A69533:805
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
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.
Sect. 90. Argument 20. If those in the Reformed Churches that are Ordained by Presbyters, have as good a call to the Ministerial Office, as the Princes of the Nations (yea any one of them) have to their Sovereignty or Power, then are they true Ministers of Christ, and their administrations valid to the Churches, and their Ministry to be received. But the Antecedent is true: therefore so is the Consequent. And I prove them both.
Sect. 90. Argument 20. If those in the Reformed Churches that are Ordained by Presbyters, have as good a call to the Ministerial Office, as the Princes of the Nations (yea any one of them) have to their Soveraignty or Power, then are they true Ministers of Christ, and their administrations valid to the Churches, and their Ministry to be received. But the Antecedent is true: therefore so is the Consequent. And I prove them both.
Sect. 91. The Secular power will be granted, as to the most (at least) of Christian Princes and other Sovereigns: when the Holy Ghost commandeth subjection to the Higher Powers, even when they are Heathen, and come in as Ne•o did, Rom. 13. we may well take it for granted that Christian Magistrates, that have no better title then he, are such as we must be subject to: even those that have not so lawful an entrance, as may justify their possession, or free them from the guilt of flat Usurpation, ⟨p. 232⟩before God, may yet •e such while they are in possession, as we must be subject to for Conscience sake▪ and all their administrations are •s valid to the innocent subjects, as if they had as good a title as the best. They that deny this, must overthrow almost all the Common-wealth's on Earth, and turn Subjection into Rebellion.