(z4) truft to the ufe of men's Reafon, or their Honefty any more. This Authority was firít ufurped by Synods, or Counfels of Bifhops ; Of what ufe they were at any time, todeclare and give Teftimony unto any Article of the Faith, which in their daies was oppofed by Hereticks ; I shall not now en- quire. But as unto the exercife of the Authority claimed by them to make Laws and Canons, for the Rule and Go- vernment of the Church; It is to be bewailed there íhoúld be fuch a Monument left oftheir Weaknefs, Ambition, Self - Intereft, and Folly, as there is, in what remaineth of their Conftitutions. Their whole endeavour in this kind, was at MI but the buildingof Wood,Hay,and Stubble on the Foun- dation, in whofe Confumption they (hall fuffer lofs, al- though they be faved themfelves. But in making of Laws, to bind the whole Church, in, and about things ufelefs and trivial, no way belonging to the Religion taught us by Jefus Chrift, in, and for the Eftablithment or Encreafe of their own Power, Jurifdi&ion, Authority, and Rule, with the extent and bounds of their feveral Dominions ; in, and for the-Confitution of new Frames andStates of Churches, and new ways of the Government of them; in the Appointment of new Modes, Rites, and Ceremoniesof Divine Worship , with the Confuíons thatenfued thereon, in mutual Animo- fities,Fightings, Diviíons,Schifrns, and Anathematifms, to the horribíe Scandal ofChriflian Religion, they ceafed not until they had utterly deflroyed, all the Order, Rule, and Go- vernment of the Church of Chrift, yea, the very nature of it, and introduced into its room, a carnal, worldly Church- State and Rule fuited unto the Interefts of Covetous, Ambiti- ous, and Tyrannical Prelates. The molt of them indeed knew not for whom they wrought, in providing Materials for that Babel which by an hidden skill in a Myftery of Iniquity, was railedout of their Provifions; For after they were
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