Witnesse 2. Or else the name of an Apostle is more largely extended for an instructed Witnesse and sent by the Apostles Phil. 2.25 who yet had that honorary name so Epaphroditus is called the Apostle of the Philippians Judas and Silas are so term'd Titus and others 2 Cor. 8.23 and James the brother of our Lord is call'd an Apostle Gal. 1.19 He was not Jacobus Alphei nor Jacobus Zebedei and therefore none of the twelve and 1 Cor. 15. this James is named as distinct from the twelve for there it is written that Christ appeared to the twelve then to five hundred brethren at once after to James In the first sense no man ever did ever could choose an Apostle for they had an immediate vocation and immediate mission In the last sense there is not a syllable in the Scripture of their Election by the people Perhaps for so it is recorded by Dorotheus that they were of the seventy but when they were advanc'd and authoriz'd to be Apostles that is Bishops in the latter sense the Apostles only elected them and imposed hands on them 3. Hitherto we hear not a word of any Election by the Professing Members to the work of the Ministry let us then come to the third way which was by voices and let us consider whether we can finde it that way It is most true that the Election of the seven Deacons was referr'd to the multitude and to this purpose your text is rightly cited Acts 6.5 But this proves not what you would inferre from it for by this choice the Deacons received not the charge of the Word and Sacraments but a care to see the Saints provided for and the collections and contributions faithfully and uprightly employ'd Hieron ad Evagrium Epiphan 4. Conc. Carth. cap. 4. they were only mensarum viduarum Ministri 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 consecrated to a service not to a priest-hood And among you for ought I know the Deacons have no other office than the care of the poor And then I pray what can this place make for the Election of the Presbyters and Ruling Elders by the people Are these no more but Deacons Officers of Tables and Widows That the people should Elect these there was great reason for they were to be Stewards and Dispensers of their Charity and therefore to stay the murmure that might arise of partiality in them and suspicion of any unjust dealing they advised the multitude to choose their own Almoners The Churches treasure was laid at the Apostles feet to be distributed as every one had need they left it Acts. 2. Acts 4. in all likelihood in the hands of converted Jewes to be distributed these regarded the Widows that were Jewes more than the Hellenists this caused the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the murmure To cease this the Apostle bespeaks the multitude to consider Acts 6.1 Ver. 3. Ver. 5. Ver. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of fit men for that service They did so and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they chose out seven and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they presented or set out these before the Apostles that 's all It was but a presentation so that it seems as yet it was in the Apostles power to admit or refuse even these But they accepted of their presentation and with prayer laid their hands on them for the Office which was at the highest a dispensation of money and no cure of souls No hurt then can be done to our tenet by this Election since as they who urge it confesse they were not in orders and therefore what hath this example to do for the Professours Election of Presbyters or Ruling Elders Yea but you 'll say the other text you cite Acts 14.23 Acts 14.23 will strike it dead but upon a serious view nothing lesse For thus we reade there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Ordaining them Elders in every Church This word is a participle and must agree with somewhat and if you look before it was Paul and Barnabas the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies not to Elect but to Ordain of which more by and by The Ordainers were Apostles Paul and Barnabas the Ordain'd Presbyters here is not so much as a syllable of the people no mention of any act of theirs This then is so plain a perverting of the text that I hope no wise man will ever more object it The truth is the Apostles imposed hands to make Pastours and Prophets in the Churches as they travelled popular Elections they made none For your other texts I shall consider apart because they are not directly to this purpose Thus I hope I have made it appear that there is not any firm ground I had almost said any colour for Election of Presbyters or Ruling Elders by the Professing Members of the Church in the Scriptures Yea but did not then the People choose their Pastour in the primitive ages of the Church To gratifie you I confesse they did but this was after the Apostles dayes and then Scripture must not be urged for it It was not a priviledge that belongs to them of right but out of convenience and was deriv'd from the rules of Christian equity and society Hence it came to passe that the people when their desires were accomplished did quietly receive willingly maintain diligently hear and heartily love their Pastours And could the people have tempered their grief when their desires were cross'd their interest in Electing their Pastour had been better regarded and longer continued But experience of their Schismes Factions Tumults Uproars Murders if they might not have their wills caused both Ancient fathers and Councils to mislike that the people should bear the sway in these Elections and forced Christian Princes if not wholly to exclude them yet greatly to abridge them I could if I pleased give you in a long list of examples of both kinds both of whom when where and how long the custome of their Election continued and by whom and upon what occasions abridg'd But I spare you This in a word when they did Elect it was not by any Scripture-right and at most it was no more than a presentation and it lay in the power of those in Authority to refuse the presented which was sometimes done And the emergent mischiefs took it away which it never could have done had it been a command of God Now that it is possible that such mischiefs may arise and frequently do arise from popular Elections I appeal to your conscience who have been an eye-Witnesse of it in New-England One thing I shall adde more that you I mean your Combinational Churches in Old-England should of all other presse upon us popular Elections makes me wonder since 't is your practice to eject Pastours approved by their people and by the approvers from above to settle other over their Congregations Tell me I pray what vote hath the people in any of these If this be not to break your rule and
provokes the appetite Reader it was the Authours purpose sometime to delight thee but most of all to edifie informe confirme thee which if it may be effected he hath his end For it is my hearty prayer that a period may be set to this wrangle and that we may all turn to the way of truth and peace Farewel W. N. A KEY to open the Debate about a Combinational Church and the power of the KEYES The first Part. THE chief point of the Controversie lies in this to know in whose hands the power of the Keys shall be or rather who shall be the Prime subject of the Keys Of this I finde three opinions Cotton Burton Goodwin Nye Assert the name Bayly p. 132. The first defended by the Independents or Combinationals A second defended by the Presbyterians and a third by the Prelates 1. The Combinational Churches are divided in this point for some seat power in the whole Congregation so soone as associated in Covenant even before they have any Officers Others after the Officers are chosen settle it in them alone A third even then conjunctim make the whole body the subject of the Keys Which of these or whether any of these is like to be true will appear if we consider these two or three things 1. That the Presbyters and Ruling-Elders cannot be the prime subject is apparent because that the Keys were seated in some before they were in them if you be constant to your own principles For how came they to be Elders and Rulers were they not created by the power of the Keys and who created them was it not they who did elect and ordaine The prime power then must be in the electors and ordaiâ—ers not in the elected and ordained whence it will follow inevitably that the Ruling Elders are not the prime subject of power for a power there is which precedes theirs 2. After Election and Ordination they viz. Ruling Elders cannot be so neither because it is your common Tenet that the Congregation may again upon displeasure resume the Key Depose Excommunicate cast out their own Elders which they could not do were they not the prime subject of the Keys and authority primarily in them 3. But if you shall say that conjunctim people and Elders together are the prime subject this cannot be neither Because before they are thus conjoyned the Electors and Ordainers had the true essence of a Church as you teach both for matter and forme though they had no Officer nor Elder and then must radically and originally be invested with this power in the first combination without any reflexion on this conjunction So that as they are an organical Church heightned by Rulers and Elders it makes them not the prime subject of the Keys for this you say they had before That the people divisim without the Elders and Rulers are not the prime subject of this authority I prove in this Tract demonstratively I onely here adde that the power of the Keys consists in binding loosing preaching administring Sacraments c. which till you can prove to be in the people originally I shall never yeeld the power to be originally in their hands The difficulties are so many and the subtleties so nice among you in this dispute that they have forced your finest heads Robinson Cotton Goodwin Norton to invent so many distinctions divisions subdivisions that a man must needs think himself in a maze that reads them the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Schoolmen which you so much complaine of are exceeded by you And yet when all 's done by these you could never yet satisfie your own party and therefore expect not to settle others It shewes you are in a Labyrinth and would faine help your selves out by the small threads of these prettily invented distinctions In a word that there are very many knots and objections to which your Tenet is liable For you know that all distinctions were invented to give light to that which is very perplexed intricate dubious ambiguous and aeâ—uivocal 2. That this your assertion is mainly denied opposed battered and beat down by the Presbyterians I need not tell you or that they deny the the Congregation to be either conjunctim or divisim the prime subject of the Keys and settle it upon the Eldership primò immediate adaequatè Finalitèr objectivè they will grant you that the whole Church is the subject but autoritativè formalitèr they place it in the Guids or Presbyters without a Bishop And of this opinion Rutherford is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But he runs into the same inconvenience with your Rabbies For to make his thoughts good he hath so many nicities so many new-coined distinctions of power of the Church of I know not what that he is able to confound any Reader and indeed drives on the point till he becomes almost unintelligible Is not this think you a rare device in him and in yours to finde out a Truth and settle a conscience about Church-government 3. The Pâ—elates are opposite to both they deny the Congregation conjunctim or divisim to be the first subâ—ect of the Keys They deny the Presbyterian Eldership to be the prime subject of Church power And they place it under Christ in the Apostles and their successors and for this they plead our Saviours promise Matth. 16. and his donation John 20. They plead again the Apostolical practice extant in the Scriptures Acts 8.17 Acts 14.23 1 Tim. 4.14 1 Tim. 5.22 2 Tim. 1.6 Tit. 1.5 and again the perpetual practice of the Catholick Church ever since according to that of Jerome Decretuâ— est toto orâ—e ut unus è Presbyteris electus ceteris superponeretur which testimony I have at large afterwards cited and opened at full This is the state of the whole question and which of these is likelyest to be most true I shall leave it to the unbyassed Reader to judge after he hath read over this Treatise In nomine Domini October 29. 1656. ad honorem Iesu Christi ipsius Ecclesiae ad veritatis aram haec offero An answer to the Admonitory Letter The words are these SECT I. Reverend Sir THat the glorious God who is the giver of all grace as well as of every good and perfect gift would never be weary of conferring on you or of continuing in you or yet of encreasing by you those real and rich gifts and graces which he out of his good will and meere goodnesse was pleased to indue and adorne your precious soul withal for the due and daily use and exercise whereof his maine aime and uttermost end was his own service and your own solace to traine you up higher in holinesse and happinesse as I am hopefully perswaded in my very heart then most of your companions or acquaintance kindred or countrey and that at the least by the head and shoulders 1. An humble motion for you is one of those motions with
Ecclesiastique Numb 11.16 Nay Godw. ant l. 5. c. 1. it is distinguished from it for in the Civil Consistory the Judges were called Elders in the spiritual priests Matth. 21.23 26.3 The chief Priests and Elders of the people are named as two distinct Consistories though Vossius Doctor Hammon Downham and Weames admit not this distinction 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the New Testament sometimes but rarely is taken in the same sense as in the Old But most commonly it is attributed to an Order of Ecclesiastiques whether in a higher or a lower Order and degree 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is by the maintainers of the Congregational and Consistorial Church taken for a mixed company of Lay men and Ecclesiasticks to whose government they suppose the power of the Keys is committed and this they call the Presbyterial Church and if I am not deceived of this you speak in this place But against this I affirme that there never was any such Presbyterial Church before Calvin and to that purpose I here propose and hope to make good these Propositions against any opponent 1. That there must be government in the Church 2. That Christ instituted this government and Governours for it 3. That this government must be perpetual 4. That the Apostles were those Governours for the time and for perpetuity their Successors appointed by them 5. That their Successors were Bishops in Name and Office 6. That for the execution of this Office Christ gave to the Apostles the Keys and they to their Successors onely 7. That this power consisted in Ordination and Jurisdiction and therefore that they onely could ordaine and juridically proceed 8. That at first the Apostles and after the Bishops did both without a Presbytery 9. Yet that by the Apostles a Presbytery was instituted in some Churches who were Ecclesiastiques onely 10. That yet none of these Presbyters were Bishops but assistants onely being distinct from them 11. That this Presbytery without the Bishop could not use the Keys 12. That no Lay-man was of the Apostolical Presbytery nor no Lay-man after for 1500. years 13. That at first the people elected not any Church-Officer All these Propositions will require much time to be made good I shall now therefore omit the demonstration of them and go on to you fourth and fifth Proposition where I shall use some of them Proposition 4. Viz. That this prescribed Ministery must consist of Presbyters or Teaching and Ruling Elders THe subject of this Proposition is the prescribed Ministery and it hath two Attributes 1. The Presbyters 2. Teaching and Ruling Elders and both must be distinctly considered 1. The prescribed Ministery consists of Presbyters If by Presbyters you mean Presbyters in the second acception as it comprehends those of an higher and those of a subordinate degree this part of your proposition is most true and it shall be granted you But if you exclude the Bishop properly so called I absolutely deny it For the Apostles were Bishops Matthias elected 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 1.20 There you have the Name and accordingly the Fathers of the Church called them Apostolos i. e. Episcopos Dominus Elegit Cyprian Epist 9. lib. 3. Cyprian They had the power of the Keys promised Matth. 16.19 Matth. 18.18 and actually estated on them John 20.23 In these texts you have the power which lay in jurisdiction and ordination In that was the office The Apostles were then in Name and Office Bishops This is performed in the second part I will give you a breviate of what I could say at large for the first Government of the Church I finde onely in Scripture mention of three Church-Officers Bishops Presbyters Deacons 1. The highest function which was Episcopal the Apostles reserved to themselves for some time and that for three reasons At first there were but few convicted Acts 14.27 1 Cor. 16. whence their labour was imployed in turning the first Key in opening the dore of faith that great and effectual dore and all the helps they could make either by Prophets Evangelists Coadjutors Pastors Doctors Planters Waterers to this purpose was little enough But none of these qua tales were Bishops 2. After the conversion of Jews and Gentiles yet in many Churches they yet setled not a Bishop first because a Presbyter fit for a Bishops office is not so easily found it is Saint Pauls rule that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epiphan a Novice one newly come to the faith be not made a Bishop Secondly because while the Apostles remained in or near any place they reserved the power 1 Tim. 3.6 there being no need of Bishops The Apostles for that time supplying the wants of those Churches either with their presence letters or messengers as the cause required 3. And yet there is a third reason The Apostles suffered the Churches to make a trial what equality of many Governours would do but when they found the fruits thereof to be dissension and that every one would be master parity and plurality breeding dissension and confusion they committed the Church to one I shall set you down this in Hieromes words Hieron Com. in Epist ad Titum even in those very words which are produced against Bishops Idem est Presbyter quod Episcopus autequam diaboli instinctu studia in religione fierent diceretur in populis Ego sum Pauli ego Apollo ego Cephae communi Presbyterorum consilio Ecclesiae gubernabantur Post quam vero unusquisque eos quos baptizabat suos putabat esse non Christi in toâ—o orbe decretum est ut unus de Presbyteris electus superponeretur cateris ut Schismatum semina tollerentur Haec diximus ostendimâ—s eosdem fuisse Presbyteros Episcopos ut Episcopi noverint se magis consuetudine quam Dominicae dispositionis veritate Presbyteris esse majores in communi debere Ecclesiâ—m rege e. I have recited these words of Hierome at full because in them there be many thâ—ngs clearly for me and some other passages seemingly against me to which I will give light Note here then first the cause of the Bishops creation 1. The causa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or occasion was factions and Schismes and the end that Schismes might be taken away so his words are cum diceretur ego Pauli c. ut schismata tollerentur Secondly The time when the Bishop was ordained old enough for it was in the Apostles dayes for then it was said ego Pauli ego Cephae c. 1 Cor. 1. a sufficient authority I suppose for the Bishops institution it must needs be granted Apostolical if it began then Thirdly this institution was Decretum and pray say who then could decree except the Apostles or durst decree without them Fourthly that this Decree was generally assented to for Decretum est toto orbe it must be then Apostolical and Oecumenical Fifthly now consider the words of the Decree ut unus de Presbyteris
they became a man of a Homogeneous and Inorganical an heterogeneous and organical body At first they were but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a people but this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 power and authority in themselves for why else did they all this And if this be not an act of Democracy I must professe I understand not the name nor definition of the word I shall take it kindly that any man will informe my ignorance Yea but it may be said that now in organizato corpore this Democracy is at an end for now it is a well shaped creature it hath a head it hath eyes it hath hands and all other parts in a goodly symmetry though I could ask what kind of Church was that of Mr. Canns at Amsterdam which for a time had no Pastour that liv'd a long time without Officers or Eldership yet I spare you Not so neither Answer to the thirty two Questions pag. 48. pag. 44. for the people for ought I can see as they had authority in actu primo to elect and ordain so they have authority in actu secundo to depose and excommunicate their Pastour and Elders and so to reduce themselves to what they were in puris naturalibus from an heterogeneous body to make themselves homogeneous from an organiz'd body to make themselves inorganiz'd and either to remain so if they please or to choose again And for ought I conceive Cottons Keyes Mr. Cotton intends no other by his new-coyned and applauded distinction of power and authority and power of liberty for whatever authority he gives to the Eldership he makes it vain and frustaneous without the consent of the people and notwithstanding all the obedience and subjection he puts upon the people yet he gives to them such a power of liberty that their concurrence with the Eldership in every act of power is not onely necessary but authoritativè In a word if the people have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 authority of institution and destitution as your parties say if you should tell me a thousand times over I shall never beleeve otherwise but your Combinational Church is governed by a Democracy I hope I have proved sufficiently what I undertook and now I returne to my purpose for I leave the destructive part and come to build And here I shall lay that in the foundation which none but Papists for ought I perceive will deny That our Saviour Christ left the Church Militant in the hands of the Apostles and their Successours and an Aristocratical government which I shall illustrate unto you by an induction of particulars 1. The first constitute Christian Church we read of in the world Isa 2.3 was that of Jerusalem for the Law was to come out of Zion and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem There the Apostles and Disciples first preached so that Eve was not more properly term'd the Mother of all living then this Church by Theodoret 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theodoret. the Mother of all believing Churches From thence the Apostle being to depart for that they might execute our Saviors command to preach unto all Nations left the government of that Church unto James the brother of our Lord not the Apostle and ordained him then the first Bishop Euseb lib. 2.1 l. 1.19 Jerom Hegesip Ambr. Euseb 3.11 Hegesip 4.22 Jerom. in Isa 3. Ambr. in 1 Tim. Ignat. ad Trall Acts 21.18 Acts 15. Et post Martyrium Jacobi traditur saith Eusebius Apostolos commune concilium habuisse quem oporteret dignum successione Jacobi judicari omnesque uno concilio uno consensu Simeonem Cleophae filium decrevisse ut Episcopatus sedem susciperet And if I list I could give you in the Catalogue of the succeeding Bishops for the first six hundred years To him I doubt not but there was joyn'd a Presbytery which Jerome calls Senatus Ecclesiae some Collegium Presbyterorum Ignatius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he thus describes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and they were those Elders present with James their Bishop to whom Saint Paul went in And if I shall name Judas and Silas for two of them I am partly assured that I am not mistaken because the Decree made by the Synod at Hierusalem was sent by them The government here then was Aristocratical 2. Acts 11.22 26 27 28. cap. 13.1 Origen in Luc. Hom. 6. Euseb 3. cap. 35 Ignat. ad Antiochen The next instance I shall give you for a constitute Church is at Antioch And in this City being the Metropolis of Syria Barnabas Paul and other Prophets and Teachers Simeon Lucius Manâ—en were sound and hither also Peter came Gal. 2.11 Of this Church Origen Jerome and Ignatius who best knew it for he conversed with the Apostles Socrat. lib. 6. cap. 8. make Saint Peter the first Bishop that Evodius succeeded is the testimony of Ignatius He saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignatius was the next himself from whom I can give you a clear succession to the terme I mention'd And those I mentioned Barnabas Simeon Lucius c. I shall not doubt to call the Presbytery of which almost in every Epistle Ignatius makes expresse mention as Counsellours Assistants and Co-assessours of the Bishop At Antioch then was an Aristocracy also 3. At Ephesus we meet again with a constituted Church where Timothy was made Bishop by Saint Paul The subscription of the second Epistle shews that he was the first Bishop there Euseb lib. 3. c. 4. and Eusebius who saw the Records of the Primitive Church affirmes the same That he was ordained by Saint Paul by the hands of the Presbytery Calvin conceives is beyond question Now if it be demandâ—d when Timothy was made Bishop it is most probable when Paul was at Miletum When the Apostles departed from any Church which they had planted in that then they appointed a Bishop For while they remain'd in or near the place there was no such need the Apostles supplying the wants of those Churches with their presence letters or messengers as the cause required But when they were finally to forgo those parts then they began to provide for the necessity and security of that Church by setling Episcopal power which in all probability was the reason that they so soon provided a Bishop for the Church of Jerusalem Saint Paul at this time was to take his leave of the Churches at Asia he saith it plainly in that Chapter Acts 20.25 that they should see his face no more most probable then it is that at this time he left Timothy to supply his place of Ephesus yea and that the six other Angels of the Churches were then by him ordain'd Think of these seven Angels of the Churches what you please I shall not doubt to esteem them single persons and Bishops and that upon stronger evidence then any can be brought to the contrary But that 's no discourse for this place I suppose
the Combinational was not in the erection of either because the combinational never was before either What was it precedent to Saint James his Cathedra in Jerusalem I marvail when it should begin His was then set up before the Apostles departed to preach to the whole world and under him it is not possible to conceive the Church could be Combinational Acts 1. 2. Acts 4.41 Acts 4.4 Acts 5.14 Acts 6.1 for upon necessity in that Church at that time there must be more than one Congregation for from 120. to 3120. to these were added 5000. which makes 8120. and yet more multitudes of men and women were added and still the number of disciples were multiplied And out of doubt the increase staid not here God adding to the Church dayly such as should be saved That so many thousands should meet together in any house to performe their Christian duties was impossible they must be divided into several Congregations Had these been Combinational then Saint James had been by the Apostles made Bishop of Jerusalem to little purpose for he could nor must not have taken the over-sight but of one of them the rest had been out of his jurisdiction which I suppose no wise man will ever think since the Apostles no question had the same charity and would have the same care of the rest as of that one and then would have set up as many chaires as there had been Congregations But of such we hear not of this one we do which is a sufficient evidence to me that all the Christians of that City at least if not of all Palestine were under his jurisdiction and subject to his Cathedra Out of which it will necessarily follow That the Cathedral Church was the prime institution not the Combinational and that therefore the Combinational Churches corruption was not the Cathedrals generation but rather the contrary which we have lived to see that the Combinationals generation is the Cathedrals corruption And what I have said in particular of the Church of Jerusalem is as true of all other Churches the Apostles planted and in others planted by their patterne Antioch Corinth Atheus Rome c. for the same reason holds in all these Cities where the multitudes of beleevers grew so numerous one Congregation could not hold them I aske now had the Apostles put case Peter or Paul there present had they jurisdiction over them all or had they not If they had then the Combination and Independency of Churches is at an end in the Primitive Church If they had not I wonder they should stay for divers years in one place having no more to do than to supervise one single Congregation besides that then there must be as many as there were Pastours in those Churches of equal power in their several Churches with the Apostles which he that can beleeve may digest any thing Ephesus was a great City Rev. 2.3 and had in it those who took upon them to say they were Apostles the Angel be it Bishop or Colledge of Presbyters is commended for trying them and finding them lyers if they were not of his own Congregation what had the Angel to do to try them if your Tenet be true he deserves no commendation at all but rather reproof for being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But that they were is more than ever you can prove I am apt to beleeve that if it had been so the Epistle had not been directed to the Angel of the Church of Ephesus but to the Angel of such or such a Congregation in Ephesus Verse 24. And the like may be said of the Churches of Pergamos and Thyatyra Verse 18. the last being reproved for suffering the woman Jezabel calling her self a Prophetesse to teach and seduce For if the Angel had not power over all the Congregations of that City say that this Jezabel had taught in another Combinational Church which is very possible and not in his the answer had been easie Jezabel is out of my reach out of my jurisdiction and therefore you have nothing against me for her misdemeanour This that I have said destroyes clearly the subject of your Proposition the Combinational Church and that being gone what you affirme of it will fall of it self I shall therefore hereafter desire you to lay your foundation deeper before you go about to build or to speak more properly to destroy any thing upon such a groundlesse supposition which you and I have reason to suspect were it onely but for this that all the Churches of the Christian world East West North South for these 1600 years and more have been of another constitution Were it Rome alone I should suspect but when all are otherwise none Combinational no not those who scarce ever heard of Rome and all Cathedral I cannot be perswaded that the love of Christ hath been so cold to his Catholique Church to suffer this Cathedral corruption as you call it so long so universally to over-spread her face It seemes to me contrary to his promise behold I am with you to the end of the world And so I end what I had to say to this Proposition I now come to the next in which you tell us what this corruption was viz. Proposition 2. A presumption to alter and to elevate the places and appellations of the Teacher Pastour Ruler and Deacon into those unscripture-like Titles of Lord-bishop Deane Chancellour Arch-deacon TO this I in the first place shall returne you the words of Zanchy Quid quod in Ecclesis etiam Protestantium non desunt reipsa Episcopi Archiepiscopi Zanchy append de fide Aphorism 11. quos mutatis bonis Gracis nominibus in male Latina convertimus vocant superintendentes generales superintendentes Sed ubi etiam neque illa vetera bona Graeca neque haec nova malè Latina nomina obtinent ibi tamen solent esse aliqui primarii penes quos est authoritas De nominibus ergo fuerit controversia verum eum de rebus convenit quid de nominibus altercamur This first 2. Next to your Distribution I say that perhaps by Teachers and Pastors you may intend two sorts of Ministers in the Church for so I know some distinguish that Pastours in Saint Paul were such as had not onely the office to preach the Word and administer the Sacraments but had also the Church and care of souls committed to them Teachers those who laboured in the Doctrine but received no charge of Sacraments or souls Some make the Teachers to be publike professors of Divinity and Governours of Ecclesiastical Schooles but Pastours to be the Ministers of particular Congregations which I will not deny but it may be true but I shall remember you that four of the Fathers Jerome Austin Chrysostome Theodoret were unacquainted with the nicetie for they thought the Apostle express'd what belong'd to the Pastoral office under two names that the Pastour was to be Doctour to remember he must
such of your Pastours who have declin'd the name I list not to grate your eares with this harsh musick but lay your hand upon your heart and say whether the Masters of your Congregations be not the men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God is my witnesse and you partly know that I never was guilty of the smoothing of any mans pride of favouring of any mans rigorous domineering Of honour I alwayes thought him most worthy who I saw did least affect it affectation of honour and desire of superiority I know our Saviour prohibits and on the contrary humility lowlinesse and meeknesse is that which he commands And yet I see no reason why it should grieve any godly minde to hear a Bishop call'd by that name with which Saint Peter will'd every woman to call her husband and Mary Magdalen call'd him who had but a spade in his hand They are not titles that can swell any man who hath not pride in his heart and that may leven as much and puffe up him that puffs at this title and bears other names as he that was once call'd Lord Bishop And so much of the titles you except against I come now to what you lay to their charge Proposition 3. Who ventured to usurp the power of excommunication in their Synods and Councils WHO is a Relative and it hath so many Antecedents that I know not whether you referre it to all the fore-going titles or to some in particular To all you should not for the Dean intermedled not with excommunications the Chancellour de facto did but should not so I grant you that was an usurpation and complain'd on and preach'd down by me as well as decryed by you The Surrogate and Arch-Deacon did but then it was not jure nativo but delegato for their commission they had from the Bishops I shall therefore more willingly conceive your thoughts reflect upon them and especially because you mention Synods and Councils which they alone at first had power to assemble But then to affirme that it was an usurped power in them to excommunicate in Synods and Councils seems to me a Paradox For I shall here ask whether the Bishops being not assembled in Synods or Councils had power to excommunicate or no If you say they had then it will seem strange that meeting in Synods and Councils they should lose this power This is as if you should say that Corporations meeting in Council should lose the power which every single Alderman had before he came thither or the people their rights and priviledges when assembled in Parliament which they had before Vis unita sortior and certainly what power any man hath to act singly and by himself when he meets with other Commissioners associated in that power he works more vigorously and his act is of the greater authority But if you shall say that the Bishops had no power of excommunication nor then nor before nor in Council nor out of it you plainly contradict the Scriptures which I shall evidence unto you by examining the Commission given the Apostles and their practice and what is true of the Apostles will be as true of the Bishops for I have before proved unto you they were their Successors and by them setled in some Churches And the ordinary power which was given to the Apostles was given to them for otherwise Christs promise cannot be verifyed behold I am with you signanter to the end of the world John 20. The Commission is extant As my Father sent me so send I you and then presently breathing on them he addes Receive the Holy Ghost Whose sinnes ye remit they are remitted whose sinnes ye retain they are retained Cyril lib. 12. in Joan. cap. 55. Cyprian de unit Ecclesiae Epist 73. ad Julian which words are understood by all the Ancient Doctours of authority as though he said that with the same power and authority my Father sent me into the world to gather and govern my Church I do also send you that is with all spiritual power necessary to your office and charge Now I ask whether the Apostles must be assembled in Council or not when they were to execute this authority if you say they must then you grant the question for then the sentence of excommunication may be passed in a Synod or Council If you should say they could not then a single Apostle could not excommunicate which I yet never heard affirmed all granting that they were pares potestate except the Papist who will have all Episcopal power and authority originally invested in Saint Peter and from him derived to others But this I conceive you will not say neither when I finde St. Paul assuming this power to himself 2 Cor. 13.10 Therefore I write these things being absent lest being present I should use sharpnesse according to the power the Lord hath given me What can be more plain power given by the Lord to me a single Apostle and therefore he tells them that heretofore had sinned Ver. 2. and to all other that if he came again he would not spare spare to lay his rod upon them For in the first Epistle he proposeth such a thing to them and wills them to consider of it quid vult is what will you 1 Cor. 4.21 shall I come unto you with a rod or in love or in the Spirit of meeknesse as who should say choose which you will Compare this with 2 Cor. 10.4 8 9 10 11. verses and you will easily conclude that a single Apostle had authority enough to lay his rod upon a scandalous contumacious offender This for the power now to the practice According to this power Saint Paul exercised judgment and gave sentence in a certain grievous case of incest among the said Corinthians in these words I absent in body but present in spirit have judged already as though I were present concerning him that hath done this deed in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ when ye are gathered together 1 Cor. 5.3 4 5 and my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such a one to Satan Who I pray was it that censured this man was it not the Apostle himself If I understand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ego judicavi it must be so And the same Apostle writing to his Scholar Timothy makes mention of another sentence by him pronounced against Hymenaeus and Alexander two seditious and heretical men whom saith he I have delivered ego tradidi 1 Tim. 1 2◠to Satan i. e. excommunicated and cut off from the Church of God that they may learn not to blaspheme What should I tell you that the learned draw the words of Saint Peter to Simon Magus to this purpose Acts 8.21 Thou hast no part nor lot in this matter That Diotrephes cast some out of the Church it was his fault but for this Saint John when he came Joh. Ep. 3.10 threatens to remember
which I have frequently and unfainedly found my self moved and that as I trust from the highest heavens for to make unto the hearer of prayers and the granter of requests This motion is my humble motion for you Tbe Answer to the first Section AMong those different kind of prayers the Apostle mentions and enjoyns Intercession is one 1 Tim. 2.1 That therefore you are pleased to intercede for me at the throne of grace is an act of piety and charity and I heartily thank you for it and desire the continuance and I beseech the hearer of prayers and granter of requests to hear and grant to us both a clear understanding a ready will obedient affections to embrace the naked Truth as it shall be manifested unto us all partialities and sactions or inclination to any parties being set aside For thus much I may assure you that I am of a peaceable and docible disposition Peaceable and hate contention and wrangling well knowing that pruritus litigandi est scabies Ecclesiae Eccles 12.12 it cooles devotion and animates faction I verily beleeve he is the lesse Christian that knows best to wrangle There is no end of making many books especially of Controversie For of these there is no end either for cessation or profit None for cessation because the parties interessed either through self-love or pertinacy rarely are by the most forcible arguments drawn to retract what they have once maintained None for profit because the contenders are seldome bettered or made more religious would I might not say far worse more fierce and of alienated affections This needs no proof since it is too apparent in the encounters of all sides whether for Papistry Prelacy Presbytery Independency c. The Writers pens are for the most part steep'd in gall of which tart juice I promise you you shall not taste one drop it being so contrary to my nature whom the Dove that descended on our Saviour hath embued with mildnesse and a study of peace And as I am inclinable to peace so I am very docible also Wax is not easier to receive an impression than I am the seale of truth but then it must be made evident unto me either by plaine and expresse Scripture or else by some demonstration and deduction evidently drawn from thence for otherwise I must remaine where I was This because I finde not in your discourse my judgement is not upon it altered The words I finde in it many the arguments and proofs in it very few 'T is a pretty Narrative not any demonstration pardon me therefore if I yeild not The gifts and graces you take notice of in me I freely and openly acknowledge are farre short of your conceit they cannot swell me but humble me being laid together with my imperfections and were it not partiality in you you might behold them farre more eminent in many of my companions and acquaintance But your friendly minde hath presented me unto you as an object through a mist which makes it seeme farre bigger than indeed it is Yet your errour of love shall not make me beleeve I am a gyant when I am but a Pigmee and so rich in grace goodnesse holinesse as you intimate being conscious to my own defects However I am what I am 1 Cor. 15.10 and I hope his grace which is bestowed upon me is not in vaine My talent I received from him to him I acknowledge it and give thanks for it Ephes 4.12 and I shall endeavour to employ it to that end it was given for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ Hic labor hoc opus And it is my griefe that I am forced to wrap it up in a napkin and me thinks it should breed in them singultum cordis that have forc'd me to it But no more of this It follows in your Letter SECT II. The words of the Letter THat you would call to remembrance and also seriously consider and lay to heart what I in the judgment of rational charity am bound to conceive you cannot choose but know by what Christ did reveale to you and by what you did likewise receive from Christ namely how our God in covenant hath thought meet to constitute three several sorts of visible Churches and no more to be owned and acknowledged as his to be founded and found successively on earth from the beginning of the world to the end of the same Answer OF what you write in this paragraph in general I am not now to consider to wit what hath been the external government of Christs Church from the beginning to this day And how farre I agree with you will by and by come to be examined But in the meane time let me put you in minde that these words God hath thought meet to constitute three several sorts of visible Churches are improper For the Church of God before under after the Law was but one in essence and being so we beleeve One Holy Catholick Church the bonds of whose unity are extant Ephes 4.4 5 6 7. Let then the external government be what it will yet this cannot constitute three several sorts of visible Churches because distinction of species must proceed from internal principles not from extrinsecal accoutrements This then is not properly expressed But if you mean as I hope you do That the visible Church of God hath had a different kind of regiment and existence one from the beginning under the Patriarchs to Moses another from Moses to Christ and a third from Christ to the end of the world I assent to you And I suppose your meaning to be this by your words which thus follow Whereof the first was Oeconomical or Domestical the second the National or Judicial and the third was the Presbyterial or a Combinational Church Reply In the general I told you I assent to you but about the particulars I shal offer unto you some considerations especially about the first and the last 1. You say the two first viz. the Oeconomical and Judicial Church continued of a space of time alotted to each of them of two thousand years or near about Here you are not so exact in your Chronology as you ought for the first continued longer and the last fell short as Junius hath given us the accompt and other Chronologers dissent not much from him For the Oeconomical Church continued two thousand five hundred and ten years and the Judicial and National one thousand five hundred and two onely if you set the period at Christs ascension but if at the final overthrow of Jerusalem by Titus one thousand five hundred forty two For then it may be better supposed was the abolition of the Ceremonial Law when the Scepter was utterly departed from Judah and now your words will run smoothly on in this last and third kinde of Church Government every child of man that is an ingenuous child of God and a conformable member
electus superponeretur caeteris Rev. 2. 3. 1. It is Unus it is One not many that the care of the Church might especially belong to one Christ directs his message to the Angel individually of such or such a Church 2. He must be Electus of whom Hierome saith not of that more anon but I dare say considering the time of which Hierome speaks it was not without the consent of the Apostles if not by them 3. Note out of whom he was to be elected it was de Presbyteris and I shall prove unto you after that they were no Lay-men 4. Ut superponerentur caeteris He was to be super over the rest whether Clergy or Laity and that not onely in preheminence honour and dignity but in power of jurisdiction also for otherwise how could the end be obtained here aimed at how could Schisme be restrained and removed Thus far you see what makes for me and now I shall clear up what seemingly makes against me in this testimony 1. The fiâ—st words seeme against me For Hierome saith Idem est Presbyter quod Episcopus But he can meane no more than that the Bishop is sometimes called a Presbyter The Names then may be common that 's true but not the Office Now the Office consists in Ordination and Jurisdiction as I shall by and by make appear That Presbyter and Episcopus was Idem ordinatione and consequenly in Office Jerome could not meane except he should contradict himself Hieron ad Evagium Ordination he reserves to a Bishop and debarres a Presbyter from it Quid facit Episcopus quod Presbyter non faciat exceptâ ordinatione Mark the mood is potential He may not do it He may not meddle with Ordination for that sure belongs to the Bishop in his own judgment In this power then the Identity lies not 2. He must then meane in Jurisdiction and that this is his meaning is apparent by those words Communi Presbyterorum consilio Ecclesiae gubernabantur which your side catch at too as making for the present Ruling Presbytery as indeed at the first sight they may but throughly lookt into nothing at all I will shew you where the mistake lies First in the word Presbytery for yours apply it to the whole Presbytery Lay and Clergy whereas Hierom as is manifest speaks onely of the Ecclesiastique for it is of the Presbytery that was before or when those Schismes reigned Secondly he saith gubernabantur in imperfecto and when was that in the Apostles dayes for then in a Church that had a Presbytery without a Bishop put case at Corinth or had a Presbytery with a Bishop over them as at Jerusalem Antioch Alexandria Ephesus it is most true Communi Presbyterorum consilio gubernabantur the Presbyters were admitted in partem sâ—llicitudinis It cannot be denied that the Apostles ordaining these Presbyters had power in themselves and might have governed durante vita alone retaining the power when then they gave any power to others it was deligated for I hope they lost none of their power in giving Orders Whence it will follow that the Presbyters when admitted in some acts of Jurisdiction with the Apostles cannot challenge a right of governing affixed to their Order qua Presbyteri because they did assist in subordination and dependencie That the Apostles assumed these Presbyters in acts deliberative and consiliary to assist first at Jerusalem Acts 15. was a meer voluntary act from which example that it was derived to other Churches will not be denied and hence the last clause of Jeromes words will be most clear Noverint episcopi se magis consuetudine Ecclesiae quam Dominicae dispositionis veritate Presbyteris esse majores in communi debere Ecclesiam regere For by the Commission Sicut misit me Pater given to the Apostles and in them to their successors onely they could not challenge it It may well proceeding from the voluntary act of the Apostles be called an Apostolical Tradition and Ordinance but in strict termes Dominica it was not nor Dominicae dispositionis veritas according to Jerome 2. But if this sense of Jeromes words like you not I shall yet offer you another At first as I said the Presbyters by delegation from the Apostles with common advice and equal care guided the Church under the Apostles but after Bishops were appointed the whole care by little and little was derived to one and so at last by custome Presbyters were utterly excluded from all advice and counsel and Bishops onely intermedled with the regiment of the Church This indeed grew onely by continuance of time and not by any Ordinance of Christ or his Apostles this Jerome dislik'd and to that purpose he fixes his Noverint Episcopi c. And that this is likeliest to be Jeromes meaning in that place his following words shew Imitantes Moysen qui cum haberet in potestate solus praesse populo Israel 70. elegit cum quibus populum judicaret The Bishops then ought to do as Moses did What to have Governours equal No but when they might rule alone to joyne with them others in the fellowship of their power and honour as Moses did Moses did not abrogate his superiority above others but took seventy Elders into part of his charge So Jerome would have them And thus much the King was content to grant and restore as you may read in his book cap. 17. about the middle I saith he am not against the managing of this precedencie and authority in one man by the joynt councel and consent of many Presbyters I have offered to restore it c. You see of what Presbyters I am content the prescribed Ministery shall consist and what Presbytrry I shall allow you 2. Or Teaching and Ruling Elders HEre again your words are dark For if by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Elders you meane those in Orders I shall readily admit them to the Church ministry whether Teaching or Ruling But if you intend under these words to introduce into the Ministry either to teach or rule men that are not of the Clergy so you know we speak and so I must speak for distinction sake for else I cannot be understood in this question I absolutely deny it For there was never any Lay-man ex Officio admitted to teach ordinarily in Scripture called and sent he must be before he did undertake to preach So the Apostle intimates Rom. 10.15 How shall they preach except they be sent If any be gifted I shall allow him ex debito charitatis privately and charitably to make use of his talent to exhort to reprove to admonish but publikely to divide the Word of God and to teach I may not admit him For as a man must have inward endowments gifts and sufficiencie so he must have an outward calling before I shall call him a Teacher in the Church of God And I hear you are not against me in this 2. But about a Ruling Elder I fear you and I shall
And one part of their Offices in the Church was to Ordain This is manifest first in Timothy in the Church of Ephesus Acts 20. There were many Presbyters before Timothy was appointed their Bishop yet Saint Paul sent him of purpose to impose hands 1 Tim. 5.22 and say it was with the Presbytery yet it can never be proved that any of that Colledge was no more than a Professing Member You know how strongly all the Presbyterians pleade for the contrary and was this injunction onely personal and to end with Timothies life 1 Tim. 6.13 14 Not so neither For this charge he layes upon him in fearful words I charge thee in the fight of God who quickeneth all things and before Jesus Christ who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession that thou keep this Commandment without spot unrebukable till the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ 'T is agreed by all that Saint Paul in this Epistle especially sets an order for the Government of the Church 1 Tim. 5.22 among which that a Bishop lay not hands hastily upon any man is one This then was not Temporary but to last till the end of the world That they were to Ordaine is every whit as plaine in Titus for for that intent he was left in Crete Neither would the Church succeeding admit of any other but Bishops to that businesse for one thousand five hundred years Tit. 1.5 as I will prove unto you if you require it by unpregnable records Two evidences there are of it beyond exception First the condemning Aërius as an Heretique for opposing Episcopal power Secondly that if any one of an inferiour rank presumed to ordaine his act was reversed by the Church as unlawful and the ordained admitted no otherwise to the Communion than as a Lay-man As it befel Ischyras and those who were ordained by Maximus and another blind Bishop Athanas apol 2 Greg. Presb. in vita Nanz. Conc. Constant 2. cap. 4. Conc. Hisp 2. cap. 5. 7. and others in the Church story I beseech you now if you little regard the Fathers and Councils yet view the Scriptures with an unpartial eye and then if the Commission our Saviour gave his Apostles or the Apostles to their successors if the practice of the Apostles themselves or Apostolical men can any whit move consider whether the Presbyters or Ruling members ought to be of the professing members regular ordination Make it plaine that the power of the Keys is subjectivè formalitèr inhaesivè authoritativè in them and I yield you the whole cause Your sixth Proposition that their Office extent understanding by that the Ministry which Christ ordained in his Church must reach from Christs Ascention to the Creations dissolution I easily grant I shall therefore say nothing to that but come to examine your proofs out of Scripture And here I could have wished that you had applyed every text to that part of the Proposition you intended it For it had beene farre easier for me to have judged of the validity of it and more readily have shaped my answer whereas now I can but rove at it and therefore if I mistake you must thank your self The texts alleadged Acts 6.5 14.23 I suppose you referre these to the first part of the fifth proposition for election by Church-members and I have answered them already and shall therefore spare my labour The other if I be not mistaken are to prove your Teaching and Ruling Elders Rom. 12.7 8. 1 Cor. 12.8.28 Ephes 4.7.14 Rev. 4.6 5.6 19 4. But among these I finde not one text to prove your Presbyterial or Combinational Church nor your regular Ordination by professing members The Text then out of the Romans Corinthians Ephesians and the Revelations I am to examine and see how they will conclude what you intend Rom. 12.7 8. Or ministery let us wait on our ministery or he that teacheth on teaching or he that exhorteth on exhortation he that giveth let him do it with simplicity he that sheweth mercy with chearfulnesse The words are Elliptical and therefore must be supplied from the former verses The Apostle being to deliver divers precepts first gives a signification of his power verse 3. Then he prescribes in general 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To every one God as he pleaseth gives a measure of his gifts and therefore no man ought to arrogate to himself more than he ought for this were absurd as if in the body one part should assume and usurp the faculties of another for to that purpose he makes use of that comparison of a natural body vers 4 5. As then the parts of the natural body have their proper endowments so also have the several members of Christs several graces bestowed on them by God and these gifts must be employed for the benefit of the whole and the parts he thus infers verse 6. Having then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 freely and graciously bestowed he shewes how we must bestow them And then he reckons up these gifts these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 First prophesie Secondly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ministery 3. Ability to teach 4. A faculty to exhort or comfort 5. A heart and power to give 6 Wisdome to govern 7. Bowels of mercie These are the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those Gratuito's those talents we have received from our Lord and they must be laid out for his honour for our brethrens good This I conceive to be the prime intention of the Apostle in this place for he expressely names gifts and not men But because these gifts must upon necessity be exercised by men therefore he intimates on whom they are bestowed more peculiarly not all gifts to one man neither is one man by God sitted alwayes for all gifts One man he calls to be a Prophet and gives him a gift to foretel things to come or to interpret the Scriptures let him then interpret according to the Analogy of faith not adde nor diminish nor alter at his pleasure To another he hath given a gift to teach let him aptly and in easie plaine intelligible words explaine the will of God and teach them he ought To a third he hath given an admirable faculty to stir up and move another to the actions of piety or else to be a Barnabas a sonne of consolation in raising and comforting an afflicted and oppressed soul let him use this exhortation exhibit this comfort as occasion is required To a fourth God hath been graciou and gifted him with wealth and riches of these he is to impart a portion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ingenuously liberally freely simply without any doubting either in respect of persons or a regard to his own profit Upon another is bestowed a gift by which he s made a fit man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Numb 10.17 to be over others you know that God took of Moses spirit and put it on the seventy Elders and he that hath this gift must use it with diligence
that it is very probable that they were ordain'd at this meeting at Miletum except you judge that Saint John the Apostle setled them in those Churches before his banishment to Patmos for in those Churches they had the power when he wrote the Revelation Howbeâ—t it will serve my turn well enough if they were onely Pastours with a Presbytery for this will prove the government then of the Church to be Aristocratical 4. If we come to Rome there we finde Paul an Apostle and as all Church Records assure us Peter Bishop there needed none where they lived Rom. 16. Presbyters there were then many Junius Clemens Cleâ—us Andronicus Urbane Tripheus Perses Of these Cletus and Clemens were Bishops after the Apostles Martytdome and their Succesours so apparent that I need not recite them Euseb lib. 2. cap. 24. Hieron ad Evagr. Origen Ambrose 5. What should I speak that Mark was Bishop of Alexandria who died six years before Peter in whose Church there was a Presbytery of Titus appointed Bishop by Saint Paul and left to ordain in the Island Presbyters and to have jurisdiction Of Dionysius the Areopagite the first Bishop of Athens Of Archippus at Colosse Of Onesimus at Philippi Of Gaius at Thessalonica The Records were infinite that I could produce in this kinde You see I have not instanced in any but such who were Bishops viventibus videntibus approbantibus Apostolis that so the truth may be apparent I shall not therefore doubt to affirme that the government of the Apostolical Churches was by Bishops as such who had the chief power and that it was Aristocratical Neither can all the Arguments of the Presbyterians any whit enervate this for you see I grant and prove a Presbytery in these two onely lies the difference betwixt them and us First that they would have a Presbytery established by the Apostles without a Bishop which I shall never grant and I know they can never prove Secondly that the power of this Presbytery without a Bishop should be the most supreme in the Church and that to it without a Bishop the Keyes were delivered For this is it which I affirme that originally the whole power was in the Apostles and by them exercised where they setled no Bishop But to him where they fixed a Bishop they committed their power yet so that so long as they liv'd it was but in subordination and dependency on them for out of question they might have govern'd alone when therefore they gave any power to others it was onely delegated and they lost not any of their own in giving orders What therefore Bishops were to the Apostles that must needs all Presbyters ordain'd by the Bishops be to them voluntarily assumed they were in partem sollicitudinis reginimis and had their power by delegation to assist in acts deliberative and consiliary But by vertue of their order they had no jurisdiction in causes criminal For in the Scripture there is not any commission extant to meer Presbyters there is no institution of any power of Regiment in the Presbytery no constitution Apostolical that meer Presbyters should alone or without Bishops govern no example in Scripture of any censure inflicted by any meer Presbyters no specification of any power they had so to do But the contrary to this may well be collected because to Churches where Colledges of Presbyters were resident Bishops were sent by Apostolical ordination as Titus to Crete Timothy to Ephesus the seven Angels to the seven Churches with power of ordination excommunication and taking cognizance of causes and persons even of Presbyters themselves as is apparent in th Epistles to Timothy and Titus and in the Revelation And a more evident example cannot be given then in the Churches of Corinth and Thessalonica in both which were Presbyteries but as then no constituted Bishop In one of which was an incestuous person in the other disorderly persons why did not these Presbyters then cast them out It was for want of coercive power the Apostle as yet kept that power in his own hand and therefore adviseth the Thessalonians that if any man obey not his words 2 Thes 3.14 15 that they signifie that man by an Epistle to him they in the mean time should forbear his company and admonish but not count him as an enemy that is eject him by Church censure that they should leave to him in whose hand as yet the power was But at Corinth upon signification he gives order to the Presbytery to execute his sentence For I verily absent in body but present in spirit that is by my Apostolical power 1 Cor. 5.3 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have already judged or determined the judgment you see was his the decretory sentence his as though I were present conce ning him that hath done this deed In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ when you are gathered together and my spirit that is my power with you with the power of our Lord Jesus â—hrist that is which power the Lo d Jesus Christ hath committed unto me that then you prono nce my sentence and deliver such a one to Satan This shewes clearly where the power was setled in the Apostle first In them secondly In him it was primative from him to them it was derivative All was to be done by his spirit And that this was so viz. that the Presbyters power was not absolute but dependent not prime but delegate there be two testimonies the one in Ignatius the other in Cyprian which seems to me to evince it Ignatius writes to his Church of Antiochia being then in prison in Rome and he gives his Presbyters there this advice that they rule the flock of Christ Ignat. ad Antioch untill God should declare who should be their Pastour His words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Presbyters were to feed or rule the flock 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 untill God should shew and designe him qui principatum habiturus sit as Varlonius renders it who to be their chief Pastour Their government there was to last till then but when God had once designed him Cyprian Ep. 21. their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was at an end The other testimony is that in Cyprian in the case of Candida Numeria and Etecusa women that were accused to have fallen in the persecution and offered incense to Idols Of these the Presbyters in the exile of Cyprian the Bishop took the cognizance and were ready to passe a sentence upon them Cyprian interposeth and upon it causa audita perceperunt propositi eas tantisper sic esse to remain in the state they were Donec Episcopus constituatur untill the Bishop should be appointed Here again we see the verdict suspended till there were a Bishop intimating that the prime power of jurisdiction and censure was in him and that without him it might not be lawfully laid on Nor do I see what can be answered to these two fathers Hitherto
autem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quo de causâ non solum in Israele verum postea in Ecclesia ex Judeis gentibus collectâ multos etiam diversos ministrorum ordines instituit and about twenty lines after addes these words Hac sone ratione quae etiam de Episcopis imo de quatuor Patriarchis ante ipsum etiam Concilium Nicaenum creatis constituta suerunt excusari defendique posse sentimus And that this learned man may give more light and strength to what he delivers in these two paragraphs in his observations upon these paragraphs he inserts a very sober and clear discourse out of Master Bucer de disciplina Clericali which is very well worth your reading The summe of it is what I have already set down and Bucers conclusion is Quia omnino necesse est ut singuli Clerici suos habeant proprios custodes curatores instauranda est ut Episcoporum ita Archidiaconorum aliorumque omnium quibuscunque censentur nominibus quibus portio aliqua commissa est custodiendi gubernandique Cleri authoritas potestas sed vigilantia animadversio ne quis omnino in hoc ordine sit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is the close of Bucers discourse not onely reciting but praysing and commending the constitution and custome of the old Church in the various distribution of the Ecclesiastical functions and degrees I have many years since heard a wise man affirme that a little insight into Natural Philosophy is apt to make a man an Atheist as a litttle knowledge in Physick creates an Emperick a little sight in the Law a petty fogger for it prides men with the confidence of knowledge and makes them pragmatical whereas a deep search in any art humbles the man brings him to the sight of his own mistakes and makes him sensible that truth as Plato was wont to say lay in the bottome of a deep well and without labour and a long rope it was not to be fetcht from thence Was it not so with Aristotle with Plato c whereas others upon the slight search of nature became Atheistical the last of these by his depth of enquiry became to acknowledge the prime cause of all things to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 very little differing from that ineffable name by which God was made known to Moses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justin Martyr Paraenetic ad Hellenas Exod. 3.14 I am that I am And the other not being able to search why the Euripus should ebbe and flow seven times a day cryed out O eus entium This shews what a little skill in any science and what a profound knowledge will do The one will raise strange confidences and Chimeras in the brain the other will allay and settle them He who would be quieted and satisfied about Church-government I could advise him to search this point to the depth for otherwise he may be transported with strange fancies His little knowledge may swell him too much and make him over-confident to practise upon the Church and make experiences before he is throughly skilful Whereas if he will stay his pace and not venture and vent his drugges till he hath consulted the Ancients and seen what judgment his fore-fathers and those that liv'd nearest the Apostolical times gave of them I beleeve he will not be over-hasty to prescribe any new dose especially when he shall finde that the old was held safe and sufficient to preserve the health of the Church and to prevent incroaching diseases This course if you disdain and dislike you condemn the whole Church of Christ from the first encreasing and spreading thereof to this present age and preferre your own wisdome before all the Martyrs Confessours Fathers Princes Bishops that have lived dyed governed in the Church of God since the Apostles times How well the height of your conceits can endure to blemish and reproach so many religious and famous lights of Christendom I know not What all the old Fathers all the zealous first Reformers all blinde in comparison of your selves for my part I wish the Church of God in our dayes may have the grace for piety and prudence to follow their steps and not to make the world believe that all the servants of Christ before we liv'd favoured and furthered the pride of Anti-Christ till now in the fagge end of the world when the faith of most men and their love and charity are quench'd and decay'd some new lights arose to restore the Church to that perfection of discipline which the Apostles never mentioned the Ancient fathers and Councils never remembred the Universal Church of Christ before us never conceived nor our chief Reformers never imagined for they have as you have heard delineated and commended the old way of discipline But here befoâ—e I end my general answer I must remove one block which some have cast in my way For I have heard it objected that these Patriarchs were Independents which I confesse in some sense is true because one Patriarch was not to intermeddle in the jurisdiction of another the Canons of the Church having set out the extent of their Provinces and limited their power But this will make nothing for the present Independency of Combinational Churches for they had Churches many Metropolitan sees many Diocesses under their power and over-sight But these have but one single Congregation Those could call Synods through their whole Province and punish any Bishop or Church-man or other under them An Independent dependent Church can call no Synod nor punish nor reforme any member that is not of their own society or Combination Those were not so absolute neither but they were bound upon their elections to informe their fellow Patriarchs and by theit communicatory letters to give accompt of it and of their faith The Pastours of the Combinational Churches are not accomptable to any sister-Church Lastly put case as it sometimes fell out that Factions that Schismes that Heresies arose in their Patriarchates the Church was not left remedilesse for the Patriarch or Church being not able to quell compose or extirpate them a General Council was call'd to which they were all inferiour and to whose verdict they were bound to stand as is evident in the case of Nestorius Dioscorus c. who were depos'd by general Councils and their Heresies condemned and the like may be said of Arrius and Eutiches condemn'd in general Councils which shews that the general Council was the supreme judicature and that the Patriarchs had their dependence on it and so were not absolute Independents Now for the calling of these and other Councils they had their warrant and pattern from the Apostles Acts 15. who to redresse a contention then arose in the Church call'd that Synod to Jerusalem and composed it And indeed were there no other argument against Independent or Congregational Churches Rutherford peace plea. c. 7. Concl. 4. Bayly c. 10. as there be very many and very
the proposition then is true that Jewes and Gentiles make one National Church Hence it is that what God said of the Jew Exod. 19.6 ye shall be to me a Kingdome of Priests and an holy Nation is by Saint Peter affirmed of the Christian Church ye are a chosen generation 1 Pet. 2.9 a royal Priesthood an holy Nation Which when effected our Saviours words were fulfilled other sheep I have which are not of this fold John 10.16 them also I must bring and they shall hear my voice that there may be one fold and one Shepherd Farther yet a prophesie is extant Isa 2.2 Isa 2.2 Mic. 4.1 2 c. Jer. 4.2 Isa 65.1 Zach. 2.11 Zach. 14.9 Psalm 2.8 Psalm 22.27 Matth. 21.43 Rom. 4.17 And it shall come to passe in the last dayes that the mountain of the Lords house shall be established in the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills and all Nations shall flow unto it Let other texts be compared with this which speak the same thing Thus it was foretold and that what was foretold might accordingly be fulfilled our Saviour gave his disciples a Commission in these general words Go ye therefore and teach all Nations baptizing them in the name of the Father Sonne and holy Ghost c. Matthew 28.19 And I pray call to minde that when Peter baptized the penitents Acts 2.39 he comforted them with these words for the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are afar off even as many as our Lord God shall call And yet after this even Peter himself and the Apostles and the brethren that were in Judaea of this had but a confused notion for when Peter came up to Jerusalem Acts 11. Acts 10. they that were of the Circumcision contended with him about it to whom he was feigne to make his Apology opening to them the vision of the sheet which when they heard these things they glorified God saying then hath God also granted to the Gentiles repentance unto life In effect they attested the truth of Peters words Verse 34. Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons looks now no more upon a Jew than he doth upon a sinner of the Gentiles but in every Nation he that feareth him and doth righteousnesse is accepted of him The partition wall being broken down what could they be but one church I can never sufficiently wonder at your words when you call this accesse of all Nations a naughty enlargement What is that which God by Covenant with Abraham promised naught that naught which he foretold should be that naught which Christ gave Commission to his disciples to do that naught which the Disciples did All Nations Isa 2.2 All flesh Isa 66.23 All the kindreds of the earth Psal 22.26 27. A multitude which no man could number of all Nations and kindreds and people Rev. 7.9 are said to be the people of God under the New Testament and yet you will not allow them the name of a National Church But a stronger foundation for this Truth there cannot be than that which Saint Paul hath laid under the similitude of an Olive which had two kinds of branches natural verse 21. and wild 17. Rom. 1â—â— The natural were the Jewes the wild the Gentiles the natural were broken off through unbelief and the wild by faith graffed in These wild now being naturalized are in the same condition that the Natural were before they were broken off But the Natural branches were in the Olive totally the whole Nation they and their children which made the National Church of the Jewes and therefore the wild branches must be so inserted they and their children also which will make the National Church of the Gentiles which is the full scope and intention of the Apostle in that chapter Finally the very same Covenant that was made with Abraham 2 Cor. 6.16 is made with the Corinthians 2 Cor. 6.16 I will be their God and they shall be my people As that then was extended to the whole Nation of the Jewes Lev. 26.12 Levit. 26.12 so also is it now to be extended to the whole Nation of the Gentiles so that all those Nations that have had the Gospel preached unto them and answering that Gospel have received the doctrine of Christ submitting to his Ordinances in the profession of his Name are to be reckoned as they were 1 Pet. 2.10 Acts 8.12 13. John 6.66 Acts 11.26 1 Cor. 1.2 1 Cor. 12.13 Matth. 8.11 the people of God 1 Pet. 2.10 Beleevers Acts 8.12 13. Disciples John 6.66 Christians Acts 2. Saints by calling 1 Cor. 1.2 The Church of the Gentiles 1 Cor. 12.13 The Kingdome of Christ Matth. 8.11 Thus have I shewed you that since the whole Church quoad materiale doth consist of Nations there can be no impropriety or absurdity in it when we call any part thereof a National Church or the Church of Beleevers in any one Nation And now let us see what help you can have for the confirmation of this besides Scripture out of the principles of reason 2. We believe in our Creed the Catholique Church and Catholique it is called in respect of all ages and times because before under and after the Law it alwayes was and secondly in respect of persons for there is not any person of what degree sex condition or age that may not be a member of it And thirdly in respect of places in that as formerly the Jewes so now all persons in all Nations have a capacity to be of the Church of Christ Universality then being an attribute of the Church it cannot be found in any one Church limited either in respect of time or place Either then make your Combinational Church the Catholique or you must extend it farther and if so why not to a Province and if to a Province why not to a Nation nay many Nations And be it you should assume the name of Catholique and fasten it to every particular Combinational Church yet particular Societies of Christians can lay no farther claime to it than they can demonstrate themselves to belong to that Church that hath a true and a just title to it which no particular Church can do but by proving that it holds the common faith once delivered to the Saints without heretical innovation Ames lib. 1. c. 31. Sect. 20. or schismatical violation of the Unity and Peace of the Christian world This being the way for particular Churches to demonstrate themselves to be Catholique necessary it is that they be united at least to those Congregations of that Nation whence we may infer that there must needs be a National Church which also that must do and shew clearly that it maintaines whole and undefiled the foundations of faith before it can be acknowledged to be Catholique 2. That which makes men mistake in this point is that they make the Church to be species
may feed themselves with fancies if they please but it may be well feared that when the Festival and solemnities for the birth life death resurrection ascension of Christ the mission of the Holy Ghost the Trinity and the Lessons and Sermons upon them with the Creed also shall be turned out of the Church 't will not be in the power of weekly Sermons on some head of Religion to keep up the knowledge of Christ in mens hearts A thing it seems observed by the Casuists who use to make the number of those things that are necessario credenda no more then the Festivals of Christ make known to men and how sure a way this is to instill these necessary principles into the heads of the easiest capacity give me leave to assure you upon my own experience For when all I could say would not teach the Article the mention of the day and inculcating why the day was to be kept did with much ease and facility do it I can never therefore sufficiently admire the wisdome of the Church in the institution of these Festivals And yet had this been an institution of the Church Vide sis Zanch. in expos praecep quarti de diebus festis Thes 1.2 3. after she ceased to be a Virgin I should have suspected it But when I finde a Record for the Festivals that concern our Saviour in the best times and that these were observed as Augustine saith semper ubique ab omnibus this so far sways with me that I dare not assent to abolish them It is with dayes as it is with men They are pares in esse naturae Ecclus 33. All equally from the ground the first man an earthen vessel and the best since but sherds of the old pot But in esse morali an imparity there is some are vessels to honour some to dishonour The comparison will hold in times and seasons the periodick motion of the Sunne gives being to them all yet are they not all of equal esteem For some are made holy some common these put among the dayes to number those raised and made high dayes and set above their fellows to a holy purpose Which yet was not done by chance as it falls out in the advancement of men but it was propter opus p ivilegiatum quod Deus in eo fecit some extraordinary beneficial work that God did upon that day this is the formale diei that gives it being and preheminence above another This God would have remembred for this work he would be thanked and praised and to that end he will have some especial time set apart Neither of this is there any doubt when the Authour and Institutor is God But man say some may not usurp upon God and set apart any day of the six appointed for labour to a holy use and thus much you intimate when you call these holy working dayes But of how little strength this is will hence appear To work upon the six dayes the Jews were bound no lesse then we are and yet even then when they were to do all things according to the pattern in the Mount they never thought they should transgresse Gods holy Command though without any expresse precept they set out some dayes to remember his mercies and blesse his Name Upon no other ground did Mordecai institute the Feast of Purim and ordained it to be observed in their generations for ever An anniversary Festival it was to be Esth 9.21 22. 1 Maccab. 7.49 4.54 John 10.22 and yet we finde no precept to warrant it The Encenia or Feast of Dedication of the Temple was no other The ordainer was Judas Maccabaeus a Civil Magistrate the observation required by Law by ordinance and the solemnization continued 165 years And yet notwithstanding the Authour man and the obligation a Command our Saviour himself went up to Jerusalem to observe it I cannot beleeve that our good Lord that did nothing amisse would have honoured the Feast with his presence had the ordinance of man in such a case been displeasing to God To come closer to the point should a man presse these strait-laced men for a Command to keep the Lords day I am sure they could not finde it That it was observed by the Apostles I easily beleeve because upon the first day of the week they brake bread they enjoyned the Collect because even then it is called dies Dominicus Acts 20.7 1 Cor. 16.2 Revel 1.10 But still the difficulty remains quo warranto by what Command is this done where is the precept for it Neither is it possible to remove the scruple but by acknowledging power in the Superiour to appoint a day as for humiliation so for thanksgiving Which because it is done and daily practised by your selves you of all other should not make this objection and if it be sinful not to work the whole six dayes you make men sin when you call men from their work to follow you and hear your Lectures But still being indulgent to your errour if it be an errour you ever set the same Coleworts before us and would make us beleeve it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will-worship and upon the same ground because we have no precept for it But first if it be so in us so also it must be in you because you finde no more precepts for your dayes of thanks and fasts nor yet for your lecturing upon working dayes then we can do for these Secondly you understand not the nature of will-worship as it will appear if you will vouchsafe to read Dr. Hamm. of will-worship Dr. Hammonds Tract of that subject Thirdly what if no precept in Scripture for them which of the Ancients ever taught men in Adiaphorous things to conclude ab authoritate Scripturae negativè The Scripture hath not taught will never teach all those rites and customes in Religion Socrat. Schol. lib. 5. cap. 22. which have been in continual use and practice in the Church Sufficient those Oracles of God are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the end they were ordained to perfect the man of God Other things what if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they ordain not The essential parts of Gods worship are there found no man may adde or diminish from it The agends in many things are left to the prudence of the Church who then ordains a right when she ordains nothing contrary to the Word Should you be prest with these queries upon what text or subject a Minister must preach in what method and place or how long time and how often he must pray or preach and the people must hear Sermons and attend holy duties I know you would be to seek for a particular rule in Scripture your answer must be that Christian prudence must guide these actions and angry you would be if any man should fasten upon you will-worship for these or the like because you can produce no expresse text Be not then so hasty to fasten upon