DkEIIING. 1g7 " doth St. Paul say, The weapons of our warfare are not "'carnal ? Let him, therefore, who is the King of kings, " have the pre-eminence of government. Arid let him, "whose dominion is the kingdom of heaven, have the sword " and the sceptre that is not fleshly. Let not a vile pope, in " the name of Christ, erect a new kingdom, which Christ "never knew : a kingdom of this world, which, in the "'ministry of the gospel, he hath condemned. This kind of " rule bath set all out of order, and in confusion, mingled "heaven and earth together.-As the minister hath nothing " to do with the temporal sword, so it much less becometh " him to be called lord. The reason is plain from scripture. " Ministers are calledfishersof men, labourers in the harvest, " callers to the marriage, servants of the people, workmen, " stewards, builders, planters, &c. In all of which, they are " removed from a lordship over the people. And again, " they are called fellow-elders, fellow-helpers, fellow- " workmen, fellow-soldiers, fellow-servants, fellow-travel- " lers, &c. In which names, they are forbidden lordship, " over their brethren. And, surely, it must be great rashness " to refuse so many names, which God bath given us, and " take another, which importeth dominion over others. Can " we doubt then in the questions of lordship We appeal to " Christ, and the'words of his mouth, to decide the contro- " versy. The disciples had this contention, as well as " ourselves. They strove much, who should be highest ; " against which strife, our Saviour Christ pronounceth this " sentence, He that is greatest amongyou, let him be as the " least. And whosoever of you will be the chief, shall be " "servant of all. This is a brief account of the superiority " in the ministry. And this shall for ever determine the " controversy, though all the wisdom in the world reply to " the contrary. If a lord bishop find his titles given him " here, let him rejoice in his portion. If he have them not " hence, he shall not have them from us : we will not so "dishonour him who hath given the sentence." Afterwards, speaking of bishops in the primitive church;; and those in modern times, he makes the following distinc- tions : " The bishops and ministers then, were one in degree: " now they are divers.--There were many bishops in one " town : now there is but one in a whole country.-No " bishop's authority was more than in one city : now it is in " many shires.-The bishops then used no bodily punish " ments : now they imprison, fine, &c.-Those bishops " could not excommunicate, nor absolve, of their own
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