men to know and that many things are in such sort necessary the knowledge whereof is by the light of Nature impossible to be attained Whereupon it followeth that either all flesh is excluded from possibility of salvation which to think were most barbarous or else that God hath by supernatural means revealed the way of life so far forth as doth suffice For this cause God hath so many times and ways spoken to the sons of men Neither hath he by speech onely but by writing also instructed and taught his Church The cause of writing hath been to the end that things by him revealed unto the World might have the longer continuance and the greater certainty of assurance by how much that which standeth on Record hath in both those respects preheminence above that which passeth from hand to hand and hath no Pens but the Tongues no Book but the ears of Men to record it The several Books of Scripture having had each some several occasion and particular purpose which caused them to be written the Contents thereof are according to the exigence of that special end whereunto they are intended Hereupon it groweth that every Book of holy Scripture doth take out of all kindes of truth Natural Historical Foreign Supernatural so much as the matter handled requireth Now for as much as there have been Reasons alledged sufficient to conclude that all things necessary unto salvation must be made known and that God himself hath therefore revealed his Will because otherwise men could not have known so much as is necessary his surceasing to speak to the World since the publishing of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the delivery of the same in writing is unto us a manifest token that the way of salvation is now sufficiently opened and that we need no other means for our full instruction then God hath already furnished us withal The main drift of the whole New Testament is that which St. Iohn setteth down as the purpose of his own History These things are written that ye might believe that Iesus is Christ the Son of God and that in believing ye might have life through his Name The drift of the Old that which the Apostle mentioneth to Timothy The holy Scriptures are able to make thee wise unto salvation So that the general end both of Old and New is one the difference between them consisting in this That the Old did make wise by teaching salvation through Christ that should come the New by teaching that Christ the Saviour is come and that Jesus whom the Jews did crucifie and whom God did raise again from the dead is he When the Apostle therefore affirmeth unto Timothy that the Old was able to make him wise to salvation it was not his meaning that the Old alone can do this unto us which live sithence the publication of the New For he speaketh with presupposal of the Doctrine of Christ known also unto Timothy and therefore first it is said Continue thou in those things which thou hast learned and art perswaded knowing of whom thou hast been taught them Again those Scriptures he granteth were able to make him wise to salvation but he addeth through the Faith which is in Christ. Wherefore without the Doctrine of the New Testament teaching that Christ hath wrought the Redemption of the World which Redemption the Old did foreshew he should work it is not the former alone which can on our behalf perform so much as the Apostle doth avouch who presupposeth this when he magnifieth that so highly And as his words concerning the Books of ancient Scripture do not take place but with presupposal of the Gospel of Christ embraced so our own words also when we extol the compleat sufficiency of the whole intire Body of the Scripture must in like sort be understood with this caution That the benefit of Natures Light be not thought excluded as unnecessary because the necessity of a Diviner Light is magnified There is in Scripture therefore no defect but that any man what place or cailing soever he hold in the Church of God may have thereby the light of his Natural Understanding so perfected that the one being relieved by the other there can want no part of needful instruction unto any good work which God himself requireth be it Natural or Supernatural belonging simply unto men as men or unto men as they are united in whatsoever kinde of Society It sufficeth therefore that Nature and Scripture do serve in such full sort that they both joyntly and not severally either of thou be so compleat that unto Everlasting felicity we need not the knowlegde of any thing more then these two may easily furnish our mindes with on all sides And therefore they which adde Traditions as a part of Supernatural necessary Truth have not the Truth but are in Error For they onely plead that whatsoever God revealeth as necessary for all Christian men to do or believe the same we ought to embrace whether we have received it by writing or otherwise which no man denieth when that which they should confirm who claim so great reverence unto Traditions is that the same Traditions are necessarily to be acknowledged divine and holy For we do not reject them onely because they are not in the Scripture but because they are neither in Scripture nor can otherwise sufficiently by any Reason be proved to be a God That which is of God and may be evidently proved to be so we deny not but it hath in his kinde although unwritten yet the self same force and authority with the written Laws of God It is by ours acknowledged That the Apostles did in every Church institute and ordain some Rites and Customs serving for the seemliness of Church Regiment which Rites and Customs they have not committed unto writing Those Rites and Customs being known to be Apostolical and having the nature of things changeable were no less to be accounted of in the Church then other things of the like degree that is to say capable in like sort of alteration although set down in the Apostles writings For both being known to be Apostolical it is not the manner of delivering them unto the Church but the Author from whom they proceed which doth give them their force and credit 15. Laws being imposed either by each man upon himself or by a Publick Society upon the particulars thereof or by all the Nations of Men upon every several Society or by the Lord himself upon any or every of these There is not amongst these four kindes any one but containeth sundry both Natural and Positive Laws Impossible it is but that they should fall into a number of gross Errors who onely take such Laws for Positive as have been made or invented of men and holding this Position hold also that all Positive and none but Positive Laws are mutable Laws Natural do always binde Laws Positive not so but onely
wisely considered that the Body is of far more worth than the Rayment Whereupon for fear of dangerous inconveniences it hath been thought good to adde That sometimes Authority must and may with good conscience be obeyed even where Commandment is not given upon good ground That the duty of Preaching is one of the absolute Commandements of God and therefore ought not to be forsaken for the bare inconveniency of a thing which in the own nature is indifferent That one of the foulest spots is the Surplice is the offence which is giveth in occasioning the weak to fall and the wicked to be confirmed in their wickedness yet hereby there is no unlawfulness proved but only an inconveniency that such things should be established howbeit no such Inconveniency neither as may not be born with That when God doth flatly command us to abstain from things is their own Nature indifferent if they offend our weak Brethren his meaning is not we should obey his Commandement herein unless we may do it and not leave undone that which the Lord hath absolutely commanded Always provided That whosoever will enjoy the benefit of this Dispensation to wear a scandalous Badge of Idolatry rather than forsake his Pastoral charge do as occasion serveth teach nevertheless still the incommodity of the thing it self admonish the weak Brethren that they be not and pray unto God so to strengthen them that they may not be offended thereat So that whereas before they which had Authority to institute Rites and Ceremonies were denyed to have power to institute this it is now confest that this they may also lawfully but not so conveniently appoint they did well before and as they ought who had it in utter detestation and hatred as a thing abominable they now do well which think it may be both born and used with a very good Conscience before he which by wearing it were sure to win thousands unto Christ ought not to do it if there were but one which might be offended now though it be with the offence of thousands yet it may be done rather than that should be given over whereby notwithstanding we are not certain we shall gain one the Examples of Ezechias and of Paul the Charge which was given to the Jews by Esay the strict Apostolical prohibition of things indifferent whensoever they may be scandalous were before so forcible Laws against our Ecclesiastical Attire as neither Church nor Common-wealth could possibly make void which now one of far less authority than either hath found how to frustrate by dispensing with the breach of inferiour Commandments to the end that the greater may be kept But it booteth them not thus to soder up a broken Cause whereof their first and last discourses will fall asunder do what they can Let them ingenuously confess that their Invectives were too bitter their Arguments too weak the matter not so dangerous as they did imagin If those alleged testimonies of Scripture did indeed concern the matter to such effect as was pretended that which they should inferr were unlawfulness because they were cited as Prohibitions of that thing which indeed they concern If they prove not our attire unlawful because in truth they concern it not it followeth that they prove not any thing against it and consequently not so much as uncomeliness or incoveniency Unless therefore they be able throughly to resolve themselves that there is no one Sentence in all the Scriptures of God which doth controul the wearing of it in such manner and to such purpose as the Church of England alloweth unless they can fully rest and settle their mindes in this most sound perswasion that they are not to make themselves the only competent Judges of decency in these cases and to despise the solemn judgement of the whole Church preferring before it their own conceit grounded only upon uncertain suspicions and fears whereof if there were at the first some probable cause when things were but raw and tender yet now very tract of time hath it self worn that out also unless I say thus resolved in minde they hold their Pastoral Charge with the comfort of a good Conscience no way grudging at that which they do or doing that which they think themselves bound of duty to reprove how should it possibly help or further them in their course to take such occasions as they say are requisite to be taken and in pensive manner to tell their Audience Brethren our hearts desire is that we might enjoy the full liberty of the Gospel as in other reformed Churches they do elsewhere upon whom the heavy hand of Authority hath imposed no grievous burthen But such is the misery of these our days that so great happiness we cannot look to attain unto Were it so that the equity of the Law of Moses could prevail or the zeal of Ezechias be found in the hearts of those Guides and Governours under whom we live or the voyce of God's own Prophets be duly heard or the Examples of the Apostles of Christ be followed yea or their Precepts be answered with full and perfect obedience these abominable Raggs polluted Garments marks and Sacraments of Idolatry which Power as you see constraineth us to wear and Conscience to abhor had long ere this day been removed both out of sight and out of memory But as now things stand behold to what narrow streights we are driven On the one side we fear the words of our Saviour Christ Woe be to them by whom scandal and offence cometh on the other side at the Apostles speech we cannot but quake and tremble If I preach not the Gospel woe be unto me Being thus hardly beset we see not any other remedy but to hazzard your Souls the one way that we may the other way endeavour to save them Touching the the offence of the Weak therefore we must adventure it If they perish they perish Our Pastoral charge is God's most absolute Commandment Rather than that shall be taken from us we are resolved to take this filth and to put it on although we judge it to be so unfit and inconvenient that as oft as ever we pray or preach so arrayed before you we do as much as in us lyeth to cast away your Souls that are weak-minded and to bring you unto endless perdition But we beseech you Brethren have a care of your own safety take heed to your steps that ye be not taken in those snares which we lay before you And our Prayer in your behalf to Almighty God is that the poyson which we offer you may never have the power to do you harm Advice and counsel is best sought for at their hands which either have no part at all in the Cause whereof they instruct or else are so farr ingaged that themselves are to bear the greatest adventure in the success of their own Counsels The one of which two Considerations maketh men the less respective and the other the more
the days of whose departure out of the World are to the Church of Christ as the Birth and Coronation days of Kings or Emperors therefore especial choice being made of the very flower of all occasions in this kinde there are annual selected times to meditate of Christ glorified in them which had the honor to suffer for his sake before they had age and ability to know him glorified in them which knowing him as Stephen had the sight of that before death whereinto so acceptable death did lead glorified in those Sages of the East that came from far to adore him and were conducted by strange light glorified in the second Elias of the World sent before him to prepare his way glorified in every of those Apostles whom it pleased him to use as Founders of his Kingdom here glorified in the Angels as in Michael glorified in all those happy Souls that are already possessed of Heaven Over and besides which number not great the rest be but four other days heretofore annexed to the Feast of Easter and Pentecost by reason of general Baptism usual at those two Feasts which also is the cause why they had not as other days any proper name given them Their first Institution was therefore through necessity and their present continuance is now for the greater honor of the Principals whereupon they still attend If it be then demanded Whether we observe these times as being thereunto bound by force of Divine Law or else by the onely Positive Ordinances of the Church I answer to this That the very Law of Nature it self which all men confess to be Gods Law requireth in general no less the Sanctification of Times then of Places Persons and Things unto Gods honor For which cause it hath pleased him heretofore as of the rest so of times likewise to exact some parts by way of perpetual homage never to be dispensed withal nor remitted Again To require some other parts of time with as strict exaction but for less continuance and of the rest which were left arbibitrary to accept what the Church shall in due consideration consecrate voluntarily unto like Religious uses Of the first kinde amongst the Jews was the Sabbath-day of the second Those Feasts which are appointed by the Law of Moses the Feast of Dedication invented by the Church standeth in the number of the last kinde The Moral Law requiring therefore a seventh part throughout the age of the whole World to be that way employed although with us the day be changed in regard of a new Revolution begun by our Saviour Christ yet the same proportion of time continueth which was before because in reference to the benefit of Creation and now much more of Renovation thereunto added by him which was Prince of the World to come we are bound to accompt the Sanctification of one day in seven a duty which Gods Immutable Law doth exact for ever The rest they say we ought to abolish because the continuance of them doth nourish wicked Superstition in the mindes of men besides they are all abused by Papists the enemies of God yea certain of them as Easter and Pentecost even by the Jews 71. Touching Jews their Easter and Pentecost have with ours as much affinity as Philip the Apostle with Philip the Macedonian King As for imitation of Papists and the breeding of Superstition they are now become such common guests that no man can think it discourteous to let them go as they came The next is a rare Observation and Strange you shall finde if you mark it as it doth deserve to be noted well that many thousands there are who if they have vertuously during those times behaved themselves if their devotion and zeal in Prayer have been fervent their attention to the Word of God such as all Christian men should yield imagine that herein they have performed a good duty which notwithstanding to think is a very dangerous Error in as much as the Apostle Saint Paul hath taught That we ought not to keep our Easter as the Jews did for certain days but in the Unleavened Bread of Sincerity and of Truth to feast continually Whereas the restraint of Easter to a certain number of days causeth us to rest for a short space in that near consideration of our duties which should be extended throughout the course of our whole lives and so pulleth out of our mindes the Doctrine of Christs Gospel â—re we be aware The Doctrine of the Gospel which here they mean or should mean is That Christ having finished the Law there is no Jewish Paschal Solemnity nor abstinence from sour Bread now required at our hands there is no Leaven which we are bound to cast out but malice sin and wickedness no Bread but the food of sincere Truth wherewith we are tied to celebrate our Passover And seeing no time of sin is granted us neither any intermission of sound belief it followeth That this kinde of feasting ought to endure always But how are standing Festival Solemnities against this That which the Gospel of Christ requireth is the perpetuity of vertuous duties not perpetuity of exercise or action but disposition perpetual and practice as oft as times and opportunities require Just valiant liberal temperate and holy men are they which can whensoever they will and will whensoever they ought execute what their several perfections import If Vertues did always cease to be when they cease to work there should be nothing more pernicious to Vertue then Sleep Neither were it possible that men as Zachary and Elizabeth should in all the Commandments of God walk unreprovable or that the Chain of our Conversation should contain so many Links of Divine Vertues as the Apostles in divers places have reckoned up if in the exercise of each vertue perpetual continuance were exacted at our hands Seeing therefore all things are done in time and many offices are not possible at one and the same time to be discharged duties of all forms must have necessarily their several successions and seasons In which respect the School-men have well and soundly determined That Gods Affirmative Laws and Precepts the Laws that enjoyn any actual duty as Prayer Alms and the like do binde us ad semper velle but not ad semper agere we are tyed to iterate and resume them when need is howbeit not to continue them without any intermission Feasts whether God himself hath ordained them or the Church by that Authority which God hath given they are of Religion such publick services as neither can nor ought to be continued otherwise then onely by iteration Which iteration is a most effectual mean to bring unto full maturity and growth those Seeds of Godliness that these very men themselves do grant to be sown in the hearts of many Thousands during the while that such Feasts are present The constant habit of well-doing is not gotten without the custom of doing well neither can Vertue be made perfect but by
greater then the rest and that with common advice they ought to govern the Church To clear the sense of these words therefore as we have done already the former Laws which the Church from the beginning universally hath observed were some delivered by Christ himself with a charge to keep them till the worlds end as the Law of Baptizing and administring the holy Eucharist some brought in afterwards by the Apostles yet not without the special direction of the Holy Ghost as occasions did arise Of this sort are those Apostolical orders and laws whereby Deacons Widows Virgins were first appointed in the Church This answer to Saint Ierom seemeth dangerous I have qualified it as I may by addition of some words of restraint yet I satisfie not may self in my judgment it would be altered Now whereas Jerom doth term the Government of Bishops by restraint an Apostolical tradition acknowledging thereby the same to have been of the Apostles own institution it may be demanded how these two will stand together namely that the Apostles by divine instinct should be as Jerom confesseth the Authors of that regiment and yet the custome of the Church he accompted for so by Jerom it may seem to be in this place accompted the chiefest prop that upholdeth the same To this we answer That for as much as the whole body of the Church hath power to alter with general consent and upon necessary occasions even the positive law of the Apostles if there be no commandment to the contrary and it manifestly appears to her that change of times have clearly taken away the very reason of Gods first institution as by sundry examples may be most clearly proved what laws the universal Church might change and doth not if they have long continued without any alteration it seemeth that St. Jerom ascribeth the continuance of such positive laws though instituted by God himself to the judgemement of the Church For they which might abrogate a Law and do not are properly said to uphold to establish it and to give it being The Regiment therefore whereof Jerom speaketh being positive and consequently not absolutely necessary but of a changeable nature because there is no Divine voice which in express words forbiddeth it to be changed he might imagine both that it came by the Apostles by very divine appointment at the first and notwithstanding be after a sort said to stand in force rather by the custome of the Church choosing to continue in it than by the necessary constraint of any Commandment from the Word requiring perpetual continuance thereof So that St. Ieroms admonition is reasonable sensible and plain being contrived to this effect The ruling superiority of one Bishop over many Presbyters in each Church is an Order descended from Christ to the Apostles who were themselves Bishops at large and from the Apostles to those whom they in their steads appointed Bishops over particular Countries and Cities and even from those antient times universally established thus many years it hath continued throughout the World for which cause Presbyters must not grudg to continue subject unto their Bishops unless they will proudly oppose themselves against that which God himself ordained by his Apostles and the whole Church of Christ approveth and judgeth most convenient On the other side Bishops albeit they may avouch with conformity of truth that their Authority had thus descended even from the very Apostles themselves yet the absolute and everlasting continuance of it they cannot say that any Commandment of the Lord doth injoyn And therefore must acknowledge that the Church hath power by universal consent upon urgent cause to take it away if thereunto she be constrained through the proud tyrannical and unreformable dealings of her Bishops whose Regiment she hath thus long delighted in because she hath found it good and requisite to be so governed Wherefore lest Bishops forget themselves as if none on earth had Authority to touch their states let them continually bear in mind that it is rather the force of custom whereby the Church having so long found it good to continue under the Regiment of her vertuous Bishops doth still uphold maintain and honour them in that respect than that any such true and heavenly Law can be showed by the evidence whereof it may of a truth appear that the Lord himself hath appointed Presbyters for ever to be under the Regiment of Bishops in what sort soever they behave themselves let this consideration be a bridle unto them let it teach them not to disdain the advice of their Presbyters but to use their authority with so much the greater humility and moderation as a Sword which the Church hath power to take from them In all this there is no leâ—â— why S. Ierom might not think the Authors of Episcopal Regiment to have been the very blessed Apostles themselves directed therein by the special mution of the Holy Ghost which the Ancients all before and besides him and himself also elsewhere being known to hold we are not without better evidence then this to think him in judgement divided both from himself and from them Another Argument that the Regiment of Churches by one Bishop over many Presbyters hath been always held Apostolical may be this We find that throughout all those Cities where the Apostles did plant Christianity the History of times hath noted succession of pastors in the seat of one not of many there being in every such Church evermore many Pastors and the first one in every rank of succession we find to have been if not some Apostle yet some Apostles Disciple By Epiphanius the Bishops of Ierusalem are reckoned down from Iames to Hilarion then Bishop Of them which boasted that they held the same things which they received of such as lived with the Apostles themselves Tertullian speaketh after this sort Let them therefore shew the beginnings of their Churches let them recite their Bishops one by one each in such sort succeeding other that the first Bishop of them have had for his Author and Predecessour some Apostle or at least some Apostolical Person who persevered with the Apostles For so Apostolical Churches are wont to bring forth the evidence of their estates So doth the Church of Smyrna having Polycarp whom Iohn did consecrate Catalogues of Bishops in a number of other Churches Bishops and succeeding one another from the very Apostles times are by Eusebius and Socrates collected whereby it appeareth so clear as nothing in the World more that under them and by their appointment this Order began which maketh many Presbyters subject unto the Regiment of some one Bishop For as in Rome while the civil ordering of the Common-wealth was joyntly and equally in the hands of two Consuls Historical Records concerning them did evermore mention them both and note which two as Collegues succeeded from time to time So there is no doubt but Ecclesiastical antiquity had done the very like had not one Pastors place and
SVNT MELIORA MIHI RICHARDVS HOOKER Exoniensis scholaris sociusque Collegij Corp. Chrisli Oxon̄ deinde Londi Templi interioris in sacris magister Rectorque huius Ecelesiae scripsit octo libros Politiae Ecclesiasticae Angelicanae quorum tres desiderantur Obijt An̄ Dō M.DC. III. AEtat suae L. Posuit hoc pijssimo viro monumentum Ano. Dō M. DC XXX V Guli Comper Armiger in Christo Iesu quem genuit per Evangelium 1 Corinth 4. 15. OF THE LAWES of ECCLESIASTICAL Politie Eight Bookes By RICHARD HOOKER LONDON Printed for Andrew Crooke at the greene Dragon in S Pauls Church-yard 1666. THE WORKS OF Mr. Richard Hooker That Learned and Judicious Divine IN EIGHT BOOKS OF Ecclesiastical Polity Compleated out of his own Manuscrips Never before Published With an account of his LIFE and DEATH Dedicated to the Kings most Excellency Majesty CHARLES IId. By whose ROYAL FATHER near His Martyrdom the former Five Books then onely extant were commended to His Dear Children as an excellent means to satisfie Private Scruples and settle the Publick Peace of this Church and Kingdom JAM 3. 17. The Wisdom from above is first pure then peaceable gentle easie to be intreated full of mercy and good works without partiality and hypocrisie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plat. Multitadio investiganda verilalis ad proximos divertunt errores Min. Fel. LONDON Printed by Thomas Newcomb for Andrew Crook at the Green-Dragon in St. Pauls Church-yard 1666. To the KINGS most Excellent MAJESTY CHARLES II d By the Grace of God King of Great Britain France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. Most Gracious Soveraign ALthough I know how little leisure Great Kings have to read large Books or indeed any save onely Gods the study belief and obedience of which is precisely commanded even to Kings Deut. 17.18,19 And from which whatever wholly diverts them will hazard to damn them there being no affairs of so great importance as their serving God and saving their own Souls nor any Precepts so wise just holy and safe as those of the Divine Oracles nor any Empire so glorious as that by which Kings being subject to Gods Law have dominion over themselves and so best deserve and exercise it over their Subjects Yet having lived to see the wonderful and happy Restauration of Your Majesty to Your Rightful Kingdoms and of this Reformed Church to its just Rights Primitive Order and Pristine Constitution by Your Majesties prudent care and imparallel'd bounty I know not what to present more worthy of Your Majesties acceptance and my duty then these Elaborate and Seasonable Works of the Famous and Prudent Mr. Richard Hooker now augmented and I hope compleated with the Three last Books so much desired and so long concealed The publishing of which Volume so intire and thus presenting it to Your Majesty seems to be a blessing and honor reserved by Gods Providence to add a further lusture to Your Majesties glorious Name and happy Reign whose transcendent favor justice merit and munificence to the long afflicted Church of England is a subject no less worthy of admirasion then gratitude to all Posterity And of all things next Gods grace not to be abused or turned into wantonness by any of Your Majesties Clergy who are highly obliged beyond all other Subjects to Piety Loyalty and Industry I shall need nothing more to ingratiate this incomparable Piece to Your Majesties acceptance and all the English Worlds then those high commendations it hath ever had as from all prudent peaceable and impartial Readers so especially from Your Majesties Royal Father who a few days before he was Crowned with Martyrdom commended to His dearest Children the diligent Reading of Mr. Hookers Ecclesiastical Polity even next the Bible as an excellent means to settle them in the Truth of Religion and in the Peace of this Church as much Christian and as well Reformed as any under Heaven As if God had reserved this signal Honor to be done by the best of Kings and greatest Sufferers for this Church to Him who was one of the best Writers and ablest Defenders of it To this Compleated Edition is added such particular accounts as could be got of the Authors Person Education Temper Manners Fortunes Life and Death which is now done with much exactness and proportion That hereby Your Majesty and all the World may see what sort of Men are fittest for Church-work which like the Building of Solomons Temple is best carried on with most evenness of Iudgement and least noise of Passion Also what manner of Man he was to whom we all ow this Noble Work and durable Defence Which is indeed at once as the Tongues of Eloquent Princes are to themselves and their Subjects both a Treasury and an Armory to inrich their friends and defend them against the Enemies of the Church of England Arare composition of unpassionate Reason and unpartial Religion the mature product of a Indicious Scholar a Loyal Subject an Humble Preacher and a most Eloquent Writer The very abstract and quintessence of Laws Humane and Divine a Summary of the Grounds Rules and Proportions of true Polity in Church and State Vpon which clear solid and safe Foundations the good Order Peace and Government of this Church was anciently setled and on which while it stands firm it will be flourishing All other popular and specious pretensions being found by late sad experiences to be as novel and unfit so factious and fallacious yea dangerous and destructive to the Peace and Prosperity of this Church and Kingdom whose inseparable happiness and interests are bound up in Monarchy and Episcopacy The Politick and Visible managing of both which God hath now graciously restored and committed to Your Majesties Soveraign Wisdom and Authority after the many and long Tragedies suffered from those Club Masters and Tub-Ministers who sought not fairly to obtain Reformation of what might seem amiss but violently and wholly to overthrow the ancient and goodly Fabrick of this Church and Kingdom For finding themselves not able in many years to Answer this one Book long ago written in defence of the Truth Order Government Authority and Liberty in things indifferent of this Reformed Church agreeable to Right Reason and True Religion which makes this well tempered Peice a File capable to break the Teeth of any that venture to bite it they conspired at last to betake themselves to Arms to kindle those horrid fires of Civil Wars which this wise Author foresaw and foretold in his admirable Preface would follow those sparks and that smoak which he saw rise in his days So that from impertinent Disputes seconded with scurrilous Pamphlets they fled to Tumults Sedition Rebellion Sacriledge Parricide yea Regicide Counsels Weapons and Practices certainly no way becoming the hearts and hands of Christian Subjects nor ever sanctified by Christ for his Service or his Churches good What now remains but Your Majesties perfecting and preserving that in this Church which you have with
overcome by the sword which they were very ready to take into their hands So that those very men that began with tender meek Petitions proceeded to print publick Admonitions and then to Satyrical Remonstrances and at last having like David numbred who was not and who was for their Cause they got a supposed Certainty of so great a Party that they durst threaten first the Bishops and not long after both the Queen and Parliament to all which they were secretly encouraged by the Earl of Leicester then in great favour with her Majestie and the reputed Cherisher and Patron-general of these Pretenders to Tenderness of Conscience whom he used as a sacreligious snare to further his Design which was by their means to bring such an odium upon the Bishops as to procure an Alienation of their Lands and a large proportion of them for himself which Avaritious desire had at last so blinded his Reason that his ambitious and greedy Hopes had almost flattered him into present possession of Lambeth-house And to thse strange and dangerous Undertakings the Non-conformists of this Nation were much encouraged and heightened by a Correspondence and Confederacy with that Brotherhood in Scotland so that here they became so bold that one told the Queen openly in a Sermon She was like an untamed Heyfer that would not be ruled by Gods people but obstructed his Discipline And in Scotland they were more confident for there they declared Her an Atheist and grew to such an height as not to be accountable for any thing spoken against Her No nor for Treason against their own King if spoken in the Pulpit Shewing at last such a disobedience even to Him that His Mother being in England and then in distress and in prison and in danger of Death the Church denied the King their Prayers for Her and at another time when he had appointed a day of Feasting their Church declared for a general Fast in opposition to his Authority To this height they were grown in both Nations and by these means there was distill'd into the mindes of the common people such other venemous and turbulent Principles as were inconsistent with the safety of the Church and State And these vented so daringly that beside the loss of Life and Limbs the Church and State were both forced to use such other severities as will not admit of an excuse if it had not been to prevent Confusion and the perilous consequences of it which without such prevention would in short time have brought unavoidable ruine and misery to this numerous Nation These Errors and Animosities were so remarkable that they begot wonder in an ingenious Italian who being about this time come newly into this Nation writ scoffingly to a Friend in his own Countrey That the common people of England were wiser then the wisest of his Nation for here the very Women and Shop-keepers were able to judge of Predestination and determine what Laws were fit to be made concerning Church Government then what were fit to be obeyed or abolished That they were more able or at least thought so to raise and determine perplex'd Cases of Conscience then the most Learned Colledges in Italy That Men of the slightest Learning and the most ignorant of the common people were mad for a new or Super or Re-Reformation of Religion and that in this they appeared like that man who would never cease to whet and whet his Knife till there was no Steel left to make it useful And he concluded his Letter with this observation That those very Men that were most busie in Oppositions and Disputations and Controversies and finding out the faults of their Governors had usually the least of Humility and Mortification or of the Power of Godliness And to heighten all these discontents and dangers there was also sprung up a Generation of Godless-men Men that had so long given way to their own Lusts and Delusions and had so often and so highly opposed the Blessed Motions of his Blessed Spirit and the inward Light of their own Consciences that they had thereby sinned themselves to a belief of what they would but were not able to believe Into a belief which is repugnant even to Humane nature for the Heathens believe there are many gods but these had sinned themselves into a belief that there is no God And so finding nothing in themselves but what is worse then nothing began to wish what they were not able to hope for That they should be like the Beasts that perish and in wicked company which is the Atheists Sanctuary were so bold as to say so Though the worst of mankinde when he is left alone at midnight may wish but cannot then think it Into this wretched this reprobate condition many had then sinned themselves And now When the Church was pestered with them and with all these other Irregularities when her Lands were in danger of Alienation her Power at least neglected and her Peace torn to pieces by several Schisms and such Heresies as do usually attend that sin When the common people seemed ambitious of doing those very things which were attended with most dangers that thereby they might be punished and then applauded and pittied When they called the Spirit of Opposition a Tender Conscience and complained of Persecution because they wanted power to persecute others When the giddy multitude raged and became restless to finde out misery for themselves and others and the râ—â—ble would herd themselves together and endeavor to govern and act in spight of Authority In this extremity fear and danger of the Church and State when to suppress the growing evils of both they needed a Man of Prudence and Piâ—ty and of an high and fearless Fortitude they were blest in all by Iohn Whitgift his being made Archbishop of Canterbury of whom ingenious Sir Henry Wotâ—on that knew him well hath left this true Character That he was a Man of a Reverend and Sacred Memory and of the Premitive temper A Man of such a temper as when the Church by lowliness of Spirit did flourish in highest examples of Vertue And though I dare not undertake to add to his Character yet I shall neither do right to this Discourse nor to my Reader if I forbear to give him a further and short account of the life and manners of this excellent Man and it shall be short for I long to end this digression that I may lead my Reader back to Mr. Hooker where we left him at the Temple Iohn Whitgift was born in the County of Lincoln of a Family that was ancient and noted to be prudent and affable and gentile by nature He was educated in Cambridge much of his Learning was acquired in Pembroke-Hall where Mr. Bradford the Martyr was his Tutor From thence he was remov'd to Peter-house from thence to be Master of Pembroke-Hall and from thence to the Mastership of Trinity Colledge About which time the Queen made him her Chaplain and not
cloathed with the name of Truth which is mightily and violently to possess men at first but afterwards the weakness thereof being by time discovered to lose that reputation which before it had gained as by the outside of an House the passers by are oftentimes deceived till they see the conveniencie of the Rooms within so by the very name of Discipline and Reformation Men were drawn at first to cast a fancy towards it but now they have not contented themselves only to pass by and behold afar off the fore-front of this reformed house they have entred in even at the special request of Master-workmen and chief Builders thereof they have perused the Roomes the Lights the Conveniencies they find them not answerable to that report which was made of them nor to that opinion which upon report they had conceived So as now the Discipline which at first triumphed over all being unmasked beginneth to droop and hang down her head This cause of change in opinion concerning the Discipline is proper to the Learned or to such as by them have been instructed another cause there is more open and more apparent to the view of all namely the course of Practice which the Reformers have had with us from the beginning the first degree was only some small difference about Cap and Surplice but not such as either bred division in the Church or tended to the ruine of the Government established This was peaceable the next degree more stirring Admonitions were directed to the Parliament in peremptory sort against our whole Form of Regiment in defence of them Volumes were published in English and in Latin yet this was no more than writing Devices were set on foot to erect the Practice of the Discipline without Authority yet herein some regard of Modesty some moderation was used Behold at length it brake forth into open outrage first in writing by Martin in whose kind of dealing these things may be observed first that whereas T. C. and others his great Masters had alwayes before set out the Discipline as a Queen and as the Daughter of God He contrariwise to make her more acceptable to the people brought her forth as a Vice upon the Stage 2 This conceit of his was grounded as may be supposed upon this rare Polity that seeing the Discipline was by writing refuted in Parliament rejected in secret corners hunted out and decried it was imagined that by open rayling which to the vulgar is commonly most plausible the State Ecclesiastical might have been drawn into such contempt and hatred as the overthrow thereof should have been most grateful to all Men and in manner desired of the common people 3. It may be noted and this I know my self to be true how some of them although they could not for shame approve so lewd an Action yet were content to lay hold on it to the advancement of their cause acknowledging therein the secret judgements of God against the Bishops and hoping that some good might be wrought thereby for his Church as indeed there was though not according to their construction For 4. Contrary to their expectation that railing Spirit did not only not further but extremely disgrace and prejudice their Cause when it was once perceived from how low degrees of contradiction at first to what outrage of Contumely and Slander they were at length proceeded and were also likely further to proceed A further degree of outrage was in Fact Certain Prophets did arise who deeming it not possible that God should suffer that to be undone which they did so fiercely desire to have done Namely that his holy Saints the favourers and Fathers of the Discipline should be enlarged and delivered from persecution and seeing no means of deliverance Ordinary were fain to perswade themselves that God must needs raise some extraordinary means and being perswaded of none so well as of themselves they forthwith must need she the instruments of this great work Hereupon they framed unto themselves an assured hope that upon their Preaching out of a Pease Cart all the multitude would have presently joyned unto them and in amazement of mind have asked them Viri sratres quid agimus whereunto it is likely they would have returned an answer far unlike to that of St. Peter Such and such are Men unworthy to govern pluck them down Such and such are the Dear Children of God let them be advanced Of two of these Men it is meet to speak with all Commiseration yet so that others by their example may receive instruction and withall some light may appear what stirring affections the Discipline is like to inspire if it light upon apt and prepared minds Now if any Man doubt of what Society they were or if the Reformers disclaim them pretending that by them they were condemned let these points be considered 1. Whose associates were they before they entered into this frantick Passion whose Sermons did they frequent whom did they admire 2. Even when they were entering into it whose advice did they require and when they were in whose approbation whom advertised they of their purpose whose assistance by Prayers did they request But we deal injuriously with them to lay this to their charge for they reproved and condemned it How did they disclose it to the Magistrate that it might be suppressed or were they not rather content to stand aloof off and see the end of it and loth to quench the Spirit No doubt these mad practitioners were of their society with whom before and in the practice of their madness they had most affinity Hereof read Doctor Bancrofts Book A third inducement may be to dislike of the Discipline if we consider not only how far the Reformers themselves have proceeded but what others upon their Foundations have built Here come the Brownists in the first rank their lineal descendants who have seised upon a number of strange opinions whereof although their Ancestors the Reformers were never actually possessed yet by right and interest from them derived the Brownists and Barrowists have taken possession of them For if the Positions of the Reformers be true I cannot see how the main and general Conclusions of Brownism should be false for upon these two points as I conceive they stand 1. That because we have no Church they are to sever themselves from us 2. That without Civil Authority they are to erect a Church of their own And if the former of these be true the latter I suppose will follow For if above all things Men be to regard their Salvation and if out of the Church there be no Salvation it followeth That if we have no Church we have no means of Salvation And therefore Separation from us in that respect is both lawful and necessary As also That men so separated from the false and counterfeit Church are to associate themselves unto some Church not to ours to the Popish much less therefore to one of their own making Now the ground
a Minister to Preach Christ crucified In regard whereof not onely worldly things but things otherwise precious even the Discipline it self is vile and base Whereas now by the heat of Contention and violence of Affection the Zeal of Men towards the one hath greatly decayed their love to the other Hereunto therefore they are to be exhorted to Preach Christ crucified the Mortification of the Flesh the Renewing of the Spirit not those things which in time of Strife seem precious but Passions being allayed are vain and childish GEO. CRANMER This Epitaph was long since presented to the World in Memory of Mr. Hooker by Sir William Cooper who also built him a fair Monument in Borne-Church and acknowledges him to have been his Spiritual Father THough nothing can be spoke worthy his Fame Or the Remembrance of that precious Name Iudicious Hooker though this cost be spent On him that hath a Lasting Monument In his own Books yet ought we to express If not his Worth yet oue Respectfulness Church Ceremonies he maintaiu'd Then Why Without all Ceremony should he die Was it because his Life and Death should be Both equal Patterns of Humility Or that perhaps this onely glorious one Was above all to ask Why had he none Yet he that lay so long obscurely low Doth now preferr'd to greater Honors go Ambitious men Learn hence to be more wise Humility is the true way to rise And God in me this Lesson did Inspire To bid this humble Man Friend sit up higher TO THE Most Reverend Father in GOD my very good Lord the Lord Archbishop of CANTERBURY his Grace Primate and Metropolitan of all ENGLAND MOst Reverend in Christ the long continued and more then ordinary favor which hither to your Grace hath been pleased to shew towards me may justly claim at my hands some thankful acknowledgment thereof In which consideration as also for that I embrace willingly the ancient received course and conveniency of that Discipline which teacheth inferior Degrees and Orders in the Church of God to submit their Writings to the same Authority from which their allowable dealings whatsoever in such affairs must receive approbation I nothing fear but that your accustomed clemency will take in good worth the offer of these my simple and mean Labors bestowed for the necessary justification of Laws heretofore made questionable because as I take it they were not perfectly understood For surely I cannot finde any great cause of just complaint that good Laws have so much been wanting unto us as we to them To seek Reformation of evil Laws is a commendable endeavor but for us the more necessary is a speedy redress of our selves We have on all sides lost much of our first fervency towards God and therefore concerning our own degenerated ways we have reason to exhort with St. Gregory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us return again unto that which we sometime were but touching the exchange of Laws in Practice with Laws in Device which they say are better for the State of the Church if they might take place the farther we examine them the greater cause we finde to conclude 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 although we continue the same we are the harm is not great These fervent Reprehenders of things established by Publick Authority are always confident and bold spirited men But their confidence for the most part riseth from too much credit given to their own wits for which cause they are seldom free from Error The Errors which we seek to reform in this kinde of men are such as both received at your own hands their first wound and from that time to this present have been proceeded in with that Moderation which useth by Patience to suppress boldness and to make them conquer that suffer Wherein considering the nature and kinde of these Controversies the dangerous sequels whereunto they were likely to grow and how many ways we have been thereby taught Wisdom I may boldly aver concerning the first that as the weightiest conflicts the Church hath had were those which touched the Head the Person of our Savior Christ and the next of importance those questions which are at this day between us and the Church of Rome about the Actions of the Body of the Church of God so these which have lastly sprung up from Complements Rites and Ceremonies of Church Actions are in truth for the greatest part such silly things that very easiness doth make them hard to be disputed of in serious manner Which also may seem to be the cause why divers of the Reverend Prelacy and other most judicious men have especially bestowed their pains about the Matter of Jurisdiction Notwithstanding led by your Graces example my self have thought it convenient to wade through the whole Cause following that method which searcheth the Truth by the causes of Truth Now if any marvel how a thing in it self so weak could import any great danger they must consider not so much how small the spark is that flieth up as how apt things about it are to take fire Bodies Politick being subject as much as Natural to dissolution by divers means there are undoubtedly more estates overthrown through diseases bred within themselves then through violence from abroad because our manner is always to cast a doubtful and a more suspicious eye towards that over which we know we have least power And therefore the fear of External dangers causeth forces at home to be the more united It is to all sorts a kinde of Bridle it maketh vertuous Mindes watchful it holdeth contrary Dispositions in suspense and it setteth those Wits on work in better things which could be else imployed in worse whereas on the other side domestical Evils for that we think we can master them at all times are often permitted to run on forward till it be too late to recal them In the mean while the Commonwealth is not onely through unsoundness so far impaired as those evils chance to prevail but farther also through opposition arising between the unsound parts and the sound where each endeavoreth to draw evermore contrary ways till destruction in the end bring the whole to ruine To reckon up how many Causes there are by force whereof Divisions may grow in a Commonwealth is not here necessary Such as rise from variety in Matter of Religion are not onely the farthest spred because in Religion all men presume themselves interessed alike but they are also for the most part hotlier prosecuted and pursued then other strifes for as much as coldness which in other Contentions may be thought to proceed from Moderation is not in these so favorably construed The part which in this present quarrel striveth against the Current and Stream of Laws was a long while nothing feared the wisest contented not to call to minde how Errors have their effect many times not proportioned to that little appearance of Reason whereupon they would seem built but rather to the vehement affection or
fancy which is cast towards them and proceedeth from other Causes For there are divers Motives drawing men to favor mightily those Opinions wherein their Perswasions are but weakly setled and if the Passions of the Minde be strong they easily sophisticate the Understanding they make it apt to believe upon very slender warrant and to imagine infallible Truth where scarce any probable shew appeareth Thus were those poor seduced Creatures Hacquet and his other two adherents whom I can neither speak nor think of but with much commisseration and pity Thus were they trained by fair ways first accompting their own extraordinary love to his Discipline a token of Gods more then ordinary love towards them From hence they grew to a strong conceit that God which had moved them to love his Discipline more then the common sort of men did might have a purpose by their means to bring a wonderful work to pass beyond all mens expectation for the advancement of the Throne of Discipline by some Tragical Execution with the particularities whereof it was not safe for their Friends to be made acquainted of whom they did therefore but covertly demand what they thought of extraordinary Motions of the Spirit in these days and withal request to be commended unto God by their Prayers whatsoever should be undertaken by Men of God in meer Zeal to his Glory and the good of his distressed Church With this unusual and strange course they went on forward till God in whose heaviest worldly Judgments I nothing doubt but that there may lie hidden Mercy gave them over their own Inventions and left them made in the end an example for Head-strong and Inconsiderate Zeal no less fearful then Achitophel for Proud and Irreligious Wisdom If a spark of Error have thus far prevailed falling even where the Wood was green and farthest off to all mens thinking from any inclination unto furious Attempts must not the peril thereof be greater in men whose mindes are of themselves as dry sewel apt beforehand unto Tumults Seditions and Broyls But by this we see in a Cause of Religion to how desperate adventures men will strain themselves for relief of their own part having Law and Authority against them Furthermore Let not any man think that in such Divisions either part can free it self from inconveniencies sustained not onely through a kinde of Truce which Vertue on both sides doth make with Vice during War between Truth and Error but also in that there are hereby so fit occasions ministred for men to purchase to themselves welwillers by the colour under which they oftentimes prosecute quarrels of Envy or Inveterate Malice and especially because Contentions were as yet never able to prevent two Evils The one a mutual exchange of unseemly and unjust disgraces offered by men whose Tongues and Passions are out of rule the other a common hazard of both to be made a prey by such as study how to work upon all Occurents with most advantage in private I deny not therefore but that our Antagonists in these Controversies may peradventure have met with some not unlike to Ithacius who mightily bending himself by all means against the Heresie of Priscillian the hatred of which one Evil was all the Vertue he had became so wise in the end That every man careful of Vertuous Conversations studious of Scripture and given unto any abstinence in Diet was set down in his Kalender of suspected Priscillianists for whom it should be expedient to approve their soundness of Faith by a more licencious and loose behavior Such Proctors and Patrons the Truth might spare Yet is not their grossness so intolerable as on the contrary side the scurrilous and more then Satyrical immodesty of Martinism the first published Schedules whereof being brought to the hands of a grave and a very Honorable Knight with signification given that the Book would refresh his spirits he took it saw what the Title was read over an unsavory sentence or two and delivered back the Libel with this Answer I am sorry you are of the minde to be solaced with these sports and sorrier you have herein thought mine affection to be like your own But as these sores on all hands lie open so the deepest wounds of the Church of God have been more softly and closely given It being perceived that the Plot of Discipline did not onely bend it self to reform Ceremonies but seek farther to erect a popular authority of Elders and to take away Episcopal Jurisdiction together with all other Ornaments and means whereby any difference or inequality is upheld in the Ecclesiastical Order towards this destructive part they have found many helping hands divers although peradventure not willing to be yoked with Elderships yet contented for what intent God doth know to uphold opposition against Bishops not without greater hurt to the course of their whole proceedings in the business of God and Her Majesties service then otherwise much more weighty Adversaries had been able by their own power to have brought to pass Men are naturally better contented to have their commendable actions supprest then the contrary much divulged And because the Wits of the multitude are such that many things they cannot lay hold on at once but being possest with some notable either dislike or liking of any one thing whatsoever sundry other in the mean time may escape them unperceived Therefore if men desirous to have their Vertues noted do in this respect grieve at the same of others whose glory obscureth and darkness theirs it cannot be chosen but that when the ears of the people are thus continually beaten with exclamations against abuses in the Church these tunes come always most acceptable to them whose odious and corrupt dealings in secular affairs both pass by that mean the more covertly and whatsoever happen do also the least feel that scourge of vulgar imputation which notwithstanding they most deserve All this considered as behoveth the sequel of duty on our part is onely that which our Lord and Saviour requireth harmless Discretion the wisdom of Serpents tempered with the innocent meekness of Doves For this World will teach them wisdom that have capacity to apprehend it Our wisdom in this case must be such as doth not propose to it self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our own particular the partial and immoderate desire whereof poysoneth wheresoever it taketh place But the scope and mark which we are to aim at is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the publick and common good of all for the easier procurement whereof our diligence must search out all helps and furtherances of direction which Scriptures Counsels Fathers Histories the Laws and Practices of all Churches the mutual Conference of all Mens Collections and Observations may afford Our industry must even anatomize every Particle of that Body which we are to uphold sound and because be it never so true which we teach the World to believe yet if once their affections begin to be alienated a
universally either sufficient or necessary If they be nevertheless on your part it still remaineth to be better proved That the Form of Discipline which ye intitle Apostolical was in the Apostles time exercised For of this very thing ye fail even touching that which ye make most account of as being Matter of Substance in Discipline I mean the Power of your Lay-Elders and the difference of your Doctors from the Pastors in all Churches So that in faith we may be bold to conclude That besides these last times which for insolency pride and egregious contempt of all good order are the worst there are none wherein ye can truly affirm that the compleat Form of your Discipline or the Substance thereof was practised The evidence therefore of Antiquity failing you ye flie to the judgments of such Learned men as seem by their Writings to be of opinion that all Christian Churches should receive your Discipline and abandon ours Wherein as ye heap up the names of a number of men not unworthy to be had in honor so there are a number whom when ye mention although it serve ye to purpose with the ignorant and vulgar sort who measure by tale and not by weight yet surely they who know what quality and value the men are of will think ye draw very near the dregs But were they all of as great account as the best and chiefest amongst them with us notwithstanding neither are they neither ought they to be of such reckoning that their opinion or conjecture should cause the Laws of the Church of England to give place much less when they neither do all agree in that opinion and of them which are at agreement the most part through a courteous enducement have followed one man as their Guide finally that one therein not unlikely to have swerved If any chance to say it is probable that in the Apostles times there were Lay-Elders or not to mislike the continuance of them in the Church or to affirm that Bishops at the first were a name but not a power distinct from Presbyters or to speak any thing in praise of those Churches which are without Episcopal Regiment or to reprove the fault of such as abuse that Calling All these ye Register for Men perswaded as you are that every Christian Church standeth bound by the Law of God to put down Bishops and in their rooms to erect an Eldership so authorized as you would have it for the Government of each Parish Deceived greatly they are therefore who think that all they whose names are cited amongst the Favorers of this Cause are on any such verdict agreed Yet touching some material points of your Discipline a kinde of agreement we grant there is amongst many Divines of Reformed Churches abroad For first To do as the Church of Geneva did the Learned in some other Churches must needs be the more willing who having used in like manner not the slow and tedious help of proceeding by publick Authority but the peoples more quick endeavor for alteration in such an exigent I see not well how they could have staid to deliberate about any other Regiment then that which already was devised to their hands that which in like case had been taken that which was easiest to be established without delay that which was likeliest to content the people by reason of some kinde of sway which it giveth them When therefore the example of one Church was thus at the first almost through a kinde of constraint or necessity followed by many their concurrence in perswasion about some material points belonging to the same polity is not strange For we are not to marvel greatly if they which have all done the same thing do easily embrace the same opinion as concerning their own doings Besides mark I beseech you that which Galen in matter of Philosophy noteth for the like falleth out even in Questions of higher knowledge It fareth many times with mens opinions as with rumors and reports That which a credible person telleth is easily thought probable by such as are well perswaded of him But if two or three or four agree all in the same tale they judge it then to be out of Controversie and so are many times overtaken for want of due consideration either some common cause leading them all into error or one mans oversight deceiving many through their too much credulity and easiness of belief Though ten persons be brought to give testimony in any cause yet if the knowledge they have of the thing whereunto they come as witnesses appear to have grown from some one amongst them and to have spred it self from hand to hand they all are in force but as one testimony nor is it otherwise here where the Daughter Churches do speak their Mothers Dialect here where so many sing one Song by reason that he is the Guide of the Quire concerning whose deserved authority amongst even the gravest Divines we have already spoken at large Will ye ask what should move those many Learned to be followers of one Mans judgment no necessity of Argument forcing them thereunto Your demand is answered by your selves Loth ye are to think that they whom ye judge to have attained as sound knowledge in all points of Doctrine as any since the Apostles time should mistake in Discipline Such is naturally our affection that whom in great things we mightily admire in them we are not perswaded willingly that any thing should be amiss The reason whereof is for that as dead Flies putrifie the ointment of the Apothecary so a little Folly him that is in estimation for wisdom This in every profession hath too much authorized the judgment of a few This with Germans hath caused Luther and with many other Churches Calvin to prevail in all things Yet are we not able to define whether the Wisdom of that God who setteth before us in holy Scripture so many admirable patterns of Vertue and no one of them without somewhat noted wherein they were culpable to the end that to him alone it might always be acknowledged Thou onely art holy thou onely art just might not permit those worthy Vessels of his Glory to be in some things blemished with the stain of humane frailty even for this cause lest we should esteem of any man above that which behoveth 5. Notwithstanding as though ye were able to say a great deal more then hitherto your Books have revealed to the World earnest Challengers ye are of tryal by some publick Disputation wherein if the thing ye crave be no more then onely leave to dispute openly about those Matters that are inquestion the Schools in Universities for any thing I know are open unto you They have their yearly Acts and Commencements besides other Disputations both ordinary and upon occasion wherein the several parts of our own Ecclesiastical Discipline are oftentimes offered unto that kinde of Examination the learnedst of you have been of late years
in this case ye are all bound for the time to suspend and in otherwise doing ye offend against God by troubling his Church without any just or necessary cause Be it that there are some reasons inducing you to think hardly of our Laws Are those reasons demonstrative are they necessary or but meer probabilities onely An Argument necessary and demonstrative is such as being proposed unto any man and understood she minde cannot chase but invardly assent Any one such reason dischargeth I grant the Gonscience and setteth it at full liberty For the publick approbation given by the Body of this whole Church unto those things which are established doth make it but probable that they are good And therefore unto a necessary proofe that they are not good it must give place But if the skilfullest amongst you can shew that all the Books ye have hitherto written be able to afford any one argument of this nature let the instance be given As for probabilities What thing was there ever set down so agreeable with sound reason but some probable shew against it might be made It is meet that when publickly things are received and have taken place General Obedience thereunto should cease to be exacted in case this or that private person led with some probable conceit should make open Protostation Peter or John disallow them and pronounce them naught In which case your answer will be That concerning the Laws of our Church they are not onely condemned in the opinion of a private man but of thousands year and even of those amongst which divers are in publick charge and authority At though when publick consent of the whole hath established any thing every mans judgment being thereunto compared were not private howsoever his calling be to some kinde of publick charge So that of Peace and Quietness there is not any way possible unless the probable voice of every intire Society or Body Politick over-rule all private of like nature in the same Body Which thing effectually proveth That God being Author of Peace and not of Confusion in the Church must needs be Author of those mens peaceable resolutions who concerning these things have determined with themselves to think and do as the Church they are of decreeth till they see necessary cause enforcing them to the contrary 7. Nor is mine own intent any other in these several Books of discourse then to make it appear unto you that for the Ecclesiastical Laws of this Land we are led by great reason to observe them and ye by no necessity bound to impugne them It is no part of my secret meaning to draw you hereby into hatred or to set upon the face of this cause any fairer gloss then the naked truth doth afford but my whole endeavor is to resolve the Conscience and to shew as near as I can what in this Controversie the Heart is to think if it will follow the light of sound and sincere judgment without either cloud of prejudice or mist of passionate affection Wherefore seeing that Laws and Ordinances in particular whether such as we observe or such as your selves would have established when the minde doth sift and examine them it must needs have often recourse to a number of doubts and questions about the nature kindes and qualities of Laws in general whereof unless it be throughly informed there will appear no certainty to stay our perswasion upon I have for that cause set down in the first place an Introduction on both sides needful to be considered declaring therein what Law is how different kindes of Laws there are and what force they are of according unto each kinde This done because ye suppose the Laws for which ye strive are found in Scripture but those not against which we strive And upon this surmise are drawn to hold it as the very main Pillar of your whole cause That Scripture ought to be the onely rule of all our actions and consequently that the Church Orders which we observe being not commanded in Scripture are offensive and displeasant unto God I have spent the second Book in sifting of this point which standeth with you for the first and chiefest principle whereon ye build Whereunto the next in degree is That as God will have always a Church upon Earth while the World doth continue and that Church stand in need of Government of which Government it behoveth himself to be both the Author and Teacher So it cannot stand with duty That man should ever presume in any wise to change and alter the same and therefore That in Scripture there must of necessity be found some particular Form of Ecclesiastical Polity the Laws whereof admit not any kinde of alteration The first three Books being thus ended the fourth proceedeth from the general Grounds and Foundations of your cause unto your general Accusations against us as having in the orders of our Church for so you pretend Corrupted the right Form of Church Polity with manifold Popish Rites and Ceremonies which certain Reformed Churches have banished from amongst them and have thereby given us such example as you think we ought to follow This your Assertion hath herein drawn us to make search whether these be just Exceptions against the Customs of our Church when ye plead that they are the same which the Church of Rome hath or that they are not the same which some other Reformed Churches have devised Of those four Books which remain and are bestowed about the Specialties of that Cause which little in Controversie the first examineth the causes by you alledged wherefore the publick duties of Christian Religion as our Prayers our Sacraments and the rest should not be ordered in such sort as with us they are nor that power whereby the persons of men are consecrated unto the Ministry be disposed of in such manner as the Laws of this Church do allow The second and third are concerning the power of Iurisdiction the one Whether Laymen such as your Governing Elders are ought in all Congregations for ever to be invested with that power The other Whether Bishops may have that power over other Pastors and therewithal that honor which with us they have And because besides the Power of Order which all consecrated persons have and the Power of Iurisdiction which neither they all nor they onely have There is a third power a Power of Ecclesiastical Dominion communicable as we think unto persons not Ecclesiastical and most fit to be restrained unto the Prince our Soveraign Commander over the whole Body Politick The eighth Book we have allotted unto this Question and have sifted therein your Objections against those preeminences Royal which thereunto appertain Thus have I laid before you the Brief of these my Travels and presented under your view the Limbs of that Cause litigious between us the whole intire Body whereof being thus compact it shall be no troublesome thing for any man to finde each particular Controversies resting place
and the coherance it hath with those things either on which it dependeth or which depend on it 8. The case so standing therefore my Brethren as it doth the wisdom of Governors ye must not blame in that they further also forecasting the manifold strange and dangerous innovations which are more then likely to follow if your Discipline should take place have for that cause thought it hitherto a part of their duty to withstand your endeavors that way The rather for that they have seen already some small beginnings of the fruits thereof in them who concurring with you in judgment about the necessity of that Discipline have adventured without more ado to separate themselves from the rest of the Church and to put your speculations in execution These mens hastiness the warier sort of you doth not commend ye wish they had held themselves longer in and not so dangerously flown abroad before the feathers of the Cause had been grown their Error with merciful terms ye reprove naming them in great commiseration of minds your poor Brethren They on the contrary side more bitterly accuse you as their false Brethren and against you they plead saying From your Brests it is that we have sucked those things which when ye delivered unto us ye termed that heavenly sincere and wholesom Milk of Gods Word howsoever ye now abhor as poyson that which the vertue thereof hath wrought and brought forth in us Ye sometime our Companions Guides and Familiars with whom we have had most sweet Consultations are now become our professed Adversaries because we think the Statute-Congregation in England to be no true Christian Churches because we have severed our selves from them and because without their leave or licence that are in Civil Authority we have secretly framed our own Churches according to the Platform of the Word of God For of that point between you and us there is no Controversie Also what would ye have us to do At such time as ye were content to accept us in the number of your own your Teaching we heard weread your Writings And though we would yet able we are not to forget with what zeal ye have ever profest That in the English Congregations for so many of them as be ordered according unto their own Laws the very Publick Service of God is fraught as touching Matter with heaps of intolerable Pollutions and as concerning Form borrowed from the Shop of Antichrist hateful both ways in the eyes of the most Holy the kinde of their Government by Bishops and Archbishops Antichristian that Discipline which Christ hath essentially tied that is to say so united unto his Church that we cannot account it really to be his Church which hath not in it the same Discipline that very Discipline no less there despised then in the highest Throne of Antichrist All such parts of the Word of God as do any way concern that Discipline no less unsoundly taught and interpreted by all authorized English Pastors then by Antichrists Factors themselves At Baptism Crossing at the Supper of the Lord. Kneeling at both a number of other the most notorious Badges of Antichristian Recognisance usual Being moved with these and the like your effectual discourses whereunto we gave most attentive ear till they entred even into our souls and were as fire within our bosoms We thought we might hereof be bold to conclude That sith no such Antichristian Synagogue may be accounted a true Church of Christ ye by accusing all Congregations ordered according to the Laws of England as Antichristian did mean to condemn those Congregations as not being any of them worthy the name of a true Christian Church Ye tell us now it is not your meaning But what meant your often threatnings of them who professing themselves the inhabitants of Mount Sion were too loth to depart wholly as they should out of Babylon Whereat our hearts being fearfully troubled we durst not we durst not continue longer so near her confines lest her plagues might suddenly overtake us before we did cease to be partakers with her sins for so we could not chuse but acknowledge with grief that we were when they doing evil we by our presence in their Assemblies seemed to like thereof or at leastwise not so earnestly to dislike as became men heartily zealous of Gods glory For adventuring to erect the Discipline of Christ without the leave of the Christian Magistrate haply ye may condemn us as fools in that we hazard thereby our estates and persons further then you which are that way more wise think necessary But of any offence or sin therein committed against God with what conscience can you accuse us when your own positions are That the things we observe should every of them be dearer unto us then ten thousand lives that they are the peremptory Commandments of God that no mortal man can dispense with them and that the Magistrate grievously sinneth in not constraining thereunto Will ye blame any man for doing that of his own accord which all men should be compelled to do that are not willing of themselves When God commandeth shall we answer that we will obey if so be Cesar will grant us leave Is Discipline an Ecclesiastical Matter or a Civil If an Ecclesiastical is must of necessity belong to the duty of the Minister and the Minister ye say holdeth all his Authority of doing whatsoever belongeth unto the Spiritual Charge of the House of God even immediately from God himself without dependency upon any Magistrate Whereupon it followeth as we suppose that the hearts of the people being willing to be under the Scepter of Christ the Minister of God into whose hands the Lord himself hath put that Scepter is without all excuse if thereby he guide them not Nor do we finde that hitherto greatly ye have disliked those Churches abroad where the people with direction of their godly Ministers have even against the will of the Magistrate brought in either the Doctrine or Discipline of Iesus Christ For which cause we must now think the very same thing of you which our Saviour did sometime utter concerning false-hearted Scribes and Pharisees They say and do not Thus the foolish Barrowist deriveth his Schism by way of Conclusion as to him it seemeth directly and plainly out of your principles Him therefore we leave to be satisfied by you from whom he hath sprung And if such by your own acknowledgment be persons dangerous although as yet the alterations which they have made are of small and tender growth the changes likely to ensue throughout all States and Vocations within this Land in case your desire should take place must be thought upon First Concerning the Supream Power of the Highest they are no small Prerogatives which now thereunto belonging the Form of your Discipline will constrain it to resign as in the last Book of this Treatise we have shewed at large Again it may justly be feared whether our English
Nobility when the Matter came in tryal would contentedly suffer themselves to be always at the Call and to stand to the sentence of a number of mean persons assisted with the presence of their poor Teacher a man as sometimes it hapneth though better able to speak yet little or no whit apter to judge then the rest From whom be their dealings never so absurd unless it be by way of Complaint to a Synod no Appeal may be made unto any one of higher Power is as much as the Order of your Discipline admitteth no standing in Equality of Courts no Spiritual Iudge to have any ordinary Superior on Earth but as many Supremacies as there are Parishes and several Congregations Neither is it altogether without cause that so many do fear the overthrow of all Learning as a threatned sequel of this your Intended Discipline For if the Worlds Preservation depend upon the multitude of the wise and of that sort the number hereafter be not likely to wax over-great when that therewith the son of Syrach professeth himself at the heart grived men of understanding are already so little set by How should their mindes whom the love of so precious a Iewel filleth with secret jealousie even in regard of the lest things which may any way hinder the flourishing estate thereof chuse but misdoubt lest this Discipline which always you match with Divine Doctrine as her natural and true Sister be found unto all kindes of knowledge a Step-mother seeing that the greatest worldly hopes which are proposed unto the chiefest kinde of Learning ye seek utterly to extirpate as Weeds and have grounded your Platform on such Propositions as do after a sort undermine those most renowned Habitations where through the goodness of Almighty God all commendable Arts and Sciences are with exceeding great industry hitherto and so may they for ever continue studied proceeded in and profest To charge you as purposely bent to the overthrow of that wherein so many of you have attained no small perfection were injurious Onely therefore I wish that your selves did well consider how opposite certain of your Positions are unto the state of Collegiate Societies whereon the two Universities consist Those Degrees which their Statutes binde them to take are by your Laws taken away your selves who have sought them ye so excuse as that ye would have men to think ye judge them not allowable but tolerable onely and to be borne with for some help which ye finde in them unto the furtherance of your purposes till the corrupt estate of the Church may be better reformed Your Laws forbidding Ecclesiastical Persons utterly the exercise of Civil Power must needs deprive the Heads and Masters in the same Colledges of all such Authority as now they exercise either at home by punishing the faults of those who not as children to their Parents by the Law of Nature but altogether by Civil Authority are subject unto them or abroad by keeping Courts amongst their Tenants Your Laws making permanent inequality amongst Ministers a thing repugnant to the Word of God enforce those Colledges the Seniors whereof are all or any part of them Ministers under the Government of a Master in the same Vocation to chuse as oft as they meet together a new President For if so ye judge it necessary to do in Synods for the avoiding of permanent inequality amongst Ministers the same cause must needs even in these Collegiate Assemblies enforce the like Except peradventure ye mean to avoid all such absurdities by dissolving those Corporations and by bringing the Universities unto the Form of the School of Geneva Which thing men the rather are inclined to look for in as much as the Ministery wherein to their Founders with singular Providence have by the same Statutes appointed them necessarily to enter at a certain time your Laws binde them much more necessarily to forbear till some Parish abroad call for them Your opinion concerning the Law Civil is That the knowledge thereof might be spared as a thing which this Land doth not need Professors in that kinde being few ye are the bolder to spurn at them and not to dissemble your mindes as concerning their removal In whose Studies although my self have not much been conversant nevertheless exceeding great cause I see there is to wish that thereunto more encouragement were given as well for the singular Treasures of Wisdom therein contained as also for the great use we have thereof both in Decision of certain kindes of causes arising daily within our selves and especially for Commerce with Nations abroad whereunto that knowledge is most requisite The Reasons wherewith ye would perswade that Scripture is the onely rule to frame all our actions by are in every respect as effectual for proof that the same it the onely Law whereby to determine all our Civil Controversies And then what doth let but that as those men may have their desire who frankly broach it already That the Work of Reformation will never be perfect till the Law of Iesus Christ be received alone so Pleaders and Counsellors may bring their Books of the Common Law and bestow them as the Students of curious and needless Arts did theirs in the Apostles time I leave them to scan how for thosewords of yours may reach wherein ye declare That where as now many houses lie waste through inordinate Suits of Law This one thing will shew the excellency of Discipline for the Wealth of the Realm and quiet of Subjects That the Church is to censure such a Party who is apparently troublesome and contentious and without REASONABLE CAUSE upon a meer Will and Stomach doth vex and molest his Brother and trouble the Country For mine own part I do not see but that it might very well agree with your Principles if your Discipline were fully planted even to send out your Writs of Surcease unto all Courts of England besides for the most things handled in them A great deal further I might proceed and descend lower but for as much as against all these and the like difficulties your answer is That we ought to search what things are consonant to Gods Will not which be most for our own ease and therefore that your Discipline being for such is your Error the absolute Commandment of Almighty God it must be received although the World by receiving it should be clean turned upside down Herein lieth the greatest danger of all For whereas the name of Divine Authority is used to countenance these things which are not the Commandments of God but your own Erroneous Collections on him ye must father whatsoever ye shall afterwards be led either to do in withstanding the Adversaries of your Cause or to think in maintenance of your doings And what this may be God doth know In such kindes of Error the Minde once imagining it self to seek the execution of Gods Will laboreth forthwith to remove both things and persons which any way
applying of them unto cases particular is not without most singular use and profit many ways for mens instruction Besides be they plain of themselves or obscure the evidence of Gods own testimony added unto the natural assent of Reason concerning the certainty of them doth not a little comfort and confirm the same Wherefore in as much as our actions are conversant about things beset with many circumstances which cause men of sundry wits to be also of sundry judgments concerning that which ought to be done Requisit it cannot but seem the Rule of Divine Law should herein help our imbecillity that we might the more infallibly understand what is good and what evil The first principles of the Law of Nature are easie hard it were to finde men ignorant of them But concerning the duty which Natures Law doth require at the hands of Men in a number of things particular so far hath the Natural Understanding even of sundry whole Nations been darkned that they have not discerned no not gross iniquity to be sin Again being so prone as weare â—o fawn upon our selves and to be ignorant as much as may be of our own deformities without the feeling Sense whereof we are most wretched even so much the more because not knowing them we cannot as much as desire to have them taken away How should our festered sores be cured but that God hath delivered a Law as sharp as the two-edged sword piercing the very closest and most unsearchable corners of the heart which the Law of Nature can hardly Humane Laws by no means possibly reach unto Hereby we know even secret concupiscence to be sin and are made fearful to offend though it be but in a wandring cogitation Finally of those things which are for direction of all the parts of our life needful and not impossible to be discerned by the Light of Nature it self are there not many which few mens natural capacity and some which no mans hath been able to finde out They are saith St. Augustine but a few and they endued with great ripeness of wit and judgment free from all such affairs as might trouble their Meditations instructed in the sharpest and the subtilest points of Learning who have and that very hardly been able to finde out but onely the Immortality of the Soul The Resurrection of the Flesh what Man did ever at any time dream of having not heard it otherwise then from the School of Nature Whereby it appeareth how much we are bound to yield unto our Creator the Father of all Mercy Eternal Thanks for that he hath delivered his Law unto the World a Law wherein so many things are laid open clear and manifest as a Light which otherwise would have been buried in darkness not without the hazard or rather not with the hazard but with the certain loss of infinite thousands of Souls most undoubtedly now saved We see therefore that our soveraign good is desired naturally that God the Author of that natural desire had appointed natural means whereby to fulfil it that Man having utterly disabled his Nature unto those means hath had other revealed from God and hath received from Heaven a Law to teach him how that which is desired naturally must now supernaturally be attained Finally we see that because those latter exclude not the former quite and clean as unnecessary therefore together with such Supernatural duties as could not possibly have been otherwise known to the World the same Law that teacheth them teacheth also with them such Natural duties as could not by Light of Nature easily have been known 13. In the first Age of the World God gave Laws unto our Fathers and by reason of the number of their days their memories served in stead of Books whereof the manifold imperfections and defects being known to God he mercifully relieved the same by often putting then in minde of that whereof it behoved them to be specially mindful In which respect we see how many times one thing hath been iterated unto sundry even of the best and wisest amongst them After that the lives of Men were shortned means more durable to preserve the Laws of God from oblivion and corruption grew in use not without precise direction from God himself First therefore of Moses it is said that he wrote all the words of God not by his own private motion and device For God taketh this act to himself I have written Furthermore were not the Prophets following commanded also to do the like Unto the holy Evangelist St. Iohn how often express charge is given Scribe write these things Concerning the rest of our Lords Disciples the words of St. Augustine are Quidquid ille de suis factis dictis nos legere voluit hoc scribendum illis tanquam suis manibus imperavit Now although we do not deny it to be a matter meerly accidental unto the Law of God to be written although writing be not that which addeth authority and strength thereunto Finally though his Laws do require at our hands the same obedience howsoever they be delivered his providence notwithstanding which hath made principal choice of this way to deliver them who seeth not what cause we have to admire and magnifie The singular benefit that hath grown unto the World by receiving the Laws of God even by his own appointment committed unto writing we are not able to esteem as the value thereof deserveth When the question therefore is whether we be now to seek for any revealed Law of God otherwhere then onely in the Sacred Scripture whether we do now stand bound in the sight of God to yield to Traditions urged by the Church of Rome the same obedience and reverence we do to his Written Law honoring equally and adoring both as Divine Our answer is No. They that so earnestly plead for the Authority of Tradition as if nothing were more safely conveyed then that which spreadeth it self by report and descendeth by relation of former Generations unto the Ages that succeed are not all of them surely a miracle it were if they should be so simple as thus to perswade themselves howsoever if the simple were so perswaded they could be content perhaps very well to enjoy the benefit as they account it of that common Error What hazard the Truth is in when it passeth through the hands of report how maimed and deformed it becometh they are not they cannot possibly be ignorant Let them that are indeed of this minde consider but onely that little of things Divine which the Heathen have in such sort received How miserable had the State of the Church of God been long ere this if wanting the Sacred Scripture we had no Record of his Laws but onely the memory of man receiving the same by report and relation from his Predecessors By Scripture it hath in the Wisdom of God seemed meet to deliver unto the World much but personally expedient to be practised of certain men
actions Is there question either concerning the Regiment of the Church in general or about Conformity between one Church and another or of Ceremonies Offices Powers Jurisdictions in our own Church Of all these things they judge by that rule which they frame to themselves with some shew of probability and what seemeth in that sort convenient the same they think themselves bound to practice the same by all means they labor mightily to uphold whatsoever any Law of Man to the contrary hath determined they weigh it not Thus by following the Law of Private Reason where the Law of Publick should take place they breed disturbance For the better inuring therefore of Mens mindes with the true distinction of Laws and of their several force according to the different kinde and quality of our actions it shall not peradventure be amiss to shew in some one example how they all take place To seek no further let but that be considered then which there is not any thing more familiar unto us our food What things are food and what are not we judge naturally by sense neither need we any other Law to be our Directer in that behalf then the self-same which is common unto us with Beasts But when we come to consider of food as of a benefit which God of his bounteous goodness hath provided for all things living the Law of Reason doth here require the duty of Thankfulness at our hands towards him at whose hands we have it And lest Appetite in the use of Food should lead us beyond that which is meet we ow in this case obedience to that Law of Reason which teacheth mediocrity in meats and drinks The same things Divine Law teacheth also as at large we have shewed it doth all parts of Moral duty whereunto we all of necessity stand bound in regard of the life to come But of certain lendes of food the Jews sometime had and we our selves likewise have a Mystical Religious and Supernatural use they of their Paschal Lamb and Oblations we of our Bread and Wine in the Eucharist Which use none but Divine Law could institute Now as we live in Civil Society the State of the Commonwealth wherein we live both may and doth require certain Laws concerning food which Laws saving onely that we are Members of the Commonwealth where they are of force we should not need to respect as Rules of Action whereas now in their place and kinde they must be respected and obeyed Yea the self-same matter is also a subject wherein sometime Ecclesiastical Laws have place so that unless we will be Authors of Confusion in the Church our private discretion which otherwise might guide us a contrary way must here submit it self to be that way guided which the Publick Judgment of the Church hath thought better In which case that of Zonaras concerning Fasts may be remembred Fastings are good but let good things be done in good and convenient manner He that transgresseth in his Fasting the Orders of the holy Fathers the Positive Laws of the Church of Christ must be plainly told that good things do lose the grace of their goodness when in good sort they are not performed And as here Mens private fancies must give place to the higher Judgment of that Church which is in Authority a Mother over them So the very Actions of whole Churches have in regard of Commerce and Fellowship with other Churches been subject to Laws concerning food the contrary unto which Laws had else been thought more convenient for them to observe as by that order of Abstinence from Strangled and Blood may appear an order grounded upon that Fellowship which the Churches of the Gentiles had with the Jews Thus we see how even one and the self-same thing is under divers considerations conveyed through many Laws and that to measure by any one kinde of Law all the Actions of Men were to confound the admirable Order wherein God hath disposed all Laws each as in nature so in degree distinct from other Wherefore that here we may briefly end Of Law there can be no less acknowledge then that her Seat is the Bosom of God her Voice the Harmony of the World All things in Heaven and Earth do her homage the very least as feeling her care and the greatest as not exempted from her Power Both Angels and Men and Creatures of what condition soever though each in different sort and manner yet all with uniform consent admiring her as the Mother of their Peace and Joy OF THE LAWS OF Ecclesiastical Polity Book II. Concerning their First Position who urge Reformation in the Church of England Namely That Scripture is the only rule of all things which in this life may be done be men The Matter contained in this Second Book 1. AN Answer to their first Proof brought out of Scripture Prov. 2. 9. 2. To their second 1 Cor. 10. 31. 3. To their third 1 Tim. 4. 5. 4. To their fourth Rom. 14. 23. 5. To their proofs out of Fathers who dispute negatively from the Authority of Holy Scripture 6. To their proof by the Scriptures custom of disputing from Divine Authority negatively 7. An Examination of their Opinion concerning the force of Arguments taken from humane Authority for the ordering of mens actions and perswasions 8. A Declaration what the truth is in this matter AS that which in the Title hath been proposed for the matter whereof we treat is only the Ecclesiastical Law whereby we are governed So neither is it my purpose to maintain any other thing then that which therein Truth and Reason shall approve For concerning the dealings of men who administer Government and unto whom the Execution of that Law belongeth they have their Judge who sitteth in Heaven and before whose Tribunal Seat they are accountable for whatsoever abuse or corruption which being worthily misliked in this Church the want either of Care or of Conscience in them hath bred We are no Patrons of those things therefore the best defence whereof is speedy redress and amendment That which is of God we defend to the uttermost of that ability which he hath given that which is otherwise let it wither even in the root from whence it hath sprung Wherefore all these abuses being severed and set apart which use from the corruption of men and not from the Laws themselves Come we to those things which in the very whole entire form of our Church-Polity have been as we perswade our selves injuriously blamed by them who indeavour to overthrow the same and instead thereof to establish a much worse onely through a strong misconceit they have that the same is grounded on Divine Authority Now whether it be that through an earnest longing desire to see things brought to a peaceable end I do but imagine the matters whereof we contend to be fewer then indeed they are or else for that in truth they are fewer when they come to be discust by Reason then
devices brought in which our Fathers never knew When their grave and reverend Superiors do reckon up unto them as Augustin did to the Donatists large Catalogues of Fathers wondred at for their wisdom piety and learning amongst whom for so many Ages before us no one did ever so think of the Churches affairs as now the World doth begin to be perswaded surely by us they are not taught to take exception hereat because such Arguments are Negative Much less when the like are taken from the sacred authority of Scripture if the matter it self do bear them For in truth the question is not Whether an Argument from Scripture negatively may be good but whether it be so generally good that in all actions men may urge it The Fathers I grant do use very general and large terms even as Hiero the King did in speaking of Archimedes From henceforward whatsoever Archimedes speaketh it must be believed His meaning was not that Archimedes could simply in nothing be deceived but that he had in such fort approved his skill that he seemed worthy of credit for ever after in matters appertaining unto the science he was skilful in In speaking thus largely it is presumed that mens speeches will be taken according to the matter whereof they speak Let any man therefore that carrieth indifferency of judgement peruse the Bishops speeches and consider well of those negatives concerning Scripture which he produceth out of Irenaeus Chrysostome and Leo which three are chosen from among the residue because the sentences of the others even as one of theirs also do make for defence of negative Argments taken from humane Authority and not from divine onely They mention no more restraint in the one then in the other yet I think themselves will not hereby judge that the Fathers took both to be strong without restraint unto any special kind of matter wherein they held such Argument forcible Nor doth the Bishop either say or prove any more then that an Argument in some kinds of matter may be good although taken negatively from Scripture 7. An earnest desire to draw all things unto the determination of bare and naked Scripture hath caused here much pains to be taken in abating the estimation and credit of man Which if we labour to maintain as far as Truth and Reason will bear let not any think that we travel about a matter not greatly needful For the scope of all their pleading against mans Authority is to overthrow such Orders Laws and Constitutions in the Church as depending thereupon if they should therefore be taken away would peradventure leave neither face nor memory of Church to continue long in the world the world especially being such as now it is That which they have in this case spoken I would for brevity sake let pass but that the drist of their speech being so dangerous then words are not to be neglected Wherefore to say that simply an Argument taken from mans Authority doth hold no way neither Affirmatively nor Negatively is hard By a mans Authority we here understand the force which his word hath for the assurance of anothers mind that buildeth upon it as the Apostle somewhat did upon their report of the house of Chloe and the Samaritans in a matter of far greater moment upon the report of a simple Woman For so it is said in S. Iohns Gospel Many of the Samaritans of that City believed in him for the saying of the woman which testified He hath told me all things that ever I did The strength of mans Authority is Affirmatively such that the weightiest affairs in the world depend thereon In judgement and justice are not hereupon proceedings grounded Saith not the Law that in the mouth of two or three Witnesses every word shall be confirmed This the Law of God would not say if there were in a mans testimony no force at all to prove any thing And if it be admitted that in matter of Fact there is some credit to be given to the testimony of man but not in matter of opinion and judgment we see the contrary both acknowledged and universally practised also throughout the world The sentences of wise and expert men were never but highly esteemed Let the title of a mans right be called in question are we not bold to relie and build upon the judgement of such as are famous for their skill in the Laws of this Land In matter of State the weight many times of some one mans authority is thought reason sufficient even to sway over whole Nations And this is not only with the simple sort but the learneder and wiser we are the more such Arguments in some cases prevail with us The Reason why the simpler sort are moved with Authority is the conscience of their own ignorance whereby it cometh to pass that having learned men in admiration they rather fear to dislike them then know wherefore they should allow and follow their judgements Contrariwise with them that are skilful authority is much more strong and forcible because they only are able to discern how just cause there is why to some mens Authority so much should be attributed For which cause the name of Hippocrates no doubt were more effectual to perswade even such men as Galen himself then to move a silly Emperick So that the very self-same Argument in this kind which doth but induce the vulgar sort to like may constrain the wiser to yield And therefore not Orators only with the people but even the very profoundest Disputers in all faculties have hereby often with the best learned prevailed most As for Arguments taken from humane Authority and that negatively for example sake if we should think the assembling of the people of God together by the sound of a Bell the presenting of Infants at the Holy Font by such as we commonly call their Godfathers or any other the like received custom to be impious because some men of whom we think very reverently have in their Books and Writings no where mentioned or taught that such things should be in the Church this reasoning were subject unto just reproof it were but feeble weak and unsound Notwithstanding even negatively an Argument from humane Authority may be strong as namely thus The Chronicles of England mention no more then only six Kings bearing the name of Edward since the time of the last Conquest therefore it cannot be there should be more So that if the question be of the authority of a mans testimony we cannot simply avouch either that affirmatively it doth not any way hold or that it hath only force to induce the simpler sort and not to constrain men of understanding and ripe judgement to yield assent or that negatively it hath in it no strength at all For unto every of these the contrary of most plain Neither doth that which is alledged concerning the infirmity of men overthrow or disprove this Men are blinded with ignorance and error many
concerning any Point of Religion whatsoever yet one Demonstrative Reason alledged or one Manifest Testimony cited from the mouth of God himself to the contrary could not choose but over-weigh them all inasmuch as for them to have been deceived it is not impossible it is that demonstrative Reason or Testimony Divine should deceive Howbeit in defect of proof infallible because the minde doth rather follow probable perswasions then approve the things that have in them no likelihood of truth at all surely if a Question concerning matter of Doctrine were proposed and on the one side no kinde of proof appearing there should on the other be alledged and shewed that so a number of the Learnedest Divines in the World have ever thought although it did not appear what Reason or what Scripture led them to be of that judgement yet to their very bare judgement somewhat a reasonable man would attribute notwithstanding the common imbecillities which are incident unto our nature And whereas it is thought that especially with the Church and those that are called and perswaded of the Authority of the Word of God mans authority with them especially should not prevail it must and doth prevail even with them yea with them especially as far as equity requireth and farther we maintain it not For men to be tied and led by Authority as it were with a kind of captivity of judgement and though there be reason to the contrary not to listen unto it but to follow like Beasts the first in the Herd they know not nor care not whither this were brutish Again that authority of men should prevail with men either against or above Reason is no part of our belief Companies of learned men be they never so great and reverend are to yield unto Reason the weight whereof is no whit prejudiced by the simplicity of his person which doth alledge it but being found to be sound and good the bare opinion of men to the contrary must of necessity stoop and give place Irenaeus writing against Marcion which held one God Author of the Old-Testament and another of the New to prove that the Apostles preached the same God which was known before to the Jews he copiously alledgeth sundry their Sermons and Speeches uttered concerning that matter and recorded in Scripture And lest any should be wearied with such store of Allegations in the end he concludeth While we labour for these Demonstrations out of Scripture and do summarily declare the things which many ways have been spoken be contented quietly to hear and do not think my speech redious Quoniam oftensiones quae sunt in Scripturis non possunt oftendi nisi ex ipsis Scripturis Because demonstrations that art in Scripture may not otherwise be shewed then by citing them out of the Scriptures themselves where they are Which words make so little unto the purpose that they seem as it were offended at him which hath called them thus solemnly forth to say nothing And concerning the Verdict of S. Ierome If no man be he never so well learned have after the Apostles Authority to publish new Doctrine as from Heaven and to require the Worlds assent as unto truth received by Prophetical Revelation doth this prejudice the credit of learned mens judgements in opening that truth which by being conversant in the Apostles Writings they have themselves from thence learned S. Aâ—gustine exhorteth not to hear men but to hearken what God speaketh His purpose is not I think that was we should stop our ears against his own exhortation and therefore he cannot mean simply that audience should altogether be denied unto men but either that if men speak one thing and God himself teach another then he not they to be obeyed or if they both speak the same thing yet then also mans speech unworthy of hearing not simply but in comparison of that which proceedeth from the mouth of God Yea but we doubt what the will of God is Are we in this case forbidden to hear what men of judgement think it to be If not then this Allegation also might very well have been spared In that ancient strife which was between the Catholick Fathers and Arrians Donatists and others of like perverse and froward disposition as long as to Fathers or Councils alledged on the one side the like by the contrary side were opposed impossible it was that ever the Question should by this mean grow unto any issue or end The Scripture they both believed the Scripture they knew could not give sentence on both sides by Scripture the controversie between them was such as might be determined In this case what madness was it with such kindes of proofs to nourish their contention when there were such effectual means to end all controversie that was between them Hereby therefore it doth not as yet appear that an Argument of Authority of man affirmatively is in matters Divine nothing worth Which Opinion being once inserted into the mindes of the vulgar sort what it may grow unto God knoweth Thus much we see it hath already made thousands so headstrong even in gross and palpable Errors that a man whose capacity will scarce serve him to utter five words in sensible manner blusheth not in any doubt concerning matter of Scripture to think his own bare Yea as good as the Nay of all the wise grave and learned judgements that are in the whole world Which insolency must be represt or it will be the very bane of Christian Religion Our Lords Disciples marking what speech he uttered unto them and at the same time calling to minde a common opinion held by the Scribes between which opinion and the words of their Master it seemed unto them that there was some contradiction which they could not themselves answer with full satisfaction of their own mindes the doubt they propose to our Saviour saying Why then say the Scribes that Elias must first come They knew that the Scribes did err greatly and that many ways even in matters of their own profession They notwithstanding thought the judgement of the very Scribes in matters Divine to be of some value some probability they thought there was that Elias should come inasmuch as the Scribes said it Now no truth can contradict any truth desirous therefore they were to be taught how both might stand together that which they knew could not be false because Christ spake it and this which to them did seen true only because the Scribes had said it For the Scripture from whence the Scribes did gather it wâ— not then in their heads We do not finde that our Saviour reproved them of Error for thinking the judgement of the Scribes to be worth the objecting for esteeming it to be of any moment or value in matters concerning God We cannot therefore be perswaded that the will of God is we should so far reject the authority of men as to reckon it nothing No it may be a question whether they that urge
the Apostle doth say of Israel that they are in one respect enemies but in another beloved of God In like sort with Rome we dare not communicate concerning sundry her gross and grievous abominations yet touching those main parts of Christian truth wherein they constantly still persist we gladly acknowledge them to be of the Family of Jesus Christ and our hearty prayer unto God Almighty is that being conjoyned so far forth with them they may at the length if it be his will so yield to frame and reform themselves that no distraction remain in any thing but that we all may with one heart and one mouth glorifie God the Father of our Lord and Saviour whose Church we are As there are which make the Church of Rome utterly no Church at all by reason of so many so grievous Errors in their Doctrines So we have them amongst us who under pretence of imagined corruptions in our Discipline do give even as hard a judgment of the Church of England it self But whatsoever either the one sort or the other teach we must acknowledge even Hereticks themselves to be though a maimed part yet a part of the Visible Church If an Infidel should pursue to death an Heretick professing Christianity onely for Christian Profession sake could we deny unto him the honor of Martyrdom Yet this honor all men know to be proper unto the Church Hereticks therefore are not utterly cut off from the Visible Church of Christ. If the Fathers do any where as oftentimes they do make the true Visible Church of Christ and Heterical companies opposite they are to be construed as Separating Hereticks not altogether from the company of Believers but from the fellowship of sound Believers For whereprofest unbelief is there can be no Visible Church of Christ there may be where sound belief wanteth Infidels being clean without the Church deny directly and utterly reject the very Principles of Christianity which Hereticks embrace and err onely by misconstruction Whereupon their opinions although repugnant indeed to the Principles of Christian Faith are notwithstanding by them held otherwise and maintained as most consonant thereunto Wherefore being Christians in regard of the general Truth of Christ which they openly profess yet they are by the Fathers every where spoken of as men clean excluded out of the right believing Church by reason of their particular Errors for which all that are of a sound belief must needs condemn them In this consideration the answer of Calvin unto Farell concerning the children of Popish Parents doth seem crazed Whereas saith he you ask our judgment about a matter whereof there is doubt amongst you whether Ministers of our Order professing the pure Doctrine of the Gospel may lawfully admit unto Baptism an Infant whose Father is a stranger unto our Churches and whose Mother hath salm from us unto the Papacy so that both the Parents are Popish Thus we have thought good to answer namely that it is an absurd thing for us to baptize them which cannot be reckoned Members of our Body And sith Papists children are such we see not how it should be lawful to Minister Baptism unto them Sounder a great deal is the answer of the Ecclesiastical Colledge of Geneva unto Knox who having signified unto them that himself did not think it lawful to Baptize bastards or the children of Idolaters he meaneth Papists or of Persons Excommunicate till either the Parents had by repentance submitted themselves unto the Church or else their children being grown unto the years of understanding should come and sue for their own Baptism For thus thinking saith he I am thought to be over severe and that not onely by them which are Popish but even in their judgments also who think themselves Maintainers of the Truth Master Knox's oversight herein they controuled Their Sentence was Wheresoever the Profession of Christianity hath not utterly perished and been extinct Infants are beguiled of their right if the Common Seal be denied them Which conclusion in it self is sound although it seemeth the ground is but weak whereupon they build it For the reason which they yield of their Sentence is this The promise which God doth make to the faithful concerning their Seed reacheth unto a thousand Generations it resteth not onely in the first degree of Descent Infants therefore whose Great Grandfathers have been holy and godly do in that respect belong to the Body of the Church although the Fathers and Grandfathers of whom they descend have been Apostates Because the tenure of the Grace of God which did adopt them Three hundred years ago and more in their Ancient Predecessors cannot with justice be defeated and broken off by their Parents impiety coming between By which reason of theirs although it seem that all the World may be baptized in as much as no man living is a thousand descents removed from Adam himself yet we mean not at this time either to uphold or to overthrow it onely their alledged conclusion we embrace so it be construed in this sort That for as much as men remain in the Visible Church till they utterly renounce the Profession of Christianity we may not deny unto Infants their right by withholding from them the publick sign of holy Baptism if they be born where the outward acknowledgment of Christianity is not clean gone and extinguished For being in such sort born their Parents are within the Church and therefore their birth doth give them interest and right in Baptism Albeit not every Error and Fault yet Heresies and Crimes which are not actually repented of and forsaken exclude quite and clean from that Salvation which belongeth unto the Mystical Body of Christ yea they also make a Separation from the Visible sound Church of Christ altogether from the Visible Church neither the one nor the other doth sever As for the Act of Excommunication it neither shutteth out from the Mystical nor clean from the Visible but onely from Fellowship with the Visible in holy duties With what congruity then doth the Church of Rome deny that her enemies whom she holdeth always for Hereticks do at all appertain to the Church of Christ when her own do freely grant that albeit the Pope as they say cannot teach Heresie nor propound Error he may notwithstanding himself worship Idols think amiss concerning matters of Faith yea give himself unto Acts Diabolical even being Pope How exclude they us from being any part of the Church of Christ under the colour and pretence of Heresie when they cannot but grant it possible even for him to be as touching his own personal perswasion Heretical who in their opinion not onely is of the Church but holdeth the chiefest place of Authority over the same But of these things we are not now to dispute That which already we have set down is for our present purpose sufficient By the Church therefore in this question we understand no other then onely the Visible Church For
it self could not reach unto Yet those things also we believe knowing by Reason that the Scripture is the Word of God In the presence of Festus a Roman and of King Agrippa a Jew St. Paul omitting the one who neither knew the Jews Religion not the Books whereby they were taught it speaks unto the other of things foreshewed by Moses and the Prophets and performed in Jesus Christ intending thereby to prove himself so unjustly accused that unless his Judges did condemn both Moses and the Prophets him they could not chuse but acquit who taught onely that fulfilled which they so long since had foretold His cause was easie to be discerned what was done their eyes were witnesses what Moses and the Prophets did speak their Books could quickly shew It was no hard thing for him to compare them which knew the one and believed the other King Agrippa believest thou the Prophets I know thou dost The question is how the Books of the Prophets came to be credited of King Agrippa For what with him did authorise the Prophets the like with us doth cause the rest of the Scripture of God to be of credit Because we maintain That in Scripture we are taught all things necessary unto Salvation hereupon very childishly it is by some demanded What Scripture can teach us the Sacred Authority of the Scripture upon the knowledge whereof our whole Faith and Salvation dependeth As though there were any kinde of Science in the World which leadeth men unto knowledge without presupposing a number of things already known No Science doth make known the first Principles whereon it buildeth but they are always either taken as plain and manifest in themselves or as proved and granted already some former knowledge having made them evident Scripture teacheth all supernaturally revealed Truth without the knowledge whereof Salvation cannot be attained The main principal whereupon our belief of all things therein contained dependeth is That the Scriptures are the Oracles of God himself This in it self we cannot say is evident For then all men that hear it would acknowledge it in heart as they do when they hear that every whole is more then any part of that whole because this in it self is evident The other we know that all do not acknowledge when they hear it There must be therefore some former knowledge presupposed which doth herein assure the hearts of all Believers Scripture teacheth us that saving Truth which God hath discovered unto the World by Revelation and it presumeth us taught otherwise that it self is Divine and Sacred The question then being By what means we are taught this some answer That to learn it we have no other way then onely Tradition as namely that so we believe because both we from our Predecessors and they from theirs have so received But is this enough That which all mens experience teacheth them may not in any wise be denied And by experience we all know that the first outward Motive leading men so to esteem of the Scripture is the authority of Gods Church For when we know the whole Church of God hath that opinion of the Scripture we judge it even at the first an impudent thing for any man bred and brought up in the Church to be of a contrary minde without cause Afterwards the more we bestow our labor in reading or hearing the Mysteries thereof the more we finde that the thing it self doth answer our received opinion concerning it So that the former enducement prevailing somewhat with us before doth now much more prevail when the very thing hath Ministred further Reason If Infidels or Atheists chance at any time to call it in question this giveth us occasion to sift what reason there is whereby the testimony of the Church concerning Scripture and our own perswasion which Scripture it self hath confirmed may be proved a truth infallible In which case the ancient Fathers being often constrained to shew what warrant they had so much to relie upon the Scriptures endeavored still to maintain the authority of the Books of God by Arguments such as unbelievers themselves must needs think reasonable if they judged thereof as they should Neither is it a thing impossible or greatly heard even by such kinde of proofs so to manifest and clear that point that no man living shall be able to deny it without denying some apparent Principle such as all men acknowledge to be true Wherefore if I believe the Gospel yet is reason of singular use for that it confirmeth me in this my belief the more If I do not as yet believe nevertheless to bring me into the number of Believers except Reason did somewhat help and were an Instrument which God doth use unto such purposes what should it boot to dispute with Infidels or godless persons for their conversion and perswasion in that point Neither can I think that when grave and learned men do sometime hold that of this Principle there is no proof but by the testimony of the Spirit which assureth our hearts therein it is their meaning to exclude utterly all force which any kinde of Reason may have in that behalf but I rather incline to interpret such their speeches as if they had more expresly set down that other motives and enducements be they never so strong and consonant unto Reason are notwithstanding ineffectual of themselves to work Faith concerning this Principle if the special Grace of the Holy Ghost concur not to the enlightning of our mindes For otherwise I doubt not but men of wisdom and judgment will grant That the Church in this point especially is furnished with Reason to stop the mouths of her impious Adversaries and that as it were altogether bootless to alledge against them what the Spirit hath taught us so likewise that even to our own selves it needeth Caution and Explication how the testimony of the Spirit may be discerned by what means it may be known lest men think that the Spirit of God doth testifie those things which the spirit of error suggesteth The operations of the Spirit especially these ordinary which be common unto all true Christian men are as we know things secret and undiscernable even to the very soul where they are because their nature is of another and an higher kinde then that they can be by us perceived in this life Wherefore albeit the Spirit lead us into all truth and direct us in all goodness yet because these workings of the Spirit in us are so privy and secret we theresore stand on a plainer ground when we gather by Reason from the quality of things believed or done that the Spirit of God hath directed us in both then if we settle our selves to believe or to do any certain particular thing as being moved thereto by the Spirit But of this enough To go from the Books of Scripture to the sense and meaning thereof because the Sentences which are by the Apostles recited out of the Psalms to prove
the Resurrection of Jesus Christ did not prove it if so be the Prophet David meant them of himself This Exposition therefore they plainly disprove and shew by manifest Reason that of David the words of David could not possibly be meant Exclude the use of Natural reasoning about the sense of holy Scripture concerning the Articles of our Faith and then that the Scripture doth concern the Articles of our Faith who can assure us That which by right Exposition buildeth up Christian Faith being misconstrued breedeth Error between true and false construction the difference Reason must shew Can Christian men perform that which Peter requireth at their hands Is it possible they should both believe and be able without the use of Reason to render a Reason of their belief a Reason sound and sufficient to answer them that demand it be they of the same Faith with us or enemies thereunto May we cause our Faith without Reason to appear reasonable in the eyes of men This being required even of Learners in the School of Christ the duty of their Teachers in bringing them unto such ripeness must needs be somewhat more then onely to read the Sentences of Scripture and then Paraphrastically to scholy them to vary them with sundry Forms of speech without arguing or disputing about any thing which they contain This method of teaching may commend it self unto the World by that easiness and facility which is in it but a Law or a Pattern it is not as some do imagine for all men to follow that will do good in the Church of Christ. Our Lord and Saviour himself did hope by disputation to do some good yea by disputation not onely of but against the truth albeit with purpose for the truth That Christ should be the Son of David was truth yet against this truth our Lord in the Gospel objecteth If Christ be the Son of David how doth David call him Lord There is as yet no way known how to dispute or to determine of things disputed without the use of Natural Reason If we please to adde unto Christ their example who followed him as near in all things as they could the Sermon of Paul and Barnabas set down in the Acts where the people would have offered unto them Sacrifice in that Sermon what is there but onely Natural Reason to disprove their act O men why do ye these things We are men even subject to the self-same Passions with you We Preach unto you to leave these Vanities and to turn to the living God the God that hath not left himself without witness in that he hath done good to the World giving rain and fruitful Seasons filling our hearts with joy and gladness Neither did they onely use Reason in winning such unto a Christian belief as were yet thereto unconverted but with Believers themselves they followed the self-same course In that great and solemn Assembly of Believing Jews how doth Peter prove that the Gentiles were partakers of the Grace of God as well as they but by Reason drawn from those effects which were apparently known amongst them God which knoweth the hearts hath born them witness in giving unto them the Holy Ghost as unto you The light therefore which the Star of Natural Reason and Wisdom casteth is too bright to be obscured by the mist of a word or two uttered to diminish that opinion which justly hath been received concerning the force and vertue thereof even in matters that touch most nearly the principal duties of men and the glory of the Eternal God In all which hitherto hath been spoken touching the force and use of Mans Reason in things Divine I must crave that I be not so understood or construed as if any such thing by vertue thereof could be done without the aid and assistance of Gods most blessed Spirit The thing we have handled according to the question moved about it which question is Whether the Light of Reason be so pernicious that in devising Laws for the Church men ought not by it to search what may be fit and convenient For this cause therefore we have endeavored to make it appear how in the Nature of Reason it self there is no impediment but that the self-same Spirit which revealeth the things that God hath set down in his Law may also be thought to aid and direct men in finding out by the Light of Reason what Laws are expedient to be made for the guiding of his Church over and besides them that are in Scripture Herein therefore we agree with those men by whom Humane Laws are defined to be Ordinances which such as have lawful Authority given them for that purpose do probably draw from the Laws of Nature and God by discourse of Reason aided with the influence of Divine Grace And for that cause it is not said amiss touching Ecclesiastical Canons That by instinct of the Holy Ghost they have been made and consecrated by the reverend acceptation of the World 9. Laws for the Church are not made as they should be unless the Makers follow such direction as they ought to be guided by Wherein that Scripture standeth not the Church of God in any stead or serveth nothing at all to direct but may be let pass as needless to be consulted with we judge it prophane impious and irreligious to think For although it were in vain to make Laws which the Scripture hath already made because what we are already there commanded to do on our parts there resteth nothing but onely that it be executed yet because both in that which we are commanded it concerneth the duty of the Church by Law to provide that the loosness and slackness of men may not cause the Commandments of God to be unexecuted and a number of things there are for which the Scripture hath not provided by any Law but left them unto the careful discretion of the Church we are to search how the Church in these cases may be well directed to make that provision by Laws which is most convenient and fit And what is so in these cases partly Scripture and partly Reason must teach to discern Scripture comprehending Examples and Laws Laws some Natural and some Positive Examples neither are there for all cases which require Laws to be made and when they are they can but direct as Precedents onely Natural Laws direct in such sort that in all things we must for ever do according unto them Positive so that against them in no case we may do any thing as long as the Will of God is that they should remain in force Howbeit when Scripture doth yield us Precedents how far forth they are to be followed when it giveth Natural Laws what particular order is thereunto most agreeable when Positive which way to make Laws unrepugnant unto them yea though all these should want yet what kinde of Ordinances would be most for that good of the Church which is aimed at all this
the Law-maker as an argument wherefore it should not be lawful to change that which he hath instituted and will have this the cause why all the Ordinances of our Saviour are immutable they which urge the Wisdom of God as a proof that whatsoever Laws he hath made they ought to stand unless himself from Heaven proclaim them disannulled because it is not in man to correct the Ordinance of God may know if it please them to take notice thereof that we are far from presuming to think that men can better any thing which God hath done even as we are from thinking that men should presume to undo some things of men which God doth know they cannot better God never ordained any thing that could be bettered Yet many things he hath that have been changed and that for the better That which succeedeth as better now when change is requisite had been worse when that which now is changed was instituted Otherwise God had not then left this to chuse that neither would now reject that to chuse this were it not for some new-grown occasion making that which hath been betterworse In this case therefore men do not presume to change Gods Ordinance but they yield thereunto requiring it self to be changed Against this it is objected that to abrogate or innovate the Gospel of Christ if Men or Angels should attempt it were most heinous and cursed sacriledge And the Gospel as they say containeth not onely doctrine instructing men how they should believe but also Precepts concerning the Regiment of the Church Discipline therefore is a part of the Gospel and God being the Author of the whole Gospel as well of Discipline as of Doctrine it cannot be but that both of them have a Common Cause So that as we are to believe for ever the Articles of Evangelical Doctrine so the Precepts of Discipline we are in like sort bound for ever to observe Touching Points of Doctrine as for example the Unity of God the Trinity of Persons Salvation by Christ the Resurrection of the Body Life Everlasting the Judgment to come and such like they have been since the first hour that there was a Church in the World and till the last they must be believed But as for Matters of Regiment they are for the most part of another nature To make new Articles of Faith and Doctrine no Man thinketh it lawful new Laws of Government what Commonwealth or Church is there which maketh not either at one time or another The Rule of Faith saith Tertullian is but one and that alone immoveable and impossible to be framed or cast a new The Law of outward Order and Polity not so There is no reason in the World wherefore we should esteem it as necessary always to do as always to believe the same things seeing every man knoweth that the Matter of Faith is constant the Matter contrariwise of Action daily changeable especially the Matter of Action belonging unto Church Polity Neither can I finde that Men of soundest judgment have any otherwise taught then that Articles of Belief and things which all men must of necessity do to the end they may be saved are either expresly set down in Scripture or else plainly thereby to be gathered But touching things which belong to Discipline and outward Polity the Church hath Authority to make Canons Laws and Decrees even as we read that in the Apostles times it did Which kinde of Laws for as much as they are not in themselves necessary to Salvation may after they are made be also changed as the difference of times or places shall require Yea it is not denied I am sure by themselves that certain things in Discipline are of that nature as they may be varied by times places persons and other the like circumstances Whereupon I demand are those changeable Points of Discipline commanded in the Word of God or no If they be not commanded and yet may be received in the Church how can their former Position stand condemning all things in the Church which in the Word are not commanded If they be commanded and yet may suffer change How can this latter stand affirming all things immutable which are commanded of God Their distinction touching Matters of Substance and of Circumstance though true will not serve For be they great things or be they small if God have commanded them in the Gospel and his commanding them in the Gospel do make them unchangeable there is no reason we should more change the one then we may the other If the Authority of the Maker do prove unchangeableness in the Laws which God hath made then must all Laws which he hath made be necessarily for ever permanent though they be out of Circumstance onely and not of Substance I therefore conclude that neither Gods being Author of Laws for Government of his Church nor his committing them unto Scripture is any reason sufficient wherefore all Churches should for ever be bound to keep them without change But of one thing we are here to give them warning by the way For whereas in this Discourse we have oftentimes profest that many parts of Discipline or Church Polity are delivered in Scripture they may perhaps imagine that we are driven to confess their Discipline to be delivered in Scripture and that having no other means to avoid it we are in fain to argue for the changeableness of Laws ordained even by God himself as if otherwise theirs of necessity should take place and that under which we live be abandoned There is no remedy therefore but to abate this Error in them and directly to let them know that if they fall into any such conceit they do but a little flatter their own cause As for us we think in no respect so highly of it Our perswasion is that no age ever had knowledge of it but onely ours that they which defend it devised it that neither Christ nor his Apostles at any time taught it but the contrary If therefore we did seek to maintain that which most advantageth our own cause the very best way for us and the strongest against them were to hold even as they do that in Scripture there must needs be found some particular Form of Church Polity which God hath instituted and which for that very cause belongeth to all Churches to all times But with any such partial eye to respect our selves and by cunning to make those things seem the truest which are the fittest to serve our purpose is a thing which we neither like nor mean to follow Wherefore that which we take to be generally true concerning the Mutability of Laws the same we have plainly delivered as being perswaded of nothing more then we are of this That whether it be in Matter of Speculation or of Practice no untruth can possibly avail the Patron and Defender long and that things most truly are like most behovefully spoken 11. This we hold and grant for Truth
hath placed you Bishops to Feed the Church of God which he hath purchased by his own blood Finally that Commandment which unto the same Timothy is by the same Apostle even in the same form and manner afterwards again urged I charge thee in the sight of God and the Lord Iesus Christ which will judge the quick and dead at his appearance and in his Kingdom Preach the Word of God When Timothy was instituted in that Office then was the credit and trust of this duty committed unto his faithful care The Doctrine of the Gospel was then given him As the precious Talent or Treasure of Iesus Christ then received he for performance of this duty The special Gift of the Holy Ghost To keep this Commandment immaculate and blameless Was to teach the Gospel of Christ without mixture of corrupt and unsound Doctrine such as a number even in those times intermingled with the Mysteries of Christian Belief Till the appearance of Christ to keep it so doth not import the time wherein it should be kept but rather the time whereunto the final reward for keeping it was reserved according to that of St. Paul concerning himself I have kept the Faith for the residue there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the righteous Iudge shall in that day render unto me If they that labor in this Harvest should respect but the present fruit of their painful Travel a poor encouragement it were unto them to continue therein all the days of their life But their reward is great in Heaven the Crown of Righteousness which shall be given them in that day is honorable The fruit of their industry then shall they reap with full contentment and satisfaction but not till then Wherein the greatness of their reward is abundantly sufficient to countervail the tediousness of their expectation Wherefore till then they that are in labor must rest in hope O Timothy keep that which is committed unto thy charge that great Commandment which thou hast received keep till the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ. In which sense although we judge the Apostles words to have been uttered yet hereunto we do not require them to yield that think any other construction more sound If therefore it be rejected and theirs esteemed more probable which hold That the last words do import perpetual observation of the Apostles Commandment imposed necessarily for ever upon the Militant Church of Christ Let them withal consider That then his Commandment cannot so largely be taken to comprehend whatsoever the Apostle did command Timothy For themselves do not all binde the Church unto some things whereof Timothy received charge as namely unto that Precept concerning the choice of Widows So as they cannot hereby maintain that all things positively commanded concerning the affairs of the Church were commanded for perpetuity And we do not deny that certain things were commanded to be though positive yet perpetual in the Church They should not therefore urge against us places that seem to forbid change but rather such as set down some measure of alteration which measure if we have exceeded then might they therewith charge us justly Whereas now they themselves both granting and also using liberty to change cannot in reason dispute absolutely against all change Christ delivered no inconvenient or unmeet Laws Sundry of ours they hold inconvenient Therefore such Laws they cannot possibly hold to be Christs Being not his they must of necessity grant them added unto his Yet certain of those very Laws so added they themselves do not judge unlawful as they plainly confess both in matter of Prescript Attire and of Rites appertaining to Burial Their own Protestations are that they plead against the inconvenience not the unlawfulness of Popish Apparel and against the inconvenience not the unlawfulness of Ceremonies in Burial Therefore they hold it a thing not unlawful to add to the Laws of Jesus Christ and so consequently they yield That no Law of Christ forbiddeth Addition unto Church Laws The Judgment of Calvin being alledged against them to whom of all men they attribute most whereas his words be plain That for Ceremonies and External Discipline the Church hath power to make Laws The answer which hereunto they make is That indefinitely the speech is true and that so it was meant by him namely That some things belonging unto External Discipline and Ceremonies are in the Power and Arbitrement of the Church but neither was it meant neither is it true generally That all External Discipline and all Ceremonies are left to the Order of the Church in as much as the Sacraments of Baptism and the Supper of the Lord are Ceremonies which yet the Church may not therefore abrogate Again Excommunication is a part of External Discipline which might also be cast away if all External Discipline were Arbitrary and in the choice of the Church By which their answer it doth appear that touching the names of Ceremony and External Discipline they gladly would have us so understood as if we did herein contain a great deal more then we do The fault which we finde with them is That they over-much abridge the Church of her power in these things Whereupon they recharge us as if in these things we gave the Church a liberty which hath no limits or bounds as if all things which the name of Discipline containeth were at the Churches free choice So that we might either have Church Governors and Government or want them either retain or reject Church Censures as we lift They wonder at us as at men which think it so indifferent what the Church doth in Matter of Ceremonies that it may be feared lest we judge the very Sacraments themselves to be held at the Churches pleasure No the name of Ceremonies we do not use in so large a meaning as to bring Sacraments within the compass and reach thereof although things belonging unto the outward form and seemly Administration of them are contained in that name even as we use it For the name of Ceremonies we use as they themselves do when they speak after this sort The Doctrine and Discipline of the Church as the weightiest things ought especially to be looked unto but the Ceremonies also as Mint and Cummin ought not to be neglected Besides in the Matter of External Discipline or Regiment it self we do not deny but there are some things whereto the Church is bound till the Worlds end So as the question is onely how far the bounds of the Churches Liberty do reach We hold that the power which the Church hath lawfully to make Laws and Orders for it self doth extend unto sundry things of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and such other Matters whereto their opinion is That the Churches Authority and Power doth not reach Whereas therefore in Disputing against us about this point they take their compass a great deal wider then the truth of things can afford producing
Reasons and Arguments by way of generality to prove that Christ hath set down all things belonging any way unto the Form of ordering his Church and hath obsolutely forbidden change by Addition or Diminution great or small for so their manner of disputing is We are constrained to make our Defence by shewing That Christ hath not deprived his Church so far of all Liberty in making Orders and Laws for it self and that they themselves do not think he hath so done For are they able to shew that all particular Customs Rites and Orders of Reformed Churches have been appointed by Christ himself No They grant that in Matter of Circumstance they alter that which they have received but in things of Substance they keep the Laws of Christ without change If we say the same in our own behalf which surely we may do with a great deal more truth then must they cancel all that hath been before alledged and begin to enquire afresh Whether we retain the Laws that Christ hath delivered concerning Matters of Substance yea or no. For our constant perswasion in this point is as theirs That we have no where altered the Laws of Christ further then in such Particularities onely as have the nature of things changeable according to the difference of times places persons and other the like circumstances Christ hath commanded Prayers to be made Sacraments to be ministred his Church to be carefully taught and guided Concerning every of these somewhat Christ hath commanded which must be kept till the Worlds end On the contrary side in every of them somewhat there may be added as the Church shall judge it expedient So that if they will speak to purpose all which hitherto hath been disputed of they must give over and stand upon such particulars onely as they can shew we have either added or abrogated otherwise then we ought in the Matter of Church Poliâ—y Whatsoever Christ hath commanded for ever to be kept in his Church the same we take not upon us to abrogate and whatsoever our Laws have thereunto added besides of such quality we hope it is as no Law of Christ doth any where condemn Wherefore that all may be laid together and gathered into a narrow room First So far forth as the Church is the Mystical Body of Christ and his Invisible Spouse it needeth no External Polity That very part of the Law Divine which teacheth Faith and Works of Righteousness is it self alone sufficient for the Church of God in that respect But as the Church is a Visible Society and Body Politick Laws of Polity it cannot want Secondly Whereas therefore is cometh in the second place to be enquired what Laws are fitest and best for the Church they who first embraced that rigorous and strict opinion which depriveth the Church of Liberty to make any kinde of Law for her self inclined as it should seem thereunto for that they imagined all things which the Church doth without commandment of holy Scripture subject to that reproof which the Scripture it self useth in certain cases when Divine Authority ought alone to be followed Hereupon they thought it enough for the cancelling of any kinde of Order whatsoever to say The Word of God teacheth it not it is a device of the Brain of Man away with it therefore out of the Church St. Augustine was of another minde who speaking of Fasts on the Sunday saith That he which would chuse out that day to fast on should give thereby no small offence to the Church of God which had received a contrary Custom For in these things whereof the Scripture appointeth no certainty the use of the People of God or the Ordinances of our Fathers must serve for a Law In which case if we will dispute and condemn one sort by anothers custom it will be but matter of endless contention where for as much as the labor of reasoning shall hardly be at into mens heads any certain or necessary truth surely it standeth us upon to take heed lest with the Tempest of Strife the Brightness of Charity and Love be darkned If all things must be commanded of God which may be practised of his Church I would know what commandment the Gileadites had to erect that Altar which is spoken of in the Book of Ioshua Did not congruity of Reason enduce them thereunto and suffice for defence of their Fact I would know what commandment the Women of Israel had yearly to mourn and lament in the memory of Iephâ—hahs daughter what commandment the Iews had to celebrate their Feast of Dedication never spoken of in the Law yet solemnized even by our Saviour himself what commandment finally they had for the Ceremony of Odors used about the Bodies of the Dead after which custom notwithstanding sith it was their custom our Lord was contented that his own most precious Body should be intombed Wherefore to reject all Orders of the Church which Men have established is to think worse of the Laws of Men in this respect then either the judgment of wise men alloweth or the Law of God it self will bear Howbeit they which had once taken upon them to condemn all things done in the Church and not commanded of God to be done saw it was necessary for them continuing in defence of this their opinion to hold that needs there must be in Scripture set down a compleat particular Form of Church Polity a Form prescribing how all the affairs of the Church must be ordered a Form in no respect lawful to be altered by Mortal Men. For Reformation of which over-sight and error in them there were that thought it a part of Christian love and charity to instruct them better and to open unto them the difference between Matters of perpetual necessity to all Mens salvation and Matters of Ecclesiastical Polity The one both fully and plainly taught in holy Scripture the other not necessary to be in such sort there prescribed The one not capable of any Diminution or Augmentation at all by Men the other apt to admit both Hereupon the Authors of the former opinion were presently seconded by other wittier and better learned who being loth that the Form of Church Polity which they sought to bring in should be otherwise then in the highest degree accounted of took first an exception against the difference between Church Polity and Matters of necessity to Salvation Secondly Against the Restraint of Scripture which they say receiveth injury at our hands when we teach that it teacheth not as well Matters of Polity as of Faith and Salvation Thirdly Constrained thereby we have been therefore both to maintain that distinction as a thing not onely true in it self but by them likewise so acknowledged though unawares Fourthly And to make manifest that from Scripture we offer not to derogate the least thing that Truth thereunto doth claim in as much as by us it is willingly confest That the Scripture of God is a
Store-house abounding with inestimable Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge in many kindes over and above things in this one kinde barely necessary yea even that Matters of Ecclesiastical Polity are not therein omitted but taught also albeit not so taught as those other things before mentioned For so perfectly are those things taught that nothing ever can need to be added nothing ever cease to be necessary These on the contrary side as being of a far other nature and quality not so strictly nor everlastingly commanded in Scripture but that unto the compleat Form of Church Polity much may be requisite which the Scripture teacheth not and much which it hath taught become unrequisite sometime because we need not use it sometimes also because we cannot In which respect for mine own part although I see that certain Reformed Churches the Scotish especially and French have not that which best agreeth with the Sacred Scripture I mean the Government that is by Bishops in as much as both those Churches are faln under a different kinde of Regiment which to remedy it is for the one altogether too late and too soon for the other during their present affliction and trouble This their defect and imperfection I had rather lament in such a case then exagitate considering that men oftentimes without any fault of their own may be driven to want that kinde of Polity or Regiment which is best and to content themselves with that weich either the irremediable Error of former times or the necessity of the present hath cast upon them Fifthly Now because that Position first mentioned which holdeth it necessary that all things which the Church may lawfully do in her own Regiment be commanded in holy Scripture hath by the latter Defenders thereof been greatly qualified who though perceiving it to be over-extream are notwithstanding loth to acknowledge any oversight therein and therefore labor what they may to salve it up by construction we have for the more perspicuity delivered what was thereby meant at the first Sixthly How injurious a thing it were unto all the Churches of God for men to hold it in that meaning Seventhly And how unperfect their Interpretations are who so much labor to help it either by dividing Commandments of Scripture into two kindes and so defending that all things must be commanded if not in special yet in general Precepts Eightly Or by taking it as meant that in case the Church do devise any new Order she ought therein to follow the direction of Scripture onely and not any Star-light of Mans Reason Ninethly Both which evasions being cut off we have in the next place declared after what sort the Church may lawfully frame to her self Laws of Polity and in what reckoning such Positive Laws both are with God and should be with Men. Tenthly Furthermore because to abridge the Liberty of the Church in this behalf it hath been made a thing very odious that when God himself hath devised some certain Laws and committed them to Sacred Scripture Man by Abrogation Addition or any way should presume to alter and change them it was of necessity to be examined Whether the Authority of God in making or his care in committing those his Laws unto Scripture be sufficient Arguments to prove That God doth in no case allow they should suffer any such kinde of change Eleventhly The last refuge for proof That Divine Laws of Christian Church Polity may not be altered by extinguishment of any old or addition of new in that kinde is partly a marvellous strange Discourse That Christ unless he would shew himself not so faithful as Moses or not so wise as Lycurgus and Solon must needs have set down in holy Scripture some certain compleat and unchangeable Form of Polity and partly a coloured shew of some evidence where change of that sort of Laws may seem expresly forbidden although in truth nothing less be done I might have added hereunto their more familiar and popular disputes as The Church is a City yea the City of the Great King and the life of a City is Polity The Church is the House of the Living God and what house can there be without some order for the government of it In the Royal House of a Prince there must be Officers for Government such as not any Servant in the House but the Prince whose the House is shall judge convenient So the House of God must have Orders for the Government of it such as not any of the Houshold but God himself hath appointed It cannot stand with the Love and Wisdom of God to leave such Order untaken as is necessary for the due Government of his Church The numbers degrees orders and attire of Solomons servants did shew his Wisdom therefore he which is greater then Solomon hath not failed to leave in his House such Orders for Government thereof as may serve to be as a Looking-glass for his providence care and wisdom to be seen in That little spark of the Light of Nature which remaineth in us may serve us for the affairs of this life But as in all other Matters concerning the Kingdom of Heaven so principally in this which concerneth the very Government of that Kingdom needful it is we should be taught of God As long as Men are perswaded of any Order that it is onely of Men they presume of their own understanding and they think to devise another not onely as good but better then that which they have received By severity of punishment this presumption and curiosity may be restrained But that cannot work such chearful Obedience as is yielded where the Conscience hath respect to God as the Author of Laws and Orders This was it which countenanced the Laws of Moses made concerning outward Polity for the Administration of holy things The like some Law-givers of the Heathens did pretend but falsly yet wisely discerning the use of this perswasion For the better obedience sake therefore it was expedient that God should be Author of the Polity of his Church But to what issue doth all this come A man would think that they which hold out with such discourses were of nothing more fully perswaded then of this That the Scripture hath set down a compleat Form of Church Polity Universal Perpetual altogether Unchangeable For so it would follow if the premises were sound and strong to such effect as is pretended Notwithstanding they which have thus formally maintained Argument in defence of the first oversight are by the very evidence of Truth themselves constrained to make this in effect their conclusion That the Scripture of God hath many things concerning Church Polity that of those many some are of greater weight some of less that what hath been urged as touching Immutability of Laws it extendeth in Truth no further then onely to Laws wherein things of greater moment are prescribed Now these things of greater moment what are they Forsooth Doctors Pastors Lay-Elders Elderships compounded of these
this were predominant We have most heartily to thank God therefore that they amongst us to whom the first consultations of causes of this kind fell were men which aiming at another mark namely the glory of God and the good of this his Church took that which they judged thereunto necessary not rejecting any good or convenient thing only because the Church of Rome might perhaps like it If we have that which is meet and right although they be glad we are not to envy them this their solace we do not think it a duty of ours to be in every such thing their Tormentors And wherein it is said that Popery for want of this utter extirpation hath in some places takenroot and flourished again but hath not been able to re-establish it self in any place after provision made against it by utter evacuation of all Romish Ceremonies and therefore as long as we hold any thing like unto them we put them in some more hope than if all were taken away as we deny not but this may be true so being of two evils to choose the less we hold it better that the Friends and Favourers of the Church of Rome should be in some kind of hope to have a corrupt Religion restored then both we and they conceive just fear lest under colour of rooting out Popery the most effectual means to bear up the state of Religion be removed and so a way made either for Paganism or for extreme Barbarity to enter If desire of weakning the hope of others should turn us away from the course we have taken how much more the care of preventing our own fear with-hold us from that we are urged unto Especially seeing that our own fear we know but we are not so certain what hope the Rites and Orders of our Church have bred in the hearts of others Fort it is no sufficient Argument therefore to say that in maintaining and urging these Ceremonies none are so clamorous as Papists and they whom Papists suborn this speech being more hard to justifie than the former and so their proof more doubtfull then the thing it self which they prove He that were certain that this is true must have marked who they be that speak for Ceremonies he must have noted who amongst them doth speak oftenest or is most earnest he must have been both acquainted thorowly with the Religion of such and also privy to what conferences or compacts are passed in secret between them and others which kind of notice are not wont to be vulgar and common Yet they which alleadge this would have it taken as a thing that needeth no proof a thing which all men know and see And if so be it were granted them as true what gain they by it Sundry of them that be Popish are eager in maintenance of Ceremonies Is it so strange a matter to find a good thing furthered by ill men of a smister intent and purpose whose forwardness is not therefore a bridle to such as favour the same cause with a better and sincerer meaning They that seek as they say the removing of all Popish Orders out of the Church and reckon the state of Bishops in the number of those Orders do I doubt not presume that the cause which they prosecute is holy Notwithstanding it is their own ingenuous acknowledgement that even this very cause which they term so often by an excellency The Lords Cause is gratissima most acceptable unto some which hope for prey and spoyl by it and that our Age hath store of such and that such are the very Sectaries of Dionysius the famous Atheist Now if hereupon we should upbraid them with Irreligious as they do us with Superstitious favourers if we should follow them in their own kind of Pleading and say that the most clamorous for this pretended Reformation are either Atheists or else Proctors suborned by Atheists the Answer which herein they would make unto us let them apply unto themselves and there an end For they must not forbid us to presume our cause in defence of our Church-orders to be as good as theirs against them till the contrary be made manifest to the World 10. In the mean while sorry we are that any good and godly mind should be grieved with that which is done But to remedy their grief lyeth not so much in us as in themselves They do not wish to be made glad with the hurt of the Church and to remove all out of the Church whereat they shew themselves to be sorrowful would be as we are perswaded hurtful if not pernicious thereunto Till they be able to perswade the contrary they must and will I doubt not find out some other good mean to chear up themselves Amongst which means the example of Geneva may serve for one Have not they the old Popish custom of using God-fathers and God-mothers in Baptism the old Popish custom of administring the blessed Sacrament of the holy Eucharist with Wafer-cakes These things then the Godly there can digest Wherefore should not the Godly here learn to do the like both in them and in therest of the like nature Some further mean peradventure it might be to asswage their grief if so be they did consider the revenge they take on them which have been as they interpret it the workers of their continuance in so great grief so long For if the maintenance of Ceremonies be a corrosive to such as oppugn them undoubtedly to such as maintain them it can be no great pleasure when they behold how that which they reverence is oppugned And therefore they that judge themselves Martyrs when they are grieved should think withal what they are whom they grieve For we are still to put them in mind that the cause doth make no difference for that it must be presumed as good at the least on our part as on theirs till it be in the end decided who have stood for Truth and who for Error So that till then the most effectual medicine and withal the most sound to ease their grief must not be in our opinion the taking away of those things whereat they are grieved but the altering of that perswasion which they have concerning the same For this we therefore both pray and labour the more because we are also perswaded that it is but conceit in them to think that those Romish Ceremonies whereof we have hitherto spoken are like leprous Clothes infectious to the Church or like soft and gentle Poysons the venom whereof being insensibly penicious worketh death and yet is never felt working Thus they say but because they say it only and the World hath not as yet had so great experience of their Art in curing the Diseases of the Church that the bare authority of their word should perswade in a cause so weighty they may not think much if it be required at their hands to shew First by what means so deadly Infection can grow from
ought not to cause the Churches to dissent out with another But yet it maketh most to the avoiding of Dissention that there be amongst them an Unity not onely in Doctrine but also in Ceremonies And therefore our Form of Service is to be amended not onely for that it cometh too near that of the Papists but also because it is so different from that of the Reformed Churches Being asked to what Churches ours should conform it self and why other Reformed Churches should not as well frame themselves to ours Their answer is That if there be any Ceremonies which we have better then others they ought to frame themselves to us If they have better then we then we ought to frame ourselves to them If the Ceremonies be alike commodious tha latter Churches should conform themselves to the first as the younger Daughter to the Elder For as St. Paul in the Members where all other things are equal noteth it for a mark of honor above the rest that one is called before another to the Gospel so is it for the same cause amongst the Churches And in this respect he pincheth the Corinths that not being the first which received the Gospel yet they would have their several manners from other Churches Moreover where the Ceremonies are alike commodious the fewer ought to conform themselves unto the moe For as much therefore as all the Churches so far as they know which plead after this manner of our Confession in Doctrine agree in the Abrogation of divers things which we retain Our Church ought either to shew that they have done evil or else she is found to be in fault that doth not conform her self in that which she cannot deny to be well abrogated In this Axiom that Preservation of Peace and Unity amongst Christian Churches should be by all good means procured we joyn most willingly and gladly with them Neither deny we but that to the avoiding of Dissention it availeth much that there be amongst them an Unity as well in Ceremonies as in Doctrine The onely doubt is about the manner of their Unity How far Churches are bound to be Uniform in their Ceremonies and what way they ought to take for that purpose Touching the one the Rule which they have set down is That in Ceremonies indifferent all Churches ought to be one of them unto another as like as possibly they may be Which possibly we cannot otherwise conster then that it doth require them to be even as like as they may be without breaking any Positive Ordinance of God For the Ceremonies whereof we speak being Matter of Positive Law they are indifferent if God have neither himself commanded nor forbidden them but left them unto the Churches discretion so that if as great Uniformity be required as is possible in these things seeing that the Law of God forbiddeth not any one of them it followeth that from the greatest unto the least they must be in every Christian Church the same except meer impossibility of so having it be the hindrance To us this Opinion seemeth over-extream and violent We rather incline to think it a just and reasonable cause for any Church the State whereof is free and independent if in these things it differ from other Churches onely for that it doth not judge it so fit and expedient to be framed therein by the pattern of their example as to be otherwise framed then they That of Gregory unto Leander is a charitable Speech and a peaceable In una side nil officit Ecclesiae sancta consuetudo diversa Where the Faith of the Holy Church is one a difference in Customs of the Church doth no harm That of St. Augustine to Cassulanus is somewhat particular and toucheth what kinde of Ceremonies they are wherein one Church may vary from the example of another without hurt Let the Faith of the whole Church how wide soever it hath spred it self be always one although the Unity of Belief be famous for variety of certain Ordinances whereby that which is rightly believed suffereth no kinde of let or impediment Calvin goeth further As concerning Rites in particular let the sentence of Augustine take place which leaveth it free unto all Churches to receive their own Custom Yea sometime it profiteth and is expedient that there be difference lest men should think that Religion is tyed to outward Ceremonies Always provided that there be not any emulation nor that Churches delighted with novelty affect to have that which others have not They which grant it true That the diversity of Ceremonies in this kinde ought not to cause dissension in Churches must either acknowledge that they grant in effect nothing by these words or if any thing be granted there must as much be yielded unto as we affirm against their former strict Assertion For if Churches be urged by way of duty to take such Ceremonies as they like not of How can dissension be avoided Will they say that there ought to be no dissension because such as are urged ought to like of that whereunto they are urged If they say this they say just nothing For how should any Church like to be urged of duty by such as have no authority or power over it unto those things which being indifferent it is not of duty bound unto them Is it their meaning that there ought to be no dissension because that which Churches are not bound unto no man ought by way of duty to urge upon them And if any man do he standeth in the sight both of God and Men most justly blameable as a needless Disturber of the Peace of Gods Church and an Author of Dissension In saying this they both condemn their own practice when they press the Church of England with so strict a bond of duty in these things and they overthrow the ground of their practice which is That there ought to be in all kinde of Ceremonies Uniformity unless impossibility hinder it For Proof whereof it is not enough to alledge what St. Paul did about the Matter of Collections or what Noblemen do in the Liveries of their Servants or what the Council of Nice did for Standing in time of Prayer on certain days Because though St. Paul did will them of the Church of Corinth every man to lay up somewhat by him upon the Sunday and to reserve it in store till himself did come thither to send it unto the Church of Ierusalem for relief of the Poor there signifying withal that he had taken the like order with the Churches of Galatia yet the reason which he yieldeth of this order taken both in the one place and the other sheweth the least part of his meaning to have been that whereunto his words are writhed Concerning Collection for the Saints he meaneth them of Ierusalem as I have given order to the Church of Galatia so likewise do ye saith the Apostle that is In every first day of the week let each of
you lay aside by himself and reserve according to that which God hath blessed him with that when I come collections be not then to make and that when I am come whom you shall chuse them I may forthwith send away by Letters to carry your beneficence unto Jerusalem Out of which words to conclude the duty of Uniformity throughout all Churches in all manner of indifferent Ceremonies will be very hard and therefore best to give it over But perhaps they are by so much the more loth to forsake this Argument for that it hath though nothing else yet the name of Scripture to give it some kinde of countenance more then the pretext of Livery-coats affordeth them For neither is it any mans duty to cloath all his children or all his servants with one weed nor theirs to cloath themselves so if it were left to their own judgments as these Ceremonies are left of God to the judgment of the Church And seeing Churches are rather in this case like divers Families then like divers servants of one Family because every Church the state whereof is independent upon any other hath authority to appoint orders for it self in things indifferent therefore of the two we may rather infer That as one Family is not abridged of liberty to be cloathed in Friers Gray for that another doth wear Clay colour so neither are all Churches bound to the self-same indifferent Ceremonies which it liketh sundry to use As for that Canon in the Council of Nice let them but read it and weigh it well The ancient use of the Church throughout all Christendom was for fifty days after Easter which fifty days were called Pentecost though most commonly the last day of them which is Whitsunday he so called in like sort on all Sundays throughout the whole year their manner was to stand at Prayer Whereupon their meetings unto that purpose on those days had the name of Stations given them Of which Custom Tertullian speaketh in this wise It is not with us thought sit either to fast on the Lords day or to pray kneeling The same immunity from Fasting and Kneeling we keep all the time which is between the Feasts of Easter and Pentecost This being therefore an order generally received in the Church when some began to be singular and different from all others and that in a Ceremony which was then judged very convenient for the whole Church even by the whole those few excepted which break out of the common Pale the Council of Nice thought good to enclose them again with the rest by a Law made in this sort Because there are certain which will needs kneel at the time of Prayer on the Lords day and in the fifty days after Easter the holy Synod judging it meet that a convenient custom be observed throughout all Churches hath decreed That Standing we make our Prayers to the Lord. Whereby it plainly appeareth that in things indifferent what the whole Church doth think convenient for the whole the same if any part do wilfully violate it may be reformed and inraised again by that general authority whereunto each particular is subject and that the Spirit of singularity in a few ought to give place unto publick judgment this doth clearly enough appear but not that all Christian Churches are bound in every indifferent Ceremony to be uniform because where the whole Church hath not tyed the parts unto one and the same thing they being therein left each to their own choice may either do as others do or else otherwise without any breach of duty at all Concerning those indifferent things wherein it hath been heretofore thought good that all Christian Churches should be uniform the way which they now conceive to bring this to pass was then never thought on For till now it hath been judged that seeing the Law of God doth not prescribe all particular Ceremonies which the Church of Christ may use and in so great variety of them as may be found out it is not possible That the Law of Nature and Reason should direct all Churches unto the same things each deliberating by it self what is most convenient The way to establish the same things indifferent throughout them all must needs be the judgment of some Judicial authority drawn into one onely sentence which may be a rule for every particular to follow And because such authority over all Churches is too much to be granted unto any one mortal man there yet remaineth that which hath been always followed as the best the safest the most sincere and reasonable way namely the Verdict of the whole Church orderly taken and set down in the Assembly of some General Council But to maintain That all Christian Churches ought for Unities sake to be uniform in all Ceremonies and then to teach that the way of bringing this to pass must be by mutual imitation so that where we have better Ceremonies then others they shall be bound to follow us and we them where theirs are better How should we think it agreeable and consonant unto reason For sith in things of this nature there is such variety of particular inducements whereby one Church may be led to think that better which another Church led by other inducements judgeth to be worse For example the East Church did think it better to keep Easter day after the manner of the Jews the West Church better to do otherwise the Greek Church judgeth it worse to use Unleavened Bread in the Eucharist the Latine Church leavened One Church esteemeth it not so good to receive the Eucharist sitting as standing another Church not so good standing as sitting there being on the one side probable Motives as well as on the other unless they add somewhat else to define more certainly what Ceremonies shall stand for best in such sort That all Churches in the World shall know them to be the best and so know them that there may not remain any question about this point we are not a whit the nearer for that they have hitherto said They themselves although resolved in their own judgments what Ceremonies are best foreseeing that such as they are addicted unto be not all so clearly and so incomparably best but others there are or may be at leastwise when all things are well considered as good knew not which way smoothly to rid their hands of this matter without providing some more certain rule to be followed for establishment of Uniformity in Ceremonies when there are divers kindes of equal goodness And therefore in this case they say That the latter Churches and the fewer should conform themselves unto the elder and the moe Hereupon they conclude that for as much as all the Reformed Churches so far as they know which are of our Confession in Doctrine have agreed already in the Abrogation of divers things which we retain Our Church ought either to shew that they have done evil or else she is found to be in fault
for not conforming her self to those Churches in that which she cannot deny to be in them well abrogated For the authority of the first Churches and those they account to be the first in this cause which were first Reformed they bring the comparison of younger Daughters conforming themselves in attire to the example of their elder Sisters wherein there is just as much strength of Reason as in the Livery Coats beforementioned St. Paul they say noteth it for a mark of special honor that Epanetus was the first man in all Athaia which did embrace the Christian Faith after the same sort he toucheth it also as a special preheminence of Iunius and Andronicus that in Christianity they were his Ancients The Corinthians he pincheth with this demand Hath the Word of God gone out from you or hath it lighted on you alone But what of all this If any man should think that alacrity and forwardness in good things doth add nothing unto mens commendation the two former speeches of St. Paul might lead him to reform his judgment In like sort to take down the stomach of proud conceited men that glory as though they were able to set all others to School there can be nothing more fit then some such words as the Apostles third sentence doth contain wherein he teacheth the Church of Corinth to know that there was no such great odds between them and the rest of their Brethren that they should think themselves to be Gold and the rest to be but Copper He therefore useth speech unto them to this effect Men instructed in the knowledge of Iesus Christ there both were before you and are besides you in the world ye neither are the Fountain from which first nor yet the River into which alone the Word hath flowed But although as Epanetus was the first man in all Achaia so Corinth had been the first Church in the whole World that received Christ the Apostle doth not shew that in any kinde of things indifferent whatsoever this should have made their example a Law unto all others Indeed the example of sundry Churches for approbation of one thing doth sway much but yet still as having the force of an example onely and not of a Law They are effectual to move any Church unless some greater thing do hinder but they binde none no not though they be many saving onely when they are the major part of a General Assembly and then their voices being more in number must over-sway their judgments who are fewer because in such cases the greater half is the whole But as they stand out single each of them by it self their number can purchase them no such authority that the rest of the Churches being fewer should be therefore bound to follow them and to relinguish as good Ceremonies as theirs for theirs Whereas therefore it is concluded out of these so weak Premisses that the retaining of divers things in the Church of England which other Reformed Churches have cast out must needs argue that we do not well unless we can shew that they have done ill what needed this wrest to draw out from us an accusation of forein Churches It is not proved as yet that if they have done well our duty is to follow them and to forsake our own course because it differeth from theirs although indeed it be as well for us every way as theirs for them And if the proofs alledged for confirmation hereof had been sound yet seeing they lead no further then onely to shew that where we can have no better Ceremonies theirs must be taken as they cannot with modesty think themselves to have found out absolutely the best which the wit of men may devise so liking their own somewhat better then other mens even because they are their own they must in equity allow us to be like unto them in this affection Which if they do they ease us of that uncourteous burden whereby we are charged either to condemn them or else to follow them They grant we need not follow them if our own ways already be better And if our own be but equal the Law of Common Indulgence alloweth us to think them at the least half a thought the better because they are our own which we may very well do and never draw any Inditement at all against theirs but think commendably even of them also 14. To leave Reformed Churches therefore and their Actions for Him to judge of in whose sight they are as they are and our desire is that they may even in his sight be found such as we ought to endeavor by all means that our own may likewise be Somewhat we are enforced to speak by way of Simple Declaration concerning the proceedings of the Church of England in these affairs to the end that men whose mindes are free from those partial constructions whereby the onely name of Difference from some other Churches is thought cause sufficient to condemn ours may the better discern whether that we have done be reasonable yea or no. The Church of England being to alter her received Laws concerning such Orders Rites and Ceremonies as had been in former times an hinderance unto Piety and Religious Service of God was to enter into consideration first That the change of Laws especially concerning matter of Religion must be warily proceeded in Laws as all other things humane are many times full of imperfection and that which is supposed behoveful unto men proveth oftentimes most pernicious The wisdom which is learned by tract of time findeth the Laws that have been in former ages established needful in latter to be abrogated Besides that which sometime is expedient doth not always so continue and the number of needless Laws unabolished doth weaken the force of them that are necessary But true withal it is that Alteration though it be from worse to better hath in it inconveniences and those weighty unless it bein such Laws as have been made upon special occasions which occasions ceasing Laws of that kinde do abrogate themselves But when we abrogate a Law as being ill made the whole cause for which it was made still remaining Do we not herein revoke our very own deed and upbraid our selves with folly yea all that were makers of it with oversight and with error Further if it be a Law which the custom and continual practice of many ages or years hath consumed in the mindes of men to alter it must needs be troublesome and scandalous It amazeth them it causeth them to stand in doubt whether any thing be in it self by nature either good or evil and not all things rather such as men at this or that time agree to account of them when they behold even those things disproved disannulled rejected which use had made in a manner natural What have we to induce men unto the willing obedience and observation of Laws but the weight of so many mens judgments as have with deliberate advice assented
harm And doing well their Actions are freed from prejudice and novelty To the best and wisest while they live the World is continually a froward Opposite a curious Observer of their Defects and Imperfections their Vertues it afterwards as much admireth And â—or this cause many times that which most deserveth approbation would hardly be able to finde favour if they which propose it were not content to profess themselves therein Scholars and Followers of the Antients For the World will not endure to hear that we are wiser than any have been which went before In which consideration there is cause why we should be slow and unwilling to change without very urgent necessity the antient Ordinances Rites and long approved Customs of our venerable Predecessors The love of things Antient doth argue stayedness but levity and want of Experience maketh apt auto Innovations That which Wisdom did first begin and hath been with Good men long continued challengeth allowance of them that succeed although it plead for it self nothing That which is new if it promise not much doth fear Condemnation before Tryal till Tryal no man doth acquit or trust it what good soever it pretend and promise So that in this kinde there are few things known to be Good till such time as they grow to be Antient The vain pretence of those glorious Names where they could not be with any truth neither in reason ought to have been so much alledged hath wrought such a prejudice against them in the mindes of the Common sort as if they had utterly no force at all whereas especially for these Observances which concern our present Question Antiquity Custom and Consent in the Church of God making with the which Law doth establish are themselves most sufficient reasons to uphold the same unless some notable publick inconvenience inforce the contrary For a small thing in the eye of Law is as nothing We are therefore bold to make our second Petition this That in things the fitness whereof is not of it self apparent nor easie to be made snfficiently manifest unto all yet the Judgment of Antiquity concurring with that which is received may induce them to think it not unfit who are not able to alledge any known weighty Inconvenience which it hath or to take any strong Exception against it 8. All things cannot be of antient continuance which are expedient and needful for the ordering of Spiritual Affairs but the Church being a Body which dieth not hath always power as occasion requireth no less to ordain that which never was than to ratifie what hath been before To prescribe the Order of doing in all Things Is a peculiar Prerogative which Wisdom hath as a Queen or soveraign Commandress over other Vertues This in every several Man's Actions of Common Life appertaineth unto Morall in Publick and Politick secular Affairs unto Civil Wisdom In like manner to devise any certain Form for the outward Administration of Publick Duties in the Service of God or Things belonging thereunto and to find out the most convenient for that use is a point of Wisdom Ecclesiastical It is not for a Man which doth know or should know what Order is and what Peaceable Government requireth to ask Why we should hang our Iudgment upon the Churches Sleeve and why in Matters of Order more than in Matters of Doctrine The Church hath Authority to Establish That for an Order at one time which at another time it may Abolish and in both do well But That which in Doctrine the Church doth now deliver rightly as a Truth no Man will say that it may hereafter recall and as rightly avouch the contrary Laws touching Matter of Order are changeable by the Power of the Church Articles concerning Doctrine not so We read often in the Writings of Catholick and Holy men rouching Matters of Doctrine This we believe This we bold This the Prophets and Evangelists have declared This the Apostles have delivered This Martyrs have sealed with their Blood and confessed in the midst of Torments to This We cleave as to the Anchor of Our Souls against This though an Angel from Heaven should Preach unto us We would not believe But did we ever in any of Them read touching Matters of mere Comcliness Order and Decency neither Commanded nor Prohibited by any Prophet any Evangelist any Apostle Although the Church wherein we live do ordain them to be kept although they be never so generally observed though all the Churches in the World should Command them though Angels from Heaven should require our Subjection thereunto I would hold him accursed that doth obey Be it in Matter of the one kind or of the other what Scripture doth plainly deliver to that the First place both of Credit and Obedience is due The Next whereunto is whatsoever any Man can necessarily conclude by Force of Reason After These the Voyce of the Church succeedeth That which the Church by her Ecclesiastical Authority shall probably think and define to be True or Good must in congruity of Reason over-rule all other Inferiour Judgements whatsoever To them which ask Why we thus hang our Judgment on the Churches Sleeve I answer with Solomon Because Two are better than One. Yea Simply saith Basil and Universally whether it be in Works of Nature or of Voluntary Choice and Counsel I see not any thing done as it should be is it be wrought by an Agent singling it self from Consorts The Jews have a Sentence of good advice Take not upon Thee to be a Iudge alone there is no sole Iudge but One only Say not to Others Receive my Sentence when their Authority is above thine The bare consent of the whole Church should it self in These things stop their Mouths who living under it dare presume to bark against it There is saith Cassianus no Place of Audience left for them by whom Obedience is not yielded to that which all have agreed upon Might we not think it more than wonderful that Nature should in all Communities appoint a Predominant Judgment to sway and over-rule in so many things or that God himself should allow so much Authority and Power unto every Poor Family for the ordering of All which are in it and the City of the Living God which is his Church be able neither to Command nor yet to Forbid any thing which the Meanest shall in that respect and for her sole Authorities sake be bound to obey We cannot hide or dissemble that Evil the grievous inconvenience whereof we feel Our dislike of them by whom too much heretofore hath been attributed unto the Church is grown to an Error on the contrary hand so that now from the Church of God too much is derogated By which removal of one Extremity with another the World seeking to procure a Remedy hath purchased a meer Exchange of the Evil which before was felt Suppose we that the Sacred Word of God can at their hands
receive due honour by whose Incitement the Holy Ordinances of the Church endure every where open contempt No it is not possible they should observe as they ought the One who from the Other withdraw unnecessarily their Own or their Brethrens Obedience Surely the Church of God in this Business is neither of Capacity I trust so weak noâ— so unstrengthened I know with Authority from Above but that her Laws may exact Obedience at the hands of her own Children and injoyn Gain-sayers silence giving them roundly to understand That where our Duty is Submission weak Oppositions betoken Pride We therefore crave Thirdly to have it granted That where neither the Evidence of any Law Divine nor the Strength of any Invincible Argument otherwise found out by the Light of Reason not any Notable Publick Inconvenience doth make against that which our own Laws Ecclesiastical have although but Newly instituted for the Ordering of these Affairs the very Authority of the Church it self at the least in such Cases may give so much Credit to her own Laws as to make their Sentence touching Fitness and Conveniency weightier than any bare or naked Conceit to the contrary especially in them who can owe no less than Childe-like obedience to her that hath more than Motherly Power 9. There are Antient Ordinances Laws which on all sides are allowed to be Just and Good yea Divine and Apostolick Constitutions which the Church it may be doth not always keep nor always justly deserve blame in that respect For in Evils that cannot be removedâ— without the manifest danger of Greater to succeed in their rooms Wisdom of necessity must give place to Necessity All it can do in those Cases is to devise how that which must be endured may be mitigated and the Inconveniences thereof countervailed as neer as may be that when the Best things are not possible the best may be made of Those that are Nature than which there is nothing more constant nothing more uniform in all her ways doth notwithstanding stay her Hand yea and change her Course when That which God by Creation did command he doth at any time by Necessity countermand It hath therefore pleased himself sometime to unloose the very Tongues even of Dumb Creatures and to teach them to plead This in their Own Defence lest the Cruelty of Man should persist to afflict them for not keeping their wonted Course when some invincible Impediment hath hindred If we leave Nature and look into Art the Work-man hath in his Heart a Purpose he carrieth in mind the whole Form which his Work should have there wanteth not him Skill and Desire to bring his Labour to the best effect only the Matter which he hath to work on is unframable This Necessity excuseth him so that nothing is derogated from his Credit although much of his Work 's perfection be found wanting Touching Actions of Common Life there is not any Defence more favourably heard than theirs who alledge sincerely for themselves That they did as Necessity constrained them For when the Mind is rightly ordered and affected as it should be in case some external Impediment crossing well-advised Desires shall potently draw Men to leave what they principally wish and to take a Course which they would not if their Choyce were free what Necessity forceth Men unto the same in This Case it maintaineth as long as nothing is committed simply in it self evil nothing absolutely sinful or wicked nothing repugnant to that Immetable Law whereby whatsoever is condemned as Evil can never any way be made Good The casting away of Things profitable for the sustenance of Man's Life is an unthankful Abuse of the Fruits of God's good Providence towards Mankind Which Consideration for all that did not hinder Saint Paul from throwing Corn into the Sea when care of saving Mens Lives made it necessary to loose that which else had been better saved Neither was this to do Evil to the end that Good might come of it For of Two such Evils being not both evitable the choyce of the Less is not Evil. And Evils must be in our constructions judged inevitable if there be no apparent ordinary way to avoid them Because where Counsel and Advice bear rule of God's extraordinary Power without extraordinary Warrant we cannot presume In Civil Affairs to declare what sway Necessity hath ever been accustomed to bear were labour infinite The Laws of all States and Kingdoms in the World have scarcely of any thing more common use Should then only the Church shew it self inhuman and stern absolutely urging a rigorous observation of Spiritual Ordinances without relaxation or exception what Necessity soever happen We know the contrary Practise to have been commended by him upon the warrant of whose Judgement the Church most of all delighted with merciful and moderate courses doth the ostner condescend unto like equity permitting in cases of Necessity that which otherwise it disalloweth and forbiddeth Cases of Necessity being sometime but urgent sometime extream the consideration of Publick Utility is with very good advice judged at the least equivalent with the easier kinde of Necessity Now that which causeth numbers to storm against some necessary tolerations which they should rather let pass with silence considering that in Polity as well Ecclesiastical as Civil there are and will be always Evils which no art of man can cure breaches and leaks moe than man's wit hath hands to stop that which maketh odious unto them many things wherein notwithstanding the truth is that very just regard hath been had of the Publick good that which in a great part of the weightiest Causes belonging to this present Controversie hath insnared the Judgments both of sundry good and of some well learned men is the manifest truth of certain general Principles whereupon the Ordinances that serve for usual practise in the Church of God are grounded Which Principles men knowing to be most sound and that the ordinary practise accordingly framed is good whatsoever is over and besides that ordinary the same they judge repugnant to those true Principles The cause of which Error is Ignorance what restraints and limitations all such Principles have in regard of so manifold varieties as the matter whereunto they are applyable doth commonly afford These varieties are not known but by much experience from whence to draw the true bounds of all Principles to discern how farr forth they take effect to see where and why they fail to apprehend by what degrees and means they lead to the practise of things in show though not indeed repugnant and contrary one to another requireth more sharpness of Wit more intricate circuitions of Discourse more industry and depth of Judgment than common Ability doth yield So that general Rules til their limits be fully known especially in matter of Publick and Ecclesiastical affairs are by reason of the manifold secret Exceptions which lye hidden in them no other to the eye of man's
understanding than Cloudy mists cast before the eye of Common sense They that walk in darkness know not whither they go And even as little is their certainty whose opinions Generalities only do guide With gross and popular Capacities nothing doth more prevail than unlimited Generalities because of their plainness at the first fights nothing less with men of Exact Judgment because such Rules are not safe to be trusted over-farr General Laws are like general Rules of Physick according whereunto as no Wise man will desire himself to be cured if there be joyned with his Disease some special Accident in regard whereof that whereby others in the same Insirmity but without the like Accident recover health would be to him either hurtful or at the least unprofitable So we must not under a colourable commendation of holy Ordinances in the Church and of reasonable causes whereupon they have been grounded for the Common good imagine that all men's cases ought to have one measure Not without singular wisdom therefore it hath been provided That as the ordinary course of Common affairs is disposed of by General Laws so likewise mens rarer incident Necessities and utilities should be with special equity considered From hence it is that so many Priviledges Immunities Exceptions and Dispensations have been always with great equity and reason granted not to turn the edge of Justice not to make void at certain times and in certain men through meer voluntary grace or benevolence that which continually and universally should be of force as some men understand it but in very truth to practise General Laws according to their right meaning We see in Contracts and other dealings which daily pass between man and man that to the utter undoing of some many things by strictness of Law may be done which equity and honest meaning forbiddeth Not that the Law is unjust but unperfect nor Equity against but above the Law binding mens Consciences in things which Law cannot reach unto Will any man say That the vertue of private Equity is opposite and repugnant to that Law the silence whereof it supplieth in all such private Dealing No more is publick Equity against the Law of publick Affaires albeit the one permit unto some in special Considerations that which the other agreeably with general Rules of Justice doth in general sort forbid For sith all good Laws are the Voyces of right Reason which is the Instrument wherewith God will have the World guided and impossible it is that Right should withstand Right it must follow that Principles and Rules of Justice be they never so generally uttered do no less effectually intend then if they did plainly express an Exception of all Particulars wherein their literal Practise might any way prejudice Equity And because it is natural unto all men to wish their own extraordinary Benefit when they think they have reasonable Inducements so to do and no man can be presumed a competent Judge what Equity doth require in his own Case the likeliest Mean whereby the wit of man can provide that he which useth the benefit of any special benignity above the common course of others may enjoy it with good Conscience and not against the true purpose of Laws which in outward shew are contrary must needs be to arm with Authority some fit both for Quality and Place to administer that which in every such particular shall appear agreeable with Equity wherein as it cannot be denyed but that sometimes the practise of such Jurisdiction may swarve through errour even into the very best and for other respects where less Integrity is So the watchfullest Observers of Inconveniences that way growing and the readiest to urge them in disgrace of authorized Proceedings do very well know that the disposition of these things resteth not now in the hands of Popes who live in no Worldly awe or subjection but is committed to them whom Law may at all times bridle and Superiour power controll yea to them also in such sort that Law it self hath set down to what Persons in what Causes with what Circumstances almost every faculty or favour shall be granted leaving in a manner nothing unto them more than only to deliver what is already given by Law Which maketh it by many degrees less reasonable that under pretence of inconveniences so easily stopped if any did grow and so well prevented that none may men should be altogether barred of the liberty that Law with equity and reason granteth These things therefore considered we lastly require That it may not seem hard if in Cases of Necessity or for Common utilities sake certain profitable Ordinances sometimes be released rather than all men always strictly bound to the general rigor thereof 10. Now where the Word of God leaveth the Church to make choyce of her own Ordinances if against those things which have been received with great reason or against that which the Antient practise of the Church hath continued time out of mind or against such Ordinances as the Power and Authority of that Church under which we live hath in it self devised for the Publick good or against the discretion of the Church in mitigating sometimes with favourable Equity that rigour which otherwise the literal generality of Ecclesiastical Laws hath judged to be more convenient and meet if against all this it should be free for men to reprove to disgrace to reject at their own liberty what they see done and practised according to Order set down if in so great varietie of ways as the wit of man is easily able to finde out towards any purpose and in so great liking as all men especially have unto those Inventions whereby some one shall seem to have been more inlightned from above than many thousands the Church did give every man licence to follow what himself imagineth that Gods Spirit doth reveal unto him or what he supposeth that God is likely to have revealed to some special Person whose Vertues deserve to be highly esteemed What other effect could hereupon ensue but the utter confusion of his Church under pretence of being taught led and guided by his Spirit the gifts and graces whereof do so naturally all tend unto Common peace that where such singularity is they whose Hearts it possesseth ought to suspect it the more in as much as if it did come of God and should for that cause prevail with others the same God which revealeth it to them would also give them power of confirming it unto others either with miraculous operation or with strong and invincible remonstrance of sound Reason such as whereby it might appear that God would indeed have all mens Judgments give place unto it whereas now the errour and unsufficience of their Arguments doth make it on the contrary side against them a strong presumption that God hath not moved their hearts to think such things as he hath not enabled them to prove And so from Rules of general Direction it resteth that now we
descend to a more distinct explication of Particulars wherein those Rules have their special efficacy 11. Solemne Duties of Publick Service to be done unto God must have their places set and prepared in such sort as beseemeth actions of that regard Adam even during the space of his small continuance in Paradise had where to present himself before the Lord. Adam's Sons had out of Paradise in like sort whither to bring their Sacrifices The Patriarks used Altars and Mountains and Groves to the self-same purpose In the vast Wilderness when the People of God had themselves no settled Habitation yet a movable Tabernacle they were commanded of God to make The like Charge was given them against the time they should come to settle themselves in the Land which had been promised unto their Fathers Te shall seek that Place which the Lord your God shall chuse When God had chosen Ierusalem and in Ierusalem Mount Moriah there to have his standing Habitation made it was in the chiefest of Davids desires to have performed so good a work His grief was no less that he could not have the honour to builde God a Temple than their anger is at this day who bite asunder their own tongues with very wrath that they have not as yet the Power to pull down the Temples which they never built and to level them with the ground It was no mean thing which he purposed To perform a work so majestical and stately was no small Charge Therefore he incited all men unto bountiful Contribution and procured towards it with all his Power Gold Silver Brass Iron Wood Precious Stones in great abundance Yea moreover Because I have saith David a joy in the House of my God I have of my own Gold and Silver besides all that I have prepared for the House of the Sanctuary given to the House of my God three thousand Talents of Gold even the Gold of Ophir seven thousand Talents of fined Silver After the overthrow of this first House of God a second was instead thereof erected but with so great odds that they went which had seen the former and beheld how much this later came behinde it the beauty whereof notwithstanding was such that even This was also the wonder of the whole World Besides which Temple there were both in other parts of the Land and even in Ierusalem by process of time no small number of Synagogues for men to resort unto Our Saviour himself and after him the Apostles frequented both the one and the other The Church of Christ which was in Ierusalem and held that Profession which had not the Publick allowance and countenance of Authority could not so long use the exercise of Christian Religion but in private only So that as Jews they had access to the Temple and Synagogues where God was served after the Custom of the Law but for that which they did as Christians they were of necessity forced other where to assemble themselves And as God gave increase to his Church they sought out both there and abroad for that purpose not the fittest for so the times would not suffer them to do but the safest places they could In process of time some whileâ— by sufferance some whiles by special leave and favour they began to erect to themselves Oratories not in any sumptuous or stately manner which neither was possible by reason of the poor estate of the Church and had been perilous in regard of the World's envy towards them At length when it pleased God to raise up Kings and Emperours favouring sincerely the Christian Truth that which the Church before either could not or durst not do was with all alacrity performed Temples were in all Places erected No cost was spared nothing judged too dear which that way should be spent The whole World did seem to exult that it had occasion of pouring out Gifts to so blessed a purpose That chearful Devotion which David this way did exceedingly delight to behold and wish that the same in the Jewish People might be perpetual was then in Christian People every where to be seen Their Actions till this day always accustomed to be spoken of with great honour are now called openly into question They and as many as have been followers of their Example in That thing we especially that worship God either in Temples which their hands made or which other men sithence have framed by the like pattern are in that respect charged no less then with the sin of Idolatry Our Churches in the foam of that good spirit which directeth such fiery tongues they term spitefully the Temples of Baal idle Synagogues abominable Styes 12. Wherein the first thing which moveth them thus to cast up their poysons are certain Solemnities usual at the first erection of Churches Now although the same should be blame-worthy yet this Age thanks be to God hath reasonably well for-born to incurr the danger of any such blame It cannot be laid unto many mens charge at this day living either that they have been so curious as to trouble the Bishops with placing the first Stone in the Churches they built or so scrupulous as after the erection of them to make any great ado for their Dedication In which kind notwithstanding as we do neither allow unmeet nor purpose the stiff defence of any unnecessary Custom heretofore received so we know no reason wherefore Churches should be the worse if at the first erecting of them at the making of them publick at the time when they are delivered as it were into God's own possession and when the use whereunto they shall ever serve is established Ceremonies sit to betoken such intents and to accompany such Actions be usual as in the purest times they have been When Constantine had finished an House for the Service of God at Ierusalem the Dedication he judged a matter not unworthy about the solemn performance whereof the greatest part of the Bishops in Christendom should meet together Which thing they did at the Emperors motion each most willingly setting forth that Action to their power some with Orations some with Sermons some with the sacrifice of Prayers unto God for the peace of the World for the Churches safety for the Emperour 's and his Childrens good By Athanasius the like is recorded concerning a Bishop of Alexandria in a work of the like devout magnificence So that whether Emperours or Bishops in those days were Church-founders the solemn Dedication of Churches they thought not to be a work in it self either vain or superstitious Can we judge it a thing seemly for any man to go about the building of an House to the God of Heaven with no other appearance than if his end were to rear up a Kitchen or Parlour for his own use Or when a work of such nature is finished remaineth there nothing but presently to use it and so an
Divine Majesty their most convenient answer was that The best Temples which we can dedicate to God are our sanctified Souls and Bodies Whereby it plainly appeareth how the Fathers when they were upbraided with that defect comforted themselves with the meditation of Gods most gracious and merciful nature Who did not therefore the less accept of their hearty affection and zeal rather than took any great delight or imagined any high perfection in such their want of external Ornaments which when they wanted the cause was their only lack of ability ability serving they wanted them not Before the Emperour Constantines time under Severus Gardian Philip and Galienus the state of Christian affairs being tolerable the sonner Buildings which were but of mean and small estate contented them not spacious and ample Churches they erected throughout every City No Envy was able to be their hindrance no practise of Satan or fraud of men available against their proceedings herein while they continued as yet worthy to feel the aide of the arm of God extended over them for their safety These Churches Dioclesian caused by solemn Edict to be afterwards overthrown Maximinus with like authority giving leave to erect them the hearts of all men were even rapt with Divine joy to see those places which tyrannous impiety had laid waste recovered as it were out of mortal calamity Churches reared up to an height immeasurable and adorned with far more beauty in their restauration than their Founders before had given them Whereby we see how most Christian minds stood then affected we see how joyful they were to behold the sumptuous stateliness of Houses built unto Gods glory If we should over and besides this alledge the care which was had that all things about the Tabernacle of Moses might be as beautiful gorgeous and rich as Art could make them or what travel and cost was bestowed that the goodliness of the Temple might be a Spectacle of admiration to all the world this they will say was figurative and served by Gods appointment but for a time to shadow out the true everlasting glory of a more Divine Sanctuary whereinto Christ being long fithence entred it seemeth that all those curious exornations should rather cease Which thing we also our selves would grant if the use thereof had been meetly and only mystical But sith the Prophet David doth mention a natural conveniency which such kind of bounteous Expences have as well for that we do thereby give unto God a testimony of our chearful affection which thinketh nothing too dear to be bestowed about the furniture of his Service as also because it serveth to the world for a witness of his Almightiness whom we outwardly honour with the chiefest of outward things as being of all things Himself incomparably the greatest Besides were it not also strange if God should have made such store of glorious Creatures on Earth and leave them all to be consumed in Secular vanity allowing none but the baser sort to be imployed in his own service To set forth the Majesty of Kings his Vicegerents in this world the most gorgeous and rare treasures which the world hath are procured We think belike that he will accept what the meanest of them would disdain If there be great care to build and beautifie these corruptible Sanctuaries little or none that the living Temples of the Holy Ghost the dearly redeemed Souls of the people of God may be edified huge expences upon Timber and Stone but towards the relief of the poor small devotion Cost this way infinite and in the mean while Charity cold we have in such case just occasion to make complaint as Saint Ierom did The walls of the Church there are â—now contented to build and to underset it with goodly Pillars the Marbles are polished the Roofs shine with Gold the Altar hath Precious Stones to adorn it and of Christs Ministers no choyce at all The same Ierom both in that place and elsewhere debaseth with like intent the glory of such Magnificence a thing whereunto mens affections in those times needed no spuâ—r thereby to extoll the necessity sometimes of Charity and Alms sometimes of other the most principal Duties belonging unto Christian men which Duties were neither so highly esteemed as they ought and being compared with that in question the directest Sentence we can give of them both as unto me it seemeth is this God who requireth the one as necessary accepteth the other also as being an honourable work 16. Our opinion concerning the force and vertue which such Places have is I trust without any blemish or stain of Heresie Churches receive as every thing else their chief perfection from the end whereunto they serve Which end being the publick worship of God they are in this consideration Houses of greater Dignity than any provided for meaner purposes For which cause they seem after a sort even to mourn as being injured and defrauded of their right when places not sanctified as they are prevent them unnecessarily in that preheminence and honour Whereby also it doth come to pass that the Service of God hath not then it self such perfection of grace and comeliness as when the dignity of place which it wisheth for doth concurr Again albeit the true worship of God be to God in it self acceptable who respecteth not so much in what place as with what affection he is served and therefore Moses in the midst of the Sea Iob on the Dunghil Ezechias in Bed Ieremy in Mire Ionas in the Whale Daniel in the Den the Children in the Furnace the Thief on the Cross Peter and Paul in Prison calling unto God were heard as S. Basil noteth manifest notwithstanding it is that the very majesty and holyness of the place where God is worshipped hath in regard of us great vertue force and efficacy for that it serveth as a sensible help to stirr up devotion and in that respect no doubt bettereth even our holiest and best actions in this kind As therefore we every where exhort all men to worship God even so for performance of this Service by the people of God assembled we think not any place so good as the Church neither any exhortation so sit as that of David O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness 17. For of our Churches thus it becometh us to esteem howsoever others rapt with the pang of a furious zeal do pour out against them devout blasphemies crying Down with them down with them even to the very ground For to Idolatry they have been abused And the places where Idols have been worshipped are by the Law of God devote to utter destruction For extentions of which Law the Kings that were godly as Asa Jehosaphat Ezechia Josia destroyed all the High places Altars and Groves which had been erected in Juda and Israel He that said Thou shalt have no other gods before my face hath
for Secular as Sacred uses was commanded to make not to sanctifie but the Unction of the Tabernacle the Table the Laver the Altar of God with all the instruments appertaining thereunto this made them for ever holy unto him in whose service they were imployed But what of this Doth it hereupon follow that all things now in the Church from the greatest to the least are unholy which the Lord hath not himself precisely instituted for so those Rudiments they say do import Then is there nothing holy which the Church by her Authority hath appointed and consequently all positive Ordinances that ever were made by Ecclesiastical Power touching Spiritual affairs are prophane they are unholy I would not with them to undertake a Work so desperate as to prove that for the Peoples instruction no kinde of Reading is good but only that which the Jews devised under Antiochus although even that he also mistaken For according to Elius the Levite out of whom it doth seem borrowed the thing which Antiochus forbad was the Publick reading of the Law and not Sermons upon the Law Neither did the Jews read a Portion of the Prophets together with the Law to serve for an interpretation thereof because Sermons were not permitted them But instead of the Law which they might not read openly they read of the Prophets that which in likeness of matter came nearest to each Section of their Law Whereupon when afterwards the liberty of reading the Law was restored the self-same Custom as touching the Prophets did continue still If neither the Jews have used publickly to read their Paraphrasts nor the Primitive Church for a long time any other Writings than Scripture except the Cause of their not doing it were some Law of God or Reason forbidding them to do that which we do why should the latter Ages of the Church be deprived of the Liberty the former had Are we bound while the World standeth to put nothing in practice but onely that which was at the very first Concerning the Council of Laodicea is it forbiddeth the reading of those things which are not Canonical so it maketh some things not Canonical which are Their Judgment in this we may not and in that we need not follow We have by thus many years experience found that exceeding great good not incumbred with any notable inconvenience hath grown by the Custome which we now observe As for the harm whereof judicious men have complained in former times it came not of this that other things were read besides the Scripture but that so evil choyce was made With us there is never any time bestowed in Divine Service without the reading of a great part of the holy Scripture which we acount a thing most necessary We dare not admit any such Form of Liturgy as either appointeth no Scripture at all or very little to be read in the Church And therefore the thrusting of the Bible out of the House of God is rather there to be feared where men esteem it a matter so indifferent whether the same be by solemn appointment read publickly or not read the bare Text excepted which the Preacher haply chuseth out to expound But let us here consider what the Practise of our Fathers before us hath been and how far-forth the same may be followed We find that in ancient times there was publickly read first the Scripture as namely something out of the Books of the Prophets of God which were of old something out of the Apostles Writings and lastly out of the holy Evangelists some things which touched the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ himself The cause of their reading first the old Testament then the New and always somewhat out of both is most likely to have been that which Iustin Martyr and Saint August observe in comparing the two Testaments The Apostles saith the one hath taught us as themselves did learn first the Precepts of the Law and then the Gospels For what else is the Law but the Gospel foreshewed What other the Gospel than the Law fulfilled In like sort the other What the Old Testament hath the very same the New containeth but that which lyeth there at under a shadow in here brought forth into the open Sun Things there prefigured are here performed Again In the Old Testament there is a close comprehension of the New in the New an open discovery of the Old To be short the method of their Publick readings either purposely did tend or at the least-wise doth fitly serve That from smaller things the mindes of the Hearers may go forward to the Knowledge of greater and by degrees climbe up from the lowest to the highest things Now besides the Scripture the Books which they called Ecclesiastical were thought not unworthy sometime to be brought into publick audience and with that Name they intituled the Books which we term Apocryphal Under the self-same Name they also comprised certain no otherwise annexed unto the New than the former unto the Old Testament as a Book of Hermes Epistles of Clement and the like According therefore to the Phrase of Antiquity these we may term the New and the other the Old Ecclesiastical Books or Writings For we being directed by a Sentence I suppose of Saint Ierom who saith That All Writings not Canonical are Apocryphal use not now the Title Apocryphal as the rest of the Fathers ordinarily have done whose Custom is so to name for the most part only such as might not publickly be read or divulged Ruffinus therefore having rehearsed the self-same Books of Canonical Scripture which with us are held to be alone Canonical addeth immediately by way of caution We must know that other Books there are also which our Fore-fathers have used to name not Canonical but Ecclesiastical Books as the Book of Wisdom Ecclesiasticus Toby Judith the Macchabees in the Old Testament in the New the Book of Hermes and such others All which Books and Writings they willed to be read in Churches but not to be alleadged as if their authority did binde us to build upon them our Faith Other Writings they named Apocryphal which they would not have read in Churches These things delivered unto us from the Fathers we have in this place thought good to set down So far Ruffinus He which considereth notwithstanding what store of false and forged Writings dangerous unto Christian Belief and yet bearing glorious Inscriptions began soon upon the Apostles times to be admitted into the Church and to be honoured as if they had been indeed Apostolick shall easily perceive what cause the Provincial Synod of Laodicea might have as then to prevent especially the danger of Books made newly Ecclesiastical and for feat of the fraud of Hereticks to provide that such Publick readings might be altogether taken out of Canonical Scripture Which Ordinance respecting but that abuse which grew through the intermingling of
telleth them that if they did suffer notorious Maleâ—actors to come to the Table of our Lord and not put them by it would be as heavily revenged upon them as if themselves had shed his Blood that for this purpose God had called them to the rooms which they held in the Church of Christ that this they should reckon was their Dignity this their Safety this their whole Crown and Glory and therefore this they should carefully intend and not when the Sacrament is administred imagine themselves called only to walk up and down in a White and shining Garment Now whereas these speeches of Ierome and Chrysostom do seem plainly to allude unto such Ministerial Garments as were then in use To this they answer that by Ierom nothing can be gathered but only that the Ministers came to Church in handsome Holy-day apparel and that himself did not think them bound by the Law of God no go like Slovens but the Weed which we mean he defendeth not That Chrysostome meaneth the same which we defend but seemeth rather to reprehend than allow it as we do Which Answer wringeth out of Ierome and Chrysostome that which their words will not gladly yield They both speak of the same Persons namely the Clergy and of their Weed at the same time when they administer the blessed Sacrament and of the self-same kinde of Weed a white Garment so far as we have wit to conceive and for any thing we are able to see their manner of speech is not such as doth argue either the thing it self to be different whereof they speak or their Judgment concerning it different although the one do only maintain it against Pelagius as a thing not therefore unlawful because it was fair or handsom and the other make it a matter of small commendation in it self if they which wear it do nothing else but weare the Robes which their Place requireth The honesty dignity and estimation of White Apparel in the Eastern part of the World is a token of greater fitness for this sacred use wherein it were not convenient that any thing basely thought of should be suffered Notwithstanding I am not bent to stand stiffely upon these Probabilities that in Ierom's and Chrysostom's time any such Attire was made several to this purpose Yet surely the words of Solomon are very impertinent to prove it an Ornament therefore not several for the Ministers to execute their Ministry in because men of credit and estimation wore their ordinary Apparel white For we know that when Solomon wrote those words the several Apparel for the Ministers of the Law to execute their Ministry in was such The Wise man which seared God from his heart and honoured the Service that was done unto him could not mention so much as the Garment of Holiness but with effectual signification of most singular reverence and love Were it not better that the love which men bear to God should make the least things which are imployed in his Service amiable than that their over-scrupulous dislike of so mean a thing as a Vestment should from the very Service of God with-draw their hearts and affections I term it rather a mean thing a thing not much to be respected because even they so account now of it whose first Disputations against it were such as if Religion had scarcely any thing of greater waight Their Allegations were then That if a man were assured to gain a thousand by doing that which may offend any one Brother or be unto him a cause of falling he ought not to do it That this Popish Apparel the Surplice especially hath been by Papists abominably abused That it hath been a mark and a very Sacrament of Abomination That remaining it serveth as a Monument of Idolatry and not only edifieth not but as a dangerous and scandalous Ceremony doth exceeding much harm to them of whose good we are commanded to have regard that it causeth men to perish and make shipwrack of Conscience for so themselves profess they mean when they say the weak are offended herewith that it hardneth Papists hindreth the weak from profiting in the knowledge of the Gospel grieveth godly mindes and giveth them occasion to think hardly of their Ministers that if the Magistrates may command or the Church appoint Rites and Ceremonies yet seeing our abstinence from things in their own nature indifferent if the weak Brother should be offended is a flat Commandement of the Holy Ghost which no Authority either of Church or Common-wealth can make void therefore neither may the one nor the other lawfully ordain this Ceremony which hath great incommodity and no profit great offence and no edifying That by the Law it should have been burnt and consumed with fire as a thing infected with Leprosie That the Example of Ezekiah beating to powder the Brazen Serpent and of Paul abrogating those abused Feasts of Charity inforceth upon us the duty of abolishing altogether a thing which hath been and is so offensive Finally That God by his Prophet hath given an express Commandement which in this case toucheth us no less than of old it did the Jews ' Ye shall pollute the covering of the Images of Silver and the rich ornament of your Images of Gold and cast them away as a stained ragg thou shalt say unto it Get thee hence These and such like were their first Discourses touching that Church-Attire which with us for the most part is usual in Publick Prayer our Ecclesiastical Laws so appointing as well because it hath been of reasonable continuance and by special choice was taken out of the number of those holy Garments which over and besides their mystical reference served for comeliness under the Law and is in the number of those Ceremonies which may with choice and discretion be used to that purpose in the Church of Christ as also for that it suiteth so fitly with that lightsom affection of joy wherein God delighteth when his Saints praise him and so lively resembleth the glory of the Saints in Heaven together with the beauty wherein Angels have appeared unto men that they which are to appear for men in the presence of God as Angels if they were left to their own choice and would chuse any could not easily devise a Garment of more decency for such a Service As for those fore-rehearsed vehement allegations against it shall we give them credit when the very Authors from whom they came confess they believe not their own sayings For when once they began to perceive how many both of them in the two Universities and of others who abroad having Ecclesiastical charge do favour mightily their Cause and by all means set it forward might by persisting in the extremity of that Opinion hazard greatly their own Estates and so weaken that part which their Places do now give them much opportunity to strengthen they asked counsel as it seemed from some abroad who
that goeth with it leaveth or is apt to leave in mens mindes doth rather blemish and disgrace that we do then adde either beauty or furtherance unto it On the other side these faults prevented the force and efficacy of the thing it self when it drowneth not utterly but fitly suiteth with matter altogether sounding to the praise of God is in truth most admirable and doth much edifie if not the Understanding because it teacheth not yet surely the Affection because therein it worketh much They must have hearts very dry and tough from whom the melody of Psalms doth not sometime draw that wherein a minde religiously affected delighteth Be it as Rabanus Maurus observeth that at the first the Church in this exercise was more simple and plain then we are that their singing was little more then onely a melodious kinde of pronounciation that the custom which we now use was not instituted so much for their cause which are Spiritual as to the end that into grosser and heavier mindes whom bare words do not easily move the sweetness of melody might make some entrance for good things St. Basil himself acknowledging as much did not think that from such inventions the least jot of estimation and credit thereby should be derogated For saith he whereas the Holy Spirit saw that Mankinde is unto Virtue hardly drawn and that Righteousness is the less accounted of by reason of the proveness of our affections to that which delighteth it pleased the Wisdom of the same Spirit to borrow from melody that pleasure which mingled with Heavenly Mysteries causeth the smoothness and softness of that which toucheth the ear to convey as it were by stealth the treasure of good things into mans minde To this purpose were those harmonious tunes of Psalms divised for us that they which are either in years but young or touching perfection of Vertue as yet not grown to ripeness might when they think they sing learn O the wise conceit of that Heavenly Teacher which both by his skill found out a way that doing those things wherein we delight we may also learn that whereby we profit 39. And if the Prophet David did think that the very meeting of men together and their accompanying one another to the House of God should make the Bond of their Love insoluble and tie them in a League of inviolable Amity Psal. 54. 14. How much more may we judge it reasonable to hope that the like effects may grow in each of the people towards other in them all towards their Pastor and in their Pastor towards every of them between whom there daily and interchangeably pass in the hearing of God himself and in the presence of his holy Angels so many heavenly Acclamations Exultations Provocations Petitions Songs of Comfort Psalms of Praise and Thanksgiving in all which particulars as when the Pastor maketh their sutes and they with one voice testifie a general assent thereunto or when he joyfully beginneth and they with like alacrity follow dividing between them the sentences wherewith they strive which shall most shew his own and stir up others zeal to the glory of that God whose name they magnifie or when he proposeth unto God their necessities and they their own requests for relief in every of them or when he lifteth up his voice like a Trumpet to proclaim unto them the Laws of God they adjoyning though not as Israel did by way of generality a chearful promise All that the Lord hath commanded we will do yet that which God doth no less approve that which favoreth more of meekness that which testifieth rather a feeling knowledge of our common imbecillity unto the several Branches thereof several lowly and humble requests for Grace at the merciful Hands of God to perform the thing which is commanded or when they wish reciprocally each others ghostly happiness or when he by exhortation raiseth them up and they by protestation of their readiness declare be speaketh not in vain unto them These interlocutory forms of speech what are they else but most effectual partly testifications and partly inflammations of all Piety When and how this custom of singing by course came up in the Church it is not certainly known Socrates maketh Ignatius the Bishop of Antioch in Syria the first beginner thereof even under the Apostles themselves But against Socrates they set the authority of Theodoret who draweth the original of it from Antioch as Socrates doth howbeit ascribing the invention to others Flavian and Diodore men which constantly stood in defence of the Apostolick Faith against the Bishop of that Church Leontius a favorer of the Arians Against both Socrates and Theodoret Platina is brought as a witness to testifie that Damasus Bishop of Rome began it in his time Of the Latine Church it may be true which Platina saith And therefore the eldest of that Church which maketh any mention thereof is St. Ambrose Bishop of Milan at the same time when Damasus was of Rome Amongst the Grecians St. Basil having brought it into his Church before they of Neocaesarea used it Sabellius the Heretick and Marcellus took occasion thereat to incense the Churches against him as being an Author of new devices in the Service of God Whereupon to avoid the opinion of Novelty and Singularity he alledgeth for that which he himself did the example of the Churches of Egypt Lybia Thebes Palestina Tharabians Phoenicians Syrians Mesopotamians and in a manner all that reverenced the custom of singing Psalms together If the Syrians had it then before Basil Antioch the Mother Church of those parts must needs have used it before Basil and consequently before Damasus The question is then how long before and whether so long that Ignatius or as ancient as Ignatius may be probably thought the first Inventors Ignatius in Trajans days suffered Martyrdom And of the Churches in Pontus and Bithynia to Trajan the Emperor his own Vicegerent there affirmeth That the onely crime he knew of them was They used to meet together at a certain day and to praise Christ with Hymns as a God Secum invicem one to another amongst themselves Which for any thing we know to the contrary might be the self-same form which Philo Iudaeus expresseth declaring how the Essens were accustomed with Hymns and Psalms to honor God sometime all exalting their voices together in one and sometime one part answering another wherein as he thought they swerved not much from the pattern of Moses and Miriam Whether Ignatius did at any time hear the Angels praising God after that sort or no what matter is it If Ignatius did not yet one which must be with us of greater Authority did I saw the Lord saith the Prophet Isaiah on an high Throne the Seraphims stood upon it one cryed to another saying Holy holy holy Lord God of Hosts the whole world is full of his glory But whosoever were the Author whatsoever the Time whencesoever
finde by daily experience that those calamities may be nearest at hand readiest to break in suddenly upon us which we in regard of times or circumstances may imagine to be farthest off Or if they do not indeed approach yet such miseries as being present all men are apt to bewail with tears the wise by their Prayers should rather prevent Finally if we for our selves had a priviledge of immunity doth not true Christian Charity require that whatsoever any part of the World yea any one of all our Brethren elswhere doth either suffer or fear the same we account as our own burthen What one Petition is there found in the whole Litany whereof we shall ever be able at any time to say That no man living needeth the grace or benefit therein craved at Gods hands I am not able to express how much it doth grieve me that things of Principal Excellency should be thus bitten at by men whom God hath endued with graces both of Wit and Learning for better purposes We have from the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ received that brief Confession of Faith which hath been always a badge of the Church a mark whereby to discern Christian men from Infidels and Jews This Faith received from the Apostles and their Disciples saith Ireneus the Church though dispersed throughout the World doth notwithstanding keep as safe as if it dwels within the Walls of some one house and as uniformly hold as if it had but one onely heart and soul this as consonantly it Preacheth teacheth and delivereth as if but one tongue did speak for all At one Sun shineth to the whole World so there is no Faith but this one published the brightness whereof must enlighten all that come to the knowledge of the Truth This rule saith Tertullian Christ did institute the stream and current of this rule hath gone as far it hath continued as long as the very promulgation of the Gospel Under Constantine the Emperor about Three hundred years and upward after Christ Arius a Priest in the Church of Alexandria a suttle-witted and a marvellous fair-spoken man but discontented that one should be placed before him in honor whose superior he thought himself in desert became through envy and stomack prone unto contradiction and hold to broach at the length that Heresie wherein the Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ contained but not opened in the former Creed the coequality and coeternity of the Son with the Father was denied Being for this impiety deprived of his place by the Bishop of the same Church the punishment which should have reformed him did but increase his obstinacy and give him occasion of laboring with greater earnestness elswhere to intangle unwary mindes with the snares of his damnable opinion Arius in short time had won to himself a number both of Followers and of great Defenders whereupon much disquietness on all sides ensued The Emperor to reduce the Church of Christ unto the Unity of sound Belief when other means whereof tryal was first made took no effect gathered that famous Assembly of Three hundred and eighteen Bishops in the Council of Nice where besides order taken for many things which seemed to need redress there was with common consent for the setling of all mens mindes that other Confession of Faith set down which we call the Nicene Creed whereunto the Arians themselves which were present subscribed also not that they meant sincerely and indeed to forsake their error but onely to escape deprivation and exile which they saw they could not avoid openly persisting in their former opinions when the greater part had concluded against them and that with the Emperors Royal Assent Reserving therefore themselves unto future opportunities and knowing that it would not boot them to stir again in a matter so composed unless they could draw the Emperor first and by his means the chiefest Bishops unto their part till Constantines death and somewhat after they always professed love and zeal to the Nicene Faith yet ceased not in the mean while to strengthen that part which in heart they favored and to infest by all means under colour of other quarrels their greatest Adversaries in this cause Amongst them Athanasius especially whom by the space of Forty six years from the time of his Consecration to succeed Alexander Archbishop in the Church of Alexandria till the last hour of his life in this World they never suffered to enjoy the comfort of a peaceable day The heart of Constantine stoln from him Constantius Constantines Successor his scourge and torment by all the ways that malice armed with Soveraign Authority could devise and use Under Iulian no rest given him and in the days of Valentinian as little Crimes there were laid to his charge many the least whereof being just had bereaved him of estimation and credit with men while the World standeth His Judges evermore the self-same men by whom his accusers were suborned Yet the issue always on their part shame on his triumph Those Bishops and Prelates who should have accounted his cause theirs and could not many of them but with bleeding hearts and with watred checks behold a person of so great place and worth constrained to endure so soul indignities were sure by bewraying their affection towards him to bring upon themselves those molestations whereby if they would not be drawn to seem his Adversaries yet others should be taught how unsafe it was to continue his friends Whereupon it came to pass in the end that very few excepted all became subject to the sway of time other odds there was none amongst them saving onely that some fell sooner away some latter from the soundness of Belief some were Leaders in the Host of Impiety and the rest as common Soldiers either yielding through fear or brought under with penury or by flattery ensnared or else beguiled through simplicity which is the fairest excuse that well may be made for them Yes that which all men did wonder at Osius the ancientest Bishop that Christendom then had the most forward in defence of the Catholick cause and of the contrary part most feared that very Osius with whose hand the Nicene Creed it self was set down and framed for the whole Christian World to subscribe unto so far yielded in the end as even with the same hand to ratifie the Arians Confession a thing which they neither hoped to see nor the other part ever feared till with amazement they saw it done Both were perswaded that although there had been for Osius no way but either presently subscribe or die his answer and choice would have been the same that Eleazars was It doth not become our age to dissemble whereby many young persons might think that Osius in hundred years old and upward were now gone to another Religion and so through mine hypocrisie for a little time of transitory life they might be deceived by me and I procure malediction and reproach to my old
age For though I were now delivered from the torments of men yet could I not escape the hand of the Almighty neither alive nor dead But such was the stream of those times that all men gave place unto it which we cannot but impute partly to their own over-sight For at the first the Emperor was theirs the determination of the Council of Nice was for them they had the Arians hands to that Council So great advantages are never changed so far to the contrary but by great error It plainly appeareth that the first thing which weakned them was their security Such as they knew were in heart still affected towards Arianism they suffered by continual nearness to possess the mindes of the greatest about the Emperor which themselves might have done with very good acceptation and neglected it In Constantines life time to have setled Constantius the same way had been a duty of good service towards God a mean of peace and great quietness to the Church of Christ a labor easie and how likely we may conjecture when after that so much pains was taken to instruct and strengthen him in the contrary course after that so much was done by himself to the furtherance of Heresie yet being touched in the end voluntarily with remorse nothing more grieved him then the memory of former proceedings in the cause of Religion and that which he now foresaw in Iulian the next Physician into whose hands the body that was thus distempered must fall Howbeit this we may somewhat excuse in as much as every mans particular care to his own charge was such as gave them no leisure to heed what others practised in Princes Courts But of the two Synods of Arimine and Selencia what should we think Constantius by the Arians suggestion had devised to assemble all the Bishops of the whole World about this controversie but in two several places the Bishops of the West at Arimine in Italy the Eastern at Selencia the same time Amongst them of the East there was no stop they agreed without any great ado gave their sentence against Heresie excommunicated some chief maintainers thereof and sent the Emperor word what was done They had at Arimine about Four hundred which held the truth scarce of the adverse part Fourscore but these obstinate and the other weary of contending with them Whereupon by both it was resolved to send to the Emperor such as might inform him of the cause and declare what hindred their peaceable agreement There are chosen for the Catholick side such men as had in them nothing to be noted but boldness neither gravity nor learning nor wisdom The Arians for the credit of their faction take the eldest the best experienced the most wary and the longest practised Veterans they had amongst them The Emperor conjecturing of the rest on either part by the quality of them whom he saw sent them speedily away and with them a certain Confession of Faith ambiguously and subtilly drawn by the Arians whereunto unless they all subscribed they should in no case be suffered to depart from the place where they were At the length it was perceived that there had not been in the Catholicks either at Arimine or at Selencia so much foresight as to provide that true intelligence might pass between them what was done Upon the advantage of which Error their adversaries abusing each with perswasion that other had yielded suprized both The Emperor the more desirous and glad of such events for that besides all other things wherein they hindred themselves the gall and bitterness of certain Mens writings who spared him little for honors sake made him for their sakes the less inclinable to that truth which he himself should have honored and loved Onely in Athanasius there was nothing observed throughout the course of that long Tragedy other then such as very well became a wise man to do and a righteous to suffer So that this was the plain condition of those times The whole World against Athanasius and Athanasius against it Half an hundred of years spent in doubtful trial which of the two in the end would prevail the side which had all or else the part which had no friend but God and Death the one a Defender of his Innocency the other a Finisher of all his Troubles Now although these Contentions were cause of much evil yet some good the Church hath reaped by them in that they occasioned the learned and sound in Faith to explain such things as Heresie went about to deprave And in this respect the Creed of Athanasius first exhibited unto Iulius Bishop of Rome and afterwards as we may probably gather sent to the Emperor Iovinian for his more full information concerning that truth which Arianism so mightily did impugn was both in the East and the West Churches accepted as a treasure of inestimable price by as many as had not given up even the very ghost of belief Then was the Creed of Athanasius written howbeit not then so expedient to be publickly used as now in the Church of God because while the heat of division lasteth truth it self enduring opposition doth not so quietly and currantly pass throughout all mens hands neither can be of that account which afterwards it hath when the World once perceiveth the vertue thereof not onely in it self but also by the conquest which God hath given it over Heresie That which Heresie did by sinister interpretations go about to pervert in the first and most ancient Apostolick Creed the same being by singular dexterity and plainness cleared from those Heretical corruptions partly by this Creed of Athanasius written about the year Three hundred and forty and partly by that other set down in the Synod of Constantinople Forty years after comprehending together with the Nicene Creed an addition of other Articles which the Nicene Creed omitted because the controversie then in hand needed no mention to be made of them These Catholick Declarations of our Belief delivered by them which were so much nearer then we are unto the first publication thereof and continuing needful for all men at all times to know these Confessions as testimonies of our continuance in the same Faith to this present day we rather use them any other gloss or paraphrased devised by our selves which though it were to the same effect notwithstanding could not be of the like authority and credit For that of Hilary unto St. Augustine hath been ever and is likely to be always true Your most religious wisdom knoweth how great their number is in the Church of God whom the very authority of mens names doth keep in that opinion which they hold already or draw unto that which they have not before held Touching the Hymn of Glory out usual conclusion to Psalms the glory of all things is that wherein their highest perfection doth consist and the glory of God that divine excellency whereby he is eminent above all things his omnipotent
endless thanks must have their beginning in a state which bringeth the full and final satisfaction of all such perpetual desires Again because our common necessities and the lack which we all have as well of ghostly as of earthly favors is in each kinde so easily known but the gifts of God according to those degrees and times which he in his secrets wisdom seeth meet are so diversly bestowed that it seldom appeareth what all receive what all stand in need of it seldom lieth hid we are not to marvel though the Church do oftner concur in suits then in thanks unto God for particular benefits Nevertheless lest God should be any way unglorified the greatest part of our daily Service they know consisteth according to the â— Blessed Apostles own precise rule in much variety of Psalms and Hymns for no other purpose but onely that out of so plentiful a treasure there might be for every mans heart no chuse out his own Sacrifice and to offer unto God by particular secret instinct what fitteth best the often occasions which any several either Party or Congregation may seem to have They that would clean take from us therefore the daily use of the very best means we have to magnifie and praise the Name of Almighty God for his rich Blessings they that complain of out reading and singing so many Psalms for so good an end they I say that finde fault with our store should of all men be least willing to reprove our scarcity of Thanksgivings But because peradventure they see it is not either generally fit or possible that Churches should frame Thanksgivings answerable to each Petition they shorten somewhat the reins of their censure there are no forms of Thanksgiving they say for release of those common calamities from which we have Petitions to be delivered There are Prayers set forth to be said in the common calamities and Universal scourges of the Realm as Plague Famine c. And indeed so it ought to be by the Word of God But as such Prayers are needful whereby we beg release from our Distresses so there ought to be as necessary Prayers of Thanksgiving when we have received those things at the Lords hand which we asked in our Prayers As oft therefore as any Publick or Universal scourge is removed as oft as we are delivered from those either imminent or present Calamities against the storm and tempest whereof we all instantly craved favor from above let it be a Question what we should render unto God for his Blessings universally sensibly and extraordinarily bestowed A Prayer of three or four lines inserted into some part of our Church Liturgy No we are not perswaded that when God doth in trouble injoyn us the duty of Invocation and promise us the benefit of Deliverance and profess That the thing he expecteth after at our hands is to glorifie him as our mighty and onely Saviour the Church can discharge in manner convenient a work of so great importance by fore-ordaining some short Collect wherein briefly to mention thanks Our custom therefore whensoever so great occasions are incident is by Publick Authority to appoint throughout all Churches set and solemn Forms as well of Supplication as of Thanksgiving the preparations and intended Complements whereof may stir up the mindes of men in much more effectual sort then if onely there should be added to the Book of Prayer that which they require But we err in thinking that they require any such matter For albeit their words to our understanding be very plain that in our Book there are Prayers set forth to be said when common calamities are felt as Plague Famine and such like Again that indeed so it ought to be by the Word of God That likewise there ought to be as necessary Prayers of Thanksgiving when we have received those things Finally that the want of such Forms of Thanksgiving for the release from those common calamities from which we have Petitions to be delivered is the default of the Book of Common Prayer Yet all this they mean but only by way of supposition if express Prayers against so many Earthly miseries were convenient that then indeed as many express and particular Thanksgivings should be likewise necessary Seeing therefore we know that they hold the one superfluous they would not have it so understood as though their mindes were that any such addition to the Book is needful whatsoever they say for Arguments sake concerning this pretented defect The truth is they wave in and out no way sufficiently grounded no way resolved what to think speak or write more then onely that because they have taken it upon them they must no remedy now be opposite 44. The last supposed fault concerneth some few things the very matter whereof is thought to be much amiss In a Song of Praise to our Lord Jesus Christ we have these words When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death thoâ— didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all Believers Which maketh some shew of giving countenance to their Error who think that the faithful which departed this life before the coming of Christ were never till then made partakers of joy but remained all in that place which they term the Lake of the Fathers In our Liturgy request is made that we may be preserved from sudden death This seemeth frivolous because the godly should always be prepared to die Request is made that God would give those things which we for our unworthiness dare not ask This they say carrieth with it the note of Popish servile fear and savoreth not of that confidence and reverent familiarity that the children of God have through Christ with their Heavenly Father Request is made that we may evermore be defended from all adversity For this there is no promise in Scripture and therefore it is no Prayer of Faith or of the which we can assure our selves that we shall obtain it Finally Request is made That God would have mercy upon all men This is impossible because some are the Vessels of Wrath to whom God will never extend his Mercy 45. As Christ hath purchased that Heavenly Kingdom the last perfection whereof is Glory in the life to come Grace in this life a preparation thereunto so the same he hath opened to the World in such sort that whereas none can possibly without him attain salvation by him all that believe are saved Now whatsoever he did or suffered the end thereof was to open the doors of the Kingdom of Heaven which our iniquities had shut up But because by ascending after that the sharpness of death was overcome he took the very local possession of glory and that to the use of all that are his even as himself before had witnessed I go to prepare a place for you And again Whom thou hast given me O Father I will that where I am they be also with me that my glory which thou hast given me they may
should be derogated from the Baptism of the Church and Baptism by Donatists be more esteemed of then was meet if on the one side that which Hereticks had done ill should stand as good on the other side that be reversed which the Catholick Church had well and religiously done divers better minded then advised men thought it fittest to meet with this inconvenience by Rebaptising Donatists as well as they Rebaptized Catholicks For stay whereof the same Emperors saw it meet to give their Law a double edge whereby it might equally on both sides cut off not onely Hereticks which Rebaptized whom they could pervert but also Catholick and Christian Priests which did the like unto such as before had taken Baptism at the hands of Hereticks and were afterwards reconciled to the Church of God Donatists were therefore in process of time though with much ado wearied and at the length worn out by the constancy of that Truth which reacheth that evil Ministers of good things are as Torches a Light to others a Waste to none but themselves onely and that the soulness of their hands can neither any whit impair the Vertue nor stain the Glory of the Mysteries of Christ. Now that which was done amiss by vertuous and good men as Cyprian carried aside with hatred against Heresie and was secondly followed by Donatists whom Envy and Rancor covered with shew of Godliness made obstinate to cancel whatsoever the Church did in the Sacrament of Baptism hath of latter days in another respect far different from both the former been brought freshly again into practice For the Anabaptist Rebaptizeth because in his estimation the Baptism of the Church is frustrate for that we give it unto Infants which have not Faith whereas according unto Christs Institution as they conceive it true Baptism should always presuppose Actual Belief in Receivers and is otherwise no Baptism Of these three Errors there is not any but hath been able at the least to alledge in defence of it self many fair probabilities Notwithstanding sith the Church of God hath hitherto always constantly maintained that to Rebaptize them which are known to have received true Baptism is unlawful that if Baptism seriously be administred in the same Element and with the same form of words which Christs Institution teacheth there is no other defect in the World that can make it frustrate or deprive it of the Nature of a true Sacrament And lastly That Baptism is onely then to be re-adminstred when the first delivery thereof is void in regard of the fore-alledged imperfections and no other Shall we now in the case of Baptism which having both for matter and form the substance of Christs Institution is by a fourth sort of men voided for the onely defect of Ecclesiastical Authority in the Minister think it enough that they blow away the force thereof with the bare strength of their very breath by saying We take such Baptism to be no more the Sacrament of Baptism then any other ordinary Bathing to be a Sacrament It behoveth generally all sorts of men to keep themselves within the limits of their own vocation And seeing God from whom mers several degrees and pre-eminences do proceed hath appointed them in his Church at whose hands his pleasure is that we should receive both Baptism and all other publick medicinable helps of Soul perhaps thereby the more to settle our hearts in the love of our ghostly superiors they have small cause to hope that with him their voluntary services will be accepted who thrust themselves into Functions either above their capacity or besides their place and over-boldly intermeddle with Duties whereof no charge was ever give them They that in any thing exceed the compass of their own order do as much as in them lieth to dissolve that Order which is the Harmony of Gods Church Suppose therefore that in these and the like considerations the Law did utterly prohibite Baptism to be administred by any other then persons thereunto solemnly consecrated what necessity soever happen Are not many things firm being done although in part done otherwise then Positive Rigor and Strictness did require Nature as much as is possible inclineth unto validities and preservations Dissolutions and Nullities of things done are not onely not favored but hated when other urged without cause or extended beyond their reach If therefore at any time it come to pass that in reaching publickly or privately in delivering this Blessed Sacrament of Regeneration some unsanctified hand contrary to Christs supposed Ordinance do intrude it self to execute that whereunto the Laws of God and his Church have deputed others Which of these two opinions seemeth more agreeable with Equity outs that disallow what is done amiss yet make not the force of the Word and Sacraments much less their nature and very substance to depend on the Ministers authority and calling or else theirs which defeat disannul and annihilate both in respect of that one onely personal defect there being not any Law of God which saith That if the Minister be incompetent his Word shall be no Word his Baptism no Baptism He which teacheth and is not sent loseth the reward but yet retaineth the name of a Teacher His usurped actions have in him the same nature which they have in others although they yield him not the same comfort And if these two cases be Peers the case of Doctrine and the case of Baptism both alike sith no defect in their vocation that teach the Truth is able to take away the benefit thereof from him which heareth Wherefore should the want of a lawful calling in them that Baptize make Baptism to be vain They grant that the Matter and the Form in Sacraments are the onely parts of Substance and that if these two be retained albeit other things besides be used which are inconvenient the Sacrament notwithstanding is administred but not sincerely Why persist they not in this opinion when by these fair speeches they have put us in hope of agreement Wherefore sup they â—up their words again interlacing such frivolous Interpretations and Glosses as disgrace their Sentence What should move them having named the Matter and the Form of the Sacrament to give us presently warning that they mean by the Form of the Sacrament the Institution which Exposition darkneth whatsoever was before plain For whereas in common understanding that Form which added to the Element doth make a Sacrament and is of the outward substance thereof containeth onely the words of usual Application they set it down lest common Dictionaries should deceive us that the Form doth signifie in their Language the Institution which Institution in truth comprehendeth both Form and Matter Such are their fumbling shifts to inclose the Ministers vocation within the compass of some essential part of the Sacrament A thing that can never stand with sound and sincere construction For what if the Minister be no circumstance but a subordinate
what Christian Baptism had given them being newly born They lost saith St. Augustine the Grace of Baptism if we consider to what their Parents impiety did tend although the Mercy of God preserved them and will also in that dreadful day of account give them favorable audience pleading in their own behalf The harm of other mens perfidiousness it lay not in us to avoid After the same manner whatsoever we read written if it sound to the prejudice of Baptism through any either Moral or Ecclesiastical defect therein we construe it as Equity and Reason teacheth with restraint to the offender onely which doth as far as concerneth himself and them which wittingly concur with him make the Sacrament of Godfruitless St. Augustines doubtfulness Whether Baptism by a Lay man may stand or ought to be readministred should not be mentioned by them which presume to define peremptorily of that wherein he was content to profess himself unresolved Albeit in very truth his opinion is plain enough but the manner of delivering his judgment being modest they make of a vertue an imbecillity and impute his calmness of speech to an irresolution of minde His Disputation in that place is against Parmenian which held That a Bishop or a Priest if they fall into any Heresie do thereby lose the Power which they had before to Baptize and that therefore Baptism by Hereticks is meerly void For answer whereof he first denieth That Heresie can more deprive men of power to Baptize others then it is of force to take from them their own Baptism And in the second place he farther addeth That if Hereticks did lose the power which before was given them by Ordination and did therefore unlawfully usurp as oft as they took upon them to give the Sacrament of Baptism it followeth not That Baptism by them administred without Authority is no Baptism For then what should we think of Baptism by Laymen to whom Authority was never given I doubt saith St. Augustine whether any man which carrieth a vertuous and godly minde will affirm That the Baptism which Laymen do in case of necessity administer should be iterated For to do it unnecessarily is to execute another mans office necessity urging to do it is then either no fault at all much less so grievous a crime that it should deserve to be termed by the name of Sacriledge or if any a very pardonable fault But suppose it even of very purpose usurped and given unto any man by every man that listeth yet that which is given cannot possibly be denied to have been given how truly soever we may say it hath not been given lawfully Unlawful Usurpation a penitent Affection must redâ—ess If not the thing that was given shall remain to the hurt and detriment of him which unlawfully either administred or received the same yet so that in this respect it ought not to be reputed as if it had not at all been given Whereby we may plainly perceive that St. Augustine was not himself uncertain what to think but doubtful Whether any well-minded man in the whole World could think otherwise then he did Their Argument taken from a stoin Seal may return to the place out of which they had it for it helpeth their cause nothing That which men give or grant to others must appear to have proceeded of their own accord This being manifest their Gifts and Grants are thereby made effectual both to bar themselves from revocation and to assecure the right they have given Wherein for further prevention of mischiefs that otherwise might grow by the malice treachery and fraud of men it is both equal and meet that the strength of Mens Deeds and the Instruments which declare the same should strictly depend upon divers Solemnities whereof there cannot be the like reason in things that pass between God and us because sith we need not doubt lest the Treasures of his Heavenly Grace should without his consent be past by forged conveyances nor lest he should deny at any time his own acts and seek to revoke what hath been consented unto before As there is no such fear of danger through deceit and falshood in this case so neither hath the circumstance of mens persons that waight in Baptism which for good and just considerations in the custody of Seals of office it ought to have The Grace of Baptism cometh by Donation from God alone That God hath committed the Ministery of Baptism unto special men it is for orders sake in his Church and not to the end that their Authority might give being or add force to the Sacrament it self That Infants have right to the Sacrament in Baptism we all acknowledge Charge them we cannot as guilful and wrongful possessors of that whereunto they have right by the manifest will of the Donor and are not parties unto any defect or disorder in the manner of receiving the same And if any such disorder be we have sufficiently before declared That delictum cum capite semper ambulat mens own faults are their own harms Wherefore to countervail this and the like mischosen resemblances with that which more truly and plainly agreeth the Ordinance of God concerning their Vocation that minister Baptism wherein the Mystery of our Regeneration is wrought hath thereunto the same Analogy which Laws of Wedlock have to our first Nativity and Birth So that if Nature do effect procreation notwithstanding the wicked violation and breach even of Natures Law made that the entrance of all mankinde into this present World might be without blemish may we not justly presume that Grace doth accomplish the other although there be faultiness in them that transgress the Order which our Lord Jesus Christ hath established in his Church Some Light may be borrowed from Circumcision for Explication of what is true in this question of Baptism Seeing then that even they which condemn Zipporah the Wife of Moses for taking upon her to Circumcise her son a thing necessary at that time for her to do and as I think very hard to reprove in her considering how Moses because himself had not done it sooner was therefore stricken by the hand of God neither could in that extremity perform the Office whereupon for the stay of Gods indignation there was no choice but the action must needs fall into her hands whose fact therein whether we interpret as some have done that being a Midianite and as yet not so throughly acquainted with the Jewish Rites it much discontented her to see her self through her Husbands oversight in a Matter of his own Religion brought unto these perplexities and straights that either she must now endure him perishing before her eyes or else wound the flesh of her own Childe which she could not do but with seme indignation shewed in that she fumingly both threw down the foreskin at his feet and upbraided him with the cruelty of his Religion Or if we better like to follow their more judicious
Covenant Were not Proselytes as well as Jews always taken for the Sons of Abraham Yea because the very Heads of Families are Fathers in some sort as touching providence and care for the meanest that belong unto them the servants which Abraham had bought with money were as capable of Circumcision being newly born as any natural childe that Abraham himself begat Be it then that Baptism belongeth to none but such as either believe presently or else being Infants are the children of Believing Parents in case the Church do bring children to the Holy Font whose Natural Parents are either unknown or known to be such as the Church accurseth but yet forgetteth not in that severity to take compassion upon their Off-spring for it is the Church which doth offer them to Baptism by the Ministry of Presenters were it not against both equity and duty to refuse the Mother of Believers her self and not to take her in this case for a Faithful Parent It is not the vertue of our Fathers nor the Faith of any other that can give us the true holiness which we have by vertue of our New Birth Yet even through the common Faith and Spirit of Gods Church a thing which no quality of Parents can prejudice I say through the Faith of the Church of God undertaking the motherly care of oursouls so far forth we may be and are in our Infancy sanctified as to be thereby made sufficiently capable of Baptism and to be interessed in the Rites of our New Birth for their Pieties sake that offer us thereunto It cometh sometime to pass saith St. Augustine that the children of Bond-slaves are brought to Baptism by their Lord sometime the Parents being dead the Friends alive undertake that Office sometime Stangers or Virgins consecrated unto God which neither have nor can have children of their own take up Infants in the open streets and so offer them unto Baptism whom the cruelty of unnatural Parents casteth out and leaveth to the adventure of uncertain Pity As therefore he which did the part of a Neighbor was a Neighbor to that wounded Man whom the Parable of the Gospel describeth so they are Fathers although Strangers that bring Infants to him which maketh them the Sons of God In the phrase of some kinde of men they use to be termed Witnesses as if they came but to see and testifie what is done It savoreth more of Piety to give them their old accustomed name of Fathers and Mothers in God whereby they are well put in minde what affection they ought to bear towards those Innocents for whose religious education the Church accepteth them as pledges This therefore is their own duty But because the answer which they make to the usual demands of stipulation proposed in Baptism is not their own the Church doth best to receive it of them in that form which best sheweth whose the act is That which a Guardian doth in the name of his Guard or Pupil standeth by natural equity forcible for his benefit though it be done without his knowledge And shall we judge it a thing unreasonable or in any respect unfit That Infants by words which others utter should though unwittingly yet truly and forcibly binde themselves to that whereby their estate is so assuredly bettered Herewith Nestorius the Heretick was charged as having faln from his first Profession and broken the promise which he made to God in the Arms of others Of such as profaned themselves being Christians with irreligious delight in the Ensigns of Idolatry Heathenish Spectacles Shows and Stage-plays Tertullian to strike them the more deep claimeth the Promise which they made in Baptism Why were they dumb being thus challenged Wherefore stood they not up to answer in their own defence that such Professions and Promises made in their names were frivolous that all which others undertook for them was but mockery and profanation That which no Heretick no wicked liver no impious despiset of God no miscreant or malefactor which had himself been Baptized was ever so desperate as to disgorge in contempt of so fruitfully received Customs is now their voice that restore as they say The ancient Purity of Religion 65. In Baptism many things of very ancient continuance are now quite and clean abolished for that the Vertue and Grace of this Sacrament had been therewith over-shadowed as fruit with too great abundance of leaves Notwithstanding to them which think that always imperfect Reformation that doth but shear and not flea our retaining certain of those former Rites especially the dangerous Sign of the Cross hath seemed almost an impardonable oversight The Cross they say sith it is but a meer invention of Man should not therefore at all have been added to the Sacrament of Baptism To Sign Childrens Foreheads with a Cross in token that hereafter they shall not be ashamed to make Profession of the Faith of Christ is to bring into the Church a new Word whereas there ought to be no Doctor heard in the Church but our Saviour Christ. That reason which moved the Fathers to use should move us not to use the Sign of the Cross. They lived with Heathens which had the Cross of Christ in contempt we with such as adore the Cross and therefore we ought to abandon it even as in like consideration Ezekias did of old the Brazen Serpent These are the causes of displeasure conceived against the Cross a Ceremony the use whereof hath been profitable although we observe it not as the Ordinance of God but of Men. For saith Tertullian if of this and the like Customs thou shouldst require some Commandment to be shewed thee out of Scriptures there is none found What reason there is to justifie Tradition Life or Custom in this behalf either thou maist of thy self perceive or else learn of some other that doth Lest therefore the name of Tradition should be offensive to any considering how far by some it hath been and is abused we mean by Traditions or Ordinances made in the prime of Christian Religion established with that Authority which Christ hath left to his Church for matters indifferent and in that consideration requisite to be observed till like authority see just and reasonable cause to alter them So that Traditions Ecclesiastical are not rudely and in gross to be shaken off because the Inventors of them were men Such as say They allow no invention of Men to be mingled with the Outward Administration of Sacraments and under that pretence condemn our using the Sign of the Cross have belike some special Dispensation themselves to violate their own Rules For neither can they indeed decently nor do they ever Baptize any without manifest breach of this their profound Axiom That Mens Inventions should not be mingled with Sacraments and Institutions of God They seem to like very well in Baptism the Custom of God-fathers because so generally the Churches have received it Which Custom being of
the Enemies invasion doth remain but over and besides namely through Prayer and Imposition of Hands becometh yet greater yet mightier in strength so far as to raign with a kinde of Imperial Dominion over the whole Band of that roming and spoiling Adversary As much is signified by Eusebius Emissenus saying The Holy Ghost which descendeth with saving influence upon the Waters of Baptism doth there give that fulness which sufficeth for innocenty and afterwards exhibiteth in Confirmation an Augmentation of further Grace The Fathers therefore being thus perswaded held Confirmation as an Ordinance Apostolick always profitable in Gods Church although not always accompanied with equal largeness of those External Effects which gave it countenance at the first The cause of severing Confirmation from Baptism for most commonly they went together was sometimes in the Minister which being of inferior degree might Baptize but not Confirm as in their case it came to pass whom Peter and Iohn did confirm whereas Philip had before baptized them and in theirs of whom St. Ierome hath said I deny not but the Custom of the Churches is that the Bishop should go abroad and imposing his hands pray for the Gift of the Holy Ghost on them whom Presbyters and Deacons far off in lesser Cities have already â—aptized Which ancient Custom of the Church St. Cyprian groundeth upon the example or Peter and Iohn in the Eighth of the Acts before alledged The faithful in Samaria saith he had already obtained Baptism onely that which was wanting Peter and John supplied by Prayer and Imposition of Hands to the end the Holy Ghost might be poured upon them Which also is done amongst our selves when they which be already Baptized are brought to the Prelates of the Church to obtain by their Prayer and Imposition of Hands the Holy Ghost By this it appeareth that when the Ministers of Baptism were persons of inferior degree the Bishops did after Confirm whom such had before Baptized Sometimes they which by force of their Ecclesiastical Calling might do as well the one as the other were notwithstanding Men whom Heresie had dis-joyned from the Fellowship of true Believers Whereupon when any Man by them Baptized and Confirmed came afterwards to see and renounce their Error there grew in some Churches very hot contention about the manner of admitting such into the Bosome of the true Church as hath been declared already in the question of Rebaptization But the generally received Custom was onely to admit them with Imposition of Hands and Prayer Of which Custom while some imagined the reason to be for that Hereticks might give Remission of Sins by Baptism but not the Spirit by Imposition of Hands because themselves had not Gods Spirit and that therefore their Baptism might stand but Confirmation must be given again The imbecillity of this ground gave Cyprian occasion to oppose himself against the practice of the Church herein laboring many ways to prove That Hereticks could do neither and consequently that their Baptism in all respects was as frustrate as their Chrism for the manner of those times was in Confirming to use Anointing On the other side against Luciferians which ratified onely the Baptism of Hereticks but disannulled their Confirmations and Consecrations under pretence of the reason which hath been before specified Hereticks cannot give the Holy Ghost St. Ierome proveth at large That if Baptism by Hereticks be granted available to Remission of Sins which no man receiveth without the Spirit it must needs follow that the reason taken from disability of bestowing the Holy Ghost was no reason wherefore the Church should admit Converts with any new Imposition of Hands Notwithstanding because it might be objected That if the gift of the Holy Ghost do always joyn it self with true Baptism the Church which thinketh the Bishops Confirmation after others Mens Baptism needful for the obtaining of the Holy Ghost should hold an error Saint Ierome hereunto maketh answer That the cause of this observation is not any absolute impossibility of receiving the Holy Ghost by the Sacrament of Baptism unless a Bishop add after it the Imposition of Hands but rather a certain congruity and fitness to honor Prelacy with such pre-eminences because the safety of the Church dependeth upon the dignity of her chief Superiors to whom if some eminent Offices of Power above others should not be given there would be in the Church as many Schisms as Priests By which answer it appeareth his opinion was That the Holy Ghost is received in Baptism that Confirmation is onely a Sacramental Complement that the reason why Bishops alone did ordinarily confirm was not because the benefit grace and dignity thereof is greater then of Baptism but rather for that by the Sacrament of Baptism Men being admitted into Gods Church it was both reasonable and convenient that if he Baptize them not unto whom the chiefest authority and charge of their Souls belongeth yet for honors sake and in token of his Spiritual Superiority over them because to bless is an act of Authority the performance of this annexed Ceremony should be sought for at his hands Now what effect their Imposition of Hands hath either after Baptism administred by Hereticks or otherwise St. Ierome in that place hath made no mention because all men understood that in Converts it tendeth to the fruits of Repentance and craveth in behalf of the Penitent such grace as David after his fall desired at the hands of God in others the fruit and benefit thereof is that which hath been before shewed Finally Sometime the cause of severing Confirmation from Baptism was in the parties that received Baptism being Infants at which age they might be very well admitted to live in the Family but because to fight in the Army of God to discharge the duties of a Christian man to bring forth the fruits and to do the Works of the Holy Ghost their time of ability was not yet come so that Baptism were not deferred there could by stay of their Confirmation no harm ensue but rather good For by this means it came to pass that Children in expectation thereof were seasoned with the principles of true Religion before malice and corrupt examples depraved their mindes a good foundation was laid betimes for direction of the course of their whole lives the Seed of the Church of God was preserved sincere and sound the Prelates and Fathers of Gods Family to whom the cure of their Souls belonged saw by tryal and examination of them a part of their own heavy burthen discharged reaped comfort by beholding the first beginnings of true godliness in tender years glorified him whose praise they found in the mouths of Infants and neglected not so fit opportunity of giving every one Fatherly encouragement and exhortation Whereunto Imposition of Hands and Prayer being added our Warrant for the great good effect thereof is the same which Patriarks Prophets Priests Apostles Fathers and Men of God have had
the manifold works of Vertue often practised Before the powers of our mindes be brought unto some perfection our first assays and offers towards Vertue must needs be raw yet commendable because they tend unto ripeness For which cause and Wisdom of God hath commanded especially this circumstance amongst others in solemn Feasts That to Children and Novices in Religion they minister the first occasion to ask and enquire of God Whereupon if there follow but so much Piety as hath been mentioned let the Church learn to further imbecillity with Prayer Preserve Lord these good and gracious beginnings that they suddenly dry not up like the morning dew but may prosper and grow as the Trees which Rivers of Waters keep always flourishing Let all mens acclamations be Grace Grace unto it as to that first laid Corner Stone in Zerubbabels Buildings For who hath despised the day of those things which are small Or how dare we take upon us to condemn that very thing which voluntarily we grant maketh as of nothing somewhat seeing all we pretend against it is onely that as yet this somewhat is not much The days of solemnity which are but few cannot chuse but soon finish that outward exercise of Godliness which properly appertaineth to such times howbeit mens inward disposition to Vertue they both augment for the present and by their often returns bring also the same at the length unto that perfection which we most desire So that although by their necessary short continuance they abridge the present exercise of Piety in some kinde yet because by repetition they enlarge strengthen and confirm the habits of all Vertue it remaineth that we honor observe and keep them as Ordinances many ways singularly profitable in Gods Church This Exception being taken against Holidays for that they restrain the Praises of God unto certain times another followeth condemning restraint of men from their ordinary Trades and Labors at those times It is not they say in the Power of the Church to command Rest because God hath left it to all men at liberty that if they think good to bestow Six whole days in labor they may neither is it more lawful for the Church to abridge any man of that liberty which God hath granted then to take away the yoke which God hath laid upon them and to countermand what he doth expresly enjoyn They deny not but in times of publick calamity that men may the better assemble themselves to fast and pray the Church because it hath received Commandment from God to proclaim a Prohibition from ordinary works standeth bound to do it as the Jews afflicted did in Babylon But without some express Commandment from God there is no power they say under Heaven which may presume by any Decree to restrain the liberty that God hath given Which opinion albeit applied here no farther then to this present cause shaketh universally the Fabrick of Government tendeth to Anarchy and meer confusion dissolveth Families dissipateth Colledges Corporations Armies overthroweth Kingdoms Churches and whatsoever is now through the providence of God by Authority and Power upheld For whereas God hath foreptized things of the greatest weight and hath therein precisely defined as well that which every man must perform as that which no man may attempt leaving all sorts of men in the Rest either to be guided by their own good discretion if they be free from subjection to others or else to be ordered by such Commandments and Laws as proceed from those Superiors under whom they live the Patrons of Liberty have here made Solemn Proclamation that all such Laws and Commandments are void in as much as every man is left to the freedom of his own minde in such things as are not either exacted or prohibited by the Law of God And because onely in these things the Positive Precepts of men have place which Precepts cannot possibly be given without some Abridgment of their Liberty to whom they are given Therefore if the Father command the Son or the Husband the Wife or the Lord the Servant or the Leader the Soldier or the Prince the Subject to go or stand sleep or wake at such times as God himself in particular commandeth neither they are to stand in defence of the Freedom which God hath granted and to do as themselves list knowing that men may as lawfully command them things utterly forbidden by the Law of God as tye them to any thing which the Law of God leaveth free The plain contradictory whereunto is unfallibly certain Those things which the Law of God leaveth Arbitrary and at Liberty are all subject to the Positive Laws of Men which Laws for the common benefit abridge particular Mens Liberty in such things as far as the Rules of Equity will suffer This we must either maintain or else over-turn the World and make every man his own Commander Seeing then that Labor and Rest upon any one day of the Six throughout the year are granted free by the Law of God how exempt we them from the force and power of Ecclesiastical Law except we deprive the World of Power to make any Ordinance or Law at all Besides Is it probable that God should not onely allow but command concurrency of Rest with extraordinary occasions of doleful events befalling peradventure some one certain Church or not extending unto many and not as much as permit or licence the like when Piety triumphant with Joy and Gladness maketh solemn commemoration of Gods most rare and unwonted Mercies such especially as the whole race of mankinde doth or might participate Of vacation from labor in times of sorrow the onely cause is for that the general publick Prayers of the whole Church and our own private business cannot both he followed at once whereas of Rest in the famous solemnities of publick Joy there is both this consideration the same and also farther a kinde of natural repugnancy which maketh labors as hath been proved much more unfit to accompany Festival Praises of God then Offices of Humiliation and Grief Again If we sift what they bring for proof and approbation of Rest with Fasting doth it not in all respects as fully warrant and as strictly command Rest whensoever the Church hath equal reason by Feasts and gladsome solemnities to testifie publick thankfulness towards God I would know some cause why those words of the Prophet Ioel Sanctifie a Fast call a solemn Assembly which words were uttered to the Jews in misery and great distress should more binde the Church to do at all times after the like in their like perplexities then the words of Moses to the same people in a time of joyful deliverance from misery Remember this day may warrant any annual celebration of benefits no less importing the good of men and also justifie as touching the manner and form thereof what circumstance soever we imitate onely in respect of natural fitness or decency without any Jewish regard to Ceremonies such as
were properly theirs and are not by us expedient to be continued According to the Rule of which general directions taken from the Law of God no less in the one then the other the practice of the Church commended unto us in holy Scripture doth not onely make for the justification of black and dismal days as one of the Fathers termeth them but plainly offereth it self to be followed by such Ordinances if occasion require as that which Mordecai did sometimes devise Esther what lay in her power help forward and the rest of the Jews establish for perpetuity namely That the Fourteenth and fifteenth days of the Moneth Adar should be every year kept throughout all Generations as days of Feasting and Joy wherein they would rest from bodily labor and what by gifts of Charity bestowed upon the poor what by other liberal signs of Amity and Love all restifie their thankful mindes towards God which almost beyond possibility had delivered them all when they all were as men dead But this Decree they say was Divine not Ecclesiastical as may appear in that there is another Decree in another Book of Scripture which Decree is plain noâ— to have proceeded from the Churches Authority but from the mouth of the Prophet onely and as a poor simple man sometime was fully perswaded That it Pontius Pilate had not been a Saint the Apostles would never have suffered his name to stand in the Creed so these men have a strong opinion that because the Book of Esther is Canonical the Decree of Esther cannot be possibly Ecclesiastical If it were they ask how the Jews could binde themselves always to keep it seeing Ecclesiastical Laws are mutable As though the purposes of men might never intend constancy in that the nature whereof is subject to alteration Doth the Scripture it self make mention of any Divine Commandment Is the Scripture witness of more then onely that Mordecai was the Author of this Custom that by Letters written to his brethren the Jews throughout all Provinces under Darius the King of Persia he gave them charge to celebrate yearly those two days for perpetual remembrance of Gods miraculous deliverance and mercy that the Jews hereupon undertook to do it and made it with general consent an order for perpetnity that Esther secondly by her Letters confirmed the same which Mordecai had before decreed and that finally the Ordinance was written to remain for ever upon Record Did not the Jews in Provinces abroad observe at the first the Fourteenth day the Jews in Susis the Fifteenth Were they not all reduced to an uniform order by means of those two Decrees and so every where three days kept the first with fasting in memory of danger the rest in token of deliverance as festival and joyful days Was not the first of these three afterwards the day of sorrow and heaviness abrogated when the same Church saw it meet that a better day a day in memory of like deliverance out of the bloody hancs of Nicanor should succeed in the room thereof But for as much as there is no end of answering fruitless oppositions let it suffice men of sober mindes to know that the Law both of God and Nature alloweth generally days of rest and festival solemnity to be observed by way of thankful and joyful remembrance if such miraculous favors be shewed towards mankinde as require the same that such Graces God hath bestowed upon his Church as well in latter as in former times that in some particulars when they have faln out himself hath demanded his own honor and in the rest hath lest it to the Wisdom of the Church directed by those precedents and enlightned by other means always to judge when the like is requisite About questions therefore concerning Days and Times our manner is not to stand at bay with the Church of God demanding Wherefore the memory of Paul should be rather kept then the memory of Daniel We are content to imagine it may be perhaps true that the least in the Kingdom of Christ is greater then the greatest of all the Prophets of God that have gone before We never yet saw cause to despair but that the simplest of the people might be taught the right construction of as great Mysteries as the Name of a Saints day doth comprehend although the times of the year go on in their wonted course We had rather glorifie and bless God for the Fruit we daily behold reaped by such Ordinances as his gracious Spirit maketh the ripe Wisdom of this National Church to bring forth then vainly boast of our own peculiar and private inventions as if the skill of profitable Regiment had left her publick habitation to dwell in retired manner with some few men of one Livery We make not our childish appeals sometimes from our own to Forein Churches sometime from both unto Churches ancienter then both are in effect always from all others to our own selves but as becometh them that follow with all humility the ways of Peace we honor reverence and obey in the very next degree unto God the voice of the Church of God wherein we live They whose wits are too glorious to fall to so low an ebb they which have risen and swoln so high that the Walls of ordinary Rivers are unable to keep them in they whose wanton contentions in the cause whereof we have spoken do make all where they go a Sea even they at their highest float are constrained both to see and grant that what their fancy will not yield to like their judgment cannot with reason condemn Such is evermore the final victory of all Truth that they which have not the hearts to love her acknowledge that to hate her they have no cause Touching those Festival days therefore which we now observe their number being no way felt discommodious to the Commonwealth and their grounds such as hitherto hath been shewed what remaineth but to keep them throughout all generations holy severed by manifest notes of difference from other times adorned with that which most may betoken true vertuous and celestial joy To which intent because surcease from labor is necessary yet not so necessary no not on the Sabbath or Seventh day it self but that rarer occasions in mens particular affairs subject to manifest detriment unless they be presently followed may with very good conscience draw them sometimes aside from the ordinary rule considering the favorable dispensation which our Lord and Saviour groundeth on this Axiom Man was not made for the Sabbath but the Sabbath ordained for Man so far forth as concerneth Ceremonies annexed to the principal Sanctification thereof howsoever the rigor of the Law of Moses may be thought to import the contrary if we regard with what severity the violation of Sabbaths hath been sometime punished a thing perhaps the more requisite at that instant both because the Jews by reason of their long abode in
whether wilfully to break and despise the wholesome laws of the Church herein be a thing which offendeth God whether truly it may not be said that penitent both weaping and fasting are means to blot out sin means whereby through Gods unspeakable and undeserved mercy we obtain or procure to our selves pardon which attainment unto any gracious benefit by him bestowed the phrase of Antiquity useth to express by the name of Merit but if either Saint Augustine or Saint Ambrose have taught any wrong opinion seeing they which reprove them are not altogether free from Error I hope they will think it no error in us so to censure mens smaller faults that their vertues be not thereby generally prejudiced And if in Churches abroad where we are not subject to Power or Jurisdiction discretion should teach us for Peace and Quietness sake to frame our selves to other mens example Is it meet that at home where our freedom is less our boldness should be more Is it our duty to oppugn in the Churches whereof we are Ministers the Rites and Customs which in Foreign Churches Piety and Modesty did teach us as strangers not to oppugn but to keep without shew of contradiction or dislike Why oppose they the name of a Minister in this case unto the state of a private man Doth their order exempt them from obedience to Laws That which their Office and place requireth is to shew themselves patterns of reverend subjection not Authors and Masters of contempt towards Ordinances the strength whereof when they seek to weaken they do but in truth discover to the World their own imbecillities which a great deal wiselier they might conceal But the practice of the Church of Christ we shall by so much the better both understand and love if to that which hitherto hath been spoken there be somewhat added for more particular declaration how Hereticks have partly abused Fasts and partly bent themselves against the lawful use thereof in the Church of God Whereas therefore Ignatius hath said If any keep Sundays or Saturdays Fasts one onely Saturday in the year excepted that man is no better then a murtherer of Christ the cause of such his earnestness at that time was the impiety of certain Hereticks which thought that this World being corruptible could not be made but a very evil Author And therefore as the Jews did by the Festival Solemnity of their Sabbath rejoyce in the God that created the World as in the Author of all Goodness so those Hereticks in hatred of the Maker of the World sorrowed wept and fasted on that day as being the birth-day of all evil And as Christian men of sound belief did solemnize the Sunday in joyful memory of Christs Resurrection so likewise at the self-same time such Hereticks as denied his Resurrection did the contrary to them which held it When the one sort rejoyced the other fasted Against those Hereticks which have urged perpetual abstinence from certain Meats as being in their very nature unclean the Church hath still bent herself as an enemy Saint Paul giving charge to take heed of them which under any such opinion should utterly forbid the use of Meats or Drinks The Apostles themselves forbad some as the order taken at Ierusalem declareth But the cause of their so doing we all know Again when Tertullian together with such as were his followers began to Montanize and pretending to perfect the severity of Christian Discipline brought in sundry unaccustomed days of Fasting continued their Fasts a great deal longer and made them more rigorous then the use of the Church had been the mindes of men being somewhat moved at so great and so sudden novelty the cause was presently inquired into After notice taken how the Montanists held these Additions to be Supplements of the Gospel whereunto the Spirit of Prophesie did now mean to put as it were the last hand and was therefore newly descended upon Montanus whose orders all Christian men were no less to obey then the Laws of the Apostles themselves this Abstinence the Church abhorred likewise and that justly Whereupon Tertullian proclaiming even open War of the Church maintained Montanism wrote a Book in defence of the new Fast and intituled the same A Treatise of Fasting against the opinion of the Carnal sort In which Treatise nevertheless because so much is sound and good as doth either generally concern the use or in particular declare the Custom of the Churches Fasting in those times men are not to reject whatsoever is alledged out of that Book for confirmation of the Truth His error discloseth it self in those places where he defendeth Fasts to be duties necessary for the whole Church of Christ to observe as commanded by the Holy Ghost and that with the same authority from whence all other Apostolical Ordinances came both being the Laws of God himself without any other distinction or difference saving onely that he which before had declared his will by Paul and Peter did now farther reveal the same by Montanus also Against us ye pretend saith Tertullian that the Publick Orders which Christianity is bound to keep were delivered at the first and that no new thing is to be added thereunto Stand if you can upon this point for behold I challenge you for Fasting more then at Easter your selves But in fine ye answer That these things are to be done as established by the voluntary appointment of men and not by vertue or force of any Divine Commandment Well then he addeth Ye have removed your first footing and gone beyond that which was delivered by doing more then was at the first imposed upon you You say you must do that which your own judgments have allowed We require your obedience to that which God himself doth institute Is it not strange that men to their own will should yield that which to Gods Commandment they will not grant Shall the pleasure of men prevail more with you then the power of God himself These places of Tertullian for Fasting have worthily been put to silence And as worthily Aerius condemned for opposition against Fasting The one endeavored to bring in such Fasts as the Church ought not to receive the other to overthrow such as already it had received and did observe The one was plausible unto many by seeming to hate carnal loosness and riotous excess much more then the rest of the World did the other drew hearers by pretending the maintenance of Christian Liberty The one thought his cause very strongly upheld by making invective declamations with a pale and a withered countenance against the Church by filling the ears of his starved hearers with speech suitable to such mens humors and by telling them no doubt to their marvellous contentment and liking Our new Prophesies are refused they are despised It is because Montanus doth Preach some other God or dissolve the Gospel of Iesus Christ or overthrow any Canon of Faith and Hope No our crime is We teach
that the Angels assisting them should be driven to betake themselves unto other stations although by nature they were not tyed where now they are but had charge also elsewhere as long as their absence from beneath might but tolerably be supplyed and by descending their rooms above should become vacant For we are not to dream in this case of any platform which bringeth equally high and low unto Parish Churches nor of any constraint to maintain at their own charge men sufficient for that purpose the one so repugnant to the Majesty and Greatness of English Nobility the other so improbable and unlikely to take effect that they which mention either of both seem not indeed to have conceived what either is But the eye of Law is the eye of God it looketh into the hearts and secret dispositions of men it beholdeth how far one star differeth from another in glory and as mens several degrees require accordingly it guideth them granting unto principal Personages priviledges correspondent to their high Estates and that not onely in Civil but even in Spiritual Affairs to the end they may love that Religion the more which no way seeketh to make them vulgar no way diminisheth their dignity and greatness but to do them good doth them honour also and by such extraordinary favours teacheth them to be in the Church of God the same which the Church of God esteemeth them more worth than thousands It appeareth therefore in what respect the Laws of this Realm have given liberty of non-residence to some that their knowledge may be increased and their labours by that mean be made afterwards the more profitable to others left the Houses of Great-men should want that daily exercise of Religion wherein their example availeth as much yea many times peradventure more than the Laws themselves with the common sort A third thing respected both in permitting absence and also in granting to some that liberty of addition or plurality which necessarily inforceth their absence is a meer both just and conscionable regard that as men are in quality and as their services are in weight for the publick good so likewise their rewards and encouragements by special priviledge of Law might somewhat declare how the State it self doth accept their pains much abhorring from their bestial and savage rudeness which think that Oxen should onely labour and Asses feed Thus to Readers in Universities whose very Paper and Book-expences their antient allowances and stipends at this day do either not or hardly sustain to Governours of Colledges lest the great overplus of charges necessarily inforced upon them by reason of their place and very slenderly supplyed by means of that change in the present condition of things which their Founders could not fore-see to men called away from their Cures and imployed in weightier business either of the Church or Common-wealth because to impose upon them a burthen which requireth their absence and not to release them from the duty of Residence were a kinde of cruel and barbarous injustice to Residents in Cathedral Churches or upon Dignities Ecclesiastical forasmuch as these being rooms of greater Hospitality places of more respect and consequence than the rest they are the rather to be furnished with men of best quality and the men for their qualities-sake to be favoured above others I say unto all these in regard of their worth and merit the Law hath therefore given leave while themselves bear weightier burthens to supply inferiour by deputation and in like consideration partly partly also by way of honour to Learning Nobility and Authority permitteth that men which have taken Theological degrees in Schools the Suffragans of Bishops the Houshold-Chaplains of men of Honour or in great Offices the Brethren and Sonnes of Lords Temporal or of Knights if God shall move the hearts of such to enter at any time into Holy Orders may obtain to themselves a faculty or licence to hold two Ecclesiastical Livings though having Cure any Spiritual Person of the Queens Councel three such Livings her Chaplains what number of promotions her self in her own Princely wisedom thinketh good to bestow upon them But as it fareth in such cases the gap which for just considerations we open unto some letteth in others through corrupt practises to whom such favours were neither meant nor should be communicated The greatness of the Harvest and the scarcity of able Work-men hath made it necessary that Law should yield to admit numbers of men but slenderly and meanly qualified Hereupon because whom all other worldly hopes have forsaken they commonly reserve Ministerial Vocation as their last and surest refuge ever open to forlorn men the Church that should nourish them whose service she needeth hath obtruded upon her their service that know not otherwise how to live and sustain themselves These finding nothing more easie than means to procure the writing of a few lines to some one or other which hath authority and nothing more usual than too much facility in condescending unto such requests are often received into that Vocation whereunto their unworthiness is no small disgrace Did any thing more aggravate the crime of Ieroboams prophane Apostasie than that he chose to have his Clergy the scum and reffuse of his whole Land Let no man spare to tell it them they are not faithful towards God that burthen wilfully his Church with such swarms of unworthy Creatures I will not say of all degrees in the Ministry that which Saint Chrysostom doth of the highest He that will undertake so weighty a charge had need to be a man of great understanding rarely assisted with Divine grace for integrity of manners purity of life and for all other vertues to have in him more than a man But surely this I will say with Chrysostom We need not doubt whether God be highly displeased with us or what the cause of his anger is if things of so great fear and holiness at are the least and lowest duties of his service be thrown wilfully on them whose not onely mean but bad and scandalous quality doth defile whatsoever they handle These eye-sores and blemishes in continual attendants about the Service of God's Sanctuary do make them every day fewer that willingly resort unto it till at length all affection and zeal towards God be extinct in them through a wearisom contempt of their Persons which for a time onely live by Religion and are for recompence in fine the death of the Nurse that feedeth them It is not obscure how incommodious the Church hath found both this abuse of the liberty which Law is enforced to grant and not onely this but the like abuse of that favour also which Law in other considerations already mentioned affordeth toucheth Residence and plurality of Spiritual Livings Now that which is practised corruptly to the detriment and hurt of the Church against the purpose of those very Laws which notwithstanding are pretended in defence and justification thereof we must needs acknowledge no
why in all the projects of their Discipline it being manifest that their drift is to wrest the Key of Spiritual Authority out of the hands of former Governours and equally to possess therewith the Pastors of all several Congregations the people first for surer accomplishment and then for better defence thereof are pretended necessary Actors in those things whereunto their ability for the most part is as slender as their title and challenge unjust Notwithstanding whether they saw it necessary for them to perswade the people without whose help they could do nothing or else which I rather think the affection which they bear towards this new Form of Government made them to imagin it Gods own Ordinance Their Doctrine is that by the Law of God there must be for ever in all Congregations certain Lay-Elders Ministers of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in as much as our Lord and Saviour by Testament for so they presume hath left all Ministers or Pastors in the Church Executors equally to the whole power of Spiritual Jurisdiction and with them hath joyned the people as Colleagues By maintenance of which Assertion there is unto that part apparently gained a twofold advantage both because the people in this respect are much more easily drawn to favour it as a matter of their own interest and for that if they chance to be crossed by such as oppose against them the colour of Divine Authority assumed for the Grace and Countenance of that Power in the vulgar sort furnisheth their Leaders with great abundance of matter behoveful of their encouragement to proceed alwaies with hope of fortunate success in the end considering their cause to be as David's was a just defence of power given them from above and consequently their Adversaries quarrel the same with Saul's by whom the Ordinance of God was withstood Now on the contrary side if this their surmise prove false if such as in Justification whereof no evidence sufficient either hath been or can be alledged as I hope it shall clearly appear after due examination and trial let them then consider whether those words of Corah Dathan and Abiram against Moses and against Aaron It is too much that ye take upon you seeing all the Congregation is holy be not the very true Abstract and abridgment of all their published Admonitions Demonstrations Supplications and Treatises whatsoever whereby they have laboured to void the rooms of their Spiritual Superiours before Authorized and to advance the new fancied Scepter of Lay Presbyterial Power The Nature of Spiritual Iurisdiction BUt before there can be any setled Determination whether Truth do rest on their part or on ours touching Lay-Elders we are to prepare the way thereunto by explication of some things requisite and very needful to be considered as first how besides that Spiritual Power which is of Order and was instituted for performance of those duties whereof there hath been Speech already had there is in the Church no less necessary a second kind which we call the Power of Jurisdiction When the Apostle doth speak of ruling the Church of God and of receiving accusations his words have evident reference to the Power of Jurisdiction Our Saviours words to the Power of Order when he giveth his Disciples charge saying Preach Baptize Do this in Remembrance of me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epist ad Smyrn A Bishop saith Ignatius doth bear the Image of God and of Christ of God in ruling of Christ in administring holy things By this therefore we see a manifest difference acknowledged between the Power of Ecclesiastical Order and the power of Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical The Spiritual Power of the Church being such as neither can be challenged by right of Nature nor could by humane Authority be instituted because the forces and effects thereof are Supernatural and Divine we are to make no doubt or question but that from him which is the Head it hath descended unto us that are the Body now invested therewith He gave it for the benefit and good of Souls as a mean to keep them in the path which leadeth unto endless felicity a bridle to hold them within their due and convenient bounds and if they do go astray a forcible help to reclaim them Now although there be no kind of Spiritual Power for which our Lord Iesus Christ did not give both commission to exercise and direction how to use the same although his Laws in that behalf recorded by the holy Evangelists be the only ground and foundation whereupon the practice of the Church must sustain it self yet as all multitudes once grown to the form of Societies are even thereby naturally warranted to enforce upon their own subjects particularly those things which publick wisdom shall judge expedient for the common good so it were absurd to imagine the Church it self the most glorious amongst them abridged of this liberty or to think that no Law Constitution or Canon can be further made either for Limitation or Amplification in the practice of our Saviours Ordinances whatsoever occasion be offered through variety of times and things during the state of this inconstant world which bringeth forth daily such new evills as must of necessity by new remedies be redrest did both of old enforce our venerable Predecessor and will alwaies constrain others sometime to make sometime to abrogate sometime to augment and again to abridge sometime in sum often to vary alter and change Customs incident unto the manner of exercising that Power which doth it self continue alwaies one and the same I therefore conclude that Spiritual Authority is a Power which Christ hath given to be used over them which are subject unto it for the eternal good of their Souls according to his own most Sacred Laws and the wholsome positive Constitutions of his Church In Doctrine referred unto Action and Practice as this is which concerns Spiritual Jurisdiction the first sound and perfect understanding is the knowledge of the End because thereby both Use doth frame and Contemplation judge all things Of Penitency the chiefest End propounded by Spiritual Iurisdiction Two kinds of Penitency the one a Private Duty toward God the other a Duty of external Discipline Of the vertue of Repentance from which the former Duty proceedeth and of Contrition the first part of that Duty SEeing that the chiefest cause of Spiritual Jurisdiction is to provide for the health and safety of Mens Souls by bringing them to see and Repent their grievous offences committed against God as also to reform all injuries offered with the breach of Christian Love and Charity toward their brethren in matters of Ecclesiastical Cognizance the use of this Power shall by so much the plainlier appear if first the nature of Repentance it self be known We are by Repentance to appease whom we offend by Sin For which cause whereas all Sin deprives us of the favour of Almighty God our way of Reconciliation with him is the inward secret Repentance of the heart which inward
Councel of Nice where thirteen years being set for the Penitency of certain offenders the severity of this Degree is mitigated with special caution That in all such cases the mind of the Penitent and the manner of his Repentance is to be noted that as many as with fear and tears and meekness and the exercise of good works declared themselves to be Converts indeed and not in outward appearance only towards them the Bishop at his discretion might use more lenity If the Councel of Nice suffice not let Gratian the Founder of the Canon Law expound Cyprian who sheweth that the stine of time in Penitency is either to be abridged or enlarged as the Penitents Faith and behaviour shall give occasion I have easilier found out men Saith S. Ambrose able to keep themselves free from crimes then conformable to the rules which in Penitency they should observe S. Gregory Bishop of Nisse complaineth and enveigheth bitterly against them who in the time of their Penitency lived even as they had done alwaies before Their countenance as chearful their attire is neat their dyet as costly and their sleep as secure as ever their worldly business purposely followed to exile pensive thoughts for their minds repentance pretended but indeed nothing less express These were the inspections of life whereunto St. Cyprian alludeth as for Auricular Examinations he knew them not Were the Fathers then without use of private Confession as long as publick was in use I affirm no such thing The first and ancientest that mentioneth this Confession is Origen by whom it may seem that men being loth to present rashly themselves and their faults unto the view of the whole Church thought it best to unfold first their minds to some one special man of the Clergy which might either help them himself or referre them to an higher Court if need were Be therefore circumspect saith Origen in making choice of the party to whom thou meanest to confess thy Sin know thy Physitian before thou use him If he find thy malady such as needeth to be made publick that other may be the better by it and thy self sonner helpt his counsel must be obeyed That which moved sinners thus voluntarily to detect themselves both in private and in publick was fear to receive with other Christian men the mysteries of heavenly grace till Gods appointed Stewards and Ministers did judge them worthy It is in this respect that St. Ambrose findeth fault with certain men which sought imposition of Penance and were not willing to wait their time but would be presently admitted Communicants Such people saith he do seek by so rash and preposterous desires rather to bring the Priest into bonds then to loose themselves In this respect it is that S. Augustine hath likewise said When the wound of Sin is so wide and the disease so far gone that the medicinable body and blood of our Lord may not be touched men are by the Bishops authority to sequester themselves from the Altar till such time as they have repented and be after reconciled by the same authority Furthermore because the knowledge how to handle our own sores is no vulgar and common art but we either carry towards our selves for the most part an over-soft and gentle hand fearful of touching too near the quick or else endeavouring not to be partial we fall into timerous scrupulosities and sometime into those extream discomforts of mind from which we hardly do ever lift up our heads again men thought it the safest way to disclose their secret faults and to crave imposition of Penance from them whom our Lord Jesus Christ hath left in his Church to be Spiritual and Ghostly Physitians the Guides and Pastors of redeemed Souls whose Office doth not onely consist in generall perswasions unto amendment of life but also in the private particular cure of diseased minds Howsoever the Novatianists presume to plead against the Church saith Salvianus that every man ought to be his own Penitentiary and that it is a part of our duty to exercise but not of the Churches Authority to impose or prescribe Repentance the truth is otherwise the best and strongest of us may need in such cases direction What doth the Church in giving Penance but shew the remedies which Sin requireth or what do we in receiving the same but fulfill her precept what else but sue unto God with tears and salts that his merciful ears may be opened St. Augustines exhortation is directly to the same purpose Let every man whilst he hath time judge himself and change his life of his own accord and when this is resolved Let him from the disposers of the holy Sacraments learn in what manner be is to pacifie Gods displeasure But the greatest thing which made men forward and willing upon their knees to confess whatsoever they had committed against God and in no wise to be with-held from the same with any fear of disgrace contempt or obloquy which might ensue was their servent desire to be helped and assisted with the Prayers of Gods Saints Wherein as St. Iames doth exhort unto mutual confession alledging this onely for a reason that just mens devout prayers are of great avail with God so it hath been heretofore the use of Penitents for that intent to unburthen their minds even to private persons and to crave their Prayers Whereunto Cassianus alluding counselleth That if men possest with dulness of spirit be themselves unapt to do that which is required they should in meek affection seek health as the least by good and vertuous mens prayers unto God for them And to the same effect Gregory Bishop of Nisse Humble thy self and take unto thee such of thy brethren as are of one mind and do bear kind affection towards thee that they may together mourn and labour for thy deliverance Show me thy bitter and abundant tears that I may blend mine own with them But because of all men there is or should be none in that respect more fit for troubled and distressed minds to repair unto then Gods Ministers he proceedeth further Make the Priest as a Father partaker of thine affliction and grief be bold to impart unto him the things that are most secret he will have care both of thy safety and of thy credit Confession saith Leo is first to be offered to God and then to the Priest as to one which maketh supplication for the sins of Penitent offenders Suppose we that men would ever have been easily drawn much less of their own accord have come unto publick Confession whereby they know they should sound the trumpet of their own disgrace would they willingly have done this which naturally all men are loth to do but for the singular trust and confidence which they had in the publick prayers of Gods Church Let thy Mother the Church weep for thee saith Ambrose let her wash and bathe thy faults with
the Ceremonies and Solemnities that might be used for the strengthening of men's affiance in God's peculiar mercy towards them Such Complements are helps to support our Weaknesse and not Causes that serve to procare or produce his Gifts as David speaketh The difference of general and particular Formes in Confession and Absolution is not so material that any man's safety or ghostly good should depend upon it And for private Confession and Absolution it standeth thus with us The Minister's power to absolve is publickly taught and professed the Church not denyed to have Authority either of abridging or enlarging the use and exercise of that Power upon the People no such necessity imposed of opening their Trangression unto men as if Remission of Sinnes otherwise were impossible neither any such opinion had of the thing it self as though it were either unlawfull or unprofitable saving onely for these inconveniences which the World hath by experience observed in it heretofore And in regard thereof the Church of England hitherto hath thought it the safe way to referre men's hidden Crimes unto God and themselves onely Howbeit not without special caution for the Admonition of such as come to the Holy Sacrament and for the comfort of such as are ready to depart the World First because there are but few that consider how much that part of Divine Service which consists in partaking the Holy Eucharist doth import their Souls what they lose by neglect thereof and what by devout Practise they might attain unto therefore lest carelesnesse of general Confession should as commonly it doth extinguish all remorse of mens particular enormous Crimes our Custome whensoever men present themselves at the Lords Table is solemnly to give themselves fearfull Admonition what woes are perpendicularly hanging over the heads of such as dare adventure to put forth their unworthy hands to those admirable Mysteries of Life which have by rare Examples been proved Conduits of irremediable Death to impenitent Receivers whom therefore as we repel being known so being not known we cannot but terrifie Yet with us the Ministers of God's most Holy Word and Sacraments being all put in trust with the custody and dispensation of those Mysteries wherein our Communion is and hath been ever accounted the highest Grace that men on earth are admitted unto have therefore all equally the same power to with-hold that sacred Mystical Food from notorious Evil-Livers from such as have any way wronged their Neighbours and from Parties between whom there doth open hatred and malice appear till the first sort have reformed their wicked Lives the second recompensed them unto whom they were injurious and the last condescended unto some course of Christian Reconciliation whereupon their mutual accord may ensue In which cases for the first branch of wicked Life and the last which is open Enmity there can arise no great difficultie about the exercise of his Power In the second concerning Wrongs there may if men shall presume to define or measure Injuries according to their own Conceits depraved oftentimes as well by Errour as Partialitie and that no lesse to the Minister himself then in another of the People under him The knowledge therefore which he taketh of Wrongs must rise as it doth in the other two not from his own Opinion or Conscience but from the evidence of the Fact which is committed Yea from such evidence as neither doth admit Denyal nor Defence For if the Offender having either colour of Law to uphold or any other pretence to excuse his own uncharitable and wrongful Dealings shall wilfully stand in defence thereof it serveth as barr to the power of the Minister in this kinde Because as it is observed by men of very good Judgment in these Affairs although in this sort our separating of them be not to strike them with the mortal wound of Excommunication but to stay them rather from running desperately head-long into their owne harm yet it is not in us to sever from the Holy Communion but such as are either found culpable by their own Confession or have been convicted in some Publick Secular or Ecclesiastical Court. For who is he that dares take upon him to be any man 's both Accuser and Judge Evil Persons are not rashly and as we lift to be thrust from Communion with the Church insomuch that if we cannot proceed against them by any orderly course of Judgement they rather are to be suffered for the time then molested Many there are reclaimed as Peter Many as Iudas known well enough and yet tolerated Many which must remain un-deseryed till the day of appearance by whom the secret corners of Darknesse shall be brought into open Light Leaving therefore unto his Judgement them whom we cannot stay from casting their own Souls into so great hazard we have in the other part of Penitential Jurisdiction in our Power and Authoritie to release Sinne joy on all sides without trouble or molestation unto any And if to give be a thing more blessed than to receive are we not infinitely happyer in being authorized to bestow the Treasure of God than when Necessitie doth constrain to with-draw the same They which during Life and Health are never destitute of wayes to delude Repentance do notwithstanding oftentimes when their last hour draweth on both feel that sting which before lay dead in them and also thirst after such helps as have been alwayes till then unsavoury Saint Ambrose his wordstouching late Repentance are somewhat hard If a man be penitent and receive Absolution which cannot in that case be denyed him even at the very point of death and so depart I dare not affirm he goeth out of the world well I will counsel no man to trust to this because I am loath to deceive any man seeing I know not what to think of it Shall I Iudge such a one a Cast-away Neither will I avouch him safe All I am able to say is Let his Estate be left to the will and pleasure of Almighty God Wilt thou be therefore delivered of all doubt Repent while yet thou art healthy and strong If thou defert it till time give no longer possibility of sinning thou canst not be thought to have left Sinne but rather Sinne to have forsaken thee Such admonitions may in their time and place be necessary but in no wise prejudicial to the generality of God's own high and heavenly promise Whensoever a Sinner doth repent from the bottom of his heart I will put out all his iniquity And of this although it have pleased God not to leave to the world any multitude of Examples lest the carelesse should too farr presume yet one he hath given and that most memorable to withhold from despair in the mercies of God at what instant so ever man's unfeigned conversion be wrought Yea because to countervail the fault of delay there are in the latest Repentance oftentimes the surest tokens of sincere dealing Therefore upon special Confession made
with our Ministerie God really performing the same which Man is authorized to act as in his Name there shall need for decision of this point no great labour To Remission of Sins there are two things necessary Grace as the only cause which taketh away Iniquity and Repentance as a Duty or Condition required in us To make Repentance such as it should be what doth God demand but inward sincerity joyned with fit and convenient Offices for that purpose the one referred wholly to our own Consciences the other best discerned by them whom God hath appointed Judges in this Court. So that having first the promises of God for pardon generally unto all Offenders penitent and particularly for our own unfeigned meaning the unfallible testimony of a good Conscience the sentence of God's appointed Officer and Vicegerent to approve with unpartial Judgement the quality of that we have done and as from his Tribunal in that respect to assoil us of any Crime I see no cause but that by the Rules of our Faith and Religion we may rest our selves very well assured touching God's most merciful Pardon and Grace who especially for the strengthening of weak timerous and fearful mindes hath so farr indued his Church with Power to absolve Sinners It pleaseth God that men sometimes should by missing this help perceive how much they stand bound to him for so precious a Benefit enjoyed And surely so long as the World lived in any awe or fear of falling away from God so dear were his Ministers to the People chiefly in this respect that being through tyranny and persecution deprived of Pastors the doleful rehearsal of their lost felicities hath not any one thing more eminent than that Sinners distrest should not now know how or where to unlade their Burthens Strange it were unto me that the Fathers who so much every where extol the Grace of Jesus Christ in leaving unto his Church this Heavenly and Divine power should as men whose simplicity had universally been abused agree all to admire the magnifie and needless Office The Sentence therefore of Ministerial Absolution hath two effects touching sin it only declareth us freed from the guiltiness thereof and restored into God's favour but concerning right in Sacred and Divine Mysteries whereof through Sin we were made unworthy as the power of the Church did before effectually binde and retain us from access unto them so upon our apparent repentance it truly restoreth our Liberty looseth and Chains wherewith we were tyed remitteth all whatsoever is past and accepteth us no less returned than if we never had gone astray For in as much as the Power which our Saviour gave to his Church is of two kindes the one to be exercised over voluntary Penitents only the other over such as are to be brought to Amendment by Ecclesiastical Censures the words wherein he hath given this Authority must be so understood as the Subject or Matter whereupon it worketh will permit It doth not permit that in the former kinde that is to say in the use of Power over voluntarie Converts to binde or loose remit or retain should signifie any other than only to pronounce of Sinners according to that which may be gathered by outward signes because really to effect the removal or continuance of Sinne in the Soul of any Offender is no Priestly act but a Work which farr exceedeth their Ability Contrariwise in the latter kinde of Spiritual Jurisdiction which by Censures constraineth men to amend their Lives It is is true that the Minister of God doth then more declare and signifie what God hath wrought And this Power true it is that the Church hath invested in it Howbeit as other truths so this hath by errour been oppugned and depraved through abuse The first of Name that openly in Writing withstood the Churches Authority and Power to remit Sinne was Tertullian after he had combined himself with Montanists drawn to the liking of their Heresie through the very sowreness of his own nature which neither his incredible skill and knowledge otherwise nor the Doctrine of the Gospel it self could but so much alter as to make him savour any thing which carried with it the taste of lenity A Spunge steeped in Worm-wood and Gall a Man through too much severity merciless and neither able to endure nor to be endured of any His Book entituled concerning Chastity and written professedly against the Discipline of the Church hath many fretful and angry Sentences declaring a minde very much offended with such as would not perswade themselves that of Sins some be pardonable by the Keyes of the Church some uncapable of Forgiveness That middle and moderate Offences having received chastisement may by Spiritual Authority afterwards be remitted but greater Transgressions must as touching Indulgence be left to the only pleasure of Almighty God in the World to come That as Idolatry and Bloodshed so likewise Fornication and sinful Lust are of this nature that they which so farr have fallen from God ought to continue for ever after barred from access unto his Sanctuary condemned to perpetual profusion of Tears deprived of all expectation and hope to receive any thing at the Churches hands but publication of their shame For saith he who will fear to waste out that which he hopeth he may recover Who will be careful for ever to hold that which be knoweth cannot for ever be withheld from him He which slackneth the Bridle to sinne doth thereby give it even the spurr also Take away fear and that which presently succeedeth in stead thereof is Licencious desire Greater Offences therefore are punishable but not pardonable by the Church If any Prophet or Apostle be found to have remitted such Transgressions they did it not by the ordinary course of Discipline but by extraordinary power For they also raised the Dead which none but God is able to do they restored the Impotent and Lame men a work peculiar to Jesus Christ Yea that which Christ would not do because executions of such severity beseemed not him who came to save and redeem the World by his sufferings they by their power strook Elymas and Ananias the one blinde and the other dead Approve first your selves to be as they were Apostles or Prophets and then take upon you to pardon all men But if the Authority you have be only Ministerial and no way Soveraign over-reach not the limits which God hath set you know that to pardon capital Sin is beyond your Commission Howbeit as oftentimes the vices of wicked men do cause other their commendable qualities to be abhorred so the honour of great mens vertues is easily a Cloak of their Errours In which respect Tertullian hath past with much less obloquy and reprehension than Novatian who broaching afterwards the same opinion had not otherwise wherewith to countervail the Offence he gave and to procure it the like toleration Novatian at the first a Stoical Phylosopher which kinde of men hath alwayes accounted
to keep the wound of Contrition bleeding they unfold the circumstances of their Transgressions and endeavour to leave nothing which may be heavy against themselves Yet do what they can they are still fearful lest herein also they do not that which they ought and might Come to Prayer their coldnesse taketh all heart and courage from them with fasting albeit their Flesh should be withered and their Blood clean dryed up would they ever the lesse object What is this to David's humiliation Wherein notwithstanding there was not any thing more than necessary In works of Charity and Alms-deed It is not all the World can perswade them they did ever reach the poor bounty of the Widdow's two Mites or by many millions of Leagues come near to the mark which Cornelius touched so farr they are off from the proud surmise of any Penitential Supererrogation in miserable wretched Wormes of the Earth Notwithstanding for as much as they wrong themselves with over-rigorous and extreme Exactions by means whereof they fall sometimes into such Perplexities as can hardly be allayed It hath therefore pleased Almighty God in tender commiseration over these imbecillities of men to ordain for their Spiritual and Ghostly comfort consecrated Persons which by Sentence of Power and Authority given from above may as it were out of his very mouth ascertain timerous and doubtful mindes in their own particular ease them of all their scrupulosities leave them settled in Peace and satisfied touching the Mercy of God towards them To use the benefit of this help for the better satisfaction in such cases is so natural that it can be forbidden no man but yet not so necessary that all men should be in case to need it They me of the two the happier therefore that can content and satisfie themselves by judging discreetly what they perform and soundly what God doth require of them For having that which is most material the substance of Penitency rightly bred touching signes and tokens thereof we may affirm that they do boldly which imagine for every offence a certain proportionable degree in the Passions and Griefs of Minde whereunto whosoever aspireth not repenteth in vain That to frustrate mens Confession and Considerations of Sinne except every Circumstance which may aggravate the same be unript and laid in the Ballance is a mercilesse extremity although it be true that as near as we can such Wounds must be searched to the very bottom Last of all to set down the like stint and to shut up the doors of Mercy against Penitents which come short thereof in the devotion of their Prayers in the continuance of their Falls in the largeness and bounty of their Almes or in the course of any other such like Duties is more than God himself hath thought meet and consequently more than mortal men should presume to do That which God doth chiefly respect in mens penitency is their Hearts The Heart is it which maketh Repentance sincere Sincerity that which findeth favour in God's sight and the favour of God that which supplyeth by Gracious acceptation whatsoever may seem defective in the faithful hearty and true Offices of his Servants Take it saith Chrysostome upon my credit Such is God's merciful inclination towards men that repentance offered with a single and sincere minde he never refuseth no not although we be come to the very top of Iniquity If there be a will and desire to return he receiveth imbraceth and omitteth nothing which may restore us to former happiness yea that which is yet above all the rest albeit we cannot in the duty of satisfying him attain what we ought and would but come farre behinde our mark he taketh neverthelesse in good worth that little which we doe be it never so mean we lose not our labour therein The least and lowest step of Repentance in Saint Chrysostome's Judgement severeth and setteth us above them that perish in their Sinne I therefore will end with Saint Augustine's Conclusion Lord in thy Booke and Volume of Life all shall be written as well the Least of thy Saints as the Chiefest Let not therefore the Unperfect fear Let them onely proceed and go forward OF THE LAWS OF Ecclesiastical Polity BOOK VII Their Sixth Assertion That there ought not to be in the Church Bishops indued with such Authority and Honour as ours are The Matter contained in this Seventh Book 1. THe state of Bishops although sometime oppugned and that by such as therein would most seems to please God yet by his providence upheld hitherto whose glory it is to maintain that whereof himself is the Author 2. What a Bishop is what his name doth import and what doth belong unto his office as he is a Bishop 3. In Bishops two things traduced of which two the one their Authority and in is the first thing condemned their superiority over other Ministers what kinde of superiority in Ministers it â—â— which the one part holdeth and the other denieth lawful 4. From whence it hath grown that the Church is governed by Bishops 5. The time and cause of instituting every where Bishops with restraint 6. What manner of power Bishops from the first beginning have had 7. After what sort Bishops together with Presbyters have used to govern the Churches which were under them 8. How far the power of Bishops hath reached from the beginning in respect of territory or local compass 9. In what respects Episcopal Regiment hath been gainsaid of old by Aerius 10. In what respect Episcopal Regiment is gainsaid by the Authors of pretended Reformation at this day 11. Their arguments in disgrace of Regiment by Bishops as being a meer invention of man and not found in Scripture answered 12. Their arguments to prove there was no necessity of instituting Bishops in the Church 13. The fore-alleadged Arguments answered 14. An answer unto those things which are objected concerning the difference between that Power which Bishops now have and that which ancient Bishops had more then other Presbyters 15. Concerning the civil Power and Authority which our Bishops have 16. The Arguments answered whereby they would prove that the Law of God and the judgement of the best in all ages condemneth the ruling superiority of our Minister over another 17. The second malicious thing wherein the state of Bishops suffereth oblaquy is their Honour 18. What good doth publickly grow from the Prelacy 19. What kinds of Honor be due unto Bishops 20. Honor in Title Place Ornament Attendance and Priviledge 21. Honor by endowment with Lands and Livings 22. That of Ecclessiastical Goods and consequently of the Lands and Livings which Bishops enjoy the propriety belongs unto God alone 23. That Ecclesiastical persons are receivers of Gods Rents and that the honour of Prelates is to be thereof his chief Receivers not without liberty from him granted of converting the same unto their own use even in large manner 24. That for their unworthiness to deprive both them and their
there is found no restraint of that name but only a general use whereby it reacheth unto all spiritual Governors and Overseers But to let go the name and to come to the very nature of that thing which is thereby signified in all kindes of Regiment whether Ecclesiastical or Civil as there are sundry operations publique so likewise great inequality there is in the same operations some being of principal respect and therefore not fit to be dealt in by every one to whom publique actions and those of good importance are notwithstanding well and â—itly enough committed From hence have grown those different degrees of Magistrates or publique persons even Ecclesiastical as well as Civil Amongst Ecclesiastical Persons therefore Bishops being chief ones a Bishops function must be defined by that wherein his Chiefty consisteth A Bishop is a Minister of God unto whom with permanent continuance there is given not only power of administring the Word and Sacraments which power other Presbyrers have but also a further power to ordain Ecclesiastical persons and a power of Chiefty in Government over Presbyters as well as Lay men a power to be by way of jurisdiction a Pastor even to Pastors themselves So that this Office as he is a Presbyter or Pastor consisteth in those things which are common unto him with other Pastors as in ministring the Word and Sacraments But those things incident unto his Office which do properly make him a Bishop cannot be common unto him with other Pastors Now even as Pastors so likewise Bishops being principal Pastors are either at large or else with restraint At large when the subject of their Regiment is indefinite and not tyed to any certain place Bishops with restraint are they whose Regiment over the Church is contained within some definite local compass beyond which compass their jurisdiction reacheth not Such therefore we always mean when we speak of that Regiment by Bishops which we hold a thing most lawful divine and holy in the Church of Christ. III. In our present regiment by Bishops two things there are complained of the one their great Authority and the other their great Honor. Touching the Authority of our Bishops the first thing which therein displeaseth their Adversaries is the Superiority which Bishops have over other Ministers They which cannot brook the Superiority which Bishops have do notwithstanding themselves admit that some kind of difference and inequality there may be lawfully amongst Ministers Inequality as touching gifts and graces they grant because this is so plain that no mist in the world can be cast before mens eyes so thick but that they needs must discern thorow it that one Minister of the Gospel may be more learneder holier and wiser better able to instruct more apt to rule and guide them then another Unless thus much were confest those men should lose their fame and glory whom they themselves do entitle the Lights and grand Worthies of this present age Again a priority of Order they deny not but that there may be yea such a priority as maketh one man amongst many a principal Actor in those things whereunto sundry of them must necessarily concur so that the same be admitted only during the time of such actions and no longer that is to say just so much superiority and neither more nor less may be liked of then it hath pleased them in their own kind of regiment to set down The inequality which they complain of is That one Minister of the Word and Sacraments should have a permanent superiority above another or in any sort a superiority of power mandatory judicial and coercive over other Ministers By us on the contrary side inequality even such inequality as unto Bishops being Ministers of the Word and Sacraments granteth a superiority permanent above Ministers yea a permanent superiority of power mandatory judicial and coercive over them is maintained a thing allowable lawful and good For superiority of power may be either above them or upon them in regard of whom it is termed superiority One Pastor hath superiority of power above another when either some are authorised to do things worthier then are permitted unto all some are preferred to be principal Agents the rest Agents with dependency and subordination The former of these two kinds of superiority is such as the High-Priest had above other Priests of the Law in being appointed to enter once a year the holy place which the rest of the Priests might not do The latter superiority such as Presidents have in those actions which are done by others with them they nevertheless being principal and chief therein One Pastor hath superiority of power not only above but upon another when some are subject unto others commandment and judicial controlment by vertue of publique jurisdiction Superiority in this last kinde is utterly denied to be allowable in the rest it is only denied that the lasting continuance and settled permanency thereof is lawful So that if we prove at all the lawfulness of superiority in this last kind where the same is simply denied and of permanent superiority in the rest where some kind of superiority is granted but with restraint to the term and continuance of certain actions with which the same must as they say expire and cease If we can show these two things maintainable we bear up sufficiently that which the adverse party endeavoureth to overthrow Our desire therefore is that this issue may be strictly observed and those things accordingly judged of which we are to alleadge This we boldly therefore set down as a most infallible truth That the Church of Christ is at this day lawfully and so hath been sit hence the first beginning governed by Bishops having permanent superiority and ruling power over other Ministers of the Word and Sacraments For the plainer explication whereof let us briefly declare first The birth and original of the same power whence and by what occasion it grew Secondly What manner of power antiquity doth witness Bishops to have had more then Presbyters which were no Bishops Thirdly After what sort Bishops together with Presbyters have used to govern the Churches under them according to the like testimonial evidence of antiquity Fourthly How far the same Episcopal power hath usually extended unto what number of persons it hath reached what bounds and limits of place it hath had This done we may afterwards descend unto those by whom the same either hath been heretofore or is at this present hour gainsaid IV. The first Bishops in the Church of Christ were his blessed Apostles for the Office whereunto Matthias was chosen the sacred History doth term ' E 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Episcopal Office Which being spoken expresly of one agreeth no less unto them all then unto him For which cause St. Cyprian speaking generally of them all doth call them Bishops They which were termed Apostles as being sent of Christ to publish his Gospel throughout the world and were named likewise
Bishops in that the care of Government was also committed unto them did no less perform the offices of their Episcopal Authority by governing then of their Apostolical by teaching The word ' E 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 expressing that part of their office which did consist in Regiment proveth not I grant their chiefty in regiment over others because as then that name was common unto the function of their inferiors and not peculiar unto theirs But the History of their actions sheweth plainly enough how the thing it self which that name appropriated importeth that is to say even such spiritual chiefty as we have already defined to be properly Episcopal was in the holy Apostles of Christ. Bishops therefore they were at large But was it lawful for any of them to be a Bishop with restraint True it is their charge was indefinite yet so that in case they did all whether severally or joyntly discharge the Office of proclaiming every where the Gospel and of guiding the Church of Christ none of them casting off his part in their burthen which was laid upon them there doth appear no impediment but that they having received their common charge indefinitely might in the execution thereof notwithstanding restrain themselves or at leastwise be restrained by the after commandment of the Spirit without contradiction or repugnancy unto that charge more indefinite and general before given them especially if it seemed at any time requisite and for the greater good of the Church that they should in such sort tye themselves unto some special part of the flock of Jesus Christ guiding the same in several as Bishops For first notwithstanding our Saviours commandment unto them all to go and preach unto all Nations Yet some restraint we see there was made when by agreement between Paul and Peter moved with those effects of their labours which the providence of God brought forth the one betook himself unto the Gentiles the other unto the Jews for the exercise of that Office of every where preaching A further restraint of their Apostolical labours as yet there was also made when they divided themselves into several parts of the world Iohn for his charge taking Asia and so the residue other quarters to labour in If nevertheless it seem very hard that we should admit a restraint so particular as after that general charge received to make any Apostle notwithstanding the Bishop of some one Church what think we of the Bishop of Ierusalem Iames whose consecration unto that Mother See of the world because it was not meet that it should at any time be left void of some Apostle doth seem to have been the very cause of St. Pauls miraculous vocation to make up the number of the Twelve again for the gathering of nations abroad even as the martyrdom of the other Iames the reason why Barnabas in his stead was called Finally Apostles whether they did settle in any one certain place◠as Iames or else did otherwise as the Apostle Paul Episcopal Authority either at large or either restraint they had and exercised Their Episcopal power they sometimes gave unto others to exercise as agents only in their stead and as it were by commission from them Thus Titus and thus Timothy at the first though afterwards indued with Apostolical power of their own For in process of time the Apostles gave Episcopal Authority and that to continue always with them which had it We are able to number up them saith Irenaus who by the Apostles were made Bishops In Rome he affirmeth that the Apostles themselves made Linus the first Bishop Again of Polycarp he saith likewise that the Apostles made him Bishop of the Church of Smyrna Of Antioch they made Evodius Bishop as Ignatius witnesseth exhorting that Church to tread in his holy steps and to follow his vertuous example The Apostles therefore were the first which had such authority and all others who have it after them in orderly sort are their lawful Successors whether they succeed in any particular Church where before them some Apostle hath been seated as Simon succeeded Iames in Ierusalem or else be otherwise endued with the same kind of Bishoply power although it be not where any Apostle before hath been For to succeed them is after them to have that Episcopal kind of power which was first given to them All Bishops are saith Ierome the Apostles successors In like sort Cyprian doth term Bishops Prepositos qui Apostolis vicaria ordinatione succedunt From hence it may happily seem to have grown that they whom now we call Bishops were usually termed at the first Apostles and so did carry their very names in whose rooms of spiritual authority they succeeded Such as deny Apostles to have any successors at all in the office of their Apostleship may hold that opinion without contradiction to this of ours if they well explain themselves in declaring what truly and properly Apostleship is In some things every Presbyter in some things lonely Bishops in some things neither the one nor the other are the Apostles Successors The Apostles were sent as special chosen eye-witnesses of Jesus Christ from whom immediately they received their whole Embassage and their Commission to be the principal first founders of an House of God consisting as well of Gentiles as of Jews In this there are not after them any other like unto them And yet the Apostles have now their Successors upon earth their true Successors if not in the largeness surely in the kind of that Episcopal function whereby they had power to sit as spiritual ordinary Judges both over Laity and over Clergy where Churches Christian were established V. The Apostles of our Lord did according unto those directions which were given them from above erect Churches in all such Cities as received the Word of Truth the Gospel of God All Churches by them erected received from them the same Faith the same Sacraments the same form of publick regiment The form of Regiment by them established at first was That the Laity of people should be subject unto a Colledge of Ecclesiastical persons which were in every such City appointed for that purpose These in their writings they term sometime Presbyters sometime Bishops To take one Church out of a number for a patern what the rest were the Presbyters of Ephesus as it is in the History of their departure from the Apostle Paul at Miletum are said to have wept abundantly all which speech doth shew them to have been many And by the Apostles exhortation it may appear that they had not each his several flock to feed but were in common appointed to feed that one flock the Church of Ephesus for which cause the phrase of his speech is this Attendite gregi Look all to that one flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you Bishops These persons Ecclesiastical being termed as then
Presbyters and Bishops both were all subject unto Paul as to an higher Governor appointed of God to be over them But for as much as the Apostles could not themselves be present in all Churches and as the Apostles St. Paul foretold the Presbyters of the Ephesians that there would rise up from amongst their own selves men speaking perverse things to draw Disciples after them there did grow in short time amongst the Governors of each Church those emulations strifes and contentions whereof there could be no sufficient remedy provided except according unto the order of Ierusalem already begun some one were indued with Episcopal Authority over the rest which one being resident might keep them in order and have preheminence or principality in those things wherein the equality of many agents was the cause of disorder and trouble This one President or Governour amongst the rest had his known Authority established along time before that settled difference of name and title took place whereby such alone were named Bishops And therefore in the book of S. Iohns Revelation we find that they are entituled Angels It will perhaps be answered That the Angels of those Churches were onely in every Church a Minister Sacraments But then we ask Is it probable that in every of these Churches even in Ephesus it self where wany such Ministers were long before as hath been proved there was but one such when Iohn directed his speech to the Angel of that Church If there were many surely St. Iohn in naming but only one of them an Angel did behold in that one somewhat above the rest Nor was this order peculiar unto some few Churches but the whole world universally became subject thereunto insomuch as they did not account it to be a Church which was not subject unto a Bishop It was the general received perswasion of the ancient Christian world that Ecclesia est in Episcopo the outward being of a Church consisteth in the having of a Bishop That where Colledges of Presbyters were there was at the first equality amongst them S. Ierome thinketh it a matter clear but when the rest were thus equal so that no one of them could command any other as inferior unto him they all were controlable by the Apostles who had that Episcopal authority abiding at the first in themselves which they afterwards derived unto others The cause wherefore they under themselves appointed such Bishops as were not every whereat the first is said to have been those strifes and contentions for remedy whereof whether the Apostles alone did conclude of such a regiment or else they together with the whole Church judging it a fit and a needfull policy did agree to receive it for a custom no doubt but being established by them on whom the Holy Ghost was powred in so abundant measure for the ordering of Christs Church it had either Divine appointment beforehand or Divine approbation afterwards and is in that respect to be acknowledged the Ordinance of God no less then that ancient Jewish regiment whereof though Iethro were the Deviser yet after that God had allowed it all men were subject unto it as to the Polity of God and not of Iethro That so the ancient Fathers did think of Episcopal regiment that they held this order as a thing received from the blessed Apostles themselves and authorized even from heaven we may perhaps more easily prove then obtain that they all shall grant it wâ—o see it proved St. Augustine setteth it down for a principle that whatsoever positive order the whole Church every where doth observe the same it must needs have received from the very Apostles themselves unless perhaps some general Councel were the Authors of it And he saw that the ruling superiority of Bishops was a thing universally established not by the force of any Councel for Councels do all presuppose Bishops nor can there any Councel be named so ancient either General or as much as Provincial sithence the Apostles own times but we can shew that Bishops had their Authority before it and not from it Wherefore St. Augustine knowing this could not chuse but reverence the Authority of Bishops as a thing to him apparently and most clearly apostolical But it will be perhaps objected that Regiment by Bishops was not so universal nor ancient as we pretend and that an Argument hereof may be Ieroms own Testimony who living at the very same time with St. Augustine noteth this kind of Regiment as being no where antient saving onely in Alexandria his words are these It was for a remedy of Schism that one was afterwards chosen to be placed above the rest lest every mans pulling unto himself should rend asunder the Church of Christ. For that which also may serve for an Argument or taken hereof at Alexandria from Mark the Evangelist unto Heraclas and Dionysius the Presbyters always chose one OF THEMSELVES whom they placed in higher degree and gave unto him the Title of Bishop Now St. Ierom they say would never have picked out that one Church from amongst so many and have noted that in it there had been Bishops from the time that St. Mark lived if so be the self same order were of like antiquity every where his words therefore must be thus scholied In the Church of Alexandria Presbyters indeed had even from the time of St. Mark the Evangelist always a Bishop to rule over them for a remedy against Divisions Factions and Schisms Not so in other Churches neither in that very Church any longer then usque ad Heraclam Dionysium till Heraclas and his Successor Dionysius were Bishops But this construction doth bereave the words construed partly of wit and partly of truth it maketh them both absurd and false For if the meaning be that Episcopal Government in that Church was then expired it must have expired with the end of some one and not of two several Bishops days unless perhaps it fell sick under Heraclas and with Dionysius gave up the Ghost Besides it is clearly untrue that the Presbyters of that Church did then cease to be under a Bishop Who doth not know that after Dionysius Maximus was Bishop of Alexandria after him Theonas after him Peter after him Achillas after him Alexander of whom Socrates in this sort writeth It fortuned on a certain time that this Alexander in the presence of the Presbyters which were under him and of the rest of the Clergy there discoursed somewhat curiously and subtilly of the holy Trinity bringing high Philosophical proofs that there is in the Trinity an Unity Whereupon Arius one of the Presbyters which were placed in that degree under Alexander opposed eagerly himself against those things which were uttered by the Bishop So that thus long Bishops continued even in the Church of Alexandria Nor did their Regiment here cease but these also had others their Successors till St. Ieroms own time who living long after Heraclas and Dionysius had
calling been always so eminent above the rest in the same Church And what need we to seek far for proofs that the Apostles who began this order of Regiment by Bishops did it not but by divine instinct when without such direction things of far less weight and moment they attemdted not Paul and Barnabas did not open their mouths to the Gentiles till the Spirit had said Separate me Paul and Barnabas for the work whereunto I have sent them The Eunuch by Philip was neither baptized nor instructed before the Angel of God was sent to give him notice that so it pleased the most High In Asia Paul and the rest were silent because the Spirit forbad them to speak When they intended to have seen Bythinia they stayed their journey the spirit not giving them leave to go Before Timothy was imployed in those Episcopal affairs of the Church about which the Apostle St. Paul used him the Holy Ghost gave special charge for his Ordination and prophetical intelligence more then once what success the same would have And shall we think that Iames was made Bishop of Ierusalem Evodius Bishop of the Church of Antioch the Angels in the Churches of Asia Bishops that Bishops every where were appointed to take away factions contentions and Schisms without some like divine instigation and direction of the Holy Ghost Wherefore let us not fear to be herein bold and peremptory That if any thing in the Churches Government surely the first institution of Bishops was from Heaven was even of God the Holy Ghost was the Author of it VI. A Bishops saith St. Augustine is a Presbyter's Superior but the question is now wherein that superiority did consist The Bishops pre-eminence we say therefore was twofold First he excelled in latitude of the power of Order secondly in that kind of power which belongeth unto Iurisdiction Priests in the law had authority and power to do greater things then Levites the high Priest greater then inferiour Priests might do therefore Levites were beneath Priests and Priests inferior to the High Priest by reason of the very degree of dignity and of worthiness in the nature of those functions which they did execute and not only for that the one had power to command and controul the other In like sort Presbyters having a weightier and a worthier charge then Deacons had the Deacon was in this sort the Presbyters inferior and where we say that a Bishop was likewise ever accompted a Presbyters superior even according unto his very power of Order we must of necessity declare what principal duties belonging unto that kind of power a Bishop might perform and not a Presbyter The custom of the primitive Church in consecrating holy Virgins and Widows unto the service of God and his Church is a thing not obscure but easie to be known both by that which St. Paul himself concerning them hath and by the latter consonant evidence of other mens writings Now a part of the pre-eminence which Bishops had in their power of Order was that by them onely such were consecrated Again the power of ordaining both Deacons and Presbyters the power to give the power of order unto others this also hath been always peculiar unto Bishops It hath not been heard of that inferiour presbyters were ever authorized to ordein And concerning Ordination so great force and dignity it hath that whereas Presbyters by such power as they have received for Administration of the Sacraments are able only to beget Children unto God Bishops having power to Ordain do by vertue thereof create Fathers to the people of God as Epiphanius fitly disputeth There are which hold that between a Bishop and a Presbyter touching power of Order there is no difference The reason of which conceipt is for that they see Presbyters no less then Bishops authorized to offer up the prayers of the Church to Preach the Gospel to Baptize to Administer the holy Eucharist but they considered not with all as they should that the Presbyters authority to do these things is derived from the Bishops which doth ordain him thereunto so that even in those things which are common unto both yet the power of the one is as it were a certain light borrowed from the others lamp The Apostles being Bishops at large â—deined every where Presbyters Titus and Timothy having received Episcopal power as Apostolique Embassadors or Legates the one in Greece the other in Ephesus they both did by vertue thereof likewise ordein throughout all Churches Deacons and Presbyters within the circuits allotted unto them As for Bishops by restraint their power this way incommunicable unto Presbyters which of the ancients do not acknowledge I make not Confirmation any part of that power which hath always belonged only unto Bishops because in some places the custom was that Presbyters might also confirm in the absence of a Bishop albeit for the most part none but onely Bishops were thereof the allowed Ministers Here it will be perhaps Objected that the power of Ordination it self was not every where peculiar and proper unto Bishops as may be seen by 2 Council of Carthage which sheweth their Churches Order to have been That Presbyters should together with the Bishop lay hands upon the ordained But the answer hereunto is easie For doth it hereupon follow that the power of Ordination was not principally and originally in the Bishop Our Saviour hath said unto his Apostles With me ye shall sit and judge the Twelve Tribes of Israel yet we know that to him alone it belongeth to judge the World and that to him all judgement is given With us even at this day Presbyters are licensed to do as much as that Council speaketh of if any be present Yet will not any man thereby conclude that in this Church others than Bishops are allowed to ordain The association of Presbyters is no sufficient proof that the power of Ordination is in them but rather that it never was in them we may hereby understand for that no man is able to shew either Deacon or Presbyter ordained by Presbyters only and his Ordination accounted lawful in any ancient part of the Church every where examples being found both of Deacons and of Presbyters ordained by Bishops alone oftentimes neither ever in that respect thought unsufficient Touching that other chiefty which is of Jurisdiction amongst the Jews he which was highest through the worthiness of peculiar duties incident into his function in the legal service of God did bear alwaies in Ecclesiastical jurisdiction the chiefest sway As long as the glory of the Temple of God did last there were in it sundry orders of men consecrated unto the service thereof one sort of them inferior unto another in dignity and degree the Nathiners subordinate unto the Levites the Levites unto the Priests the rest of the Priests to those twenty four which were chief Priests and they all to the High Priest If any
though an enemy unto Regiment by Bishops doth notwithstanding confess that in old time the Ministers which had charge to teach chose of their Company one in every City to whom they appropriated the Title of Bishop lest equality should bread dissention He addeth farther that look what duty the Roman Consuls did execute in proposing matters unto the Senate in asking their opinions in directing them by advice admonition exhortation in guiding actions by their Authority and in seeing that performed which was with common consent agreed on the like charge had the Bishop in the assembly of other Ministers Thus much Calvin being forced by the evidence of truth to grant doth yet deny the Bishops to have been so in Authority at the first as to bear rule over other Ministers Wherein what rule he doth mean I know not But if the Bishops were so farr in dignity above other Ministers as the Consuls of Rome for their year above other Senators it is as much as we require And undoubtedly if as the Consuls of Rome so the Bishops in the Church of Christ had such authority as both to direct other Ministers and to see that every of them should observe tâ—at which their common consent had agreed on how this could be done by the Bishop not bearing rule over them for mine own part I must acknowledge that my poor concept is not able to comprehend One objection there is of some force to make against that which we have hither to endeavoured to prove if they mistake it not who alledge it St. Ierom comparing other Presbyters with him unto whom the name of Bishop was tâ—en appropriate asketh What a Bishop by vertue of his place and calling may do more then a Presbyter except it be only to Ordain In like sort Chrysostome having moved a question wherefore St. Paul should give Timothy precept concerning the quality of Bishops and descend from them to Deacons omiting the Order of Presbyters between he maketh thereunto this answer What things he spake concerning Bishops the same are also meet for Presbyters whom Bishops seem not to excell in any thing but only in the power of Ordination Wherefore seeing this doth import no ruling superiority it follows that Bishops were as then no rulers over that part of the Clergy of God Whereunto we answer that both S. Ierom and S. Chrysostom had in those their speeches an eye no farther then only to that function for which Presbyters and Bishops were consecrated unto God Now we know that their Consecration had reference to nothing but only that which they did by force and vertue of the power of Order wherein fithe Bishops received their charge only by that one degree to speak of more ample then Presbyters did theirs it might be well enough said that Presbyters were that way authorized to do in a manner even as much as Bishops could do if we consider what each of them did by vertue of solemn consecration for as concerning power of regiment and jurisdiction it was a thing withal added unto Bishops for the necessary use of such certain persons and people as should be thereunto subject in those particular Churches whereof they were Bishops and belonged to them only as Bishops of such or such a Church whereas the other kind of power had relation indefinitely unto any of the whole society of Christian men on whom they should chance to exercise the same and belonged to them absolutely as they were Bishops wheresoever they live St. Ieroms conclusion thereof is that seeing in the one kind of power there is no greater difference between a Presbyter and a Bishop Bishops should not because of their preeminence in the other too much lift up themselves above the Presbyters under them St. Chrysostom's collection that whereas the Apostle doth set down the qualities whereof regard should be had in the Consecration of Bishops there was no need to make a several discourse how Presbyters ought to be qualified when they are Ordained because there being so little difference in the functions whereunto the one and the other receive Ordination the same precepts might well serve for both at least-wise by the vertues required in the greater what should need in the less might be easily understood As for the difference of jurisdiction the truth is the Apostles yet living and themselves where they were resident exercising the jurisdiction in their own persons it was not every where established in Bishops When the Apostles prescribed those laws and when Chysostom thus spake concerning them it was not by him at all respected but his eye was the same way with Ieroms his cogitation was wâ—olly fixed on that power which by Consecration is given to Bishops more then to Presbyters and not on that which they have over Presbyters by force of their particular accessory jurisdiction Wherein if any man suppose that Ierom and Chrysostom knew no difference at all between a Presbyter and a Bishop let him weigh but one or two of their sentences The pride of insolent Bishops hath not a sharper enemy then Ierom for which cause he taketh often occasions most severely to inveigh against them sometimes for shewing disdain and contempt of the Clergy under them sometimes for not suffering themselves to be told of their faults and admonished of their duty by inferiours sometime for not admitting their Presbyters to teach if so be themselves were in presence sometimes for not voucâ—â—sasing to use any conference with them or to take any counsel of them Howbeit never doth he in such wise bend himself against their disorders as to deny their Rule and Authority over Presbyters Of Vigilantius being a Presbyter he thus writeth Miror sanctum Episcopum in cujus Parochia Presbyter esse dicitur acquiescere surori ejus non virga Apostolica virgaque ferrea confringere vas inutile I marvel that the holy Bishop under whom Vigilantius is said to be a Presbyter doth yield to his fury and not break that unprofitable Vessel with his Apostolick and iron rod. With this agreeth most fitly the grave advice he giveth to Nepotian Be thou subject unto thy Bishop and receive him as the Father of thy Soul This also I say that Bishops should know themselves to be Priests and not Lords that they ought to honour the Clergy as becometh the Clergy to be honoured to the end their Clergy may yield them the honour which as Bishops they ought to have That of the Orator Domitius is famous Wherefore should I esteem of thee as of a Prince when thou makest not of me that reckoning which should in reason be made of a Senator Let us know the Bishop and his Presbyters to be the same which Aaron sometimes and his Sons were Finally writing against the Hereticks which were name Luciferians The very safety of the Church saith he dependeth on the dignity of the Chief Priest to whom unless men grant an exceeding and an eminent power there
will grow in Churches even as many Schisms as there are Persons which have authority Touching Chrysostom to shew that by him there was also acknowledged a ruling superiority of Bishops over Presbyters both then usual and in no respect unlawful what need we alledge his Words and Sentences when the History of his own Episcopal actions in that very kinde is till this day extant for all men to read that will For St. Chrysostom of a Presbyter in Antioch grew to be afterwards Bishop of Constantinople and in process of time when the Emperors heavy displeasure had through the practise of a powerful faction against him effected his banishment Innocent the Bishop of Rome understanding thereof wrote his Letters unto the Clergy of that Church That no Successour ought to be chosen in Chrysostom's room Nec ejus clerum alii parere Pontisici Nor his Clergy OBEY any other Bishop than him A fond kinde of speech if so be there had been as then in Bishops no ruling superiority over Presbyters When two of Chrysostom's Presbyters had joyned themselves to the faction of his mortal enemy Theophilus Patriarch in the Church of Alexandria the same Theophilus and other Bishops which were of his Conventicle having sent those two amongst others to cite Chrysostom their lawful Bishop and to bring him into Publick judgement he taketh against this one thing special exception as being contrary to all order That those Presbyters should come as Messengers and call him to Judgment who were a part of that Clergy whereof himself was Ruler and Judge So that Bishops to have had in those times a ruling superiority over Presbyters neither could Ierom nor Chrysostom be ignorant and therefore hereupon it were superfluous that we should any longer stand VII Touching the next point How Bishops together with Presbyters have used to govern the Churches which were under them It is by Zonaras somewhat plainly and at large declared that the Bishop had his Seat on high in the Church above the residue which were present that a number of Presbyters did alwayes there assist him and that in the oversight of the Poeple those Presbyters were after a sort the Bishops Coadjutors The Bishops and Presbyters who together with him governed the Church are for the most part by Ignatius joyntly mentioned In the Epistle to them of Trallis he saith of Presbyters that they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Counsellors and Assistants of the Bishop and concludeth in the end He that should disobey these were a plain Atheâ—t and an irreligious Person and one that did set Christ himself and his own Ordinances at nought Which Orders making Presbyters or Priests the Bishop's Assistants doth not import that they were of equal authority with him but rather so adjoyned that they also were subject as hath been proved In the Writings of Saint Cyprian nothing is more usual than to make mention of the Colledge of Presbyters subject unto the Bishop although in handling the common affairs of the Church they assisted him But of all other places which open the antient order of Episcopal Presbyters the most clear is that Epistle of Cyprian unto Cernelius concerning certain Novatian Heretiques received again upon their conversion into the unity of the Church After that Urbanus and Sidonius Confessors had come and signified unto our Presbyters that Maximus a Consessor and Presbyter did together with them desire to return into the Church it seemed meet to hear from their own mouths and confessions that which by message they had delivered When they were come and had been called to account by the Presbyters touching those things they had committed Their answer was That they had been deceived and did request that such things as there they were charged with might be forgotten It being brought unto me what was done I took order that the Presbytery might be assembled There were also present five Bishops that upon setled advice it might be with consent of all determined what should be done about their Persons Thus farr St. Cyprian Wherein it may be peradventure demanded Whether he and other Bishops did thus proceed with advice of their Presbyters in all such Publick affairs or the Church as being thereunto bound by Ecclesiastical Canons or else that they voluntarily so did becuase they judged it in discretion as then most convenient Surely the words of Cyprian are plain that of his own accord he chose this way of proceeding Unto that saith he which Donatus and Fortunatus and Novatus and Gordius our Compresbyters have written I could by my self alone make no answer forasmuch as at the very first entrance into my Bishoprick I resolutely determined not to do any thing of mine own private judgment without your counsel and the peoples consent The reason whereof he rendreth in the same Epistle saying When by the grace of God my self shall come unto you for St. Cyprian was now in exile of things which either have been or must to done we will consider sicut honor mutous poseit as the Law of courtesie which one doth owe to another of us requireth And at this very mark doth St. Ierom evermore aim in telling Bishops that Presbyters were at the first their Equals that in some Churches for a long time no Bishop was made but only such as the Presbyters did chuse out amongst themselves and therefore no cause why the Bishop should disdain to consult with them and in weighty affairs of the Church to use their advice sometime to countenance their own Actions or to repress the boldness of proud and insolent Spirits that which Bishops had in themselves sufficient authority and power to have done notwithstanding they would not do alone but craved therein the aid and assistance of other Bishops as in the case of those Novatian Hereticks before alledged Cyprian himself did And in Cyprian we finde of others the like practise Ragatian a Bishop having been used contumelously by a Deacon of his own Church wrote thereof his complaint unto Cyprian and other Bishops In which case their answer was That although in his own cause he did of humility rather shew his grievance than himself take revenge which by the rigor of his Apostolical Office and the authority of his Chair he might have presently done without any further delay Yet if the Party should do again as before their Judgements were Fungaris circa â—um potestate honoris tui cum vel deponas vel abstineas Use on him that power which the honour of thy Place giveth thee either to depose him or exclude him from access unto holy things The Bishop for his assistance and ease had under him to guide and direct Deacons in their charge his Archdeacon so termed in respect of care over Deacons albeit himself were not Deacon but Presbyter For the guidance of Presbyters in their Function the Bishop had likewise under him one of the self-same Order with them but above them an authority one whom
the Antients termed usually an Arch-Presbyter weat this day name him Dean For most certain truth it is that Churches-Cathedral and the Bishops of them are as glasses wherein the face and very countenance of Apostolical antiquity remaineth even as yet to be seen notwithstanding the alterations which tract of time and the course of the world hath brought For defence and maintenance of them we are most earnestly bound to strive even as the Jews were for their Temple and the High-Priest of God therein The overthrow and ruine of the one if ever the sacrilegious avarice of Atheists should prevail so farr which God of his infinite mercy forbid ought no otherwise to move us than the people of God were moved when having beheld the sack and combustion of his Sanctuary in most lamentable manner flaming before their eyes they uttered from the bottom of their grieved Spirits those voyces of doleful supplication Exsurge Domine miserearis Sion serve tui diligunt lapides ejus pulver is ejus miseret cos VIII How farr the power which Bishops had did reach what number of Persons was subject unto them at the first and how large their Territories were it is not for the question we have in hand a thing very greatly material to know For if we prove that Bishops have lawfully of old ruled over other Ministers it is enough how few soever those Ministers have been how small soever the circuit of Place which hath contained them Yet hereof somewhat to the end we may so farr forth illustrate Church-Antiquities A Law Imperial there is which sheweth that there was great care had to provide for every Christian City Biâ—hop as near as might be and that each City had some Territory belonging unto it which Territory was also under the Bishop of the same City that because it was not universally thus but in some Countrys one Bishop had subject unto him many Cities and their Territories the Law which provided for establishment of the other Orders should not prejudice those Churches wherein this contrary Custom had before prevailed Unto the Bishop of every such City not only the Presbyters of the same City but also of the Territory thereunto belonging were from the first beginning subject For we must note that when as yet there were in Cities no Parish Churches but only Colledges of Presbyters under their Bisâ—ops Regiment yet smaller Congregations and Churches there were even then abroad in which Churches there was but some one only Presbyter to perform amongst them Divine duties Towns and Villages abroad receiving the Faith of Christ from Cities whereunto they were adjacent did as Spiritual and Heavenly Colonies by their subjection honour those antient Mother Churches out of which they grew And in the Christian Cities themselves when the mighty increase of Believers made it necessary to have them divided into certain several companies and over every of those companies one only Pastor to be appointed for the Ministry of holy things between the first and the rest after it there could not be but a natural inequality even as between the Temple and Synagogues in Ierusalem The Clergy of Cities were termed Urbici to shew a difference between them and the Clergies of Townes of Villages of Castles abroad And how many soever these Parishes or Congregations were in number which did depend on any one principal City-Church unto the Bishop of that one Church they and their several sole Presbyters were all subject For if so be as some imagine every petty Congregation or Hamlet had had his own particular Bishop what sense could there be in those words of Ierom concerning Castles Villages and other places abroad which having onely Presbyters to teach them and to minister unto them the Sacraments were resorted unto by Bishops for the Administration of that wherewith their Presbyters were not licensed to meddle To note a difference of that one Church where the Bishop hath his seat and the rest which depend upon it that one hath usually been termed Cathedral according to the same sense wherein Ignatius speaking of the Church of Antioch termeth it his Throne and Cyprian making mention of Euaristâ—s who had been Bishop and was now depoâ—ed termeth him Cathedrae extâ—rrem one that was thrust besides his Chair The Church where the Bishop is set with his Colledge of Presbyters about him we call a See the Local compass of his Authority we term a Diocess Unto a Bishop within the compass of his own both See and Diocess it hath by right of his place evermore appertained to ordain Presbyters to make Deacons and with judgement to dispose of all things of weight The Apostle St. Paul had Episcopal Authority but so at large that we cannot assign unto him any one certain Diocess His positive Orders and Constitutions Churches every where did obey Yea a charge and care saith he I have even of all the Churches The walks of Titus and Timothy was limited within the bounds of a narrow Precinct As for other Bishops that which Chrysostom hath concerning them If they be evil could not poâ—â—ibly agreâ— unto them unless their Authority had reached farther than to some one only Congregation The danger being so great at it is to him that scandalizeth one Soul What shall he saith Chrisostom speaking of a Bishop what shall he deserve by whom so many Souls yea even whole Cities and Peoples Men Women and Children Citizens Peasants Inhabitants both of his own City and of other Towns subject unto it are offended A thing so unusual it was for a Bishop not to have ample Jurisdiction that Theophilus Patriark of Alexandria for making one a Bishop of a small Town is noted a proud Despiser of the commendable Orders of the Church with this censure Such Novelties Theophilus presumed every where to begin taking upon him as it had been another Moses Whereby is discovered also their Errour who think that such as in Ecclesiâ—stical Writings they finde termed Chorepiscopos were the same in the Country which the Bishop was in the City Whereas the old Chorepiscopi are they that were appointed of the Bishops to have as his Vicegerents some over-sight of those Churches abroad which were subject unto his See in which Churches they had also power to make Sub-deacons Readers and such like petty Church-Officers With which power so stâ—nted they not contenting themselves but adventuring at the length to Orâ—â—in even Deacons and Presbyters also as the Bishop himself did their presumption herein was controlled and stayed by the antient Edict of Councils For example that of Antioch It hath seemed good to the holy Synod that such in Towns and Countrys as are called Chorepiscopi do know their limits and govern the Churches under them contenting themselves with the charge thereof and with Authority to make Readers Sub-Deacons Exorcists and to be Leaders or Guiders of them but not to meddle with the Ordination either of
a Presbyter or of a Deacon without the Bishop of that City whereunto the Chorepiscopus and his Territory also is subject The same Synod appointeth likewise that those Chorepiscopi shall be made by none but the Bishop of that City under which they are Much might hereunto be added if it were further needful to prove that the local compass of a Bishop's authority and power was never so straightly lifted as some men would have the World to imagine But to go forward degrees of these are and have been of old even amongst Bishops also themselves One sort of Bishops being Superiours unto Presbyters only another sort having preheminence also above Bishops It cometh here to be considered in what respect inequality of Bishops was thought at the first a thing expedient for the Church and what odds there hath been between them by how much the power of one hath been larger higher and greater then of another Touching the causes for which it hath been esteâ—med meet that Bishops themselves should not every way be Equals they are the same for which the wisdom both of God and Man hath evermore approved it as most requisite that where many Governours must of necessity concurr for the ordering of the same affairs of what nature soever they be one should have some kinde of sway or stroke more than all the residue For where number is there must be order or else of force there will be confusion Let there be divers Agents of whom each hath his private inducements with resolute puâ—pose to follow them as each may have unless in this case some had preheminence above the rest a Chance it were if ever any thing should be either began proceeded in or brought unto any Conclusion by them Deliberations and Counsels would seldom go forward their Meetings would alwayes be in danger to break up with jarrs and contradictions In an Army a number of Captains all of equal power without some higher to over-sway them what good would they do In all Nations where a number are to draw any one way there must be some one principal Mover Let the practise of our very Adversaries themselves herein be considereâ— Are the Presbyters able to determine of Church-affairs unless their Pastors do strike the chiefest stroke and have power above the rest Can their Pastoral Synod do any thing unless they have some President amongst them In Synods they are forced to give one Pastor preheminence and superiority above the rest But they answer That he who being a Pastor according to the Order of their Discipline is for the time some little deal mightier than his Brethren doth not continue so longer than only during the Synod Which Answer serveth not to help them out of the bryars for by their practise they confirm our Principle touching the necessity of one man's preheminence wheresoever a concurrency of many is required unto any one solemn action this Nature teacheth and this they cannot chuse but acknowledge As for the change of his Person to whom they give this preheminence if they think it expedient to make for every Synod a new Superiour there is no Law of God which bindeth them so to do neither any that telleth them that they might suffer one and the same man being made President even to continue so during life and to leave his preheminence unto his Successours after him as by the antient Order of the Church Archbishops Presidents amongst Bishops have used to do The ground therefore of their preheminence above Bishops is the necessity of often concurrency of many Bishops about the Publick affairs of the Church as consecrations of Bishops consultations of remedy of general disorders audience judicial when the actions of any Bishop should be called in question or Appeals are made from his Sentence by such as think themselves wronged These and the like affairs usually requiring that many Bishops should orderly assemble begin and conclude somewhat it hath seemed in the eyes of Reverend Antiquity a thing most requisite that the Church should not only have Bishops but even amongst Bishops some to be in Authority chiefest Unto which purpose the very state of the whole World immediately before Christianity took place doth seem by the special providence of God to have been prepared For we must know that the Countrys where the Gospel was first planted were for the most part subject to the Roman Empire The Romans use was commonly when by warr they had subdued Foreign Nations to make them Provinces that is to place over them Roman Governors such as might order them according to the Laws and Customs of Rome And to the end that all things might be the more easily and orderly done a whole Country being divided into sundry parts there was in each part some one City whereinto they about did resort for Justice Every such part was termed a Diocess Howbeit the name Diocess is sometime so generally taken that it containeth not only mo such parts of a Province but even moe Provinces also than one as the Diocess of Asia contained eight the Diocess of Africa seven Touching Diocesses according unto a stricter sense whereby they are taken for a part of a Province the words of Livy do plainly shew what Orders the Romans did observe in them For at what time they had brought the Macedonians into subjection the Roman Governor by order from the Senat of Rome gave charge that Macedonia should be divided into four Regions or Diocesses Capita Regionum ubi concilia fierent primae Sedis Amphipolim secundae Thessalonicen tertiae Pellam quartae Pelagoniam fecit Eo Concilia sua cujusque Regionis indici pecuniam conferri ibi Magistratus creari jussit This being before the dayes of the Emperors by their appointment Thessalonica was afterwards the chiefest and in it the highest Governor of Macedonia had his Seat Whereupon the other three Dioceses were in that respect inferiour unto it as Daughters unto a Mother City for not unto every Town of Justice was that Title given but was peculiar unto those Cities wherein principal Courts were kept Thus in Macedonia the Mother City was Thessalonica In Asia Ephesus in Africa Carthage For so Iustinian in his time made it The Governors Officers and Inhabitants of those Mother-Cities were termed for difference-sake Metropolites that is to say Mother-city-men than which nothing could possibly have been devised more fit to suit with the nature of that form of Spiritual Regiment under which afterwards the Church should live Wherefore if the Prophet saw cause to acknowledge unto the Lord that the light of his gracious providence did shine no where more apparently to the eye than in preparing the Land of Canaan to be a Receptacle for that Church which was of old Thou hast brought a Vine out of Egypt thou hast cast out the Heathen and planted it thou madest room for it and when it had taken root it filled the Land How much more ought we to
of that Church is in the Nicene Canons concerning this matter mentioned before the rest The words of their sacred Edict are these Let those customs remain in force which have been of old the customs of Egypt and Libya and Pentapolis by which customs the Bishop of Alexandria hath authority over all these the rather for that this hath also been the use of the Bishop of Rome yea the same hath been kept in Antioch and in other Provinces Now because the custom likewise had been that great honour should be done to the Bishop of Alia or Ierusalem therefore lest their Decree concerning the Primate of Antioch should any whit prejudice the dignity and honour of that See special provision is made that although it were inferior in degree not only unto Antioch the chief of the East but even unto Cesaria too yet such preheminence it should retain as belonged to a Mother-City and enjoy whatsoever special Prerogative or Priviledge it had besides Let men therefore hereby judge of what continuance this Order which upholdeth degrees of Bishops must needs have been when a General Council of three hundred and eighteen Bishops living themselves within three hundred years after Christ doth reverence the same for Antiquity's sake as a thing which had been even then of old observed in the most renowned parts of the Christian World Wherefore needless altogether are those vain and wanton demands No mention of an Archbishop in Theophilus Bishop of Antioch none in Ignatius none in Clemens of Alexandria none in Iustin Martyr Ireneus Tertullian Cyprian none in all those old Historiographers out of which Eusebius gathereth his Story none till the time of the Council of Nice three hundred and twenty years after Christ As if the mention which is thereof made in that very Council where so many Bishops acknowledge Archiepiscopal dignity even then antient were not of farr more weight and value than if every of those Fathers had written large Discourses thereof But what is it which they will blush at who dare so confidently set it down that in the Councel of Nice some Bishops being termed Metropolitans no more difference is thereby meant to have been between one Bishop and another than is shewed between one Minister and another when we say such a one is a Minister in the City of London and such a one a Minister in the Town of Newington So that to be termed a Metropolitan Bishop did in their conceit import no more preheminence above other Bishops than we mean that a Girdler hath over others of the same trade if we term him which doth inhabit some Mother-City for difference-sake a Metropolitan Girdler But the Truth is too manifest to be eluded a Bishop at that time had power in his own Diocess over all other Ministers there and a Metropolitan Bishop sundry preheminences above other Bishops one of which preheminences was in the ordination of Bishops to have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the chief power of ordering all things done Which preheminence that Council it self doth mention as also a greater belonging unto the Patriark or Primate of Alexandria concerning whom it is there likewise said that to him did belong 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 authority and power over all Egypt Pentapolis and Libya within which compass sundry Metropolitan Sees to have been there is no man ignorant which in those Antiquities have any knowledge Certain Prerogatives there are wherein Metropolitans excelled other Bishops certain also wherein Primates excelled other Metropolitans Archiepiscopal or Metropolitan Prerogatives are those mentioned in the old Imperial constitutions to convocate the holy Bishops under them within the compass of their own Provinces when need required their meeting together for inquisition and redress of publick disorders to grant unto Bishops under them leave and faculty of absence from their own Dioceses when it seemed necessary that they should otherwhere converse for some reasonable while to give notice unto Bishops under them of things commanded by Supream Authority to have the hearing and first determining of such Causes as any man had against a Bishop to receive the appeals of the inferiour Clergy in case they found themselves over-born by the Bishop their immediate Judge And lest haply it should be imagined that Canons Ecclesiastical we want to make the self-same thing manifest In the Council of Antioch it was thus decreed The Bishop in every Province must know that he which is Bishop in the Mother-City hath not only charge of his own Parish or Diocess but even of the whole Province also Again it hath seemed good that other Bishops without him should do nothing more than only that which concerneth each one's Parish and the places underneath it Further by the self-same Council all Councils provincial are reckoned void and frustrate unless the Bishop of the Mother-City within that Province where such Councils should be were present at them So that the want of his presence and in Canons for Church-Government want of his approbation also did disannul them Not so the want of any others Finally concerning election of Bishops the Council of Nice hath this general rule that the chief ordering of all things here is in every Province committed to the Metropolitan Touching them who amongst Metropolitan were also Primates and had of sundry united Provinces the chiefest Metropolitan See of such that Canon in the Council of Carthage was eminent whereby a Bishop is forbidden to go beyond Seas without the license of the highest Chair within the same Bishop's own Country and of such which beareth the name of Apostolical is that antient Canon likewise which chargeth the Bishops of each NATION to know him which is FIRST amongst them and to esteem of him as an HEAD and to do no extraordinary thing but with his leave The chief Primates of the Christian World were the Bishop of Rome Alexandria and Antioch To whom the Bishop of Constantinople being afterwards added Saint Chrysostom the Bishop of that See is in that respect said to have had the care and charge◠not only of the City of Constantinople sed etiam totius Thracia que sex praefecturis est divisa Asiaetolius quae ab undecim praesidebus regitur The rest of the East was under Antioch the South under Alexandria and the West under Rome Whereas therefore Iohn the Bishop of Ierusalem being noted of Heresie had written an Apology for himself unto the Bishop of Alexandria named Theophilus Saint Ierom reproveth his breach of the Order of the Church herein saying Tu qui regular quaris Ecclesiasticas Nicend Concilii canonibus uteris responde mihi Ad Alexandrinum Episcopum Palastina quid pertinet Nifallor hoc ibi deçernitur at Palaeslinae Metropolie Casarea sit totius Orientis Antiochia Aut igitur ad Caesariensem Episcopuna referre debueras aut siprocul expetendum judiciam erat Antiochiam potius litera dirigenda Thus
and meer Human invention a thing which was never drawn our of Scripture where all Pastors are found they say to have one and the same power both of Order and Jurisdiction Secondly by gathering together the differences between that power which we give to Bishops and that which was given them of old in the Church So that albeit even the antient took more than was warrantable yet so farr they swerved not as ours have done Thirdly by endeavouring to prove that the Scripture directly forbiddeth and that the judgement of the wisest the holyest the best in all Ages condemneth utterly the inequality which we allow XI That inequality of Pastors is a meer Humane invention a thing not found in the Word of God they prove thus 1. All the places of Scripture where the word Bishop is used or any other derived of that name signifie an Oversight in respect of some particular Congregation only and never in regard of Pastors committed unto his Oversight For which cause the names of Bishops and Presbyters or Pastoral Elders are used indifferently to signifie one and the self-same thing Which so indifferent and common use of these words for one and the self-same office so constantly and perpetually in all places declareth that the word Bishop in the Apostles Writing importeth not a Pastor of higher Power and Authoritie over other Pastors 2. All Pastors are called to their Office by the same means of proceeding the Scripture maketh no difference in the manner of their Tryal Election Ordination which proveth their Office and Power to be by Scripture all one 3. The Apostles were all of equal power and all Pastors do alike succeed the Apostles in their Ministery and Power the Commission and Authority whereby they succeed bring in Scripture but one and the same that was committed to the Apostles without any difference of committing to one Pastor more or to another less 4. The power of the Censures and Keyes of the Church and of Ordaining and ordering Ministers in which two points especially this Superiority is challenged is not committed to any one Pastor of the Church more than to another but the same is committed as a thing to be carried equally in the guidance of the Church Whereby it appeareth that Scripture maketh all Pastors not only in the Ministery of the Word and Sacraments but also in all Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction and Authority equal 5. The Council of Nice doth attribute this difference not unto any Ordination of God but to an antient Custom used in former times which judgement is also followed afterward by other Councils Concil Antioch cap. 9. 6. Upon these Premises their summary collection and conclusion is That the Ministery of the Gospel and the Functions thereof ought to be from Heaven and of God Joh. I. 23. that if they be of God and from Heaven then are they set down in the Word of God that if they be not in the Word of God as by the premises it doth appear they say that our kinds of Bishops are not it followeth they are invented by the brain of men and are of the Earth and that consequently they can do no good in the Church of Christ but harm Our Answer hereunto is first that their proofs are unavailable to shew that Scripture affordeth no evidence for the inequality of Pastors Secondly That albeit the Scripture did no way insinuate the same to be God's Ordinance and the Apostles to have brought it in albeit the Church were acknowledged by all men to have been the first beginner thereof a long time after the Apostles were gone yet is not the Authority of Bishops hereby disannulled it is not hereby proved unfit or unprofitable for the Church 1. That the Word of God doth acknowledge no inequality of power amongst Pastors of the Church neither doth it appear by the signification of this word Bishop nor by the indifferent use thereof For concerning signification first it is clearly untrue that no other thing is thereby signified but only an oversight in respect of a particular Church and Congregation For I beseech you of what Parish or particular Congregation was Matthias Bishop His Office Scripture doth term Episcopal which being no other than was common unto all the Apostles of Christ forasmuch as in that number there is not any to whom the oversight of many Pastors did not belong by force and vertue of that Office it followeth that the very Word doth sometimes even in Scripture signifie oversight such as includeth charge over Pastors themselves And if we look to the use of the Word being applyed with reference unto some one Church as Ephesus Philippi and such like albeit the Guides of those Churches be interchangeably in Scripture termed sometime Bishops sometime Presbyters to signifie men having oversight and charge without relation at all unto other than the Christian Laity alone yet this doth not hinder but that Scripture may in some place have other names whereby certain of those Presbyters or Bishops are noted to have the oversight and charge of Pastors as out of all peradventure they had whom St. Iohn doth intitle Angels 2. As for those things which the Apostle hath set down concerning Tryal Election and Ordination of Pastors that he maketh no difference in the manner of their Calling this also is but a silly Argument to prove their Office and their Power equal by the Scripture The form of admitting each sort unto their Offices needed no particular Instruction There was no fear but that such matters of course would easily enough be observed The Apostle therefore toucheth those things wherein Judgement Wisdom and Conscience is required he carefully admonisheth of what quality Ecclesiastical Persons should be that their dealing might not be scandalous in the Church And forasmuch as those things are general we see that of Deacons there are delivered in a manner the self-same Precepts which are given concerning Pastors so farr as concerneth their Tryal Election and Ordination Yet who doth hereby collect that Scripture maketh Deacons and Pastors equal If notwithstanding it be yet demanded Wherefore he which teatcheth what kinde of Persons Deacons and Presbyters should be hath nothing in particular about the quality of chief Presbyters whom we call Bishops I answer briefly that there it was no fit place for any such discourse to be made inasmuch as the Apostle wrote unto Timothy and Titus who having by Commission Episcopal Authority were to exercise the same in ordaining not Bishops the Apostles themselves yet living and retaining that power in their own hands but Presbyters such as the Apostles at the first did create throughout all Churches Bishops by restraint only Iames at Ierusalem excepted were not yet in being 3. About equality amongst the Apostles there is by us no Controversie moved If in the rooms of the Apostles which were of equal Authority all Pastors do by Scripture succeed alike where shall we finde a Commission in Scripture which they speak
of which appointed all to succeed in the self-same equality of power except that Commission which doth authorize to Preach and Baptise should be alledged which maketh nothing to the purpose for in such things all Pastors are still equal We must I fear me wait very long before any other will be shewed For howsoever the Apostles were Equals amongst themselves all other Pastors were not Equals with the Apostles while they lived neither are they any where appointed to be afterward each others Equals Apostles had as we know authority over all such as were no Apostles by force of which their Authority they might both command and judge It was for the singular good and benefit of those Disciples whom Christ left behinde him and of the Pastors which were afterwards chosen for the great good I say of all sorts that the Apostles were in power above them Every day brought forth somewhat wherein they saw by experience how much it stood them in stead to be under controulment of those Superiours and Higher Governours of Gods House Was it a thing so behoveful that Pastors should be subject unto Pastors in the Apostles own times and is there any commandment that this Subjection should cease with them and that the Pastors of the succeeding Ages should be all Equals No no this strange and absurd conceit of Equality amongst Pastors the Mother of Schism and of Confusion is but a dream newly brought forth and seen never in the Church before 4. Power of Censure and Ordination appeareth even by Scripture marvellous probable to have been derived from Christ to his Church without this surmised Equality in them to whom he hath committed the same For I would know Whether Timothy and Titus were commanded by Saint Paul to do any thing more than Christ hath authorized Pastors to do And to the one it is Scripture which saith Against a Presbyter receive THOU no accusation saving under two or three Witnesses Scripture which likewise hath said to the other For this very cause left I THEE in Crete that THOU shouldst redress the things that remain and shouldst ORDAIN Presbyters in every City as I appointed THEE In the former place the power of Censure is spoken of and the power of Ordination in the latter Will they say that every Pastor there was equal to Timothy and Titus in these things If they do the Apostle himself is against it who saith that of their two very Persons he had made choyse and appointed in those places them for performances of those Duties whereas if the same had belonged unto others no less than to them and not principally unto them above others it had been fit for the Apostle accordingly to have directed his Letters concerning these things in general unto them all which had equal interest in them even as it had been likewise fit to have written those Epistles in Saint Iohn's Revelation unto whole Ecclesiastical Senates rather than only unto the Angels of each Church had not some one been above the rest in Authority to order the affairs of the Church Scripture therefore doth most probably make for the inequality of Pastors even in all Ecclesiastical affairs and by very express mention as well in Censures as Ordinations 5. In the Nicene Council there are consumed certain Prerogatives and Dignities belonging unto Primates or Archbishops and of them it is said that the antient custom of the Church had been to give them such preheminence but no syllable whereby any man should conjecture that those Fathers did not honor the Superiority which Bishops had over other Pastors only upon antient custom and not as a true Apostolical heavenly and divine Ordinance 6. Now although we should leave the general received perswasion held from the first beginning that the Apostles themselves left Bishops invested with power above other Pastors although I say we should give over this opinion and imbrace that other conjecture which so many have thought good to follow and which my self did sometimes judge a great deal more probable than now I do meerly that after the Apostles were deceased Churches did agree amongst themselves for preservation of Peace and Order to make one Presbyter in each City Chief over the rest and to translate into him that power by force and vertue whereof the Apostles while they were alive did preserve and uphold order in the Church exercising Spiritual Jurisdiction partly by themselves and partly by Evangelists because they could not always every where themselves be present This order taken by the Church it self for so let us suppose that the Apostles did neither by word nor deed appoint it were notwithstanding more warrantable than that it should give place and be abrogated because the Ministry of the Gospel and the Functions thereof ought to be from Heaven There came Chief Priests and Elders unto our Saviour Christ as he was teaching in the Temple and the Question which they moved unto him was this By what Authority dost thou these things and who gave thee this Authority their Question he repelled with a Counter-demand The Baptism of John whence was it from Heaven or of Men Hereat they paused secretly disputing within themselves If we shall say from Heaven he will ask Wherefore did ye not then believe him And if we say of men We fear the People for all hold Iohn a Prophet What is it now which hereupon these men would infer That all-Functions Ecclesiastical ought in such sort to be from Heaven as the Function of Iohn was I No such matter here contained Nay doth not the contrary rather appear most plainly by that which is here set down For when our Saviour doth ask concerning the Baptism that is to say the whole Spiritual Function of Iohn whether it were from Heaven or of men he giveth clearly to understand that men give Authority unto some and some God himself from Heaven doth Authorize Nor is it said or in any sort signified that none have lawful Authority which have it not in such manner as Iohn from Heaven Again when the Priests and Elders were loth to say that Iohn had his calling from men the reason was not because they thought that so Iohn should not have had any good or lawful Calling but because they saw that by this means they should somewhat embase the Calling of Iohn whom all men knew to have been sent from God according to the manner of Prophets by a meer Celestial vocation So that out of the evidence here alledged these things we may directly conclude first that who so doth exercise any kinde of Function in the Church he cannot lawfully so do except Authority be given him Secondly that if Authority be not given him from men as the Authority of Teaching was given unto Scribes and Pharisees it must be given him from Heaven as Authority was given unto Christ Elias Iohn Baptist and the Prophets For these two only wayes there are to have Authority But a strange Conclusion
it is God himself did from Heaven authorize Iohn to bear Witness of the light to prepare a way for the promised Messiah to publish the nearness of the Kingdom of God to Preach Repentance and to Baptise for by this part which was in the Function of Iohn most noted all the rest are together signified Therefore the Church of God hath no power upon new occurences to appoint to ordain an Ecclesiastical Function as Moses did upon Iethroe's advice devise a civil All things we grant which are in the Church ought to be of God But for as much as they may be two wayes accounted such one if they be of his own institution and not of ours another if they be of ours and yet with his approbation this latter way there is no impediment but that the same thing which is of men may be also justly and truly said to be of God the same thing from Heaven which is from Earth Of all good things God himself is Author and consequently an Approver of them The rule to discern when the actions of men are good when they are such as they ought to be is more ample and large than the Law which God hath set particular down in his holy Word the Scripture is but a part of that rule as hath been heretofore at large declared If therefore all things be of God which are well done and if all things be well done which are according unto the rule of well doing and if the rule of well-doing be more ample than the Scripture what necessity is there that every thing which is of God should be set down in holy Scripture true it is in things of some one kinde true it is that what we are now of necessity for ever bound to believe or observe in the special mysteries of Salvation Scripture must needs give notice of it unto the World yet true it cannot be touching all things that are of God Sufficient it is for the proof of lawfulness in any thing done if we canshew that God approved it And of his approbation the evidence is sufficient if either himself have by revelation in his word warranted it or we by some discourse of reason finde it good of it self and unrepugnant unto any of his revealed Laws and Ordinances Wherefore injurious we are unto God the Author and Giver of Human capacity Judgement and Wit when because of some things wherein he precisely forbiddeth men to use their own inventions we take occasion to dis-authorize and disgrace the works which he doth produce by the hand either of nature or of grace in them We offer contumely even unto him when we scornfully reject what we lift without any other exception than this The brain of man hath devised it Whether we look into the Church or Common-weal as well in the one as in the other both the Ordination of Officers and the very institution of their Offices may be truly derived from God and approved of him although they be not always of him in such sort as those things are which are in Scripture Doth not the Apostle term the Law of Nature even as the Evangelist doth the Law of Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God's own righteous Ordinance the Law of Nature then being his Law that must needs be of him which it hath directed men unto Great odds I grant there is between things devised by men although agreeable with the Law of Nature and things is Scripture set down by the finger of the Holy Ghost Howbeit the dignity of these is no hinderance but that those be also reverently accounted of in their Place Thus much they very well saw who although not living themselves under this kinde of Church Polity yet being through some experience more moderate grave and circumspect in their Judgment have given hereof their sounder and better advised Sentence That which the holy Fathers saith Zanchius have by common consent without contradiction of Scripture received for my part I neither will nor dare with good Conscience disallow And what more certain than that the ordering of Ecclesiastical Persons one in authority above another was received into the Church by the common consent of the Christian World What am I that I should take upon me to control the whole Church of Christ in that which is so well known to have been lawfully religiously and to notable purpose instituted Calvin maketh mention even of Primates that have authority above Bishops It was saith he the institution of the antient Church to the end that the Bishops might by this bond of Concord continue the faster linked amongst themselves And lest any man should think that as well he might allow the Papacy it self to prevent this he addeth Aliud est moderatum gerere honorem quà mtotum terraram orbem immenso imperio complecti These things standing as they do we may conclude that albeit the Offices which Bishops execute had been committed unto them only by the Church and that the superiority which they have over other Pastors were not first by Christ himself given to the Apostles and from them descended to others but afterwards in such consideration brought in and agreed upon as is pretended yet could not this be a just or lawful exception against it XII But they will say There was no necessity of instituting Bishops the Church might have stood well enough without them they are as those supersluous things which neither while they continue do good nor do harm when they are removed because there is not any profitable use whereunto they should serve For first in the Primitive Church their Pastors were all equal the Bishops of those dayes were the very same which Pastors of Parish Churches at this day are with us no one at commandment or controulment by any others Authority amongst them The Church therefore may stand and flourish without Bishops If they be necessary wherefore were they not sooner instituted 2. Again if any such thing were needful for the Church Christ would have set it down in Scripture as he did all kinde of Officers needful for Iewish Regiment He which prescribed unto the Iews so particularly the least thing pertinent unto their Temple would not have left so weighty Offices undetermined of in Scripture but that he knew the Church could never have any profitable use of them 3. Furthermore it is the judgement of Cyprian that equity requireth every man's cause to be heard where the fault he is charged with was committed And the reason he alledgeth is for asmuch as there they may have both Accusers and Witnesses in their cause Sith therefore every man's cause is neceiest to be handled at home by the Iudges of his own Parish to what purpose serveth their device which have appointed Bishops unto whom such causes may be brought and Archbishops to whom they may be also from thence removed XIII What things have necessary use in the Church they of all others are
the most unfit to judge who bend themselves purposely against whatsoever the Church useth except it pleasie themselves to give it the grace and countenance of their favourable approbation which they willingly do not yield unto any part of Church-Policy in the forehead whereof there is not the mark of that new devised stamp But howsoever men like or dislike whether they judge things necessary or needless in the House of God a Conscience they should have touching that which they boldly affirm or deny 1. In the Primitive Church no Bishops no Pastor having power over other Pastors but all Equals every man Supreme Commander and Ruler within the Kingdom of his own Congregation or Parish The Bishops that are spoken of in the time of the Primitive Church all such as Persons or Rectors of Parishes are with in It thus it have been in the prime of the Church the question is how farr they will have that prime to extend and where the latter spring of that neâ—-supposed disorder to begin That Primitive Church wherein they hold that amongst the Fathers all which had Pastoral charge were Equal they must of necessity so farr enlarge as to contain some hundred of years because for proof hereof they alledge boldly and confidently Saint Cyprian who suffered Martyrdom about two hundred and threescore years after our blessed Lord's Incarnation A Bishop they say such as Cyprian doth speak of had only a Church or Congregation such as they Ministers and Pastors with us which are appointed unto several Towns Every Bishop in Cyprian's time was Pastor of one only Congregation assembled in one place to be taught of one man A thing impertiment although it were true For the Question is about Personal inequality amongst Governors of the Church Now to shew there was no such thing in the Church at such time as Cyprian lived what bring they forth Forsooth that Bishops had then but a small circuit of place for the exercise of their Authority Be it supposed that no one Bishop had more than one only Town to govern one only Congregation to rule Doth it by Cyprian appear that in any such Town of Congregation being under the cure and charge of someone Bishops there were not besides that one Bishop others also Ministers of the Word and Sacraments yet subject to the power of the same Bishop If this appear not how can Cyprian be alledged for a Witness that in those times there were no Bishops which did differ from other Ministers as being above them in degree of Ecclesiastical power But a gross and a palpable untruth it is That Bishops with Cyprian were as Ministers are with us in Parish-Churches and that each of them did guide some Parish without any other Pastors under him St. Cyprian's own Person may serve for a manifest disproof hereof Pomius being Deacon under Cyprian noteth that his admirable vertues caused him to be Bishop with the soonest which advancement therefore himself endeavoured for a while to avoid It seemed in his own eyes too soon for him to take the title of so great Honor in regard whereof a Bishop is tenned Pourisex Sacerdos Antistes Dei Yet such was his quality that whereas others did hardly perform that duty whereunto the Discipline of their Order togetherwith the Religion of the Oath they took at their entrance into the Office even constrained them him the Chair did not make but receive such a one as behoved that a Bishop should be But soon after followed that Prescription whereby being driven into exile and continuing in that estate for the space of some two years he ceased not by Letters to deal with his Clergy and to direct them about the Publick affairs of the Church They unto whom those Epistles were written he commonly entituleth the Presbyters and Deacons of that Church If any man doubt whether those Presbyters of Carthage were Ministers of the Word and Sacraments or no let him consider but that one only place of Cyprian where he giveth them this careful advice how to deal with circumspection in the perilous times of the Church that neither they which were for the truths sake imprisoned might want those Ghostly comforts which they ought to have nor the Church by ministring the same unto them incurr unnecessary danger and peril In which Epistle it doth expresly appear that the Presbyters of whom he speaketh did offer that is to say administer the Eucharist and that many there were of them in the Church of Carthage so as they might have every day change for performance of that duty Nor will any man of sound Judgement I think deny that Cyprian was in Authority and Power above the Clergy of that Church above those Presbyters unto whom he gave direction It is apparently therefore untrue that in Cyprian's time Ministers of the Word and Sacraments were all equal and that no one of them had either Title more excellent than the rest or Authority and Government over the rest Cyprian Bishop of Carthage was clearly Superiour unto all other Ministers there Yea Cyprian was by reason of the Dignity of his See an Archbishop and so consequently Superiour unto Bishops Bishops we say there have been alwayes even as long as the Church of Christ it self hath been The Apostles who planted it did themselves rule as Bishops over it neither could they so well have kept things in order during their own times but that Episcopal Authority was given them from above to exercise far and wice over all other Guides and Pastors of God's Church The Church indeed for a time continued without Bishops by restraint every where established in Christian Cities But shall we thereby conclude that the Church hath no use of them that without them it may stand and flourish No the cause wherefore they were so soon universally appointed was for that it plainly appeared that without them the Church could not have continued long It was by the special Providence of God no doubt so disposed that the evil whereof this did serve for remedy might first be felt and so the reverend Authority of Bishops be made by so much the more effectual when our general experience had taught men what it was for Churches to want them Good Laws are never esteemed so good not acknowledged so necessary as when precedent crimes are as seeds out of which they grow Episcopal Authority was even in a manner sanctified unto the Church of Christ by that little bitter experience which it first had of the pestilent evil of Schismes Again when this very thing was proposed as a remedy yet a more suspicions and fearful acceptance it must needs have found if the self-same provident Wisdom of Almighty God had not also given before-hand sufficient tryal thereof in the Regiment of Ierusalem a Mother-Church which having received the same order even at the first was by it most peaceably governed when other Churches without it had trouble So that by all means the necessary use of Episcopal
Government is confirmed yea strengthened it is and ratified even by the not establishment thereof in all Churches every where at the first 2. When they further dispute That if any such thing were usedful Christ would in Scripture have set down particular Statutes and Laws appointing that Bishops should be made and prescribing in what order even as the Law doth for all kinde of Officers which were needful in the Iewish Regiment might not a man that would bend his wit to maintain the fury of the Petrobrusian Hereticks in pulling down Oratories use the self-same argument with as much countenance of reason If it were needful that we should assemble our selves in Churches would that God which taught the Iews so exactly the frame of their sumptuous Temple leave us no particular instructions in writing no not so much at which way to lay any one stone Surely such kinde of Argumentation doth not so strengthen the sinews of their cause as weaken the credit of their Judgement which are led therewith 3. And whereas Thirdly in disproof of that use which Episcopal Authority hath in Judgement of Spiritual Causes they bring forth the verdict of Cyprian who saith That equity requireth every man's Cause to be heard where the fault he was charged with was committed forasmuch as there they may have both Accusers and Witnesses in the Cause This Argument grounding it self on Principles no lesse true in Civil than in Ecclesiastical Causes unless it be qualified with some exceptions or limitations over-turneth the highest Tribunal Seats both in Church and Common-wealth it taketh utterly away all appeals it secretly condemneth even the blessed Apostle himself as having transgressed the law of Equity by his appeal from the Court of Iudea unto those higher which were in Rome The generality of such kinde of axioms deceiveth unless it be construed with such cautions as the matter whereunto they are applyable doth require An usual and ordinary transportation of causes out of Africa into Italy out of one Kingdom into another as discontented Persons list which was the thing which Cyprian disalloweth may be unequal and unmeet and yet not therefore a thing unnecessary to have the Courts erectted in higher places and judgement committed unto greater Persons to whom the meaner may bring their causes either by way of appeal ot otherwise to be determined according to the order of Justice which hath been always observed every where in Civil States and is no less requisite also for the State of the Church of God The Reasons which teach it to be expedient for the one will shew it to be for the other at leastwise not unnecessary Inequality of Pastors is an Ordinance both Divine and profitable Their exceptions against it in these two respects we have shewed to be altogether causless unreasonable and unjust XIV The next thing which they upbraid us with is the difference between that inequality of Pastors which hath been of old and which now is For at length they grant That the superiority of Bishops and of Arch-bishops is somewhat antient but no such kinde of Superiority as ours have By the Laws of our Discipline a Bishop may ordain without asking the Peoples consent a Bishop may excommunicate and release alone a Bishop may imprison a Bishop may bear Civil Office in the Realm a Bishop may be a Counsellor of State these thing antient Bishops neither did nor might do Be it granted that ordinarily neither in elections nor deprivations neither in excommunicating nor in releasing the excommunicate in none of the weighty affairs of Government Bishops of old were wont to do any thing without consultation with their Clergy and consent of the People under them Be it granted that the same Bishops did neither touch any man with corporal punishment nor meddle with secular affairs and Offices the whole Clergy of God being then tyed by the strict and severe Canons of the Church to use no other than ghostly power to attend no other business than heavenly Tarquinius was in the Roman Common-wealth deservedly hated of whose unorderly proceedings the History speaketh thus Hic Regum primus traditum à Prioribus morem de omnibus Senatum consulendi solvit domesticis Consillis Rempub. administravit bellum pacem foedera societates perse ipsum cum quibus voluit injussu Populi ac Senatus fecit diremitque Against Bishops the like is objected That they are Invaders of other mens right and by intolerable usurpation take upon them to do that alone wherein antient Laws have appointed that others not they onely should bear sway Let the Case of Bishops he put not in such sort as it is but even as their very heavyest Adversaries would devise it Suppose that Bishops at the first had encroached upon the Church that by sleights and cunning practises they had appropriated Ecclesiastical as Augustus did Imperial power that they had taken the advantage of mens inclinable affections which did not suffer them for Revenue-sake to be suspected of Ambition that in the mean while their usurpation had gone forward by certain easie and unsensible degrees that being not discerned in the growth when it was thus farr grown as we now see it hath proceeded the world at length perceiving there was just cause of complaint but no place of remedy left had assented unto it by a general secret agreement to bear it now as an helpless evil all this supposed for certain and true yet surely a thing of this nature as for the Superiour to do that alone unto which of right the consent of some other Inferiours should have been required by them though it had an indirect entrance at the first must needs through continuance of so many ages as this hath stood be made now a thing more natural to the Church than that it should be opprest with the mention of contrary Orders worn so many ages since quite and clean out of ure But with Bishops the case is otherwise For in doing that by themselves which others together with them have been accustomed to do they do not any thing but that whereunto they have been upon just occasion authorized by orderly means All things natural have in them naturally more or less the power of providing for their own safety And as each particular man hath this power so every Politick Society of men must needs have the same that thereby the whole may provide for the good of all parts therein For other benefit we have not any by sorting our selves into Politick Societies saving only that by this mean each part hath that relief which the vertue of the whole is able to yield it The Church therefore being a Politick Society or Body cannot possibly want the power of providing for it self And the chiefest part of that power consisteth in the Authority of making Laws Now forasmuch as Corporations are perpetual the Laws of the antienter Church cannot chuse but binde the latter while they are in force But we
must note withal that because the body of the Church continueth the same it hath the same Authority still and may abrogate old Laws or make new as need shall require Wherefore vainly are the antient Canons and Constitutions objected as Laws when once they are either let secretly to dye by dis-usage or are openly abrogated by contrary Laws The Antient had cause to do no otherwise than they did and yet so strictly they judged not themselves in Conscience bound to observe those Orders but that in sundry cases they easily dispensed therewith which I suppose they would never have done had they esteemed them as things whereunto everlasting immutable and undispensible observation did belong The Bishop usually promoted none which were not first allowed as fit by conference had with the rest of his Clergy and with the People Notwithstanding in the case of Aurelius Saint Cyprian did otherwise In matters of Deliberation and Counsel for disposing of that which belongeth generally to the whole body of the Church or which being more particular is nevertheless of so great consequence that it needeth the force of many Judgements conferred in such things the common saying must necessarily take place An Eye cannot see that which Eyes can As for Clerical Ordinations there are no such reasons alledged against the Order which is but that it may be esteemed as good in every respect as that which hath been and in some considerations better at leastwise which is sufficient to our purpose it may be held in the Church of Christ without transgressing any Law either Antient or Late Divine or Human. which we ought to observe and keep The form of making Ecclesiastical Officers hath sundry parts neither are they all of equal moment When Deacons having not been before in the Church of Christ the Apostles saw it needful to have such ordained They first assemble the multitude and shew them how needful it is that Deacons be made Secondly they name unto them what number they judge convenient what quality the men must be of and to the People they commit the care of finding such out Thirdly the People hereunto assenting make their choyce of Stephen and the rest those chosen men they bring and present before the Apostles Howbeit all this doth not endue them with any Ecclesiastical Power But when so much was done the Apostles finding no cause to take exception did with Prayer and imposition of hands make them Deacons This was it which gave them their very being all other things besides were only preparations unto this Touching the form of making Presbyters although it be not wholly of purpose anywhere set down in the Apostles Writings yet sundry speeches there are which insinuate the chiefest things that belong unto that Action As when Paul and Barnabas are said to have fasted prayed and made Presbyters When Timothy is willed to lay hands suddenly on no man for fear of participating with other mens sins For this cause the Order of the Primitive Church was between Choyce and Ordination to have some space for such Probation and Tryal as the Apostle doth mention in Deacons saying Let them first be proved and then minister if so be they be found blameless Alexander Severus beholding in his time how careful the Church of Christ was especially for this point how after the choyce of their Pastors they used to publish the names of the Parties chosen and not to give them the final act of Approbation till they saw whether any lett or impediment would be alledged he gave Commandment That the like should also be done in his own Imperial Elections adding this as a Reason wherefore he so required namely For that both Christians and Iews being so wary about the Ordination of their Priests it seemed very unequal for him not to be in like sort circumspect to whom he committed the Government of Provinces containing power over mens both Estates and Lives This the Canon Law it self doth provide for requiring before Ordination scrutiny Let them diligently be examined three dayes together before the Sabbath and on the Sabbath let them be presented unto the Bishop And even this in effect also is the very use of the Church of England at all Solemne Ordaining of Ministers and if all Ordaining were Solemne I must confesse it were much the better The pretended disorder of the Church of England is that Bishops Ordain them to whose Election the People give no voyces and so the Bishops make them alone that is to say they give Ordination without Popular Election going before which antient Bishops neither did nor might do Now in very truth if the multitude have hereunto a right which right can never be translated from them for any cause then is there no remedy but we must yield that unto the lawful making of Ministers the voyce of the People is required and that according to the Adverse Parties Assertion such as make Ministers without asking the Peoples consent do but exercise a certain Tyranny At the first Erection of the Common-weals of Rome the People for so it was then fittest determined of all affairs Afterwards this growing troublesome their Senators did that for them which themselves before had done In the end all came to one man's hands and the Emperour alone was instead of many Senators In these things the experience of time may breed both Civil and Ecclesiastical change from that which hath been before received neither do latter things always violently exclude former but the one grawing less convenient then it hath been giveth place to that which is now become more That which was fit for the People themselves to do at the first might afterwards be more convenient for them to do by some other Which other is not thereby proved a Tyrant because he alone doth that which a multitude were wont to do unless by violence he take that Authority upon him against the Order of Law and without any publick appointment as with us if any did it should I suppose not long be safe for him so to do This Answer I hope will seem to be so much the more reasonable in that themselves who stand against us have furnish'd us therewith For whereas against the making of Ministers by Bishops alone their use hath been to object What sway the People did bear when Stephen and rest were ordained Deacons They begin to espy how their own Plat-form swerveth not a little from that example wherewith they controul the practices of others For touching the form of the Peoples concurrence in that Action they observe it not no they plainly profess that they are not in this point bound to be followers of the Apostles The Apostles Ordained whom the People had first chosen They hold that their Ecclesiastical Senate ought both to choose and also to Ordain Do not themselves then take away that which the Apostles gave the People namely the priviledge of chusing Ecclesiastical Officers They do But behold in what sort
they answer it By the sixth and the fourteenth of the Acts say they it doth appear that the people had the chiefest power of chusing Howbeit that as unto me it seemeth was dine upon special cause which doth not so much concern us neither ought it to be drawn unto the ordinary and perpetual form of governing the Church For as in establishing Common-weals not only if they be popular but even being such as are ordered by the power of a few the chiefest or as by the sole Authority of one till the same he established the whole sway is in the Peoples hands who voluntarily appoint those Magistrates by whose Authority they may be governed so that afterward not the multitude it self but those Magistrates which were chosen by the multitude have the ordering of Publick Affairs After the self-same manner is fared in establishing also the Church When there was not as yet any placed over the People all Authority was in them all but when they all had chosen certain to whom the Regiment of the Church was committed this power is not now any longer in the hands of the whole multitude but wholly in theirs who are appointed Guides of the Church Besides in the choyce of Deacons there was also another special cause wherefore the whole Church as that time should chuse them For inasmuch as the Grecians murmured against the Hebrews and complained that in the duly distribution which was made for relief of the poor they were not indifferently respected nor such regard had of their Widows as was meet this made it necessary that they all should have to deal in the choyce of those unto whom that care was afterwards to be committed to the end that all occasion of jealousies and complaints might be removed Wherefore that which was done by the People for certain Causes before the Church was sully settled may not be drawn out and applyed unto a constant and perpetual form of ordering the Church Let them cast the Discipline of the Church of England into the same scales where they weigh their own let them give us the same measure which here they take and our strifes shall soon be brought to a quiet end When they urge the Apostles as Precedents when they condemn us of Tyranny because we do not in making Ministers the same which the Apostles did when they plead That with us one alone doth ordain and that our Ordinations are without the Peoples knowledge contrary to that example which the blessed Apostles gave We do not request at their hands allowance as much as of one word we speak in our own defence if that which we speak be of our own but that which themselves speak they must be content to listen unto To exempt themselves from being over-farr prest with the Apostles example they can answer That which was done by the People once upon special Causes when the Church was not yet established is not to be made a rule for the constant and continual ordering of the Church In defence of their own Election although they do not therein depend on the People so much as the Apostles in the choyce of Deacons they think it a very sufficient Apology that there were special considerations why Deacons at that time should be chosen by the whole Church but not so now In excuse of dissimilitudes between their own and the Apostles Discipline they are contented to use this Answer That many things were done in the Apostles times before the settling of the Church which afterward the Church was not tyed to observe For countenance of their own proceedings wherein their Governors do more than the Apostles and their People less than under the Apostles the first Churches are found to have done at the making of Ecclesiastical Officers they deem it a marvellous reasonable kinde of Pleading to say That even as in Common-wealt when the multitude have once chosen many or one to rule over them the right which was at the first in the whole body of the People is now derived into those many or that one which it so chosen and that this being done it is not the whole multitude to whom the administration of such Publick affairs any longer appertaineth but that which they did their Rulers may now do lawfully without them After the self-same manner it slandeth with the Church also How easie and plain might we make our defence how clear and allowable even unto them it we could but obtain of them to admit the same things consonant unto equity in our mouths which they require to be so taken from their own If that which is truth being uttered in maintenance of Scotland and Geneva do not cease to be truth when the Church of England once alledgeth it this great crime of Tyranny wherewith we are charged hath a plain and an easie defence Yea But we do not at all aske the Peoples approbation which they do whereby they shew themselves more indifferent and more free from taking away the Peoples right Indeed when their Lay-Elders have chosen whom they think good the Peoples consent thereunto is asked and if they give their approbation the thing standeth warranted for sound and good But if not is the former choyce overthrown No but the People is to yield to reason and if they which have made the choyce do so like the Poeples reason as to reverse their own deed at the hearing of it then a new election to be made otherwise the former to stand notwithstanding the Peoples negative and dislike What is this else but to deal with the People as those Nurses do with Infants whose mouths they besmear with the backside of the spoon as though they had fed them when they themselves devour the food They cry in the ears of the People that all mens consent should be had unto that which concerns all they make the People believe we wrong them and deprive them of their right in making Ministers whereas with us the People have commonly farr more sway and force then with them For inasmuch as there are but two main things observed in every Ecclesiastical function Power to exercise the duty it self and some charge of People whereon to exercise the same the former of these is received at the hands of the whole visible Catholick Church For it is not any one particular multitude that can give power the force whereof may reach farr and wide indefinitely as the power of Order doth which whoso hath once received there is no action which belongeth thereunto but he may exercise effectually the same in any part of the World without iterated Ordination They whom the whole Church hath from the beginning used as her Agents in conferring this power are not either one or moâ— of the Laity and therefore it hath not been heard of that ever any such were allowed to ordain Ministers Onely Persons Ecclesiastical and they in place of Calling Superiours both unto Deacons and unto Presbyters only such Persons
are not fit to be Ministers which also hath been collected and that by sundry of the Antient and that it is requisite the Clergy be utterly forbidden Marriage For as the burthen of Civil Regiment doth make them who bear it the less able to attend their Ecclesiastical Charge even so Saint Paul doth say that the Married are careful for the World the unmarried freer to give themselves wholly to the service of God Howbeit both experience hath found it safer that the Clergy should bear the cares of honest Marriage than be subject to the inconveniencies which single life imposed upon them would draw after it And as many as are of sound judgement know it to be farr better for this present age that the detriment be born which haply may grow through the lessening of some few mens Spiritual labours than that the Clergy and Common-wealth should lack the benefit which both the one and the other may reap through their dealing in Civil Affairs In which consideration that men consecrated unto the Spiritual service of God be licensed so farr forth to meddle with the Secular affairs of the World as doth seem for some special good cause requisite and may be without any grievous prejudice unto the Church surely there is not in the Apostles words being rightly understood any lett That no Apostle did ever bear Office may it not be a wonder considering the great devotion of the age wherein they lived and the zeal of Herod of Nero the great Commander of the known World and of other Kings of the Earth at that time to advance by all means Christian Religion Their deriving unto others that smaller charge of distributing of the Goods which were laid at their feet and of making provision for the poor which charge being in part Civil themselves had before as I suppose lawfully undertaken and their following of that which was weightier may serve as a marvellous good example for the dividing of one man's Office into divers slips and the subordinating of Inferiours to discharge some part of the same when by reason of multitude increasing that labour waxeth great and troublesome which before was easie and light but very small force it hath to inferr a perpetual divorce between Ecclesiastical and Civil power in the same Persons The most that can be said in this Case is That sundry eminent Canons bearing the name of Apostolical and divers Conncils likewise there are which have forbidden the Clergy to bear any Secular Office and have enjoyned them to attend altogether upon Reading Preaching and Prayer Whereupon the most of the antient Fathers have shewed great dislikes that these two Powers should be united in one Person For a full and final Answer whereunto I would first demand Whether commension and separation of these two Powers be a matter of mere positive Law or else a thing simply with or against the Law immutable of God and Nature That which is simply against this latter Law can at no time be allowable in any Person more than Adultery Blasphemy Sacriledge and the like But conjunction of Power Ecclesiastical and Civil what Law is there which hath not at some time or other allowed as a thing convenient and meet In the Law of God we have examples sundry whereby it doth most manifestly appear how of him the same hath oftentime been approved No Kingdom or Nation in the World but hath been thereunto accustomed without inconvenience and hurt In the prime of the World Kings and Civil Rulers were Priests for the most part all The Romans note it as a thing beneficial in their own Common-wealth and even to them apparently forcible for the strengthening of the Jewes Regiment under Moses and Samuel I deny not but sometime there may be and hath been perhaps just cause to ordain otherwise Wherefore we are not to urge those things which heretofore have been either ordered or done as thereby to prejudice those Orders which upon contrary occasion and the exigence of the present time by like authority have been established For what is there which doth let but that from contrary occasions contrary Laws may grow and each he reasoned and disputed for by such as are subiect thereunto during the time they are in force and yet neither so opposite to other but that both may laudably continue as long as the ages which keep them do see no necessary cause which may draw them unto alteration Wherefore in these things Canons Constitutions and Laws which have been at one time meet do not prove that the Church should alwayes be bound to follow them Ecclesiastical Persons were by antient Order forbidden to be Executors of any man's Testament or to undertake the Wardship of Children Bishops by the Imperial Law are forbidden to bequeath by Testament or otherwise to alienate any thing grown unto them after they were made Bishops Is there no remedy but that these or the like Orders must therefore every where still be observed The reason is not always evident why former Orders have been repealed and other established in their room Herein therefore we must remember the axiom used in the Civil Laws That the Prince is alwayes presumed to do that with reason which is not against reason being done although no reason of his deed be exprest Which being in every respect as true of the Church and her Divine Authority in making Laws it should be some bridle unto those malepert and proud spirits whose wits not conceiving the reason of Laws that are established they adore their own private fancy as the supreme Law of all and accordingly take upon them to judge that whereby they should be judged But why labour we thus in vain For even to change that which now is and to establish instead thereof that which themselves would acknowledge the very self-same which hath been to what purpose were it fith they protest That they utterly condemn as well that which hath been as that which is as well the antient as the present Superiority Authority and Power of Ecclesiastical Persons XVI Now where they lastly alledge That the Law of our Lord Iesus Christ and the judgement of the best in all ages condemn all ruling Superiority of Ministers over Ministers they are in this as in the rest more bold to affirm than able to prove the things which they bring for support of their weak and feeble Cause The bearing of Dominion or the exercising of Authority they say is this wherein the Civil Magistrate is severed from the Ecclesiastical officer according to the words of our Lord and Saviour Kings of Nations bear rule over them but it shall not be so with you Therefore bearing of Dominion doth not agree to one Minister over another This place hath been and still is although most falsely yet with farr greater shew and likelyhood of truth brought forth by the Anabaptists to prove that the Church of Christ ought to have no Civil Magistrates but be ordered
only by Christ. Wherefore they urge the opposition between Heathens and them unto whom our Saviour speaketh For fith the Apostles were opposite to Heathens not in that they were Apostles but in that they were Christians the Anabaptists inference is That Christ doth-here give a Law to be for ever observed by all true Christian men between whom and Heathens there must be alwayes this difference that whereas Heathens have their Kings and Princes to rule Christians ought not in this thing to be like unto them Wherein their construction hath the more shew because that which Christ doth speak to his Apostles is not found alwayes agreeable unto them as Apostles or as Pastors of mens Souls but oftentimes it toucheth them in generality as they are Christians so that Christianity being common unto them with all Believers such specches must be so taken that they may be applyed unto all and not onely unto them They which consent with us in rejecting such Collections as the Anabaptist maketh with more probability must give us leave to reject such as themselves have made with less For a great deal less likely it is that our Lord should here establish an everlasting difference not between his Church and Pagans but between the Pastors of his Church and Civil Governours For if herein they must always differ that the one may not bear rule the other may How did the Apostles themselves observe this difference the exercise of whose Authority both in commanding and in controuling others the Scripture hath made so manifest that no gloss can over-shadow it Again it being as they would have it our Saviour's purpose to withhold his Apostles and in them all other Pastors from bearing rule why should Kingly Dominion be mentioned which occasions men to gather that not all Dominion and Rule but this one only form was prohibited and that Authority was permitted them so it were not Regal Furthermore in case it had been his purpose to withhold Pastors altogether from bearing Rule why should Kings of Nations be mentioned as if they were not forbidden to exercise no not Regal Dominion it self but only such Regal Dominion as Heathen Kings do exercise The very truth is our Lord and Saviour did aim at a farr other mark than these men seem to observe The end of his speech was to reform their particular mis-perswasion to whom he spake And their mis-perswasion was that which was also the common fancy of the Jews at that time that their Lord being the Messias of the World should restore unto Israel that Kingdom whereof the Romans had as then bereaved them they imagined that he should not onely deliver the State of Israel but himself reign as King in the Throne of David with all Secular Pomp and Dignity that he should subdue the rest of the World and make Ierusalem the Seat of an Universal Monarchy Seeing therefore they had forsaken all to follow him being now in so mean condition they did not think but that together with him they also should rise in state that they should be the first and the most advanced by him Of this conceit it came that the Mother of the Sons of Zebedee sued for her Childrens preferment and of this conceit it grew that the Apostles began to question amongst themselves which of them should be greatest And in controulment of this conceit it was that our Lord so plainly told them that the thoughts of their hearts were vain The Kings of Nations have indeed their large and ample Dominions they reign farr and wide and their Servants they advance unto honour in the World they bestow upon them large and ample Secular preferments in which respect they are also termed many of them Benefactors because of the liberal hand which they use in rewarding such as have done them service But was it the meaning of the antient Prophets of God that the Messias the King of Israel should be like unto these Kings and his retinue grow in such sort as theirs Wherefore ye are not to look for at my hands such preferment as Kings of Nations are wont to bestow upon their Attendants With you not so Your Reward in Heaven shall be most ample on Earth your Chiefest Honour must be to suffer Persecution for Righteousness sake Submission Humility and Meekness are things fitter for you to inure your Mindes withall than these aspiring Cogitations if any amongst you be greater than other let him shew himself greatest in being lowlyest let him be above them in being under them even as a Servant for their good These are Affections which you must put on as for degrees of Preferment and Honour in this World if ye expect any such thing at my hands ye deceive your selves for in the World your Portion is rather the clear contrary Wherefore they who alledge this Place against Episcopal Authority abuse it they many wayes deprave and wrest it clear from the true understanding wherein our Saviour himself did utter it For First whereas he by way of meer Negation had said With you it shall not be so fore-telling them onely that it should not so come to pass as they vainly surmised these men take his words in a plain nature of a Prohibition as if Christ had thereby forbidden all inequality of Ecclesiastical Power Secondly Whereas he did but cut off their idle hope of Secular Advancements all Standing-Superiority amongst Persons Ecclesiastical these men would rase off with the edge of his speech Thirdly whereas he in abating their hope even of Secular Advancements spake but onely with relation unto himself informing them that he would be no such munificent Lord unto them in their Temporal Dignity and Honour as they did erroneously suppose so that any Apostle might afterwards have grown by means of others to be even Emperours of Rome for any thing in those words to the contrary these men removing quite and clean the hedge of all such restraints enlarge so farr the bounds of his meaning as if his very precise intent and purpose had been not to reform the error of his Apostles conceived as touching him and to teach what himself would not be towards them but to prescribe a special Law both to them and their Successor for ever a Law determining what they should not be in relation of one to another a Law forbidding that any such Title should be given to any Minister as might import or argue in him a Superiority over other Ministers Being thus defeated of that succour which they thought their cause might have had out of the words of our Saviour Christ they try their adventure in seeking what aid man's testimony will yield them Cyptian objecteth it to Florentinus as a proud thing that by believing evil reports and mis-judging of Cyprian he made himself Bishop of a Bishop and Iudge over him whom God had for the time appointed to be Iudge lib. 4. Ep. 9. The endeavour of godly men to strike at these insolent names may appear in
things below We consider not what it is which we reap by the Authority of our Chiefest Spiritual Governors not are likely to enter into any consideration thereof till we want them and that is the cause why they are at our hands so unthankfully rewarded Authority is a constraining Power which Power were needless if we were all such as we should be willing to do the things we ought to do without constraint But because generally we are otherwise therefore we all reap singular benefit by that Authority which permitteth no men though they would to slack their duty It doth not suffice that the Lord of an Houshold appoint Labourers what they should do unless he set over them some chief Workman to see they do it Constitutions and Canons made for the ordering of Church-affairs are dead Task-masters The due execution of Laws Spiritual dependeth most upon the vigilant care of the Chiefest Spiritual Governors whose charge is to see that such Laws be kept by the Clergy and People under them With those Duties which the Law of God and the Ecclesiastical Canons require in the Clergy Lay-Governors are neither for the most part so well acquainted nor so deeply and nearly touched Requisite therefore it is that Ecclesiastical Persons have authority in such things Which kinde of Authority maketh them that have it Prelates If then it be a thing confest as by all good men it needs must be to have Prayers read in all Churches to have the Sacraments of God administred to have the Mysteries of Salvation painfully taught to have God every where devoutly worshipped and all this perpetually and with quietness bringeth unto the whole Church and unto every Member thereof inestimoble good how can that Authority which hath been proved the Ordinance of God for preservation of these duties in the Church how can it choose but deserve to be held a thing publickly most beneficial It were to be wished and is to be laboured for as much as can be that they who are set in such Rooms may be furnished with honourable Qualities and Graces every way fit for their Galling But be they otherwise howsoever so long as they are in Authority all men reap some good by them albeit not so much good as if they were abler men There is not any amongst us all but is a great deal more apt to exact another man's duty than the best of us is to discharge exactly his own and therefore Prelates although neglecting many ways their duty unto God and men do notwithstanding by their Authority great good in that they keep others at the leastwise in some awe under them It is our duty therefore in this consideraton to honor them that rule as Prelates which Office if they discharge well the Apostles own verdict is that the honor they have they be worthy of yea though it were double And if their Government be otherwise the judgement of sage men hath ever been this that albeit the dealings of Governors be culpable yet honourable they must be in respect of that Authority by which they govern Great caution must be used that we neither be emboldned to follow them in evil whom for Authorities sake we honor nor induced in Authority to dishonor them whom as examples we may not follow In a word not to dislike sin though it should be in the highest were unrighteous meekness and proud righteousness it is to contemn or dishonor Highness though it should be in the sinfullest men that live But so hard it is to obtain at our hands especially as now things stand the yielding of Honor to whom Honor in this case belongeth that by a brief Declaration only what the Duties of men are towards the principal Guides and Pastors of their Souls we cannot greatly hope to prevail partly for the malice of their open Adversaries and partly for the cunning of such as in a sacrilegious intent work their dishonor under covert by more mystical and secret means Wherefore requisite and in a manner necessary it is that by particular instances we make it even palpably manifest what singular benefit and use publick the nature of Prelates is apt to yield First no man doubteth but that unto the happy condition of Common-weals it is a principal help and furtherance when in the eye of Foreign States their estimation and credit is great In which respect the Lord himself commending his own Laws unto his people mentioneth this as a thing not meanly to be accounted of that their careful obedience yielded thereunto should purchase them a great good opinion abroad and make them every where famous for wisdom Fame and reputation groweth especially by the vertue not of common ordinary persons but of them which are in each estate most eminent by occasion of their higher Place and Calling The mean man's actions be they good or evil they reach not farr they are not greatly enquired into except perhaps by such as dwell at the next door whereas men of more ample dignity are as Cities on the tops of Hills their lives are viewed a farr off so that the more there are which observe aloof what they do the greater glory by their well-doing they purchase both unto God whom they serve and to the State wherein they live Wherefore if the Clergy be a beautifying unto the body of this Common-weal in the eyes of Foreign beholders and if in the Clergy the Prelacy be most exposed unto the World's eye what publick benefit doth grow from that Order in regard of reputation thereby gotten to the Land from abroad we may soon conjecture Amongst the Jews their Kings excepted who so renowned throughout the World as their High-Priest who so much or so often spoken of as their Prelates 2. Which Order is not for the present only the most in sight but for that very cause also the most commended unto Posterity For if we search those Records wherein there hath descended from age to age whatsoever notice and intelligence we have of those things which were before us is there any thing almost else surely not any thing so much kept in memory as the successions doings sufferings and affairs of Prelates So that either there is not any publick use of that light which the Church doth receive from Antiquity or if this be absurd to think then must we necessarily acknowledge our selves beholden more unto Prelates than unto others their Inferiours for that good of direction which Ecclesiastical actions recorded do always bring 3. But to call home our cogitations and more inwardly to weigh with our selves what principal commodity that Order yieldeth or at leastwise is of its own disposition and nature apt to yield Kings and Princes partly for information of their own consciences partly for instruction what they have to do in a number of most weighty affairs intangled with the cause of Religion having as all men know so usual occasion of often consultations and conferences with their Clergy suppose
the light of a true and sound understanding which sheweth what honor is fit for Prelats and what attendancy convenient to be a part of their honor Touching Priviledges granted for Honor's-sake partly in general unto the Clergy and partly unto Prelates the Chiefest Persons Ecclesiastical in particular of such quality and number they are that to make but rehearsal of them we scarce think it safe left the very entrails of some of our godly Brethren as they term themselves should thereat haply burst in sunder XXI And yet of all these things rehearsed it may be there never would have grown any question had Bishops been honored only thus farr forth But the honoring of the Clergy with wealth this is in the eyes of them which pretend to seek nothing but mere Reformation of Abuses a sin that can never be remitted How soon O how soon might the Church be perfect even without any spot or wrinckle if Publick Authority would at the length say Amen unto the holy and devout requests of those godly Brethren who as yet with out-stretched necks groan in the pangs of their zeal to see the Houses of Bishops risted and their so long desired Livings gloriously divided amongst the Righteous But there is an impediment a lett which somewhat hindreth those good mens Prayers from taking effect They in whose hands the Soveraignty of Power and Dominion over the Church doth rest are perswaded there is a God for undoubtedly either the name of Godhead is but a feigned thing or if in Heaven there be a God the Saerilegious intention of Church-Robbers which lurketh under this plausible name of Reformation is in his sight a thousand times more hateful than the plain professed malice of those very Miscreants who threw their Vomit in the open face of our blessed Saviour They are not words of perswasion by which true men can hold their own when they are over-beset with Thieves And therefore to speak in this Cause at all were but labor lost saving only in respect of them who being as yet un-joyned unto this Conspiracy may be haply somewhat stayed when they shall know betimes what it is to see Thieves and to run on with them as the Prophet in the Psalm speaketh When thou sawest a Thief then thou consentedst with him and hast been Partaker with Adulterers For the better information therefore of men which carry true honest and indifferent mindes these things we will endeavour to make most clearly manifest First That in Goods and Livings of the Church none hath propriety but God himself Secondly That the honor which the Clergy therein hath is to be as it were God's Receivers the honor of Prelates to be his chief and principal Receivers Thirdly That from him they have right not only to receive but also to use such Goods the lower sort in smaller and the higher in larger measure Fourthly That in case they be thought yea or found to abuse the same yet may not such honor be therefore lawfully taken from them and be given away unto Persons of other Calling XXII Possessions Lands and Livings Spiritual the wealth of the Clergy the Goods of the Church are in such sort the Lords own that man can challenge no propriety in them His they are and not ours all things are his in that from him they have their being My Corn and my Wine and mine Oyl saith the Lord. All things his in that he hath absolute power to dispose of them at his pleasure Mine saith he are the Sheep and Oxen of a thousand hills All things his in that when we have them we may say with Iob God hath given and when we are deprived of them The Lord whose they are hath likewise taken them away again But these sacred Possessions are his by another tenure His because those men who first received them from him have unto him returned them again by way of Religious gift or Oblation And in this respect it is that the Lord doth term those Houses wherein such Gifts and Oblations were laid His Treasuries The ground whereupon men have resigned their own interest in things Temporal and given over the same unto God is that Precept which Solomon borroweth from the Law of Nature Honor the Lord out of thy Substance and of the chiefest of all thy Revenue so shall thy Barns be filled with Plenty and with new Wine the fat of thy Press shall overflow For although it be by one most fitly spoken against those superstitious Persons who only are scrupulous in external Rites Wilt thou win the favour of God He vertuous They best worship him that are his Followers It is not the bowing of your Knees but of your Hearts it is not the number of your Oblations but the integrity of your Lives not your Incense but your Obedience which God is delighted to be honored by Nevertheless we must beware lest simply understanding this which comparatively is meant that is to say whereas the meaning is that God doth chiefly respect the inward disposition of the Heart we must take heed we do not hereupon so worship him in Spirit that outwardly we take all Worship Reverence and Honor from him Our God will be glorified both of us himself and for us by others To others because our Hearts are known and yet our example is required for their good therefore it is not sufficient to carry Religion in our Hearts as Fire is carried in Flint-stones but we are outwardly visibly apparently to serve and honor the living God yea to employ that way as not only for our Souls but our Bodies so not only our Bodies but our Goods yea the choice the flower the chiefest of all thy Revenue saith Solomon If thou hast any thing in all thy Possessions of more value and price than other to what use shouldest thou convert it rather than to this Samuel was dear unto Hannah his Mother The Childe that Hannah did so much esteem she could not but greatly wish to advance and her Religious conceit was that the honoring of God with it was the advancing of it unto honor The chiefest of the Off-spring of men are the Males which be first-born and for this cause in the antient World they all were by right of their birth Priests of the Most High By these and the like Precedents it plainly enough appeareth that in what Heart soever doth dwell unseigned Religion in the same there resteth also a willingness to bestow upon God that soonest which is most dear Amongst us the Law is that sith Gold is the chiefest of Mettals if it be any where found in the bowels of the Earth it belongeth in right of honor as all men know to the King Whence hath this Custom grown but onely from a natural perswasion whereby men judge it decent for the highest Persons alwayes to be honored with the choisest things If ye offer unto God the blinde saith the Prophet Malachi it is not
up a Pillar shall be the House of God and of all that thou shall give me will I give the Tenth unto thee May a Christian man desire as great things as Iacob did at the hands of God may he desire them in as earliest manner may he promise as great thankfulness in acknowledging the goodness of God may he vow any certain kinde of publick acknowledgment before hand or though he vow it not perform it after in such sort that men may see he is perswaded how the Lord hath been his God Are these particular kindes of testifying thankfulness to God the erecting of Oratories the dedicating of Lands and Goods to maintain them forbidden any where Let any mortal man living shew but one reason wherefore in this point to follow Iacob's example should not be a thing both acceptable unto God and in the eyes of the World for ever most highly commendable Concerning Goods of this nature Goods whereof when we speak we term them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Goods that are consecrated unto God and as Tertullian speaketh Deposit a pietatis things which Piety and Devotion hath laid up as it were in the bosom of God Touching such Goods the Law Civil following mere light of Nature defineth them to be no mans because no mortal man or community of men hath right of propriety in them XXIII Persons Ecclesiastical are God's Stewards not onely for that he hath set them over his Family as the Ministers of ghostly food but even for this very cause also that they are to receive and dispose his Temporal Revenues the gifts and oblations which men bring him Of the Jews it is plain that their Tyths they offered unto the Lord and those offerings the Lord bestowed upon the Levites When the Levites gave the Tenth of their Tythes this their Gift the Law doth term the Lord's Heave-offering and appoint that the High-Priest should receive the same Of spoils taken in War that part which they were accustomed to separate unto God they brought it before the Priest of the Lord by whom it was laid up in the Tabernacle of the Congregation for a memorial of their thankfulness towards God and his goodness towards them in fighting for them against their enemies As therefore the Apostle magnifieth the honor of Melchisedec in that he being an High-Priest did receive at the hands of Abraham the Tyths which Abraham did honor God with so it argueth in the Apostles themselves great honor that at their feet the price of those Possessions was laid which men thought good to bestow on Christ. St. Paul commending the Churches which were in Macedonia for their exceeding liberality this way saith of them That he himself would bear record they had declared their forward mindes according to their power yea beyond their power and had so much exceeded his expectation of them that they seemed as it were even to give away themselves first to the Lord saith the Apostle and then by the will of God unto us To him as the owner of such gifts to us as his appointed receivers and dispensers The gift of the Church of Antioch bestowed unto the use of distressed Brethren which were in Iudea Paul and Baruabar did deliver unto the Presbyters of Ierusalem and the head of those Presbyters was Iames he therefore the Chiefest disposer thereof Amongst those Canons which are entituled Apostolical one is this We appoint that the Bishop have care of these things which belong to the Church the meaning is of Church-Goods as the Reason following sheweth For if the precious Souls of men must be committed unto him of trust much more it beloveth the charge of money to be given him that by his Authority the Presbyters and Deacons may administer all things to them that stand in need So that he which hath done them the honor to be as it were his Treasurers hath left them also authority and power to use these his Treasures both otherwise and for the maintenance even of their own Estate the lower sort of the Clergy according unto a meaner the higher after a larger proportion The use of Spiritual goods and possessions hath been a matte◠much disputed of grievous complaints there are usually made against the evil and unlawful usage of them but with no certain determination hitherto on what things and Persons with what proportion and measure they being bestowed do retain their lawful use Some men condemn it as idle superfluous and altogether vain that any part of the Treasure of God should be spent upon costly Ornaments appertaining unto his Service who being best worshipped when he is served in Spirit and truth hath not for want of pomp and magnificence rejected at any time those who with faithful hearts have adored him Whereupon the Hereticks termed Henriciani and Petrobusiani threw down Temples and Houses of Prayer erected with marvellous great charge as being in that respect not fit for Christ by us to be honored in We deny not but that they who sometime wandred as Pilgrims on earth and had no Temples but made Caves and Dens to pray in did God such honor as was most acceptable in his sight God did not reject them for their poverty and nakedness sake Their Sacraments were not abhorred for want of Vessels of Gold Howbeit let them who thus delight to plead answer me When Moses first and afterwards David exhorted the people of Israel unto matter of charge about the service of God suppose we it had been allowable in them to have thus pleaded Our Fathers in Egypt served God devoutly God war with them in all their afflictions he heard their Prayers pitied their Case and delivered them from the tyranny of their oppressors what House Tabernacle or Temple had they Such Argumentations are childish and fond God doth not refuse to be honored at all where there lacketh wealth but where abundance and store is he there requireth the Flower thereof being bestowed on him to be employed even unto the Ornament of his Service In Egypt the state of his People was servitude and therefore his Service was accordingly In the Defart they had no sooner ought of their own but a Tabernacle is required and in the Land of Canaan a Temple In the eyes of David it seemed a thing not fit a thing not decent that himself should be more richly seated than God But concerning the use of Ecclesiastical Goods bestowed this way there is not so much contention amongst us as what measure of allowance is fit for Ecclesiastical Persons to be maintained with A better rule in this case to judge things by we cannot possibly have than the◠Wisdom of God himself by considering what he thought meet for each degree of the Clergy to enjoy in time of the Law what for Levites what for Priests and what for High-Priests somewhat we shall be the more able to discern rightly what may be fit convenient and right for
life Whether it were covetousness or sensuality in their lives absurdity or error in their teaching any breach of the laws and Canons of the Church wherein he espied them faulty certain and sure they were to be thereof most plainly told Which thing they whose dealings were justly culpable could not bear but instead of amending their faults bent their hatred against him who sought their amendment till at length they drove him by extremity of infestation through weariness of striving against their injuries to leave both them and with them the Church Amongst the manifold accusations either generally intended against the Bishops of this our Church or laid particularly to the charge of any of them I cannot find that hitherto their spitefullest adversaries have been able to say justly that any man for telling them their personal faults in good and Christian sort hath sustained in that respect much persecution Wherefore notwithstanding mine own inferior estate and calling in Gods Church the consideration whereof assureth me that in this kind the sweetest Sacrifice which I can offer unto Christ is meek Obedience reverence and aw unto the Prelates which he hath placed in seats of higher Authority over me emboldned I am so far as may conveniently stand with that duty of humble subjection meekly to crave my good L L. your favourable pardon if it shall seem a fault thus far to presume or if otherwise your wonted courteous acceptation AEneid l. 12. Sinite hat haud mollia fatu Sublatis aperite dolis In government be it of what kind soever but especially if it be such kind of Government as Prelates have over the Church there is not one thing publiquely more hurtful then that an hard opinion should be conceived of Governors at the first and a good opinion how should the World ever conceive of them for their after-proceedings in Regiment whose first access and entrance thereunto giveth just occasion to think them corrupt men which fear not that God in whose name they are to rule Wherefore a scandalous thing it is to the Church of God and to the Actors themselves dangerous to have aspired unto rooms of Prelacy by wicked means We are not at this day troubled much with that tumultuous kind of ambition wherewith the elections of Damasus in S. Ieromes age and of Maximus in Gregories time and of others were long sithence stained Our greatest fear is rather the evil which Leo and Anthemius did by Imperial constitution endeavour as much as in them by to prevent He which granteth or he which receiveth the office and dignity of a Bishop otherwise then beseemeth a thing Divine and most holy he which bestoweth and he which obteineth it after any other sort then were honest and lawful to use if our Lord Jesus Christ were present himself on earth to bestow it even with his own hands sinneth a sin by so much more grievous then the sin of Balshazar by how much Offices and Functions heavenly are more precious then the meanest ornaments or implements which thereunto appertain If it be as the Apostle saith that the Holy Ghost doth make Bishops and that the whole action of making them is Gods own deed men being therein but his Agents what spark of the fear of God can there possibly remain in their hearts who representing the person of God in naming worthy men to Ecclesiastial charge do sell that which in his name they are to bestow or who standing as it were at the Throne of the Living God do bargain for that which at his hands they are to receive Wo worth such impious and irreligious prophanations The Church of Christ hath been hereby made not a den of thieves but in a manner the very dwelling place of soul spirits for undoubtedly such a number of them have been in all ages who thus have climbed into the seat of Episcopal Regiment 2. Men may by orderly means be invested with spiritual Authority and yet do harm by reason of ignorance how to use it to the good of the Church It is saith Chrysostom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a thing highly to be accompted of but a hard thing to be that which a Bishop should be Yea a hard and a toilsom thing it is for a Bishop to know the things that belong unto a Bishop A right good man may be a very unfit Magistrate And for discharge of a Bishops Office to be well minded is not enough no not to be well learned also Skill to instruct is a thing necessary skill to govern much more necessary in a Bishop It is not safe for the Church of Christ when Pishops learn what belongeth unto Government as Empericks learn physick by killing of the sick Bishops were wont to be men of great learning in the Laws both Civil and of the Church and while they were so the wisest men in the land for Counsel and Government were Bishops 3. Know we never so well what belongeth unto a charge of so great moment yet can we not therein proceed but with hazard of publique detriment if we relye on our selves alone and use not the benefit of conference with others A singular mean to unity and concord amongst themselves a marvellous help unto uniformity in their dealings no small addition of weight and credit unto that which they do a strong bridle unto such as watch for occasions to stir against them finally a very great stay unto all that are under their Government it could not chuse but be soon found if Bishops did often and seriously use the help of mutual consultation These three rehearsed are things onely preparatory unto the course of Episcopal proceedings But the hurt is more manifestly seen which doth grow to the Church of God by faults inherent in their several actions as when they carelesly Ordein when they Institute negligently when corruptly they bestow Church-Livings Benefices Prebends and rooms especially of Jurisdiction when they visit for gain-sake rather then with serious intent to do good when their Courts erected for the maintenance of good Order are disordered when they regard not the Clergy under them when neither Clergy nor Laity are kept in that aw for which this authority should serve when any thing appeareth in them rather then a fatherly affection towards the flock of Christ when they have no respect to posterity and finally when they neglect the true and requisite means whereby their authority should be upheld Surely the hurt which groweth out of these defects must needs be exceeding great In a Minister ignorance and disability to teach is a maim nor is it held a thing allowable to ordain such were it not for the avoiding of a greater evil which the Church must needs sustain if in so great scarcity of able men and unsufficiency of most Parishes throughout the Land to maintain them both publick Prayer and the Administration of Sacraments should rather want then any man thereunto be admitted lacking dexterity and skill to perform that which
is exceedingly worth the noting which Plato hath about the means whereby men fall into an utter dislike of all men with whom they converse This sowreness of minde which maketh every mans dealings unsavoury in our taste entereth by an unskilful over-weening which at the first we have of one and so of another in whom we afterwards find our selves to have been deceived they declaring themselves in the end to be frail men whom we judged demi-gods When we have oftentimes been thus begailed and that far besides expectation we grow at the length to this plain conclusion That there is nothing at all sound in any man Which bitter conceit is unseemly and plain to have risen from lack of mature judgment in humane affairs which iâ— so be we did handle with art we would not enter into dealings with men otherwise then being beforehand grounded in this perswasion that the number of persons notably good or bad is but very small that the most part of good have some evil and of evil men some good in them So true our experience doth find those Aphorisms of Mercurius Trismegistas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To purge gooddness quite and clean from all mixture of evil here is a thing impossible Again To 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When in this World we term a thing good we cannot by exact construction have any other true meaning then that the said thing so termed is not noted to be a thing exceeding evil And again Moros 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Amongst men OEsclapius The name of that which is good we finde but no where the very true thing it self When we censure the deeds and dealings of our Superiors to bring with us a fore-conceit thus qualified shall be as well on our part as theirs a thing availeable unto quietness But howsoever the case doth stand with mens either good or bad quality the verdict which our Lord and Saviour hath given should continue for ever sure Qua Dei sunt Deo let men bear the burthen of their own iniquity as for those things which are Gods let not God be deprived of them For if only to withold that which should be given be no better then to rob God if to withdraw any mite of that which is but in purpose only bequeathed though as yet undelivered into the sacred treasure of God be a Sin for which Ananias and Sapphyra felt so heavily the dreadful hand of Divine revenge quite and clean to take that away which we never gave and that after God hath for so many ages therewith been possessed and that without any other shew of cause saving only that it seemeth in their eyes who seek it to be too much for them which have it in their hands can we term it or think it less then most impious injustice most hainous sacriledge Such was the Religious affection of Ioseph that it suffered him not to take that advantage no not against the very Idolatrous Priests of Egypt which he took for the purchasing of other mens lands to the King but he considered that albeit their Idolatry deserved hatred yet for the honors sake due unto Priesthood better it was the King himself should yield them relief in publique extremity then permit that the same necessity should constrain also them to do as the rest of the people did But it may be men have now found out that God hath proposed the Christian Clergy as a prey for all men freely to seize upon that God hath left them as the fishes of the Sea which every man that lifteth to gather into his net may or that there is no God in Heaven to pity them and to regard the injuries which man doth lay upon them Yet the publique good of this Church and Commonwealth doth I hope weigh somewhat in the hearts of all honestly disposed men Unto the publique good no one thing is more directly availeable then that such as are in place whether it be of Civil or of Ecclesiastical Authority be so much the more largely furnished even with external helps and ornaments of this life how much the more highly they are in power and calling advanced above others For nature is not contented with bare sufficiency unto the sustenance of man but doth evermore cover a decency proportionable unto the place which man hath in the body or society of others For according unto the greatness of mens calling the measure of all their actions doth grow in every mans secret expectation so that great men do always know that great things are at their hands expected In a Bishop great liberality great hospitality actions in every kinde great are looked for And for actions which must be great mean instruments will noâ—serve Men are but men what room soever amongst men they hold If therefore the measure of their Worldly habilities be beneath that proportion which their calling doth make to be looked for at their hands a stronger inducement it is then perhaps men are aware of unto evil and corrupt dealings for supply of that defect For which cause we must needs think it a thing necessary unto the common good of the Church that great Jurisdiction being granted unto Bishops over others a state of wealth proportionable should likewise be provided for them where wealth is had in so great admiration as generally in this golden age it is that without it Angelical perfections are not able to deliver from extreme contempt surely to make Bishops poorer then they are were to make them of less account and estimation then they should be Wherefore if detriment and dishonor do grow to Religion to God to his Church when the publique account which is made of the chief of the Clergy decayeth how should it be but in this respect for the good of Religion of God of his Church that the wealth of Bishops be carefully preserved from further dimination The travels and crosses wherewith Prelacy is never unaccompanied they which feel them know how heavy and how great they are Unless such difficulties therefore annexed unto that estate be tempered by co-annexing thereunto things esteemed of in this World how should we hope that the minds of men shunning naturally the burthens of each function will be drawn to undertake the burthen of Episcopal care and labour in the Church of Christ Wherefore if long we desire to enjoy the peace quietness order and stability of Religion which Predacy as hath been declared causeth then must we necessarily even in favour of the publique good uphold those things the hope whereof being taken away it is not the meer goodness of the charge and the Divine acceptation thereof that will be able to invite many thereunto What shall become of that Commonwealth or Church in the end which hath not the eye of Learning to beautifie guide and direct it At the length what shall become of that Learning which hath not wherewith any more to encourage her industrious followers And finally what shall become
at all upon any in Civil authority and the Common-weal in hers altogether without the privity of the Church so it ought to continue still even in such Common-weals as have now publikely embraced the truth of Christian Religion whether they ought evermore to be two societies in such sort several and distinct I ask therefore what society was that in Rome whereunto the Apostle did give the name of the Church of Rome in his time If they answer as needs they must that the Church of Rome in those dayes was that whole society of men which in Rome professed the Name of Christ and not that Religion which the Laws of the Common-weal did then authorize we say as much and therefore grant that the Common-weal of Rome was one society and the Church of Rome another in such sort that there was between them no mutual dependance But when whole Rome became Christian when they all embraced the Gospel and made Laws in defence thereof if it be heid that the Church and Common-weal of Rome did then remain as before there is no way how this could be possible save only one and that is They must restrain the name of a Church in a Christian Common-weal to the Clergy excluding all the rest of believers both Prince and People For if all that believe be contained in the name of the Church how should the Church remain by personal subsistence divided from the Common-weal when the whole Common-weal doth believe The Church and the Common-weal are in this case therefore personally one Society which Society being termed a Common-weal as it liveth under whatsoever Form of Secular Law and Regiment a Church as it liveth under the spiritual Law of Christ forsomuch as these two Laws contain so many and different Offices there must of necessity be appointed in it some to one charge and some to another yet without dividing the whole and making it two several impaled Societies The difference therefore either of Affairs or Offices Ecclesiastical from Secular is no Argument that the Church and Common-weal are always separate and independent the one on the other which thing even Allain himself considering somewhat better doth in this Point a little correct his former judgement before mentioned and confesseth in his defence of English Catholicks that the power Political hath her Princes Laws Tribunals the Spiritual her Prelates Canons Councels Judgments and those when the Temporal Princes were Pagans wholly separate but in Christian Common-weals joyned though not confounded Howbeit afterwards his former sting appeareth again for in a Common-wealth he holdeth that the Church ought not to depend at all upon the authority of any civil person whatsoever as in England he saith it doth It will be objected that the Fathers do oftentimes mention the Common-weal and the Church of God by way of opposition Can the same thing be opposed to it self If one and the same society be both Church and Common-wealth what sense can there be in that Speech That they suffer and flourish together What sense is that which maketh one thing to be adjudged to the Church and another to the Common-weal Finally in that which putteth a difference between the causes of the Province and the Church doth it not hereby appear that the Church and the Common-weal are things evermore personally separate No it doth not hereby appear that there is not perpetually any such separation we speak of them as two we may sever the rights and the causes of the one well enough from the other in regard of that difference which we grant is between them albeit we make no personal difference For the truth is that the Church and the Common-wealth are names which import things really different but those things are accidents and such accidents as may and always should lovingly dwell together in one subject Wherefore the real difference between the accidents signified by these names doth not prove different subjects for them always to reside in For albeit the subjects wherein they be resident be sometimes different as when the people of God have their residence among Infidels yet the nature of them is not such but that their subject may be one and therefore it is but a changeable accident in those accidents they are to divers There can be no Errour in our conceit concerning this Point if we remember still what accident that is for which a society hath the name of a Common-wealth and what accident that which doth cause it to be termed a Church A Common-wealth we name it simply in regard of some regiment or policy under which men live a Church for the truth of that Religion which they pofess Now Names betokening accidents inabstracted betoken noâ— only the Accidents themselves but also together with them Subjects whereunto they cleave As when we name a School-master and a Physitian those names do not only betoken two accidents Teaching and Curing but also some person or persons in whom those accidents are For there is no impediment but both may be in one man as well as they are for the most part in divers The Common-weal and the Church therefore being such names they do not only betoken these Accidents of civil Government and Christian Religion which we have mentioned but also together with them such multitudes as are the subjects of those accidents Again their nature being such as they may well enough dwell together in one subject it followeth that their names though always implying that difference of accidents that hath been set down yet do not always imply different subjects also When we oppose therefore the Church and the Common-wealth in Christian Society we mean by the Common-wealth that Society with relation to all the publike affairs thereof only the matter of true Religion excepted by the Church the same Society with only reference unto the matter of true Religion without any affairsâ— Besides when that Society which is both a Church and a Common-wealth doth flourish in those things which belong unto it as a Common-wealth we then say The Common-wealth doth flourish when in both them we then say The Church and Common-wealth do flourish together The Prophet Esay to note corruptions in the Common-wealth complaineth That where justice and judgement had lodged now were murtherers Princes were become companions of Thieves every one loved gifts and rewards but the fatherless was not judged neither did the widows cause come before them To shew abuses in the Church Malachy doth make his complaint Ye offer unclean bread upon mine Altar If ye offer the blind for sacrifice it is not evill as ye think if the lame and the sick nothing is amiss The treasure which David bestowed upon the Temple did argue the love which he bore unto the Church The pains which Nehemiah took for building the walls of the Citie are tokens of his care for the Common-wealth Causes of the Common-wealth or Province are such as Gallio was content to be
judge of If it were a matter of wrong or an evill deed O ye Iews I would according to reason maintain you Causes of the Church are such as Gallio there receiteth if it be a question of your Law look ye to it I will be no judge thereof In respect of this difference therefore the Church and the Common-wealth may in speech be compared or opposed aptly enough the one to the other yet this is no Argument that they are two Independent Societies Some other Reasons there are which seem a little more neerly to make for the purpose as long as they are but heard and not sifted For what though a man being severed by Excommunication from the Church be not thereby deprived of freedom in the City or being there discommoned is not therefore forthwith excommunicated and excluded the Church What though the Church be bound to receive them upon Repentance whom the Common-weal may refuse again to admit If it chance the same man to be shut out of both division of the Church and Common-weal which they contend for will very hardly hereupon follow For we must note that members of a Christian Common-weal have a triple state a natural a civil and a spiritual No mans natural estate is cut off otherwise then by that capital execution After which he that is none of the body of the Common-wealth doth not I think remain fit in the body of that visible Church And concerning mans civil estate the same is subject partly to inferiour abatement of liberty and partly to diminution in the highest degree such as banishment is sith it casteth out quite and clean from the body of the Common-weal it must needs also consequently cast the banished party even out of the very Church he was of before because that Church and the Common-weal he was of were both one and the same Society So that whatsoever doth utterly separate a mans person from the one it separateth from the other also As for such abatements of civil estate as take away only some priviledge dignity or other benefit which a man enjoyeth in the Common-weal they reach only to our dealing with publike affairs from which what may lett but that men may be excluded and thereunto restored again without diminishing or augmenting the number of persons in whom either Church or Common-wealth consisteth He that by way of punishment loseth his voice in a publike election of Magistrates ceaseth not thereby to be a Citizen A man dis-franchised may notwithstanding enjoy as a Subject the common benefit of Protection under Laws and Magistrates so that these inferiour diminutions which touch men civilly but neither do clean extinguish their estates as they belong to the Common-wealth nor impair a whit their condition as they are of the Church of God These I say do clearly prove a difference of the one from the other but such a difference as maketh nothing for their surmise of distracted Societies And concerning Excommunication it curreth off indeed from the Church and yet not from the Commonwealth howbeit so that the party Excommunicate is not thereby severed from one body which subsisteth in it self and retained by another in like sort subsisting but he which before had fellowship with that society whereof he was a member as well touching things spiritual as civil is now by force of Excommunication although not severed from the body in Civil affairs nevertheless for the time cut off from it as touching Communion in those things which belong to the same body as it is the Church A man which having been both Excommunicated by the Church and deprived of Civil dignity in the Common-wealth is upon his repentance necessarily reunited into the one but not of necessity into the other What then That which he is admitted unto is a Communion in things Divine whereof both parts are partakers that from which he is withheld is the benefit of some humane previledge or right which other Citizens happily enjoy But are not these Saints and Citizens one and the same people are they not one and the same Society Doth it hereby appear that the Church which received an Excommunicate can have no dependency on any pers o which hath chief Authority and Power of these things in the Commonwealth whereunto the same party is not admitted Wherefore to end this point I conclude First that under the dominions of Infidels the Church of Christ and their Common-wealth were two Societies independent Secondly that in those Common-wealths where the Bishop of Rome beareth sway one Society is both the Church and the Common-wealth But the Bishop of Rome doth divide the body into two divers bodies and doth not suffer the Church to depend upon the power of any civil Prince and Potenrate Thirdly that within this Realm of England the case is neither as in the one nor as in the other of the former two but from the state of Pagans we differ in that with us one Society is both the Church and Common-wealth which with them it was not as also from the state of those Nations which subjected themselves to the Bishop of Rome in that our Church hath dependance from the Chief in our Common-wealth which it hath not when he is suffered to rule In a word our state is according to the pattern of Gods own antient elect people which people was not part of them the Common-wealth and part of them the Church of God but the self-same people whole and entire were both under one Chief Governour on whose Supream Authority they did all depend Now the drift of all that hath been alledged to prove perpetual separation and independency between the Church and the Commonwealth is that this being held necessary it might consequently be thought fit that in a Christian Kingdom he whose power is greatest over the Common-wealth may not lawfully have supremacy of power also over the Church that is to say so far as to order thereby and to dispose of spiritual affairs so far as the highest uncommanded Commander in them Whereupon it is grown a Question whether Government Ecclesiastical and power of Dominion in such degrees as the Laws of this Land do grant unto the Soveraign Governour thereof may by the said supream Governour lawfully be enjoy'd and held For resolution wherein we are First to define what the power of dominion is Secondly then to shew by what right Thirdly after what sort Fourthly in what measure Fiftly in what inconveniency According to whose example Christian Kings may have it And when these generals are opened to examine afterwards how lawful that is which we in regard of Dominion do attribute unto our own namely the title of headship over the Church so far as the bounds of this Kingdom do reach Secondly the Prerogative of calling and dissolving great assemblies about spiritual affairs publick Thirdly the right of assenting unto all those orders concerning Religion which must after be in force as Law Fourthly the advancement of Principal
Church-Governours to their rooms of Prelacy Fifthly judicial authority higher then others are capable of And sixthly exemption from being punishable with such kind of Censures as the platform of Reformation doth teach that they ought to be subject unto What the Power of Dominion is VVIthout order there is no living in publick Society because the want thereof is the mother of confusion whereupon division of necessity followeth and out of division destruction The Apostle therefore giving instruction to publike Societies requireth that all things be orderly done Order can have no place in things except it be settled amongst the persons that shall by office be conversant about them And if things and persons be ordered this doth imply that they are distinguished by degrees For order is a gradual disposition The whole world consisting of parts so many so different is by this only thing upheld he which framed them hath set them in order The very Deity it self both keepeth and requireth for ever this to be kept as a Law that wheresoever there is a coagmentation of many the lowest be knit unto the highest by that which being interjacent may cause each to cleave to the other and so all to continue one This order of things and persons in publike Societies is the work of Policie and the proper instrument thereof in every degree is power power being that hability which we have of our selves or receive from others for performance of any action If the action which we have to perform be conversant about matters of meer Religion the power of performing it is then spiritual And if that power be such as hath not any other to over-rule it we term it Dominion or Power Supream so far as the bounds thereof extend When therefore Christian Kings are said to have Spiritual Dominion or Supream Power in Ecclesiastical affairs and causes the meaning is that within their own Precincts and Territories they have an authority and power to command even in matters of Christian Religion and that there is no higher nor greater that can in those cases overcommand them where they are placed to raign as Kings But withal we must likewise note that their power is termed supremacy as being the highest not simply without exception of any thing For what man is so brain-sick as not to except in such speeches God himself the King of all Dominion Who doubteth but that the King who receiveth it must hold it of and order the Law according to that old axiom Altribuat Rex legi quod lex attribuit es potestatem And again Rex non debet esse sub homine sed sub Deo lege Thirdly whereas it is altogether without reason That Kings are judged to have by vertue of their Dominion although greater power then any yet not than all the state of those Societies conjoyned wherein such Soveraign rule is given them there is not any thing hereunto to the contrary by us affirmed no not when we grant supream Authority unto Kings because Supremacy is not otherwise intended or meant to exclude partly sorraign powers and partly the power which belongeth in several unto others contained as parts in that politick body over which those Kings have Supremacy Where the King hath power of Dominion or Supream power there no forrain State or Potentate no State or Potentate Domestical whether it consisteth of one or many can possibly have in the same affairs and causes Authority higher than the King Power of Spiritual Dominion therefore is in causes Ecclesiastical that ruling Authority which neither any forraign State not yet any part of that politick body at home wherein the same is established can lawfully over-rule It hath been declared already in general how the best established dominion is where the Law doth most rule the King the true effect whereof particularly is found as well in Ecclesiastical as Civil affairs In these the King through his Supream Power may do sundry great things himself both appertaining to Peace and War both at home and by command and by commerce with States abroad because the Law doth so much permit Sometimes on the other side The King alone hath no right to do without consent of his Lords and Commons in Parliament The King himself cannot change the nature of Pleas nor Courts no not so much as restore blood because the Law is a hath unto him the positive Laws of the Realm have a priviledg therein and restrain the Kings power which positive Laws whether by custom or otherwise established without repugnancy to the Laws of God and nature ought not less to be in force even in supernatural affairs of the Church whether in regard of Ecclesiastical Laws we willingly embrace that of Ambrose Imperator bonus intrae Ecclesiam non supra Ecclesiam est Kings have Dominion to exercise in Ecclesiastical causes but according to the Laws of the Church whether it be therefore the nature of Courts or the form of Pleas or the kind of Governours or the order of proceeding in whatsoever business for the received Laws an Lib 〈…〉 o the Church the King hath Supream Authority and power but against them never What such positive Laws hath appointed to be done by others than the King or by others with the King and in what form they have appointed the doing of it the same of necessity must be kept neither is the Kings sole Authority to alter it yet as it were a thing unreasonable if in civil affairs the King albeit the whole universal body did joyn with him should do any thing by their absolute power for the ordering of their state at home in prejudice of those ancient Laws of Nations which are of force throughout all the World because the necessary commerce of Kingdoms dependeth on them So in principal matters belonging to Christian Religion a thing very scandalous and offensive it must needs be thought if either Kings or Laws should dispose of the Law of God without any respect had unto that which of old hath been reverently thought of throughout the World and wherein there is no Law of God which forceth us to swerve from the ways wherein so many and holy Ages have gone Wherefore not without good consideration the very Law it self hath provided That Iudges Ecclesiastical appointed under the Kings Commission shall not adjudg for heresie anything but that which heretofore hathbeen adjudged by the Authority of the Cononical Scriptures or by the first four general Counbels or lysome other general Council wherein the same hath been declared heresie by the express words of the said Canonical Scriptures or such at hereafter shall be determined to be heresie by the high Court of Parliament of this Realm with the assent of the Clergy in the Convocation An. 1. Reg. Eliz. By which words of the Law Who doth not plainly see how that in one branch of proceeding by vertue of the Kings supream authority the credit which those four first general Councels have throughout
in dealing is tyed unto the soundest perfectest and most indifferent Rule which Rule is the Law I mean not only the Law of Nature and of God but the National Law consonant thereunto Happier that people whose Law is their King in the greatest things then that whose King is himself their Law where the King doth guide the State and the Law the King that Common-wealth is like an Harp or Melodious Instrument the strings whereof are turned and handled all by one hand following as Laws the Rules and Canons of Musical Science Most divinely therefore Archytas maketh unto publike felicity these four steps and degrees every of which doth spring from the former as from another cause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The King ruling by Law the Magistrate following the Subject free and the whole Society happy Adding on the contrary side that where this order is not it cometh by transgression thereof to pass that a King groweth a Tyrant he that ruleth under him abhorreth to be guided by him or commanded the people subject unto both have freedome under neither and the whole Community is wretched In which respect I cannot chuse but commend highly their wisdom by whom the Foundations of the Common-wealth hath been laid wherein though no manner of Person or cause be unsubject unto the Kings Power yet so is the Power of the King over all and in all limited that unto all his proceedings the Law it self is a rule The Axioms of our Regal Government are these Lex facit regem The Kings Grant of any favour made contrary to the Law is void Rex nibil potest nisi quod jure potest Our Kings therefore when they are to take possession of the Crown they are called unto have it pointed our before their eyes even by the very Solemnities and Rites of their Inauguration to what affairs by the same Law their Supream Power and Authority reacheth crowned we see they are enthronized and annointed the Crown a Sign of a Military Dominion the Throne of Sedentary or Judicial the Oyl of Religious and Sacred Power It is not on any side denied that Kings may have Authority in Secular affairs The Question then is What power they may lawfully have and exercise in causes of God A Prince or Magistrate or a Community saith Doctor Stapleton may have power to lay corporal punishment on them which are teachers of perverse things power to make Laws for the Peace of the Church Power to proclaim to defend and even by revenge to preserve dogmata the very Articles of Religion themselves from violation Others in affection no less devoted unto the Papacy do likewise yield that the Civil Magistrate may by his Edicts and Laws keep all Ecclesiastical Persons within the bounds of their duties and constrain them to observe the Canons of the Church to follow the rule of ancient Discipline That if Ioash was commended for his care and provision concerning so small a part of Religion as the Church-treasure it must needs be both unto Christian Kings themselves greater honour and to Christianity a larger benefit when the custody of Religion and the worship of God in general is their charge It therefore all these things mentioned be most properly the affairs of Gods Ecclesiastical causes if the actions specified be works of power and if that power be such as Kings may use of themselves without the fear of any other power superior in the same thing it followeth necessarily that Kings may have supream power not only in Civil but also in Ecclesiastical affairs and consequently that they may withstand what Bishop or Pope soever shall under the pretended claim of higher Spiritual Authority oppose themselves against their proceedings But they which have made us the former grant will never hereunto condescend what they yield that Princes may do it is with secret exception always understood If the Bishop of Rome give leave if he enterpose no prohibition wherefore somewhat it is in shew in truth nothing which they grant Our own Reformes do the very like when they make their discourse in general concerning the Authority which Magistrates may have a man would think them to be far from withdrawing any jot of that which with reason may be thought due The Prince and Civil Magistrate saith one of them hath to see the Laws of God touching his Worship and touching all Matters and all Orders of the Church to be executed and duly observed and to see every Ecclesiastical Person do that office whereunto he is appointed and to punish those which fail in their office accordingly Another acknowledgeth That the Magistrate may lawfully uphold all truth by his Sword punish all persons enforce all to their duties towards God and men maintain by his Laws every point of Gods Word punish all vice in all men see into all causes visit the Ecclesiastical Estate and correct the abuses thereof Finally to look to his Subjects that under him they may lead their lives in all godliness and honesty◠A third more frankly prosesseth That in case their Church Discipline were established so little it shortneth the Arms of Soveraign Dominion in causes Ecclesiastical that Her Gracious Majesty for any thing they teach or hold to the contrary may no less then now remain still over all persons in all things Supream Governess even with that full and Royal Authority Superiority and Preheminence Supremacy and Prerogative which the Laws already established do give her and her Majesties Injunctions and the Articles of the Convocation house and other writings Apologetical of her Royal Authority and Supream Dignity do declare and explain Possidonius was wont to say of the Epicure That he thought there were no Gods but that those things which he spake concerning the Gods were only given out for fear of growing adious amongst men and therefore that in words he left gods remaining but in very deed overthrew them in so much as he gave them no kind of Action After the very self same manner when we come unto those particular effects Prerogatives of Dominion which the Laws of this Land do grant unto the Kings thereof it will appear how these men notwithstanding their large and liberal Speeches abate such parcels out of the afore alleadged grant and flourishing shew that a man comparing the one with the other may half stand in doubt lest their Opinion in very truth be against that Authority which by their Speeches they seem mightily to uphold partly for the avoiding of publike obloquie envie and hatred partly to the intent they may both in the cad by the establishment of their Discipline extinguish the force of Supream Power which Princes have and yet in the mean while by giving forth these smooth Discourses obtain that their savourers may have somewhat to alleadge for them by way of Apologie and that such words only sound towards all kind of fulness of Power But for my self I had rather construe such their contradictions in the better
part and impute their general acknowledgment of the lawfullness of Kingly Power unto the force of truth presenting it self before them sometimes above their particular contrarieties oppositions denyals unto that errour which having so fully possest their minds casteth things inconvenient upon them of which things in their due place Touching that which is now in hand weare on all sides fully agreed First that there is not any restraint or limitation of matter for regal Authority and Power to be conversant in but of Religion onely and of whatsoever cause thereunto appertaineth Kings may lawfully have change they lawfully may therein exercise Dominion and use the temporal Sword Secondly that some kind of actions conversant about such affairs are denyed unto Kings As namely Actions of Power and Order and of Spiritual Jurisdiction which hath with it inseparably joyned Power to Administer the Word and Sacraments power to Ordain to Judge as an Ordinary to bind and loose to Excommunicate and such like Thirdly that even in those very actions which are proper unto Dominion there must be some certain rule whereunto Kings in all their proceedings ought to be strictly tyed which rule for proceeding in Ecclesiasticall affairs and causes by Regal Power hath not hitherto been agreed upon with such uniform consent and certainty as might be wished The different sentences of men herein I will now go about to examine but it shall be enough to propose what Rule doth seem in this case most reasonable The case of deriving Supream Power from a whole intire multitude into some special part thereof as partly the necessity of expedition in publick affairs partly the inconvenience of confusion and trouble where a multitude of Equals dealeth and partly the dissipation which must needs ensue in companies where every man wholly seeketh his own particular as we all would do even with other mens hurts and haply the very overthrow of themselves in the end also if for the procurement of the common good of all men by keeping every several man is order some were not invested with Authority over all and encouraged with Prerogative-Honour to sustain the weighty burthen of that charge The good which is proper unto each man belongeth to the common good of all as part to the whole perfection but these two are things different for men by that which is proper are severed united they are by that which is common Wherefore besides that which moveth each man in particular to seek his own private good there must be of necessity in all publick Societies also a general mover directing unto common good and framing every mans particular unto it The end whereunto all Government was instituted was Bonum publicum the Universal or Common good Our question is of Dominion for that end and purpose derived into one such as all in one publick State have agreed that the Supream charge of all things should be committed unto one They I say considering what inconveniency may grow where States are subject unto sundry Supream Authorities have for fear of these inconveniencies withdrawn from liking to establish many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the multitude of Supream Commanders is troublesome No Nan saith our Saviour can serve two Masters surely two supream Masters would make any ones service somewhat uneasie in such cases as might fall out Suppose that to morrow the Power which hath Dominion in Justice require thee at the Court that which in War at the Field that which in Religion at the Temple all have equal Authority over thee and impossible it is that then in such case thou shouldst be obedient unto all By chusing any one whom thou wilt obey certain thou art for thy disobedience to incur the displeasure of the other two But there is nothing for which some comparable reason or other may not be found are we able to shew any commendable State of Government which by experience and practice hath felt the benefit of being in all causes subject unto the Supream Authority of one Against the policy of the Israelites I hope there will no man except where Moses deriving so great a part of his burthen in Government unto others did notwithstanding retain to himself Universal Supremacy Iehosaphat appointing one to be chosen in the affairs of God and another in the Kings affair's did this as having Dominion over them in both If therefore from approbation of Heaven the Kings of Gods own chosen people had in the affairs of Jewish Religion Supream Power why not Christian Kings the like also in Christian Religion First unless men will answer as some have done That the Jews Religion was of far less perfection and dignity then ours our being that truth whereof theirs was but a shadowish prefigurative resemblance Secondly That all parts of their Religion their Laws their Sacrifices and their Rights and Ceremonies being fully set down to their hands and needing no more but only to be put in execution the Kings might well have highest Authority to see that done whereas with us there are a number of Mysteries even in Belief which were not so generally for them as for us necessary to be with sound express acknowledgement understood A number of things belonging to external Government and our manner of serving God not set down by particular Ordinances and delivered to us in writing for which cause the State of the Church doth now require that the Spiritual Authority of Ecclesiastical persons be large absolute and not subordinate to Regal power Thirdly That whereas God armeth Religion Iewish as Christian with the Temporal sword But of Spiritual punishment the one with power to imprison to scourge to put to death The other with bare authority to Censure and excommunicate There is no reason that the Church which hath no visible sword should in Regiment be subject unto any other power then only unto theirs which have authority to bind and loose Fourthly That albeit whilst the Church was restrained unto one people it seemed not incommodious to grant their King the general Chiefty of Power yet now the Church having spread it self over all Nations great inconveniences must therby grow if every Christian King in his several Territory shall have the like power Of all these differences there is not one which doth prove it a thing repugnant to the Law either of God or of Nature that all Supremacy of external Power be in Christian Kingdoms granted unto Kings thereof for preservation of quietness unity order and peace in such manner as hath been shewed Of the Title of Headship FOr the Title or State it self although the Laws of this Land have annexed it to the Crown yet so far◠we should not strive if so be men were nice and scrupulous in this behalf only because they do wish that for reverence to Christ Jesus the Civil Magistrate did rather use some other form of speech wherewith to express that Soveraign Authority which he lawfully hath overall both
to tye that unto him by way of excellency which in meaner degrees is common to others it doth not exclude any other utterly from being termed Head but from being intituled as Christ is the Head by way of the very highest degree of excellency Not in the communication of Names but in the confusion of things there is errour Howbeit if Head were a Name that could not well be nor never had been used to signifie that which a Magistrate may be in relation to some Church but were by continual use of speech appropriated unto the onely thing it signifieth being applyed unto Jesus Christ then although we must carry in our selves a right understanding yet ought we otherwise rather to speak unless we interpret our own meaning by some clause of plain speech because we are else in manifest danger to be understood according to that construction and sense wherein such words are personally spoken But here the rarest construction and most removed from common sense is that which the Word doth import being applyed unto Christ that which we signifie by it in giving it to the Magistrate it is a great deal more familiar in the common conceit of men The word is so fit to signifie all kindes of Superiority Preheminence and Chiefty that nothing is more ordinary than to use it in vulgar speech and in common understanding so to take it If therefore Christian Kings may have any preheminence or chiefty above all others although it be less than that which Theodore Beza giveth who placeth Kings amongst the principal Members whereunto publick Function to the Church belongeth and denyeth not but that of them which have publick Fonction the Civil Magistrates power hath all the rest at command in regard of that part of his Office which is to procure that Peace and good 〈…〉 especially kept in things concerning the first Table if even hereupon they term him the Head of the Church which is his Kingdom it should not seem so unfit a thing Which Title surely we could not communicate to any other no not although it should at our hands be exacted with torments but that our meaning herein is made known to the World so that no man which will understand can easily be ignorant that we do not impart unto Kings when we term them Heads the honor which is properly given to our Lord and Saviour Christ when the blessed Apostle in Scripture doth term him the Head of the Church The power which we signifie in that name differeth in three things plainly from that which Christ doth challenge First it differeth in order because God hath given to his Church for the Head 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Farr above all Principalities and Powers and Might and Dominion and every Name that is named not in this World only but also in that which is to come Whereas the Power which others have is subordinate unto his Secondly again as he differeth in order so in measure of Power also because God hath given unto him the ends of the Earth for his Possesion unto him Dominion from Sea to Sea unto him all power both in Heaven and Earth unto him such Soveraignty as doth not only reach over all places persons and things but doth rest in his own only Person and is not by any succession continued he reigneth as Head and King nor is there any kinde of law which tyeth him but his own proper will and wisdom his power is absolute the same joyntly over all which it is severally over each not so the Power of any other Headship How Kings are restrained and how their Power is limited we have shewed before so that unto him is given by the title of Headship ever the Church that largeness of Power wherein neither Man nor Angel can be matched not compared with him Thirdly the last and greatest difference between him and them is in the very kinde of their Power The Head being of all other parts of the Body most divine hath dominion over all the rest it is the fountain of sense of motion the throne where the guide of the Soul doth reign the Court from whence direction of all things human proceedeth Why Christ is called the Head of the Church these Causes themselves do yield As the Head is the chiefest part of a man above which there is none alwayes joyned with the Body so Christ the highest in his Church is alwayes knit to it Again as the Head giveth sense and motion unto all the Body so he quickneth us and together with understanding of heavenly things giveth strength to walk therein Seeing therefore that they cannot affirm Christ sensibly present or alwayes visibly joyned unto his Body the Church which is on Earth in as much as his Corporal residence is in Heaven again seeing they do not affirm it were intolerable if they should that Christ doth personally administer the external Regiment of outward Actions in the Church but by the secret inward influence of his Grace giveth Spiritual life and the strength of ghostly motions thereunto Impossible it is that they should so close up their eyes as not to discern what odds there is between that kinde of operation which we imply in the Headship of Princes and that which agreeth to our Saviours dominion over the Church The Headship which we give unto Kings is altogether visibly exercised and ordereth only the external frame of the Church-affairs here amongst us so that it plainly differeth from Christ's even in very nature and kinde To be in such sort united unto the Church as he is to work as he worketh either on the whole Church or upon any particular Assembly or in any one man doth neither agree nor hath any possibility of agreeing unto any one besides him Against the first distinction or difference it is to be objected That to entitle a Magistrate head of the Church although it be under Christ is not absurd For Christ hath a two-fold Superiority ever his and even Kingdoms according to the one he hath a Superior which is his Father according to the other none had immediate Authority with his Father that is to say of the Church he is Head and Governor onely as the Son of Man Head and Governor of Kingdoms onely as the Son of God In the Church as Man he hath Officers under Him which Officers are Ecclesiastical Persons As for the Civil Magistrate his Office belongeth unto Kingdoms and to Common-wealths neither is he there an under or subordinate Head considering that his Authority cometh from God simply and immediately even as our Saviour Christ's doth Whereunto the sum of our Answer is First that as Christ being Lord or Head over all doth by vertue of that Soveraignty rule all so he hath no more a Superiour in governing his Church than in exercising Soveraign Dominion upon the rest of the World besides Secondly That all Authority as well Civil as Ecclesiastical is subordinate unto him And Thirdly the
Civil Magistrate being termed Head by reason of that Authority in Ecclesiastical Affairs which hath been already declared that themselves do acknowledge to be lawful It followeth that he is a Head even subordinated of Christ and to Christ. For more plain explication whereof unto God we acknowledge daily that Kingdom Power and Glory are his that he is the immortal and invisible King of Ages as well the future which shall be as the present which now is That which the Father doth work as Lord and King over all he worketh not without but by the Son who through coeternal generation receiveth of the Father that Power which the Father hath of himself And for that cause our Saviours words concerning his own Dominion are To me all Power both in Heaven and in Earth is given The Father by the Son did create and doth guide all wherfore Christ hath Supream dominion over the whole universal World Christ is God Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the consubstantial Word of God Christ is also that consubstantial Word which made man As God he saith of himself I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end he which was and which is and which is to come even the very Omnipotent As the consubstantial Word of God he hath with God before the beginning of the World that glory which as he was Man he requireth to have Father glorifie thy Son with that glory which with thee be enjoyed before the World wa◠Further it is not necessary that all things spoken of Christ should agree to him either as God or else as Man but some things as he is the consubstantial Word of God some things as he is that Word incarnate The Works of Supream Dominion which have been since the first beginning wrought by the power of the Son of God are now most properly and truly the Works of the Son of Man the Word made Flesh doth sit for ever and reign as Soveraign Lord over all Dominion belongeth unto the Kingly Office of Christ as Propitration and Mediation unto his Priestly Instruction unto his Pastoral and Prophetical Office His Works of Dominion are in sundry degrees and kindes according to the different conditions of them that are subject unto it he presently doth govern and hereafter shall judge the World intire and wholly and therefore his Regal power cannot be with truth restrained unto a proportion of the World only Notwithstanding forasmuch as all do not shew and acknowledge with dutiful submission that Obedience which they owe unto him therefore such as do their Lord he is termed by way of excellency no otherwise than the Apostle doth term God the Saviour generally of all but especially of the Faithful these being brought to the obedience of Faith are every where spoken of as men translated into that Kingdom wherein whosoever is comprehended Christ is the Author of eternal Salvation unto them they have a high and ghostly fellowship with God and Christ and Saints as the Apostle in more ample manner speaketh Aggregated they are unto Mount Sion and to the City of the living God the Celestial Ierusalem and to the company of innumerable Angels and to the Congregation of the first born which are written in Heaven and to God the Iudge of all and to the Spirits of just and perfect men and to Iesus the Mediator of the new Testament In a word they are of that Mystical body which we term the Church of Christ. As for the rest we account them Aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel and that live in the Kingdom of Darkness and that are in this present World without God Our Saviours Dominion is therefore over these as over Rebels over them as over dutiful and loving Subjects which things being in holy Scriptures so plain I somewhat muse at that strange position That Christ in the Government of his Church and Superiority over the Officers of it hath himself a Superiour which is the Father but in governing of Kingdoms and Common wealths and in the Superiority which he hath over Kingdoms no Superiour Again That the Civil Magistrates Authority commeth from God immediately as Christs doth and it subordinate unto Christ. In what Evangelist Apostle or Prophet is it found that Christ Supream Governour of the Church should be so unequal to himself as he is Supream Governor of Kingdoms The works of his Providence for the preservation of Mankinde by upholding Kingdoms not only obedient unto but also obstinate and rebellious against him are such as proceed from Divine Power and are not the works of his Providence for safety of God's Elect by gathering inspiring comforting and every way preserving his Church such as proceed from the same Power likewise Surely if Christ as God and Man hath ordained certain means for the gathering and keeping of his Church seeing this doth belong to the Government of that Church it must in reason follow I think that as God and Man he worketh in Church Regiment and consequently hath no more there any Superiours than in the Government of the Common-wealth Again to be in the midst of his wheresoever they are assembled in his Name and to be with them to the World's end are comforts which Christ doth perform to his Church as Lord and Governour yea such as he cannot perform but by that very Power wherein he hath no Superiour Wherefore unless it can be proved that all the works of our Saviours Government in the Church are done by the mere and onely force of his Human nature there is no remedy but to acknowledge it a manifest errour that Christ in the Government of the World is equal to the Father but not in the Government of the Church Indeed to the honour of this Dominion it cannot be said that God did exalt him otherwise than only according to that Human nature wherein he was made low For as the Son of God there could no advancement or exaltation grow unto him And yet the Dominion whereunto he was in his Human nature lifted up is not without Divine Power exercised It is by Divine Power that the Son of man who sitteth in Heaven doth work as King and Lord upon us which are on Earth The exercise of his Dominion over the Church Militant cannot choose but cease when there is no longer any Militant Church in the World And therefore as Generals of Armies when they have finished their Work are wont to yield up such Commissions as were given for that purpose and to remain in the state of Subjects and not as Lords as concerning their former authority even so when the end of all things is come the Son of man who till then reigneth shall do the like as touching Regiment over the Militant Church on the Earth So that between the Son of man and his Brethren over whom he reigneth now in this their War fare there shall be then as touching the exercise of that Regiment no such difference they not warfaring
any longer under him but he together with them under God receiving the joyes of everlasting triumph that so God may be in all all misery in all the Wicked through his Justice in all the Righteous through his love all felicity and blisse In the mean while he reigneth over the World as King and doth those things wherein none is Superiour unto him whether we respect the works of his Providence and Kingdom or of his Regiment over the Church The cause of Errour in this point doth seem to have been a misconceit that Christ as Mediatour being inferiour to his Father doth as Mediatour all Works of Regiment over the Church when in truth Regiment doth belong to his Kingly Office Mediatourship to his Priestly For as the High-Priest both offered Sacrifices for expiation of the Peoples sins and entred into the holy Place there to make intercession for them So Christ having finished upon the Cross that part of his Priestly Office which wrought the propitiation for our Sinnes did afterwards enter into very Heaven and doth there as Mediatour of the New Testament appear in the sight of God for us A like sleight of Judgement it is when they hold that Civil Authority is from God but not immediately through Christ nor with any subordination to God nor doth any thing from God but by the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ. They deny it not to be said of Christ in the Old Testament By me Princes rule and the Nobles and all the Iudges of the Earth In the New as much is taught That Christ is the Prince of the Kings of the Earth Wherefore to the end it may more plainly appear how all Authority of Man is derived from God through Christ and must by Christian men be acknowledged to be no otherwise held then of and under him we are to note that because whatsoever hath necessary being the Son of God doth cause it to be and those things without which the World cannot well continue have necessary being in the World a thing of so great use as Government cannot choose but be originally from Him Touching that Authority which Civil Magistrates have in Ecclesiastical Affairs it being from God by Christ as all other good things are cannot chuse but be held as a thing received at his hands and because such power is of necessity for the ordering of Religion wherein the essence and very being of the Church consisteth can no otherwise slow from him than according to that special care which he hath to govern and guide his own People it followeth that the said Authority is of and under him after a more special manner in that he is Head of the Church and not in respect of his general Regency over the World All things saith the Apostle speaking unto the Church are yours and ye are Christs and Christ is God's Kings are Christ's as Saints because they are of the Church if not collectively yet divisively understood It is over each particular Person within that Church where they are Kings Surely Authority reacheth both unto all mens persons and to all kindes of causes also It is not denyed but that they may have and lawfully exercise it such Authority it is for which and for no other in the World we term them Heads such Authority they have under Christ because he in all things is Lord overall and even of Christ it is that they have received such Authority in as much as of him all lawful Powers are therefore the Civil Magistrate is in regard of this Power an under and subordinate Head of Christ's People It is but idle where they speak That although for several Companies of Men there may be several Heads or Governours differing in the measure of their Authority from the Chiefest who is Head over all yet it cannot be in the Church for that the reason why Head-Magistrates appoint others for such several places it Because they cannot be present every where to perform the Office of an Head But Christ is never from his Body nor from any Part of it and therefore needeth not to substitute any which may be Heads some over one Church and some over another Indeed the consideration of Man's imbecillity which maketh many Heads necessary where the burthen is too great for one moved Iethro to be a Perswader of Moses that a number of Heads of Rulers might be instituted for discharge of that duty by parts which in whole he saw was troublesome Now although there be not in Christ any such defect or weakness yet other causes there be divers more than we are able to search into wherefore it might seem unto him expedient to divide his Kingdom into many Provinces and place many Heads over it that the Power which each of them hath in particular with restraint might illustrate the greatness of his unlimited Authority Besides howsoever Christ be Spiritually alwayes united unto every part of his Body which is the Church Nevertheless we do all know and they themselves who alledge this will I doubt not confess also that from every Church here visible Christ touching visible and corporal presence is removed as farr as Heaven from the Earth is distant Visible Government is a thing necessary for the Church and it doth not appear how the exercise of visible Government over such Multitudes every where dispersed throughout the World should consist without sundry visible Governours whose Power being the greatest in that kinde so farr as it reacheth they are in consideration thereof termed so farr Heads Wherefore notwithstanding the perpetual conjunction by vertue whereof our Saviour alwayes remaineth spiritually united unto the parts of his Mystical Body Heads indeed with Supream Power extending to a certain compasse are for the exercise of a visible Regiment not unnecessary Some other reasons there are belonging unto this branch which seem to have been objected rather for the exercise of mens wits in dissolving Sophismes than that the Authors of them could think in likelyhood thereby to strengthen their cause For example If the Magistrate be Head of the Church within his own Dominion then is he none of the Church For all that are of the Church make the Body of Christ and every one of the Church fulfilleth the place of one member of the Body By making the Magistrate therefore Head we do exclude him from being a Member subject to the Head and so leave him no place in the Church By which reason the name of a Body Politick is supposed to be alwayes taken of the inferiour sort alone excluding the Principal Guides and Governors contrary to all Mens customes of speech The Errour ariseth by misconceiving of some Scripture-sentences where Christ as the Head and the Church as the Body are compared or opposed the one to the other And because in such comparisons ooppositions the Body is taken for those only parts which are subject unto the Head they imagine that who so is the Head of any
Church he is therefore even excluded from being a part of that Church That the Magistrate can be none of the Church if so we make him the Head of the Church in his own Dominions A chief and principal part of the Church therefore Next this is surely a strange conclusion A Church doth indeed make the Body of Christ being wholly taken together and every one in the same Church fulfilleth the place of a Member in the Body but not the place of an inferiour Member the which hath Supream Authority and Power over all the rest Wherefore by making the Magistrate Head in his own Dominions we exclude him from being a Member subject unto any other Person which may visibly there rule in place of a Superiour or Head over him but so farr are we off from leaving him by this means no place in the Church that we do grant him the hief place Indeed the Heads of those visible Bodies which are many can be but parts inferiour in that Spiritual Body which is but one yea they may from tâ—â—s be excluded clean who notwithstanding ought to be honoured as possessing in order the highest rooms But for the Magistrate to be termed in his Dominions an Head doth not barr him from being any way a Part or Member of the Church of God As little to the purpose are those other Cavils A Church which hath the Magistrate for Head is perfect man without Christ So that the knitting of our Saviour thereunto should be an addition of that which is too much Again If the Church be the Body of Christ and of the Civil Magistrate it shall have two heads which being monstrous is to the great dishonour of Christ and his Church Thirdly If the Church be planted in a popular estate then forasmuch as all govern in common and all have Authority all shall be Heads there and no Body at all which is another Monster It might be seared what this birth of so many Monsters together might portend but that we know how things natural enough in themselves may seem monstrous through misconceit which errour of minde is indeed a Monster and the skilful in Nature's mysteryes have used to term it the Wombe of Monsters if any be it is that troubled Understanding wherein because things lye confusedly mixt together what they are it appeareth not A Church perfect without Christ I know not how a man shall imagin unless there may be either Christianity without Christ or else a Church without Christianity If Magistrates be Heads of the Church they are of necessity Christians then is their Head Christ. The adding of Christ universal Head over all unto Magistrates particular Headship is no more superfluous in any Church than in other Societyes each is to be both severally subject unto some Head and to have a Head also general for them all to be subject unto For so in Armys in Civil Corporations we see it fareth A Body Politick in such respects is not like a Natural Body in this more Heads than one is superfluous in that not It is neither monstrous nor yet uncomely for a Church to have different Heads for if Christian Churches be in number many and every of them a perfect Body by it self Christ being Lord and Head over all Why should we judge it a thing more monstrous for one Body to have two Heads than one Head so many Bodyes Him that God hath made the Supream Head of the whole Church the Head not only of that Mystical Body which the eye of man is not able to discern but even of every Christian Politick Society of every visible Church in the World And whereas Lastly it is thought so strange that in Popular States a Multitude to it self should be both Body and Head all this Wonderment doth grow from a little over-sight in deeming that the Subject wherein Headship ought to reside should be evermore some one Person which thing is not necessary For in the collective Body that hath not derived as yet the Principality of power into some one or few the whole of necessity must be Head over each part otherwise it could not have power possibly to make any one certain Person head inasmuch as the very power of making a Head belongeth unto Headship These supposed Monsters we see therefore are no such Giants as that there should need any Hercules to tame them The last difference which we have between the Title of Head when we give it unto Christ and when we give it to other Governours is that the kinde of Dominion which it importeth is not the same in both Christ is Head as being the Fountain of Life and Ghostly nutriment the Well-spring of Spiritual Blessings powred into the Body of the Church they Heads as being the principal instruments for the Churches outward Government he Head as Founder of the House they as his chiefest Overseers Against this is exception especially taken and our Purveyours are herein said to have their provision from the Popish Shambles for by Fighius and Harding to prove that Christ alone is not Head of the Church this distinction they say is brought that according to the inward influence of Grace Christ only is Head but according to the outward Government the being of Head is a thing common to him with others To raise up Falshoods of old condemned and bring it for confirmation of any thing doubtful which already hath sufficiently been proved an error and is worthily so taken this would justly deserve censuring But shall manifest truth therefore be reproached because men convicted in some things of manifest untruth have at any time thought or alledged it If too much eagerness against their Adversaries had not made them forget themselves they might remember where being charged as Maintainers of those very things for which others before them have been condemned of Heresie yet lest the name of any such Heretick holding the same which they do should make them odious they stick not frankly to confess That they are not afraid to consent in some points with Iews and Turks which defence for all that were a very weak Buckler for such as should consent with Jews and Turks in that which they have been abhorted and hated for in the Church But as for this distinction of Headship Spiritual and Mystical of Jesus Christ ministerial and outward in others besides Christ what cause is there to mislike either Harding or Pighins or any other besides for it That which they have been reproved for is not because they did therein utter an untruth but such a Truth as was not sufficient to bear up the Cause which they did thereby seek to maintain By this distinction they have both truly and sufficiently proved that the name of Head importing Power and Dominion over the Church might be given to others besides Christ without prejudice to any part of his honor That which they should have made manifest was The name of Head importing the power of universal
If there be of the antient Fathers which say That thee is but one Head of the Church Christ and that the Minister that baptizeth cannoâ—â—e the Head of him that is baptized because Christ is the Head of the whole Church and tat Paul could not be Head of the Church which he planted because Christ is the Head of the whole Body They understand the name of Head in such sort as we grant that it is oâ— applicable to any other no not in relation to the least part of the whole Churh he which baptizeth baptizeth into Christ he which converteth converteth into Christ he which ruleth ruleth for Christ. The whole Church can have but one to be Head as Lord and Owner of all wherefore if Christ be Head in that kinde it followeth that no other besides can be so either to the whole or to any part To call and dissolve all solemn Assemblies about the Publick Affairs of the Church AMongst sundry Prerogatives of Simons Dominion over the Jews there is reckoned as not the least That no man might gather any great Assembly in the Land without him For so the manner of Jewish Regiment had alwayes been that whether the cause for which men assembled themselves in peaceable good and orderly sort were Ecclesiastical or Civil Supream Authority should assemble them David gathered all Israel together unto Ierusalem when the Ark was to be removed he assembled the Sons of Aaron and the Levites Solomon did the like at such time as the Temple was to be dedicated when the Church was to be reformed Asa in his time did the same The same upon like occasions was done afterwards by Ioash Hezekiat Iosiah and others The Consuls of Rome Polybius affirmeth to have had a kinde of Regal Authority in that they might call together the Senate and People whensoever it pleased them Seeing therefore the Affairs of the Church and Christian Religion are Publick Affairs for the ordering whereof more Solemn Assemblies sometimes are of as great importance and use as they are for Secular Affairs It seemeth no less an act of Supream Authority to call the one then the other Wherefore the Clergy in such wise gathered together is an Ecclesiastical Senate which with us as in former times the chiefest Prelate at his discretion did use to assemble so that afterwards in such considerations as have been before specified it seemed more meet to annex the said Prerogative to the Crown The plot of reformed Discipline not liking thereof so well taketh order that every former Assembly before it breaketh up should it self appoint both the time and place of their After-meeting again But because I finde not any thing on that side particularly alledged against us herein a longer disputation about so plain a cause shall not need The antient Imperial Law forbiddeth such Assemblies as the Emperor's Authority did not cause to be made Before Emperors became Christians the Church had never any General Synod their greatest Meeting consisting of Bishops and others the gravest in each Province As for the Civil Governor's Authority it suffered them only as things not regarded or not accounted of at such times as it did suffer them So that what right a Christian King hath as touching Assemblies of that kinde we are not able to judge till we come to later times when Religion had won the hearts of the highest Powers Constantine as Pighius doth grant was not only the first that ever did call any General Councel together but even the first that devised the calling of them for consultation about the businesses of God After he had once given the example his Successors a long time followed the same in so much that St. Hierom to disprove the Authority of a Synod which was pretended to be general useth this as a forcible Argument Dic quis Imperator have Synodum jusserit convocari Their Answer hereunto is no Answer which say That the Emperors did not this without conference had with the Bishops for to our purpose it is enough if the Clergy alone did it not otherwise than by the leave and appointment of their Soveraign Lords and Kings Whereas therefore it is on the contrary side alledged that Valentinian the elder being requested by Catholick Bishops to grant that there might be a Synod for the ordering of matters called in question by the Arians answered that he being one of the Laity might not meddle with such matters and thereupon willed that the Priests and Bishops to whom the care of those things belongeth should meet and consult together by themselves where they thought good We must with the Emperor's speech weigh the occasion and drift thereof Valentinian and Valens the one a Catholick the other an Arian were Emperors together Valens the Governour of the East and Valentinian of the West Empire Valentinian therefore taking his Journey from the East unto the West parts and passing for that intent through Thracia there the Bishops which held the soundnesse of Christian Belief because they knew that Valent was their professed Enemy and therefore if the other was once departed out of those quarters the Catholick Cause was like to finde very small favour moved presently Valentinian about a Councel to be assembled under the countenance of his Authority who by likelihood considering what inconvenience might grow thereby inasmuch as it could not be but a means to incense Valens the more against them refused himself to be Author of or present at any such Assembly and of this his denyal gave them a colourable reason to wit that he was although an Emperour yet a secular Person and therefore not able in matters of so great obscurity to fit as a competent Judge But if they which were Bishops and learned men did think good to consule thereof together they might Whereupon when they could not obtain that which they most desired yet that which he granted unto them they took and forthwith had a Councel Valentinian went on towards Rome they remaining in consultation till Valens which accompanied him returned back so that now there was no remedy but either to incurr a manifest contempt or else at the hands of Valens himself to seek approbation of that they had done To him therefore they became Suitors his Answer was short Either Arianism or Exile which they would whereupon their Banishment ensued Let reasonable men now therefore be Judges how much this example of Valentinian doth make against the Authority which we say that Soveraign Rulers may lawfully have as concerning Synods and Meetings Ecclesiastical Of the Authority of making Laws THere are which wonder that we should account any Statute a Law which the High Court of Parliament in England hath established about the matters of Church-Regiment the Prince and Court of Parliament having as they suppose no more lawful means to give order to the Church and Clergy in those things than they have to make Laws for the Hierarchies of Angels in Heaven
That the Parliament being a mere Temporal Court can neither by the law of Nature nor of God have competent power to define of such matters That Supremacy in this kinde cannot belong unto Kings as Kings because Pagan Emperours whose Princely power was true Soveraignty never challenged so much over the Church That Power in this kinde cannot be the right of any Earthly Crown Prince or State in that they be Christians forasmuch as if they be Christians they all owe subjection to the Pastors of their Souls That the Prince therefore not having it himself cannot communicate it to the Parliament and consequently cannot make Laws here or determine of the Churches Regiment by himself Parliament or any other Court subjected unto him The Parliament of England together with the Convocation annexed thereunto is that whereupon the very essence of all Government within this Kingdom doth depend it is even the body of the whole Realm it consisteth of the King and of all that within the Land are subject unto him The Parliament is a Court not so merely Temporal as if it might meddle with nothing but onely Leather and Wool Those dayes of Queen Mary are not yet forgotten wherein the Realm did submit it self unto the Legate of Pope Iulius at which time had they been perswaded as this man seemeth now to be had they thought that there is no more force in Laws made by Parliament concerning Church-Affairs then if men should take upon them to make Orders for the Hierarchies of Angels in Heaven they might have taken all former Statutes of that kinde as cancelled and by reason of nullity abrogated What need was there that they should bargain with the Cardinal and purchase their Pardon by promise made before-hand that what Laws they had made assented unto or executed against the Bishop of Rome's Supremacy the same they would in that present Parliament effectually abrogate and repeal Had they power to repeal Laws made and none to make Laws concerning the Regiment of the Church Again when they had by suit obtained his confirmation for such Foundations of Bishopricks Cathedral Churches Hospitals Colledges and Schools for such Marriages before made for such Institutions into Livings Ecclesiastical and for all such Judicial Processes as having been ordered according to the Laws before in force but contrary unto the Canons and Orders of the Church of Rome were in that respect thought defective although the Cardinal in his Letters of Dispensation did give validity unto those Acts even Apostolicae firmitatis robur the very strength of Apostolical solidity what had all these been without those grave authentical words Be it enacted by the Authority of this present Parliament that all and singular Articles and Clauses contained in the said Dispensation shall remain and be reputed and taken to all intents and constructions in the Laws of this Realm lawful good and effectual to be alledged and pleaded in all Courts Ecclesiastical and Temporal for good and sufficient matter either for the Plaintiff or Defendant without any Allegation or Objection to be made against the validity of them by pretence of any General Councel Canon or Decree to the contrary Somewhat belike they thought there was in this mere Temporal Court without which the Popes own mere Ecclesiastical Legate's Dispensation had taken small effect in the Church of England neither did they or the Cardinal imagine any thing committed against the Law of Nature or of God because they took order for the Churches Affairs and that even in the Court of Parliament The most natural and Religious course in making Laws is that the matter of them be taken from the judgement of the wisest in those things which they are to concern In matters of God to set down a form of Prayer a solemn confession of the Articles of the Christian Faith and Ceremonies meet for the exercise of Religion It were unnatural not to think the Pastors and Bishops of our Souls a great deal more fit than men of Secular Trades and Callings Howbeit when all which the wisdome of all sorts can do is done for the devising of Laws in the Church it is the general consent of all that giveth them the form and vigour of Laws without which they could be no more unto us than the Councel of Physitians to the sick Well might they seem as wholesom admonitions and instructions but Laws could they never be without consent of the whole Church to be guided by them whereunto both Nature and the practise of the Church of God set down in Scripture is found every way so fully consonant that God himself would not impose no not his own Laws upon his People by the hand of Moses without their free and open consent Wherefore to define and determine even of the Churches Affairs by way of assent and approbation as Laws are defined in that Right of Power which doth give them the force of Laws thus to define of our own Churches Regiment the Parliament of England hath competent Authority Touching that Supremacy of Power which our Kings have in this case of making Laws it resteth principally in the strength of a negative voice which not to give them were to deny them that without which they were Kings but by mere title and not in exercise of Dominion Be it in Regiment Popular Aristocratical or Regal Principality resteth in that Person or those Persons unto whom is given right of excluding any kinde of Law whatsoever it be before establishment This doth belong unto Kings as Kings Pagan Emperors even Nero himself had no less but much more than this in the Laws of his own Empire That he challenged not any interest of giving voice in the laws of the Church I hope no man will so construe as if the cause were conscience and fear to encroach upon the Apostles right If then it be demanded By what right from Constantine downward the Christian Emperors did so far intermeddle with the Churches affairs either we must herein condemn them as being over presumptuously bold or else judge that by a Law which is termed Regia that is to say Regal the People having derived unto their Emperors their whole power for making of Laws and by that means his Edicts being made Laws what matter soever they did concern as Imperial dignity endowed them with competent Authority and power to make Laws for Religion so they were thought by Christianity to use their Power being Christians unto the benefit of the Church of Christ was there any Christian Bishop in the world which did then judge this repugnant unto the dutiful subjection which Christians do ow to the Pastors of their Souls to whom in respect of their Sacred Order it is not by us neither may be denied that Kings and Princes are as much as the very meanest that liveth under them bound in conscience to shew themselves gladly and willingly obedient receiving the Seals of Salvation the blessed Sacraments at their hands as at the
necessary for decision of Controversies rising between man and man and for correction of faults committed in the Affairs of God unto the due execution whereof there are three things necessary Laws Judges and Supream Governours of Judgements What Courts there shall be and what causes shall belong unto each Court and what Judges shall determine of every cause and what Order in all Judgements shall be kept of these things the Laws have sufficiently disposed so that his duty who sitteth in any such Court is to judge not of but after the same Law Imprimis illud observare debet Iudex ne aliter judicet quam legibus constitutionibus aut moribus proditum est ut Imperator Iustinianaus which Laws for we mean the positive Laws of our Realm concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs if they otherwise dispose of any such thing than according to the Law of Reason and of God we must both acknowledge them to be amiss and endeavour to have them reformed But touching that point what may be objected shall after appear Our Judges in Causes Ecclesiastical are either Ordinary or Commissionary Ordinary those whom we term Ordinaries and such by the Laws of this Land are none but Prelates onely whose Power to do that which they do is in themselves and belonging to the nature of their Ecclesiastical calling In Spiritual Causes a Lay-Person may be no Ordinary a Commissionary Judge there is no lett but that he may be and that our Laws do evermore referr the ordinary Judgement of Spiritual Causes unto Spiritual Persons such as are termed Ordinaries no man which knoweth any thing of the Practice of this Realm can easily be ignorant Now besides them which are Authorized to judge in several Territories there is required an universal Power which reacheth over all imparting Supream Authority of Government over all Courts all Judges all Causes the operation of which Power is as well to strengthen maintain and uphold particular Jurisdictions which haply might else be of small effect as also to remedy that which they are not able to help and to redress that wherein they at any time do otherwise than they ought to do This Power being sometime in the Bishop of Rome who by sinister Practises had drawn it into his hands was for just considerations by Publick consent annexed unto the Kings Royal Seat and Crown from thence the Authors of Reformation would translate it into their National Assemblies or Synods which Synods are the onely helps which they think lawful to use against such Evils in the Church as particular Jurisdictions are not sufficient to redress In which Cause our Laws have provided that the Kings supereminent Authority and Power shall serve As namely when the whole Ecclesiastical State or the Principal Persons therein do need Visitation and Reformation when in any part of the Church Errours Schismes Herusies Abuses Offences Contempts Enormities are grown which men in their several Jurisdictions either do not or cannot help Whatsoever any Spiritual Authority and Power such as Legates from the See of Rome did sometimes exercise hath done or might heretofore have done for the remedies of those Evils in lawful sort that is to say without the violation of the Laws of God or Nature in the deed done as much in every degree our Laws have fully granted that the King for ever may do not onely be setting Ecclesiastical Synods on work that the thing may be their Act and the King their Motioner unto it for so much perhaps the Masters of the Reformation will grant but by Commissions few or many who having the Kings Letters Patents may in the vertue thereof execute the premises as Agents in the right not of their own peculiar and ordinary but of his supereminent Power When men are wronged by inferiour Judges or have any just cause to take exception against them their way for Redress is to make their Appeal and Appeal is a present delivery of him which maketh it out of the hands of their Power and Jurisdictions from whence it is made Pope Alexander having sometimes the King of England at advantage caused him amongst other things to agree that as many of his Subjects as would might have appeal to the Court of Rome And thus saith one that whereunto a mean Person at this day would scorn to submit himself so great a King was content to he subject to Notwithstanding even when the Pope saith he had so great Authority amongst Princes which were farr off the Romans he could not frame to obedience nor was able to obtain that himself might abide at Rome though promising not to meddle with other than Ecclesiastical Affairs So much are things that terrifie more feared by such as behold them aloof off than at hand Reformers I doubt not in some Causes will admit Appeals but Appeals made to their Synods even as the Church of Rome doth allow of them so they be made to the Bishop of Rome As for that kinde of Appeal which the English Laws do approve from the Judge of any certain particular Court unto the King as the onely Supream Governour on Earth who by his Delegates may give a final definitive Sentence from which no farther Appeal can be made Will their Plat-form allow of this Surely forasmuch as in that estate which they all dream of the whole Church must be divided into Parishes in which none can have greater or less Authority and Power than another again the King himself must be but a common Member in the Body of his own Parish and the causes of that onely Parish must be by the Officers thereof determinable In case the King had so much favour or preferment as to be made one of those Officers for otherwise by their positions he were not to meddle any more than the meanest amongst his Subjects with the Judgement of any Ecclesiastical Cause how is it possible they should allow of Appeals to be made from any other abroad to the King To receive Appeals from all other Judges belongeth to the highest in power of all and to be in power over All as touching Judgment in Ecclesiastical Causes this as they think belongeth onely to Synods Whereas therefore with us Kings do exercise over all Things Persons and Causes Supream Power both of voluntary and litigious Jurisdictionsâ— so that according to the one they incite reform and command according to the other they judge universally doing both in farr other sort than such as have ordinary Spiritual power oppugned we are herein by some colourable shew of Argument as if to grant thus much to any Secular Person it were unreasonable For sith it is say they apparent out of the Chronicles that judgement in Church-matters pertaineth to God Seeing likewise it is evident out of the Apostles that the High-Priest is set over those matters in Gods behalf It must needs follow that the Principality or direction of the Iudgment of them is by Gods ordinance appertaining to the High-Priest and
consequently to the Ministry of the Church and if it be by Gods Ordinance appertaining unto them how can it be translated from them to the Civil Magistrate Which Argument briefly drawn into form lyeth thus That which belongeth unto God may not be translated unto any other but whom he hath appointed to have it in his behalf But principality of Judgement in Church-matters appertaineth unto God which hath appointed the High-Priest and consequently the Ministry of the Church alone to have it in his behalf Ergo it may not from them be translated to the Civil Magistrate The first of which Propositions we grant as also in the second that branch which ascribeth unto God Principality in Church-matters But that either he did appoint none but onely the High-Priest to exercise the said Principality for him or that the Ministry of the Church may in reason from thence be concluded to have alone the same Principality by his appointment these two Points we deny utterly For concerning the High-Priest there is first no such Ordinance of God to be found Every High-Priest saith the Apostle is taken from amongst men and is ordained for men in things pertaining to God Whereupon it may well be gathered that the Priest was indeed Ordained of God to have Power in things appertaining unto God For the Apostle doth there mention the Power of offering Gifts and Sacrifices for Sin which kinde of Power was not onely given of God unto Priests but restrained unto Priests onely The power of Jurisdiction and ruling Authority this also God gave them but not them alone For it is held as all men know that others of the Laity were herein joyned by the Law with them But concerning Principality in Church-affairs for of this our Question is and of no other the Priest neither had it alone nor at all but in Spiritual or Church-affairs as hath been already shewed it was the Royal Prerogative of Kings only Again though it were so that God had appointed the High-Priest to have the said Principality of Government in those maters yet how can they who alledge this enforce thereby that consequently the Ministry of the Church and no other ought to have the same when they are so farr off from allowing so much to the Ministry of the Gospel as the Priest-hood of the Law had by God's appointment That we but collecting thereout a difference in Authority and Jurisdiction amongst the Clergy to be for the Polity of the Church not inconvenient they forthwith think to close up our mouths by answering That the Iewish High-Priest had authority above the rest onely in that they prefigured the Soveraignty of Iesus Christ As for the Ministers of the Gospel it is altogether unlawful to give them as much as the least Title any syllable whereof may sound to Principality And of the Regency which may be granted they hold others even of the Laity no less capable than the Pastors themselves How shall these things cleave together The truth is that they have some reason to think it not at all of the fittest for Kings to sit as ordinary Judges in matters of Faith and Religion An ordinary Judge must be of the quality which in a Supream Judge is not necessary Because the Person of the one is charged with that which the other Authority dischargeth without imploying personally himself therein It is an Errour to think that the King's Authority can have no force nor power in the doing of that which himself may not personally do For first impossible it is that at one and the same time the King in Person should order so many and so different affairs as by his own power every where present are wont to be ordered both in peace and warr at home and abroad Again the King in regard of his nonage or minority may be unable to perform that thing wherein years of discretion are requisite for personal action and yet his authority even then be of force For which cause we say that the King's authority dyeth not but is and worketh always alike Sundry considerations there may be effectual to with-hold the King's Person from being a doer of that which notwithstanding his Power must give force unto even in Civil affairs where nothing doth more either concern the duty or better beseem the Majesty of Kings than personally to administer Justice to their People as most famous Princes have done yet if it be in case of Felony of Treason the Learned in the Laws of this Realm do affirm that well may the King commit his Authority to another to judge between him and the Offender but the King being himself there a Party he cannot personally sit to give Judgement As therefore the Person of the King may for just considerations even where the cause is Civil be notwithstanding withdrawn from occupying the Seat of Judgment and others under his Authority be fit he unfit himself to judge so the considerations for which it were haply no convenient for Kings to sit and give Sentence in Spiritual Courts where Causes Ecclesiastical are usually debated can be no barr to that force and efficacy which their Soveraign Power hath over those very Consistories and for which we hold without any exception that all Courts are the Kings All men are not for all things sufficient and therefore Publick affairs being divided such Persons must be authorized Judges in each kinde as Common reason may presume to be most fit Which cannot of Kings and Princes ordinarily be presumed in Causes merely Ecclesiastical so that even Common sense doth rather adjudge this burthen unto other men We see it hereby a thing necessary to put a difference as well between that Ordinary Jurisdiction which belongeth unto the Clergy alone and that Commissionary wherein others are for just considerations appointed to joyn with them as also between both these Jurisdictions And a third whereby the King hath transcendent Authority and that in all Causes over both Why this may not lawfully be granted unto him there is no reason A time there was when Kings were not capable of any such Power as namely when they professed themselves open Enemies unto Christ and Christianity A time there followed when they being capable took sometimes more sometimes less to themselves as seemed best in their own eyes because no certainty touching their right was as yet determined The Bishops who alone were before accustomed to have the ordering of such Affairs saw very just cause of grief when the highest favouring Heresie withstood by the strength of Soveraign Authority Religious proceedings Whereupon they oftentimes against this unresistable power pleaded the use and custom which had been to the contrary namely that the affairs of the Church should be dealt in by the Clergy and by no other unto which purpose the sentences that then were uttered in defence of unabolished Orders and Laws against such as did of their own heads contrary thereunto are now altogether impertinently brought in opposition against
them who use but that Power which Laws have given them unless men can shew that there is in those Laws some manifest iniquity or injustice Whereas therefore against the force Judicial and Imperial which Supream Authority hath it is alledged how Constantine termeth Church-Officers Over-seers of things within the Church himself of those without the Church how Augustine witnesseth that the Emperor not daring to judge of the Bishop's Cause committed it to the Bishops and was to crave paâ—â—â—on of the Bishops for that by the Donatists importunity which made no end to appealing unto him he was being weary of them drawn to give sentence in a matter of theirs how Hilary beseecheth the Emperor Constance to provide that the Governors of his Provinces should not presume to take upon them the Judgement of Ecclesiastical Causes to whom onely Common-wealth matters belonged how Ambrose affirmeth that Palaces belong unto the Emperor Churches to the Minister That the Emperor hath the authority over the Common-walls of the City and not in holy things for which cause he never would yield to have the Causes of the Church debated in the Princes Consistories but excused himself to the Emperor Valentinian for that being convented to answer concerning Church-matters in a Civil Court he came not We may by these testimonies drawn from Antiquity if wellst to consider them discern how requisite it is that Authority should always follow received Laws in the manner of proceeding For inasmuch as there was at the first no certain Law determining what force the principal Civil Magistrates authority should be of how farr it should reach and what order it should observe but Christian Emperors from time to time did what themselves thought most reasonable in those affairs by this means it cometh to passe that they in their practise vary and are not uniform Vertuous Emperors such as Constantine the Great was made conscience to swerve unnecessarily from the custom which had been used in the Church even when it lived under Infidels Constantine of reverence to Bishops and their Spiritual Authority rather abstained from that which himself might lawfully do than was willing to claim a Power not fit or decent for him to exercise The Order which hath been before he ratifieth exhorting the Bishops to look to the Church and promising that he would do the Office of a Bishop over the Common-wealth which very Constantine notwithstanding did not thereby so renounce all Authority in judging of Special Causes but that sometime he took as St. Augustine witnesseth even personal cognition of them howbeit whether as purposing to give therein judicially any Sentence I stand in doubt for if the other of whom St. Augustine elsewhere speaketh did in such sort judge surely there was cause why he should excuse it as a thing not usually done Otherwise there is no lett but that any such great Person may hear those Causes to and fro debated and deliver in the end his own opinion of them declaring on which side himself doth judge that the truth is But this kinde of Sentence bindeth no side to stand thereunto it is a Sentence of private perswasion and not of solemn jurisdiction albeit a King or an Emperour pronounce it Again on the contrary part when Governours infected with Heresie were possessed of the Highest Power they thought they might use it as pleased themselves to further by all means that opinion which they desired should prevail they not respecting at all what was meet presumed to command and judge all men in all Causes without either care of orderly proceeding or regard to such Laws and Customs as the Church had been wont to observe So that the one sort feared to do even that which they might and that which the other ought not they boldly presumed upon the one sort of modesty excused themselves where they scarce needed the other though doing that which was inexcusable bare it out with main power not enduring to be told by any man how farr they roved beyond their bounds So great odds was between them whom before we mentioned and such as the younger Valentinian by whom St. Ambrose being commanded to yield up one of the Churches under him unto the Arrians whereas they which were sent on his Message alledged That the Emperour did but use his own right forasmuch as all things were in his power The Answer which the holy Bishop gave them was That the Church is the House of God and that those things that are Gods are not to be yielded up and disposed of it at the Emperors will and pleasure His Palaces he might grant to whomsoever he pleaseth but Gods own Habitation not so A cause why many times Emperours do more by their absolute Authority than could very well stand with reason was the over-great importunity of wicked Hereticks who being Enemies to Peace and Quietness cannot otherwise than by violent means be supported In this respect therefore we must needs think the state of our own Church much better settled than theirs was because our Lawes have with farr more certainty prescribed bounds unto each kinde of Power All decision of things doubtful and correction of things amiss are proceeded in by order of Law what Person soever he be unto whom the administration of Judgment belongeth It is neither permitted unto Prelates nor Prince to judge and determine at their own discretion but Law hath prescribed what both shall do What Power the King hath he hath it by Law the bounds and limits of it are known the intire Community giveth general order by Law how all things publickly are to be done and the King as the Head thereof the Highest in Authority over all causeth according to the same law every particular to be framed and ordered thereby The whole Body Politick maketh Laws which Laws gave Power unto the King and the King having bound himself to use according unto Law that power it so falleth out that the execution of the one is accomplished by the other in most religious and peaceable sort There is no cause given unto any to make supplication as Hilary did that Civil Governors to whom Common-wealth-matters only belong may not presume to take upon them the Judgement of Ecclesiastical causes If the cause be Spiritual Secular Courts do not meddle with it we need not excuse our selves with Ambrose but boldly and lawfully we may refuse to answer before any Civil Judge in a matter which is not Civil so that we do not mistake either the nature of the Cause or of the Court as we easily may do both without some better direction than can be by the rules of this new-found Discipline But of this most certain we are that our Laws do neither suffer a Spiritual Court to entertain those Causes which by the Law are Civil nor yet if the matter be indeed Spiritual a mere Civil Court to give Judgement of it Touching Supream Power therefore to command all men and in all manner
of causes of Judgement to be highest let thus much suffice as well for declaration of our own meaning as for defence of the truth therein The cause is not like when such Assemblies are gathered together by Suream Authority concerning other affairs of the Church and when they meet about the making of Ecclesiastical Laws or Statutes For in the one they are onely to advise in the other to decree The Persons which are of the one the King doth voluntarily assemble as being in respect of quality fit to consult withal them which are of the other he calleth by prescript of Law as having right to be thereunto called Finally the one are but themselves and their Sentence hath but the weight of their own Judgment the other represent the whole Clergy and their voyces are as much as if all did give personal verdict Now the question is Whether the Clergy alone so assembled ought to have the whole power of making Ecclesiastical Laws or else consent of the Laity may thereunto be made necessary and the King's assent so necessary that his sole denial may be of force to stay them from being Laws If they with whom we dispute were uniform strong and constant in that which they say we should not need to trouble our selves about their Persons to whom the power of making Laws for the Church belongs for they are sometime very vehement in contention that from the greatest thing unto the least about the Church all must needs be immediately from God And to this they apply the pattern of the antient Tabernacle which God delivered unto Moses and was therein so exact that there was not left as much as the least pin for the wit of man to devise in the framing of it To this they also apply that streight and severe charge which God soosten gave concerning his own Law Whatsoever I command you take heed ye do it Thou shalt put nothing thereto thou shalt take nothing from it Nothing whether it be great or small Yet sometimes bethinking themselves better they speak as acknowledging that it doth suffice to have received in such sort the principal things from God and that for other matters the Church had sufficient authority to make Laws whereupon they now have made it a question What Persons they are whose right it is to take order for the Churches affairs when the institution of any new thing therein is requisite Law may be requisite to be made either concerning things that are onely to be known and believed in or else touching that which is to be done by the Church of God The Law of Nature and the Law of God are sufficient for declaration in both what belongeth unto each man separately as his Soul is the Spouse of Christ yea so sufficient that they plainly and fully shew whatsoever God doth require by way of necessary introduction unto the state of everlasting bliss But as a man liveth joyned with others in common society and belongeth to the outward Politick Body of the Church albeit the same Law of Nature and Scripture have in this respect also made manifest the things that are of greatest necessity nevertheless by reason of new occasions still arising which the Church having care of Souls must take order for as need requireth hereby it cometh to pass that there is and ever will be so great use even of Human Laws and Ordinances deducted by way of discourse as a conclusion from the former Divine and Natural serving as Principals thereunto No man doubteth but that for matters of Action and Practice in the Affairs of God for manner in Divine Service for order in Ecclesiastical proceedings about the Regiment of the Church there may be oftentimes cause very urgent to have Laws made but the reason is not so plain wherefore Human laws should appoint men what to believe Wherefore in this we must note two things 1. That in matters of opinion the Law doth not make that to be truth which before was not as in matter of Action is causeth that to be a duty which was not before but manifesteth only and giveth men notice of that to be truth the contrary whereunto they ought not before to have believed 2. That opinions do cleave to the understanding and are in heat assented unto it is not in the power of any Human law to command them because to prescribe what men shall think belongeth only unto God Corde creditur ore fit confessio saith the Apostle As opinions are either fit or inconvenient to be professed so man's laws hath to determine of them It may for Publick unities sake require mens professed assent or prohibit their contradiction to special Articles wherein as there haply hath been Controversie what is true so the same were like to continue still not without grievous detriment unto a number of Souls except Law to remedy that evil should set down a certainty which no man afterwards is to gain-say Wherefore as in regard of Divine laws which the Church receiveth from God we may unto every man apply those words of wisdom in Solomon My Son keep thou thy Fathers Precepts Conserva Fili mi praecepta Patris tui even so concerning the Statutes and Ordinances which the Church it self makes we may add thereunto the words that follow Etut dimitt as legem Matris tuae And forsake thou not thy Mothers law It is a thing even undoubtedly natural that all free and Independent Societies should themselves make their own Laws and that this power should belong to the whole not to any certain part of a Politick body though haply some one part may have greater sway in that action than the rest which thing being generally fit and expedient in the making of all Laws we see no cause why to think otherwise in Laws concerning the service of God which in all well-order'd States and Common-wealths is the first thing that Law hath care to provide for When we speak of the right which naturally belongeth to a Common-wealth we speak of that which must needs belong to the Church of God For if the Common-wealth be Christian if the People which are of it do publickly embrace the true Religion this very thing doth make it the Church as hath been shewed So that unless the verity and purity of Religion do take from them which embrace it that power wherewith otherwise they are possessed look what authority as touching laws for Religion a Common-wealth hath simply it must of necessity being of the Christian Religion It will be therefore perhaps alledged that a part of the verity of Christian Religion is to hold the power of making Ecclesiastical Laws a thing appropriated unto the Clergy in their Synods and whatsoever is by their only voyces agreed upon it needeth no further approbation to give unto it the strength of a Law as may plainly appear by the Canons of that first most venerable Assembly where those things the Apostle and Iames had concluded
were afterwards published and imposed upon the Churches of the Gentiles abroad as Laws the Records thereof remaining still the Book of God for a testimony that the power of making Ecclesiastical Laws belongeth to the Successors of the Apostles the Bishops and Prelates of the Church of God To this we answer That the Councel of Ierusalem is no Argument for the power of the Clergy to make Laws For first there hath not been sithence any Councel of like authority to that in Ierusalem Secondly The cause why that was of such authority came by a special accident Thirdly The reason why other Councels being not like unto that in nature the Clergy in them should have no power to make Laws by themselves alone is in truth so forcible that except some Commandment of God to the contrary can be shewed it ought notwithstanding the foresaid example to prevail The Decrees of the Councel of Ierusalem were not as the Canons of other Ecclesiastical Assemblies Human but very Divine Ordinances for which cause the Churches were farr and wide commanded every where to see them kept no otherwise than if Christ himself had personally on Earth been the Author of them The cause why that Council was of so great Authority and credit above all others which have been sithence is expressed in those words of principal observation Unto the Holy Ghost and to us it hath seemed good which form of speech though other Councels have likewise used yet neither could they themselves mean nor may we so understand them as if both were in equal sort assisted with the power of the Holy Ghost but the latter had the favour of that general assistance and presence which Christ doth promise unto all his according to the quality of their several Estates and Callings the former the grace of special miraculous rare and extraordinary illumination in relation whereunto the Apostle comparing the Old Testament and the New together termeth the one a Testament of the Letter for that God delivered it written in stone the other a Testament of the Spirit because God imprinted it in the hearts and declared it by the tongues of his chosen Apostles through the power of the Holy Ghost feigning both their conceits and speeches in most Divine and incomprehensible manner Wherefore in as much as the Council of Ierusalem did chance to consist of men so enlightened it had authority greater than were meet for any other Council besides to challenge wherein such kinde of Persons are as now the state of the Church doth stand Kings being not then that which now they are and the Clergy not now that which then they were Till it be proved that some special Law of Christ hath for ever annexed unto the Clergy alone the power to make Ecclesiastical laws we are to hold it a thing most consonant with equity and reason that no Ecclesiastical laws be made in a Christian Common-wealth without consent as well of the Laity as of the Clergy but least of all without consent of the highest Power For of this thing no man doubteth namely that in all Societies Companies and Corporations what severally each shall be bound unto it must be with all their assents ratified Against all equity it were that a man should suffer detriment at the hands of men for not observing that which he never did either by himself or by others mediately or immediately agree unto Much more than a King should constrain all others no the strict observation of any such Human Ordinance as passeth without his own approbation In this Case therefore especially that vulgar Axiom is of force Quod omnes tangit ab omnibus tractari approbari debet Whereupon Pope Nicolas although otherwise not admitting Lay-persons no not Emperors themselves to be present as Synods doth notwithstanding seem to allow of their presence when matters of Faith are determined whereunto all men must stand bound Ubinam legistis Imperatores Antecessores vestros Synodalibus Conventibus interfuisse nisi forsitan in quibus de Fide tractatum est quae non solum ad Clericos verum etiam ad Laicos omnes pertinet Christianos A Law be it Civil or Ecclesiastical is a Publick Obligation wherein seeing that the whole standeth charged no reason it should pass without his privity and will whom principally the whole doth depend upon Sicut Laici jurisdictionem Clericorum perturbare ita Clerici jurisdictionem Laicorum non debent minuere saith Innocentius Extra de judic novit As the Laity should not hinder the Clergy's jurisdiction so neither is it reason that the Laity's right should be abridged by the Clergy saith Pope Innocent But were it so that the Clergy alone might give Laws unto all the rest forasmuch as every Estate doth desire to inlarge the bounds of their own Liberties is it not easie to see how injurious this might prove to men of other conditions Peace and Justice are maintained by preserving unto every Order their Rights and by keeping all Estates as it were in an even ballance which thing is no way better done than if the King their common Parent whose care is presumed to extend most indifferently over all do bear the chiefest sway in the making Laws which All must be ordered by Wherefore of them which in this point attribute most to the Clergy I would demand What evidence there is whereby it may clearly be shewed that in antient Kingdoms Christian any Canon devised by the Clergy alone in their Synods whether Provincial National or General hath by mere force of their Agreement taken place as a Law making all men constrainable to be obedient thereunto without any other approbation from the King before or afterwards required in that behalf But what speak we of antient Kingdoms when at this day even the Papacy it self the very Tridentine Council hath not every where as yet obtained to have in all points the strength of Ecclesiastical Laws did not Philip King of Spain publishing that Council in the Low Countries adde thereunto an express clause of special provision that the same should in no wise prejudice hurt or diminish any kinde of Priviledge which the King or his Vassals a fore-time had enjoyed touching either possessory Judgements of Ecclesiastical Livings or concerning nominations thereunto or belonging to whatsoever right they had else in such Affairs If therefore the Kings exception taken against some part of the Canons contained in that Council were a sufficient barr to make them of none effect within his Territories it followeth that the like exception against any other part had been also of like efficacy and so consequently that no part therof had obtained the strength of a Law if he which excepted against a part had so done against the whole as what reason was there but that the same Authority which limited might quite and clean have refused that Council who so alloweth the said Act of the Catholick Kings for good and
neither affected the truth of God nor the peace of the Church Mihi pro minimo â—est it doth not much move me when Mr. Travers doth say that which I trust a greater than Mr. Travers will gainsay 17. Now let all this which hitherto he hath said be granted him let it be as he would have it let my Doctrine and manner of teaching be as much disallowed by all men's Judgements as by his what is all this to his purpose He alledgeth this to be the cause why he bringeth it in The High-Commissioners charge him with an indiscretion and want of duty in that he inveighed against certain Points of Doctrine taught by me as erroneous not conâ—erring first with me nor complaining of it to them Which faults a sea of such matter as he hath hitherto waded in will never be able to scoure from him For the avoiding Schism and disturbance in the Church which must needs grow if all men might think what they list and speak openly what they think therefore by a Decree agreed upon by the Bishops and confirmed by her Majesties Authority it was ordered That erroneous Doctrine if it were taught publickly should not be publickly refuted but that notice thereof should be given into such as are by her Highness appointed to hear and to determine such Causes For breach of which Order when he is charged with lack of Duty all the faults that can be heaped upon me will make but a weak defence for him As surely his defence is not much stronger when he alledges for himself That he was in some hope his speech in proving the truth and clearing those scraples which I had in my self might cause me either to embrace sound Doctrine or suffer it to be embraced of others which if I did he should not need to complain that It was meet he should discover first what I had sown and make it manifest to be tares and then desire their Sithe to cutt it down that Conscience did binds him to doe otherwise than the foresaid Order requireth that He was unwilling to deal in that publick manner and wished a more convenient way were taken for it that He had resolved to have protested the next Sabbath day that he would some other way satisfie such as should require it and not deal more in that place Be it imagined let me not be taken as if I did compare the offenders when I do not but their Answers onely that a Libeller did make this Apology for himself I am not ignorant that if I have just matter against any man the Law is open there are Judges to hear it and Courts where it ought to be complained of I have taken another course against such or such a man yet without breach of Duty forasmuch as I am able to yield a reason of my doing I conceive some hope that a little discredit amongst men would make him ashamed of himself and that his shame would work his amendment which if it did other accusation there should not need could his answer he thought sufficient could it in the judgement of discreet men free him from all blame No more can the hope Mr. Travers conceived to reclaim me by publick speech justifie his fault against the established Order of the Church 18. His thinking it meet he should first openly discover to the People the Tares that had been sown amongst them and then require the hand of Authority to mow them down doth onely make it a Question Whether his opinion that this was meet may be a priviledge or protection against the lawful Constitution which had before determined of it as of a thing unmeet Which Question I leave for them to discusse whom it most concerneth If the Order be such that it cannot be kept without hazarding a thing so precious as a good Conscience the peril whereof could be no greater to him than it needs must be to all others whom it toucheth in like Causes then this is evident it will be an effectual motive not onely for England but also for other Reformed Churches even Geniva it self for they have the like to change or take that away which cannot but with great inconvenience be observed In the mean while the breach of it may in such consideration be pardoned which truly I wish howsoever it be yet hardly defended as long as it standeth in force uncancelled 19. Now whereas he confesseth another way had been more convenient and that he found in himself secret unwillingnesse to doe that which he did doth he not say plainly in effect that the light of his own Understanding proved the way that he took perverse and crooked Reason was so plain and pregnant against it that his Minde was alienated his Will averted to another course yet somewhat there was that so farr over-ruled that it must needs be done even against the very stream what doth it bewray Finally his purposed Protestation whereby he meant openly to make it known that he did not allow this kinde of proceeding and therefore would satisfie men otherwise and deal no more in this Place sheweth his good minde in this that he meant to stay himself from further offending but it serveth not his turn He is blamed because the thing he hath done was amisse and his Answer is That which I would have done afterwards had been well if so be I had done it 20. But as in this he standeth perswaded that he hath done nothing besides duty so he taketh it hardly that the High Commissioners should charge him with indiscretion Wherefore as if he could so wash his hands he maketh a long and a large declaration concerning the carriage of himself how he waded in matters of smaller weight and how in things of greater moment how wary he dealt how naturally he took his things rising from the Text how closely he kept himself to the Scriptures he took in hand how much pains he took to confirm the necessity of believing Iustification by Christ onely and to shew how the Church of Rome denieth that a man is saved by Faith alone without works of the Law what the Sons of Thunder would have done if they had been in his case that his Answer was very temperate without immodest or reproachful speech that when he might before all have reproved me he did not but contented himself with exhorting me before all to follow Nathan's example and revisit my Doctrine when he might have followed Saint Paul's example in reproving Peter he did not but exhorted me with Peter to endure to be withstood This Testimony of his discreet carrying himself in the handling of his matter being more agreeably framed and given him by another than by himself might make somewhat for the praise of his Person but for defence of his action unto them by whom he is thought undiscreet for not concerning privately before he spake will it serve to answer that when he spake he did it considerately He perceiveth it will not and
Now I taste nothing sweet but the Bread which came down from Heaven to give life unto the World Now mine eys see nothing but Jesus rising from the dead Now my ears refuse all kinde of melody to hear the Song of them that hath gotten victory of the Beast and of his Image and of his Mark and of the number of his Name that stand on the Sea of Glass having the Harps of God and singing the Song of Moses the Servant of God and the Song of the Lamb saying Great and marvellous are thy works Lord God Almighty just and true are thy wayes O King of Saints Surely if the Spirit have been thus effectual in the secret work of our Regeneration unto newness of life if we endeavour thus to frame our selves anew then we may say boldly with the blessed Apostle in the tenth to the Hebrews We are not of them which withdraw our selves to perdition but which follow Faith to the conservation of the Soul For they which fall away from the grace of God and separate themselves unto perdition they are fleshly and carnal they have not God's holy Spirit But unto you because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts to the end ye might know that Christ hath built you upon a Rock unmoveable that he hath registred your names in the Book of life that he hath bound himself in a sure and everlasting Covenant to be your God and the God of your Children after you that he hath suffered as much groaned as oft prayed as heartily for you as for Peter O Father keep them in thy Name O Righteous Father the World hath not known thee but I have known thee and these have known that thou hast sent me I have declared thy name unto them and will declare it that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them The Lord of his infinite mercy give us hearts plentifully fraught with the treasure of this blessed assurance of Faith unto the end 15. Here I must advertise all men that have the testimony of God's holy fear within their Breasts to consider how unkindly and injuriously our own Countrey-men and Brethren have dealt with us by the space of four and twenty years from time to time as if we were the men of whom St. Iude here speaketh never ceasing to charge us some with Scism some with Heresie some with plain and manifest Apostasie as if we had clean separated our selves from Christ utterly forsaken God quite abjured Heaven and trampled all Truth and Religion under our feet Against this third sort God himself shall plead our Cause in that day when they shall answer us for these words nor we them To others by whom we are accused for Schism and Heresie we have often made our reasonable and in the sight of God I trust allowable Answers For in the way which they call Heresie we worship the God of our Fathers believing all things which are written in the Law and the Prophets That which they call Schism we know to be our reasonable service unto God and obedience to his voyce which cryeth shrill in our ears Go out of Babylon my People that you be not Partakers of her sinnes and that ye receive not of her Plagues And therefore when they rise up against us having no quarrel but this we need not seek any farther for our Apology than the words of Abiah to Iereboam and his Army 2 Chron. 13. O Ieroboam and Israel hear you me Ought you not to know that the Lord God of Israel hath given the Kingdom over Israel to David for ever even to him and to his Sons by a Covenant of Salt that is to say an everlasting Covenant Jesuits and Papists hear ye me ought you not to know that the Father hath given all power unto the Son and hath made him the onely Head over his Church wherein he dwelleth as an Husband-man in the midst of his Vineyard manuring it with the sweat of his own brows not letting it forth to others For as it is in the Canticles Solomon had a Vineyard in Baalhamon he gave the Vineyard unto Keepers every one bringing forth the fruit thereof a thousand pieces of Silver but my Vineyard which is mine is before me saith Christ. It is true this is meant of the Mystical Head set over the Body which is not seen But as he hath reserved the Mystical Administration of the Church invisible unto himself so he hath committed the Mystical Government of Congregations visible to the Sonnes of David by the same Covenant whose Sons they are in the governing of the Flock of Christ whomsoever the Holy Ghost hath set over them to go before them and to lead them in several Pastures one in this Congregation another in that as it is written Take heed unto your selves and to all the Flock whereof the Holy Ghost hath made you Overseers to feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood Neither will ever any Pope or Papist under the Cope of Heaven be able to prove the Romish Bishop's usurped Supremacy over all Churches by any one word of the Covenant of Salt which is the Scripture For the Children in our streets do now laugh them to scorn when they force Thou art Peter to this purpose The Pope hath no more reason to draw the Charter of his universal Authority from hence than the Brethren had to gather by the words of Christ in the last of St. Iohn that the Disciple whom Jesus loved should not dye If I will that he â—arry till I come what is that to thee saith Christ. Straitways a report was raised amongst the Brethren that this Disciple should not dye Yet Jesus said not to him He shall not dye but If I will that he â—arry till I come what is that to thee Christ hath said in the sixteenth of St. Matthew's Gospel to Simon the Son of Ionas I say to thee Thou art Peter Hence an opinion is held in the World That the Pope is universal Head of all Churches Yet Jesus said not The Pope is universal Head of all Churches but Ta es Petrus Thou art Peter Howbeit as Ieroboam the son of Nebat the servant of Solomon rose up and rebelled against his Lord and there were gathered unto him vain men and wicked which made themselves strong against Roboam the son of Solomon because Roboam was but a Childe and tender-hearted and could not resist them So the Son of Perdition and Man of Sin being not able to brook the words of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ which forbad his Disciples to be like Princes of Nations They bear rule that are called Gracious it shall not be so with you hath risen up and rebelled against his Lord and to strengthen his arm he hath crept into the Houses almost of all the Noblest Families round about him and taken their
the perfection of any thing whereby he might speak all things that are to be spoken to it neither yet be free from error in those things which he speaketh or giveth out And therefore this argument neither affirmatively nor negatively compelleth the hearer but only induceth him to some liking or disliking of that for which it is brought and is rather for an Orator to perswade the simpler sort then for a Disputer to enforce him that is learned 1 Cor. 1 â—1 Ioh â— 34 Deut. 19.15 Matth. 18. 16. T. C. la. p. 10. Although this kinde of Argument of Authority of men is good neither in humane nâ—r divine sciences yet it hath some small force in humane sciences for if such as naturally and in that he is a man he may come to some ripeness of judgement in those sâ—â—ences which in divine maturi hath no force at all as of him which naturally and as he is a man can no more judge of them then a blinde man of colours yea so far is it from drawing crolit If it be barely spoken wâ—thout Reason and testimony of Scripture that it eaâ—rieth also a suâ—pition of untruth whatsoever proceedeth from him which the Apostle did well note when to signifie a thing corruptly spoken and against the truth he saith that it is spoken according to man Rom. 3. He saith not as a wicked and flying man but simply as a man And although this corruption be reformed in many yet for so mâ—ch as in whom the knowledge of the truth is most advanced there remaineth both ignorance and disordered affâ—ctions whereof either of them turneth him from speaking of the truth no mans authority with the Church especially and those that are called and perswaded of the Authority of the Word of God can bring any assurance unto the Conscience T. C. l. 2 p. 21. Of divers sentences of the Fathers themselves whereby some have likened them to brute Beasts without Reason which suffer themselves to be led by the judgement and authority of others some have preferred the judgement of one simple rude man alledging reason unto companies of learned men I will conteâ— my self at this time with two or three Sentences Irâ—neuo saith whatsoever is to be shewed in the Scripture cannot be shewed but out of the â—cripture themselves l. 3 cap. 12 Ierome saith No man â—s he never so holy or eloquent hath any authority after the Apostles in Psal. 86. Augustinâ— saith That he will believe none how godly and learned soever he be unless he confirm his sentence by the Scriptures or by some reason nor contrary to them Ep. 18. And in another place Hear this The Lord saith hear not this Donâ—ius saith â—â—gatus saith Vincentius saith Hilarius saith Ambrose saith Augustine saith but hearken unto thâ— the Lord saith Ep 8. And again having to do with an Arrian he affirmeth that neither he ought to bring forth the Council of Niâ—e nor the other the Council of Arimiâ—e thereby to bring prejudice each to other neither outhâ— the Arrian to be holden by the authority of the one nor himself by the authority of the other but by the Scriptures which are witnesses proper â—â— neither but common to both matter with matter cause with cause reason with reason ought to be debated Cont. Max. Atrian p. 14. cap. And in another â—â—ce against Petil. the Donarist he saith Let not these words he heard between us I say You say let us hear this Thus â—aith the Lord. And by and by speaking of the Scriptures he saith There let us seek the Church there let us try the cause De unit Eccles. cap. 3. Hereby it is manifest that the argument of the authority of man affirmatively in nothing worth Matth. 17.10 T. C. lib. 2. 2â— It at any time it hapned unto Augustine as it did against the Donatists and others to alledge the authority of the ancient Fathers which had been heiuâ—e him yet this was not done before he had laid a sure foundation of his cause in the Scriptures and that also being provoked by the adversaries of the truth who hare themselves high of some Council or of some man of name that had â—avorcil that part A Declaration what the truth is in this matter Matth. 86. 40. Ephis 5. 29. Matth 5. 46. 1 â—ian 5. 8. Matth. 1â— 42. Acts 4. 31. 1 Thes. 2. 7 9. T. C. lib. p. 6. Where this Doctrine is accused of bringing men to despair it hath wrong For when doubting is the way to despair against which this Doctrine offereth the remedy it must needâ— be that it bringeth comfort and joy to the conscience of man Luke 7. â— What the Church is and in what respect Laws of Pulky are thereunto necessarily required John 10. 22. and 1.47 and 21. 15. 1 Tim. 1 5. a Ephes. 2. 16. That he might r. o n cise both unto God in one body Ephes. 3. 16. That the Genries should be in their â—â— also and of the â—â—â—â—bâ—dâ— â—ile T. p. 3. 7. art 3 1 Cor. 12. 13. Ephes. 4. 5. Acts. 2.36 John 13 13. Col. 3. 21. and 2. 1. b 1 Cer. 1. 23. Vide Tanilum lib. An sal 15. Not qussitissturis â—â—â—it assâ—â—iâ— quos per flagiria invites vulgus Christianes appellabat Auâ—ior nominis ejus Christus qui Tiberio 〈…〉 pâ—â—â—â—â—â—rem Pâ—ntion Pilatum 〈…〉 â—rat Repressâ—g in pâ—esers exitiabilu superstitio râ—â—sâ—â—â— erumpehat â—â—â— and per Iudsam originem ejus mali jed per urhem â—â—iâ—m quo cuâ—cta undique atrocia aus pâ—denda â—â—â—â—â—â— â—â—l broâ—â—â—â—â— John 15. 21. â—â—d 86. 2. 4. Apec 2. 13. Tâ—cul de Virgin Veland Iter. Advers Haâ—es lib. â— 1. cap. 2. c. Acts 8. 38. 22. 16. 2. 41. Matth. 13.47 13. 24. Exod. 23. â—â— 106.19 20. 2 Kings 18 4. Jere 11.14 2 Kings 23. 17. lâ—i 17. 3. 1. 4. 60. 15. Jere. 13. 11. 1 Kings 13. 8. Jere. 13. 11. 1 Kings 19. 18. â—â—â—uâ—a In Concil Car. Matth 7. 24. 16. 18. â—â— 19. Sâ—â—â—â—â—ium in â—â—â—â— Con. il Matth. 12. 30. In Conâ—iâ—◠〈…〉 Vide Hâ—â—â—â— Dial. Atâ—â—â— Lucifâ—â—â—a 2 Chre. 13. Hos. 14. 15 17. Josh. 14. 15. Rom. 11.28 Calvin Epish 1. Epist. 283. Epist. 285. Tertul. Exhort ad Caslie Ubi tres Ecclesia est licet laici Acts. 2. 47. Whether it be necessary that some particular Form of Church-Polity be set down in Scripture sith the things that belong particularly unto any such Form are not of necessary to Salvation Tertul. de hibitu mul. AErouli sine necesse est quae Del non lunt Rom. 2. 15. Lact. lib. 6. c. 8. Ille legis hujus inventor disceptater lator Cic. 3. de Repub * Two things misliked the one that we distinguish matters of Discipline or Church Government from matters of Faith and necessary unto Salvation The other that we are injurious to the Scripture of God in abridging the large and rich Continks thereof Their words are these You which
for the Children unto Dog and he bringeth into the Pasture which is provided for the Sheep Swine and unclean Beasts contrary to the Faith and Trust that ought to be in a Steward of the Lords House as he is For albeit that I doubt not but many of those which are now Papists pertain to the Election of God which God also in his good time will call to the knowledge of his Truth Yet notwithstanding they ought to be unto the Minister and unto the Church touching the Ministring of Sacraments as Strangers and as unclean Beasts The Ministring of the holy Sacraments unto them is a Declaration and Seal of Gods favor and reconciliation with them and a plain Preaching partly that they be washâ—d already from their sin partly that they are of the Houshold of God and such as the Lord will feed to Eternal Life which is not lawful to be done unto those which are not of the Houshold of Faith And therefore I conclude That the compelling of Papists unto the Communion and the dismissing and letting of them go when as they be to be punished for their stubbornness in Popery with this condition if they will receive the Communion is very unlawful when as although they would receive it yet they ought to be kept back till such time as by their Religious and Gospel-like behavior c. T. C. lib. 1. pag. 147. 2 Chro. 30.13 Psal 12â— 1. Luk. 14. 23. T. C. lib 1. pag. 145. a 1 Cor. 15. 21. b Phil. 3. 11. c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theophyl 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ammon Vide 1 Thes. 4. 17. d Maturatae Resurrection 's laethunila solemnia Cypr. de Coea Deut. cap. 1â— e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignat. Epist. ad Ephes Iren. lib. 4. cap. 34. f Eâ—st â—ih I serile murandum est ex solemnibus tamen ubi aequiras evidens praser sâ—â—irâ—iendum est Lib. 183. ff de Reg. Jur. Of Festival Days and the Natural cause of their convenient Institution 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hippâ—â— l. qua Praterproâ—â— in â—â—abitur Exod. 3. 5. Psal. 118 24. Ecclus. 33. 5. The manner of celebrating Festival Days a Grande vialrâ—â—cer octiciurn seces se choros in pub licurn endurete vicatim epuiaâ— ebitatem taâ—â—rna â—alun â—ole â—â—â— vino lucâ—â— cugrâ—e catervarim cursirare ad injurias ad iniurin ad impuâ—â—citias ad Iâ—biâ—inis illecebras Siccine exprimiâ—â— publicum qanâ—inst per publicum dedecus Tert. Apol. â—p 35. Dies sellos Majestiri altiâ—same dedicarâ—s â—ulli â—â—â—â—â—us voluptatiâ—â—tes accupâ—ri â—l 12. tit 12. lib. 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thess. â—â—â—iraâ— liâ—iâ— Ser. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo. lib. de Abâ—aba Deut. 15. 14. Nehe 8. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist. 1 Chro. 23.30 Esâ—h 9. 27. Joh. 10. 21. 1 Mac. 4. 3â— Gal 4. 10. Si omnem la torum devotionem temporum dierum menlium annorum eralis Apostolus ear Pâ—neta celebramus nanca cireâ—â— in mense primo Cur quinquagiâ—ta â—xinde â—â—â—bus in omai exulrainne decuâ—rimiâ— Lib adver Psyth Aug. de Civir Dci lib 10. cap. 4. Luk 1. 25. Luk. 2. 21. Exceptions against our keeping of other Festival days besides the Sabbath T. C. lib. 6. pag. 151. If they had been never abused neither by the Papists nor by the Jews as they have been and are daily yet such making of Holidays is never without some great danger of bringing in some evil and currupt opinions into the mindes of men I will use an example in one and that the chief of Holidays and most generally and of longest time observed in the Church which is the Feast of Easter which was kept of some more days of some sewer How many thousands are there I will not say of the ignorant Papists but of those also which profess the Gospel which when they have celebrated those days with diligent heed taken unto their life and with some earnest devotion in praying and hearing the Word of God do not by and by think that they have well celebrated the Feast of Easter and yet have they thus notably deceived themselves For Saint Paul reacheth 1 Cor. 5. 8. That the celebrating of the Feast of the Christians Easter is not as the Jews was for certain days but sheweth That we must keep this Feast all the days of our life in the Unleavened Bread of Sincerity and of Truth By which we see that the observing of the Feast of Easter for certain days in the year doth pull out of our mindes ere ever we he aware the Doctrine of the Gospel and causeth us to rest in that near consideration of our duties for the space of a few days which should be extended in all our life * T. C. lib. 1. Pag. 152. I confess that it is in the power of the Church to appoint so many days in the Week or in the Year in the which the Congregation shall assemble to hear the Word of God and receive the Sacraments and offer up Prayers unto God as it shall â—hink sâ—â—l according to the Rules which are before alledged But that it hath power to make so many Holidays as we have wherein men are commanded to â—â—â—se from their daily Vocation ofâ— lâ—ughing and exercising their Malieâ—â—â—s â—â—â— 1 dâ—ny to be in the power of the Church For proof whereof I will take the Fourth Commandment and no other interpretation of it then Mr. Doctor alloweth of which is That God lirâ—â—oâ—â—th and leaâ—eth it at the liberty of every man to work six days in the Week so that he rest the Seventh day Seeing therefore that the Lord hath lest it to all Men at Liberty that they might Labor if they think good Six days I say the Church nor no Man can take this Liberty away from them and drive them to a necessary Rest of the â—â—â—ly And if it be lawful to abridge the Liberty of the Church in this point and instead that the Lord saith Six days thou â—â—ist labor if thou wilt to say Thou shalt not labor Six days I do not see why the Church may not as well whereas the Lord saith Thou shalt rest the Seventh day command That thou shalt not rest the Seventh day For if the Church may â—â— strain the Liberty which God hath given them it may take away the yoke also which God hath put upon them And whereas you say That notwithstanding this Fourth Commandment the Jews has certain other Feast which they observed indeed the Lord which gave this General Law might make as many Exceptions as he thought good and so long as he thought good But it followeth not because the Lord did it that therefore the Church may do it unless it hath Commandment and Authority from God so to do As when there is any General Plague or Judgment of God either upon the Church or coming towards it the Lord commandeth in such a case Ioel 2. 15. That they should sanctifie a General â—aâ—â—
â—â— 31. Jer. â—9 13. Joel 2. 12. Chrys. de repar laps lib. ad Theodor. Deposit dist 3. c. Talis Aug. in Ps. l. â— The state of Bishops although somtime oppugned and that by such as therein would most seen to please God yeâ— by his providence upheld hitherto whose glory it is to maintain that whereof himself is the Author Cyp. l. 1. ep 3. Sulpit. Severe lb. 2. Beda Eccl. hist. l. 2. c. 2. a An. 1066. b Alfredus Eborac asis Archieâ— iseopus Galieimum cognomeâ—to Northum spirantem adhue minesua caelis in peâ—ulum mitem redâ—liAâ—â— religiâ—sis in pro conservands repub tuerd que ecclesiast also sacramento asiiuxit Nub. iâ— l. â— c. â— What a Bishop is what his name doth import and what doth belong to his Office as he is a Bishop a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dionys. Haltar de Numa Pompili Antiq. lib. 2. Vult â—â— Pompeius esse quem tora â—re Campania maricima ora habear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad quem delectus negotii summa referatur Cic. ad Attie lib. 7. Epist. 11. b Acts 20. Phil. 1. 1. And God brought them unto Adam that Adam might see or consider what name it was meet he should give unto them Gen. 2. 19. So also the name Deacon a Minister appropriated to a certain order of Ministers The name likewise of a Minister was common to divers degrees which now is peculiarly among our selves given only to Pastors and not as anciently to Deacons also In Bishops two things traduced of which two the one their Authority in it the first thing condemned the superiority over other Ministers what kind of superiority in ministers is it which the one part holdeth and the other denieth lawful From whence it hath grown that the Church is governed by Bishops Meminise Diaconi debent quoniam Apostolos id est Episcopos praepoâ—â—os Dominus elegic Cyp. l. 3 cp 9. Rom. 2. 14 15. 1 Cor. 9.16 Joh. 22 15,1â— Gal. 2. 8. a Him Eusebius doth name the Governor of the Churches in Asia Lib 3. Hist. Eccles. cap. 16. Tertujian calleth the same Churches St. lohns Foster daughters Lib. 3. advers Marcion b Iacobus qui appe latur frarer Domini cognomento Justus pest pathonem Domini flatim ab Apostiolis Hierosolymerum Episeopus ordinatus est Hierom de script Eccles Eodem tempore Jacobum primumu fedem Episcopaslem Ecclesiae quae est Hierosolymis obtinuisse memoriae traditur Euseb. Hist. Eclces lib. 2. cap. 1. The same seemeth to be intimated Acts 15 13. and Acts 21. 18. c Acts 12. 2. d Acts 13.2 e Tit. 1. 5. f This appeareth by those subscriptions which are set after the Epistle to Titus and the second to Timothy and by Euseb. Eccles hist. lib. 3. c. 4. g Irem lib. 3. c. 3. h In Ep. ad Antioch Hiâ—ron ep 81. Cypr. ep ad plorent * Theed in 1 Tim 5. a Ipsius Apostolates nulla successio Pinitur enim legatio cum legoto nec aâ—l successores ipslus transit Srgpl. doct prin con b Act. 1. 21 22. 1 John 1. 3. c Gal. 1. 1. d Apoc. 21. 14. e Mar. 28. 19. The time and cause of instituting every where Bishops with restraint Acts 20. 36,37 Acts 20.29 30. As appeareth both by his sending to call the Presbyters of Ephesus before him as far as to Milituch Acts 20. 17 which was almost fifty miles and by his leaving Timothy in his place with his Authority and iâ—sh uffions for ordaining of Ministers there 1 Tim. 5. 22. and for proportioning their maintenance verse 17.18 and for judicial hearing of accusations broughâ— against estem verse 19. and for holding them in an uniformity of Doctrine chap. 1 vers 3. Revel 2 Cypr. l. 4. Epist. 9. Hiâ—ren Ep. ad Eâ—ag Exod. 18 19. Epist. ad Jan. Ep. ad Evag. T. C. a. p li. It is to be observed that Ierom saith It was so in Alexandria sign sung that in other Churches it was not so Socrat. l. 1. c. 3. a Unto Ignatius Bishop of Anâ—â—uh Herâ— a Deacon there was made Successor Chrysostom being a Presbyter of Anfiâ—ch we chosen to succeed Nictarius in the Bishop rick of Constantinople a Bishops he meaneth by restraint for Episcopal power was always in the Church instituted by Christ himself the Apostles being in government Bishops at large as no man will deny having received from Christ himself that Episcopal Authority For which cause Cyprian hath said of them Meminisse Diaconi debent quoniam Apostolos id est Episcopos praeposâ—ros Dominus elegit Diaconol aurem posla â—censum Domini in coâ—los Apostoli sibi constiruerunt Episcopatus sui Ecclesia ministros Lib 3. Ep. 9. Lib. a. â—o â— Hâ—â—res 4 â— De prescrâ— p. oâ—â—â— râ— hereâ— Acts. 13. Acts. â— Acts. 19. 1 Tim. 1. 1â— What manner of power Bishops from the first beginning have had Aug. Ep. 19. â—d Hierom. de haeres 53. 1 Cor. 7 29. 1 Tim. 5. 9. Tettul de râ—â— viâ—g Epiph. 3. l. 10 â— haer 7. Acts. 1. â— 23. Tim. 1. 5. 1 Tim. 5. 8. A pud AEgyptum Presbyteri consir mans si â— raesens non fit Eps. copus Comq vulgo Amb. dic in 4. Ep. ad Ephes. Numb 3. 32. Numb 4.17 2 Chron. 19. 11. Joseph Atnig p. 61 â— Cypr. l. 3. ep 9. ad Rogatianum Hâ—erom Ep. â—5 Ep. ad Smyr 1 Tim. 3. 19. Against a Presbyter receive no accusation under two or three witnesses Ignat Epist. ad Antioch Apud Cypr Ep. 1. Ep. 7. Tertul advers Psychic Episcopi universae ple bi r mandare jejunia assoleni Cypr. Ep. 27. Cypr. Ep. 39. Vide Ignat. ad Magnes a Quod Aaron tilios ejus hoc Episcojum Presbyteros esse noverimns Hier. Ep. 2. of Neporiaâ—um b Ita est ut in Episcopis Hominem in Presbyteris Apostolos recognoscas Auctor opuse de ordinib Eccl. inter opera Hieron c Ignat. Ep. ad Tra. d Inslit l. 4. cap. 4. Sect. â—â— Hiere n. Epist. od Euâ—gr 85. Chrysostom lo in 1 Tim. 3. a Velut in a 1 qua sublimi specula 〈…〉 dignantur videre moâ—tales alloqui conâ—erâ—os suos in a. â— Epist. ad Gal. a Nemo peccantibus Episcopis audet contradicere Nemo audet accusare majorem propteres quasi sancti beati in praerptis Domini ambulantes augent peccata peecatis Dissicilis est accusaâ—io in Episeâ—pum Si â—â—ha pâ—ecaverit non creditur si convictus suerit ron punirur in cap. 8. Ecclesiast b pessimae consuetudiâ—â— est in quiâ—usdam Ecclesâ—â— tacere Presbyteron praesentibus Episcopis non loqui quasi aâ—â— invideant aut non dignentur audice Ep. 2. ad Nepotian c Ep. 54. ad Ripâ—r d Hieron ad Nepoâ— e No Bishop may be a Lord in reference unto the Presbyters which are under him if we take that name in the worse part or Ierom here doth For a Bishop is no
rule his Prebyters not as Lords do their Slaveâ— but as Fathers do their children In vira Chrys. per Caâ—â—od Sen. Pallad in vita Chrysostom After what sort Bishopâ— together with Presbyters have used to govern the Churches which were under them * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zon in Can. Apost Cum Episcopa Presbyteri Saceâ—lat li hoâ—â—re conjeusti Ep. 28 â— g â— Compresbyteri pâ—striqâ—i nolas aâ—tide bant â—p 27. Cyp. Ep. 93 Cyp. Eâ— â—â— * â—â—â— Such as or was that â—eter whaâ—â— all Cussiator writeth the life of Chrysostom doth call the Accepresbyter of the Church of Alexandriae under Troj â—â—â—â— that time â—â—â— Psal. 14 How sirr the lower of Bishops hath reached from the beginning in respect of Territory or luâ—â— compass I. 3â— p. de Epise ad Cler. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Resides Cypr. Ep. 51. Cum jampridem per omnes provinâ—as per urbes singulas ordinari sunt Episcopi Uâ—â— Ecclesiastici ordinis non est câ—nâ—â—â—s osserâ— â—ngit â—Sierailosâ— qui est in solus Tert. exhorâ— ad castir Cypr. Ep. 2â— Heron advers Lucifer Cypr. Ep. 4â— * Cou. Antioch cap. 5. ' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cone Constant. c. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib. 5. cap. 8. a 1 Cor. 15. As I have ordained in the Churches of Galatia the same do ye also b 2 Cor. 11. 8 Chrys. in â— ad Tiâ— â—Palialâ— inâ—â—ia Chrâ—â—â—â—â— â—Cane L Antioch caâ— 10. â— a Cic. Fam. Ep. 5. Si quid na 〈…〉 um aliquo Helleâ—â—â—â—â—io controversiae ut in illâ—m 〈◊〉 rejicias The suit which Tully maketh wâ—s this that the Party in whose behalf he wrote to the Propraetor might have his Causes put over to that Court which was held in the Diocess of Hellespont where the man did abide and not to his trouble be forced to foâ—low them at Ephesus which was the chiefest Court in thâ—t Province b Cic. ad Attic lib. 5. Ep. 12. Item 1. observ D. de officio Proconsulis Legati c Lib. 1. Tit. 27. l. 1. sect 1. 2. Sancimus ut sicut Oriens atquâ— Illyricum ita Africa praetoriana maxima potestate specialiter à nostra elementia decoretur Cujus sedem jubemus esse Carthaginem ab ea auxiliante Deo septem proâ—inciae cum suis judicious disponantur d Psal. 30. 8 9. Concil Antiochen c. ◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vilierius de flaâ—u primitivae Ecclâ—… Socr. l. 3. c. â— Câ—n. 28. Can. 3â— Novel 123. 22. Concil Nic. c. 6. Ejusd Con. cap. â— T. C. l. t. â—â— What no mention of him in Theophibus Bishop of Antioch none in Clemens Alexandrinus none in Ignatius noâ—â—â—â— in Iustin Martyr in Irenaeus In Tertâ—l in Oâ—igen in Cyprian in thoâ—e old Historiographers ouâ— of which Eusebius gathered his Story was it for his baseness and smalness that he could not be seen amongst the Bishops Elders and Deacons being the chief and principal of them all Can the Cedar of Lebanon be hidden amongst the Box-trees T. C. l. â— ubi supra A Metropolitan Bishop was nothing elâ—e but a Bishop of that place which is pleased the Emperor or Magistrate to make the chief of the Diocess or Shire and as for this name it makes no more difference between a Bishop and a Bishop than when I say a Minister of London and a Minister of Newington Con. Nicen. c. 6. Illui autem amnino manifestum quod siqus absque Mâ—tro politani sententia sactus flâ—â— p sâ— hune magna â—vno de lefin vit Episâ— ess noâ—n portere Can. 4. a Nâ—vel 123. can 10. b Now. 128. c. 9 c Now l. 79. 2. d Novel 123. can 22. e Novel 1. 3. a. 23. f Can. 9. Can. 16. Can. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Can. 23. Can. 34. Callind in vita Chrysost. Hieron Ep. 91. In what respects Episcopal Regiment hath been gainsaid of old by Aerius Aug. de haen ad quod vult deu Aeriani ab Aerio quodam sunt nominari qui qinum eâ—â—er Presbyter docuisse senâ—ur quad Episcopus non potest ordioare Dicibo Episcopum a Presbytero nulla ratione debere diseerni Aug. de haer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a As in that he saith the Apostle doth name sometimes Presbyters and not Bishops â— Tim. 4. 14. sometime Bishops and not Presbyters Phil â— â— because all Churches had not both for want of able and sufficient men In such Churches therefore as had but the one the Apostle could not mention the other Which Answer is nothing to the lâ—tâ—er place above mentioned For that the Church of Philippi should have more Bishops than one and want a few able men to be Presbyters under the Regiment of one Bishop how shall we think it probable or likely b 1 Tim. 4. 14. with the Impesition of the Presbyteries hand Of which Presbytery S Paul was chief 1 Tim. 1.6 And I think no man will deny that S. Paul need more than a simple Presbyters Authority Phil. 1. 1. To all the Saints at Philippi with the Bishops and Deacons For as yet in the Church of Philippi there was no one which had Authority besides Apostles but their Presbyters or Bishops were all both in Title and in Power equal In what respect Episcopal is gain-fall by the Authors of pretended Reformation at this day Their Auguments in disgrace of Regiment byâ—â—heps as being a meer invention of Man and nor sound in Scripture Answered Titus 1. 5. Timothy 3. 5. Philippians â— 1. 1 Peter 5. 1. 2. T. C. l. â— p. 13. So that it appeareth that the Ministery of the Gospel and the Functurions thereof ought to be from Heaven From Heaven I say and Heavenly because although it the exceâ—red by Earthly men and Ministers are chosen also by men like unto themselves yet because it is done by the Word and Institution of God It may well be accounted to come from Heaven and from God Answer Acts 1. 22. Revel 1. 1 Tim. 5. 19. Tit. 1. 5. They of Walden Acn. Syl. hist. Boem Norsilius Defens pac Nici Thum. Wakl c. 1. l. 2. cap. 0 Calvin Coment in 1 ad id Lit. Bulhtiger Decad â— Ser. 3. Juel Defens apol par 2. c. â— â—â—t Folk Answ. to the Test. Tic. â— 5. John 1. 25. Mat. 21. 23. Lib. 1. Rom. 1. 32. Luke 1. 6. Confes. 169. Epist. 150. The Arguments to prove there was no necessity of instituting Bishops in the Church Ep. 3. lb. 1. The sort-alledged Argument answered T. C. l. 1. p. â—9 â—on The Bishop which Cyprian speaketh of is nothing else but such as we call Pastor or as the common nâ—mâ— with us is Pastor and his Church whereof he is Bishop is neither Diâ—cesâ— nor Province but a Congregation which met together in one place and to he taught of one man * Etsi Frarres pro dilectione iua cupoli sunt ad conven endum visiandum Censissires boars quos illustravit jaâ—â— gloriosis initiis divina degnati ramen
hath credit with all that confess it as we all do to be his Word every Proposition of holy Scripture every Sentence being to us a Principle if the Principles of all kindes of Knowledge else have that vertue in themselves whereby they are able to procure our Assent unto such Conclusions as the industry of right Discourse doth gather from them we have no reason to think the Principles of that Truth which tendeth unto man's everlasting happiness less forcible than any other when we know that of all other they are for their certainty the most infallible But as every thing of price so this doth require travel We bring not the knowledge of God with us into the World And the less our own opportunity or ability is that way the more we need the help of other men's Judgments to be our direction herein Nor doth any man ever believe into whom the doctrin of Belief is not instilled by instruction some way received at the first from others Wherein whatsoever fit means there are to notifie the Mysteries of the Word of God whether Publickly which we call Preaching or in Private howsoever the Word by every such mean even ordinarily doth save and not only by being delivered unto men in Sermons Sermons are not the only Preaching which doth save Souls For concerning the use and sense of this word Preaching which they shut up in so close a Prison although more than enough have already been spoken to redeem the liberty thereof yet because they insist so much and so proudly insult thereon we must a little inure their Ears with hearing how others whom they more regard are in this Case accustomed to use the self-same language with us whose manner of speech they deride Iustin Martyr doubteth not to tell the Grecians That even in certain of their Writings the very Judgment to come is preached not the Council of Vaeus to insinuate that Presbyters absent through infirmity from their Churches might be said to preach by those Deputies who in their stead did but read Homilies nor the Council of Toledo to call the usual Publick reading of the Gospels in the Church Preaching nor others long before these our days to write that by him who but readeth a Lesson in the Solemn Assembly as part of Divine Service the very Office of Preaching is so far-forth executed Such kind of speeches were then familiar those Phrases seemed not to them absurd they would have marvelled to hear the Out-cryes which we do because we think that the Apostles in writing and others in reading to the Church those Books which the Apostles wrote are neither untruly nor unfitly said to preach For although mens Tongues and their Pens differ yet to one and the self-same general if not particular effect they may both serve It is no good Argument St. Paul could not write with his Tongue therefore neither could he preach with his Pen. For Preaching is a general end whereunto Writing and Speaking do both serve Men speak not with the Instruments of Writing neither write with the Instruments of Speech and yet things recorded with the one and uttered with the other may be preached well enough with both By their Patience therefore be it spoken the Apostles preached as well when they wrote as when they spake the Gospel of Christ and our usual Publick reading of the Word of God for the Peoples instruction is Preaching Nor about words would we ever contend were not their purpose in so restraining the same injurious to God's most Sacred Word and Spirit It is on both sides confest That the Word of God outwardly administred his Spirit inwardly concurring therewith converteth edifieth and saveth Souls Now whereas the external Administration of his Word is as well by reading barely the Scripture as by explaining the same when Sermons thereon be made in the one they deny That the Finger of God hath ordinarily certain principal operations which we most stedfastly hold and believe that it hath in both 22. So worthy a part of Divine Service we should greatly wrong if we did not esteem Preaching as the blessed Ordinance of God Sermons as Keyes to the Kingdom of Heaven as Wings to the Soul as Spurrs to the good Affections of Man unto the Sound and Healthy as Food as Physick unto diseased Mindes Wherefore how higly soever it may please them with words of Truth to extoll Sermons they shall not herein offend us We seek not to derogate from any thing which they can justly esteem but our desire is to uphold the just estimation of that from which it seemeth unto us they derogate more than becometh them That which offendeth us is first the great disgrace which they offer unto our Custom of bare reading the Word of God and to his gracious Spirit the Principal vertue whereof thereby manifesting it self for the endless good of mens Souls even the Vertue which it hath to convert to edifie to save Souls this they mightily strive to obscure and Secondly The shifts wherewith they maintain their opinion of Sermons whereunto while they labour to appropriate the Saving power of the Holy Ghost they separate from all apparent hope of Life and Salvation thousands whom the goodness of Almighty God doth not exclude Touching therefore the use of Scripture even in that it is openly read and the inestimable good which the Church of God by that very mean hath reaped there was we may very well think some cause which moved the Apostle Saint Paul to require that those things which any one Churches affairs gave particular occasion to write might for the Instruction of all be published and that by reading 1. When the very having of the Books of God was a matter of no small charge and difficulty in as much as they could not be had otherwise than only in written Copies it was the necessity not of Preaching things agreeable with the Word but of reading the Word it self at large to the People which caused Churches throughout the World to have publick care that the sacred Oracles of God being procured by Common charge might with great sedulity be kept both intire and sincere If then we admire the providence of God in the same continuance of Scripture notwithstanding the violent endeavours of Infidels to abolish and the fraudulence of Hereticks always to deprave the same shall we set light by that Custom of Reading from whence so precious a benefit hath grown 2. The Voyce and Testimony of the Church acknowledging Scripture to be the Law of the Living God is for the truth and certainty thereof no mean Evidence For if with Reason we may presume upon things which a few mens depositions do testifie suppose we that the mindes of men are not both at their first access to the School of Christ exceedingly moved yea and for ever afterwards also confirmed much when they consider the main consent of all the Churches in the whole World witnessing
the Sacred Authority of Scriptures ever sithence the first publication thereof even till this present day and hour And that they all have always so testified I see not how we should possibly wish a proof more palpable than this manifest received and every where continued Custom of Reading them publickly as the Scriptures The Reading therefore of the Word of God as the use hath ever been in open Audience is the plainest evidence we have of the Churches assent and acknowledgement that it is his Word 3. A further commodity this Custom hath which is to furnish the very simplest and rudest sort with such infallible Axioms and Precepts of Sacred Truth delivered even in the very letter of the Law of God as may serve them for Rules whereby to judge the better all other Doctrins and Instructions which they hear For which end and purpose I see not how the Scripture could be possibly made familiar unto all unless far more should be read in the Peoples hearing than by a Sermon can be opened For whereas in a manner the whole Book of God is by reading every year published a small part thereof in comparison of the whole may hold very well the readiest Interpreter of Scripture occupied many years 4. Besides wherefore should any man think but that Reading it self is one of the ordinary means whereby it pleaseth God of his gracious goodness to instill that Celestial Verity which being but so received is nevertheless effectual to save Souls Thus much therefore we ascribe to the Reading of the Word of God as the manner is in our Churches And because it were odious if they on their part should altogether despise the same they yield that Reading may set forward but not begin the work of Salvation That Faith may be nourished therewith but not bred That herein mens attention to the Scriptures and their speculation of the Creatures of God have like efficacy both being of power to augment but neither to effect Belief without Sermons That if any believe by Reading alone we are to account it a miracle an extraordinary work of God Wherein that which they grant we gladly accept at their hands and with that patiently they would examine how little cause they have to deny that which as yet they grant not The Scripture witnesseth that when the Book of the Law of God had been sometime missing and was after found the King which heard it but only read tare his Cloaths and with tears confessed Great is the wrath of the Lord upon us because our Fathers have notâ— kept his Word to do after all things which are written in this Book This doth argue that by bare reading for of Sermons at that time there is no mention true Repentance may be wrought in the hearts of such as fear God and yet incurr his displeasure the deserved effect whereof is Eternal death So that their Repentance although it be not their first entrance is notwithstanding the first step of their re-entrance into Life and may be in them wrought by the Word only read unto them Besides it seemeth that God would have no man stand in doubt but that the reading of Scripture is effectual as well to lay even the first foundation as to adde degrees of farther perfection in the fear of God And therefore the Law saith Thou shalt read this Law before all Israel that Men Women and Children may hear yea even that their Children which as yet have not known it may hear it and by hearing it so read may learn to fear the Lord. Our Lord and Saviour was himself of opinion That they which would not be drawn to amendment of Life by the Testimony which Moses and the Prophets have given concerning the miseries that follow Sinners after death were not likely to be perswaded by other means although God from the very Dead should have raised them up Preachers Many hear the Books of God and believe them not Howbeit their unbelief in that case we may not impute unto any weakness or insufficiency in the mean which is used towards them but to the wilful bent of their obstinate hearts against it With mindes obdurate nothing prevaileth As well they that preach as they that read unto such shall still have cause to complain with the Prophets which were of old Who will give credit unto our Teaching But with whom ordinary means will prevail surely the power of the World of God even without the help of Interpreters in God's Church worketh mightily not unto their confirmation alone which are converted but also to their conversion which are not It shall not boot them who derogate from reading to excuse it when they see no other remedy as if their intent were only to deny that Aliens and Strangers from the Family of God are won or that Belief doth use to be wrought at the first in them without Sermons For they know it is our Custom of simple Reading not for conversion of Infidels estranged from the House of God but for instruction of Men baptised bred and brought up in the bosom of the Church which they despise as a thing uneffectual to save such Souls In such they imagine that God hath no ordinary mean to work Faith without Sermons The reason why no man can attain Belief by the bare contemplation of Heaven and Earth is for that they neither are sufficient to give us as much as the least spark of Light concerning the very principal Mysteries of our Faith and whatsoever we may learn by them the same we can only attain to know according to the manner of natural Sciences which meer discourse of Wit and Reason findeth out whereas the things which we properly believe be only such as are received upon the credit of Divine Testimony Seeing therefore that he which considereth the Creatures of God findeth therein both these defects and neither the one nor the other in Scriptures because he that readeth unto us the Scriptures delivereth all the Mysteries of Faith and not any thing amongst them all more than the mouth of the Lord doth warrant It followeth in those own respects that our consideration of Creatures and attention unto Scriptures are not in themselves and without-Sermons things of like disability to breed or beget Faith Small cause also there is why any man should greatly wonder as at an extraordinary work if without Sermons Reading be sound to effect thus much For I would know by some special instance what one Article of Christian Faith or what duty required unto all mens Salvation there is which the very reading of the Word of God is not apt to notifie Effects are miraculous and strange when they grow by unlikely means But did we ever hear it accounted for a Wonder that he which doth read should believe and live according to the will of Almighty God Reading doth convey to the Minde that Truth without addition or diminution which Scripture hath derived from
every one of them for distinction from the rest so that every body Politique hath some Religion but the Church that Religion which is only true Truth of Religion is the proper difference whereby a Church is distinguished from other Politique societies of men we here mean true Religion in gross and not according to every particular for they which in some particular points of Religion do sever from the truth may nevertheless truly if we compare them to men of an heathenish Religion be said to hold and profess that Religion which is true For which cause there being of old so many Politique societies stablished through the world only the Common-wealth of Israel which had the truth of Religion was is that respect the Church of God and the Church of Jesus Christ is every such Politique society of men as doth in Religion hold that truth which is proper to Christianity As a Politique society it doth maintain Religion as a Church that Religion which God hath revealed by Jesus Christ with us therefore the name of a Church importeth onely a society of men first united into some publique form of Regiment and secondly distinguished from other societies by the exercise of Religion With them on the other side the name of the Church in this present question importeth not only a maltitude of men so united and so distinguihed but also further the same divided necessarily and perpetually from the body of the Common-wealth so that even in such a Politique society as consisteth of none but Christians yet the Church and Common-wealth are too Corporations independently subsisting by it self We hold that seeing there is not any man of the Church of England but the same man is also a member of the Common-wealth nor any member of the Common-wealth which is not also of the Church of England Therefore as in a figure Triangle the base doth differ from the sides thereof and yet one and the self same line is both a base and also a side aside simply a base if it chance to be the bottom and under-lye the rest So albeit properties and actions of one do cause the name of a Common-wealth qualities and functions of another sort the name of the Church to be given to a multitude yet one and the self-same multitude may in such sort be both Nay it is so with us that no person appertaining to the one can be denied also to be of the other contrariwise unless they against us should hold that the Church and the Common-wealth are two both distinct and separate societies of which two one comprehendeth alwayes persons not belonging to the other that which they do they could not conclude out of the difference between the Church and the Common-wealth namely that the Bishops may not meddle with the affairs of the Common wealth because they are Governours of an other Corporation which is the Church nor Kings with making Lawes for the Church because they have government not of this Corporation but of another divided from it the Common-wealth and the walls of separation between these two must for ever be upheld they hold the necessity of personal separation which clean excludeth the power of one mans dealing with both we of natural but that one and the same person may in both bear principal sway The causes of common received Errors in this Point seem to have been especially two One That they who embrace true Religion living in such Common-wealths as are opposite thereunto and in other publike affairs retaining civil Communion with such as are constrained for the exercise of their Religion to have a several Communion with those who are of the same Religion with them This was the state of the Jewish Church both in Egypt and Babylon the state of Christian Churches a long time after Christ. And in this case because the proper affairs and actions of the Church as it is the Church hath no dependance on the Laws or upon the Government of the civil State and opinion hath thereby grown that even so it should be always This was it which deceived Allen in the writing of his Apology The Apostles saith he did govern the Church in Rome when Nero bare rule even as at this day in all the Churches dominions The Church hath a spiritual Regiments without dependance and so ought she to have amongst Heathens or with Christians Another occasion of which mis-conceit is That things appertaining to Religion are both distinguished from other affairs and have always had in the Church spiritual persons chosen to be exercised about them By which distinction of Spiritual affairs and persons therein employed from Temporal the Error of personal separation always necessary between the Church and Common-wealth hath strengthened it self For of every Politick Society that being true which Aristotle saith namely That the scope thereof is not simply to live nor the duty so much to provide for the life as for means of living well And that even as the soul is the worthier part of man so humane Societies are much more to care for that which tendeth properly to the souls estate then for such temporal things which the life hath need of Other proof there needeth none to shew that as by all men the Kingdom of God is to be sought first for so in all Common-wealths things spiritual ought above temporal be sought for and of things spiritual the chiefest is Religion For this cause persons and things imployed peculiarly about the affairs of Religion are by an excellency termed Spiritual The Heathens themselves had their spiritual Laws and Causes and Affairs always severed from their temporal neither did this make two Independent estates among them God by revealing true Religion sioth make them that receive it his Church Unto the Iews he so revealed the truth of Religion that he gave them in special Considerations Laws not only for the administration of things spiritual but also temporal The Lord himself appointing both the one and the other in that Common-wealth did not thereby distract it into several independent Communities but institute several Functions of one and the self-same Communitie Some Reasons therefore must there be alledged why it should be otherwise in the Church of Christ. I shall not need to spend any great store of words in answering that which is brought out of the Holy Scripture to shew that Secular and Ecclesiastical affairs and offices are distinguished neither that which hath been borrowed from antiquity using by phrase of speech to oppose the Common-weal to the Church of Christ neither yet their Reasons which are wont to be brought forth as witnesses that the Church and Common-weal were always distinct for whether a Church or Common-weal do differ in not the question we strive for but our controversie is concerning the kind of distinction whereby they are severed the one from the other whether as under heathen Kings of the Church did deal with her own affairs within her self without depending