Baxter - BV669 B3 1681

(ßo) conftitutedof its- effential parts ; And if fo what .manhath Power to alter it. But ifit behumane, yea, and made by theBifhops then I confefs they mayalter it, or deftroy it. And ifaPresbyter have what power the Or dainers pleafeto give him, everyOrdainer may alter theOffice and make anew Species ofChurchMinders at hispleafure : Prove thatand our difpute is at an end. But Papifts, Greeks, and Proteftants are agreed against it. 4. If Presbyters receive that which he calleth [the firfl Power] (which hewould not deny, thoughhewould not grant) it is all that at prefent I ampleading for it : And it isall that intheir ordination they receive (as he faith)as to theWordand Sacraments. Ifthen the Office of a Presbyter con.. einuethe famePower of the Keys as to Excommunication, and Abfolution, as it dothofadminiftring the Wordand Sacraments, at prefent I reft fa- tisfied with this (Inwhich LearnedSpalatenfis, and thofe that go with him, cannot beconfuted)For this proveththat theirDivinely- inftitutedOffice Ef- fentially containeth this Power of the Keys, though tobe exercifedunder the infpeltionofa Superiour. 5.. And ifthis Infpeftion wouldprove that they have not the Power or that their Office, or Order isthereforediftinEt, it will alto prove that Bi- fhops have not the Power of the Keys, becaufe they exercife it under the InfpeftionofMetropolitans, Arch-Bifhops, Primates, or Patriarchs : And alfo that they are of a diftinft Order from all thefe : And that a Phyfition hath no Power to Guide or Govern his voluntary Pati- ents inorder to Cure, and that heis offa diftinEt Office from the Colledge andPrefident, becaufe he is under their infpeftion. And are not all Bi- fhops under the Government of the King, as well as Phyfitions andother Subjects: And have they no Power ofthe Keys, becaufe he ruleth them. And as a Presbyter might do nothing without the Bifhop, fo no one Bi- fhop could do anything without other Bithops : For he had no Epifcopal Power till they ordained him. And as to after Government or that which he calleth the grant ofa Se- cond Power. 6. Is it any thing butHumane Licenfe toExercife the Power of Office of Divine inftitution before received? And isnotthe Magiftrates Licenfe as neceffary to theBifhop and the Presbyter too,as the Bifhops is to the Pres- byter. 7. And I take it for undenied amongChriftians, that humane Power of Government, extendethbutto theOrdering andnot theNullingofaFunfti_ on inftituted by God. It isnot referred toKing or Bifhop, whether there Ihall be aPreaching or none, Sacraments, or none, Church difcipline and exercife oftheKeys, or none ; nemore than whether there (hall be aSeri- pture, andDivine Law, a Chrift, a Heaven, and whethet men 111211 be good or bad, favedordamned : But only by whom,and when, and how, this Divine Funftion!hall be foexercifed, as maybelt attain the end, as to thofe circumttances notdetermined ofbyGod ; andnot contradietingGods Infritutions. Therefore if theBifhops fay that the Preachersofthe Gofpel

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