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A55985 To the right reverend, the ministers of the Kirk of Scotland, of the Presbyterian perswasion the following defence, of the rights and liberties of the church ... / by Robert Park. Park, Robert, d. 1689? 1680 (1680) Wing P364; ESTC R22921 75,715 177

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his Church 1. AS we have asserted that Patronage is no divine Institution and that the Patrons have not the right of Electing the Pastor's of the Church so we must also shew to whom this Right of Election doth properly belong lest others that have as little Right may lay claime to it as it hath fallen out in the matter of the Church's Patrimony which when it was taken from the Popish Clergy who had no true Right to it was not restored to the reformed Church but to private persons who to say no worse I am sure had as little Right as the former possessors II. And therefore the next ground that we shall insist upon against Patronage shall be this that as this power is no divine Institution but a manifest usurpation so which is worse it clearly destroyes and renders useless the ordinances appointed by Jesus Christ the Church's only Head for the Election of the Ministers of his Church And thereby carries with it the guilt of Rejecting our Blessed Lord from being King and Law-giver in his own House and of Establishing strange Lords and new Law-givers therein For the Patrons Looking out Nomination of and pitching upon such a determinate person to be a Pastor of the Church without the consent of either Presbitry or People does evidently take away the ordinance of a free and unlimited Election of such as may be fittest for such a charge and most acceptable to the congregation concerned to be made by the Church Judicatories and Church of believers respectively each of them acting what is proper for their several places and stations as being the only party intrusted with it by Jesus Christ the sole King and Law-giver in his own Church III. And tho' the Patron may sometimes pitch upon and present a person of true worth yet as this is but meerly accidental and the case does generally fall out quite otherwise so nothing should be done to hinder the Election of one more worthy And a well qualified Pastor may be one among a Thousand as it is Job 33. Is enim eligendus says Origen ex omnibus qui Doctior qui Sanctior qui omni virtute praestantior That is he that among all is the Holiest in Life the most Learned and the most Eminent in all manner of vertue is the person that ought to be Elected So likewise the free Election of such ought to be intirely left to these entrusted by Jesus Christ therwith IV. The discerning of the Spirits and the knowing of the Voice of Christ in his Called Sent Servants is the priviledge of the Church as such and does fit and qualifie the Church and not the Patron to make a due and suteable choice of her Pastors and therefore the Church and not the Patron as such hath only right to medle therein I say the Patron as such hath not the right of Election for tho' the Patron as a Church-Member or as a Church-officer in the Congregation where he lives whether he be Elder or Deacon may have that Voice and Concurse in the Election which the other Members and Office-bearers have yet as Patron and under that Reduplication he can have no such Right as the Priviledge acclaimed amounts to V. And what ever diversity of Judgment may be found among Divines as to the seat of this Church power yet it is agreed upon by all that write on the Subject and clearly evident from the Scriptures that this Power and Right of Election Acts. 14.23 1 Tim. 4.14 belongs only to the Church as such and consequently it cannot belong to the Patron as a Negative Interest due to him in the extent acclaimed And accordingly it is clear beyond all debate that the Church was in the Actual possession of this power and right of Election for several hundreds of years before such a device as Patronage was heard of in the Christian World. This is a truth as evident from Antiquity as any thing can be for in all the ancient Councils Canons Fathers and Historians of the Church there is not the least mention of such a priviledge as this of Patronage And when ever they have occasion to speak of the Forms of the Election of Pastors they still set down a method wherein the Church it self does freely Elect in every thing absolutely inconsistent with the Rights of Patronage VI. There is not the least hint in all these Ancient Writers that with any shadow can be alledged for the power of Patronage Some thing there is indeed now and then mentioned for clearing and instructing the power of the Civil Magistrate circa sacra But that is an interest quite different from the Rights of Patronage and which does not at present fall in our way to debate VII It would be tedious and to no purpose to offer to prove from Antiquity See Padri Paulo's Hist of the Council of Trent Cyprian Epist 33 34 37 55 63. Theodoret Histor tripart lib. 2. cap. 12. lib. 4. cap. 22. lib 6. cap. 9. Socrat. Hist Eccles cap. 28. c. Decret dist 63. can Quanto Can. vota civium Can. Sacrorum c. Chemnit examen Counc Trident. parte page 408. seq editionis Francosurt in 80. Didoclar alt Damascen c. the Interest of the Church in the Election of her Pastors since it is a point that I have found very little contraverted These who are curious may consult the debates even of those Men whom they call the Fathers at Trent whereof many as corrupt as they were would gladly have had the Church restored to her primitive Rights of Election and many others both Popish and Protestant Writers which it would be weariesome to cite VIII But not to insist any farther on these Topicks let us follow Augustin's rule Mittamus ea quae ab utraque parte dicipossunt ad Scripturae judicium revocetur controversia Agustin cont Jul. The clearest and fafest Methods in Debates of this Nature which concern the Interest of Christ and his Church is to decide them by the sentence of the Scriptures to the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to these it is because there is no Light in them Isay 8.20 Thus we find the Apostles and multitude of Disciples for so was the Church of Believers then termed meet together for the Election of an extraordinary Office-bearer in the Church viz. an Apostle And a list made by them both to wit the Apostles and Believers of two Joseph and Matthias But the designation of the particular person for this extraordinary Office they leave to the Divine Determination by Lot. IX And if the Apostles who were Instructed by Christ in all things that concerned his Kingdom and did accordingly teach the Church practically and by their own example to observe all that was commanded them Matt. 28.20 conform to their Lord's farewel command did proceed with consent and concurrence of the Church and people of God to the Election of so High