(3 9 ) oned. But (hill thefe diftinet occafional Affemblies, did not conftitute any difiinët Societies or Corporations, as the diftinït Companies do in a City. But faith he, grant onejingle Bfhop over all thefe Elders, and. they make up that reprefeentation ofa Church, which we havefrom the heft and purefi Äntigkity. I fay we would quickly grant it, could we fee anywarrant for it, or if he could prove that fo it was from the beginning.Howeverthis is nopart ofourprefent conteft, namely, whether Tome while af- ter the days of the Apoftles, in Churches that were greatly encreafed, and many Elders in them, there was not one chofen, (as at .Alexandria,) by thofe Elders themfelves, to prefide among them, who in a peculiar manner was called a.Bifhop. But if I miftake not, that alone which would advantage his caufe is to prove, that there were in one City, or any where elfe, many, not occajonal ,/Imblies ofChriftians or Church Members, but manyfiated, fixed Churches, with Officers of their own , peculiarly related unto them, entrufted with Church Power and Priviledges, at legit as much as he afterwards pleads to be in our. Parochial Churches, all under the Government ofone jingle Bifhop, making up a new Church ftate beyond that ofparticular Congre- gations, by their Relation unto him as their common Pattor. This hake it, is , that which fhould have been prov'd. All the difficulty wherewith our affertion is accom- panyed, arifeth from themultiplication ofBelievers, and the encreafe ofChurches, in the Apoftles time or pre- fently after. For this kerns to be fo great, as that thofe in one City could not continue in one Church, not- withftanding the advantages of occafionaLAffemblies.. The..
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