A moral prognostication I. what shall befall the churches on Earth, till their concord

21. There shall be a Treble-Lock upon the Door of the Ministry: 1. Whether they are fit to be Ministers in the general, the Ordainers shall judge. 2. Whether they are fit to be the Pastors of this, or that particular Church; the Members of the Church shall so far judge, as that none shall become their Pastors, without their own consent. 3. Whether they be fit for the Magistrates Countenance, Maintenance, and Protection, the Magistrate himself shall judge.

And therefore, all Three shall severally try, and approve each Pastor: Yet so, that the Two First only be taken, as necessary to the Office it self; and the Third only, to the Maintenance and Encouragement, or Defence of the Officer. And though sometimes, this may occasion Disagreements and Delays, for a time; yet ordinarily, the securing of a Faithful Ministry, and other good Effects, will countervail many such Inconveniences.

And therefore, all Three shall severally try, and approve each Pastor: Yet so, that the Two First only be taken, as necessary to the Office it self; and the Third only, to the Maintenance and Encouragement, or Defence of the Officer. And though sometimes, this may occasion Disagreements and Delayes, for a time; yet ordinarily, the securing of a Faithful Ministry, and other good Effects, will countervail many such Inconveniences.

22. No One Church, shall have the Government of Another Church: And the secular Differences of Metropolitans, Patriarchs, &c. which was set up in one Empire, upon secular Accounts, and from secular Reasons, shall all cease. And no Differences shall be made necessary among them, which Christ hath not made necessary. But Christian Princes shall take warning by the Greek and Latin ⟨p. 51⟩Churches, and by all the Calamities and Ruins, which have been caused in the Christian World; by Bishops striving who should be the Greatest, when Christ decided the Controversy long ago,