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power_n	authority_n	bishop_n	presbyter_n	4,112	5	10.2023	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A88083	Erastus Junior. Or, A fatal blovv to the clergies pretensions to divine right. In a solid demonstration, by principles, forms of ordination, canon-laws, acts and ordinances of Parliament, and other publique acts, instruments, records, and proceedings, owned by themselves, that no bishop, nor minister, (prelatical, or Presbyterian) nor presbytery (classical, or national) hath any right or authority to preach, ... in this nation, from Christ, but onely from the Parliament. In two parts: the one demonstrating it to an episcopal, the other to a Presbyterian minister. By Josiah Web, Gent. a serious detester of the dregs of the Antichristian hierarchy yet remaining among us.	Lewgar, John, 1602-1665.	1660 (1660)	Wing L1831; Thomason E1010_11; ESTC R202720	19,588	24

Erastus Junior OR A FATAL BLOW TO THE CLERGIE'S Pretensions to DIVINE RIGHT In a solid Demonstration By Principles Forms of Ordination Canon-Laws Acts and Ordinances of Parliament and other publique Acts Instruments Records and Proceedings owned by themselves THAT No Bishop nor Minister Prelatical or Presbyterian nor Presbytery Classical or National hath any Right or Authority to Preach and consequently much less to Officiate in the publique Worship minister Sacraments demand Tythes ordain Pastors inflict Censures or exercise any other act of Simple and much less of Governing Jurisdiction in this Nation from Christ but onely from the Parliament In two parts the one demonstrating it to an Episcopal the other to a Presbyterian Minister By Josiah Web Gent. a serious detester of the Dregs of the Antichristian Hierarchy yet remaining among us LONDON Printed and are to be sold by Livewell Chapman at the Signe of the Crown in Popeshead Alley 1660. The Preface THere hath been much debate a long time betwixt the Prelatical and Presbyterian Clergy which of them hath Divine Right or Authority from Christ to preach minister Sacraments ordain Pastors inflict Censures and exercise other Acts of Spiritual Jurisdiction in this Nation whereas the plain truth is neither of them hath any from Christ but onely from the Parliament This truth I shall demonstrate in the ensuing Discourse by their own Principles forms of Ordination Acts or Ordinances of Parliament and other publique Acts Instruments and Records owned by themselves And in regard one of my means of proof is to be from their own Principles I shall alledge divers things as truths which are not so in my opinion but onely in theirs against whom I urge them and therefore also I shall in urging of them use their own terms And because the Demonstration will be more expedite and clear in one of these Acts singly then in so many together and the confuting their Divine Right as to any one of them will in consequence confute it in all the rest because they all hang by one string and Preaching is the first and least act of Jurisdiction and so the proof against that will prove more strongly against all the rest therefore I shall insist onely upon that of preaching and demonstrate that no Minister ordained by Imposition of hands and constituted a Pastor whether it hath been by any of the late Bishops or a Classical Presbytery hath any authority by which I mean power to exercise the Office lawfully so much as to preach by which I mean teaching Gods word by way of Office to any creature in this Nation from Christ that is by any bene placitum or will of his by him revealed or any means or ordinance by him instituted to that end but onely from the Parliament originally under God as author of Nature onely And my end in it is First to unbeguile the common people in their believing their Ministers as men of God and Ministers of Christ and their teaching as Gods word because of their being Ordained by Bishops or a Presbytery and villifying all others not so Ordained by the nick name of Tub-preachers by making it appear that there is not the meanest Teacher in the Land allowed by the State or deputed by a Congregation but is a Teacher sent and a man of God and Minister of Christ as much as the Reverendst Bishop or Minister of them all and his teaching is as truly the word of God as the best of theirs is that is when he holds forth a Text of Scripture or other revealed truth and the the best of theirs is no more or otherwise Secondly to vindicate the Authority of the Parliament in what they have done in abolishing Episcopacy and several branches of it or shall hereafter think fit to do in abolishing the yet remaining branches of it Imposition of hands Tythes Presentations Classes Synods National Ministery Directory c. and impowering every Congregation to depute their own Pastor by making it appear there is no Minister Priest Bishop Classis or Synod in this Land hath or since the Reformation of Religion by Henry the Eighth ever had any authority to Ordain Pastors demand Tythes license Preachers or so much as to preach but what he or they have or had originally under God from the Parliament which therefore by the same Authority whereby it established them may when it pleases dissolve them without any ones just complaint at the Authority And now then to go in hand with what I have undertaken and to proceed against them severally beginning first with the elder of the two the Prelatical Minister or Priest as he loves to be called The first Part. Demonstrating to an Episcopal Priest that he hath no authority to Preach from Christ but onely from the Parliament SIr I shall suppose your Case the best can be supposed of any Prelaticall Minister in England viz. That William Lawd late commonly called Archbishop of Canterbury being a true Bishop Ordine or in power of Episcopal Order and as much as the King and all the Bishops in England could make him lawful Archbishop of Canterbury Ordained you a true Priest and afterward gave you Mission to the Church of N. within his Diocess that is Instituted you Rector or Pastor of it and Licensed you to preach in that Congregation And I say that in this Case you have no authority to preach to that Congregation from Christ but onely from the Parliament And I make it good by this Argument You have no authority from Christ to preach to that Congregation but what you have either by your Ordination or by your Mission But you have no authority to preach to that Congregation by your Ordination and none from him but from the Parliament onely by your Mission Therefore you have none from him but onely from the Parliament The major is supposed in the Case nor is there any other ordinary way imaginable and you pretend not to extraordinary The first part of the minor That you have no authority to preach to that Congregation by your Ordination I prove from the form of your Ordination which was this The Bishop with the other Priests present laying their hands upon you the Bishop said these words to you Receive the Holy Ghost whose sins thou forgivest they are forgiven whose sins thou retainest they are retained and be thou a faithful dispenser of the Word of God and of his holy Sacraments In the Name of the Father c. After which the Bishop delivering the Bible to you said these words Take thou authority to preach the Word and to minister the holy Sacraments in this Congregation where thou shalt be so appointed So what authority you have by your Ordination must be given you by the one of these words Now First that the former words at the Imposition of hands Receive the holy Ghost c. gave you none is manifest because those words being Sacramental (a) We deny not Ordination to be a Sacrament

though it be not one of those two which are generally necessary to salvation Bish of Derr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 97. that is giving a grace or free gift of the Holy Ghost from Christ immediately to preach and minister Sacraments what grace they gave you they gave you to all Congregations in the world alike as much to every one as to any one because they propagated to you the same power as Christ gave to his Apostles when he said to them As my father sent me so I send you Receive the Holy Ghost Whose sins you remit c. Preach the Gospel to every creature c. whence it is that being once Ordained you are capable to preach and minister Sacraments to any creature or Congregation in the world by meer Mission onely without a new Ordination If then the grace they gave you were Authority to preach and minister Sacraments to that Congregation these absurdities would inevitably follow 1. You would be a Pastor Apostolique or such a one as the Apostles were that is a Vniversal one created by Christ immediately and consequently a supreme one subject to no mortal superior in the exercise of your jurisdiction which would utterly overthrow all your Hierarchy 2. The next words at the delivery of the Bible to you Take thou authority to preach in the Congregation where thou shalt be appointed would be 1. Vain and absurd to give authority given before 2. Retractatory of the former 1. To qualifie the authority given before absolute 2. To suspend it to a future condition or event possible never to be when it was given before absolutely and in present 3. Your Mission afterward to that Church of N. would have been 1. An act vain and arrogant in the Bishop to authorize you to preach and to one Congregation after Christ himself had authorized you both to that and to any other 2. A proceeding injurious to all other Priests to Institute you Pastor of that as your proper charge with this priviledge that none might minister a Sacrament or so much as preach there without your consent when Christ had Instituted every one of them Pastor of it in common with you for if by the words of Ordination he authorized you to that Cure by the same words he authorized every other Priest in the world to it as much as you 3. A proceeding injurious to your own self 1. To accept of a Pastorship from the Bishop and so to hold it of him as your mesne Lord liable to be suspended or deprived of it at any time by sentence of his Court when you had a right to hold it immediately of the Lord Paramont and so without subjection or service to any but him 2. To accept from him the Pastorship of one Cure and that none of the best in England when Christ had authorised you to any Cure in the land or in the world where you would please to undertake it The Church of Rome therefore whose apes you are in this right of Ordination and whose scholars in your doctrine of its being a Sacrament doth not hold that the qualifying grace or as they call it Character given by Ordination is any authority but a meer power to exercise lawfully such an Office when authority shall be given for it by Mission And if you will avoid these absurdities you must say that no authority but this power onely was given you by these first words Receive the Holy Ghost c. Secondly that the next words at the delivery of the Bible to you Take thou authority c. gave you no authority to preach in that Congregation of N. is manifest from the words themselves because they authorized you onely as to such Congregation where you should be appointed which you were not then in that Church of N. If you say these words gave you your authority to preach in any Congregation where you should be appointed and your appointing in that of N. onely determined the place or assigned you a matter or subject whereon to exercise it I ask whether after these words Take thou authority c. and afore your appointing in that Church of N. you had a power in your own right without asking the Pastors consent to preach lawfully in that Church of N. I suppose you will not dare not say you had for then your appointing to it signified nothing and then every Priest would be a lawful Pastor to every flock where and when he pleased and all your Hierarchy which subsists in the distinction of Pastors and Flocks would fall to the ground And if you say you had no such power you grant what I say that these words gave you no authority to preach in that Congregation but your appointment or as I call it your mission did not only determine the place or assign you a matter or subject whereon to exercise the authority afore given you but gave you your first authority there And consequently though the Bishop said to you Take authority c. he could not possibly mean by authority any more then a power to preach lawfully in any place where you should be appointed If you say that power was given you in the words afore and so would be vainly given you again here I grant your inference for though I argue validly from your form of Ordination against you who approve it I who approve it not am not concerned to defend it So I hope I have sufficiently proved the first part of my Minor That you have no Authority to preach to that Congregation of N. by your Ordination The second part of it That you have none from Christ but onely from the Parliament by your Mission I thus make good If he who gave you your Mission had no authority from Christ but onely from the Parliament to give it you you have no authority from Christ but onely from the Parliament by your Mission But he who gave you your Mission had no authority from Christ but onely from the Parliament to give it you Therefore you have no authority from Christ but onely from the Parliament by your Mission The sequel of the major is evident in the terms The minor is thus proved If William Lawd had authority from Christ to give you Mission it must be either as he was a Bishop Ordine or as he was a Bishop Officio that is as he was Archbishop of Canterbury But he had no authority to give you Mission as he was a Bishop Ordine nor from Christ but onely from the Parliament as he was Archbishop of Canterbury Therefore he had no authority from Christ but onely from the Parliament to give you Mission The sequel of the major I cannot suppose will be denied because no third ordinary way is imaginable And you cannot say he had it in both respects joyntly if as will appear in proof of the minor he had none at all as he was a Bishop Ordine The first part of the minor That he had no

other quality or capacity but as he was Bishop of London because as he was a Presbyter he could not Institute Pastors by himself alone as he did those nor Institute them in any wise as a Bishop Ordine Secondly because supposing they had been Ministers of those Churches by Authority from Christ yet as they were single Presbyters they had no authority so much as to Ordain and much less to give Mission but onely as they were Associated into a Classis or Presbytery (a) Preaching Ministers orderly Associated are those to whom Imposition of hands doth appertain Humb. Adv. of Div. at Westm in the Doctr. part of Ordin §. 10. Now this Association was not made formed or authorized by any authority from Christ but onely of the Parliament and so those Ministers who gave you your Mission did not give it you as Presbyters or Officers of the Church instituted by Christ but meerly as Officers or Commissioners of the Parliament which it was by accident that any of them were Presbyters This appears First because for Associating the first Presbytery there was no other imaginable ordinary Authority then in the Land but that of the Parliament And if you will say the first was Associated by Christ immediately any of those whom you call Sectaries say as much for their authority and with as much reason Secondly because it appears by the Ordinances Acts and publick Proceedings of the Parliament by you owned and abetted in abolishing the form of Church Government and Discipline then established and introducing another in place thereof in settling Classes and authorizing them to Ordain Ministers in ejecting Ministers and placing others in their Cures in Collating and Instituting to vacant Benefices and executing these powers not by Presbyters onely but by Lay-Committees nay by single Lords and Officers of the Army c. that the supream visible Authority in matters Ecclesiastical in this Land was in the Parliament and so no Classis was Associated but by authority of the Parliament and after its Association had no authority to give Mission or exercise any other act of Jurisdiction but what it had from the Parliament For Instance I name these Ordinances 1. That of 12. June 1643. Whereas it hath been declared and resolved by the Lords and Commons in Parliament that the present Church Government by Archbishops Bishops c. is evil c. and that therefore they are resolved that the same shall be taken away and that such a Government shall be settled in the Church of England as may be most agreeable to Gods Word c. the right Honourable Algernon Percy Earl of Northumberland c. naming other Earls and Lords John Selden Dr. Gouge c. naming divers others Lawyers Gentlemen and Divines are hereby authorized and enjoyned to sit confer and treat of such things as concern the Discipline and Government of the Church of England as shall be proposed to them by both or either House of Parliament c Provided that they assume not to exercise any Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical whatsoever or any other power then is particularly expressed 2. That of 22. January following The Earl of Manchester shall have authority in the associated Counties to eject all such Ministers as he shall judge unfit for their places and to place in their rooms such as shall be approved of by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster 3. That of 22. Feb. following The Lord Fairfax shall nominate and appoint such able and godly Divines as he shall think fit into all such Churches in the County of York as are or shall be destitute of Ministers 4. That of 23. April 1645. Philip Goodwin shall be henceforth Vicar of Watford and Officiate the Cure as Vicar thereof during his life without any further Admission or Induction 5. That of 26. April following None may preach but Ordained Ministers except such as intending the Ministery shall for trial of their Gifts be allowed by such as shall be appointed by the Parliament 6. That of 29. August 1648. Be it Ordained by the Authority of this Parliament that all Parishes in this Nation shall be brought under the Government of Congregational Provincial and National Assemblies c. And all Classes and Parochial Congregations are respectively hereby authorized and required to proceed accordingly c. The Province of London shall be divided into twelve Classical Elderships The first Classis to contain Alhallows c. The several Classes where no Congregational Presbyteries are already settled shall have power to nominate such Ministers and others as are qualified according to this Ordinance to joyn with them in the same to be approved by the Committee of Lords and Commons for Scandal until such time as Congregational Presbyteries shall be settled in the said respective Precincts c. When seven Congregational Elderships or more shall be constituted into any Classical Precinct the same shall be signified to the several Congregational Elders so established who shall depute fit Elders who together with their Ministers shall meet as a Classis c. That which shall be done by the major part of the Classis shall be esteemed as the act of the whole And none shall be esteemed a valid act unless done by four Ministers and eight Ruling Elders c. The power of Classicall Assemblies shall be 1. To Ordain and admit Ministers for the Congregations 2. To censure Ministers c. It is Ordained by the Authority of this Parliament that the Classical Presbyters within their Bounds may and shall Ordain Presbyters according to the Directory for Ordination hereafter expressed c. The Presbytery or five Ministers at least sent from them shall solemnly set him who is to be Ordained apart to the Office and work of the Ministery c. Laying their hands on him with a short Prayer or Blessing to this effect c. Let every one which is or shall be chosen for any Congregation or place not being at that time within the Bounds of any Classical Presbytery be Ordained by that Classis which he shall address himself unto c. And it is further Ordained by the Authority Aforesaid That all persons who shall be Ordained Presbyters according to this Directory shall be forever reputed to all intents for lawfull and sufficiently authorized Ministers c. Thirdly It appears from the humble Advice of your Divines assembled at Westminster unto the Parliament afore any Classes were formed to authorize Ministers to Associate themselves into Classes for the Ordaining of Ministers for the Army Navy City of London c. In these present exigencies while we cannot have any Presbyteries form'd up to their whole power and work c. And yet it is requisite that Ministers be Ordained for the service of places and Congregations destitute of Ministers by some who being set apart themselves for the work of the Ministery have power to joyn in the setting apart of others Let some Ministers in or about London be designed BY PUBLIQUE AUTHORITY meaning of the Parliament to which they addressed that Advice who being ASSOCIATED may Ordain Ministers for the City and vicinity c. And let the like ASSOCIATION be made BY THE SAME AUTHORITY in other Counties c. And so I have abundantly demonstrated my Thesis That you have no Authority to preach in that Church of N. where you are Minister from Christ but from the Parliament onely FINIS

the time of Edw. 2. had prohibited it to all Lay persons under excommunication both to them that did it and to the Bishops that accepted it Which their desisting to use it after that time and the Parliaments silence in it who were at that time very active and full of animosity in vindicating the rights of the Crown against the Popes usurpations and incroachments seems to acknowledge that those who had done it before had done it defacto onely and not of right But however it were for that of Investing it is certain all our Histories will not afford one Instance of any King of England who appointed or assigned that is in the sense of the Statute authorized Bishops to Consecrate a Bishop So without all peradventure this priviledge was plainly granted to the Crown by this Statute And it was granted him at first onely in case of the Popes refractoriness but soon after by the Statute aforenamed all recourse to Rome for Confirmation or Consecration of any Bishop was forbidden and the power of authorizing Bishops within the Realm to perform those acts was placed absolutely in the King Whereas in the said act meaning that afore spoken of it is not plainly expressed in what manner Archbishops and Bishops shall be Invested and Consecrated within the Realm be it now therefore enacted by the authority of this Parliament that no person shall be presented to the Bishop of Rome nor shall send nor procure there for any manner of Bulls Palls or other things requisite for an Archbishop Bishop c. And if the person be elected to the office of an Archbishop after such Election certified to the King he shall be reputed Lord Elect to the said Office And the King shall by his Letters Patents signifie the said Election to one Archbishop and two other Bishops or else to four Bishops within this Realm to be assigned by the King requiring or commanding him or them to Confirm the said Election and to Invest and Consecrate the said person so elected to the Office and Dignity that he is elected unto and to give and use to him such Pall Benedictions and other Ceremonies as formerly were used And every person being hereafter Invested and Consecrated to the Dignity or Office of any Archbishop according to the tenor of this Act shall and may be Inthronized and Installed c. and shall be obeyed c. and shall do and execute in every thing and things touching the same as any Archbishop of this Realm without offending the Prerogative Royal and the Laws and Customs of this Realm might at any time heretofore do Secondly from the Statute of 8. Eliz. 1. made purposely to set forth the Authority next under God by which Mathew Parker and the other first Protestant Bishops in the beginning of the Queens Reign were made and sets it forth by reciting how they were made by authority of the Queen and how she was authorized to that end by the aforesaid Statute of Hen. 8. and by the Statute of 1. Eliz. 1. These are the words of it for as much as concerns my purpose Forasmuch as divers questions hath lately grown upon the making and Consecrating of Archbishops and Bishops within this Realm whether the same were duly and orderly done according to the Law or not which is much tending to the slander of all the state of the Clergy being one of the greatest States of this Realm therefore for the avoiding of such slanderous speech and to the end that every man that is willing to know the truth may plainly understand that the same evil speech and talk is not grounded upon any iust matter or cause It is thought convenient hereby partly to touch such author●ties as do allow and approve the making and Consecrating of the same Archbishops and Bishops to be duly and orderly done according to the Laws of this Realm First it is very well known to all degrees of this Realm that the late King Hen. 8. was as well by all the Clergy then of this Realm in their severall Convocations as also by all the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in divers of his Parliaments justly and rightfully recognized and knowledged to have the Supream Power Jurisdiction and Authority over the Ecclesiastical State of the same And that the said King did by Authority of Parliament in the twenty fifth year of his Reign set forth a certain order of the manner and form how Archbishops and Bishops should be made c. And although in the time of the late Queen the said Act was repealed yet nevertheless at the Parliament 1. Eliz. 1. the said Act was revived and by one other Act there made all such Jurisdictions Priviledges c. Spiritual and Ecclesiastical as by any Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Power or Authority hath heretofore been or may lawfully be used over the Ecclesiasticall State of this Realm is fully and absolutely by the Authority of the same Parliament united and annexed to the Imperiall Crown of this Realm And by the same Statute there is also given to the Queen mark given also to the Queen by that Statute full Power and Authority by Letters Patents to assign and authorize such person or persons as she shall think meet whether Bishops Noblemen Lawyers Merchants or who ever else so they be NATVRAL BORN SVBJECTS for the words of that Statute requires no other Qualification to them but that to exercise under her all manner of Jurisdiction in any wise touching or concerning any Spiritual Jurisdiction within this Realm Whereupon that is upon the Authority given to her by this Act the Queen having in her order and disposition all the said Jurisdiction c. that is all that which formerly was in the Pope hath by her Supream Authority caused divers to be duly made and Consecrated Archbishops and Bishops according to such order and form and with such Ceremonies in and about their Consecration as were allowed and set forth by the said Acts c. And further for the avoiding of all ambiguities and questions might be objected against the lawfull Confirming Investing and Consecrating of the said Archbishops and Bishops her Highnesse hath in her Letters Patents used divers speciall words whereby by her Supream Authority she hath dispensed with all causes and doubts of any Imperfection or disability c. So that to all those that will well consider of the effect and true intent of the said Statutes and of the Supream and absolute Authority of the Queen granted to her by them and which she by her said Letters Patents hath used in and about the making and Consecrating of the said Archbishops and Bishops it is and may be very evident no cause of doubt can or may justly be objected against the said Confirmations and Consecrations c. Loe here declared by the Queen her self by Matthew Parker himself and all the other Bishops then in the Land and by all the Lords Temporall and the Commons in Parliament that Matthew Parker

was made Confirmed and Consecrated Archbishop by Authority of the Queen and that she had her Authority for it from the Statutes of 25. H. 8. 20. 1. Eliz. 1. 3. From that Clause in the Commission it self for the Confirming and Consecrating of Matthew Parker wherein she expresly refers to the Statutes made in that behalf meaning those two aforenamed Juxta formam saith she Statutorum in ea parte provisorum editorum According to the form of the Statutes in this case made and set forth As much as to say that the Patent was grounded upon those Statutes And so I have abundantly demonstrated my Thesis as to you That you have no Authority to preach but what you have originally from the Parliament The second Part. Demonstrating to a Presbyterian Minister that he hath no Authority to preach from Christ but onely from the Parliament SIr I shall suppose your Case the best that can be supposed of any Presbyterian Minister in England viz. That William Juxon late Bishop of London being a true Presbyter together with all the Presbyters then of London assisting him Ordained twelve Presbyters whom afterward he placed as Pastors or preaching Ministers in so many Parish Churches in London lying next to one another These twelve preaching Ministers were the first Classical Presbytery that after the abolishing of Bishops was erected in the Nation And the Church of N. within the Precinct of that Classis falling void they Ordained you a Presbyter and afterward gave you Mission to that Congregation of N. that is placed you to be the Pastor or preaching Minister of it And I say that in this Case you have no authority to preach to that Congregation from Christ but onely from the Parliament And I make it good by this Argument You have no Authority from Christ to preach to that Congregation but what you have either by your Ordination or your Mission But you have no Authority to preach to that Congregation by your Ordination and none from him but from the Parliament onely by your Mission Therefore you have none from him but onely from the Parliament The Major is supposed in the Case nor is there any third ordinary way imaginable and you pretend not to extraordinary The first part of the Minor That you have no Authority to preach to that Congregation by your Ordination I prove from the form of it which supposing it the same as is prescribed in your Directory was this The Presbytery of that Classis laid their hands upon you accompanying it with a short Prayer or Blessing by the Preacher who carried on the Work of that day to this effect Thankefully acknowledging c. for fitting and inclining this man to this great work we beseech him to fill him with his holy Spirit whom in his name here they laid their hands upon you we set apart to this holy Service to fulfill the work of his Ministery in all things that he may save both himself and his people committed to his charge In which words added to the Imposition of hands to interpret the meaning of it that it might not be a dumb Ceremony you see there is not one syllable of authorizing you to preach to that Congregation of N. but onely that they who laid their hands on you set you apart to this great and holy work and office of the Ministery that is that by in or with that Imposition of hands there was given to you from and by Christ himself immediately a divine power lawfully to execute the Office of preaching and ministring Sacraments in Christs name and with his authority to that Congregation unto which you were then designed or to any other in the Nation or in the world whereunto you should be duly admitted And that this power I speak of was all that these words or the Imposition of bands gave you and not any Authority as to that Congregation of N. is manifest because if they gave you Authority to that Congregation it was either to that Congregation alone or to more then that If to that alone you could not be admitted as Minister to any other Congregation without being anew Ordained which you count neither necessary nor lawful (a) If a Minister be designed to a Congregation who hath been formerly Ordained Presbyter let him be admitted after examination without any new Ordination And if to more then that it must be to any or every one in the Nation and in the world because the words name none nor mean no one more then another and authorized you as much to every one as to any one or else when you should be admitted to Officiate in any Congregation neither you nor the people could be certain whether that were one of the Congregations or no to which your Ordination authorized you which uncertainty would render it useless as to any one And if you say your Ordination authorized you to every one you would be a Pastor Apostolique or such a one as the Apostles were that is universal created by Christ immediately and consequently supream subject to no Classis Synod Parliament or other mortal superiour which would utterly overthrow all your form of Church Government and Discipline For then you might preach and minister Sacraments in any Church where you should please against the Pastors will then all Admissions of Presbyters to be preaching Ministers to such or such a Church would be vain absurd and arrogant acts Then no Classis Synod or Parliament could for any crime whatsoever convent or silence you and much less depose or eject you In fine then there would be no distinction betwixt Pastors and flocks Of necessity therefore to avoid such horrid absurdities the first part of my minor must be granted me That you have no authority by your Ordination to preach in that Congregation The second part of the Minor That you have no authority from Christ but onely from the Parliament by your Mission I thus make good They who gave you your Mission had no Authority from Christ but onely from the Parliament to give it you Therefore you have no Authority from Christ but onely from the Parliament by your Mission The Consequence is evident in the terms The Antecedent is firm for two reasons First because those Presbyters who gave you Mission were no Ministers of those Churches by any Divine Right or Authority from Christ but onely of the Parliament because placed in those Churches by the Bishop of London as he was Bishop of London which I am sure you will not cannot dare not say he was by authority from Christ for then it had been a wicked and sacrilegious act in the Parliament to deprive him of his Bishoprick and in you to advise and encourage them to it nor by any other Authority but that of the Parliament for then it had exceeded the power of the Parliament to deprive him of it Nor can you say those Ministers were placed in those Churches by him in any