4 AP rn END 1 X Numb. I. of true Minifters? S. But what are all theseWords of mine to the Agreemçnt á Thofe are but mine own Thoughts, which noneare defired to content to. You fhoulds have produced fomewhat from our Articles of Concord., and not from my Words. Except. to Se??. 4, Do they take in your acknowledged Grounds of all parts, (Epifcopal and all) who would have us acknowledge them Presbyters ordained in this Church with- out Bithops, not by necelíity as in the Churches wherein no Proteftant Bifhop could be had ? unlefs their Chrillian Charity can take Countenance to lay that none of our Bithops were Proteftants, and that then they mutt have hadno Ordination at all or Ordination by Papifts (requiring of them the Acknowledging the Popes Ecclefiallial Supremacy) which was the confeffedCafe of thofe Protestants beyond Seas, from whence they would fain borrow a Cloak for their Fad : hut the Co- vering is too short, though they argue while the World endures, there is a vast dif- ference betwixt neceffity and voluntary Engaging by Covenant, and relinquiíhing, calling off, and layingby true Catholick, Proteltant Bilhops. Reply to Seíl. 4. Yes, Sir; I am confident I take in the Grounds of the Epifcopal Proteftants (But I dare not fay yours, for I do not know. you) nor are you able to manifelt the contrary ; t. Necefty may jellify fome things, that elfe were unjuftilable, and the abfence of fuck Neceflìty mayprove them finful : But if Presbyters may juftlyor- dain in cafe of necefiìty, then you will hardly prove oar Ordination null, .for want of that Necefty, though youshould prove it irregular. It feems you think that Lay Men may baptize in cafe of necefflty; if fo, you may prove it fink but hardly nail, where Nees /ty is not. 2. It is an incredibleAffertion againit the Sun, that all thofe Proteftants beyond Sea, had fuch a Neceffìty, and could not have Proteltant Billy's. Put out MensEyes, and then tell them this. Were the Low Countries fo far from England that they could not poffibly have borrowed a Bifhop toOrdain? Was not Bifhop Carletonat the Synod of .Dort with them ? why did not that Synod defire this Curtety ? It is faid, he protetled for Bithops in the open Synod, and that he took their Silence for Content, and alfo, that force after told him, that they would have themif they could ; as if Silence were any Signof Contnt againft their own ettablilhed Difcipline Who knows not that their loathnefs tö difpleafeKing fames, ofwhom they had then fe much need, might well caufe them to keep Silence, about that which was not theBufinefs of the Assembly, as long as they held their prefent Government ? and, if force faid they would have Bithops if they could, it is plain it was but few, for if moil had been willing, what hindered them ? If you fay the Civil Power,, I anfwer, n. The Ecclefatticks fo taught them and defired the Presbyterian Govern- mentof them.z.Theymight have run the hazard of a Perfecution as well asweand the civil Rulers of thisNation are as much at leaft againft it as theirs : So force gather fromMoulirs's Word to Bithop Andrews, and fome few other Mens, that the French Churcheswould fain have Bithops ; as alfo they are faid to have offered Obedience to the Papift Bithops, if they would turn Proteftants : when as it is known theyare againft Bithops, and if any particular Perfons are for it, it is againft the Eftablilh- naent of their Churches. Perhaps they might think their Form of Government not of fuck Moment os to rejeFt Epifcopacy, if it might comein with filch an Ad- vantage as the turning of the Papift Bithops would have brought: But what is that to prove that they wouldhave Bithops and couldnot? Grotios knew France as well as you, whoever you are; and he tells us another Story of thhem, Difcaf, Apologet. River. That they wilfully call out the Order of Bïlhops as far as their Authority could reach ; what impoffibility path their been these hundred Years for France, Belgia, Helvetia, Geneva, with the reft of the Proteltant Churches to have had Bi- ihaps if they had been willing ? They hadHermannusof Coles, Vergerius of Ju(tinop. came among them,Spalárenfss would have ordained force in hisPaffage ; ifnoEnglith Bithop could have been got thither,how easy had it been to havefent one to receive Epifopal Confeeration here, and then to havegone home and ordained more ? It may be youwould make us believe the like of the Church of Scorlandtoo,that they would fain have Bithops and couldnot: Ifyou alledge any Inconvenience that ne- çellitates -all these Proteftant Churches to continue without Bithops, even to this Day ; I fay, ;. Our Neceflty is as great as anyof theirs for ought you can mani- fell to the contrary ; for r. Our Rulers are as much againft them. 2. We cannot exereife publickly our Minifterial Office, unlefs we be ordained according to tits Laws of the prefent Rulers. ;. There is a heavy Penalty ordained to all Ordanets
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