PART H. Reverend Mr. Richard Baxter. .237 This followingPaper I drew up at this time, and offered to the Brethren to have been prefented to the King as the Summary of our Judgment, that he might fee in a few plain words what it was that we indeed defired. But it was nor contented to, both becaufe that all of us were not agreed among our felves, in granting fo much of Epifcopacy, and becaufe we would not hin- der our Success by adding any more to Bishop ÚJher's Model, hoping that his Authority might have facilitated the Receptionof it to which Keafons I contented. The briefSum of our judgment and De f ref about Church-Govern- ment. I. nOwer is I. Imperial and Coercive, by Mulets and Penalties ; 2, or Do&oral j and Suafory. The firft belongeth only to the Magiftrate ; The fecond to the Pastors of the Church. 2. Though in Cafes of Necetlìty the fame Man may be both a Magilrate and a Pallor ; yet out of filch Cafe it is unlawful or very unmeet : Each Calling will find a Man work enoughalone. And our work being perfwafve, is fuccefsful but as it procureth Complacency and Content ; and therefore we should be put upon no fach A&ions as will render us more feared and hated,than desired to our Flocks. We therefore humbly befeech your Majefty to trust no Church-men with the Sword ; with any degree of Imperial Coa&ive Power ; but where it muli be ufed, that it be byMagiftrates. And Matra), Execution be not annexed to their judg- ments; nor any Man punifhed byyou, meerly becaufe he is Excommunicate ( that is, forely punished) by them. g. Every Bated full Congregation that had :mum Altare, was by Divine Inllitu- don to have a Bithop of their own, or many if theycould be had ; which Bithops were called Elders alto in the Scripture. And for Order fake, where there were manyof thefe,theChurches foon placed the Precedency and Moderatorihip inone, whom they called by Eminencythe Bithop.. ç. Becaufe in the beginning there wereno Bated Churches or Altars (ordinari- ly ) but in Towns and,Cities; therefore the time Apoliles that ordained Elders in everyChurch, are faid alto to appoint that they be Ordained auad m'coss, oppi- darim, in every Townor City. And it beinglong before the Villages had Church- es, they were the Parish or Diocefs of the Bihops of the Town. And when Ru- ral Bishops were placed in thofe Churches, they were fubje&ed to the City Bi-, (hops ; when every Church, as in the beginning, thould have had a Bishopof their own. T. If you will return to the Scripture Pattern, every Rated Congregation that hob one Altar, muli have Pallor: that have the Government of the People ; and if you will returnto the primitiveEpifcopacy, eminently fo called,every one ofthefe Church- es lhould have a Bifhop withFellow Presbyters as his Collegues, or Deacons at leal in smaller Churches. 6. Ifyou will return to the firft and lowel degree of Corruption of Chirrch.Order, you muli have a Bithop and Presbytery in everyCity and Town only, fuch as our Corporations and Boroughs are , who `muli take ,care alto of the adjacent Vil- lages. 7. For the maintainingof Unity and Concord, and Edifying each other by Communion, theseBithops held ordinarySynods or Meetings, in which by Agree- ments called Canons (no proper Laws) they bound up themfelves in things of mutable Determination, and alto tied themfelvesto their Duties. 8. Betides thefe particularBithops, there were General Overfeers of the Church, filch as the Apofles, Evangelifs, and others that fixed not themfelves in relation to any one particular Church, but the Care of many. And that these have Suc- ceffors in this ordinary part,of their Work, we do not gaintay. But we humbly crave, that if our Diocefans will be filch, they be taken for Archbilhops or Gene- ral Pa/tors ; and that they take only a General Charge of the Flock, overfeeing the particular Palors or Bithops, and receiving Appeals in Tome Special Cafes, and not a particular Charge ofeach Soul as the particular Bithops have. And therefore that
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