A30189:63
An answer to two treatises of Mr. John Can, the leader of the English…An answer to two treatises of Mr. Iohn Can, the leader of the English…
An answer to two treatises of Mr. John Can, the leader of the English Brownists in Amsterdam the former called, A necessity of separation from the Church of England, proved by the Nonconformists principles : the other, A stay against straying : wherein in opposition to M. John Robinson, he undertakes to prove the unlawfulness of hearing the ministers of the Church of England ... / by the late learned, laborious and faithful servant of Jesus Christ, John Ball.An answer to two treatises of Mr. Iohn Can, the leader of the English Brownists in Amsterdam the former called, A necessitie of separation from the Church of England, proved by the Nonconformists principles : the other, A stay against straying : wherein in opposition to M. Iohn Robinson, he undertakes to prove the unlawfulnesse of hearing the ministers of the Church of England ... / by the late learned, laborious and faithfull servant of Jesus Christ, John Ball.
London: printed by R.B., 1642
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.
This Reason is grounded upon the complaint which Nonconformists make of some great abuses in the Ministry: but in them it is not to be understood of all Ministers, 1nor to infer a nullity of the Ministry. It is nor to be understood of all Ministers, for amongst them there be many learned, wise, godly and painful, as the truth is, and they acknowledge, duly called and approved, whose Ministry God hath sealed, and blessed. It doth not infer, a nullity of the Ministry of others: for even the idle, unlearned, scandalous, being in the room of Ministers, are Ministers to others, though not to themselves, and their Ministry, so long as they Minister the things of God, is effectual to the people of God. If then your meaning be, that the whole Ministry of the Church of England is false, impure, unlawful, according to the principles, and complaints of the Nonconformists, it is notorious: If that the Ministry of the Church of England in general is a nullity, by reason of some maims and defects found therein, which they desire might be redressed, in that also you do them apparent wrong.
THis Reason is grounded upon the complaint which Nonconformists make of some great abuses in the Ministery: but in them it is not to be understood of all Ministers, 1nor to inferre a nullitie of the Ministery. It is nor to be understood of all Ministers, for amongst them there be many learned, wise, godly and painfull, as the truth is, and they acknowledge, duly called and approved, whose Ministerie God hath sealed, and blessed. It doth not inferre, a nullitie of the Ministerie of others: for even the idle, unlearned, scandalous, being in the roome of Ministers, are Ministers to others, though not to themselves, and their Ministery, so long as they Minister the things of God, is effectuall to the people of God. If then your meaning be, that the whole Ministery of the Church of England is false, impure, unlawfull, according to the principles, and complaints of the Nonconformists, it is notorious: If that the Ministerie of the Church of England in generall is a nullitie, by reason of some maims and defects found therein, which they desire might be redressed, in that also you doe them apparant wrong.
- 1Where are the words, or what be they, that condemn all the Ministers for some? that say all Ministers are unlawfully admitted, for some? or that there is none good, because some are bad? If there be no words, that carry with them any such sense, then you do wrong to your brethren. The Lord bless and increase an hundred fold the godly, wise, learned, grave Ministers of this Church. T. C. repl. 1. pag. 25. And so others in their complaints, are to be understood. Nolo autem […] quis existimet per ea, quae ecclesiasticorum permissa sunt, me omnes prorsus ecclesiasticos, nullo excepto, comprehndere veil. Nic. Clem. Specul. Eccles.