A27069:199
Which is the true church? the whole Christian world, as headed only by Christ…
Which is the true church? the whole Christian world, as headed only by Christ ... or, the Pope of Rome and his subjects as such? : in three parts ... / by Richard Baxter ...
London : Printed, and are to be sold by Richard Janeway ..., 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.
Ans. 1. He is a strange Priest that hath no Cure of Souls, what then is his office? If he be not affixed to a particular charge, sure he hath an indefinite cure of Souls in the Church Universal. 2. Then one of the next Parish may take our Parish-Priest and all the Parish-Priests in the Country save his own, for Heretics, Fornicators, Traitors, and such as must be rejected, and yet be no Schismatic but a Church-member: But if I reverence all other Priests, and take our own Parish-Priest for an ignorant sot, or a knave, or a wicked man, and contemn him, I am cut off from the Church. This tells us more reason than I knew of before, for our Canon against going from our own Parish-Churches when we have no Preacher there And this ells me how great the power of Patrons is, who can make an ignorant wicked man so absolute a Lord of all his Parishioners, though they be the greatest Lords, that to contemn him shall cost them their damnation.
Ans. 1. He is a strange Priest that hath no Cure of Souls, what then is his office? If he be not affixed to a particular charge, sure he hath an indefinite cure of Souls in the Church Universal. 2. Then one of the next Parish may take our Parish-Priest and all the Parish-Priests in the Country save his own, for Hereticks, Fornicators, Traytors, and such as must be rejected, and yet be no Schismatick but a Church-member: But if I reverence all other Priests, and take our own Parish-Priest for an ignorant sot, or a knave, or a wicked man, and contem• him, I am cut off from the Church. This tells us more reason than I knew of before, for our Canon against going from our own Parish-Churches when we have no Preacher there And this ells me how great the power of Patrons is, who can make an ignorant wicked man so absolute a Lord of all his Parishioners, though they be the greatest Lords, that to contemn him shall cost them their damnation.
And this tells me more than I knew before, that the Roman Clergy do not plead for the Pope for his sake only, but for their own; if all men be in as much danger of damnation or unchurching for rejecting any Parish-Priest, as for rejecting the Pope.