396 The LIFE of the L I B. I. § 3 ro, 7. Daftly it is laid, That the Neeefty which is pretended for this Con- formity, is none at all : For,r. As to a Neceffity ofCommunion with theChurch Catholick, it requireth not Perfonal, Local Communion witheach particular Con- gregation; but that at a difiance we own them fo far as they are to be owned. 2. And for the Efcaping of Punifhment from Men, there is no neceiLty of it, nor yet of our Perfonal Liberty to preach the Gofpel, when we cannot do it upon law- ful Terms. But to this the moderate Nonconformifts fay, That t. our Catholick Commu pion requireth that we in Judgment or Prabtice feparatefrom no Church of Chrift which forceth us not to fin, but hold Communion with them as we have a Call and Opportunity. And that we matt not lèparate from one, upon a Cande that is common to almoft all. 2. That though there be no Neceffity of our efcaping Perfècution, nor any abfolute Neceffity of our Perfonal Preaching, yet there is Of this lull an ordinate Hypothetical Neceffity laid upon us by God himfeif i andwo to us ifwe preach not when we may. So that you fee that thefè general Rea(bns which Come Nonconformifts extend to ai, the moderate allow onlyas Seconds a- gainll chofe things which firfi are proved unlawful. § 315. I. For the particular Controverfie about Diocefäns T. Some of theNon- conformifts are againll all Bifhops, as ditlin& front Presbyters, by any other than a Temporary Prefidency or Moderatorfhip. But the molt of them of my Acquain- tance are for the Íawfulnefs of fome flaredEpifopacy ; that is, that there be fixed Prefrdents or BiJlsops in everyparticular Church they take to be lawful, as of Hu- mane Conitimrion and Ecclefiailical Cuf}om,contrary to no Law of God. z.That There be more general Overfeers of many of there Bilhops andChurches, as the A- postles were ( though without their extraordinary Calland Priviledges) they think alto lawful, if not in tome fort of Divine Inflitution : r. Becaufe Church-Govern- ment being an ordinary Banding work, in that the Apoltles were to have Succef- fors. z. Becaufe they think it incredible if the Apoffles had been againll particu- lar Primitive Epifcopacy, thatno Church or Perron would have been found on Re- cord to have born witnefs againll it, till ithad been to univerlally received by all the Churches But they are all agreed that the DIM: Diocefan Frame of Government, and fo the Popish Prelacy, is unlawful, and ofdangerous tendency in the Churches. And that this Controverfie may be underl}ood, the EngiiJlr Frame mutt here be opened. § ;rz. There are in England two Archbilhops, and under one of them four Bi- f cops, and under the other One and twenty Bishops: in all Five and twenty Bi- .fhops, withTwo Archbilhops. Every Bilhop bath a Cathedral Church which is no Parilh Church, nor hath any People appropriated to it as Parishioners : But a Dean with a Chapter of Prebends or Canons, are the Preachers to it, and Gover- nours of 1 know not whom. In fome Bifhopricks are Three hundred, Tome Four hundred, force Five hundred, firme One thoufand, tome Twelve hundredPa- rifiies, and Come more. In the greateft Parilhes of London are about Threefcore thoufand Souls ( as Martyns, Stepney , Giles Cripplegate) : in others about Thirty thoufànd ( as Gileis in the Fields , Sepulobret) : in others about Twenty thouftnd; and in the leffer Parilhes fewer. Ufually the greater Country Parilhes in Market Towns have about Four thoufand, or Three thoufand, or Two thou- fand Souls : and the ordinary Rural Parilhes about One thoufand in the bigger fort, and Two hundred or Three hundred in the leffer ; time more, and Come lets. In there Parilhes the Ministers who havewatched over them, ( and of late times in- ftrueled and carechifed every Fancily and Perlin, young and old, apart in many places) do find that the number of chofe that are ignorant of the Perlon and Office of Chnit, and the Effentials ofChriltianity, and of all Religion, and of thole that are ordinary Drunkards, Whoremongers, Prophane Swearers, Cutlers, Rasters, or otherwife notorioufly Scandalous or Ungodly, -is not fmall. For the Government. of thefè (befides preaching to them, and exhorting them, and giving them the Sa- craments), the Parilh Minifter bath no power: He path no power of judging whole Children heMall baptize ; but mutt refute none, though the Parents be pro- fetfed Heathens or Infidels, if Godfathers and Godmothers bring theta to be bap- tized (who yet never adopt then[, nor meddle more as Owners of them with their Education, and perhaps know not what Baptifm or Chriltianity is themfelves). They have no power to judge what Perfons of their Parilh fhall be confirmed, or admitted into the number of Adult Communicants : fo that all their Fro adarein poled on them. They have no more power than any p' the Scandalous before Witness, or to admonifh them before the Chinch, ctr pray for
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