Baxter - BV669 B3 1681

( _89 ) Chrift, Ihave begotten you by the G ofpel ,' C. 4. 15, 13. I have planted ,and C. 9. 19) z r.1will come to you, willye that I come with the Rbd'? and c, 5" ;, 4, I às abfent in Body but prefent in Spirit have judged, This is all. And willnot the impartial Reader 'wonder at humane frailty, how eafly men believe what they would have to be true; and what, an evi- dent Nothing will go for undenyable proof. Let theReader Note, i . That the queftion is not whether an Apoítle"after;that he had plane t 'a- Church remain (till an Apoftle to them as well as'ot .ers, and, have' eminency of Power, which is greater than any meet- Rill-lop had. 2. But first, Whether the Apoftles had any fixed Provfnces,or Cities un- dertaken as their fpeciál charge, in which no other 'lpoftle had Apollo- Beal Power? And 2. Whether there were not fixed Bithops fetled by them inall the Churches which theyplanted ? ;. And whether it was not fo in the Church ofCorinth' in particular? Yea, 'whether' they had not more Bilhops or Presbyters thanone ? For by [Venus] whichhere he applyeth to Paul, hemeanethOnkus, Paul only, or elfe heabufeth his Reader and himfelf. And s. He that will follow Paul in his Travels, will find that he went the fame way that tomeother Apoftles went, -viz. ?obnand Peter, and therefore that they muff have the fame Dioceffes, or have their Dio- ceffes notably intermixt : fohn was inAfea as well as Paul, and no man can prove that he was the Second Bithop ofEphefus, or Afa, as Paul'sfue- ceffor only when he wasdead. Nor will the Romans be willing togrant that Peter-was Bithopofnomore at Rome but the Jews only (as this Dr. elfe- where intimateth) left that prove not that theGentile ChurchofRome was founded by Peter, butby Paul alone. z. What proofhath hethat betides Peter and john, there were not manyother Apoftles per vices in the fame Cities where"Paul had been ? And that when theydid come thither, they had not Apoftolical Power there ? 3. Doth not the Text exprefly faythat Paul and Barnabaslong travelled together ? And doth it any where inti- mate that Paul was theGovernour ofBarnabas, or the foie Bifhop of the Churches planted by themboth together ? Sure the people that would have worthippedBarnabas, as 7upiter, and Paul but as Mercury, did feeno Signof fuck aPrelacy in Paul. And the Apoftles feem fo tohaveordered the mat- ter, by goingby Couples (as Chrift fometimes fent two and two before him,) as ifthey had done it purpofely to prevent thefe Monarchical con- ceits. Peter and }ohn were together at the healing of the Criple, and the fuccefsful preaching that followed thereupon. Sometime Paul and Barnabas aretogether; fometime Paul and Silas, and Barnabas and Marl..: Paul and Sofihenes are the infcribed Names who fend the firft Bpiftie to the Corinthians, and Paul and Timothy the fecond. And in the Text al- ledged, it is faid, One faith I am of Paul, and another I am of Apollo ; and c. 1. 12. Every one ofyou faith, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas. And Paul baptized none of them fave Crifpus and Gains, and the houlhold of Stephanie:. By which it appeareth that Peter was among them as well as Pail ; and if Peter had been only the Bifhop of N . the

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