703 / 846
Numb.
IL
APPENDIX.
2f
to
it,
and fhould
much more
if
I thought
it
could
indubitably be
proved
that
`
the
Succeffron
hash been
interrupted.
IV. My Fourth Argument
is
this;
We
ought therefore to contend
for
an
fli
mutt-
terrupted
Succeon,
becaufe
if
the
Succeffìon be
interrupted;
then that Perfon
`
who immediately comes into
the Miniftry
after the
Interruption, mutt
come into
'
it without Impofition
of Hands;
and
fo
if
he without Impofition
of
Hands
b0
ítí11
a lawful
Minifier, then it will follow, that Impofition
of
Hands
is
a
Matter
` rather
of
Convenience than
of
Neceflity. But Impofition
of
Hands
is
effential
'
to Ordination.
I know there are fome Schoolmen
that
contend' againft
éhis
t
`
But this
is
aQueltion
not
fubje&ed
to any Man's
way
of
reafoning
e
Naturâ
Rei:
'
For
if
Chrift hath declared,that
it
is
his
Mind
any Ordinance
lhall
be performed
'
after fuch or fuch a Mauer,
it
is
too
much Confidence
for
any
Manto-l'y,
or go
'
about
to
prove, that
fuch an
Ordinance
may
be
performed
as
well
another Way,
`
or after another
Manner;
when
as
the Fitnefs
of the
Manner
of
doing
to the
`thing
done,
is
not
founded in Naturâ
Rei,
but in
bene
placite
inftituentr. Foraf-
'
much therefore
as
Chrift
bath revealedto
his
Church that it
is
hit Mind,
or
Will
`
that
his
Churches
Officers fhould be
fer
a
part
by
Impofnion
of
Hands,
it dodr
'
therefore follow
that
Impofition
of
Hands
is
necefiary and effential
to
their
Sepa-
r
ration
:
If
you
ask me
how
I
know that
it
was
Chrift's Will and'Mind,
that Im-
pofition
of
Hands fhould be
ufed
in the Ordination
of
Miniflers:
I
ánfwer;
fink;
`
That
if
you
expert I
fhould thew
an
exprefs
Command
forit,
I acknowledge there
` is
none: Or
any implicite Command, I acknowledgeI know
none:
But
rejoin
with
all,
that the Mind
and Will
ofChrift
may
be
otherwife madeknown.
Thole
'
Scriptures
where Impofition
of
Hands
is
fpoken of, commented upon
by
the
Ihní-
'
verfal
Pra
&ice
of the Church of Chrift
from the firft Age, until this wild,
e
m
'
bitant,
laft
Century,
feem
to
me a
molt clear
Evidence what the Will
of
Cürill
id
`
in that Particular, andwill
fä11
appear
fo, till
you
Thew
nie
a
bettor
way how
to
difcover the Mind
of
Chrift
in
fuch Cafes
as
theft at
this
Diltance,
If
you
expedf
that I
should
prove
that it hath
been
the confiant,
univerfal
Praâiee
of the
`
Church of
God
:
I
/hall likewife
do
that when I
know
that it
is
required, and
all
the
reft
in the Argument granted.
Andnow, Sir,
if
this
Interruption of
Succeffron,
being yielded, doth
necelfa'
rilycall
out
fome
of
the Effentials in
Ordination,
if
it
ftrengthens the Hands
of
'
Intruders,
if
it hinders
us
from having
our Authority from Chrift
;
if
our learned
Country
-men have taken
fo
much
Pains
to
clear up an
Unioterruption, then
I
think
it follows,
that
it
is
a
Matter worth the
pleading
for
:
Which
is
the only
'
STTp
Ede
¿i
a
of
this
Paper.
M. 7ohnfon..
Mr.
Baxter's
Kepi"
to
Mr.
johnfon, ägaini
the
abfolute Neceffity
of
Ordination, anti
of
an uninterrupted Succefon thereof
front
the
Appel,
to
the
Being
of
the
Minifferial
Office.
Brotber,
T
Return you
this Anfwer
to yours, but on
this
Condition, that
before you
Osaka
JI
any Reply to it, you perform
the
other Parts
of
your undertaken Task, or
it
leali, the two tall
;
for
I
think it
a
far fafer way
in
fuch Cafes
as
this,
to argue
a
non
fbia
ad
non
ingitutum,(the Church
harp
not had
fuch an
uninterrupted Soccer'
fion
:
Ergo,
God bath not made
it abfolutely
neceffary)
than
from a fuppofed
hi.
ftimtion
to an anfwerable Event
(God bath
made it abfolutely neceflary
á
Ergo,
the
Church bath
enjoined
it)
;
becaufe it
is
incomparably
mote
eafy
to
difcern
the
Matter
of
fuch publick
Faet, than to
difcern the meaning
of
thofe
Texts
which
will be alledged by each
Partyin theft controverted
circumffaittial Points
:
And
you know
we
muff
argue
a
notiere
ad
minis
notion,
andnot
contrarily..
/could
wills
the Queftion had been exadily flared by joint Confent,
to
avoid tedious
Explicati-
ons and
fxcurfiona. We mull
fink
diltinguifh the
Succeflion
of
Office, and
Suc
cellion
of Ordination to that Office:
Our Queflion
is
not
diredlly
of
the former,
fog,