79) Churches duty, becaufe the Magiftrate neverwouldconsent: That thePa- flors are for it, as needful tó the right ordering of the Churches you may fee in Polani : Syntag..at large, and in molt of their Divines of Bafil, Bern, Zurich, &c. I will nowonly cite the honeft heartywords ofMuf- cm/us above roc) years ago; becatífe he was a man molt clearand candid, and that did mancipate his judgment neither to Luther,Calvin, nor any party' as fuch ; but took liberty to differ from themall (as in the points of Re- demption , perfeveranee,&c.) At Bern in his Loci COMM'?. ed. i 567. p,42 He proveth Bifhops, and Presbyters and-Doctors, and Páftorsto be all one. And p.422. that in the Apoftolick Primitive Church they governed the Church in cotnrnon;being (ubjed to no heador prefdent. But-after the Apostles dais as Hieromé(àìth tó avoid (chifm, but as he thinktthmore out of a &fire of Majority ; one got the name and preudcncy Of a Bebop : But, faith he [whether this coutfel didpro it the Church or not, by which filch Beeps were introduced, as Hieron.e faith by cuffome rather than .by truth, of divine difpoftion > to be above the Presbyters, it bath been better manifest- ed to after ages, than when this cuffome was firft brought in : which we muff thank for all the ìnfolency, wealth and tyeanny,.of the Principal andEqueffral B:/hops, yea,forthe corruptionof all the Churches, so hick if Hierome hadfeen, un- d,ubtedlyhe would have kink that it was the devìfe, not f the Spirit of God, to take affray fehifms as was pretended, but of Satan himself to lay wage and defiroy the ancient Mint(hes fir feeding the Lords flock: whereby it might come to pap that the Church might have not true Páfiors, Donors, Presbyters and Bi- fhops but under the masks of tbofè nines, idle-bellies, and magnifick Princes, tubo wit) not only not themfelves feed the people of God with found dpo/tolick Doctrine, but alto take care by molt wicked violence, that it be done by try one elfè. By this devife of Satan it is brought to pas, that in/hadof Bifhops, the churches' . havepotent Lords andPrinces, for the WI chafen out of the order of Nobles and great men, who being upheld by theirownand their kndreds power may domineer over theflock ofGodas they lift. And p.423. The office' appointed to- the Bilhops that came after' the Apo. G: times was to preach to the people, to admiojter the facred dings, to pre fcribe repentance, to take the care of the,clergy and the, people both in Cityand Country, to ordain, to vi,'it, to take care that the goods of the Church be rightlyk{pt and difp = f d, and to' take the patronaze of Church matters with Princes. And if' the Bfhaps had but ffaid here, it had been better with the Church : Or if the Prelates and Pallorsof cur times would return to there Canonical Rules, there might be hope that the Eccleofrafiical State and order mightpnffbly be reform. ed ; and the controverftes of these times might he ended by the wordof Gód Hence it is plain that the office of true Presbyters andBifhops-'in the Church of Clara is, to feed the Lords flock, with found Dotirine, and to be truly Paffòrs and leachers. Boit row the fal(è Bofhops pretend a Pail ral Cure, when going'to tise dfinibly-Offces they are; as they take it, Episcopally cloathed. They , poet ona white fiole, longer than ordinary ; -with a girdle f not fisch as JohnBap - tüì wore, &c.j ..... The maskdPallor thus di-fèddoth notfeed the flock,. of God, . A 2 but
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=