Poverty and many Miseries And let it be noted The like is gratefully acknowledged by the Godly and Reverend Bishop if Co k of a Nonconformist p. 73. that I am obliged to acknowledg the Efficacy of the Holy Spirit upon the preaching of several of them towards my Salvation and having known the proof and Power of Christ speaking in them I dare not deny them before Men lest I also deny Christ Jesus my Saviour in them There are several learned holy laborious and successful Ministers that were our Instructors in our younger time who have conformed but not so many as refused to conform within my Knowledg as I could name but for offending them and some other Reasons of my Silence and in those times of Liberty these seemed to be all of one Mind in the Lord. I and many more rejoyced in their Light and some of them were among Preachers as Solomon saith As the Apple-Tree is among the Trees of the Wood we sate under their Shadow with great Delight and their Fruit was pleasant to our Taste I could name the wise Master-builders that laid the Foundation other than which no Man can lay I could name the Paul and the Apollos and the Peters that preached to the Heart the Barnabas and the Boanerges the Friends of the Bridegroom that woed and besought us and would not be denied till our Souls had received Christ Jesus the Lord some of them are at rest in the Lord and let their Names be blessed and others are in the Cloud and Storm and Warfare and to add Bonds to their many Afflictions is no small unkindness to Religion We know of what Spirit they were that digg'd up the Bodies of Wikcliff and other Saints it is not hard to find of what Spirit they are that rake into the Ashes of the Dead and sprinkle them with their profane Wit which is like Salt that has loss its Savour not good for the Dunghil it proceeds not from that Charity which covers a multitude of Sins 5. Whether they who are called of God to the Work of the Ministry should forsake and renounce their Calling and look upon themselves as Lay-men and be but as Lay-men because they are ejected out of their Places and conform not to the Injunctions of the Law Many of the Nonconformists have Episcopal Ordination shall they forbear all Ministerial Acts and do but what any Master of a Family should do instruct their own Family and admit four more to a Participation of the Benefit shall they renounce their Calling who declared their Trust that they were moved by the Holy Ghost to take the Office of Deacon whom the Arch-Deacon declared when presented to the Priesthood he thought them apt and meet for their Learning and godly Conversation and the Bishop declared after due Examination We find not the contary but that they be lawfully called to their Function for whom the Bishop prayed and whom he hoped that they have determined by God's Grace to give them wholly to this Office whereunto God hath called them and also called to declare and profess before God Angels and the Congregation that they were truly called according to the Will of the Lord Jesus Christ give faithful Diligence always so to minister the Doctrine and Sacraments and the Discipline of Christ as the Lord hath commanded and this Church received according to the Commandments of God to drive away erroneous Doctrines to use both publick and private Monitions and Exhortations to sick and whole within your Cures as need shall require c. Can any discharge them from God's Call but God that called them Can they sit still and do no Ministerial Work These other Arguments are urged by heavenly Mr Jos Allen say to Archippus c. that have been devoted to the Ministry that have been prayed for and exhorted to give themselves wholly to it Or do they cease to be Ministers except it be in that Cure to which they were instituted and inducted Then are we made tho not Independent yet Congregational Ministers and are Ministers only in that particular Congregation If they ought not to renounce their Ministry then they may preach and do other Ministerial Offices as they have opportunity Others are not Episcopally ordained but if they are moved by the Holy Ghost are learned exercised in the Scriptures are of Godly Conversation and give themselves to the Work are not they called of God If not what 's the meaning of the fore-cited Word in the ordering of Priests and Deacons Then shall the Bishop say unto the People Good People these are they whom we purpose God willing to receive this day unto the Office of Priesthood For after due Examination we find not the contrary but that they be lawfully called to their Function and Ministry and be persons meet for the same Doth not the Bishop look upon them as internally called and that internal Calling declared and signified and therefore receives them And tho they have not Episcopal Imposition of Hands if they have Imposition of Hands of Presbyters and are set apart by Fasting and Prayer are they not more than Lay-men or private Believers They who say they are but Lay-men have no better Reasons than the Romanists had who called our Reformed Bishops no true Bishops nor Priests Anthony Champney dedicated or rather directed his Book of the Vocation of Bishops c. to Arch-Bishop Abbot with no higher Title then To Mr George Abbot called Aroh-bishop of Canterbury And the most eminent Defenders of our Protestant Religion tho they asserted a Power of Ordination to reside in the Bishop as without whom there was no regular Ordination See Mr. Fran Mason §. 7 9. Defence of Ordination yet they justified the calling of Forreign Divines and Churches by Presbyters without Bishops and the Reasons they used to vindicate them will serve to vindicato those among us D. Jo. White 's Works way to the true Church §. 53. p. 211. that have no other And when as he the Jesuit saith They Luther and Calvin succeeded no Apostolick Bishops neither had any Calling to preach that now Faith I answer That for the External Sucecssion where of we have spoken we care nor it is sufficiont that in Doctrine they succeeded the Apostles and Primitive Churches It is the Custom of the Catholick Church See Dr. Field of the Church Book 3 c. 39. Consensus Eccles Cathol centra Trident. pralectionibus c. 11. de Ecclesia R. 289. Bishop Biron of Subjection Par. 3. p. 535. 4o. ut Episcopi legitime ordinent sed siquis a Presbytere ordinats fuerit Ordinatio illa etiam vera est ex ejusdem Ecclesiae Catholicae judicio saith the Reverend Bishop Carlton and Bishop Bilson that learned Defender of Bishops Answers Philander Phil. The Apostles Commission we know but yours we do not know Theop You cannot be ignorant of ours if you know theirs so long as we teach the same Doctrine which they did we have the
these Passages to inform those who seem not to know or remember these things Yet I cannot go on without leaving some Animadversions and Remarks upon them 1. We might have seen the disagreeing Parties running into an Union under the King as their supream lawful Head and Governour The reputed Presbyterian comprehending a great powerful considerate substantial part of the Kingdom most close and deliberate in Counsel active in Endeavours fervent in Prayer with their Ministers for the Restauration of the King and the ancient Government watching all Opportunities and using all means to engage General Monk and his well disciplined and most Presbyterian part of the Army to declare for the restoring the secluded Members in order to a free Parliament and that in order to bring back the King The most eminent of the Royal Party declaring a Reconcilableness and Oblivion of all Sufferings acknowledging the Hand of God in them all And the King to compleat and perfect all by laying a Top-stone as well as the Foundation of the Temple of Peace gathers all Parties into himself some by Comprehension in a wider Constitution others by a safe indulgent Toleration which if granted had been desired by the least and most inconsiderable part of the Nation for the Dissenters had been fewer than now they are because abundance had been taken into the proposed Settlement The Sects have much encreased since that time of Papists if not other Denominations The King and his wise Council had a perfect full view of all Interests and did weigh out proper Preparatives for an healing Effect 2. It is a Shame and Grief to think that a divided Nation can be sooner composed and settled than a broken divided Church who have besides the Motives and Principles of Nature the most gracious Reconciler for their Law-giver the most perfect Laws of Love the most indulgent Government under the strict and indispensible Duty of Self-denial opposite to Self-seeking and should have the least Consideration and Regard of a wordly Interest because They that are of Christ they are not of this World and having nothing to do but to promote enlarge and build up Christ's Kingdom upon Earth and for all their Self-denial Services and Sufferings have the Promises of Eternal Life an everlasting Kingdom and Thrones in it It is a most afflicting Meditation that Church-Divisions are most difficultly healed What an humbling Thought is this that a temporal Interest divides wordly Men in whom Self prevails and yet worldly Men can unite under general Common Laws because it is their Interest to unite and yet they who of all Men are under the greatest Obligations to unite that declare they are not of this World that teach the way of Peace to others cannot find it themselves But it is not Religion and Light that divide but it is Darkness and the Spirit of this World If to us to live were Christ then Christian Faith and Love would make us more heavenly and by Consequence more united Popery could never have that Compass to work our Ruine in had we agreed as we should have done Pardon this Excursion I 'll return The Church is rent from the Top to the Bottom the King surveys it and hath a Proposal in his Mind which will not only repair the Breaches but propagate Religion as he often said he seems to be fond of it he speaks so often of it It was meditated and formed in his Royal Mind while he was in Breda that it may not be thought an hasty and immature Production he gives it full time and cherisheth it And what is it but his Declaration about Ecclesiastical Affairs It was beheld as the most Royal Issue of an happy Mind as the First-born of Church-Peace after the most affectionate Conjunction of a most well-come King to a Kingdom that longed for him Observe 1. He offers himself as an Umpire and Reconciler 2. He declares to his great Satisfaction and Comfort that while he was in Holland he found the principal Assertors of the Presbyterian Opinion full of Affection to him Zeal for the Peace of the Church and State neither Enemies to Episcopacy nor Liturgy but modestly desiring Alterations without shaking Foundations and to the same purpose over again pag. 8. 3. He thinks himself to be competent to make his Proposal and determine many things in difference as above-said and pag. 4. of the Declaration 4. He expressed some great Considence in the Bishops We have not the least doubt but that the present Bishops will think the present Concessions made by us to allay the present Distempers very just and reasonable and will very chearfully conform themselves thereto pag. 10. 5. He conjured all his loving Subjects to acquiesce in and submit to that his Declaration concerning those Differences pag. 18 19. 3dly You have read the King's Character of the Reforming Divines so I 'll call them rather than Presbyterian and they made it good they strictly followed the Orders in the King's Commission made their Exceptions which they were impowered to do explained and shewed the Reasonableness of them when answered they replied when called to dispute they disputed and when they saw all was but dashing against a Wall they petition for Peace both the King and Bishops Now to all them that speak slightly or scornfully These Men these kind of Men as if they were some Monsters rolling in a troubled Sea and not suffering the Ark of Christ's Church to rest here is some account if not Satisfaction given But after our great hopes of Church-Peace and Union what followed but a dismal Breach a Wound that lies a bleeding and they upon whom the Pinacles of the Temple fell and bruised and crushed are now instead of a cleanly Hospital to live in threatned with Bridewel and Prisons and with that dreadful Sentence of Abjuration And Christian Reader if you do as I do here Grief doth make you stop That any Magistrate that hath taken the Sacrament to prove himself a Protestant dare menace or admonish any Christian Minister to do what he cannot do or forswear his native Country And wo be to England when a Minister of Christ successful in his Work not imaginary but real shall be carried to the Sea-side and swear he will never return to his Native Country and that such Ministers shall not have as much as a mean House or Barn to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ in But who made the Breach who hindred the hopeful Closure self-willed obstinate Nonconformists The Nonconformity to the Law of Love Peace Meekness Forbearance hath done the Mischief The King's Declaration would have done what the Act of Uniformity could not do but we may look and find the first Cause to lie between them both To lay this open compare but some words in the King's Commission with some of the Answers of the Anti-reforming Commissioners and then judg impartially The King according to his Declaration gave his Commission to an equal number of Divines of both
Ghost who was promised and sent by Jesus Christ 3. Being in some lower measure at first prepared and fitted for their Work the Holy Ghost is the prime and effectual Mover of them to exercise those Gifts which they have received in the Service of their Master in Heaven Jesus Christ And this that great and solemn Interrogatory which requires a sincere sensible solemn and serious Answer our Ordination doth put out of doubt Do you trust that you are inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost The ordering of Deacons to take upon you this Office c Answ I trust so 4. Being prepared and moved by the Holy Ghost they offer themselves unto and are called by some in a Church where a Church is constituted to exercise those Abilities received from Christ by the Holy Spirit for the Ends of the Gospel the Salvation of immortal Souls 5. All that the Bishops and Pastors of the Church are required to do or can do as Ordainers is to try their Fitness and Disposition and finding them fit to approve and separate them to the Office of the Ministry to declare them to have Authority to exhort them to Diligence and Faithfulness in their Office and to testify this to the Church 6. No Bishop or Pastors can justly refuse and justify the refusal before Jesus Christ to whom they must give an account of any Person duly qualified with necessary Qualifications for the Ministry for it is a Sin to refuse him whom Christ hath by his Spirit fitted for and excited to his Work by his Spirit 7. As long as their Gifts and Abilities are continued and the Holy Ghost doth continue his gracious Motions and Assistances so long these Ministers must continue in the Exercise and discharge of their Office for there is the same Reason to continue them as there was to admit them they continuing the same 8. Their fitness for the Work of the Ministry consisting in soundness of Knowledg and Faith aptness to teach gift of Utterance declared Resolutions and undertaking to teach and do what Christ hath commanded with Perseverance therein as a Guide and Example to the Flock are sufficient Conditions of admittance into the Ministry of the Gospel To do all things decently and in order and to Edification are necessary by the Law of Christ's Kingdom and not indifferent It may well be questioned whether any Man otherwise fitted for the Ministry should be refused because he refuseth to subscribe vow promise declare to any doubtful controverted Conditions of Admission or Continuance which are commonly invented by controversial contentious and imperious Men who do not only propose their Conceptions to others but make them a Standard and Measure to regulate other Mens Minds and Practices and not only so but think it meet that all shall be punished that disagree and dissent from them For the Confirmation of these things with the Authority of the Church of England Let us observe the Form of ordering Priests and Deacons The Preface saith The Bishop knowing either by himself or by sufficient Testimony any Person to be of vertuous Conversation and without Crime and after Examination and Trial finding him learned in the Latine Tongue and sufficiently instructed in Holy Scripture may admit him Deacon The Bishop saith to the Arch-Deacon Take heed that the Persons whom you present unto us be apt and meet for their Learning and Godly Conversation The Bishop examines them in the presence of all the People Do you trust you are inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon you this Office Do you think you are truly called according to the Will of our Lord Jesus Christ Do you unfeignedly believe all the Canonical Scripture of the Old and New Testament Then opening his Office he asks him Will you do this gladly and willingly Will you apply your Diligence to frame and fashion your own Lives and of your Families according to the Doctrine of Christ and be Examples of the Flock of Christ The other Question relates to the Government of this Church as Obedience to the Ordinary and his godly Admonitions which is a local Condition in order to their Admission under our Church-form of Government which is disputed by some of the Parties when any is presented to the Priest-hood The Bishop cautions the Arch-Deacon Take heed that the Persons whom you present unto us be apt and meet for their Learning and godly Conversation to exercise their Ministry duly to the honour of God and the edifying his Church I think them so to be Then shall the Bishop say unto the People Good People these are they whom we purpose God willing to receive this day unto the Holy Office of Priest-hood for after due Examination we find not to the contrary but that they be lawfully called to their Function and Ministry and that they be Persons meet for the same Note from this that Learning and Godly Conversation are the constituting Qualifications of a Man lawfully called to the Function of the Ministry In the Collect afterwards they pray God to replenish them with the Truth of his Doctrine adorn them with Innocency of Life that both by Word and good Example they may faithfully serve him in this Office c. Then follow the Epistle and Gospel after which the Oath of Supremacy is given and after that an Exhortation to remember their high Dignity and weight of their Charge i.e. to be Messengers Watchmen Stewards of the Lord to teach premonish feed provide for the Lord's Family to seek Christ's Sheep that are dispersed abroad and for his Children who are in the midst of this naughty World that they may be saved through Christ for ever Have always printed in your Memories how great a Treasure is committed to your Charge the Sheep of Christ Covetous Non-Residents and negligent Residents is hereby condemned and a personal Inspection required which some of our Brethren call Gossiping others Conventicling bought with his Death the Congregation which you serve is his Spouse and his Body And if it shall happen any Member of that Church take any hurt by your Negligence ye know the Greatness of the Fault and also the horrible Punishment that will ensue See that you never cease your Labour your Care and Diligence until you have done all that lieth in you to bring all under your Charge to Agreement in Faith and Ripeness of Age in Christ that there be no Error in Religion or Viciousness of Life ye ought to pray earnestly for his holy Spirit consider how studious you ought to be in reading and learning the Scriptures and framing your Manners and of yours according to the Scriptures and for this Cause ye ought to lay aside all worldly Cares and Studies we have good hope that you have clearly determined by God's Grace to give your selves wholly to this Office whereunto it hath pleased God to call you c. This is enough to prove their Fitness and their Call to the Ministry and such as are
to them and if he cannot exercife his Ministry after he is called unto it what doth it profit him to be a Minister or what is the Church the better for his Office If one acknowledged to be a Minister of the Universal Church may not administer in a particular Church then is it not because that particular Church requires some Conditions which are not so large as the Rules and Conditions of the Universal Church This may put us to search whether different Rules stricter Laws prescribed as Conditions of Entrance and Continuance in the Ministry and Church-Communion be not the Cause or Occasion of Schisms in particular Churches These Catholick Rules and Conditions are to be taken and received from the Apostles who went into all the World to gather and to found Christian Churches They gave us Laws enow to govern any particular Church who were sent into all the World And no Decrees of General Councils are of equal Observation with the Scriptures not only because of their Sanctity but because of their Universality and the very Errors and Mistakes of them in some Particulars are tolerable that do what they can to find out and follow the Will of God in Scripture And this Diversity can be no Inconvenience to any Church because of the plain Injunctions and Commands of keeping the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace of loving and forbearing one another in Love But to return What shall we say Are they but Lay-men or but quasi Lay-men that were once ordained by Diocesans or what it others can prove by the Holy Scriptures and the Catholick Rules of Faith that they are called of God and make proof of their Gifts which make there serviceable to the Souls of poor Sinners and only scruple some late implicating perplexing Terms what shall they do in this case They would enter into the Service according to the uncontroverted general Rules of Christ the Soveraign Law-giver of his Church but that will not serve the turn they must do more They have received Gifts from the Spirit of the same nature with other Ministers they 'l submit their Gifts to the Trial to free them from the Fanaticism imputed to them These Gifts are for some use they are their Talents and they must give an account of them to the Giver of them at his appearing Whither can any of them go and not be serviceable Is there any City Town Parish or noble Family in England in which there is not need or where such as they may not be exceeding profitable but in some Places there is a crying need O how few few Labourers are there in very large Fields yea as offensive as the presence of the Brethren are in many places there is not an useless Man among them nor one place hardly where is not need if not extream need What shall they do conform to the Church as Lay-men only What if the Bottle be so full that its ready to burst what if the Fire of Zeal true Zeal kindle must they not speak with their Tongue What if the Breast be full and they who were begorten in Christ Jesus by their Ministry cry cry to them O give us of the sincere Milk of the Word shall they say No my Breast is full but I must not draw it out What if they have Bread enough and can divide it and see a Company of poor Souls ready to starve and pine for Want and yet they must not give them a piece of Bread City Ministers are most quarelsome and contentious with them but if from their high Places they saw and knew but what I know instead of charging them with Separation and Schism they would beg of Authority that they would send them into many places of the Land which are more like a Wilderness than the Garden of the Lord but instead of doing this some have written to prepare a prejudiced People to entertain them with Stones or beseech them to depart out of their Coasts and not to open their Doors to entertain them or their Ears to hear them Oh! how are many of the Servants of God true Subjects able Preacers at this day forced to hide and many are as shy and close to entertain them as if they were Traitors and the Hue and Cry were out against them But what if these Men cannot think themselves discharged of their Work when their Hire is stopt they cannot but pity those that have no Shepherds or not enow they cannot stop their Ears against the Cry of the poor what if Conscience cry Wo to me if I preach not the Gospel O there are too many that never heard that Preaching in their Bosom Some have pleaded that Wo concerned none but the Apostle what shall they do between two Woes Wo from Christ if I preach not and Wo from Men if I preach Object They must obey the Laws obey Authority Answ So they must and as far they can they do Object But they say they must obey God rather than Men. Answ So did the Apostles who taught Obedience to Governours Neither may any godly Prince take it as any Dishonour to his Estate to see God obeyed before him Defence of the Apology part 1. p. 20. of my Edit for he is not God but the Minister of God saith our Venerable Father Bishop Jewel Object But our King and Magistrates and Laws are not such as They were neither are our Conventiclers Apostles Answ True I cast no Reflections upon the King but acknowledge his Life and Protestancy to be singular Mercies and Priviledges But if the first Christian Churches were planted and the Faith preached where the Rulers were Unbelievers disaffected to it and Persecuters of it then Preachers that preach the Doctrine of the Apostles and live according to the Gospel may humbly expect if not lay some Claim to a Priviledge of preaching and worshipping God as near as they can discern according to his mind The Case of the Brethren is so clear in it self The Canon Law calls their divers Orders Religion but to Christians and Protestants there is but one Religion that some in Power have no other colour for proceeding against them than as Men that exercise another Religion as I can produce which clearly intimates that it is unreasonable to proceed to Confiscations and Banishment against Men that profess the same Religion And whereas Godliness and Honesty may claim Protection they represent them as wicked and dishonest in the highest Degree that is seditious and withdrawing the King's Subjects from their Allegiance c. But this is the old Language Apolog. c. 2. Divis 7. p. 21. as the most Reverend Bishop Jewel writes as objected against them that we be fallen from the Catholick Church and by a wicked Schism have shaken the whole World and troubled the common Peace and universal Quiet of the Church and that as Dathan and Abiram conspired in times past against Moses and Aaron even so we this day have
and the Angel stood over London with his drawn Sword as our Jerusalem then the King and Court and Parliament removed to Oxford and when many Churches were empty God stirred up many of the Nonconformists to go and preach up and down then they had the use of Churches and numerous Assemblies and gained many Souls to God by them and drew the Hearts of a desolate People to themselves which could never since be alienated from them And when the Popish Faction opposed by the Loyal Persons got an Act to remove them from Corporations they were then most imployed in the Capital City in spight of their Adversaries and God protected them and the Plague proved their Sanctuary from that Law Next Year the City was burnt and the Inhabitants of the principal Parts of it were driven into Corners and the Nonconformists had the advantage Who that knew them would not entertain them as Comforters in a distracted ruined Condition Then the Conformists were driven out of Churches too and some felt the loss of Livings to teach them Compassion towards their ejected Brethren and the common Enemy of them both shewed the World what he would do with us as well as them And I am confident if now the Nonconformists could be rooted out the Church-men shall not stand long after them no tho they should which God forbid comply with them Popish Mercy is like raging Fire takes all before it and even turning shall not save us and they who are so officious to serve their Interest now may not come off so well with their Reward as Adonibezek did Many suffered great Losses lived in great danger and distraction by that Corporation-Act but the Enactors could never accomplish their full design by it the very Souldiers that were imployed to keep out People and to guard the Meeting-places were not pleased with their Office and shewed Civility to the Ministers in some places Their Sufferings went against the common sense of Men but so captions were some Men so zealous rather so jealous to justify their Resolutions that strange Stories were carried and dispersed of seditious Doctrines Preachers were presented as Incendiaries to incense the Magistrate against them that it was dangerous for the Preachers to quote some Texts of Scriptures and just cause there is why such unchristian Spirits should be afraid of Scriptures 7. After all this Distraction and Trouble His Majesty sent out his Declaration of Indulgence and they became licensed Preachers It is true the Parliament at their next meeting declared againstit as contrary to the Laws and his Majesty called it in but it proved and proves profitable to the Nonconformists several ways 1. The very Parliament that was against the Declaration continued rather favourable towards the Nonconformists than sharp the Laws continued but the Execution cooled and abated 2. Such as built Tabernacles and the most convenient Places they could held them and their Congregations stuck to them and both without Molestation until now that their old Friend awakes as one out of sleep lest they should sow good Seed in the Field 3. Though that Declaration of Indulgence Nor could at that time as is to be seen in what follows of the Sufferings of the Nonconformists and the Licences granted them cannot protect them from the Arrests of Mens Passions nor from the violent Hands of such as are like Saul's against them yet they do clearly vindicate them from the odious Slander of seditious and evil Men. For can it be thought that the King would have so little regard to Truth Faith Peace to his own Safety and the Preservation of his Subjects from the infection of wicked and cursed Principles as to grant Licences to seditious Preachers to Doctors of Rebellion or Underminers of Church and State they are most the saine Men who were licensed by the King if the King was deceived in them if they are dangerous and evil Men testify against them and no greater Favour is desired for them but Truth and Justice Let them that clamor against them and asperse them do it and preserve their Honour and Reverence of the King immaculate if they can Christianum esse Nonconformistam esse aut est Crimen aut non est so Crimen est cur non interficis confitentem si Crimen non est quid persequeris innocentem Cyp. contra Demetrianum Tract 1. And so much for that by way of Apology now follows the second Query 2. Whether it be not hard to silence suppress and punish the Orthodox Nonconformists for endeavouring the everlasting Salvation of precious Souls by their Preaching and other Religious Exercises I cannot call to mind more than three things that can be urged against them or to justify their Sufferings 1. They transgress the Laws and Orders of the Church made by the Bishops Rulers and Fathers of the Church 2. They transgress against the Statutes of the Land and why should they be priviledged or spared if they transgrest 3. They are Men uncalled to preach the Gospel and it is fit such Men should be restrained To the first It may be answered waving the Disputes about Church-Rulers and the Restriction of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction that the present Terms of Ministerial Liberty were not the Result and Decrees of all the Bishops of the Church after Consultation and free debate supposing all the Power to be lodged in them but we know that our Ecclesiastical Laws are made by our Convocation and enacted and established by the Civil Power whether there was any Debate or Disputation about these Impositions is not altogether unknown We read that in the Council at Jerusalem met to consider a Case as plain and easy as any of our Matters can be supposed to be that they came not to a Determination till after much disputing there was nothing but open dealing The Apostle of the Circumcision did not protest against the Apostle of the Uncircumcision as unfit to be there no tart Reprehensions or Magisterial Checks were given but what concerned the whole Church was debated by the whole Church the Apostles and Elders and the Church Acts 15.6 7 22. and nothing resolved but after Consideration and Disputation they give the Churches of Antioch an account of their Consultation and lay upon them none but necessary things without either Penalty or Sanction but this from which if you keep your selves ye shall do well I cannot think that the Reverend Mr. Baxter doth reflect upon all or most of the Bishops Ver. 29. by his frequent mention of Ithacius and Idacius but well knows our Impositions to be the Will and Pleasure of but a small number of them and if it be so we may question the Right which a few Bishops had to make Laws for the whole Church till we see their Patent 2. But they transgress other Temporal Laws made by lawful Authority 1. A lawful Authority is made up of several Estates in this Kingdom whereof one is chosen by the free Votes of the