A69533:247
Five disputations of church-government and worship
Five disputations of church-government and worship by Richard Baxter.
London: printed by R.W. for Nevil Simmons, 1659
Whether it be Necessary or Profitable to the right order or the Pea… › Argument 1
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.
Next let us see what the English Episcopacy is. And 1. For the extent of it, a Diocese contained many score or hundred Parishes, and so many thousands of such souls to be thus Governed. Perhaps some Dioceses may have five hundred thousand souls, and it may be London Diocese nearer a million. And how many thousand of these may fall under some of the forementioned acts of Government, by our sad experience we may conjecture.
Next let us see what the English Episcopacy is. And 1. For the extent of it, a Diocess contained many score or hundred Parishes, and so many thousands of such souls to be thus Governed. Perhaps some Diocesses may have five hundred thousand souls, and it may be London Diocess nearer a million. And how many thousand of these may fall under some of the forementioned acts of Government, by our sad experience we may conjecture.
2. Moreover the Bishop resideth, if not at London (as many of them did) yet in his own dwelling, many miles, perhaps twenty or thirty from a great part of his Diocese, so that most certainly he doth not so much as know by face, name, or report the hundred, perhaps the thousandth, or perhaps the second or third thousandth person in his Diocese. Is it Possible then for him to watch over them, or to understand the quality of the person and fact? In Church Cases the quality of the person is of so much moment, that without some knowledge of it, the bare knowledge of the fact sometimes will not serve.
2. Moreover the Bishop resideth, if not at London (as many of them did) yet in his own dwelling, many miles, perhaps twenty or thirty from a great part of his Diocess, so that most certainly he doth not so much as know by face, name, or report the hundreth, perhaps the thousandth, or perhaps the second or third thousandth person in his Diocess. Is it Possible then for him to watch over them, or to understand the quality of the person and fact? In Church Cases the quality of the person is of so much moment, that without some knowledge of it, the bare knowledge of the fact sometimes will not serve.