue to be preserved in the Church and the Rules of Faith observed pag. 133. this is the Prince's charge to see the Law of God fully executed his Son rightly served his Spouse safely nursed his House timely filled his Enemies duely punished and he tells the Jesuite if he grants this he will ask no more And these the causes and things that be Spiritual as well as Temporal the Princes power and charge doth reach unto or in the words of St. Austin that Princes may command that which is good and prohibit that which is evil within their Kingdoms not in Civil Affairs only but in Matters that concern divine Religion Cont. Crescon l. 3. c. 51. pag. 134. to page 145. and this or power of the like nature was what was claimed and used in causes Ecclesiastical which
Christian when he refused to give up his Church to the Arians denied the Emperor's power over truth and to determine in Doctrines The Emperor might force him out if he pleased neither might he resist the force his Weapons being only Prayers and Tears but the truth must not yield up to him and he give his consent or seem to do it by his own departure that the Arian Doctrine be there preached this was not then thought an Affront to the Magistrate and Law nor had St. Ambrose a Commission immediate from Heaven and abetted with Miracles or was he judged a hypocrite in so doing because he did not go and preach the Cause against Arius amongst the Goths and Vandals who subscribed to his Creed at their receiving Christianity though Mr. Dean of Canterbury tells us he that pleads Conscience and preaches it in England and does not go and preach it also in Turkey is guilty of gross hypocrisie pag. 203 213. We do not make them Judges and Deciders of Truth but Receivers and Establishers of it we say Princes be only Governors that is higher Powers ordain'd of God and bearing the Sword with lawful and publick Autority to command for truth to prohibit and with the Sword punish Errors and all other Ecclesiastical Disorders as well as Temporal within their Realms that as all their Subjects Bishops and others must obey them commanding what is good in Matters of Religion and endure them with patience when they take part with Error So they their Swords and Scopters be not subject to the Popes Tribunal neither hath he by the Law of God or by the Canons of the Church any Power or Pre-eminence to reverse their Doings nor depose their Persons and for this Cause we confess Princes within their Territories to be supreme that is not under the Popes jurisdiction neither to be commanded nor displaced at his pleasure pag. 215 216. There be two Parts of our Assertion The first avouching that Princes may command for Truth and abolish Error The next that Princes be Supreme i. e. not subject to the Popes judicial Process to be cited suspended deposed at his beck The Word Supreme ever was and is defended by us to make Princes free from the wrongful and usurped Jurisdiction which the Pope claimeth over them pag. 217. 219. Bishops have their Autority to preach and administer the Sacraments not from the Prince but Christ himself only the Prince giveth them publick liberty without let or disturbance to do what Christ hath commanded them he no more conferreth that Power and Function than he conferreth Life and Breath when he permitteth to live and breath when he does not destroy the life of his Subjects That Princes may prescribe what Faith they list what Service of God they please what form of Administring the Sacraments they think best is no part of our thoughts nor point of our Doctrine for external Power and Autority to compel and punish which is the Point we stand upon God hath preferr'd the Prince before the Priest pag. 223. touching the Regiment of their own Persons and Lives Princes owe the very same Reverence and Obedience to the Word and Sacraments that every private Man doth and if any Prince would be baptized or approach the Lord's Table with manifest shew of unbelief or irrepentance the Minister is bound freely to speak or rather to lay down his life at the Princes feet than to let the King of Kings to be provoked the Mysteries to be defiled his own Soul and the Princes endanger'd for lack of oft and earnest Admonition pag. 226. by Governors we do not mean Moderators Prescribers Directors Inventers or Authors of these things but Rulers or Magistrates bearing the Sword to permit and defend that which Christ himself first appointed and ordained and with lawful force to disturb the Despisers of his lawful Will and Testament Now what inconvenience is this if we say that Princes as publick Magistrates may give freedom protection and assistance to the preaching of the Word ministring of the Sacraments and right using of the Keys and not fetch license from Rome pag. 236. Princes have no right to call and confirm Preachers but to receive such as be sent of God and give them liberty for their preaching and security for their Persons and if Princes refuse so to do God's Labourers must go forward with that which is commanded them from Heaven not by disturbing Princes from their Thrones nor invading their Realms but by mildly submitting themselves to the Powers on Earth and meekly suffering for the defence of the truth what they shall inflict A private liberty and exercise of their own Conscience and Religion was not then thought enough if the Religion of a Nation be false and though autority do abet it nor would the Autority in Queen Elizabeth's days have own'd that Person asserting and maintaining of it though not stubbornly irreligious but only wanting information in so notoriously a known case of practice pag. 238. In all spiritual Things and Causes Princes only bear the Sword i. e. have publick Autority to receive establish and defend all Points and Parts of Christian Doctrine and Discipline within their Realms and without their help tho the Faith and Canons of Christ's Church may be privately professed and observed of such as be willing yet they cannot be generally planted or settled in any Kingdom nor urged by publick Laws and external Punishments on such as refuse but by their consents that bear the Sword This is that we say refel it if you can pag. 252. to devise new Rites and Ceremonies for the Church is not the Princes vocation but to receive and allow such as the Scripture and Canons commend and such as the Bishops and Pastors on the Place shall advise not infringing the Scripture or Canons and so for all other Ecclesiastical Things and Causes Princes be neither the Devisers nor Directors of them but the Confirmers and Establishers of that which is good and Displacers and Revengers of that which is Evil which power we say they have in all things be they Spiritual Ecclesiastical or Temporal the Abuse of Excommunication in the Priest and contempt of it in the People Princes may punish excommunicate they may not for so much of the Keys are no part of their Charge pag. 256. The Prince is in Ecclesiastical Discipline to receive and stablish such Rules and Orders as the Scripture and Canons shall decide to be needful and healthful for the Church of God in their Kingdoms It is the Objection indeed and undue consequence the Church of Rome makes against us and the Oath of Supremacy and which is urged by Philander in this Dialogue betwixt him and Theophilus or betwixt the Christian and the Jesuite pag. 124 125. That we will have our Faith and Salvation to hang on the Princes Will and Laws that there can be imagined no nearer way to Religion than to believe what our temporal Lord and Master list in the
that they had then been Excommunicated In Rom. 6.17 and in 1 Cor. 5.11 by the Keys of David he understands not only he that hath the Power of Death and Hell but he that hath Plenissimum Imperium the entire Power in the House of God as Eliachim had in the House of David Ad Apoc. 3.7 and then which what more can be desired by us and how consistent with himself any one may see I 'le only add the words of our Profound Mr. Thorndike in his Treatise of the Laws of the Church p. 395. He that in his Preface to his Annotations on the Gospel shall read him disclaiming whatever the Consent of the Church shall be found to refuse will never believe that he had admitted no Corporation of the Church without which no Consent thereof could have been observed And 't is I say from these his Annotations on the Gospels we are to find and know what are his Sentiments if any where he desires us to have recourse hither if we will read his other things with Profit in his Preface to the Reader Now that those above cited Treatises in which his Errors as to Church-Government are so visible were all wrote when he was young 't is certain and that he was too much pre-occupated and prejudiced by his Education and particular Converse and Business at Amsterdam in such his Youth follows in course and himself was afterwards sensible of and lamented it throughout his whole Life And thinks it less Candid and Ingenious in Andrew Rivette that he objects those things against him that he had wrote some times since Cum illi multarum rerum conspectum adimeret nimius Patriae amor cùm esset Parvulus loquebatur ut Parvulus when the over-much love to his Country did take from him the sight of many things When he was a Child he wrote as a Child Rivet Apol. Discuss Pag. 732. And it must be also very harsh and severe in us should we object against him that his particular Treatise of the Power of the Supreme Magistrate in Holy Things which that it is a Posthumous work 't is most apparent And farther That he disown'd it when it was wrote and never design'd it for the Press 't is more then probable especially if we give Credit to what account our Herbert Thorndike gives of it in his Laws of the Church the last Chapter That at his being in England he left it with two great Prelates of our Church Lancelot Lord Bishop of Winchester and John Lord Bishop of Norwich to peruse and both of them advising him not to Print it he rested in their Judgments and 't was laid aside till his Death And indeed that that Treatise was not the issue of a fixed Judgment but to serve a Party appears from the unevenness of the Discourse contradicting it self frequently and contending against the very design of it the great Argument of a raw imperfect confused Notion And particularly if we consider he was every ways an adherent to the Holland Remonstrants a sort of Men that in Prejudice to the Church so extremely flatter'd the Civil Magistrate as our Author makes it appear Ibid. suprà though he never drank so deep of the Cup as to take off the Dregs as he himself farther pleads to Rivet concerning some Presbyterian Tenents imbibed in his Youth Ibid. suprà and acknowledges much to the Mercies of God that when compassed round with their so great Power he could never be brought to Approve that which is proper to Calvinists Ibid. And how easily these things slide into Mankind how incredibly they work and how difficultly cast off Experience too much Evidences The Natural Love to a man's Country the Prejudice of his Education the higher Imployments in it its Applause and Acclamations All which Grotius had in a great measure The latter alone is able to spoil a Judgment it must do it where entertained and pursued and though he that reads over Grotius and says he is not the better for him such is his excellent and incomparable Notion must be either a great Fool or very ill natur'd yet 't is to be doubted some of these never quitted him quite his Theological Works lately Printed together give too great a Presumption all Amsterdam somewhere or other being to be found in them and every one may pick out or very near it his own Religion So fatal is it for Men of great Parts to set out without some first Principles as he did and frame their Scheme of Divinity to the present Notion and Conception no regard had to something receiv'd and certain So in course does it follow what in him is to be found and nothing could have done him so much right as in the setting out of his Works to have given account to the World of the particular time when they were each of them Composed and first made Publick All that I shall add more concerning Grotius is this In the pursuance of his assumed Notion of Supreme laid down by him in the Entrance to his Treatise De Imperio summarum Potestatum in Sacris and which is the chief occasion of his following Mistakes As To be Supreme is to be above all indefinitely in the full Latitude of things and where fixed and attributed to any one Person or Subject the very Design and Nature of the Expression will allow none to be excluded or exempted from a Submission and Subjection no other Power can be supposed and not in Subordinacy and Dependency upon to be and subsist without and besides it He is so unhappy as to fall into and pursue the same Mistake the Jesuit had done in Doctor Bilson's Book of Christian Subjection and Obedience in the Second Part who there thus argues against the Oath of Supremacy If Princes be Supreme Governors over all Persons in all Causes then in vain did the Holy Ghost appoint Pastors and Bishops to govern the Church then are they Superior to Christ himself in effect being Christ's Masters then may they prescribe which way to Worship God And goes on a little farther and declares his dislike to Supreme in the Oath because that word maketh Princes Superior to God himself for Supreme is Superior to all neither Christ's own Person nor his Church excepted Now I say this one and the same Notion of Grotius and the Jesuit if adhered unto and both will continue to allow it they are upon equal Grounds and with the same advantage sight against one another and the Combat may be Eternal only of Skirmishes and some Blows but no Victory on either side When Grotius goes along with our Church of England and makes his Magistrate Supreme in all Causes and over all Persons the Jesuite tells him That to be Supreme is above all to be Superior to all and he sets up his Prince above God and Christ and the Church when the Jesuit asserts the Supreme Power of the Church of God Grotius upon the same Ground replies the self-same thing upon
him That he exalts the Church-Power above God and Christ and the Magistrate as all their Masters And indeed according to these Mens Notions to apply the Superlative to any Person or Thing is the height of Blasphemy For why God is not excepted And the most common Phrases of a most Mighty Prince a most Holy Place a most Wise Counsellor are all instances of it nor can any one Attribute of Gods be otherwise applyed to the Creature Whereas if the Word be understood and used as in common use it is to be and in complyance with things it must be suitable to the present Subject it is assign'd and limited to and the particular things it is conversant with as under such and such Heads and Orders all is easie and plain Thus God is the alone Supreme all Rule Governance and Autority being originally in him and eminently Christ is Supreme as Head of the Church to whom all Power is given of the Father for bringing Mankind to Heaven the Apostles and their Successors the Pastors of the Church were and are now Supreme on Earth in the same Power derived from Christ by the Apostles unto them The Prince is Supreme and hath all Power from God committed unto him as to Government relating to this World over all Things Persons and Causes to appropriate or alienate to Endow Limit Restrain Coerce or Compel as the alone Supreme Law-giver upon Earth and none may oppose and the great and gyant Objection that is only wrangling about and mistaking of words falls to the ground as it is in it self nothing CHAP. IV. Chap. 4. The Contents The Objections answer'd Selden's Error that there are to be no other Punishments by Christ than was before and under the Law the Query is to be what Christ did actually constitute He mixes the Temporal Actions of the Apostles and those design'd for Perpetuity Adam and Cain might have more than a Temporal Punishment Sect. 1. The great Disparity betwixt the Jewish and Christian State considered no Inferences to be drawn from the one to the other but what is on our side Sect. 2. Theirs is the Letter ours the Spirit They Punish'd by Bodily Death we by Spiritual Sect. 3. If Government was judged so absolutely necessary by the dispersed Jews that they then framed one of their own for the present Necessity and whose Wisdom in so doing Mr. Selden so much admires it must blemish our Saviour much to say he purposely call'd together a Church and design'd it none of its own to preserve it Sect. 4. The Jews Excommunication was not bodily Coercive and then there may be such a Punishment an Obligation to Obedience without force and that is not outward and this much more in the Christian Society Sect. 5. And this their Government abstracted from the Civil Magistrate is an Essay of Christ's Government so far of the same Nature to come into the World Sect. 6. The Christian Church might be both from Caesar and Christ as was the Jewish from God and Caesar and there is no thwarting The Jews and Christians distinct Sect. 7. In answer to his main Objection That all Government must be of this World Sect. 8. It is replied To assert Christ to have such a Kingdom is to thwart his design of coming into the World the whole course of his Actions and Government and those Ancients that expected him to come and Rule with them on Earth yet did not believe it to be accomplished till after the Resurrection Sect. 9. To say he therefore has no Power at all is as wide of Truth the way of Men in Error to run from one extreme to another and of Mr. Selden here Sect. 10. The Church is a Body of a differing Nature from others Sect. 11. With differing Organs and Members of its own in Subordination to one another Sect. 12. With different Offices and Duties Gifts and Endowments these either Common to all Believers or limited to particular Persons Sect. 13. As Christians in common they had one Faith into which Baptized and of which Confession was made the Apostles Creed and other Summaries of Faith and sound Doctrine Interrogatories in Baptism How Infants perform it Sect. 14. They had one and the same Laws and Rules for Obedience for which they Covenanted which is their Baptismal Vow the Abrenunciation of the World the Flesh and the Devil Sect. 15. One Common Worship and Service and Religious Performance to God in their Assemblies the particular Offices and Duties there the Priest and People officiate interchangeably as in Tertullian Justin Martyr c. Sect. 16. Common Duties and Services as to God so to one another in supplying one anothers Necessities as occasion Sect. 17. In the supply of such as attended at the Altar by a Common Purse deposited in the hands of the Bishop Sect. 18. Of the Poor and Indigent whose Treasurer was the Bishop Sect. 19. The Power Offices and Duties not promiscuous but limited to particular Persons are those of the Ministry distributed into the three standing Orders of Bishop Presbyter and Deacon and which make up that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Gospel Priesthood to remain to the Restitution Sect. 20. This Power and Jurisdiction though limited to and residing in these three yet it is not in each of them alike in the same degree force and virtue the Deacon is lowest the Presbyter next the Bishop the full Orders and Vppermost Supreme and including all Sect. 21. Against this Primacy of Bishops that of Metropolitans Exarchy Patriarchy and the Supremacy of Rome is objected Sect. 22. The Metropolitan c. is in some Cases above the Bishop but not in the Power of the Priesthood 't is the same Power enlarged No new Ordination in Order to it Sect. 23. The Vniversal Primacy of the Bishop of Rome is but Pretended not bottom'd on either the Scriptures or Fathers or Councils Sect. 24. 25 26. The Bishops Superiority or full Orders and Power in the Church is reassumed and farther asserted He with his Presbyter or Deacon or some one of them are to be in every Congregation for the Presbyter or Deacon or both to assemble the People and Officiate and not under him is Schism The several instances of this Power of the Priesthood Sect. 27. To Preside in the Assemblies Pray give Thanks for Teach and Govern there No Extempore Prayers in those Assemblies Sect. 28. To Administer the Sacraments the Consecration of the Lords Supper by Prayer and Thanksgiving and Attrectation of the Elements Baptism by Lay-Persons Rebaptizations on what terms in the Ancient Church Confirmation Sect. 29. To Vnite and Determine in Council The use of Councils and Obligation Their Autority Declarative Autoritative Sect. 30. To impose Discipline the several instances and degrees of it in the Ancient Church Indulgencies and Abatements Sect. 31. To Excommunicate or cast out of the Church a Power without which the Church as a Body cannot subsist a natural Consequent to Baptism Priests not excommunicated