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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A27068	Whether parish congregations be true Christian churches and the capable consenting incumbents, be truly their pastors, or bishops over their flocks ... : written by Richard Baxter as an explication of some passages in his former writings, especially his Treatise of episcopacy, misunderstood and misapplied by some, and answering the strongest objections of some of them, especially a book called, Mr. Baxters judgment and reasons against communicating with the parish assemblies, as by law required, and another called, A theological dialogue, or, Catholick communion once more defended, upon mens necessitating importunity / by Richard Baxter.	Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691.	1684 (1684)	Wing B1452; ESTC R16512	73,103	142

Pastors with the publick Ministers and lived in Love and Communion with them The People were not by the new Law cast out with the Ministers Most of the people in the 2000 Parishes of the ejected and almost all in the other 7000 who before communicated or were ca●able of it continuing the Parish Communion And so are Churches if they were so before XVIII The generality of the former Protestant Bishops and Clergy took the Parish Rectors to be true Pastors of the Parish Churche● as Bishop Usher proved them The Church of England is confessed to be of this mind before the Wars It is not certain that Arch-Bishop Laud thought otherwise If he did Hey●n names but five that joyned with him in his main cause of whom Mountague if not more were for the contrary cause in this point XIX They then took a Curate to be a Pastor and to have all that is essential to the Presbyters Office And to be a Presbyter and no Pastor is a Contradi●tion in the sense of Protestants and Papists except what is said for Lay-E●ders In France they call all their Parish-Pastors Curates the word sig●ifieth the Curam animarum XX. No Law since 166● hath changed any essentials of the Parish-Pastors O●●nce and so none hath nulled it from what it was in 1640. They that affirm the contrary must prove it The Law before subjected Parish-Pastors to Diocesans It imposed the Oath of Canonical Obedience and a promise of the same in Ordination It was the same to the Ecclesiastical Courts as now If any pretend to such singular skill in Law as to say that there was no Law for the Book of Ordination which made the ordained to Covenant to obey their Ordinaries nor any Law for the Canons I hope he will have more reason than to lay the controversie about Separation on his odd conceit when all the People in England have in the days of the four last Soveraigns been forced to submit to these as Legal and no such pretender could at any time deliver them Books have been written and Pleas used against submitting to the Courts that declared not that they held their Authority from the King but the Judges still over-ruled it against them And they that profest to hold it from the King did many if not most mean but the Liberty of publick exercising it as the Ministry is held under him or the adjunct Cogent Power or the Circa sacra XXI The Law enableth the Parish-Minister to receive into the Church by Baptism tho under canonical Prescripts which Dissenters much dislike and to Catechize Youth and certifie their fi●ness for Confirmation before they Communicate It bindeth them to reject all from Communion who are not confirmed or at least are not ready and desirous of it it tells us who is to be taken for ready Those that have learnt the Catechism and solemnly own their Baptismal Covenant The Pastor hereby hath Power to try all the unconfirmed whether they are thus ready or not The Canon requireth him to deny Communion to all that live in any scandalous Sin The Law and Canon bid him to instruct the Congregation to lead them in publick Worship and in the Name of Christ to Reprove Admonish Comfort Administer the Lord Supper Visit the Sick with Instruction and Prayers All which with the aforesaid Power of judging who shall be Communicants is full as much as is Essential to a Parish-Pastor Solemnly to pronounce them Excommunicate beside refusing Communion is not Essential If it were they have Power to do it after the Bishops Sentence If it were Essential to do it as ungoverned or finally or without appeal then Apostolick yea and Magistrates Government would null the Pastors Office XXII The altering some words in Ordination and putting out the name Pastors from most places in the Litturgy where they were applied to Parish-Ministers is no change at all of the Office much less of its essence It takes no Power from them which they had But it was done by the interest of some men who thought that Presbyters who swore the three Kingdoms against Bishops had taken too much upon them and in opposition they endeavoured to keep them under and so would diminish their pretences for Parity But this changeth not the Species of the Office And it s known who these men were And tho some of them are of Opinion that Diocesan Bishops only may regularly confer Ordination and exercise Jurisdiction over the Clergy and that meer Presbyter Ordination with us is null 1. These same men had a chief hand in debating and wording the Kings Declarations October 1661. Concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs and therein the King after debates with Lords and Bishops distinguisheth the meer Pastoral preswasive Power from the Episcopal which is Cogent and alloweth the Rural Deans with the Presbyters of his Deanry to exercise the said Pastoral perswasive Power and the other Pastors also to joyn with the Bishops And the Law still calls them Rectors The Liturgy yet calls them Past●rs the word Pastors being a Metaphor they take to be general Bish●ps and Priests being with them two Orders of Pastors Therefore because it doth not distinguish them they usually leave it out and put sometime Bishops and Curates and sometime Bishops Priests and Deacons The common description of a Bishop by them is that he hath the sole Power of presiding and determining in Ordination and Jurisdiction s●ne quo non oft alledging Jeroms Quid facit Episcopus quod non facit Presbyter excepta Ordinatione And yet the Law still binds them not to ordain without Presbyters Imposition of hands with them And Arch-Deacons and Presbyters Surrogates c. Excommunicate And in the Ember-week they are every day to pray by the Liturgy So guide and govern the minds of thy Servants the Bishops and Pastors of thy Fl●ck that they may lay hands suddenly on no man Where Bishops and Pastors cannot be taken for Synonyma whilst they speak of all that lay on hands And they distinguish not Pastors and Curates where they change the words but Bishops and Curates But nothing more proveth what I say than that the Law yet bindeth all Priests to all that is essential to an Episcopus Gregis a Pastor of a particular Church see the Exhort in Ord. of Priests We exhort you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you have in remembrance into how high a dignity and to how weighty an office and charge ye are called that is to say to be Messengers Watchmen and Stewards of the L●rd to teach and to premonish to feed and provide for the Lords Family to seek for Christs Sheep that are dispersed abroad and for his Children who are in the midst of this naughty world that they may be saved by Christ for ever have always therefore printed in your remembrance how great a treasure is committed to your charge for they are the sheep of Christ which he bought c. The Church and Congregation whom you

must serve is his Spouse and his Body and if it shall happen the same Church or any member thereof to take any hurt or hindrance by reason of your negligence ye know the greatness of the fault and the h●rrible punishment that will ensue Wherefore consider with your selves the end of your ministry towards the children of God towards the Spouse and body of Christ and see that you never cease your labour your care and dilig●nce till you have done all that lieth in you according to your bounden duty to bring all such as are or shall be committed to your charge to that agreement in the fai●h and knowledg of God and that ripeness and perfectness of age in Christ that there be no place left among you either for error in Religion or viciousness of life Forasmuch then as your office is both of so great excellency and of so great difficulty ye see with how great care and study ye ought to a●ply your selves as well that ye may shew your selves dutiful and thankful to the Lord who hath placed you in so high a dignity as also to beware that neither you your selves offend nor be occasions that others offend And after their Covenant to preach according to the Scripture they promise to give faithful diligence to administer the Doctrine Sacraments and Discipline of Christ as the Lord hath commanded and as this Church and Realm hath received the same according to the Commandments of God So that you may teach the people committed to your care and charge with all diligence to keep and observe the same Here Doctrine Sacraments and Discipline are their Office-works Gods Commandments are their Rule tho on supposition that this Realm hath received them according to his Commandments Next they covenant with all faithful diligence to banish all erroneous and strange doctrines contrary to Gods word and to use both PUBLICK and PRIVATE Monitions and Exhortations as well to the sick as to the whole within your cures as need shall require and occasion shall be given And to keep quietness Peace and Love among all Christian people and especially among them that are or shall be committed to their charge All this is setled by Law and all Ministers subscribe to it And is not this enough to the essence of a Pastors office What is the Reason The next promise is Reverently to obey their Ordinary and other chief Ministers to whom is committed the charge and government of them following with a glad mind and will their godly admonitions and submitting themselves to their godly judgments This shews that 1. It is not a strict Divine Right that is meant over them for all Ordinaries and other chief Ministers pretend not to such right 2. If others superiority null their office then none is in office but the King Was Di●trep●es no Minister because John threatned him as his superior It 's liker he had been none for resisting John of the two Were all degraded that obeyed the Apostles If it should be an error that a Parochial Bishop is a Governor over his junior-Presbyters or a Diocesan over both that nulleth not the Presbyters office The Presbyterians give a Classis or Synod as much power over particular Churches as the Episcopal give to Diocesans or near And yet few Separatists have thence concluded that they have no particular Churches or that this nulleth them contrarily ab est tertii adjecti ad est secundi valet argumentum Parish Churches are govern'd Churches subject to superiors ergo they are Churches And the Law calls them Churches 〈◊〉 it taketh them for Churches while it taketh no essential from them XXIII There are some particular Drs. in England indeed who say that There is no Church without a Bishop of its own and 〈◊〉 Epi●c●pus ibi Ecclesia and that Ecclesia est pl●●s Ep●s●●● adu●ata and that our Parish Ministers are no Bishops and that their sole Ordinations are nullities and consequently it would follow that their Parish Churches are truly but parts of a Church infimae specie● And because these men speak against Reordination and yet require those to be ordained again who were here ordained by mere Presbyters therefore it seemeth plain that they take the former for no true Ordination These men I have oft confuted especially in my Treatise of Episcopacy And hence some gather that I charge this error on all the Church of England and take the Law and Clergy to nullifie the Parish-Ministry and Churches Therefore I am specially obliged to answer such misconcluders lest they make my writings a means of deceit against my sence and against my will for so unhappy is the controversal world even of men of Worth and Name that if I do but say that two is less than three and that four is more than three they fear not to say that I contradict my self and R. is against B. and sometimes I speak for and sometimes against the same cause and these being ordinary Disputers and Church-guides What hope have the Christian Flocks of Unity and Peace but by such mens ceasing their disputes Here therefore it must be noted 1. That the men of this opinion are not to be called The Church of England The most of the Bishops and Clergy formerly were against them Dr. Hammond and Bishop Gunning and a few more were almost the first that seemed to go so far 2. And yet even these few do usually except the case of necessity and of the forreign churches as Dr. Sherlock hath lately done at large so that then they cannot take their Episcopal ordination received to be essential to the Priesthood 3. And these men themselves call our Parish societies Parish Churches and deny not the Presbyters to be Episcopi Gregis and to have a pastoral care of the peoples souls for they own the Liturgy Ordination and other writings of the Church which assert it 4. Their opposition to Presbytery hath carried them to appropriate the name Bis●op to the Diocesans but by it they mean only a Bishop over Presbyters having the power to ordain and depose them and to ●● be chief in governing all the flocks But the controversie de nomine and de re are not the same This denieth not all Pastoral Episcopacy in Presbyters over the flocks under them That these men by running into extreams do ill many have written to prove But maiming the Parish Ministry or too much limiting it is not nullifying it 5. Let it be considered that even the Separatists say not that the Power of Ordination is essential to Pastors Some of them take Pastors unordained only elected and received with prayer Some take men ordained by n●ighbour Pastors that have no power over them Some take men ordained by Bishops some by Magistrates And Jurisdiction over n●ighbour Pastors I am sure the Separatists will say belongs neither to the being or well being of a Pastor If then it be the Power of Ordaining and of Jurisdiction over other Pastors which the Diocesans

I confess one man may possibly live under so intollerable a Minister as is not to be owned And even some of the high adversaries of Nonconformists seem of this mind and break the Canon and having Pastors who they think do not heartily conf●rm ●ut plead for Peace and Moderation they revile them as Trimmers and will not Communicate wi●h them but go out of their own Parishes and thousands seldom any where Other circumstances also may vary mens cases ●ut some Objectors at last t●ll us that the great difference which they mean is differe●t light T●e ●ld Martyrs Reformers and Nonconformists had not so much light as we and so it w●s not th●●r sin but greater light being now m●r● common it will be a common sin to j●yn in the Liturgy Ans 1. It is ordinary and easie for men to magnifie their own understandings but Gods Law was then the same as now and they were bound to know it Their ignorance might make sin less and stripes fewer but could not make it none 2. I have many Reasons to think that it is your light that is l●ss and the old Nonconformists and Conformists in this that was greater 1. That is the greater light that most agreeth with Gods Word and th● universal churches practice accordingly 2. The writings of the old Nonconformists yet extant give better reas●ns than the seperatists did and therefore had clearer light What vast difference is there in the writings of Ball Hildersham Am●sius Manuductions Gifford Paget Bradshaw c. on that part and Johnsons Cans Penrys c. on the other 3. The Theological writings and labours of the Nonconformists in all other points shewed that they were men of incomparable more light than the Separatists and is it like that God would give men such rare light only in church communion that had so little comparatively in the rest of Divinity except Ainsworth's skill in Hebrew in other things by Paget laid too naked how few old Separatists have left any considerable fruits of great light unto the church Read the writings of Cartwright Dudley Fenner Hildersham John Reignolds Dod Perkins Bai● Parker Ames Bradshaw c. Besides Scots and all Foreigners such as Calvin Beza Zanchy Sadeel and hundreds more and compare these with the Writings of the Separatists and judg who had greater light 4. Since 1660. all the London Ministers and others with them t●at offered the King to set up in the parish churches the old Liturgy with some alterations were men except my self who shewed in their Writings and preaching as much light as the Separatists have shewed even Brown or John Goodwin himself that wrote Prelatical Preachers are no Teachers of Christ Where do they now shew greater light than others this boast to me deserveth pity more than confutation Anabaptists and others say the same but I find much less light in them both when I read and hear them tho I truly love and honour all that is good in them If you have so much more light than we and all the Reformed churches shew it us in other excellencies XLI But I must more particularly consider of this Authors Allegation of my own words against me especially my Treatise of Episcopacy And I do heartily thank him for calling me to review it For 1. I profess to write nothing which may not be amended And 2. If mens misunderstanding turn my writings to a snare and scandal it greatly concerneth me to remove it by explication or by retractation of any thing that needeth it And 1. I do find that I have incautelously given some occasion to the mistake for thol entituled my Book not against Diocesan episcopacy but against that sort of Diocesan churches Prelacy and Government which casteth out the Primitive church sp●cies of ●piscopacy Ministry and Discipline and tho to avoi● mistake I said in the Preface I ●ere give notice to the Reader that whenever 〈…〉 me speak as against the English Diocesan Prelacy I mean it as described by Cosins and Dr. Zouch and as relating to the Et c●tera Oaths and 〈◊〉 and not in opposition to the laws of the Land Yet all this was not enough to avoid misunderstanding Indeed I took the church Government to be described and judged of by the churches own sentence more than by the ●●w and I had read the said Et cetera oath and canons with the words that so it ●ught to stand which I think could mean nothing less than that so by Gods Law it ought to stand and I had read the old canons 6 th 7 th and 8 th Which ex●ommunicate ipso facto all men with●ut excepting L●rds or Parliament M●n who affirm that any thing in the church Government by Arch-Bishops Bishops Deans Arch-Deacons and THE REST that bear office therein is repugnant to the Word of God And I read the canons that forbid Ordained Ministers to preach till they are further licensed by Bishops yea and in the church or elsewhere so much as to expound any Doctrine or Matter but only to r●ad Scripture and Homilies c. with much more like this 3. And then I took the stated restraint of the Ministry with Lay-chancellors and officials decre●ive power of Excommunication and absolution and the foresaid Civilians denying all G●venment to Presbyters to have been quoad exercitium quantum 〈◊〉 at least an overthrow of parish churches Rectors and discipline 4. And I thought that the Bishops and Chancellors could never have so long done all this and ruled by these canons if the Law had not been on their side 5. And I thought that the Authors of the canons of 1640 being a c●nvo●a●i●n it was to be called the Church of England and specially when I found the most highly honoured Doctors pleading there was no Bishop but D●●cesan and no church without its proper Bishop By all these inducements with long sad experience I oft speak so incautelously calling this the English d●●●●san frame that the Reader might easily think that I meant it was that frame that was setled by law whereas having read ●ryn H●ntley Leigh●●● and others that deny the law to be for it and being my self a stranger to that case of Law I should have more fully separated the Law case from the new convocation case and much more from the destructive Innovators case who nullified the foreign churches with whom it was that I disputed and specially considering that the canons and oath of 1640. were a●ter cashier'd by Parliament and never since restor'd no not by the Parliament of 1662. Upon all this 1. I retract all words that seem to determine the case in Law if any such be there or that by darkness tend so to the Readers error 2. And all words that make the writings of superconformists and subver●ers or chang●rs of the church government or the canons of the convocation 1640 to be the sense of the Church of England when it is said that before its sence was otherwise and alteration is now abjured

Towns by that name● But at last the Bishops being loath to diminish their Jurisdiction decreed that very small Cities should have no Bishops ne vi●c●eat nomen Episc●pi And in process of time in some Countries the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or City was appropriated at the Princes pleasure to some very few Corporations peculiarly priviledged above the rest So that a King that would have had but one Bishop in his Kingdom as it 's said that all the Aba●●ian Empire hath had but one might have done it by calling but one Town a City VII Yet the People and Bishops being sensible that there was more work For a Bishop in a City-Diocess than one could do in many Countries they had Rural Bishops set over P●pul●ns country Churches And tho these were subject to the Diocesans yet hereby the Churches were multiplied But the Bishops soon grew jealous and weary of these Rural-Bishops and most places put them down and set up instead of them a kind of Itinerant visiting Presbyters empowring all Arch-Bishops and Ach Deacons till at last to save themselves the labour and yet not diminish their Dominion they set up the Courts of Lay-Chancellors Officials and many such Offices besides the Arch-Deacons Surrogates c. VIII In England as is agreed by most Historians at first one Bishop had but one Church or Temple And at Luindisfarne saith Bede It was so po●● a thing that it was a house thatcht with reeds The Pastor of this one Church was to convert as many as he could in all the Countrey about him The Heathen Country might be his Diocess but not his Church The converted Christians got into several Monasteries and not into Parish-Churches These Monasteries were partly for Society in Religious Exercise and partly for Studies like Schools to Educate Youth for the Ministry So that long a Diocess was only the Bishops Church with divers Monasteries At last Gentlemen for their convenience built and endowed Parish-Churches the Bishops old single Churches being called the Cathedrals And finally by the help of Princes all the Land was divided into Parishes subject to the Cathedral-Bishops to whom Deans and Chapters were added in imitation of the old Bishops Colledg of Presbyters in every single Church IX When the Rural-Bishops were put down the Presbyters power in their several Parishes was somewhat enlarged And the Diocesses at last became so great that the Bishops were sain to commit more of the oversight to the Presbyters Tho they kept them under by severe Canons Lay-Deputies and the Cogent Sword X. It grew then a controversie among the Papists themselves whether the Parish Incumbents were proper Pastors and had any Power of Government and how much And my Objectors confess that they were reputed Pastors among the Papists and that Linwood calleth them Pastors and the Laity Oves I have cited in Treat of Epis ●ilesa●us and many more that prove it Ant. de Dom. Spalatensis is large and full in it Sp●lman in R. A●l●ricks Law shews that the Bishop and Presbyter made but one of their seven Orders A great sort of the Schoolmen say the same Most Drs. say That the Presbyters essentially as Sacredetes have the power of the Keys inf●ro interi●re by which they mean not a power that must be kept secret but that which consisteth in the perswas●v● use of Gods word on C●nfer●n●e privately or publickly as distinct from Magisterial and C●gent Power And if they ●e of one Order then if one be a Past●r the other is so also That they are taken but in partem curae is nothing against it but for it For equal Presbyters in one Church have each but partem curae The Reformation finding th●ngs in this case determined none of the disputes de nomine Whether Parish Rectors shall be called ●pis●op●s Gregis or Pastors or Rectors or I●cumb●nts but use these names promiscuously Nor did they dispute whether the Parishes are Political Churches But the Definition and not the Name is the thing now before us in debate God hath given every such Minister the essence of a Pastoral oversight of his Flock Men may hinder the Exercise but can no more alter the Christian Office Power than they can deprive a Husband of the power over his Wife And the Diocesans at last have been necessitated to permit the essential Pastoral power by the word to the Incumbents having none else to use it by But Lawyers have taught many to call nothing Government that is not Cogent on the unwilling and so to say that Government is not in the Presbyters but the Bishops and that all is derived from the King which is all true of Cogent Government by the Sword in f●ro exteriore but not as to Pastoral Government of the Flock by Gods w●rd As Bishop Bilson of Obedience hath distinguished and applied well at large XI Now to come nearer our Case Diocesan Bishops have put down the ranks of Bishops which of old was setled as Presidents over the Presbyters in every Church in Cities and of the lowest Order described by Ignatius and Cyprian and others Every lowest Church hath not now a Bishop over the Presbyters as it had for divers hundred years And by this they have unchurched all the old sort of Churches in the sense of them that say There is no Church where there is no Bishop over Pre●byters And they have set up a Diocesan Church and Bishop only w●●re should be many Churches and Bishops and thus 〈◊〉 hom●●●m I argued with them c. But indeed this Parochial Episcopacy or Pr●sid●ncy being wrongfully said to be Essential to the Church being at most b●t useful to peace ad melius esse and the Epicopacy or Pastoral care of the Laity without any power over the Clergy being it that is essential to single Church Pastors In truth no man can alter this In Consent and ●●putati●n it is altered by those that think Parish Curates no Pastors and deny any Essential power over their Flocks But it is not in Consent and Reputation destroyed by them that acknowledg their Essential power and subject only themselves as Pastors to the oversight of Diocesans and Magistrates They do but destroy the 〈…〉 of Episcopacy of humane Institution which was over Presbyters in 〈◊〉 Ch●rch●● but not the Episcopacy over the Flock which is of Christs Ins●i●utio● XII 〈◊〉 whether most in England are of this Opinion or of that for 〈◊〉 or for meer g●verning Episcopacy and which way the Laws go and 〈◊〉 may be called the sense of the Church when Convocations and Bishops seem to differ and men change their Opinions with the Age and Interest it is impossible for me to be sure But I know how they govern by what Canons and by what Courts and as all their Cogent power is from the King it is no wonder if they be chosen by him But the old sort of Bishops that had no forcing power was so constantly otherwise chosen that their Canons nulled the Magistrates

choice And our present Canons since 1604 tho they null not the Parochial Pastorship do so far restrain it as I hope my Conscience shall never approve But yet for that I will not forsake what is of God nor make mans failings a pretence against my duty to God and Man to the Violation of Love Unity and Peace Yet I will try by distinct speaking to make both the Case and my meaining plainer if I can And thereby to shew that our case differeth but gradually from the old Nonconformists as to Lay-mens Parochial Communion where there are honest Ministers And that the old Nonconformists had better Evidence Scripture and Reason on their side than either those Innovators who make Parish-Pastors to be but de specie of humane Institution made by Bishops and changeable by them having just so much power as they please to give them or the Brownists that are so much of the same Principles as to think that mens Laws or Canons can change the form of the Office or that judg it nullified by tollerable Imperfections and Communion made unlawful by such faults as are found in almost all the Churches on Earth Qu. Whether according to the description of the Scripture and the exposition of Dr. Hammond himself all qualified Parish Ministers be not true Pastors and Bishops of the Flocks and with their consenting Christian Communicants true particular Churches and de facto all be not in the power given them by God which is essential hereto and in the power generally acknowledged by the legal Church Ans I have spoken to this so largely in my Treatise of Episcopacy and there added the testimonies of Writers old and new Protestants and Papists that I will give but a breviate of it here The essence of the Church Ministry consisteth in POWER and OBLIGATION FROM CHRIST to teach to guide in Worship and to oversee and guide the Conversation and Communion of the Flocks If it were not of Christ they were but officers of men de specie even of an office of mans making Dr. Hammond saith that Christ gave the Keys only to the Apostles and they only to their Successors That there is no evidence that there were any of a second order of Presbyters in Scripture time that this order was after made by Man Mr. Dodwell sheweth how and why and more fully than Dr. Hammond asserteth that such Presbyters have no more power than the ordaining Bishops intended to give them Or saith Dr. H. If they have a first power it is such as may not be exercised without a second so that it is indeed no true power to act And the Dr. plainly tells the London Ministers p. 80 81. There is no manner of incongruity in assigning of one Bishop to one Church and so one Bishop in the Church of Jerusalem because it is A. CHURCH not Churches being forced to acknowledg that where there were more Churches there were more Bishops And he denied our Presbyters that were not Diocesans to be Bishops both City and Country Presbyters And consequently that our Parishes were no Churches And on these grounds he and Bishop Gunning and such others judged Presbyters Ordination null because they were no Bishops And the said Dr. tho I thought he had been next Petavius one of the first that had expounded the new Testament Elders to be all Bishops of several Diocesses yet tells us that he thought most of his brethren were of his mind herein And when we in Worcestershire formed a Pacificatory Association of the Epicopal Presbyterians Indep●ndents and Peace-makers agreeing lovingly to practice so much in Doctrine Worship and Discipline as we were for according to our several principles forbearing each other in the rest and Dr. Warmst●●● and Dr. Tho. Good being for Bishops subscribed to it Dr. Peter Gunn●●g wro●e largely against so doing to Dr. Warmstrie and took him off upon these aforesaid principles and they then called their Judgment the Judgment of the Church of England and wrote as if the Church had been of their mind and gone their way I wrote ●large Answer to Dr Gunning's Paper not printed and proved that the old Protestant Bishops and Doctors were of another mind largely citing their testimonies in my Christian C●nc●rd and plainly warned English Protest●nts to take heed of these Innovators and that the name of the Church and Episcopacy deceive them not against the Church and Protestant Cau●e many ●ose against me for this with great indign●tion especially Arch-Bishop Bramhall and two or three learned Writers and would make the world believe that it was the Church of England which I sought to defame and bring under suspition and which owned Gr●tius and his way of Reconciliation with Rome when as it was for departing from the professed principles of the reformed Bishops and Doctors and from the book of Ordination and other writings of the Church that I blamed them Yet would they needs claim the name of the Church of England And it is not here seasonable for me to tell how many and how great men in 1661 and 1662 seemed by their w●rds and doings to be full at least as high as they nor how they expressed it nor how many strongly conceited by the Act th●● requireth reordination of men ordained by Presbyters and by the number rejected who refused it That the Parliament had been of th●ir mind and much more the ●●nv●cation called the church-repr●sentative especi●lly when they heard men call the old Bishops and Arch-Bishops such as ●sher Downame 〈◊〉 c. in I●eland and G. Abbot Rob. A●b●t Grindal and many such in England Puritans and Presbyterians And when P●● H●l●● maketh Arch bishop Abbot and the Bishops and Clergy in his days to ●e of one mind vilified by him and Arch-bishop Laud and his Clergy after of another In this case I gave the name of the present Diocesans to those that thus claimed it and pretended so confidently to the present possession of it but I thought not their claim just And when I sometimes used the name of English Di●cesans for this sort who nullifie the Parish Churches and Pastorship it was but to notifie them that so claimed it supposing I had oft sufficiently opened my sense and usually added that they nullifie them not effectively but quantum in se and by their consequences But I again now tell the Reader that I think the Judgment of the church of England considered as humanely constituted by publick professions and by Law much less as divinely constituted is not to be measured or named from any innovators or any that most confidently claim it or think they are uppermost at the present and thereby have that right but as Divine by Gods word whose sufficiency we all profess and as humane by the published Church professions that is the Liturgy the book of Ordination the 39 Articles of Religion the Apology of the Church of England the Defence of that Apology set in all Churches the book of H●milies Nowels

Christs Name to invest him solemnly in the number of the faithful delivering him a sealed pardon of all his sins and a grant of right to grace and glory Can there be a higher exercise of the Keys Matth. 28.19 20. It is the Apostles work Disciple me all nations baptizing them c. And Dr. Hamm●nd thinketh that in Scripture-time there were no Baptizing Presbyters but Bishops and indeed it is so great a use of the Keys that this chiefly condemneth Laymens and womens Baptizing at least the trying the Catechized and judging of their capacities must needs be the prime great act of church-Church-Power whatever be said of the execut●●n Now Papists and Protestants generally place this Power in Parochial Incumbents yea and in all other ●resbyters Even those that convert Countreys of Infidels and are under no particular Bishop must baptize and judg of the Catechumens capacity for baptism and are Parish Incumbents denied this Office power of the Keys and is it the Diocesan or they that use it by baptizing Obj. The Canon requireth them to baptize all Infants brought according to law and so not to be the Judges Ans You should say and so command● them how to judge The Magistrate may command men how to do their office-work and yet neither be the maker nor unmaker of the office tho he mistake If Rulers misgovern that 's their sin but the office of Pastors is still the same and we must not misobey but suffer and as B●shop Bilson saith Go on with our work as long as we can 2. And to bid them do more than they would is not to null their power of doing less And to punish a man for his duty is not to di●oblige him from it till it truly disable him 2. A second great exercise of the Church Keys is Ministerially as from Christ to declare his Laws and charge men to obey them both the Church together and particular persons singly As Legislation is the first and great part of Christs Government before Judicature so the Ministerial declaring Christs commands and demanding obedience is the great act of Government The same word therefore comprehendeth feeding and ruling 1 Pet 5.2 3. c. Matth. 24.45 46. Who then is a faithful and wise servant whom his Lord hath made ruler over his houshold to give them meat in due sea●●n It is ruling by seasonable feeding 1 Thes 5.12 To be over them is exercised by labouring amongst them and admonishing them 1 Tim. 5.17 Ruling well is nothing greater than labouring in the word and d●ctrine 1 Tim. 3.2 A Bish●p must be apt to teach Dr. Hammond One that is able and ready to communicate to others the knowledg that he him●elf hath Heb. 13.7 ●7 24. Ruling the fl●ck is by teaching and watching over th●m To be the greatest is to be most serviceable to all to be ruled by them is to know them to esteem them highly in love for their works sake to obey Gods word delivered by them and their conduct in mutable circumstances Heb. 13.7 1 Thes 5.12 And to imitate their good examples 1 Pet. 5.3 And what law forbids Incumbents to promulgate Christs commands and charge men to obey them Or to go to any negligent person of his Flock with the same charge or to go to any Drunkard Fornicator Railer and to tell him from God of h●s sin and danger and exhort and command him to repent and amend And who most doth this work among us 3. Another part of Government is to judg professing Christians capable of Sacramental Communi●● and admit them and deliver it them as Christs Ministers b● his com●●●si●● an● from him And therein to renew their publick abso●ution and the●r Co●enant p●i●●ledg and their delivered part in Christ and right to life No●e dare d●●y that this is a high part of the power of the Keys and proper Governme●t to judg who is capable of Church Communion and receive them and deliver them from Christ the pledg of life And all Papists and Protestants almost judg this power essential to the Priesthood and common to all Parochial Incumbents And the Church of England as I said before 1. Delivereth it to them in Ordination 2. Requireth them to catechize and cert●fie for such as shall be confi●med and methinks the Diocesan here useth less of the judicial power than the Incumbent for he doth but lay his hands on them and say a prayer over such as come to him for no man can dream that he can examine all the people in his Diocess so far as to judg whether they are fit for Communion Therefore he is supposed but to execute the judgment of the certifying Incumbent If he take all at a venture without a certificate or knowledg or if the Incumbent be unfaithful I cannot help or excuse that 3. They are required to keep away all that be not confirmed or ready and desirous of it 4. They may hear any just accusation of the scandalous 5. They may admonish him if he will speak with them 6. They may refuse him if obstinate and impenitent 7. They may declare the reason why they do so as Christs Ministers by his Authority and tell the Church their duty to avoid the Communion of such 8. They may bind him over to answer his contumacy at the Bar of God and what of this is denied by the Church to belong to the Incumbents Office and who else is capable of doing this in Parishes that have multitudes of ungodly persons If all this should be made so difficult by the multitude and badness of delinquents or by bad Canons or bad Government of the Church by Diocesans Officials c. and thereby be almost all left undone I cannot help that nor excuse it but what I have said against such doing is too little And if Priests be so bad that they will any where sooner scorn it than practice it at the rate that it must cost them I am as much against such Priests as others are But I will not therefore make the Office of Christ● Ministers the creature of man and mutable at his will nor will I forsake faithful Ministers for the sake of the perfidious no nor for their own tolerable faults or imperfections And now consider seriously 1. Whether there be any essential part of the office of a Pastor denied by that which may justly be called the Church of England to the Parish Incumbents 2. And whether incomparably more of it even of the government of the flocks by the K●ys of Christs Institution be not by Law and Canon required and in fact performed by the said Incumbents than by the Diocesans And whether any use it if they do not If it be alledged that I have in my Treatise of Episcopacy named many instances in which they are deprived of the exercise of the very essentials I still answer that if any shall by misgoverning Canons or practise lay penalties on them that will perform their office these do their part to