( 324) 'ofe our Teachers !di they difobey the Bithops. If this be your cure, it difgracethyour caufe. We delire not Prelacy at fo dear a rate. Its a fad order that eefIroyes the duty ordered. 24. Obje&.13ut this is to take down all Church-Govern- ment, if allfill havewhat Government they lift. Anfiv. 1. Was thereno Church - Government before the dayts of Gonfiaxtine the Emperour ? 2. Doyou pretend to antiquity, and fly from the Antient Government as none ? You (hall have the fame means as all the Bithopsof the Church had for above three hun- dredyears to bring men to yourobedience and is that nothing withyou ? Why is it commonly maintained by us all, that the Primitive flare was that purell flare, which after times fhould flrive to imitate,ifyet it was fo defective as you imagine?3.And why have younil( pretended to fucha power and excellent ufe- fulnefs in the Prelatical Government, ifnowyou confefs that it is but anarchy, and as bad as nothing without the inforce.. ment ofthe Magiftrate ? What Magifirate forceth men to obey the Presbyteries now in England, Scetland, .or many other places ? 4. Yet it is our defire, that theMagifirate will do his duty, and maintain order in the Church, and hinder diforders, and all known fin : but fo, as not to put his fword into the hand or ufe it at the pleafureof every party that would be lifted up. Let himprudently countenance that way of Government, that tendeth moil to the goodof the Churches under his care ; but not fo as to perfecute, filence, or call out, all fuch as are for a different form, in cafe where difference is tolerable, ä. And in good fadnefs, is it not more prudent for the Magifirate to keep the fwordin hisownhands ifreally it be the fword that muff do the work ? If Epifcopal Government can do fo little without the compulfion of the Magifirate, fo that all the honour ofthe good effects belongeth to the (word, truly I think it prudence in him to dohis part himfclf, and leaveBithops to their part , that fo hemay have the honour that , it teems, belongs unto his office, and the Bithop may not go away with it, nor thePres- byterie neither. Let the fecular Bifhop have the honour ofall ghat Order and unity that arifeth from compulfìon: and good reafon, when hemall have the labour, and run the hazzard ifhe do it =ifs . and let the Ecclefiaflical Bithops have the honour Df all that order and unity that arifeth from their management o1':.
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