N00779:154
The order of the Gospel, professed and practised by the churches of Christ in…
The order of the Gospel, professed and practised by the churches of Christ in New England, justified, by the Scripture, and by the writings of many learned men, both ancient and modern divines; in answer to several questions, relating to church discipline / by Increase Mather, president of Harvard College in Cambridge, and teacher of a church at Boston in New England. ; [Five lines of Scripture texts]The order of the Gospel, professed and practised by the churches of Christ in New England, justified, by the Scripture, and by the writings of many learned men, both ancient and modern divines; in answer to several questions, relating to church discipline / by Increase Mather, president of Harvard Colledge in Cambridge, and teacher of a church at Boston in New England. ; [Five lines of Scripture texts]
Boston: printed by B. Green for Benjamin Eliot, 1700
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.
4. There are Judicious and Learned men who conceive that others besides Ministers may Impose hands in the Ordination of Minister•. This is asserted in our Platform of Discipli••, which had the Approbation of many Divines as Eminent for Piety and Learning as mo•• which this Age has produced. Nor is th•• which will seem a very strange Assertion to some, a notion peculiar to New-England Divines only. Others of as deep Judgment […] any whom the World has known, have maintained the same. Dr. Ames (c)says, that as the power of Seeing is formally and subjectively in the Eye, yet originally in the whole Animal, so is the power of Ordination in the whole Church, and that therefore although […] a well constituted Church, the Act of Ordination is to be performed by the Elders, in case duly qualified Elders are not to be had, Ordination may be performed by non Elders. And that in a Corrupt state of the Church where Order and Ministry fa•ls, A plebe actus Ordinationis Legitime fieri potest, the People may Ordain. Dr. Whitaker (d)affirms, that they that have power to Call have power to Ordain. And that the Church has power both to Ca•• a Bishop and to Ordain him▪ also. Not only Congregational men, but some Presbyterians ⟨p. 97⟩whose great Learning and Piety has made them Eminent, have said as much as is in our Platform of Discipline affirmed concerning Ordination. Voetius (a)asserts, That the Church may delegate a Member of their body to Ordain a Presbyter, or may wholly omit the Solemnity of a Consecration, and that the Person chosen to the Ministry, may by virtue of his Election perform the acts belonging to his Ministerial Office. The very same is affirmed by Didoclavius p. 242. And by Mr. Gillespy against the Ceremonies. p. 286. Also Gerson Bucer