A27006:974
Reliquiæ Baxterianæ, or, Mr. Richard Baxters narrative of the most memorable passages of his…
Reliquiæ Baxterianæ, or, Mr. Richard Baxters narrative of the most memorable passages of his life and times faithfully published from his own original manuscript by Matthew Sylvester.Reliquiæ Baxterianæ, or, Mr. Richard Baxters narrative of the most memorable passages of his life and times faithfully publish'd from his own original manuscript by Matthew Sylvester.
London: printed for T. Parkhurst, 1696
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.
4. That they extinguished the ancient Species of Bishops, which was in the times of Ignatius, when every Church had one Altar and one Bishop; and there were none but Itinerants or Archbishops that had many Churches.
5. That they set up Courts that were more Secular than Spiritual, in the manner of other Secular Courts; and that the Government of the Church by Excommunication, Suspensions, Absolutions, &c. was exercised by a Chancellor, who was a civil Lawyer and a Lay-man even against Ministers themselves, unless for a blind, some Priest did formally pronounce the Sentence.
6. That the great Church Business of these Bishops and Courts, was to vex honest Christians that durst not worship God by such Ceremonies as their Consciences thought unlawful, and to silence able godly Preachers that durst not subscribe and swear Obedience to them, and use every one of their Forms and Ceremonies, and profess the Lawfulness of all this; and that by gratifying the multitude of the ungodly, and espousing a Cause so pernicious to the Church, which multitudes of sober Christians would dislike, they had engaged themselves into a way of Enmity and Violence against a very considerable Number of as able Ministers, and holy Christians as any were in the Land or in the known World.
6. That the great Church Business of these Bishops and Courts, was to vex honest Christians that durst not worship God by such Ceremonies as their Consciences thought unlawful, and to silence able godly Preachers that durst not subscribe and swear Obedience to them, and use every one of their Formes and Ceremonies, and profess the Lawfulness of all this; and that by gratifying the multitude of the ungodly, and espousing a Cause so perniceous to the Church, which multitudes of sober Christians would dislike, they had engaged themselves into a way of Enmity and Violence against a very considerable Number of as able Ministers, and holy Christians as any were in the Land or in the known World.