Baxter - BV669 B3 1681

08) Yea, . Viral.. EA Sell. 3b, 3 e..he will have the quef'ion Rated only ofa Bifhop [ in fingulari Ecclefia ] & [infingulari eau.] The controverfte is not, 9ui- but demum nominibus cogniti fuerint Ecclefiarum rellores ; fedan ad unrein in fingu- lari Ecclefia, an adplures potei as ifia devenerit ? Nos ad unum fingularenr pnefe- llum, quern ex famofiore Ecclefæufo, Epifeopum vulgo dicimus, poteatem darn in fingulari tutu ex Chrifti & Apofolorum infiitutione, nunquam non pertinuiffe affzr- a azntu. So that it is aBifhop of one Affembly or ChurchwhichDottor Ham- Mond will have the:queflion'flatedabout. a. And fuch a Church or Affembly as great Cities a while had divers of, and fo divers Bifhops. 3. And this was after the Scripture times ; for they had divers Bifhops with a divers Clergy. 4. But that in Scripture times, the Order of Sub- Presbyters cannot be proved inftituted. 5. And in his Annotations he expoundeth all the Texts of the NewTeflament of Bifhops that mention Presbyters. 6. But in his Anfwer to the London Minifters, not daringyet to hold that they were ofHumane and not of Divine Inftitution, he holds that they were inftituted in the end of Sr. john's days after all the Scripture was written (whichwas about two or threeyears before his death) and fo were ofDivine Intlitution, though all the reft of the Apoftles were dead. Before I apply this I will fubjoyn his words of more numerous Witneffesto our opinion with himfelf, for he faith. 8.All the S. Door Hammond of the reft, Vindication againf London Minflers; pag. Divines in 104. [And though Imight trulyfay that for chafe more minute confiderations or ?Lit"' mjime conjellures, wherein this Dollor differs from fome others, he bath the fuffrages of manyof the learnedit menof this Churchat thisday, and as far as he b_notveth ofall that embrace thefame Golfe with, him.] Ipurpofely pafs by fuch Bifhops as Cramer; 3ewel, &c. and fuck conform- able Divines as D®&or Whitaker, Fullte, be. as being not high enough to be valued by thofe that I havenow todowith. As jewel, Art. 4. p. t7t. Thew- eth that every'Church mutt have one Bithop and but one, and out of Ciprtan that theFraternitasuniverfa was to chufe him; Et - pifcopuo delegatur plebepre- fente de univerfefraternitatis fuffragio, Epifeopàtusei (Sabin) deferretur : And' mentioneth the. Kefcript of Honorius the Emperor to Boniface, that [If two Bebop: through divifion and contention happen to be chafen, we will that nei- tber ofthem be allowed as Bifhop ; but that he only remain in the Apoflolic/t Seat; whom out of the number of the Clergy, Godly difcretion, and the confine of the 'whole Brotherhood, fhall chufe by anewEleltion.]; How big yet was the. Church` even then? Now all this being afferted, r.. It is evident that they hold that in Scripture times, no Church confifted of_more. than one ordinary. Hated worfhipping Af fembly. 2. And that every.fuch Alterably had a Bithop. For if therewere no Presbyters, there could be noAffembly but where a Bifhop was prefent for: theLords days were then ufed for publick Worship and the people could not áo that withouta Minifter, for they had. Communion.in the Lords Supper

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