Of Episcopacy THREE EPISTLES OF PETER MOULIN Doctor and Professor of Divinity Answered By the Right Reverend Father in God Lancelot Andrews Late Lord Bishop of Winchester Translated for the benefit of the Publike S. Clemens in Epist. ad Corinth 1. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Our Apostles understood by our Lord Iesus Christ that there would be contention about the name of Episcopacy Printed in the Yeer 1647. To the most Reverend Prelate the Lord Bishop of Winchester Peter Moulin wisheth all health and happiness THat Honorable man your Predecessor was taken hence not without great damage both to the Church and Common-wealth The King lost a most wise Counseller and the Church a faithfull Pastor but I a Patron and a friend who though he was most carefull and desirous of my good yet oblig'd me more by his Virtues then his benefits I have his Letters by me which he wrote to me when he was sick and his recovery was almost desperate the very sight wherof doth exceedingly afflict me But yet my grief was not a little eas'd when I heard that you succeeded in his room whose learning I long since admir'd and of whose good affection I had great experience when I was with you Indeed his most judicious Majestie did not stick long upon his choice You were even then design'd his Successor in the judgment of all who knew the wisdome of the King May it I beseech God prove happy and fortunate to your self to the Church and Kingdom May He grant you with increase of Honor increase of Virtue and a fresh and lively old age That his most Gracious Majestie may long enjoy you for his Counseller and the Church daily reap more and more fruits of your industry and vigilance I wrote a Book touching the Calling of Pastors wherin some passages greiv'd the soul of your most wise King as if they were averse to the Office of Episcopacy But indeed on the other side our Countrymen complain not a little that I vndertook the cause of Bishops and condemnd Aerius who in a matter anciently and universally receivd durst oppose himself against the Practise of the Catholik Church And they take it in ill part that I said that it was generally receivd in the Church even from the first successors of the Apostles that among the Presbyters of a City some one should have the preeminence and be call'd the Bishop But though there be many things in my Book which the King set a dash of his dislike upon which as all things els he observed wisely and with an incredible sharpness of wit yet Three things there are which specially offend Him The First is that I said that the Names of Bishop and Presbyter are promiscuously taken in the New Testament for one and the same The Second that I affirm'd that there is but one and the same Order of Presbyter and Bishop The Third and that the greatest is that I think the {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the Priority or Superiority of Bishops not to be of Divine Right nor a point of Faith but to be a thing wherein the Primitive Church vsed her liberty and prudence when she judged the Preeminence of One to be fitter for the mantaining of Order and conserving of Peace and that Vnity may well be kept whole and intire between Churches though they differ upon that point I confess these things were wrote by me which lest they be drawn to a wrong sense or be taken in the worser part take I pray breifly my meaning in them I said indeed that the Names of Bishop and Presbyter were taken for all one in the New Testament But I thought not that the Dignity of the Bishop was less'ned thereby since I spake only of the Name not of the Office only and I have beside clear places of Scripture the consent not only of Hierom the Presbyter but also of the most famous Bishops of the Ancient Church Chrysostom Ambrose Theodoret who took it not as a wrong to them or that any thing was abated of their honor if it were beleeved that the Names of Bishop and Presbyter were at first used in the same sense That the Order indeed of Bishop and Presbyter was one and the same that I said For so did the Ancient Church ever think and the Church of Rome thinks so to this day although there be in that Church an incredible difference betwixt the pomp of the Bishops and the meaness of the Priests Thence it is that in the Roman Pontifical there is set down the Consecration of Bishops but not the Ordination of them Indeed Order is one thing a Degree another for men of one and the same Order may differ in Degree and Dignity even as among Bishops the Degree of Archbishops is the more eminent Howbeit that this Episcopal Degree and Prerogative is by Ecclesiastical not by Divine Right I confess it was said by me For beside that to speak otherwise then I thought had not been the part of an vpright honest man you according to your wonted goodness will easily judg that a French man living vnder the Polity of the French Church could not speak otherwise but he must incur the censure of our Synods and vnder the danger {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} of degrading be forced to a recantation For to think that our Churches do err in points of Faith and in that which is of Divine Right were questionles to brand them with the note of Heresy and to shake the conscience of many weak ones Truly I came very vnwillingly to the writing of this Book but our Church requiring it and lately enforcing me for to stop the insolency of our Adversaries who in this point insult over vs out of all temper and speak of vs as of so many doltish mushrums newly sprung out of the earth and as of a company of base fellows who by force and tumult had got the Pulpit But howsoever I think I have kept such a temper that in defending our own I have not struck at your government nor by immoderate affection to a part have inclined more then was meet to either side Nor did I ever mention the Bishops of England with out due honor These things I thought fit to write to you Great Sir by whom I chiefly desire my papers may be approved I had sent my Book to you before now but that I was told by divers you vnderstood not French Now I send it because since you enjoy a more frequent and neerer presence of His Majestie I doubt not but He may have some speech with you about it and use you as an umpire in the cause And I shal most willingly stand to your iudgment well knowing that the most learned are ever the most can did and hoping that you wil not lauce too deep whatever may be salved with a fair interpretation So think of me as of a man with whom the Authority of Antiquity shal be
I either vncertain they are or when they are Certain they make against you By name S. Chrysostom Who defineth Pastors to be they to whom was committed {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the generality of the people Are your so And he adds who were such as Timothy saith he and Titus who were both Bishops in S. Chrysostoms account and I beleeve in your account they were more then Presbyters labouring in the Word Yet remains what you glanc'd at out of the Prophets Which places if any do accurately consider he shall find that not only the high Priests but also the Prophets and Levites upon whom the Office of teaching lay were called by the name of Pastors Doubtless he shall Add moreover he shall find Princes in the State and Magistrates often nay oftner a great deal to be called by the name of Pastors then all them put together whom you set down And yet we do not call Princes by the name of Pastors Nor do I think that at Geneva he is call'd a Pastor who is the chief Magistrate The Pastors therfore in the Prophets reach not home to this Tell me who of the Antients ever spake so otherwise we are beside the cushion Lastly that seem'd to me a wondrous strange opposition Indeed it is not by the Antients but we Frenchmen speak so For must the Antients speak as the French or the French as the Antient Christians And you run upon the same rock again afterward The Presbyters who labour in the Word whom we Frenchmen call Ministers For it 's strange how it became lawfull for Frenchmen to put upon a Presbyter that name which never any among the Antients used but for a Deacon I speak not this otherwise but that even among us too that bad fashion is taken up of calling them Ministers and Pastors too But these words were brought in by them who best relish any upstart fashion but against their mind who reverence Antiquity and as they may disclaim these usages For we suffer as I said many things which we teach not and bear with that which we cannot take away But he that but bears with a thing loves it not though he loves to bear with it And now you have an Answer to your Letters so far as my occasions give me leave For I have not the happiness of much leasure But although I read none of yours unwillingly yet I read no passage more willingly then that last wherin you profess How desirous you are of peace how glad you should be that all the Reformed Churches who are united by one Faith were united by one and the same bond of Ecclesiastical Government Which is likewise my earnest and hearty prayer and I daily begg it humbly of God that they may be united in the same Form of Church Policy by the bond of Ecclesiastical Government but that same which derives its pedegree from the very infancy of the Church from which the Reverend Antiquity of the First Ages which whosoever opposeth opposeth himself to all Antiquity which Saint James the Apostle began in the Church of Hierusalem from whom the succession of Bishops in a long course descended which condemned Aerius for daring to oppose himself against the Consent and Practise of the Catholik Church which all Churches every where received I come at last to give you thanks For the Book you promis'd me shortly after I had sent you my former Letters was deliver'd to me I do heer both acknowledg and thank you that you were pleased to inlarg and inrich my Library with your Two Books And I intreat you begg of God for me that the remainder of my life which is to come may be rather good then long For as a Play so our Life it skills not how long but how good how well acted In like maner I wishing all happiness to you and in that I put this That the Reverend Antiquity of the First Ages may be in higher esteem with you then the upstart novell device of any whosoever do freely promise you my help and assistance in any thing that may heer concern your interest You will pardon me if I have spoke somwhat more freely assuring yourself that though I am of a quite different judgment in some points yet my charity and brotherly affection toward you is not chang'd awhit nor by the grace of God shall ever be FINIS S. Ignatius in Epistola ad Magnesianos {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} As our Lord doth nothing without his Father so neither do ye without the Bishop neither Presbyter Deacon nor Layman Let nothing seem reasonable to you against his liking For whatsoever is so is against the Law and offensive to God a S Chrysost in ed Philip c. 1. b Etym. 7. 12. c De Praescrip 32. d De Script 2. e In 1. ad Tim 4. f In 1. ad Tim. 3. g In Philip 1. h Oecum in Praef. Ep. ad Tit. i 1. Tim. 3. 13. k Epist. 65 ad Rogat l Epist. ad Maâ—â—el ae Err. Mont. Epist. ad Evig 1. c. (a) S. Hierom. de Sâ—rip 17. (b) Tertul. de Prasc 32 (c) Oecum in Prafat. Titi (d) S. Hier. de Scri. (e) 3.3 (f) de Praese 32. (g) 3.35 (h) de scrip 17. (i) 3.3 (k) de scrip 16. (l) 3.4 (m) de scrip 9. (n) Praesat in 1. Tim (o) Phil. 1 (p) Haeres 75. (q) 3 4 (r) Praef in Tit. (s) apud Oecum Praef in Ti. (t) de scrip 32. (u) 3. 14. (x) de scrip 15 (y) Euseb. 3. 4 ex Dionys Corinth 4. 23. Hier. de scrip 19. (a) Euseb. 3. 35 ex Ignatio (b) Theodoret in Philip 1. 2. 1 Tim 3. (c) Origen in 16 ad Roman (d) Calv. Institut (e) Euseb. 2 24. (f) de scrip Praef in S. Matth S. Mar. (g) 2. 1. (h) de Script c. 2. (i) in 15 (k) in Gal 1. 2. (l) Haeres 66. (m) conâ—a Crescentium 2.37 (n) l. 2 c. 1. l. 3. c 5. (o) de script 2. (p) de Praes. 32. (q) l. 3. c. 35 (r) de script 2. (s) in 2. ad Gal. (t) 1. Corin. 14 1. S. Pet. 2 2â— Libri de Munere Pastorali p 20 â— 1. Tim. 3.13 Lib. de Munere Pastorum pag. 144. †Num 4 16 Neh 11 9 P. Isai. 60 17. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}
ever in great esteem and who shall think my self sufficiently arm'd against al opposite judgments if you shal not vtterly disapprove what I have writ God preserve you Great Prelate Farewell Paris Nones of Sept. 1618. Your Honors most devoted Peter Moulin The Bishops Answer I Had wrote these in the begining of March and was about to send them presently when lo the indisposition of the King in point of health made me lay them by and hindred my sending of them This sickness contracted first by grief for the death of his most dear Consort our most Gracious Queen and the neglect of all care of his body upon that greif ended at last in a diseas a diseas indeed so intricat and doubtfull that the Physitians themselves were at a stand what the event would be Wherby I forgat that I wrote and so omitted to send to you For all I had to do was to fall to my prayers with many moe who were sore perplexed as then in jeopardy for a most Gracious King But God lookd upon us and restord Him to us in Him us to our selves And now being returnd to my self I return to you what I confess I have bin too long indebted to you in so that as a bad debtor I was fain to be calld vpon by Monsieur Beaulieu in your name You will accept of this my too just excuse kindly as you are wont and promise your self from me what good offices one friend can do another Now concerning your Book You write that some passages therin greivd the Kings Soul And no wonder For his soul is tender and very sensible of any thing in that kind that bites or stings For out of His Piety to God He makes it not the least of His cares to tender the Peace and Order of His Church here And therfore in His great wisdom He presently discernd whether these Three points tended I. The name of Bishop is not distinct from that of Presbyter II. The Order is not distinct that is not the Thing it self III. And so the whole matter is not any thing of Divine Right What could they who lately made all the stirrs among us mutter more possibly Then that 1. the Name is taken confusedly that 2. the Thing is not distinct 3. Finally that it is a Human invention being setled by man may be unsetled and so stands or falls at the pleasure of the Commonwealth These Dictats are too well known to the King He hath been long usd to them They have long since on all hands been rounded in His ears He knows that there are still among us such as will from your writings presently take a new occasion perhaps not to pluck up this Order of ours that for so many ages hath taken root but surely to defame and calumniat it And this so much the rather because at one and the same time not by agreement I beleeve but yet as though vpon a compact lo one Bucer a fellow not hurt nor medled with by any in a very unseasonable time set forth a Book in Latin as it were of the same argument What King that studies the Peace not only of His own Church but which He desireth and would purchase at a dear rate even of the whole Christian world would not these things trouble Wherfore if the King set a dash of dislike upon those passages take it not ill I dare say He had rather set many asterisks of commendation then one dash of dislike specially upon what is your This surely is the Kings mind and is as it ought to be the mind and sense of vs all Wherin I appeal to your own equity You were for manteining of Your Churches Government and the repressing of your adversaries insolency should you not do it you should incurr the censure of your Synod and be forced either to recant or fear to be degraded In this We pardon you and demand the like pardon from you that it may be lawfull for us also to defend our Government as becometh upright honest men For we likewise have froward adversaries and there are consciences too among us which we may not suffer to be shaken or undermind as though they liv'd under another form of Church Government then was from the begining even from the very times of the Apostles And we are ready if need be and occasion shall serve to make this good to the whole Church How I wish therfore that you had not so much as touchd upon our Church Government For who put you upon it You might have turnd your weapons against those enemys you speak of and never have jerkt at vs There 's no such complication of ours with yours but that you might easily have pass'd by ours with silence And A faithfull silence hath its sure reward Or if you were so set upon it that you must needs be intermedling with Ours how I wish you had first imparted your mind to the King and whilst the coast was cleer had seasonably taken His advice in that you had to say of His affairs for Ours He accounts His You your self know and indeed who knows not since He hath wrote so much so admirably that as He is most able in respect of his other endowments of Wit and Learning so also in respect of his acuteness and solidity of judgment he is equal to the best or rather goes before them No man living hath in our Churches affairs a clearer insight a readier dispatch then he He himself in any point but specially in what concerns his own Church could have answerd you best and have set you the bounds so far to go but not beyond Wherfore if hereafter you shall go about any thing in the like kind pray remember this my advice which proceeds from a very good will to you I knowing that the King is well affected to you that he hath deserved well of you nor will you deny it and I hope will for the future deserve better Concerning those Three points if you demand as you do what I think I shall give you here this ingenuous answer That the Names of Bishop and Presbyter are taken promiscuously in Holy Scriptures that at first there was not so great force in the Words I shal easily grant you Nor did his Majestie regard so much what you said as to what purpose as what others would catch from thence who both in other parts here among us too are not rightly affected to this our order that these things were spoke to this purpose as if the Names being promiscuous the Things themselves were so also For to what end is it of what concernment to speak of Words taken confusedly when the Things are distinct No man lightly carps at the Name but he that wisheth not very well to the Thing also 1. And yet nothing here hath befallen Bishops which hath not befallen those other Orders also For in those very places in those very Authors whom you name it is said in like manner
Two Orders and those distinct And this likewise we know that every where among the Fathers Bishops and Presbyters are taken to be after their example That Bishops succeeded the Apostles and Presbyters the Seventy two That these Two Orders were by our Lord appointed in those two Cyprian k Deacons must remember that our Lord chose the Apostles that is Bishops and Prelates But the Apostles after the Ascension of our Lord appointed Deacons for themselves as Ministers of their Episcopacy and of the Church Nay S. Hierom l With us Bishops hold the place of the Apostles All Bishops are successors of the Apostles And that is a famous place in him in him and S. Augustine too upon the 44. Psalm In stead of thy Fathers thou shalt have children i.e. in stead of Apostles Bishops S. Ambros in 1. Corinth 12. 28. God hath set in the Church Caput Apostolos first Apostles Now the Apostles are Bishops the Apostle S. Peter giving us assurance of it And his Bishoprick let another take And a little after Are all Apostles He saith right for in one Church but one Bishop And in Ephes. 4. The Apostles are the Bishops From hence we have a fair passage to the last point Whether this Order be by Divine Right Very glad I was to hear it from you That the Authority of Antiquity should be ever in great esteem with you I love you for that word Nor will it be the least of your praises if your deeds make your words good For my part it hath been my opinion ever I was ever of that mind But or I am deceiv'd in the whole story of Antiquity or the Apostolical men i. e. the Disciples of the Apostles or as Eusebius calls them {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} they that conversed with them both they who are not mentioned in Holy Scripture as Polycarpus and Ignatius and they who are expresly mentioned as Timothy Titus Clemens were Bishops while the Apostles were alive and were constituted and ordained by the Apostles themselves (a) Polycarp by S. John (b) Clemens by S. Peter (c) Titus and (d) Timothy by S. Paul I give you these witnesses Concerning Polycarp (e) Irenaeus (f) Tertullian (g) Eusebius (h) Hierom. Concerning Ignatius (i) Eusebius and (k) Hierom. Concerning Timothy (l) Eusebius (m) Hierom (n) Ambrose (o) Chrysostom (p) Epiphanius Concerning Titus (q) Eusebius (r) Ambrose (s) Theodoret Concerning Clement (t) Tertullian (u) Eusebius (x) Hierom. Not to speak of (y) Linus z Dionysius (a) Onesimus (b) Epaphroditus (c) Caius (d) Archippus concerning whom we have the like testimonies of the Fathers And not of these alone even S. Mark the Evangelist and that while the Apostles lived who saw it for S. Mark dyed in the (e) Eighth year of Nero full Five years before S. Peter and S. Paul were crown'd with martyrdom And not He alone S. Iames also the Apostle Witness for S. Mark (f) Hierom for S. Iames (g) Eusebius out of Clement and Hegesippus (h) Hierome (i) Chrysostom (k) Ambrose (l) Epiphanius (m) Augustine Could any then take it ill that you said That Episcopacy was received in the Church from the very next times to the Apostles you said too little you might have said more and if you had Antiquity would have born you out that it was received from the Apostles themselves and that they the Apostles themselves were constituted in the Episcopal Order There was nothing in that passage of yours that any could be offended with unless haply that in stead of was called the Bishop you should have said was the Bishop For we do not contend about the Name all the controversy is about the Thing This was done or we must give one general dash through all the Ecclesiastical Historians And when was it done After the Ascension of our Lord saith Eusebius (n) Presently upon the Passion of our Lord so S. Hierom. (o) Done by whom They were placed in the Office of Episcopacy by the Apostles (p) Tertullian By the Apostles so Epiphanius By the Ministers of our Lord so (q) Eusebius Ordeined by the Apostles so (r) S. Hierom. Constituted by the Apostles (s) so S. Ambrose Will any man then deny that S. Iames S. Mark Titus Clemens were Bishops by Apostolical Right Was any thing done by the Apostles which was not by Apostolical Right By Apostolical i. e. as I interpret it by Divine For nothing was done by the Apostles that the Holy Ghost the Divine Spirit did not dictate to them Sure if by the Apostles by the same Right which those Seven were by Acts. 6. whom I am sure you your self will grant to be by Divine Right Deacons the Holy Scripture doth no where call them that is only a word of the Church I hope what the Apostles did they did by Divine Right and that it cannot be denyed but their Deeds of which we are certain not only their Words or Writings are of Divine Right And not only those things of which S. Paul wrote to the Corinthians (t) but those other also which He set in order at His being at Corinth if they were known to us what they were were by the same right to wit by Divine all of them both these and they from the Holy Spirit all And yet though they be by Divine Right we do not say these things belong to Faith They belong to the Agenda or Practice of the Church to the Credenda or points of Faith t is but improper to refer them T is very strange therfore which you say That your Countrymen openly complain of you both that you vndertook the cause of Bishops bylike your Country-men are enemies to Bishops would not have their cause pleaded but are desirous it should be lost as also that you condemned Aerius who was antiently condemned in Asia by Epiphanius in Europe by Philastrius in Africa by S. Augustine whose name all the world over is in the black-Black-Book of Hereticks nor undeservedly seeing He durst oppose himself as you your self confess to the Consent and Practice of the Catholik Church You should rather complain of them who for this complain of you As for that where you would not have your papers to be ript up to the quick I know no body here that doth it Should any he would have somewhat to stick upon in the very Title take which word you will that of Pastor or that of Calling They are both novelties the word Pastor I 'm sure in this sense and Calling too and not of any Age but this last nor of all that For I pray who of the Antients ever spake so among whom you shall scarce find the word Pastor used but when they speak of Bishops which form of speech S. Peter taught them when he joined Pastor and Bishop in our Saviour
Nor shall you ever read that they by that word pointed out such as either in City or Country had the care of some few persons distinguished by Parishes For that the Presbyters Vrban or Rural were by the Bishop designed to that imployment Who indeed at the begining were of the Bishops family and did live as you very well know of the Sportula i. e. of the Oblations of the Church before the distinction of Parishes came up And the word Calling in the sense you take it is altogether as unknown In stead whereof they used the words Ordination or Constitution And the very name of Minister is of the same stamp which they would never have understood to be spoken of any but a Deacon as it is derived indeed from no other fountain but the Greek {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} But we must pardon you you must speak the language of your Church which hath no Bishops another kind of Presbyters Elders they call them another kind of Deacons and I add another kind of Calling then ever the Antient Church acknowledged I for my part in my best wishes for your Church and so for all the Reformed do wish this that you may keep constant in the other points of Faith but for Government and Order that God would vouchsafe to you no other but that which He hath vouchsafed Vs i. e. by Bishops Presbyters and Deacons Such as those we read of in the Histories of the Church and in the Councils and the Antient Fathers unto whom or self-conceit shrewdly deceives me or most like are Our most like I say in their Order not in their Worth but would to God in their Worth also And that no Policy no form of Government in any Church whatsoever cometh neerer the sense of scripture or the manner and usage of the Antient Church then this which flourisheth among us These I intrust to you that if you please they may be with you But know withall that I have ever been both by Nature and Choice addicted to Peace And my Age now requires it of me who ere long must be packing but cheifly living under a King whose Word is that of our Saviour Blessed are the Peacemakers And I assure you I shall never incline to any immoderate or harsh counsels but shall qualifie as much as I may your writings with a fair interpretation For neither can we bragg of our happiness more then antiently S. Augustine did whose saying it was What we teach is one thing what we are fain to tolerate another To the most Reverend Father the Lord Bishop of Winchester MOst Reverend Prelate I sent unto you my Book concerning the Calling of Pastors and with it some Letters wherin I endevour'd to satisfie you touching some points wherin I seem'd to your most Gracious King too ill affected to the Order of Episcopacy Which Letters if you have received I doubt not but you will judge of me as of a man who both thinketh and speaketh honorably of your Order I am not so proudly arrogant as to oppose my self to all Antiquity and to reject that as a thing faulty and wicked which hath been received in the Church from the very next Age to the Apostles I was ever of this mind that concord might be kept whole and intire between Churches living howere under a different form of Ecclesiastical Government so that Christ be preached as he is set forth in the Gospel the Christian Faith remain safe and sound But among the rest of your Order I ever highlyest esteemed you for many causes which I had rather acquaint others then yourself withall As a witness of which my affection I send you this new Book which the command of the Church whom I serve and the impudent insulting of a Court-Iesuite forced from me I desire that you would be a means to pacifie the Kings anger against me That He would consider with Himself and weigh it in an equal ballance that there can be no place in the French Church for a Pastor that should teach the Primacy of Bishops to be of Divine Right without which there could be no salvation without which the Church could not stand To affirm this were nothing els but to damn all our Churches to the pit of Hell to pronounce the sentence of condemnation upon my own Flock Which should I do you your self would account me a sensless ungracious fellow and worthy to be spit upon by all But enough of this For an overlabored Defence specially to an understanding man and in a clear and manifest point is altogether needless God preserve you and prosper your endeavours that they may redound to the edification of the Church Farewell Paris XVI Calends of Decemb. 1618. Your Honors most devoted Peter Moulin The Bishops Answer to the Second Epistle THe Post was not yet gone he staied here a day or two but he had these letters here inclosed sealed up as they are when lo I received your Second by the hands of S. William Beecher Agent for the King lately come from you I presently recalled my former yet opened them not but as they were inclosed them in these For I would not so trespass as to commit the same fault again but rather make amends for my former tardiness with the quickness of this Answer You shall therfore with my First receive these Second together with my thanks for both but {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the First Second as it were to wit in these Second Letters my First thanks now and in the First my Second as it falls out Thanks I say both for that your Book formerly sent and this Later shortly as I hope to be sent For S. William Beecher will deny either that it was bound when he came thence or els brought to him and in that consideration he came the later to me but he bad me look for it for that I should not look in vain As for pacifying the Kings anger against you beleeve me you need not much trouble your self There is nothing in Him which needs pacifying there are ways wherby you may more and more gain him and make him yours and it would be worth your labour if you do it And do it you may if you take that course which you cannot learn better of any man living then of himself As for me I gladly acknowledg that you are more moderate toward us then most of your men commonly are and the more you convers with Antiquity will be daily more and more nay I add and much more would be if your Church would give you leave and I would to God it would It should seem that shee hath transfer'd the faults of Persons upon Things and for some abuse hath taken away the lawful use a fault which you should by little and little unlearn Her You while you follow and sway with it follow not the bent of your own mind and iudgment for Iiudg of your affection by your pen
the refractory Such things as appertain to Salvation and to Faith were ordered by the Apostles by a Divine Inspiration but in the rest they did often use their own prudence as S. Paul intimates 1. Corinth 7.25 Nor are you ignorant so oft as examples are brought of Bishops placed by the Apostles in a higher degree above Presbyters what is commonly answered viz. that they had not that preeminence as Bishops but as Evangelists of whose superiority above Pastors somewhat you may have in S. Chrysostom on the IV. to the Ephesians Which reply of what strength it is I had rather stand to your iudgment then any mans Indeed S. Ambrose on that same place makes Evangelists inferior to Bishops and without Seas Yet however you shall call Titus Timothy and S. Mark whether Bishops or Evangelists it is clear they had Bishops their successors and heirs of their preeminence You determine therfore that our Churches do offend against the Divine Right yet so as you exclude them not from hope of salvation but do think that in our Church Government men may attain to Salvation for this you brought in in your Second Letter that you might deal the kindlier with us But in your larger you liken us in this point to Aerius who you say was deservedly upon this ground by the Antients put in the black Book of Hereticks Herein Great Sir I appeal to your equity Think with your self what streits you drive me to For if I should have spoke as you conceive it I could not but necessarily accuse our Church of Heresie and so doing be forced {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} to be packing to leave my station here and to provide for my self as I could Nor could I say that the Primacy of Bishops is by Divine Right but I should brand our Churches which have spilt so much blood for Christ with Heresie For questionless to be obstinately set against such things as are of Divine Right and peremptorily to gainsay what God commands is downright Heresie whether it concern Faith or Discipline Besides that I should have overthrown that Principle wherwith cheifly our Religion defends her self against Popery viz. That what things are by Divine Right are sufficiently and evidently contein'd in the Holy Scriptures I hear what you will reply That it had been safer and better for me to have been silent in these points then itch to be writing so unseasonably Because therby it comes to pass that I must necessarily offend our own Church or your nay haply both And to tell you truth I had rather have been silent for very unwillingly I sett my mind to write nor did I write but upon command Arnoldus the Iesuite the Kings Confessor publikely and in the pulpit before His Majestie inveigh'd against the Confession of our Church and further in a pestilent book revil'd it wherin he mightily insults over us in this question and odiously seeks to overthrow our Churches Government This book coming to be sold all over France through the high ways and streets at the voice of a Cryer did greatly scandalize many Nay before this the Pulpits the Markets the Court the Streets and the very Barbers shops rang with this question This is the field wherin wanton witts sport themselves daily How earnestly my Book was look'd for which should stop that insolency it doth thence appear that in Four months space it was nine times printed I could not therfore shun this task Nor was it possible to write exactly of that Argument but I must begin with the signification of the words Bishop and Presbyter and treat of the Original of the Office But here I took occasion to speak honorably of the Bishops of England I deriv'd the dignity of Bishops from the very infancy of the Church I condemn'd Aerius I said that S. Iames himself was Bishop of Hierusalem from whom in a long course the succession of Bishops of that City is deduced Only this one thing was wanting viz. that I did not say that our Church was heretical and did trample the Divine Right under her feet which indeed I neither could nor ought to do yea had I done it you your self would have noted that want of prudence in me This may serve for the Three chief points To which you further add this {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} or corollary namely your iudgment touching the Title of my book which I wrote for France Of the Calling of Pastors These words you say are novell and never used by any of the Antients in this sense I acknowledg indeed that the word Calling is unusual among the Antients nor taken in that sense But we Frenchmen speak otherwise for as many as have wrote of that Argument either Our or Papists use this word which with us signifies somewhat more then Ordination for it is taken for the Office it self If I had wrote in Latin I should have given this Title of the Office and Ordination of Pastors Neither would you have all Presbyters and Ministers of the Word of God to be called by the name of Pastors For this word you say belongs only to Bishops and that the Antients spake so If this be true Worthy Sir the Churches in France Germany Lowcountrys and Helvetia are flocks without a Pastor But S. Paul Acts the xx commandeth the Presbyters of Ephesus pascere i. e. to be Pastors of the Church v. 17. 28. And S. Peter in his 1. Epist. 5. ch. 1. 2. v. The Presbyters who are among you I exhort Pascite feed the flock of God which is among you taking the over-sight therof not by constraint but willingly not for filthy lucre which exhortation to diligence and shunning filthy lucre no doubt belongs also to the inferior Presbyters Now to think that they ought not be called Pastors whom God commands Pascere to feed the flock I cannot persuade my self But if the Word of God be Pabulum the food of Souls I see not why he should not be call'd a Pastor who doth administer this food S. Paul in the fourth to the Ephesians verse 11. makes an enumeration of Ecclesiastical Offices God gave some Apostles some Prophets some Evangelists some Pastors and Teachers If Presbyters who labour in the Word whom we Frenchmen call Ministers be not understood under the name of Pastors I see not what place they can have in this enumeration of the Apostle S. Augustine in his 59. Epistle saith that Pastors and Doctors here are the same The same thinketh S. Hierom upon this place of S. Paul Vincentius Lirinensis expounding this place maketh no mention of Pastors but comprehends them vnder Doctors whom he calls Treatisers who certainly were a different thing from Bishops But that Bishops only are Doctors I never yet read anywhere S. Ambrose is so far from thinking the name of Pastors to belong only to Bishops that he even calls Readers Pastors Readers saith he are and may be Pastors who fatten the souls of
after the example of the Seventy Two nor Bishops but after their own pattern This Order therfore hath the strength and sinews therof not only from the Apostles but even from our Saviour himself Would you have me fetch it yet higher even out of the Old Testament and there from the Divine Law it self S. Hierom doth And that we may know that the Apostolical traditions were taken out of the Old Testament what Aaron and his Sons and the Levites were in the Temple that do Bishops Presbyters and Deacons challeng to themselves in the Church S. Ambrose doth in both those places 1. Corinth 12. and Ephes. 4. speaking of the Iews Whose tradition saith he hath passed over to us I omitt Aaron lest you should reject him as a Type of Christ Over his Sons the Priests was there not in their several families {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} i. e. a Prelate or as is said †elswhere {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} i. e. a Bishop Over the Gersonites Num. 3. 24. Over the Kohathites vers. 30. Over the Merarites verse 35. Was not Eleazar there even while his Father was alive {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} as if you would say Prelate of Prelates verse 32. Who is elsewhere called {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} as if you would say Archbishop There are therefore in the Law {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} i. e. Prelats or Bishops Priests and Levites In the Gospel The Apostles the Seventy Two and those Seven Acts VI In the Apostles practise which was taken from those Two the Law and Gospel Bishops Presbyters Deacons But do not do not think that this was by Apostolical Right alone if there be in the Gospel if in the Law any Divine Right this Government is not without example in both it is founded on both Either then there is no Divine Right in the form of Church Government and then wellfare Amsterdam where so many humane prudences as there are so many forms of Government shall be set up Or if there be any Divine Right it is in Those Three it is for us And now to your skirmishes of lighter consideration That I know what useth to be answered by the Vulgar concerning Timothy and Titus Add this too that I know that many things are ill answered by the Vulgar But what is answered by the Vulgar that they were Evangelists Who affirms this either the Vulgar or they that out of some mans novel device have spread these doubtfull speeches among the Vulgar For none of the Antients ever spake so no History can witness it But History doth witness that Timothy and Titus were Bishops Epiphanius Chrysostom Ambrose Hierom Theodoret say it That they were Evangelists no man ever said wrote or dream'd before our Age This Vulgar answer is a Vulgar forgery Therfore whether Evangelists were superior or inferior to Bishops it 's nothing to us since these by no means were Evangelists Who saith so S. Chrysostom But I am to mind you that he corrects what he had spoken with some diffidence there concerning Evangelists For that nothing can be collected out of that place Ephes. 4. concerning the Priority of any But we may fetch it from another Epistle 1. Corinth 12. 28. where we have {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} first second third But Evangelists appear not there Besides that they whom you with the Vulgar would have to be counted Evangelists Timothy and Titus are from thence placed among the Pastors {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} intrusted with the care of their several Provinces and in general of all but not among Evangelists Aquila and Priscilla are to him Evangelists that I cannot but wonder what you meant to mention that place For from that place of S. Paul 2. Timoth. 4. 5. if you will hear S. Chrysostom you shall assoon make Timothy but a Deacon from the fulfilling {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} of the Deaconship as an Evangelist from the work of an Evangelist Do not you therfore make such a disjunction either Bishop or Evangelist Evangelists they were never reputed by any but some I know not who two or three days ago whom any upstart device pleaseth better then reverend Antiquity Do we give credit to Antiquity They were Bishops they had Bishops their successors their heirs both in Superiority and Power You demand then Whether your Churches sin against the Divine Right I did not say it this only I said that your Churches wanted somewhat that is of Divine Right wanted but not by your fault but by the iniquity of the times For that your France had not your Kings so propitious at the reforming of your Church as our England had in the interim when God shall vouchsafe you better times even this which now you want will by his grace be supplyed But in the mean while the Name of Bishop which we find so frequent in the Scriptures ought not to have been abolish'd by you Though to what purpose is it to abolish the Name and to retein the Thing For even you retein the Thing without the Title and they Two whom you named while they lived what were they but Bishops in Deed though not in Name seing as he in the Poet saith excellently there is scarce any man that would wish {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} To be a Tyrant and not to tyrannize That Aerius was put in the black book of Hereticks and worthily whosoever shall beleeve Epiphanius Philastrius or S. Augustine must needs confess And you that condemn Aerius upon what consideration do you condemn him What because he oppos'd himself to the consent of the Catholike Church He that is of the same opinion doth not he also oppose himself and is to be condemn'd upon the same consideration But if there be any error so it be not with obstinacy of mind though he think as Aerius did his cause will be far from what the cause of Aerius was Do not you therfore betake yourself to those tragical expressions of damning to the pit of Hell of giving sentence of damnation against your Church as against her that treads under foot the Divine Right Ther 's no necessity of that Weigh only calmly what is spoken To vote that a thing were so is not to devote if it be not A wish is no sentence of damnation To want somewhat that is of Divine Right is not to tread under foot the Divine Right Let but obstinacy and perversness be wanting it will be no heresy And if it be heresy being about a point of Discipline it will not be among those which S. Peter calls {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} damnable heresies But far be it from me that I should drive you to any streits For neither would I have you hold your peace being so provoked by the Iesuit Nay but write by al means write but yet when you write so mantein your own