Baxter - BX5207 B3 A2 1696

Numb. H. APPENDIX. Ordination. No nor do they know whether their Mini1e_rswereeverordained or not : And it bath been known that manyhave provedUCurpers (efpecially at Rome) which the Common People could not know ; and therefore could not by Inch Knowledge be di(obliged. xa. If the Adminiftrations of all Ufurpers were null,. (and fo the Ordination of fach) then innocent Perlòns and Churches fhould tàffer (yea, Ruine it felt) meerly through other Mens Faults. Bur ne Man is to lirffec for other Mens Faults meetly : Ergo, The Minor is evident. TheMajor is as evident.; a. It is none of the Churches Fault, or at leaft, not of each Member, that a Ufurperfecredy intrudethand deceiveth them, pretending right whenhebath none. At leaft it is not always and in all Cafes their Fault And yet that the Church would fuffer by it, yea, Ruine it felt; is apparent s in that all the Ordination of fach Men would be null, and fo all their Churches would be no true Organized Political Churches but meer Communities, and,all the Baptihn and other Adroini= ftrations of all filch Ordained Men would be null. Moreover, it is evidently againft common Equity. If the Deputy of Leland, or thePro-rea of Naples were dead, and one fhould fo counterfeit the King's Hand andSeal, as that the Nobles and People couldnot difcern it and fhould annex this to a Grant for the Place,:.at d thew it the People, andchito the Power by it : If this Mancontinue the exercdfe of this Power for a Year 'before the King difplace'hitn, or the Deceit be.difco- vered,'all his Actions malt be valid as to the Benefit of the Commonweath, though they are Treafonable to himfelf: And he conveys Power front the Kìng'eo inferior Officers, whoyet never received any himfelf; So is kin thisprefent Cafe. 02. if the Ordination: of Magiftratesdid feat turn in cafeof a failing in the regu- lar way before Chrift's Incarnation, then it may do fo now. But the formeras true : Ergo, TheRea(on of the Confequence is, both that God was as (Iii& in Po- fitives then as now, and ihat there was as...great Neceflity then of anuninterrupted Succeffion for derivation fromGod, as now there is. Solomon,pat out Abiatbkr from being High-Prieft, and put Zadackin his Read, t Ring. z. 27135. Davidand the Cap- rains of the Hefts féparared to God's Service shore of the Sons of Afaph, and of Hemav, andof yedutbun, who fhould propbefie with Harps, &c. t Chron, 2 f. a, 6. They were for the Service of the Houfe of God, according to the King's Order, 16 r Chron. i6. did Solomon, z arm. 8. x4, 5. The Magiftrates Power in ChurchMatters Was no Ceremony or Temporary Thing. 13. When anyOfficers oftheTemple were difcovered to have no Tuft Title, and thereupon wereput out ; yet noneof their A&ions while they were in Place. were cenfured null : Ergo, if now any be ditto vered to have no . Title, his former A&ions are not to be judged null. The Realon of the Confequence lyeth in the Equality of the Cafe. TheAntecedent is proved from Ezra 2. 62. Neh. 7. 64, 65. They fought their Regifter among theft that were reckoned byGenealogy, but they were not found : therefore were they as polluted put from the Prifthead. So Neb. 13..29, 30. And therefore the Ordinationdone before filch Ejeótion, is not null. And that the individual Perfon to receivethisPower, may be determined of in cafe of neceflìty, without an Ecclefiaftical Authoritative Determination, may fur- ther appear thus : 1. If the individual Perfon may be determined of ordinarily, or fometimes by the Peoples Ele&ion to be prefented to the Minihers for their Or., dination, or Confirmation, thenmay the.individual Perfòn be determined of by the People to he prefented to God immediately, for his Ordination, in cafe there be no Ordainers to be had. But the Antecedent is true : Ergo, the Antecedent is pro- ved, 1. From the ApoftlesInftru &ion to the Churchof ferufalem, Ali. 6. ;. Cboofe you, er look you out fven Men of honef Report, full of the Holy Chaff and Wifdom, whomwe may appoint over this Bufnfs. They defcribe the Men, and leave them to nominate them that were Euch. And if the Church can do this to prefent to the Apottles, then it Teems they are competent Difcerners of Such. If the Apoftles had laid, (We do appoint and authorize the feven Men whomyou 1hall choofe, 1h that they be fuch and filch Men) the Ordination hadbeen as valid, on Suppofition ofEtch an Eleltion, as it was when it followed the Ele&ion. And if the Apo files might have fo done, no doubt, God may fo do by his Law : For he doth the fame, -roiz. defcribe the Perlons, and confer thePower, particularly, and on an In- dividuum vagem, and fèmetimes quaff f:gnatum and if popular Ele&ion can make it an Individuumdeterminatuin, then all is done. 2. And the Church hath continued this Cullom fo far, that Councils decreed Ordinations invalid without Ele&ions of the People; yea, if they were but afrighted and over-awed, and did it notfreely. Infomvch that Cyprian faith, Plebs maximam habet, poteftatem, 'eel dignos Sacerdotei elegendi, vel indignos rétufandi: Till the bloody bout in the choice ofDamafsss, ie

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