Baxter - BX5207 B3 A2 1696

PART II. ReverendMr. Richard Baxter. 427 Churches. 3. And there is a Canon among thofe called the Apoftles which is ex- prefs againft it, commanding the Depofition of the Ordainersand Ordained. 4.I have fully proved in my Dftatationof Cburcb.Governnient, That the laid Ordination without Diocefans is valid, and better than the Prelates, -and wasperformed by fuck Bifltops as were in Ignatiae's days; viz.Ci y-Paftors who had Presbyter s under them And no Man hath 'attempted to anfwer what I have there Paid. r. Andai bell to beRe-ordained, feemeth but a taking of God'sName in vain, and a folemn pray- ing to God for that which they havealready, and a pretending de novo to receive that Authority whichthey had before. And to come, as upon a Stage, thus ludi- croufly to playwith holy Things, to fulfil the Humours, and confirm the claimof Ufurpers, is fomewhat hard.. § 40+ VI. The fixth Controverfie is about the firlt Declaration, [ I. do here de-. efare my unfeigned Afent and Confent toall and every thing contained andpreferibed in and k the Book enriraled, &c. ] Here theNon-conformiftshave to - do with two forts ; the willing and the unwilling Conformifts. '6 There is a Direction to be The firh fay that this Declaration may be lawfully made in its aflbnted to to find out Eaf{er- day;sdhich every Almanack will proper fence. The Non.conformifts refer you for the Anfwer tell you is a flat falfhood: and of this, toall their foregoing Exceptions against the Book, be- it's contrary toanother there gi- fides what they have raid againft our Order of Diocefans, and fo ven: against theBookof Ordination, which afferteth three Orders as of Divine Institution ! And betides all their Exceptions againft other This is more £ù11y opened in the New Common PrayerBook, in the Points wherein it is much . worfe than the old. . § 40f. And for the Làtitüdinarians and Unwilling Confortnins, their Plea is, That [the afe -of the Forme and Ceremonies is lawful, and that is all that they are required to fubfcribe to ; becaufe the A& faith Note, That this t'edoratiosf [ they£halldeclare their Afnt andCoìtfent to the efe of a/I things, &c.] lu(lifieth even the Impoftionof They do not fubfcribe their Content to the thing in it feltbut to the whole that is by theRubrick fomuch as is to be a edó them, and fofar only as that theywill me ar,o Roe ido,. is .r Y Y the ofeof thbe ale imp ;di it. But this is fo grofs, that the Non-conformins cannot And it is not thewords ofthe in theBookwere intended for Tomeufe or other;thoughnote eh that Declaration, the term which is te]buthhe part to the fame ufe ? Did the Convocation andParliament con- deefine. Themeeansrarare e erive and impofe things, which they themfelves did judge to be larger for fectiring theend. And the tare,oof de to tell you what Days oDkeep,oand for whattChapters derr,v&d fIs attereexp etc, elf' we were commanded to fhb- to read ? Is nottheRobrick of life to dire you in the feveral £cribs to the ate of the Decre- Offices ? Is'not the Doctrinal Determinationabout the Saving of tats in thefewords,and noother; Baptized Infants ( and other filch like) of ufe to tell us its hI doAgent and Content to all Doctrine is taken to be true? Doubtlefs every part hath its efcribcontained them] thouiáve tenäed afeftelneff, a. The words are as exprefs to exclude fuch fay, It isbut fo far as I muít trfe hretchingas could well be deviled : For , s. It is Afent as well as them and not others? Confent, which is declared : 2. It is to all and every thing, which included: every word : 3. It is to every thing containedin it, as well as to everything preferibed by it: And the Doetrinals (as of three Orders `, are Divino, &c.) are con- tained in it. 3. Toput all out ofdoubt, fence thisAll the Parliament made ano- ther Aet; to which whileProvifo's were offered,' the whole Houle of Lords lent it back to the Commons with this Provifo, That obolee that declared Agent andConfenr to a and every thing, &c. floor& be obliged to underhand it only as to the ufe of what was required ofthem, andnot as to the things in themfelves cenfhdered. The Commons refufed this Provifo: and theMuleshad a meeting about it ; in which the Com- mons deliveredtheir Reafons againft that Expofitionof the Declaration : And in the end the Lords did acquiefce in their Reafons, and confented to can out theProvi- fo: fothat now the Parliament hath expounded their ownwords, and there is no more pretence left for the LatitudinarianEquivocation. § 4o6. But if it were othetwife, is the efe of, all things contained there lawful? r: To what they fay about the Apocrypha; it is answered, That it is not lawful 'to read publickly in the Church, on any days, fo many (aboveOne hundred in two Months) of the Apocryphal Chapters, in the fame manner, time and title(of Let. Eons) with the holy Scripture, with no fuller diftinetion : When r. Experience telleth us, That manyof the People (who underhand not the Greek word Apo cs pba) are thereby drawn to take them for Canonical Scripture, (being alto bound up with it in the Books.) :.AndwhenTobit, Sefanna, Bell andthe Dragon, Judith, Iii a are

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=