706 / 846
¢
11.1'
PEND'
X.
Numb.
Ii.
were
figna inediantia.
Thofe that heard God
fpeak
(if
any
immediately without
Angelical
Interpofition) did
receive God's Commands
mediante
verborrem
igno.
So
did the
Apofìles
that
which
they
had from the Mouth
of
Chrift:
a. God
is
fo
ab
folutely
the Fountain
of
all
Power, that no Man
can either
have
orgive
any
Pow-
er, butderivatively from
him,
and by
his
Commiffìon
i
Man
being no farther the
Efficient
of
Power, than he
is fo
conftituted of
God;
the
general way
ofhis
giving
it,
mutt
be
by
the
Signification
of
God's
Will;
and
fo
far
as
that
can
be fuffhciently
difcovered,
'there
needs
no
more to the Conveyance
of Power. Whether Men
be
properly
efficient Caufes
of Church
Power at
all,
is
a
very hard Queflion,
efjseci-
ally
as
to
thofe
over whom they
have
no fuperior governing Power.
As Spalatens
fir
hath taken great pains to prove
that
Kings or
other
Sovereigns
of the Common-
wealth have
their Commilfìon and Power
immediately from God, though the
Peo-
ple fometimes may choofe
the
Man (for the
Power
was
not
given
to the
People
firft, and
then they
give
it the King
:
but God
lets
them name the -Man,
on
whom
he will immediately confer
it)
fo po{übly
may
it
be
in Ordination
of
Church
-
Officers.
Three
ways
do Men mediate in the Nomination
of
the
Perfon
;
t.
When they
have
Authority
of
Regiment
over others,
and
explenitudine
poteratu
do
convey efficiently to inferior Officers the
Power that
there have.
Thus dotti
the
fupream
Ree&or
of
the Commonwealth to
his
Officers; and
Ergo,
they are
cal-
ed
the Kings Officers, and he
bath the choice
of the
very
Species, as well
as
of
the
individual
Officers.
Now
this
way
of
mediating
is
not
always,
if
at
all neceffary
or
poffible
in the Church
; for
the Papifts
themfelves
confis,
that the Pope
is
Or-
dained or authorized without
this
way
of
Efficiency
:
for
none
have a
Papal Pow
-
er
to
convey to him
;
His Ordination cannot be dílue
Superioris.
And the
Coun-
cil
of
Traut
could
not
agree whether it were
not
the Cafe
of
all Bifhops
to hold
their Office immediately from Chrift, though under the Pope, or whether they
had their Power immediately from the Pope
as
the prime
Seat on
Earth,
of
all
Church Power who
is
to
convey
their
Parts
to
others.
How the
Spanifh
Bifhops
held up
their
Caufe
is
known
:
And it
was
the
old
Do&rine
of
the Church,
that,
all Bifhops
wereequal, and
had
no Power
one over another,
but
all
held their
Pow-
er dire&ly
from
Chrift,
as Cyprian
told them
in
the
Council of
Carthage.
Add to
this,
that the true
old.
Apoftolical Epifcopacy
was
in
each
particular Church, and
not
over many Churches
together
(I
fpeak
of
fixed Bifhops)
till the matter beco-
ming: too big to be capable
of
the
old
Form
Corruptie u»ieu
fuit
generano alterisa
:
and they that upon the
increafe
of
Chriftians, Ihould havehelpt the Swarm into
a
new
Hive, did,
through natural Ambition
of ruling
over
many,
retain
divers
Churches under their Charge, and then,
ceafed
to be
of
the Primitive
fort
of
Bi-
fhops i Non
eadem
fuit
res, non manor
item ;
etiamfi
idem
nomen
retinerent. So
that
truly our Parith Minifters, who
are
foie
or chief Paltors
of
thatChurch are the
old fort
of
Bifhops;
for
as
Ambbrole,
and after him,
Grotiva
argues, qui ante
fe alte
rum henbabebat, Epifcopueeras:
That
is,
in
eadem Ecclefia
qui fuperiorem
non
habet).
So that
not
only
all
Diocefan
Bifhops,
but
alfo
all
Parochial
Bifhops
are
Ordained
perparer,
and fo
not
by
a
governing Communication
of
Power ;
which
is
that
fe-
cond way
of
Ordination,
when men
that
are
of
equal Authority have the
Nomi-
nation of the Perko. Now whether or no
he
that
ordaineth
an
Inferior
as
a Dea-
con,
or
any
other,
do convey
Authority
by
a
proper
Efficiency,
as
having
that
firft
in himfelf which
he
doth
Convey; yet in the Ordination
of
Equals,
it
teems
not
to
be fo,
for they have no Government over
the
particular
Perfons
whom they
Or-
dain, or Churches
to
whom they Ordain
them;
nor
could they
ihemfelves
exercif
that
governing Power over that
other
Congregation, which they appoint another
to
;
fo
that
they
teem
to
be
but
Caufre
Morales,
or
fine
quibue non, as
he
that
Its
the
Wood to the
Fire,
is
of
its
burning, or
as
he that openeth you
the Door
is
of
your
bringing any
thing
into the Houfe
:
So
that
if
you will
call
the
Ordainer
of
an
Infe-
rior
conform
eguivocam,
andthe Ordainer
of
an Equal,
caufam
univoeam,
yet it
is
but as
they
morally and improperly
caufe.
The Third
way
of
Mediating in the
Nomi-
nation
of
the Perfon,
is
by
the meer Eleátion
of
Inferiors,
as
the
Apoftles
did hid
the Church
of
Hierufalem
choofe
out feven Men whom they
might conftitute
Dea-
cons:
I
have
been tedious,
perhaps,
without
need
on
this;
but the Summ
is
this,
that
a
fubordinate
efficient Caufe
is
no
neceffary Medium for
the
conveyance
of
Power, if
at all, yet
not
always
(I
mean a Perfon) but the
Mediatio Signi Voluntatis
Divinse,
may oft ferve without any more
;
or
plainly
in
feveral Cafes,
mediatio
legea
cum
perfan
qualification
may
fuffice,
fine
mediation
juduu.
But
to
come
clofer,
where you
fay
(the
written Word
is
no
fit
Medium)
I
anfwer,
T.
The
written
Word in
cafe
of
a failing
of
Ordainers
is
a
fficient
mediate
Inftrument;
.
bur
though