142 No other Church-State as that they know not at all what belongs thereunto ; be- ing hidden from them by thole who fhould inftruc't them in it. And might they be admítted,under the conduct of pious and prudent Officers, unto any part of the practice of this Duty , in their Aífemblies , their underftanding in it would quickly be encreafed. That Right, Power, or Authority, which we thus atlign unto all particular Churches gathered according unto the mind of Chrift, is that, and that only, which is ne- ceffary to their own prefervation,in their ft ateand purity, and unto thedifcharge of all thole Duties whichChrift re- quirethof the Church. Now although they may not jufily by any be depri- ved hereof, yet it may be enquired, whether there may not an Addition of Eccleftaflical power be made unto that which is of original Inflitution, for the good of the whole number of Churches that are of the fame Com- munion. And this may be done , either by the Power and Authorityof the supreme Magiflrate,with refpect un- to all the Churches in his Dominion; or it may be fo, by theChurches themfelves, erecting a new power in a com- bination of Tome, many, or all of them, which they had not in them Tingly and distinctly before. For the power of the Maggrate in and about Religi- on, it hath been much debated and disputed in Come lat- ter Ages. For threehundred years there was no mention of it in the Church , becaufe no Supreme Powers did then own the Christian Religion. For thenext three hundred years there were great Afcriptions unto Supreme Magi - ftrates to the exaltationof their power, and much ufe was made thereof among the Churches, by fuch as had the beet intereft inthem. The next threehundred years was, as unto this cafe, much taken up with Disputes about this Power, between the Emperors and the Popes of Rome fine-
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