A TRUE REPRESENTATION OF PRESBYTERIAN GOVERNMENT Wherein a short and clear Account is given of the PRINCIPLES Of Them that owne IT THE COMMON OBJECTIONS AGAINST IT ANSWERED And some other Things opened that concern IT in the PRESENT CIRCVMSTANCES By a Friend to that Interest Licensed April the 18. 1690. Edinburgh Re-printed by the Heir of Andrew Anderson Anno Dom. 1690. A True Representation of Presbyterian Government THat any of the Truths or Ordinances of God should need an Apology to be made for them should be for a Lamentation For it proceedeth either from the Ignorance or Perverseness of Men. The Principles and way of Presbyterians have undergone the common Fate of other of the parts of that Religion that Christ hath taught It is the Sect every where spoken against and there hath been no small stir about that way And this hath proceeded partly from the enmity against that curb of mens Lusts and enormities that is in ungodly men And partly from want of knowledge of that way which even they may be under whose Studies and Thoughts are imployed about things of another nature and not about these matters though they be otherwise knowing and thinking Men Or from prejudice that their Interest may fill them with to the hiding of Truth in this from their eyes wherefore we think it our Duty to endeavour the vindication of this our Profession with as much brevity and clearness as we can attain by First giving a plain account of what we hold 2dly Taking off the most material Objections and these that are most common or reproaches that are used against us for we have to do not only with men otherwise Sober and Judicious who differ from us But with many whose Temper Practices and Designs are not such as becometh the Gospel We desire as to approve our selves to our blessed Lord and Master Jesus Christ so to satisfie the Minds of all Inquirers after Truth but especially to stand right in the Opinion of His Majesty our gracious Soveraign of his Grace the King 's High Commissioner and of the Noble and Honourable Estates of Parliament who we hope as Nursing Fathers to the Church will owne us in those ways that the Lord owneth us in Our Principles we lay down in a few Propositions First We owne Christ the Mediator as the only Head over and Lawgiver to his Church and we disown and visible governing Head over the Church however pretending to act in Subordination to him because we know none that he hath given such Commission to 2dly Christ as Head of the Church hath given forth Laws whereby the Affairs of his House should be mannaged and hath not left any Nomothetick Power in the Church to make Laws for her self her work being to declare and execute that Laws of Christ and the Laws of the Magistrat are not to appoint new Ordinances or Officers in the Church though he ought to give his civil Sanction to what Christ hath appointed and may make Laws about these things that are external to the Church that is which are common to her with other Societies 3dly Christ hath appointed Officers in his House and Declared how they should be qualified and what should be their work as in the beginning of the Gospel he was pleased to appoint several extraordinary and temporary Officers that were immediatly called and extraordinarily Gifted by himself as Apostles Prophets and Evangelists c. The Apostles by Divine derection did immediatly choose some by themselves for itinerant work either from amongst the ordinary or extraordinary Officers of the Church to exercise hic nunc their extraordinary Power which Officers we commonly call Evangelists so we do not find that he appointed any ordinary and perpetual Officers except Elders called also Bishops and Deacons Phil. 1.1 Of these Elders some were to Rule the Church also to Teach her Heb. 13.7 17. Others only to Rule 1 Tim. 5.17 which also we the practice of the first Antiquity and its desuetude complained of by Ambrose in the end of the fourth Century and there are few of the Fathers in the first three Centuries but they mention Seniores Ecclesiae that represented the People in the Government of the Church with the Ministers 4ly How the Officers of God's House should be qualified is at length set down 1 Tim. 3.2 under the Name of Bishops which was the Name of all Church Rulers and Deacons Tit. 1.6 5ly Their work is fully set down both negatively that they should not be intangled with worldly Affairs 2 Tim. 2. where having mentioned Ordination of Ministers vers 2. he requireth them vers 3 and 4. as Souldiers to endure hardness and to be abstracted from worldly Business which is to be understood as much their necessity doth permit Also positively it is told us in general that they are directed in this 1 Tim. 3.14 15. and particular Directions are given about Preaching and that in all the parts of it 2 Tim. 4.1 2. Censures 1 Cor. 5.4 5. 2 Thes 3.14 Ordination 2 Tim. 2.2 1 Tim. 5.22 6ly In all these Ministers and Elders have no Lordly Authority over the People but must acts as Christ's Servants and theirs in order to their Salvation 1 Pet. 5.3 2 Cor. 4.5 yet they have real and proper though Ministerial Authority under Christ 7ly It is not only of Divine Authority natural that there be a Government in the Church Anarchy and Confusion in any Society being contrary to the Dictates of natural reason but the Lord Jesus hath positively revealed his will in this He having expresly committed the Keyes of the Kingdom of Heaven to his Servants and that for binding and loosing retaining and remitting of Sins The Authorotative inflicting of Censures whereby the man is declared to be free from guilt and that his Sin is pardoned so far as Men can discern 8ly What should be the Species of this Government is not left indifferent to Men whether the Magistrat or the Church to chuse but is determined by Christ and revealed in the New Testament In that he hath appointed what Officers should be in his House how they should be Chosen and Authorized viz by Election and Ordination what should be their Qualifications and Work How they should manage their work and rule the Church in common That the Apostles committed the Ordination of Ministers to the Presbytry 1 Tim. 4.14 and the Censures of the Church to a Community 1 Cor. 5. 2 Cor. 2. And not to one person even in their own time is an unanswerable argument for this their Example being declarative of the mind of God where no peculiar reason appeareth for their Action 9ly This Government the Lord hath not committed to Magistrats who have no power to Ordain or Deprive Ministers or Elders nor to Excommunicate or to relax from that Sentence Nor to Administer or mannage any part of that Work that is peculiar to the Church as it is a Religious Society nor to appoint how the Church should
be governed But he hath committed it to the Church Guides Ministers and Ruling Elders for to them are all the Directions about it given in the Word not to the Magistrats they are to given an account of it Heb. 13.17 They did manage it for diverse hundreds of years when there was no Magistrat that did owne or countenance Christianity And there is no hint in Scripture nor Principle of reason that can evince that this Power should devolve into the hands of the Magistrat when he should become Christian neither are any Directions given to the Magistrat how he should administer any of the Ordinances of Christ 10ly Yet we owne the Civil Magistrat as Nursing Father of the Church and Custos utriusque tabulae legis Upon which account he is not only to provide 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Church and to procure her Peace and Unity by all good means as repressing of Heresie Schism and other Disorders wherein he is to use a judgment of Discretion and not blindly to execute the Sentence of the Church but also may require all the Officers and Members of the Church to do what is their Duty And that he may when the Case requireth convocat Synods and Indict times of Fasting and Thanksgiving Though for these we assert and intrinsick Power in the Church to which that of the Magistrat is not privative but cumulative For we maintain a twofold Kingdom of Christ one as God over all men in which the Magistrat is his Vicegerent another as Mediator over the Church as such in which he hath Deputed no Magistratical but only Ministerial Power We hold also that the Persons and Actions of Church-men are subject to the Civil Magistrat and that they may be punish'd when they transgress the Laws 11ly This Ministerial governing Power in the Church the Lord hath not committed to all the Members nor to all the Males thereof But hath made a manifest distinction between Rulers and Ruled in the Scriptures mentioned already 12ly The Lord hath equally intrusted all his Servants the Ministers not only with the power of dispensing the Word and Sacraments but also with the power of Governing the Church Which by his appointment and according to the practice of the first and best Ages of the Churches ought to be and was done in common by Ministers acting in Parity and not by a single Prelat set over the rest This is acknowledge by most and the most eminent of our Prelatick Brethren And must be so by all of them who do not plead for a Divine Right of Episcopacie Besides that neither Names Directions or Reproofs given to Church-Guides in Scripture do import any such imparity of Power nor is there any footstep of the exercise of it in Scripture to infer this disparity of Power from that of the Apostles is most inconsequential They being Universal Extraodinary Unfixed and Temporary Officers whom the Lord immediatly called and abrogated their Office with their Death in that he neither called others to succeed in that Power nor gave any hint that it should be done by the Church It is as if one should say the Church was once governed Monarchically by a visible Head viz. while Christ was on earth ergo It should be so still Which no Protestant will averr The Argument in Timothie and Titus is of the same Kidney they being extraordinary and unfixed Officers and so no precedent for after times Neither can any Argument be drawn from the Angels of the Churches words not being often used properly in that mystical Book and we know that Thologia Symbolica non est Argumentativa Besides that the Angel of Thyatira was certainly a Community being spoken to in the Plural Number Rev. 2.24 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 13 There being no disparity of power amongst Ministers by Christ's grant of power to them No man can make this Disparity by setting One over the Rest Neither can they devolve their power on One of themselves For Christ hath given no such warrant to Men to dispose of His Ordinance as they see fit And power being delegated to them by him they cannot so commit it to another to exercise it for them as to deprive themselves of it Also it being not a License only but a Trust of which they must give an account they must perform the work by themselves as they will be answerable But we must contract not being now disputing but asserting what we shall be ready to defend as occasion shall be offered 14 We assert Presbyterial Government to be so of Divine Right as We can make no composition with men about it though none shall be more condescending to them that are otherwise minded in what is consistant with Truth and necessary Duty than we Yet it is not alike so in all the parts of it For some parts of it are of Christ's institution as the officers of the Church the Laws and Censures of it And others of the Dictats of natural Reason which is also a Beam of Divine Light as that there be a Government and meeting for managing of it that one preside in them that lesser and greater parts of the Church had their meetings as Congregational Classical Provincial and National Assemblies for Government that there be a subordination and appeals amongst these To require positive assertions of Scripture warranting every one of these though there want not Scripture examples and other hints to countenance severals of them is as unreasonable as if we should be called to bring a Text to prove that we should come in to the publick assemblies cloathed and not naked In an usual and not in an antiquat Garb. 15 Whether the Moderator or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of ruling Church meetings should continue for one or more Diets or for how long a time is not determined by any institution of Christ nor by any general dictate of natural Light Yet we judge a constant Moderator highly inconvenient and by all means to be shunned For if he be imposed on the meeting it is an encroachment on their intrinsick power of governing themselves in such things as are peculiar to them And though chosen by themselves fatal and constant examples together with the inclinations of men to usurpation do shew it to have so violent tendency to Lordly Prelacy as rarely doeth it fail of the bad effects nor can be expected not to Issue in it We maintain that no Church Judicature ought to cognosce of Affairs of State nor of Mens civil Rights or Interests except their advice should be sought by the Magistrat concerning Sin or Duty in any such matter As if the thing be manifestly Scandalous and evidently dangerous to the interest of Religion and the Souls of Men. Neither do they inflict any punishment save Spiritual Censures Their work is to enquire into and declare controverted Truths to censure Scandalous Sinners to try and ordain Ministers to absolve the penitent by applying the comforts of the Gospel to them
and such like Wherefore there is no Ground of Fear that they should Clash or Cope with Magistrat unless they go beyond their line in which case they fall under the Magistrats coercive power 16 The way how men come into any office or power in the Church is by Election of the people which designeth the Person in which Election as in other things they are to be under the Conduct and Regulation of the Church Guides and ordination by laying on of the hands of the Presbytery which is the mean of communicating authority to him and the former of these ought to preceed the latter For we find no warrand for a Ministerium Vagum in the Church seeing even in times of great trouble and Persecution we read of none ordained by the Apostles but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the suffrages of the People 17 Though superintendency that is a power of inspection delegated from the Church to one used in case of necessity when a qualified Minister could hardly be had in a Province he might for a time be appointed to oversee them who could do little more than read the word publickly that is no warrant for bringing qualified Ministers under that subjection in a constituted Church where there are through the mercy of God competent number of Ministers If our Principles be rightly understood we confidently hope they will suggest grounds of answer for most of the objections made against us to the minds of the intelligent and unbyassed Yet we shall endeavour to afford some farther light this way also 1. It is objected or rather we are reproached with by some that Presbyterial Church Government is inconsistant with Civil Government Answ 1. A simple denial is enough to stop the mouth of such bold Asserters Neither hath the World yet seen any topick except Calumnies whereby this could be pretended to be proved 2. Experience proveth the contrary Civil Government is advantageously mannaged in several of the most eminent of the reformed Churches with that discipline of Christ's House that we plead for And our own land is a confounding instance that might stop the mouth of impudence it self wherein Presbytery commenced with the Reformation from Pupery and continued with much Peace till ambitious Men by labouring to unsettle it did disturb and at last overturn the State 3. We have already shewed how we give to Caesar that which is Caesars and to God that which is Gods neither can our Adversarie make any Power appear to be due to the Magistrat but what we allow Him Indeed Erastians do require for the Magistrat some Power that the Presbyterians cannot approve of But this is not peculiar to us but common to all that assert a Government in the Church distinct from that of the State Which is the principle of Papists Prelatists that are only such and Independents as well as it is ours 4. Our obedience to Magistrats in all their Lawful commands and our peaceful sufferings of unjust violence are notour to all that can behold us with an unprejudiced Eye And if instances can be given to the contrary the disloyalty of some is not to be imputed to all for what party of men hath not afforded such instances and where the peace was broken by Men of our way which were but a few it was the fruit of such insupportable Severities and Hardships as even they could not have born who blame others for that practise As late Instances do make manifest 2. It is next objected that Presbytery and Monarchy are inconsistant No Bishop no King at least it is not so adapted to Monarchy as Prelacy is and the Government of the Church should be so moulded as it may best sute that of the State Answ 1. The falshood of the Assertion and Maxim is evident from what hath been said Presbytery and Monarchy have well consisted in our own Land and in France 2 None maintain more loyal Principles towards Kings than Presbyterians do who think themselves oblidged to fear God and Honour the King and were alwayes ready to obey him in the Lord. 'T is true they cannot give him Unlimited Obedience But this is not as they are Presbyterians but as they are men of Conscience and will obey God rather than Man which I hope the Objecters will not say is peculiar to Presbyterians If they do and plead for the publick Conscience as some of them have done to the laying aside the use of particular Consciences in the actions that are moral which is to introduce practical Atheism They do not hurt our cause but their own 3. Our practice hath also been Loyal in abhorring the Murder of King Charles the first and in contributing the most effectual endeavours to restore His Son And in owning and submitting to a King of a contrary Religion so long as our Religion and Liberties were in any tolerable safety or the Laws that were the measure of our obedience were any way regarded and what was then done was not by us alone 4. It is boldly alledged but not proved that the Church Government should be fram'd according to that of the State for that may be various but this is one And was so under the old Testament though the Civil Government varied 3 'T is said that Presbyterians encroach on the Authority of the Magistrat by medling with state Affairs Answ 1 Our Principle in this is already declared And whatever instances of former times this allegation may seem to be built on had their rise from Statesmen taking the advice of Church-men in their Assemblies who sometimes gave advice contrary to the inclination of the leading Men of the State And if their Zeal for a good Interest led them at any time to press their advice with Reasons and Threatnings from the Word of God And if some excess did happen this way the blame lay on them who gave the first rise to it Besides this when the actings of Rulers have a manifest and direct tendency to lead People into sinful Courses such as imposing of unlawful Oaths and engaging People in a false Religion who could be silent without unfaithfulness to God and cruelty both to the Souls of Rulers and People Another answer may be by retorting this Argument on the prelatick Clergy Do not Bishops sit in the Councils and interpose directly and formally in affairs of State which Presbyterians never pretended to 4 The rigidity of Presbyterians is objected Answ 1 Can any man have the brow to compare the rigidity of Presbyterians with that of either Bapists or Prelatists either in bearing with no dissent from their way even in the least matters and which themselves count indifferent or in the Bloody and cruel way of Persecuting such as dissent by Massacres Inquisitions horrid Tortures Imprisonment Fining and strange Severities Is there any thing that can be alledg'd against Presbyterians that can be once compared with the Persecutions that many in the west of Scotland and elsewhere have
lately Endured Yea Independents cannot compare with the Moderation of Presbyterians For they most of them will not communicat with any but of their own way And so with none but those of their own Congregation which is far from Our way As for Anabaptists and Quakers They owne none for Members of the Church but Men of their own Stamp So that it may be on good ground said That Presbyterians are the most Moderate of any Party that pretend to Religion 2. That which Men call Rigidity in Presbyterians is mostly against Mens Immoralities that are unquestionably such If other Men be Gentle to these it may recommend them to wicked Mens good liking but will not render them acceptable to God This strictness of disciplin against scandalous Sins is injoined in Scripture and we go not beyond the bounds there set we rebuke such before all we do not punish them in their Bodies or Purses and our strictness falleth very far short of that of the primitive times as every one who hath read any thing of the History of the ancient Church knoweth both their Catechumeni were detained from Church priviledges and their Penitents put to long and hard Pennance at another rate then any thing that we do 3. Wherein lyeth the Rigidity of Our discipline Do not our Ministers deal with them who fall into scandalous sins with all Meekness and Tenderness admonishing them laying before them the Evil and Danger of their way the necessity of Repentance the hope of Mercy through Christ that there is to the penitent It is our way even where the Sinner is most obstinate and rejecteth all advice to wait for many weeks before we proceed to Excommunication that that dreadful Sentence if possible may be prevented We give publick Admonition three several Lords dayes and sometimes oftener We pour out Prayers to God not only in secret but with the Congregation as long that the Sinner may be turned from his evil way And after all this we use to wait Patiently for the Mans Repentance If he appear Penitent the Sentence doth not pass against him and after Sentence is past upon the hardned Sinner if afterward he shew any signs of Repentance how readily is he received into the Church again and we chearfully confirm our love to him And where Church Censures are used it is not for Worldly matters not paying Church dues as is the practice of some others not for small offences but for Gross and scandalous Sins 4. For their severitie toward such as differ from them in Principles they think it their Duty not to bear them that are Evil and to try them that say they are Apostles and are not They have a zeal against Errour Disorders and Usurpations in the Church and cannot understand how they who do not owne Presbyterial Government should be the mannagers of it Yet can use that Moderation and resolve to do so when opportunity shall be put in their hand as not to deny Church Communion to any sober and Religious Person though of a contrary sentiment to them in these inferior of Truth 5ly Another Objection is from the Indiscretion of the present Ministers of this way Their want of that Learning Prudence and other good parts that may fit them to manage so great a Trust as is the Government of the Church Answ We know these are the diminutive thoughts that our adversaries have of us And we have not such high thoughts of our selves as to magnifie our selves We have cause to be humbled as we hope we are in some measure for our imperfections both in Gifts and Grace Yet we may and must being thus put to it say that there want not men amongst us who fall not short in Ministerial Qualifications of them who have lately had the Rule of the Church and for the generality of us it is the Opinion of the World and of unbyassed men yea even of some that are not of our way that these of the other party have no cause in their Glorying over us in this 2. Church Government doth not require any great degree of politick Accomplishment A plain Man who understandeth the Laws of Christ and the Scripture Directions concerning Censures is fitter to Govern the Church than a great Statesman is 3. Any Indiscretion that of late years hath appeared in our Conduct may and should be imputed to our want of Liberty to govern the Church Every one among Ministers and People did what was right in his own Eyes and we do not deny but there are some Indiscreet persons among us as there are in all parties And even wise Men in our Circumstances could not shun some acts that might seem Indiscreet either to Adversaries or to less considering Persons 6ly The Divisions of Presbyterians are objected Ans 1. Where are these not to be found neither Bishop nor Pope have been able to keep them out of the Church or from among their own Party 2. Our Divisions we do not deny or approve we are men of like Passions with others we labour to shun Divisions as much as is possible and through Grace have come to more Unity than they who reproach us with our Divisions 3. The Divisions that were among us as we deny not that our Mistakes and Corruptions had a hand in them so we know that enemies were active to promote and heighten them which though it excuse not us a toto yet it doth a tanto and put our enemies in mala fide to reproach us with them 4. The Unity that the Prelatick party made in the Church was like that of a conquering Tyrant who beholdeth all that oppose him slain before him there was peace to the King and Haman when there was none to the people of God the Unity of some is a combination in error and the result of a Conquest over mens Consciences that now dare not mutter against the Lusts of their Imposing Task masters we think contending about Truth more desirable than such peace It is known that our Church enjoyed such Unity for many years after the Reformation as was Celebrated by Churches abroad as is evident from the Preface to Corpus Confessionum till ambitious men began to trouble her with their Innovations and Usurpations and so were the cause of Division 7. Many object that if Presbyterians get Power they will force all to make publick Repentance who have owned Bishops taken the Test or other Oaths that they dislike Ans Our Principle is that publick Scandals ought to be publickly rebuked yet there are Cases in which the strictness of Discipline in this matter may and must be relaxed I shall name two 1. When the matter of Offence is controverted and the sinful practice is from the misinformation of the Conscience where the matter is not of the highest moment and the person appeareth Conscientiously to follow his Light Church Discipline may then be forborn 2. When the fault is universal either the whole or the greater part or a great
part of the Church is guilty The rigour of Censure that otherwise might be due is to be abated even the Primitive Church though very severe in Discipline used a great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this Case When many or most had fallen in Persecution though the Crime was of the highest nature even denying the Faith A general Humiliation of the whole Church may be in stead of particular application of Censures I hope there is no cause of fear from Men of such moderate Principles If in this or any thing else we have been chargeable with Excess as who can clear himself of all blame I hope our riper Thoughts Studies and Sufferings by the Blessing of God on them hath taught us and will engage us to let our Moderation be known to all men considering that the Lord is at hand And though we have been severly Beaten by our Fellow Servants yet we will stand in awe and be lothe that the Lord when he cometh should find us so doing to them 8ly Some Object That in this way Ministers many Domineer over People even the greatest Men at their pleasure Answ Beside that they must walk by the Rule set down in the Word and if they exceed that bounds they may be curbed by Superior Judicatories Or if their Insolence amount to the disturbing of the Peace the Magistrat may restrain them we say beside this the Ministers do nothing alone but with the peoples Representatives the Elders who may be of the Nobles or any other Rank as they are qualified for that work and chosen to it by the Church Some other Objections are tossed among Men that talk of these things which do not so much concern Presbyterial Government in general as some parts of it or things about it that are now in agitation The 9th Objection then may be framed against the taking away the Election of Ministers by Patrons viz. That if that be done men of Note and Interest in Parishes may be over-ruled by the multitude which often is ignorant and heady and have Ministers imposed on them Answ 1 That Patronages are an intollerable Grievance and yoke of Bondage on the Church and have always been the cause of pestering the Church with a bad Ministry and a temptation to Intrants to please the Patron farther than to his Edification rather than to please God Beside the Simoniacal buying felling of Gospel Ordinances that frequently in all times have attended this Device of Men But which is worst of all that it is a direct crossing Christ's Institution and a robbing his people of the priviledge he hath bequeathed to them These things I say are full proved elsewhere And therefore if it be supposed that the Inconvenience mentioned should follow from taking away of patronages yet it will not I hope move them who regard Christ's Institutions or the good of his Church the Salvation and Edification of Souls to be for their continuance 2 The same inconvenience was apt to follow on popular Election in other Ages of the Church and yet in the Apostles times and in the first and best Ages till the seventh or eight Century or latter patronages were not settled in the Church they came in among the latest Antichristian Corruptions and Usurpations The primitive Christians were not so tender of their Grandeur and such priviledges as their rank in the World gave them nor so little tender of the Liberties of the Church and the Interest of Christians as such And if any such pretensions appeared to be owned by the Grandees of these times they met with a severe Check and that in lesser matters than acclaiming a Power of choosing Ministers for the whole Church as appeareth by the Apostles reproving the Distinction even in the Seats in their Assemblies that was made between the Man with the Gold Ring and gay Cloathing and the Man in Vile Raiment We are content to allow great Men all due Respect but not to complement them with what is Christ's Legacy to his People And therefore we hope That they who are willing to subject themselves to the Laws of Christ will be content to stand on equal Ground tho we be far from aiming at the Levelling principle in other things with their poor Brethren in the Church with respect to Church priviledges which belong not to Men as Poor or Rich as Great or Small but as they are Christ's Disciples 3. It is carefully to be Observed that the Election of a Minister is not to be left to the Management of the confused Rabble tho' the meanest adult male Member of the Church hath a Right to assent or dissent but it is to be ordered by the Eldership and that under the inspection of the Presbytery and by the Presbytery where no congregational Eldership is in the Number of which Elders it is to be supposed that Heretors and Men of Interest in the Paroch will be if they be tolerably qualified for and will undertake such an Office and then they have a special hand in the Election and cannot complain of being imposed upon And the Eldership is to exclude from having an hand in the Election them that are scandalous grosly ignorant Heady and Schismatick or any way disorderly And if Divisions fall in the Elders are Judges of the difference between the two Parties and are to consider the Reasons on both Hands and to ponder and weigh as well as to Number the Votes They ought also to exclude from voting in such Elections all such as are not fixed Members of the congregation And to lay more weight on the suffrages of them that are more fixed and less on them that are otherwise Caeteris paribus For though Christianity maketh one a Member of the Church Catholick yet a fixed abode is needfull to make one a Member of and to give a share in the priviledges of that particular Flock But how to limit this fixation is not easie For though some be manifestly unfixed as servants and others are manifestly fixed as ancient inhabitants who are like to continue long in that place yet there may be a middle sort who cannot be determined by General Rules but it must be left to the prudence of the Church to judge in this If these things be duely considered Great Men need not fear having a Minister obtruded on them especially if we add that Men of interest usually are able to influence those that live under them or that do depend upon them 4. In the times wherein Patronages were taken away by Law Men of Interest and respect found no cause to complain of being imposed upon but the Church laid down such directions as may be seen in the Acts of the General Assembly August 4. 1649. Sess 40. And the constant practice of the Church was to give such deference to them as they were Generally satisfied with the Elections And they may still be perswaded that it will be the care of Elderships and Presbytries to do nothing that they can