A27050:131
A treatise of episcopacy confuting by Scripture, reason, and the churches testimony that sort…
A treatise of episcopacy confuting by Scripture, reason, and the churches testimony that sort of diocesan churches, prelacy and government, which casteth out the primitive church-species, episcopacy, ministry and discipline and confoundeth the Christian world by corruption, usurpation, schism and persecution : meditated in the year 1640, when the et cætera oath was imposed : written 1671 and cast by : published 1680 by the importunity of our superiors, who demand the reasons of our nonconformity / by Richard Baxter.A treatise of episcopacy confuting by Scripture, reason, and the churches testimony that sort of diocesan churches, prelacy and government, which casteth out the primitive church-species, episcopacy, ministry and discipline and confoundeth the Christian world by corruption, usurpation, schism and persecution : meditated in the year 1640, when the et cætera oath was imposed : written 1671 and cast by : published 1680 by the importunity of our superiours, who demand the reasons of our nonconformity / by Richard Baxter.
London: printed for Nevil Simmons, 1681
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.
20. By these four means conjunct it quickly came to pass, that in every ⟨p. 14⟩Church that had many Elders, some one was chosen by the rest and by the people, to be the chief, and to have some special power of Church affairs: And 1. In cases of frequent Arbitration, there seemed a kind of necessity, that some One be Umpire: For if half go one way and half the other, there can be no end: 2. And in case of Heresies and different Opinions in Religion, if One had not in each Church some deciding, over-ruling power, or Negative Voice, it is no wonder if Divisions were the hardlier prevented, and the Churches Unity hardly kept. 3. And especially when some One was really wiser and abler than the rest, it was thought but suitable to Nature, that he rather ruled the juniors and weaker sort, than that their Votes should rule him, or rule without him. 4. And when all men have too much self-love and Pride, which inclineth them to desire pre-eminence, and maketh them judge too high of themselves, it was thought safer for all the Clergy and People, to judge who among them was really the best and wisest man, than to leave every man to be judge of himself and of the rest: For so it was too likely that every man would think himself the wisest. Therefore one was chosen as supposed by others (even by the whole Church) as the fittest man to have a deciding and overseeing power among the rest, to avoid contention, which their own strife about pre-eminence would cause.
20. By these four means conjunct it quickly came to pass, that in every ⟨p. 14⟩Church that had many Elders, some one was chosen by the rest and by the people, to be the chief, and to have some special power of Church affairs: And 1. In cases of frequent Arbitration, there seemed a kind of necessity, that some One be Umpire: For if half go one way and half the other, there can be no end: 2. And in case of Heresies and different Opinions in Religion, if One had not in each Church some deciding, over-ruling power, or Negative Voice, it is no wonder if Divisions were the hardlier prevented, and the Churches Unity hardly kept. 3. And especially when some One was really wiser and abler than the rest, it was thought but suitable to Nature, that he rather ruled the juniors and weaker sort, than that their Votes should rule him, or rule without him. 4. And when all men have too much self-love and Pride, which enclineth them to desire pre-eminence, and maketh them judge too high of themselves, it was thought safer for all the Clergy and People, to judge who among them was really the best and wisest man, than to leave every man to be judge of himself and of the rest: For so it was too likely that every man would think himself the wisest. Therefore one was chosen as supposed by others (even by the whole Church) as the fittest man to have a deciding and overseeing power among the rest, to avoid contention, which their own strife about pre-eminence would cause.