ofDivine Infiitntion. 139 we are required to hold Communion with. We fay therefore thefe Parochial Churches are either really and truely fo endued with ChrtrchPower and Liberty, or the' are not. if they are,or are acknowledged fo to be,we have herein obtained what we,plead fori if they are not, then are we required to joyn in Church Communion with thole Societies that are not Churches 5 and ifwe refrain fo doing, we are charged with Schifm 5 which is to turn Religion into Ridicule. For, 2. It is utterly forreign to the Scripture, and a Mon- fter unto Antiquity, (I mean that which is pure and regardable in this Caufe) that there fhould be Churches with a part, half, more or lofs of Church-Power, and not the whole , neither in Right nor ExerciCe or that there fhould be Church-Officers, Elders, Presbyters. or Bilhops , that fhoùld have a partial Power, half or a third part, or let's, of that which entirely belongeth unto the Office they hold. Let one rejlimony be given out of the Scripture , or that Antiquity which we ap- peal unto unto this purpofe and we (hall ceafe our Flea. But this is that which our Underaandings are let on rack withal every day. There is a National Church that is entrulted with Supreme Church-Power in the Nation whereof it is : Here at the entrance we fall into a double difquietment. For (t.) we know not as yet what this National Church is, here (or in France,) nor of what Perlons it doth confifi. (2.) We know not whether this National Church have all the Power that Chrift hath given unto the Church, or that there is a Relerve for Come Addition from beyond Sea, if things were well accommodated. Then, that there are Diocefan. Churches, whole Original, with the Caufes and Occafions of their Bounds, Limits, Power, and manner of Adminiarations , I think God T2 alone
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=