SECT. XII. The ancient church-government was highly esteemed by Grotius, without condemning others.

WHOEVER reads over the works of that great man, Hugo Grotius, and examines into his doctrine and practice, will find that be had entertained in his mind that form of sound words, the truth of which he has proved;⁸⁹⁸⁸⁹⁸   See amongst other things, “The institution of children that are baptized,” which the author himself translated out of Dutch verse into Latin, in his theological works, tom. iv. page 629. And in his latter works, he often affirms, that whatever is necessary to salvation, is plainly enough contained in the New Testament. See his Annotations on Cassander’s Consultation, towards the end, where he speaks of the sufficiency and plainness of the Scripture. Which being granted, it is manifest from thence, that the sum of the Christian religion, as it was before produced by us, may be collected thence by any one. nor did he 274esteem any thing else as true religion; but after he had diligently read the writings of Christian antiquity, and understood that the original form was that of episcopacy, he highly approved of it in the manner it is maintained in England, as appears from his own express words, which we have wrote down at the bottom of the page.⁸⁹⁹⁸⁹⁹   In his annotations on the consultation of Cassander, art. xiv. “Bishops are the heads of the presbyters, and that pre-eminence was foreshewn in Peter, and was appointed by the apostles wherever it could be done, and approved by the Holy Ghost, in the Revelations. Wherefore, as it was to be wished that that superiority were appointed every where,” &c. See also what follows concerning the ecclesiastical power, and the discussion of Rivetus’s Apology, p. 714. col. 2. Other things are also alleged in the epistles added to this little treatise.

Therefore, it is not to be doubted but if it had been in his power, and he had not been so vehemently tossed to and fro by adversity, and exasperated and vexed by the baseness and reproachfulness of his enemies, at whose bands he did not deserve it, he would have joined himself with those who maintained the ancient form of discipline, and required nothing further than what has been already said, the truth of which he has proved excellently well; the arguments for which practice appear to us to be so weighty, that we have thought good to add them to this little treatise.