Prelates and to sink them into the same Order with Presbyters but at the bottom no kindness is intended Their design being to advance the B. of Rome they make him and not Christ the immediate Fountain of that Authority which the Governours of the Church are vested in and Transubstantiation being the highest mystery of their Religion and Presbyters undoubtedly interested in it they are unwilling to allow any Order in the Church superior to them believing that such a Concession may lessen the dignity of that Mystery Hitherto I have spoken of the Disease both in general and particular which is supposed in the Text. And now I shall pass on to the Remedy namely an Apostolicall or Episcopall Authority and Inspection What S. Paul and S. Barnabas did was not an act of Charity onely but Authority This was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Primitive age which was used in order to the preventing and healing Distempers As our blessed Lord retained the Power in his own hand during his residence upon the Earth so likewise did his Apostles And therefore as he is stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 2.25 so their Office 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 1.10 The Inspection of the Churches within a certain precinct was committed to them S. James was settled betimes at Jerusalem for this Sacred purpose S. Paul at his first coming Gal. 1.18 19. found him residing upon his Episcopall Charge at his last both him and his Elders in a most solemn Assembly Acts 21.18 The Brethren came from him to Antioch as their Bishop about Ecclesiasticall Concerns Gal. 2.12 Although others of the Apostles were present at Jerusalem Acts 15.20 yet the Canon of the Council was drawn up in his words Eusebius saies Euseb Hist Eccl. l. 7. c. 19. p. 265. par that the Chair which was peculiar to him was preserved unto his time This settlement was made immediately after the Passion of our Lord as a pattern for the rest of the Apostles to imitate in their severall Plantations As the Gospel was dispersed through all Nations beginning at Jerusalem Luke 24.27 so likewise the Law whereby the converted Nations were to be governed Isa 2.3 Therefore S. Paul in order to the Reforming some abuses at Corinth tacitely makes an appeal to it as the place from which the Word of the Lord first came 1 Cor. 14.36 There being an impossibility that all things in every place should come to a fulness of growth and be ripened into an exactness of Order in a moment Divine providence settled at first this sensible rule for all who were interested in the Regiment of the Church to operate by and come up unto as the circumstances of every place would permit And therefore in a Conformity to it we read of Titus being left in Crete and Timothy at Ephesus Their not residing always in those places can be no more an argument of their not being Bishops there then it would be that Richard the First was not King of England because our Chronicle represents him sometimes in Cyprus sometimes in Germany sometimes in the Holy Land Agreeable likewise to this pattern are the seven Angels enthroned in the Churches of Asia by the approbation of our blessed Lord as is manifest by his letters to them in which he commends those Vertues which did appear in the discharge of their Function His right hand was the firmament in which those Pleiades were fixed They cannot as some would perswade us signifie seven Churches The Churches are stiled Candlesticks the Angels Stars So long as Stars are of a nature distinct from Candlesticks the Angels must import some thing different from the Churches Neither can they be seven Colleges of Elders for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly denotes one individual This is the constant import of it in all other parts of holy Writ and there is nothing in the Context which may oblige us to depart from the customary signification The plurall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 2. v. 24. hath no necessary relation to the Angel of Thyatira but may without any incongruity be referred to those who are mentioned v. 23. I will give to every one of you according to his works that is you who have received the doctrine of Jezebel shall receive punishment according to the merit of your crime and then it follows but I say unto you and to the rest which have not this Doctrine It is a received Rule that we are not to desert the proper import of any word and flie to an improper but where those things which stand in conjunction put a necessity upon us Neither can the seven Angels be seven Pastours of so many particular Congregations For all which did adhere to the Doctrine of Christ in the Lydian Asia are contained under the Seven Churches and it will be very difficult for any to believe that there were no more Congregations within that Compass In Ephesus alone where it is said that the Word of the Lord mightily grew Acts 19.20 there could be no fewer then that number Oratories and places of Convention could be of no great capacity in those times when Christians were hindred from building by continuall storms of Persecution Therefore there is nothing left for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to signifie but one Individuall Person having the care and inspection of divers Congregations The best Records next unto the Scripture inform us that Polycarp one undoubtedly invested in a power of this Latitude was the Angel of the Church of Smyrna From whence we may easily compute what we are to determine concerning the rest all the seven Stars being represented without any disparity in their Magnitude Timothy and Titus with these Seven must not be looked upon as Presidents or Chairmen onely having a Primacy of Order among the Presbyters It is most evident that they had not onely a power to Visit and govern the Laity but the Deacons and Elders themselves 1 Tim. 3.10 5.22.17 19. These they did examine ordain provide for their maintenance had Authority to receive an accusation against them Tit. 1.11 8.10 1 Tim. 5.21 stop the mouths of such who did teach false doctrine reject the Hereticall and are charged in their severall Consistories to prejudice no man nor to be byassed with any partiall regards Rev. 2.2 Rev. 2.20 The Angel of Ephesus is commended for trying those who pretended to be Apostles of Thyatira reproved for suffering such as did teach and seduce the people which can argue no less then a Superiority vested in them over the Pastours and Teachers of those Churches If the power had not been in these Persons alone why is the Charge directed to them commendation given when performed reprehension when neglected without the least mention of any coordinate Society Had they been in the quality of Chairmen onely whose office is to preserve Order in the Convention without any conclusive power in themselves the doing of the things
would not have been imposed as their duty but the modus or manner how they were to be done namely not in a confused and tumultuary way but in methods agreeable to the Rules of all regular Societies When Timothy is commanded to fight the good fight lay hold on eternal life to keep that which was committed to him and Titus to speak the things which become sound Doctrine rebuke with all Authority avoid foolish questions we may as well conclude that these things were not to be done without the concurrence of the Elders as those before mentioned There is nothing expressed in the Text which discovers any discrimination The independency of their Power is visible in the deportment of the Apostles whose Delegates they were S. Paul challengeth to himself alone an Authority to set in order what was amiss to deliver to Satan to visit with his rod and exempts no degrees whether Elders or people from being the objects of it Eusebius out of Clemens informs us of S. John's Visitation of the Clergy and Laity in the Churches of Asia Epiphanius of S. Peters in Pontus and Bythinia L. 3. c. 23.3 L. 1. tom 2. p. 107. par If Titus and Timothy were delegated to do the work of an Apostle as it is most evident they were and an Apostle did act without a dependance upon the Elders we have reason to conclude that their obligations to them were no greater Elders indeed were ordained in every City but not to govern alone What they did was in a subordination to the Apostles The Apostles acted without their concurrence but we never read that they did any thing for which they were not accountable to the Apostles In the case of the incestuous Corinthian the Spirit and Authority of S. Paul was the first mover In the Ordination of Timothy the hands of the holy Apostle were signally interested If any find themselves disposed to believe that this Authority to Visit and Govern the Clergy by a single Person was a remedy adapted onely to the Primitive times and that in after-ages the Apostolicall Superiority was to be laid aside and a Parity prevail they will meet with no small inducement to alter their minds if they please impartially to weigh these three Particulars The reason of the thing the declaration of God the practise of the Universall Church 1. The reason of the thing The constitution of the Church is such that it cannot continue long in Repairs without Inspection and Government Though the Universall is built upon a Rock yet particular Churches are liable to Dilapidations And if Government be necessary no Form ought to take place and be preferred before that which prevailed in the Apostolicall Age. Those who are most under the power of imagination will scarcely be able to fancy that He who shed his precious bloud in order to the purchasing a Church should be so unconcerned for it as to leave it in the world without Rules of Settlement that He who did erect this new Society should contrary to the method of all Founders leave it without Statutes prescribing the modes of Regulation That He who had the government upon his shoulder should ascend with it to Heaven and not deposite it in some prudent hands to secure his Subjects upon the earth against the inevitable inconveniences of Anarchy that He who is the great Shepherd should leave his Flock either to be governed by the tremulous decisions of their own discretion or else the pleasure of the Civil Powers which by his unerring prescience he was assured would have for three hundred years the same degree of kindness for them as Wolves have for Sheep that He who after his Resurrection spent fourty days upon the Earth speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God should pass by in silence the regiment of it which is a matter of no small moment and hath an inseperable connexion with the subject of his discourse that He who gave a positive commission to his Apostles undoubtedly containing something over and above the dictates of Nature which are that the Church must be governed in the Government there must be a Superiority in some a Subordination in others Superiours must have all becoming regards expressed to them Inferiours be accountable for the violation of their Rules and yet express nothing concerning the particular form of Government which is the onely positive which could have been added to what the Light of Nature gives us the perception of Though it is too great a presumption to determine what Christ hath appointed by what we conceive he ought to appoint our intellects being no competent judges of the Methods of his Wisdom yet when we find by Revelation that he hath instituted a Church would have this Church to be one this one Church to be well governed that some mode of Government is of indispensable necessity in order to this end it is not unbecoming our Christian humility to pronounce that he hath appointed a particular Form He who wills the end never fails to contrive the means which conduce to it Amongst the objects of our Belief we do not onely rank those things which are found in the Scripture in particular propositions but whatsoever hath an inseperable connexion with such Axioms And if it be reasonable to believe that our blessed Lord hath appointed some Government none can make a more just claim to be it then that which was practised by his holy Apostles who were inspired by his Spirit and by reason of an intimate converse with him did enjoy the most advantageous opportunities to gain a full comprehension of his mind This certainly hath the best right to be the Standard whereby all Models are to be tried and from whence they are to receive their allowance or disallowance according as they appear conformable or disagreeable to it Though an argument from Apostolicall Practice in generall may fail as is evident by the Love-feasts the community of Goods the office of Deaconisses yet when it is derived from such a species of Practice as is grounded upon universall Reason and not upon peculiar respects and incommunicable circumstances the validity of it must be acknowledged Those who have made the most scrupulous inquiry into the Government of the Apostles can find nothing in it of an inseparable accommodation to that Age. It is true the Unction whereby they were qualified for it was not of the vulgar Composition The holy Spirit gave them an unerring conduct in framing Rules of Discipline a power to assert the authority of their actions by miraculous operations yet their Function namely to Govern was ordinary and doth import nothing but what might be enjoyed by the Rulers of the Church in after-ages The power may descend where the same gifts and degrees of Aptitude to use it do not Commodus was inferiour to Antoninus in politicall accomplishments and yet did inherit his Power in the amplitude of it Caligula was not comparable to Augustus in Architectonicall skill
These were ordained in every Church Act. 14.23 and now an Inspection is to be made whether their demeanour be sutable to the import of their sacred Function At their Ordination the Apostles did not divest themselves of their authority to govern in those places St Paul saies 2 Cor. 11.28 that the care of all the Churches was upon him They conveyed a power as the Sun doth light without being losers by the communication The Elders were ordained to be Episcopi Pastores gregis but the Apostles remained to be Episcopi gregis pastorum Acts 20.17 And therefore St Paul at his Visitation at Miletus cites the Elders to make their appearance and left his Apostolicall injunctions with them and in his instructions to Timothy how to demean himself in the Church of God one branch of his advice is not to receive an accusation against an Elder without the testimony of two or three witnesses which plainly intimates a superiority over them residing both in Himself and Timothy These with the Laity are the Persons to be visited Let us visit our Brethren 4 Here is the place where the Visitation is to be held In every city where we have preached the Word of the Lord. In every City The plantation of the Church was first begun in Cities insomuch that the words Infidell and Pagan that is one inhabiting in a village became Synonimous or terms of the same signification When the Disciples were made fishers of men they cast their nets where there was the greatest confluence and expectations of success When the converts were increased to such a number that one place had not capacity enough to entertain them they were not like Bees when they swarm put into a hive which had no dependance upon that from which they came Though they worshipped God in their apartments yet they continued to be one and the same Society The Unity of the Church was no more prejudiced by this division into divers congregations then the unity of Faith by the division of the Bible into Chapters and Verses In the most eminent Cities although there must necessarily be more Assemblies then one yet we read of the Church in the singular number as the Church at Corinth 1 Cor. 1.2 Acts 13.1 Acts 8.1 the Church at Antioch the Church at Jerusalem All of them being imbodyed under the same Numericall Government made but one Community Elders were constituted to take the immediate care of them yet what they did was onely in a subordination to and dependance upon the Apostles to whom the power of Ruling was so far appropriated that nothing could be Authentick and have the impress of Authority without their consent and therefore notwithstanding the Presbyters in every City St Paul and Barnabas did challenge to themselves the power of Visitation This power did not extend to all Cities but those onely where they had preached the Word of the Lord. The Apostolicall jurisdiction was not exercised in every place but confined to a certain precinct Every Star did move in his own Orb. When St Paul speaks of his boasting according to the measure of the rule 2 Cor. 10.16 and not in anothers line he intimates that every Apostle had his Bounds and Province The words allude to the measure whereby Surveyers use to adjust the rights of others and assign to every one their proper allotment or to the white Line which the Agonisticall law did oblige Racers to conform their course unto and by no means to run over They did not visit in every City but those in which they preached Though they had a commission to teach in all the world yet they had none to govern but where they taught with success gained Proselytes to the Faith Those who lived without the pale of the Church like the earth before propriety was settled were primi occupantis The Apostles who took the first possession of their minds had a peculiar right to the Government of them The vanquished did lie under an obligation to submit to the laws and regiment of their Conquerour St Chrysost observes that these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do manifest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the necessity of Inspection What they planted they were obliged to water and by a prudent discipline to eradicate every thing whereby the growth of it might be impeded They standing in a paternall relation to such who were begotten again by the Word which they had preached it would have been an omission of Duty not to have interested themselves in the nurture of them 5. Here is the end and design of the Visitation to see how they do Though in the Greek we have onely these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet the Syriack version is as full as ours ut videamus quid agant These Apostles knew that those whom they converted to the Faith were obnoxious to many distempers In the converted Jews there were remaining some faeces of their former disease They nauseated the Bread of Life and made it their choice to pick and eat the rubbish of the partition Wall which Christ had demolished The Rights of the Law which expired at the death of Christ and by this time had an honourable interment they attempted to pull out of their graves and give a resurrection to them The converted Gentiles were not totally delivered from the power of former custom and education Amidst these circumstances the infernal Spirit was not backward to act his part The Sun of Righteousness could no sooner in any place appear above the Horizon but he did endeavour to raise his mists in order to the obscuring of him Some of his Instruments were animated with so much confidence as to arrogate to themselves the dignity which is peculiar to the Son of God Simon Magus who is stiled his first born Epiph. l. 1. tom 2. p. 55. did not content himself with this usurpation but invaded the Rights of the Sacred Trinity He asserted he was the Father among the Samaritanes the Son among the Jews the Holy Ghost among the Gentiles In the new Heavens there were some Planets which did affect an erratick motion In the new earth some weeds presently sprang up In Paradise regained the temptation began at the Tree of Knowledge There was a science falsly so called which gave denomination to the Gnosticks They pretended to know how to secure their Title to the Heavenly Purchase and yet to deny the Lord that bought them The Grace of God which teacheth sobriety they found a way to turn into wantonness and make it a Pander to their impure appetites They were impatient to sit under the government of the Apostles being desirous to invest themselves with the Preeminence They did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 trample under foot the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or order which was of Divine Erection In these circumstances among the influences of so many infectious examples the Brethren being not exempted from the peril of contagion the Holy
stiled a family will justifie the congruity of this example The supream Rector hath moulded the Universe into Communities and constituted the civil Magistrate to be their Guardian Into these Communities he hath let down from Heaven the New Jerusalem namely a Church or Ecclesiasticall Society with Governours and Laws not onely harm less and inoffensive but singularly advantageous to the purposes of the civil Constitution And because it is not impossible but that the Rulers may degenerate from the true meaning of their Originall and under a pretence of a Supernall commission undermine the interest of the civil Community the Magistrate is impowered to see that they keep within their own bounds and if they swell above their banks to remand them into their proper channel if they do not to protect and defend them against the hand of violence This makes it evident how the Church may be subordinate to the secular Power and yet have a Government grounded upon a Divine right It is the Divine pleasure that Princes within their own Territories should be so far concerned in all causes and over all persons as to see that nothing be done to the prejudice of the Community they are set over From hence doth emerge their right to inhibit limit and regulate the execution Though Christ is the immediate Fountain of the Power yet they have a commanding influence upon the streams which flow from it Though they may not invade the Offices which are peculiar to the Church yet they are obliged to see that they are duly performed by those to whom they appertain Though they have not the Power of the Keys yet in case those which have make use of them to open a door to Sedition and Disorder they have the Power of the Sword to shut it and prevent the mischief If the Church keep within her due bounds and the supream Magistrate be of opinion that she doth not and from hence a contest is commenced she hath no other weapon to defend her self but Prayer and a composed Submission to what the preservation of a good conscience may expose her All this is very far from erecting imperium in imperio it hath nothing in it of a malevolent aspect upon the Supremacy of Princes All pretended inconveniences fall with an equall weight upon paternall Government which undoubtedly being in nature and time antecedent to the civil Constitution must have a Divine originall And now whosoever pleases to look back and consider the reason of the thing the declaration of God the practice of the Universall Church which is no bad commentary upon what is dubious in any Divine appointment will be under no temptation from any rationall inducement to believe that the Apostolicall authority to govern was adapted onely to the Primitive times and not intended to continue in all Ages So much of the Remedy in generall namely an Apostolicall or Episcopall Authority expressed in visiting the Brethren In the next place I will enumerate some particular acts of this Power which are of eminent use in all Ages for the preventing and healing distempers 1. An Inspection into the Authority of those who preach 2. The Doctrine 3. The lives 4. The giving rules for the preserving of Order 5. The censuring those who neglect the Order which is agreed upon 1. An Inspection into the Authority of those who preach The work of the Ministry is of greater importance than to lie open to every one who by the strength of his fancy can perswade himself that he is fit to discharge it The peace of the Church depends upon the Practice of those who are members of it their practice upon their judgement their judgement upon the Doctrine of their Teachers These have the Helm in their hand whereby the body of the People is easily moved the Key of Knowledge whereby they are in the nearest capacity to open the intellect and let in or shut out Principles which tend to Unity The Community would not enjoy the least degree of security might the private opinion of every Person concerning his own Aptitude give him a title to this Office Men are not competent Judges of their own abilities The Generality are very partiall when they take an estimate of their intellectuall Powers Every place is filled with complaints of the want of Riches and Honour but we seldom meet with any querulous resentments of the defects of Reason and Understanding Indeed S. Paul said who is sufficient for these things but we are apt to say who is not The stream runs the fastest where the channel is most shallow Those are most forward who have the least acquaintance with the depth of Knowledge The few exceptions from the generall Rule which are duly prepared are so much under the command of humility that they judge themselves unworthy The burden of fruit which grows upon these branches bends them into too low and despondent thoughts of themselves Socr. Hist l. 4. c. 18. When Ammonius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he is stiled by Socrates was acquainted with a resolution in others to compell him to take upon him the most Sacred office in the Church he cut off his right ear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the deformity of his body might be a bar to his Consecration Socr. Hist l. 7. c. 12. Chrysanthus a person eminent for wisdom and sobriety when he was solicited to take upon him the same Function was so much under the power of modesty that he fled from Constantinople into Bythinia where he concealed himself with a design to decline it By reason of this unfitness in Men to judge for themselves and to be the fountain of their own Authority God hath endued the Governours of his Church with a power as to Ordain so to examine every mans pretence that the Community may receive no damage 2. The Doctrine Those who have a good commission may exceed the bounds of it and in stead of feeding their Flock in wholsom Pastures lead them into Boggs where they will inevitably sink into an eternall Perdition Error is damnable as well as vice All the difference is this is the more open rode that the more concealed and private way to Hell T it 3.11 The Apostle saies that he which is engaged in it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is overturned as a ship when the Keil is uppermost As the man of sin who sits in the Temple of God and under a pretence of Religion vents that which tends to the overthrow of it 2 Thess 2.3 is stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the son of perdition so error which enthrones it self in the conscience and sits there with a pretence of a descent from Heaven 2 Pet. 2.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is no perdition more certain and less apt to meet with disappointment then that which is secured from a disclosure by so plausible a cover as Religion and Divine approbation Errour puts the highest of affronts upon the Divine Majesty He
miscarriage had branded his own Party with 4. The giving Rules for the preserving of Order and Decency There are no heats more quick and pernicious to the Church than those which derive their originall from differences about Order and the circumstances of Religion Adiaphorous and lesser matters like smaller wood will kindle sooner than that which is more substantiall It is well known how violent the contest was betwixt the Eastern and Western Churches about a circumstance of time The vulgar usually are most liberall in the expence of their zeal about what is circumstantiall The fundamentall part of Religion lies deeper and more concealed from their observation Reason like a needle touched with the Magnet hath such a Position that its aspect naturally is towards those Principles which are self-evident and may be stiled the poles of Truth and therefore so long as it is conversant about Propositions which have not an immediate connexion with them it is apt to tremble and vary and not to determine the same way in all This variety in the thoughts of men when disclosed produceth a dislike betwixt them He who dissents from another declares that he believes himself to be wiser then he in that particular and by consequence attributes to him some degree of Folly with which imputation none are well pleased This dislike being heated with passionate reflexions is presently sublimated and boiled up into an enmity An enmity upon the first occasion will break out and disclose it self in an open combustion So that the Church must necessarily perish if she be denied the priviledge which is essentiall to all Communities namely a Power to preserve her self and extinguish her flames by a prudent determination The holy Scripture delivers the Essentials of Religion in particular Precepts the circumstantials and matters of Order in generall The Churches determination upon some particulars in a congruity and conformity to the generall Command is no addition to the Rule but an extraction from it of what before was virtually contained in it He makes no addition to a Mass of gold who beats it out into severall pieces Neither is it prejudiciall to any liberty which those who embrace the Doctrine of Christ are bound to maintain The restraint is laid onely upon the outward Man who is limited in respect of use and not upon the Judgement which is the proper seat of Liberty Neither is our Duty to comply with it lessened by any obligation to comport with the infirmity of the Weak It is usually said that the Load-stone will not draw in the presence of a Diamond When these two injunctions to obey Authority and to yeeld to the weak meet together and both cannot be observed the last which is certainly the less must lose its Energy and according to the true intent of the Legislator give place to the greater Those who make the objection usually conceive that Governours through weakness want of insight into their Duty make such determinations and then if there be so much Charity left as to believe they are Christians the weak will be offended as well by our not obeying as by obeying We standing equally poised betwixt both are undoubtedly bound to prefer our weak Brother who hath Authority on his side before him who hath none 5. The censuring those who neglect the Order which is agreed upon The smalness of the thing commanded is no just Plea against the equity of a Censure in case of Disobedience The publick interest being more valuable then any private concern and the Authority of Governours being the genuine means conducing to its support the justice of a penalty is not to be estimated solely by the intrinsick nature of the crime but by the malevolent aspect it hath upon these two and the degrees of inconvenience and damage which they receive from it A lesser crime in some circumstances may be more detrimentall and less agreeable to the interest of the Community than a greater in other And the less the thing is which is commanded and not submitted to the greater is the contempt of that Authority which imposeth it He which will break with another for a small matter declares that his respects to him are not of the first magnitude As the Authority of a Governour is more signally owned by a conformity to his positive Commands which have their sole dependence upon his will then to his naturall which are the dictates of universall Reason for in the first case it is singly and alone acknowledged in the second it is so blended with the reason of the thing that it is not easily perceived to which of them the agnition is directed so likewise the Rule of opposition will justifie this conclusion that it is more disowned by such a disobedience And now I have done with the Disease which S. Paul and S. Barnabas did suppose their Brethren to be obnoxious too and the Remedy namely an Apostolicall or Episcopall Authority expressed in Visiting of them Nothing remains but to remind our selves of the Obligation we lie under which is to be servent in Prayer diligent in our Watch that we fall not into those distempers which the defects of Nature the imperfection of our State the policy of the Tempter are ready to betray us to And that we demean our selves with such due and becoming regards towards the Authority which was given by the eternall Father to his Son by the Son to his Apostles by the Apostles to the Universall Church by the Universall Church recommended to us that in the great Day of Visitation when the Bishop of our Souls shall appear with his glorious retinue to take an account of our deportment in this sublunary State we may be found not in the number of them who have despised Dominion spoke evil of Dignities but of those whose Conversation hath been agreeable to the methods of Supernall Wisdom which is pure and peaceable gentle and easie to be intreated Which that all of us may be endued with We beseech thee O Lord to free our Minds from prejudice our Affections from partiality our Consciences from errour And bless us with all Spirituall Blessings in Christ To whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be eternally ascribed all Honour and Glory FINIS ERRATA P. 9. lin 1. read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 10. lin 4. read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 46. lin 32. read in a matter
THE REASON OF Episcopall Inspection Asserted in a SERMON At a VISITATION in Cambridge By JOHN TEMPLER D. D. CAMBRIDGE Printed by John Hayes Printer to the University for William Morden Bookseller 1676. REVERENDO Admodum in Christo Patri Doctissimoque Antistiti ac Domino D. PETRO Episcopo Eliensi Concionem Hanc In Summae Observantiae Symbolum Humillimè Dicat Dedicatque J. T. Imprimatur Isaac Barrow Procan Joseph Beaumont Richard Minshull Theoph. Dillingham Cambridge Octob. 3. 1676. A Visitation-Sermon Act. 15. ver 36. Paul said unto Barnabas let us go again and visit our Brethren in every City in which we have preached the Word of the Lord and see how they do THe sacred Oracles make a tender to our view of two kinds of Visitations The first held by Men Samuel whose concerns were Ecclesiasticall as well as Civil 1 Sam. 7.16 2 Chron. 17.8 did every Year visit in Bethel Gilgal and Mispeh Jehoshaphat in his third year did commissionate the Priests and Levites to do the like in all the cities of Judah The second by God himself We read of the Time Jer. 8.12 11.23 Isa 10.3 the Year the Day of his Visitation He being eminently delighted with order has formed the intellectual part of the sublunary world like the Ark of Noah into three Stories Oeconomicall Politicall Ecclesiasticall The tuition of them he has committed to men and expects from them a prudent care to prevent a departure from the design and import of their primitive Institution If they shall neglect an inspection into those irregularities which menace divine order with dissolution it is the usuall method of Heaven to appoint a Day of Visitation and to manifest displeasure against the Community by some signall calamity The connivance of Governours makes the exorbitances of private persons the sins of the Community and though the punishment of particular men may be deferred to a future state yet Communities having no resurrection in the world to come may justly expect the fruits of their delinquency in this present life St Paul and Barnabas well understanding all this and being jealous lest some errours in their absence might be crept into the doctrine and conversation of those Churches which they had newly planted for the pacifying the solicitude of their own minds the conservation of Order the prevention of divine displeasure they resolve upon the Visitation recorded in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us visit our Brethren In the precedent Verses of the Chapter we have a description of the first Christian Council in this of a most solemn Visitation The Church being disquieted with a controversie raised by the believing Jews the Apostles and Elders did assemble together at Jerusalem in order to the determining of it Every one of them singly was a Star devoted by his office to lead men to Christ but now being gathered together and condensed into a Council they become a most bright and glorious Constellation every way prepared by the emanations of light to guide the Church in this obscure concernment Their authority was so illustrious and commanding that their decree was received where the debate first began with testimonies of universall joy and satisfaction If any did retain their former sentiments yet they were so pious and modest as to keep them to themselves and not to hazard the peace of the Church by an imprudent publication After the Apostle had seen the good effects of the Council he resolves upon this Visitation Though St Barnabas differed from him in the election of an Assistant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet he fully conspires in the thing Oecum in 15. c. Act. His motion was entertained without the least disgust Paul said unto Barnabas let us go again and visit our Brethren in every city where we have preached the Word of the Lord and see how they do The Text divides it self into these parts 1. The Visiters St Paul and St Barnabas 2. The action to be performed at the Visitation an authoritative Inspection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. The persons to be visited the Brethren 4. The place where the Visitation is to be held in every City where we have preached the Word of the Lord. 5. The end and design of the Visitation to see how they do 1. The Visiters While our blessed Lord had his residence upon the earth he did not deposite the regiment of the Church in the hands of others but kept it in his own and therefore he is stiled the Apostle Heb. 3.1 and Bishop 1 Pet. 2.25 To this function he received his Consecration when the Holy Ghost descended upon him Act. 10.38 The Twelve he chose to be Assistants to him in order to the gaining of Proselytes but did not during his life set them upon their Thrones Though this power was promised yet the fruition was suspended till the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And therefore after his resurrection amidst his preparations for his Ascension in his triumphall chariot He conferred this most inestimable Gift As the Father sent him Joh. 20.21 so he sent them As he was anointed by the Spirit and set apart to his Apostolicall Office so he breathed it upon them and solemnly ordained them to a succession When the right of Judas was extinguisht by an act of violence which he did to himself and the place of St James made vacant by that which he received from Herod Matthias by the speciall designation of the Holy Ghost was appointed to succeed the first St Paul and Barnabas the second Even as Ephraim and Manasses were substituted in the place of Joseph A power being vested in these two to govern the Church they could give themselves no contentment untill they had exerted it to her best advantage And therefore a resolution is taken up to make a solemn Visitation And Paul said unto Barnabas c. 2. Here is the Action to be performed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word imports a strict view a most diligent and solicitous scrutiny 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 denotes the intention and vigour of the Action They took an exact Survey What they found to be enormous did not escape their condemnation The Apostle in his journey was not without his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his hand What was discovered to be congruous to the rules of Christian conversation they did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 confirm and encourage The Canon of the Council of Jerusalem they delivered with patheticall exhortations to a submission How potent and efficacious is divine and celestiall influence He that before procured letters from the High Priest in order to the disanimating those which embraced the Faith of Christ now carries about the letters of the Synod in order to their confirmation 3. Here are the Persons to be visited our Brethren By whom we are to understand not onely the Laity but the Elders who challenge a principall interest in this relation and are frequently represented in the new Testament under this Character
last Period All the hesitancy is about the first and yet upon a deliberate reflexion the matter will be beyond dispute This is made up of three Centuries the first of which must necessarily be resigned to the Apostles and their Delegates who undoubtedly did exercise an Episcopall Authority as we have before demonstrated S. John the last of them who lived to the end of it and wrote his Revelation about the ninety seventh Year describes the Churches of Asia every one with his tutelary Angel to superintend and govern all as well Teachers as People and left them in Trajans time under this imparity As for the third Century we have undoubted instances of a like inequality In the Church of Alexandria Hierom. in Apol ad Ruff. Ep. 79. Pam. Epist 38. ad Caldon c. Demetrius the Bishop excommunicated Origen a Presbyter In the Church of Carthage Cyprian passed the same censure upon Felicissimus His taking up a resolution not to act without the counsel of his Presbyters was but a voluntary and prudent accommodation to some circumstances which were peculiar to him in his Election and no prejudice to his Hierarchicall Power which he abundantly asserts to be vested in him by a Divine Institution In the Church of Antioch Eus H. E. l. 7. c. 22. the deportment of the Bishops towards Paulus Samosatenus in suppressing his Heresie is an evident demonstration of the existence of such Persons at that time In the Church of Rome Eus c. 6. c. 35. Novatianus a Presbyter his procuring three Bishops to consecrate him that he might be in a capacity upon equall terms to enter the lists with Cornelius assures us that they had then a Consecration distinct from the Ordination of Elders Dionysius's confining the Presbyters to particular Congregations Platin. in vita Dionys and setting out the just limits of their Parishes can evince no less then a Superiority over them In the last part of the second Century he that reads the contest betwixt Victor and the Asian Bishops about the celebration of Easter the interposals of Polycrates B. of Ephesus Eus H. l. 5. c. 23 24. and Irenaeus Bishop of Lyons in order to the making a composure must do a great deal of violence to his own understanding before he will be able to perswade himself that there was not at that time such an order of Men very well known in the World This is so evident that Blondell himself doth freely acknowledge an Episcopall Power to be lodged in a single Person about the fortieth year of the second Century So that granting that the Apostles and their Suffraganes did retain the Regiment of the Church in their own hands during the first which cannot be denied by any who impartially peruse the records of the New Testament the question which hath given so much Molestation to the Christian World will be reduced to this state Whether the Church for the space of sixteen hundred years and upwards hath been without the Apostolicall or Episcopall Government for the space of Forty onely Should we grant that which can never be proved namely that the Stream of Apostolicall Authority did like the river Guadian in Spain conceal it self and run under ground for this little time this would no more be an argument to induce us to believe that the use of it is to be superseded then it was to the Israelites that the Regall power was to be laid aside because of the interregnums which did frequently put a demurr upon the succession But secondly it doth not appear that there hath been any such interregnum in the Church and Kingdom of Christ Notwithstanding the obscurities of the History of that time yet there are catalogues extant of the chiefest Cities as Jerusalem Antioch Alexandria Rome wherein are named the single Persons as distinct from and superior to Presbyters who were interested in the Power of Inspection during the space which is spoken of and if it was thus in the greater Cities it is not hard to divine how it was in the less The Unity of the Church includes a Uniformity of Government The first who leads the Van in the catalogue is either an Apostle or Evangelist as S. Peter in that of Antioch S. Mark in that of Alexandria who undoubtedly were vested in an Episcopall Jurisdiction Those who conclude it are acknowledged by all to have the same Power why it should be denied to those in the middle no good reason can be produced they being represented as having an equall share in the Succession which cannot be except they were in the fruition of the same Power A succession but not in the same thing is like a Resurrection but not of the same Body which is no resurrection at all Let us suppose amongst the nine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at Athens one of them the first Year to be vested in a Superiority over his Colleagues as an Apostle or an Evangelist was over the Elders and the next the constitution to be metamorphized into a Parity and to continue for forty Years as Blondell conceives the Ecclesiasticall equality did and then after the expiration of that Term the former imparity to be introduced again It would be an incongruity scarcely to be paralleled to represent the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the second Year as a Successor to him of the first he enjoying nothing of his Power or the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the forty first to him of the fortieth hē enjoying a Power paramount which the other was never acquainted with This would be as inconvenient as if we should make a list of the Kings of Rome and after Tarquinius Superbus place Junius Brutus who was next to him in power but of a very different nature the Government being changed and the Community now under Consuls It is true there may be catalogues of single Persons succeeding one another in a Priority of Order as well as of Power but this is nothing to our present case Here are lists before us and all in them represented to be upon equall terms as having a fruition of the same Immunities and the first and last are confessed to have a Superiority of Power over their Colleagues from whence a computation may be easily made what we may conclude concerning the rest Those who say though the Apostles stand at the head of the Catalogues yet they are not included in them contradict the sense of primitive Antiquity which accounts all in the lists to be Successours to the Apostles A Successour a Predecessour being relatives which go always together if the Successour be in the roll the Predecessour must necessarily be so It will not be easie to disappoint the prevalency of this argument if the Catalogues may be admitted as Authentick and why they should not I see no just reason The variations in them are not uncapable of a reconciliation and they argue strongly that they are not the fictions of a private Invention Forgeries use
Divine right of it By the same reason we may prove that the power of a Father of a family hath not its foundation in a Divine Law because it receives an augmentation as his Children encrease and falls under divers Modifications according to the various Stations they are placed in or that the Theocracy recorded in the Old Testament did not derive its originall from Heaven because it was of a larger extent when the People of Israel were settled in their apartments in the land of Canaan then when they lived in the wilderness altogether 3. The conforming Ecclesiasticall Government to the Civil is no just presumption against a Divine originall It doth not appear but that it was the Will of God that the New Jerusalem which came down from Heaven should conform it self to the mould it fell into When the Church was first planted it found the world cantoned into Provinces in every Province a Metropolis inferior Cities suburbicarian Regions in every Metropolis a Proconsul in every City a Defensor upon which the suburbicarian Regions did depend The imitation of this civil Disposition in placing a Bishop in every City answerable to the Defensor in every Metropolis an Arch-Bishop sutable to the Proconsul being of a eminent use to invite the People to a ready obedience they being by custom habituated to the like Regiment in civil concernments and likewise giving the Governours a singular advantage to obtain the ends of their Constitution by reason of the daily confluences to those Places upon secular accounts there is a high degree of probability that it was sutable to the will of him whose constitutions are always conformable to the deepest reason Some footsteps it we find as early as the New Testament Churches were planted in Metropoles as Corinth Thessalonica Antioch upon which those who in any part of the Province entertained the belief of the Gospel had some dependence The second Epistle to the Corinthians is inscribed to all the Saints which are in all Achaia The first to the Thessalonians hath a peculiar aspect upon all in Macedonia C. 3.10 The letter of the Apostles and Elders to Antioch is directed to the Brethren in Syria and Silicia Achaia being the Province of Corinth Macedonia of Thessalonica Syria and Silicia of Antioch Why these Epistles sent to the Metropolis about Ecclesiasticall matters should be inscribed to all in any part of the Province and no other though all the Scripture was written for our learning there must be some peculiar reason Rom. 15.4 and none can be rendred more congruous than this that all Christians in every part of it whether Cities or suburbicarian Regions did depend upon the Metropolis in point of Government As the Romans when they subdued a Country by force of Arms did constitute there a civil Province so the Apostles when they had made a Spirituall conquest by the weapons of their warfare an Ecclesiasticall Therefore S. Peter when he writes to the converted in the dispersion directs his Epistle to them in their distinct Provinces Galatia Cappadocia Asia Bithynia And when S. Paul mentions the contribution of the Churches he characterizeth them by the name of their Provinces where their abode was It hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia Rom. 15.26 Achaia was ready a year ago 2 Cor. 9.2 This hypothesis gives the most intelligible account why all the Churches in Asia are reduced to seven No doubt there were more congregations within that compass Acts 19. v. 10. All that dwelt in Asia are said to hear the Word of the Lord and the Preachers were S. John and S. Paul who were endued with a power of working Miracles and spake in the demonstration of the Divine Spirit The Cities from which these Churches had their denomination being Metroples upon which the lesser with the suburbicarian Regions did depend in point of Government and make but one Community the Churches in them and in the Metropolis symbolizing with this temper in the State are represented but as one Church That the immunities of a Metropolis did belong to Ephesus Nat. Hist l. 5. c. 29. c. 30. Pro. Geo. l. 5. c. 2. Smyrna Sardis Pergamos Laodicea is asserted by Pliny to Thyatira by Ptolomy to Philadelphia by the Greek Acts of the Council of Constantinople under Mennas Actio quints Orig of Metropolitans p. 69. Though Pliny doth not attribute this honour to Thyatira yet he doth not deny it The defect of his testimony is fully supplyed by Ptolomy who is not his inferior in point of Authority Philadelphia's being placed in the Notitiae under Sardis is no demonstration that it was not a Mother-city The same individuall may be a Mother in one respect and a Daughter in another The Provinces themselves were not all equall and by consequence the Mother-city in one Province might be inferior in dignity and dependent in power upon the Metropolis of another We need go no further for an instance then our own Nation Of the two Provinces into which it is divided one is acknowledged to have a Superiority and some power over the other All this makes it appear that the conforming Ecclesisticall Government to the Civil is no prejudice to the Divine originall of it The Vine which was planted by a Divine hand under the civil Power as a wall of defence did naturally according to the will of Him who planted it adapt it self to the mode of that which it grew against The rain which descends from heaven conforms to the figure of the vessel it falls into 4. Ecclesiasticall concerns were managed according to the decrees of Councils but not all of them The ancient Church was governed by a double rule the Canon of Scripture and of Councils The last consists either of declarations of what is contained in Scripture or else constitutions to restrain liberty in those things which the Sacred Oracles have left to our choice either to do or not to do As for Prelacy the essence of which lies in a Superiority of an Ecclesiasticall person over Elders within a certain precinct it was ever owned by the Church as agreeable to the Canon of Scripture Councils suppose it to be grounded upon a right more early then themselves and never give it a place in the Catalogue of those things which may be or not be the object of their determination He who thinks fit to consult the Code of the universall Church cannot remain unacquainted with the truth of this Assertion 5. The Churches acknowledgement of her subordination to the civil Power is reconcileable with a belief that her Government is grounded upon a Divine Right Oeconomicall Regiment which doth undoubtedly derive its origen from Heaven is in the exercise of it subordinate to the civil Power A Father of a family though he governs his progeny by vertue of the law of God yet is accountable to his Prince and limitable by his decrees in the execution of his Authority Eph. 3.15 The Churches being
that believeth not maketh him a liar It imports an Hyperbole of ingratitude God having enobled us above his other creatures and placed the difference in Reason and Understanding if we keep not this conformable to him but suffer it to be imbased with sentiments which are repugnant to that eternall Reason which is in the Divine Intellect we are unthankfull to him in the most exalted degree There is no excuse of importance enough to acquit us from guilt the fault originally emerging from the voluntary and uncompelled motions of the Will God hath made a plentifull provision for our Information The holy Scripture is a perfect Digest of the divine Pleasure sufficient to instruct even the Man of God in the concerns of Salvation Therefore in case he errs about propositions of Divinity he hath nothing to charge but his own will in whose power it was to have suspended his assent and continued the inquiry till he had been disintangled and got loose from all objections When any object gains such a degree of clarity there is no fear of deception We have a security from the supream Veracity with which it is not consistent that our perceptive faculty should be so formed as to be imposed upon when the object is perspicuous Error having so pernicious and malevolent an aspect upon that end for which the Church is constituted our Blessed Lord hath left a Power with it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to stop the mouths of those who are Propagatours of it Tit. 1.11 If any pretend that they cannot alter their Intellects at pleasure yet they must confess that they have a Power to lay a restraint upon their speech and comply with S. Pauls rule hast thou Faith have it to thy self The peace of the Church being more valuable then any private Sentiment it cannot but be a duty to suppress it when the publication will certainly hazard the loss of that Peace 3. The lives Those who are Orthodox in their doctrine may be unorthodox in their conversation Like Penelope what they do in the day they may undo at night in the works of darkness Theophylact in his Commentary upon this Text he opened his mouth and taught Mat. 5.2 makes a query whether the first words be not superfluous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He answers No because he did teach when he did not open his mouth namely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by his life There is a preaching in Life as well as in Doctrine If Religion be taught by the last and debauchery by the first actions having an aptitude to make a deeper impression than words there is some probability they may prevail and disappoint the end of what is spoken Though the unworthiness of a Minister doth not make void his Calling Art râ—l 26. and disoblige us from using his Ministry he speaking not in his own but in the Name of Christ and the efficacy of his Function depending not upon his dignity but the energy of Divine Grace A vineyard may be watered with a pipe of lead as well as of silver Seed may grow although sown by an impure hand A seal of Brass may make as fair an impression as one of Gold Yet notwithstanding when this Sacred Office is imbarked in such a vessel it is liable to meet with many remora's before it can arrive at its proper haven namely the Conscience The Didacticall part of the discourse of such a Person though never so cogent is usually entertained by all vulgar Capacities who more consider what he is that speaks then what is spoken with the same resentment that a Jewel is which is found in the dirt The feculent matter about it communicates a discredit to it and conceals the true value from all but a few Artists When one of a bad life had given excellent counsell to the Lacedaemonians about their Common-wealth Gell. noct Att. l. 18. c. 3. his improbity did so much disparage the advice though absolutely necessary that it might not be permitted to pass into a Law as it came from him but one eminently vertuous though of no good Elocution was desired to speak the same thing in such words as he could and then unanimously as from him the stamp of Authority was impressed upon it What Ignatius speaks of the Bishop of Philadelphia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is very applicable here A good man when silent can do more than he who is bad although he speak in a Stile enameled with the richest Tropes and Figures in Rhetorick As the Didacticall part of his discourse is apt to be neglected so the Elencticall will in all probability be treated with scorn and contempt To reprove is an act which savours of Authority and no man can abide the another should exercise Authority over him in that thing in which they are both equall If reprehension doth any good it produceth sorrow in him who is the object of it The pleasure which hearers take to consider that he which speaks lies under the same guilt which he reproves in them prevents all pensive reflexions Grief and delight are not at the same time reconcileable in the same subject Men by a naturall temperament are disposed to put the most favourable construction upon their own actions Reproof bearing a direct opposition to this inclination is generally entertained with distast Upon this account he which is concerned in stead of being meliorated by it is under strong temptations from his vindicative appetite to meditate and contrive revenge Therefore if he which gave it be not fenced with iron and fortified with an impenetrable innocence the son of Belial will be sure to invade him and draw his arrows so deep as not onely to wound him but likewise through his sides that Sacred Function which he hath taken upon him These mischiefs coming to the Church by a bad life the Governours are endued with an Authority to inquire as into the Commission and Doctrine so likewise into the lives of those who are the objects of their Inspection that by their pious admonitions and paternall censures they may regulate and amend what is enormous The not exerting this power was the sin of Eli the High Priest When Hophni and Phineas by their licentious deportment had made themselves vile or as it is in the Hebrew accursed that is liable to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or curse which use to pass upon those who were excommunicated Nehem. 13.25 he as the High Priest did neglect to discharge his duty and restrain them from coming to the publick Congregation His private correption recorded 1 Sam. 2.23 is so full and emphaticall that no defect discovers it self to the most piercing and criticall Eye This is the Power which S. Paul used in delivering the incestuous Corinthian to Satan The Greek Interpreters believe that he was one of the Teachers of that Church He being a leader in the Schism the adverse Party was puffed up at his fall and highly pleased with the disgrace which his