¢ 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 Fountainof 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 ofPower, than he is fo conftituted of God; the general way ofhis giving it, mutt be bythe Signification of God's Will; and fo far as that can be fuffhciently difcovered, 'thereneeds nomore to the Conveyance of Power. Whether Men be properlyefficient Caufes of ChurchPower 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 Powerimmediately from God, though the Peo- ple fometimes may choofe the Man (for the Power was not given to thePeople 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 ofRegiment over others, and explenitudine poteratu doconvey efficiently to inferior Officers the Power that there have. Thus dotti the fupreamRee&or of the Commonwealth to his Officers; and Ergo, they are cal- ed the Kings Officers, and hebath the choice of the very Species, as well as of the individualOfficers. Now thisway 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 theirParts to others. How theSpanifh Bifhops held up their Caufe is known : And it wasthe old Do&rine of the Church, that, all Bifhopswereequal, 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 eachparticular 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 newHive, 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 fuperioremnon habet). So that not only all DiocefanBifhops, but alfo all Parochial Bifhops are Ordained perparer, and fo not by a governing Communication of Power ; which is that fe- cond wayof Ordination, when men that are of equal Authority have the Nomi- nation of the Perko. Now whether or nohe that ordaineth an Inferior as a Dea- con, or any other, do convey Authority by a properEfficiency, as havingthat firft in himfelf which he dothConvey; yet in the Ordinationof Equals, it teems not to be fo, for they have no Government over the particular Perfons whom they Or- dain, or Churchestowhom 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 bebut 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 ifyou will call the Ordainer ofan Infe- rior conform eguivocam, andthe Ordainer ofan Equal, caufam univoeam, yet it isbut as they morally and improperly caufe. The Third way of Mediating in the Nomi- nationof the Perfon, is by the meer Eleátion of Inferiors, as the Apoftles did hid the Church ofHierufalem choofe out feven Men whom they might conftituteDea- cons: I havebeen 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, ifat all, yet not always (I mean a Perfon) but theMediatio Signi Voluntatis Divinse, may oft ferve without any more ; or plainly in feveral Cafes, mediatio legea cumperfan qualification may fuffice, fine mediationjuduu. 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
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