A26965:833
The nonconformists plea for peace, or, An account of their judgment in certain things…
The nonconformists plea for peace, or, An account of their judgment in certain things in which they are misunderstood written to reconcile and pacify such as by mistaking them hinder love and concord / by Richard Baxter.The nonconformists plea for peace, or, An account of their judgment in certain things in which they are misunderstood written to reconcile and pacifie such as by mistaking them hinder love and concord / by Richard Baxter.
London: printed for Benj. Alsop, 1679
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
2. But if there be need of appeals, and our own actions must not be free, why will not the Synods of Neighbour-Pastors met only for Counsel and Concord (and not to command the Pastors) suffice for such persons to appeal to? And what if I turn a servant out of my house, or from his meat, and he may take another Master when he will, must there be an universal Judge of all family cases, that shall force me to keep my servant against my will? Is it not enough that I know why I am unwilling to keep him, who am no way more bound to him than to others, but by my own consent? What if (as Nazianzen left Sasimis, Constantinople, and Nazianzum at last) I should give up my whole Charge and Bishopric, and say, I will be a Pastor to none of them any more, (upon sufficient reasons, as Latimer did:) Is it not better for the people to take another, than to accuse me at Rome, or Canterbury, as wronging them?
2. But if there be need of appeals, and our own actions must not be free, why will not the Synods of Neighbour-Pastors met only for Counsel and Concord (and not to command the Pastors) suffice for such persons to appeal to? And what if I turn a servant out of my house, or from his meat, and he may take another Master when he will, must there be an universal Judge of all family cases, that shall force me to keep my servant against my will? Is it not enough that I know why I am unwilling to keep him, who am no way more bound to him than to others, but by my own consent? What if (as Nazianzen left Sasimis, Constantinople, and Nazianzum at last) I should give up my whole Charge and Bishoprick, and say, I will be a Pastor to none of them any more, (upon sufficient reasons, as Latimer did:) Is it not better for the people to take another, than to accuse me at Rome, or Canterbury, as wronging them?
3. But if all this serve not (neither the sufficiency of Pastors for one single Parish, nor yet the Counsel of all the Neighbour-Pastors or Bishops,) what is there more to be done, which the authority of Princes and Magistrates may not do? All Christians confess (almost) that no Bishops or Pastors, as such, have from Christ any forcing power over the flocks; that belongeth to the Magistrates only; And they are to keep peace, and force us to our certain duty. And I would ask the contrary minded, whether if Bishops, Patriarchs and Councils