( -I.02 ) .ter, 'brathiis atq; ulnis fuis fufceptum adminiffratum ; to receive in their Arms and Arms the Churches not yet born, but (by GodsBiding) haflning to the Birth] whereas ofhis own Head he had before laid that the Bifhops werefesse by the Apoftles (when Clement faith no fuch thing) but only that they were Conffituted (fending being the word tiled of Itinerant Preachers gathering and vihting Churches, andConflitating with Ordaining the ufuaf wordof Bifhopsand Presbyters,whoas fuch art fixed to particular Churches ; ) fo now he moreboldly feigneth that Bifhops were (yea every where) to re- ceiveChurches that were yet noChurches : ih'hire he contradið both Scripture and common ufeof the word Bifhop, and abufethClement.s..Let any Manthat can thew us thatin the NewTeftament thewordBifhop is ever ufed of anyPaftor that wasnot related to aChurch, and asSignifying that Relation, and that Bifhop andFlocl¿.arenot as muchRelatives as King and Kingdom. 2 Let him !hew that can, that the word was ufed otherwife by Chriftians, for many a. hundred years after Chrift. Though I grant that Minders in general were (and maybe) ordainedfine titaslo,to Preach and gather Churches, and help others, yet never Bifhops, the word fignifying an Over-leer of the Flock or Church to which he isrelated. 3. If it were certain that thefuturity of believingmentioned by Clemens had relation to the Conftitution of Bifhops, andnot to the Apoftles Preaching only, yet Clemensfaithl of that there wereyet nolfelievers or noChurches where theywere conftitutedBifhops : Where there werebut a fewBelievers, the Apoftles placed Bifhops and Deacons over thofe few, who Mould receive others in- to the fame Society (till it was full and no further) who fhould áiter believe. It is an abufe of Clemens to fay, it was` [to Churches yet not born] when he bath no Inch word I As ifit couldnot be for future Believers, milers atpre- lent there were no Believers. And it is an abufe of him to feign him to al- fert that the Apoftles did every where as foon as they had once Converted one Man, prefëntlymake that newBaptized Novice a Bifhop before they Convertedany more, laving perhapsone or two. to be his Deacons : Or thatthey ufed to make Deacons' (or Bifhops either) to Churches future, that were yet no Churches: When as the Scripture telleth the-contrary moft exprefly, that the Churchat yertsfalem, was before the Deacons, Aît. -7. That they ordained Eiders in eve?), Church, Aft.14.2 3.and not in no Church, as.he implycrh : AFd Tit. 1.5. every City is equivalent to every Church, for it was not in every Infidel City that had no Chriftians: Whichbeyond all modelt contradiction is proved by the Rules given to Timothy and Titus for the Ordinationof Bifhops and Deacons: Who w ere to be approved chofen per Cons, that had ruled their own Houles well, not Novices, apt to teach, well repotedof thofe without (whichfuppofeth fame to be within)Tim. ;. r:}, is. Theft things l write unto thee, that thsu mayefl him how to be- have thy felf in theRenfe of God, which is the Church of the Living God, a Pillar andBalis of the truth. ] The firft that wereconverted did not always prove the fitteft to be ßifhops; perhaps they might be Women or weak lyguiftcd: To feign that the Apoftles did that every wh:re, which none can
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