A27058:116
The true history of councils enlarged and defended against the deceits of a pretended…
The true history of councils enlarged and defended against the deceits of a pretended vindicator of the primitive church, but indeed of the tympanite & tyranny of some prelates many hundred years after Christ, with a detection of the false history of Edward Lord Bishop of Cork and Ross in Ireland ... and a preface abbreviating much of Ludolphus's History of Habassta : written to show their dangerous error, who think that a general council, or college of bishops, is a supreme governor of all the Christian world ... / by Richard Baxter ... ; to which is added by another hand, a defence of a book, entitled, No evidence for diocesan churches ...The true history of councils enlarged and defended against the deceits of a pretended vindicator of the primitive church, but indeed of the tympanite & tyranny of some prelates many hundred years after Christ, with a detection of the false history of Edward Lord Bishop of Corke and Rosse in Ireland ... and a preface abbreviating much of Ludolphus's History of Habassta : written to shew their dangerous errour, who think that a general council, or colledge of bishops, is a supream governour of all the Christian world ... / by Richard Baxter ... ; to which is added by another hand, a defence of a book, entituled, No evidence for diocesan churches ...
London: printed for Tho. Parkhurst, 1682
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.
5. I find that Christ hath himself done the work, for which the necessity of Universal Humane Government (by Pope or Councils) is pretended; viz. He hath made and caused his Apostles (peculiarly qualified for it) to record Universal Church-Laws, even as many as are Universally necessary: And if so, I cannot but think, 1. That he hath done it better than Man can do; 2. And that to add more unnecessarily must needs be a snare and burden to the Church; 3. And that it must be an usurping the Power of Christ: For if there be no other Universal Governor, there is no other that hath Authority to make Universal Laws. Therefore this is Treason against Christ, and a making Man a Vice-Christ.
5. I find that Christ hath himself done the work, for which the necessity of Universal Humane Government (by Pope or Councils) is pretended; viz. He hath made and caused his Apostles (peculiarly qualified for it) to record Universal Church-Laws, even as many as are Universally necessary: And if so, I cannot but think, 1. That he hath done it better than Man can do; 2. And that to add more unnecessarily must needs be a snare and burden to the Church; 3. And that it must be an usurping the Power of Christ: For if there be no other Universal Governour, there is no other that hath Authority to make Universal Laws. Therefore this is Treason against Christ, and a making Man a Vice-Christ.
6. I found that there is not so much as a Natural Capacity in any one, or many, for an Universal Government: Church-Government being of such a nature as maketh it far more impossible, than for one Monarch or Aristocracy to Govern all the Earth: And to do it by a truly General Council, or by the Diffused Bishops of all the World is further from possibility than to do it by a Pope.
7. I searched the Councils pretended to be General, to see whether they had made any better Laws than Christ's, or made any desirable addition. And I found 1. That while they were not wholly Papists, they never pretended to make Canons for any Christians, but only those in the Roman Empire. 2. And that it had been much happier for the Churches if they had made no more Laws than Christ had made them, for holy Doctrine, Worship, and Church-Discipline, and had only as Teachers expounded and applied the Laws of Christ.