Are the !j{pmijh Clergy true Miuijlers of (hrift ? ( of whtch more anon.) And Mr. Jacob who was aga.infl Bilhops and their Ordination, proved 1 it large, that by Eledion orConfent of the people alone, a mm m<~y be a true Pallor) tit her without tUch Ordination, or notwirh£\anding both the vmity and c:uor of ir. 3· Many of dum. have (lrdi, H>~tion by able and fober Bifhops; if that alfo be nccdf:ny . 4· In th.u 0Jdination) thty arc invdicd iu all that is cffmtial to the P.~Ooral Office. . . So that 1 fee: 110t that their Calling is a Nu£'ity tiJrougb drfctl of any thing'of abfo!nte nccdl!ry to its being and validily: though it be many wayes hrc.Pular and lin(u!. 11. We are ~cxt thercfor~ t.o enquire whc_t~er anyCc?lradiliing additic1u m.;k_e null tb:zt n·hicb dfc would bt no nuUtty. And chts JS the great d1fficulry. for as we accufc tlOt then 1\eligiuu fur having •oo little, but 1oo muc!J, Co this is our chief doubt about their Minifiry. And 1.It is doubted, as to the officr it {elf, whether a Mafi·Pricji be a rrue lVli11ijlt>r, as having another work to do, even to mak..,e his 1\tl"~er, and to give Clnifis rct~l fl(fh wirh his hands to the people; and to preach the unfound Dudrincs of their Chu~eh : And thcfe fcem to be <lfenrial pares of his function. The cafe is vtry bad and fad: But that which I fa id about the HmGes or Errors which m•y confifi wirh Chrifiianiry, when thty overthrow it but by an undifccrned confequence, mu(t be hen; alfo confidercd, The prime pare of 1hc:ir office is that (as to the cffinti.lls,) which Chrill or~ da.incd : -.:-his tl~ey rccei_ve, an~ t_o t_his they few a ~lrhy rag of -~ans deviling: But if they knew th1s 10 be mconhHent wnh Chrtlhantty o~ the E.ff(nf!als ('If the Mm1firy, _we may well prefUme (of many of them ) they would not rece1ve H. Therefore as an error wluc/.1 confequmriatly contra~ dicteth fome rfknti•l article of faith, nullificth not his ChtiOianity who ftrjl and fajlcjl holdeth the: faith, and would caC\ away the tnor if he faw the contradiction, ( as Daz.·m.,m, A1ortolt and. H~ll have fhcwed Epift. Concilio~t. ) So is it to be faid as to pral/ico-J trror in the prtfc 11 t cafe. They are their grievous error!' and fins, but for ought I fee, do not nullitie their cffice to the Church. As a Mafi·Pritjf, he is no Minifler of Chrill ( As an AmbJplifl is not ar a Rtbap:izer nor a-Srpararifi as a Stparatcr, nor an Antinomian; or any erroneous perfon as a Prcachn of tha~ error') But as a CbrljiiaH Po~ftor nrdained to preach the Gofpel, bJpdze, adrniniller the Lords Supper, pray, pnife God, gurde the Church, hc,may be. · The fame anfwer ferverh to the Objection as it extendeth to the erroneous DoCtrines which they preach, which are but by Conltquence againfi the Elfentials of Religion. ' 2• But it is a greater doubt, Whtrhrr any porrer of the Minijlry ran bt convt;•rd by Amichri{t, or fi'om him? And whether God wiUow11 any ofAnticbrifls adminiftratjum : 'Jbcrefore [tcinh they proftfr tlumftlvn to have no office but what tbry rectivt from the Popt, and Chrijt dijOnming /;is u{urp.ztiou, the faint ma1t cannot be tbe Minijltr ofChrijt and Anticbrift) aJ tht fame m,m c,;mzot be an rflictr i;z the Kings Army and hH Emmies. · But this will have the fame folution as the former. If this Anrichrill: were theopm profdf~:d ere– my to Chrill, then all this were true: Becau{e their corrupt additions would nor by dark conR– quences, but (o directly contain the denyal ofChrillianity, or the rrue Minillry, that it were net poffib!e to hold both. But ( as our Divines commonly note) Antichrifl i; to fi:: in the Temple of God, and .rhe Popes Trt:afon is under pretence of the greatefi lervicc and fricnd01ip ro Chrifl, makc.. ing himfclf his Vicar General without his Comrniffion. So that they that recicve power from him, do think himw be Chrifis Vicar indeed, and fo renounce not Chrifi , but pr6fels their tirll and chief relation to be to him, and dependance on him, and that they would have nothing to do with the Pope, if they knew him to be again{\ Chrifi. And fame of them write, that the E'orvtr or Office is immt:diatdy from Chri.tl, and that the Pope, Otda.iners and Electors do but ddign the periOn that !hall receive it ( Becaufe dfe they know not what to fay of the E.lecrion and Confecration of the Pope himfclf who bath no fuperiour.) And the Spani01 Bilhops in the Council of Trmt hdd fo do{e to this, that the relt were fain to leave it undetermined; fO tha.t it is nb part of their Reli– gion, but a doubtful opinion, Whether the power of Bilhops be derived from the Pope, though they beGoverned by him. But as to the other, the cafe feem<th like this: If a fubjell: in Irtl.md ufutp the Lieutenancy, and tell all the people that he bath the Kings Commiilion to be his Lieutenant; and command all to fubmit to him, and receive their placcs from him:, and obey him; And the King declareth him a Tuytor ( antecedently only by the defcription of his Laws, ) and makerh it the duty of the fub. jeCh to renounce him t Thofe now that know the Kings will, and yet adhere to the Ufurper, though' they know that the King is againfi it, are Traytors with him : But thofe from whoiJl he keepeth the knowledge of the Laws; and Who for want of fllll information, believe him to be really the Kings Lieutenant, (and fpccial\y living whet< all believe it ) but yet would renounce him if they knew that he had not the Kings Commiffion, Thefe are the Kin~s fubJeds, though in ignorance rhey obey an U(urper. And on this account it is that A· Bifhop Vjhtr concluded, that A;J ig~torant Papijl might be faved, but tbe Learned /mdly. But when the Learned through the difadvantages of their Education are under the fame ignorance> beingLearned but on ont fide to their greater fc:dudjon, the cafe may be the fame. · The fame man therefore may receive an Office from Chrill, wbo yet ignoriQtly fubmimth IQ the Pope, and receivcth corrupt additions from him. But fuppofe I be m;fiakcn in all this, yet to come to the fecond Q!<fiion, 11. Whether
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