triumphantly Atheism and Impiety lift up their Banners every where Let us endeavour as much as is possible to preserve some Remains of Religion amongst the People Let us assert the ancient Order and Piety that made the Christian Church so beautiful in former Ages The Apostle informs us that the time would come when men could not endure sound Doctrine but after their own lust shall they heap to themselves Teachers having itching Ears and they shall turn away their Ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables The great Founder of our Religion sent his Apostles by found Doctrine to enlighten the World and they convey'd this Spiritual Authority unto others who should transmit it by an orderly Succession and as their Mission was Heavenly in its Original so their Doctrine was pure and holy in all its Tendencies They considered themselves as the Ambas adors of Jesus Christ and Delivered their Commission without any Mixture or Hypocrisy They treated the People with all Humility and Tenderness but in the mean time took great care to mortifie their Lusts and their Passions but when they grew wanton and headstrong and thought themselves too wise to be led by their Spiritual Guides and Rulers then they would have teachers of their own Men chosen by themselves such as were taught to calculate their Doctrines to popular Fancies and Humours such as would prostitute the Gospel to promote Error and Delusion and make the Kingdom of Light subservient to that of Darkness and instead of serving our blessed Saviour they became Slaves to the People by whom they were originally employed and because they were so unhappily successful as to gratifie their Lusts they were therefore voted the most edifying teachers The Primitive Ministers of Religion had their immediate Commission from Heaven accordingly they endeavoured by all means to restore the Image of God in the Souls of Men to raise their Thoughts and Designs to that Happiness and Treasure which the World cannot give which God truth promised and made sure by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead The other had their authority from Men and therefore they must needs please the People who sent them They must reconcile the Rules and Morals of the Gospel to the Wicked Practices and designs of the World they must change the strictest Maxims of the Evangel into looser Theorems and the severe Discipline of the Ancient Church unto all Licence and Luxury the true faith that works by love unto airy Notions and Mistakes Thus the People were pleas'd and the Gospel was defeated the Church is ruin'd and God dishonour'd Every Man in his own station is obliged to contend for the Faith once delivered to the Saints When the Foundations of Ecclesiastical Unity are shaken loose and the Antient Constitutions trampled upon with great Insolence and Impiety then the hedge of tâ—â—e Religion is not only Invaded but Demolished and without those Sacred Vehicles it must Evaporate into Giddiness and Enthusiasm the Extravagance of these last days is boundless as it Sceptical and Christianity it self is more dangerously wounded by the Delusions of some that are Baptiz'd than by the open Blasphemies of Infidels The last may be assaulted by Reason at least in their more Lucid Intervals but the first are altogether inaccessible we must not presume to instruct them who pretend to extraordinary Illuminations their Errors are made strong by their vanity they plead a Divine Right to every New Opipinion and if we approach them in the ancient Paths of Modesty and Humility they look down upon us with Scorn and Indignation Nay they are inflexible to the plainest and most convincing arguments I have frequently with Grief and Sorrow considered the Decays of Religion and the Difficulties of our Employment We must pull down strong Holds and lofty Imaginations and grapple with the rudest Oppositions the Avenues of Mens Souls are blockaded by passion and prejudices and they are fortified in their Error not only by the Corruption of their Nature but by the artifice of Seducers their itching Ears are pleased their Lusts are gratified their Passions are made more unruly their Envy Hatred and Malice are indulg'd and they are allow'd to distinguish themselves from all others by special Titles of Division and Singularity by which alone they think to make their Calling and Election sure Yet notwithstanding that we are thus resisted by the Multitude of their Follies and Delusions we must not give over by Faintness and Despondency We must plead with them who have left the Unity of the Church by the words of Truth and Soberness and exhort others to continue in that Doctrine that was reveal'd by our Saviour taught by his Apostles and received by all Churches in the first and best Ages that the present Generation may not rise in Judgment against us for our Silence nor Posterity censure our Cowardice We must not be ashamed of the truth even when it is contradicted with all possible Violence and Fury I address this short Treatise to you with a design rather to assert the Truth than to reply to what hath been lately published by the Vindicator of the Kirk of Scotland against a certain Book Entituled Apology for the Clergy c. though I think it necessary to make some of his Mistakes a little more apparent There are certain Practices and Rituals received by the Christian Church in all Ages which are not determin'd expresly in the Holy Scriptures in so many Letters and Syllables yet by the plainest and most undeniable Consequences are agreeable to its general Rules and the Uniform belief of all Christians and they that deny those Usages or the Lawfulness of those Rituals venture upon untrodden Paths and do foolishly condemn the Wisdom of all former Ages The special Providence of God hath so watch'd over the Church that since the first Plantations of Christianity we have preserved to us some Records and Monuments of its Doctrine and Practices The Books of such as have been learn'd in every age do plainly demonstrate that the first Christians were agreed amongst themselves in the great Articles of Religion and in the general Rules of Ecclesiastical Discipline and Order and by this Uniformity of Doctrine and Rituals they strengthened themselves against Infidels and Hereticks There is nothing more opposite to the spirit of true Religion than Stubborness and Petulance and when we despise those Constitutions that have been universally received amongst Christians we overthrow the Foundations of Peace and Charity and consequently we exclude our selves from the visible fellowship of Christ's Houshold and Family When we consider the Schisms and Tumults of particular Churches the confusions of so many Revolutions the shakings of so many Nations the boldness and activity of Hereticks we have reason to adore the Goodness of God that so many Monuments of Ecclesiastical Antiquity are preserv'd and whatever is uniformly determin'd by the Wisest and the best of Christians their learn'dst Bishops and Presbyters
must be received as the Infallible truth of God else we have no certain Standard to distinguish the Catholic Church in former Ages from the combinations of Hereticks these are new in their several Errors and Delusions and upon that very account of their Novelty were expos'd and refuted by the Ancients they neither agreed amongst themselves nor with the Orthodox But the Uniform Voice of Christendom in the first and purest Ages is the best Key to the Doctrine and Practice of the Apostles and their Successors If it appear then that the Opinions which we oppose and are propagated by the Presbyterian Societies are such as were never entertain'd in the Christian Church for fourteen hundred Years after our Saviour's Incarnation then I leave it to every sober Christian to consider whether he may safely continue in the communion of that Party that despises the whole Catholic Church both Ancient and Modern CHAP. I. The Novelty and Insufficiency of those Pleas and Arguments managed by the Presbyterians in defence of their New Doctrine of Parity THE first Opinion that I charge with Error and Novelty amongst our Country-men is this That they affirm upon all Occasions that our Saviour hath appointed his Church under the New Testament whether Provincial National or Oecomenic to be govern'd by the several classes of Presbyters acting in perfect Parity and owning no Subordination to any higher Officer in the Ecclesiastical Senate above a Presbyter in the modern and current Notion of the word Such a Doctrine must be of dangerous consequence because it is altogether new and never propagated in any part of the Christian Church until these last days of Separation and Singularity In this Opinion they differ not only from the Uniform testimony of Antiquity but also from the first Presbyterians amongst ourselves who declare in their Confession of Faith that all Church-Polity is variable so far they were at that time from asserting that indispensible divine and unalterable right of Parity All that the first Presbyterians pleaded was that their new form was allowable and not repugnant to the Oeconomy of the New Testament and Primitive Institution and that it came very near to the Original Model of Churches but they never thought to advance such a bold and rash Assertion as to affirm That the Christain Church by the Original Authority of our Saviour and his Apostles ought to be govern'd in all Ages by a Parity of Presbyters or that there was no other Officer in the Church could pretend to any share of Ecclesiastical Government above a Presbyter When a Society of Men set up for Divine Absolute and Infallible Right they ought to bring plain Proofs for what they say else they must needs be look'd upon as Impostors or at least self-conceited and designing Men. To propagate a Doctrine under the notion of a probable Opinion though it should happen to be an Error is consistent with Modesty and the practice of Learned Men in all Ages But to affirm a new Notion to be established by Divine Right and to require Obedience to that Scheme as a thing that is due to Supreme and Infallible Authority is much worse than Speculative Enthusiasm If a man only entertains himself with his Visions and Fancies he alone suffers by it but if I meet with a company of head-strong Fellows who must needs persuade me that they see so many Armies in the Air fighting and with the exactest Discipline of War nay their Banners the shape and colour of their Horses their several Squadrons and the whole order of their Encampment and will certainly knock me in the head unless I take my Oath upon it that I see all this who never saw any such thing in my Life I think I have reason to complain that my Circumstances are very unlucky I had certainly rather fall into the hands of High-way-men than amongst those Spiritual Robbers who divest me of my Senses and the exercise of my Reason If you inform our Country men that their New Doctrine is thus represented they will tell you that none but wicked men oppose their Government that it is Establish'd upon the express Institution of our Saviour that it hath been asserted and prov'd by several Learned Men of their Party beyond contradiction But if you ask by what particular argument you may be convinc'd of the Truth of their New Doctrine then they begin to lead you into a Labyrinth of dark and intricate Consequences obscure and perplext Probabilities several Texts of Scripture they will alledge but sadly wrested and distorted from their genuine Meaning and Design and the uniform Suffrages of all the Ancients And if you are not satisfied with such proofs as they advance you must be contented to submit to their Censure and the New Discipline must be Obey'd where-ever their Power is equal to their Pretences I can give you but a short History of their Arguments by which they endeavour to Establish their Divine Right of Parity When you read their Books I think all their pleas of whatever kind or force may be reduc'd to these three heads First either they pretend that this Parity of Presbyters is expresly commanded by our Saviour or secondly They endeavour to support it by consequences from several Texts of Scripture or thirdly from the Testimonies of the ancient Writers of the Church First I say they pretend that this Parity of Presbyters exclusive of the Superiority or Jurisdiction of a Bishop is expresly commanded by our Saviour This indeed promises veryfair For if our Saviour hath plainly and positively Commanded that Ecclesiastical Affairs shall be managed in all Churches and Ages communi Presbytero'um consilio and by such a College of Presbyters as excludes the Authority and Jurisdiction of a Bishop then without all Controversie all Christians are oblig'd to submit to it The Consequence is plain and undeniable and because our Country-men do insist upon this more frequently than any of the foreign Presbyterians we ought to hear them calmly and deliberately and when they plead the Authority of our Blessed Saviour we must view those Texts with reverence and attention and see if any thing can be inferred from them that may probably support the now Scheme of Presbytery The Parallel Texts of Scripture are Matth. 20. 25. But Jesus called them unto him and said ye know that the Princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them and they that are great exercise authority upon them v. 26. But it shall not be so great among you but whosoever will be great among you let him be your Minister V. 27. And whosoever will be chief among you let him be your servant v. 28 Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministred unto but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many See also Mark 10. v. 42 43 44 45. and Luke 22. 25. From these parallel Places they plead that the Officers of Chirist's House were by his own express Command establish'd in a perfect
these Considerations I say we may easily perceive that the Argument pleaded against Episcopacy founded upon such Dichotomies is not only weak but very Foolish and Extravagant Yet Blondel Salmasius and Daille Men of great Learning and Reputation imploy'd much Reading and Artifice to support their New Hypothesis by this Argument and to wrest so many places of the Fathers to promote an Opinion which was never heard of before the Days of Aerius thô it must be confess'd that Men of extraordinary Learning have been impos'd upon by the same fallacies particularly our Country-man Sir Thomas Craig in his Book de Success Reg. Angl. But if he had read the ancient Monuments of Ecclesiastical Antiquity with that accurate Attention wherewith he perus'd the vast Volums of Civilians Canonists and Historians he had certainly been of another Mind So visible is the Confusion of Names in the New Testament that Apostle Bishop and Presbyter are sometimes mentioned without any remarkable Distinction yet so as the Government of one amongst many is particularly Demonstrated Our Saviour himself is call'd an Apostle Heb. 3.1 sometimes the Word seems to be restrain'd to the Number of Twelve and Matthias upon the Apostacy of Judas is chosen to fill up the Number of the Twelve Apostles but in the same Apostolical Writings the Name of an Apostle is bestow'd upon several others besides the Twelve as S. S. Barnabas Paul Andronicus Junias Epaphroditus and others Our Saviour is call'd a Bishop 1 Pet. 2. 25. Again the Government of the Apostles is called their Episcopacy 1 Act. 20. sometimes the Name of Bishop is attributed to such Priests as were of the first Order invested with Apostolical Power and Jurisdiction 1 Tim. chap. 3. Tit. 1. 7. these places are so understood by all the Fathers Again the Bishops mentioned 1. Philip. 1 are understood by St. Chrysostom Oecumenius Theophilact and Theodoret to be the Priests of the second Order for they concluded Epaphroditus to have been then Bishop of Philippi as may be reasonably collected from Philip. 2. 25. Our English Version follows Beza and understands it as if Epaphroditus had been a Messenger sent by the Philippians to S. Paul but Salmasius is much more ingenuous and acknowledges That the Word Apostle in the sacred Scriptures never signifies any other than legatum Dei ad homines And this is very agreeable to the Opinion of Theodoret who thought that when the Bishops were named in the Apostolic Age so as to be distinguished from subordinate Priests they were then called Apostles thô upon other occasions they were promiscuously Named without any distinction I only mention this transiently not insisting upon it My business at present is to prove that the Community of Names was so familiar in the Language of the Apostolical Age that no Man can conclude from thence a Community of Offices St. Peter calls himself a Presbyter so St. John the Apostle and the Presbytery mentioned in the first of Timothy 4. 14. was a Senate compos'd of Apostles and other Presbyters whether of the first or second Rank is not certain but that S. Paul himself was one of them is evident from the second Epist to Timothy 1. 6. In the first Timothy is exhorted not to neglect the Gift which was given him with the laying on of the Hands of the Presbytery In the last he is put in mind to stir up the same Gift which he received by the laying on of St. Paul's Hands And in the beginning of Christianity as S. Chrysostom Witnesseth both Bishops and Presbyters were sometimes call'd Deacons which may be justly concluded from Coloss 4. 17. and the Apostles themselves are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in the first of the Acts their Apostolical Ministry to which Matthias was assumed is called their Deaconship 1 Act. 17. Now I take it for granted that if any Man pretend to infer a Community of Offices from the Community of Names which we meet with in the Holy Scriptures he must needs confound the highest Order of the Church even the Apostolical Dignity with the lowest Rank of Ecclesiastical Officers Yet this is certain that the several Offices were carefully separated in those Days thô the Humility of such as were uppermost taught them not to be very forward to distinguish themselves from their subordinate Brethren by Titles of Eminence and Jurisdiction and the Bishops in the second Century transcribed the same Copy in their Behaviour who thô they were careful to preserve the necessary Distinction between the Priests of the first and second Order yet they studied the most modest Expressions of Humility and Condescension as may be seen from the forecited Inscription of S. Polycarp's Epistle to the Philippians that Apostolic Martyr and Prince of the Asiatick Church I have consider'd this Argument the more carefully in that I find it over and over again in all the Writings of our Ecclesiastic Levellers as their first and last Refuge to which they flee to and yet there is not any thing more Frivolous and Trifling for the Names of the lowest Officers in the Christian Church were frequently assum'd by the highest and distinction of Offices is rather inferr'd from their Practices Peculiar Ministries and Acts of Jurisdiction than from any Names that we can fix upon Thirdly If they cannot establish their New Doctrine of Parity neither upon the express Commandment of our Saviour nor upon the Consequences they manage a confusione nominum they endeavour to support it by some Testimonies of the Primitive Fathers When the Government and Revenues of the Church were sacrilegiously invaded by Atheists and Enthusiasts under Oliver Cromwel the Learned Blondel employed all his skill to make the Ancients contradict themselves and all contemporary Records When his Book appeared the Presbyterians concluded before ever they Read it that all was Pure and Undeniable Demonstration and our Country-men think they need return no other answer to any thing that is written against them than to say that Episcopacy and all that may be said in its defence is quite Ruin'd and Destroyed by Monsieur Blondel and Salmasius And thô there are but very few of them that ever read them and that every Line of their Writings that hath the least colour of Argument was frequently Answered and Expos'd yet such is the Power of Prejudice and Partiality that they shut their Eyes against the clearest Evidences that are produc'd by their Adversaries It 's enough for them to say that Blondel hath written a Book in their Defence of 549 pages and this in their Opinion may bar all Disputations of that Nature When we bid them name the place that they think proves their New Doctrine most plausibly they refuse any such close Engagement they will tell you that Jerome was of their Opinion and that their Learned Champion Blondel has sufficiently prov'd that this antient Monk was a Presbyterian I must not transscribe the Accurate and unanswerable Dissertations of several Learned
drives Men against Light and Conviction and darkens all their Intellectuals in defiance of common Sense and Reason A third Witness alledg'd by Blondel is Hermas I only name some few of those that are nearest to the Apostles I do not now enquire into the Authority of this Book It is most probable that it was written towards the end of the Apostolical Age and some of the Ancients of great Authority make him to be the same that is mention'd by S. Paul Rom. 16. 14. It is without all Controversie a Book of great Antiquity as appears by the Citations out of him still preserv'd in some Authentick Monuments particularly Irenaeus Clemens Alexandrinus Tertullian and Origen There are two palpable evidences that Episcopacy was the Ecclesiastical Government that obtain'd in the Christian Church when this Book was written The first is from the second Vision of the first Book where the sending of the Encyclical Epistle in exteras civitates is insinuated to be the peculiar Priviledge of S. Clement then Bishop of Rome The other insinuation is from the second Book and 12th Mandat Paragr 2. where he reproves the preposterous Ambition of such as would thrust themselves into the highest dignities contrary to the Evangelical Methods of Humility and self-denial exaltat enim se vult primam Cathedram habere If there be no Power there can be no Abuse of it and therefore he reproves that insatiable thirst of Preferment that puts some amongst them upon Projects and Designs contrary to the command of our Saviour who taught us that he that deserv'd the Ecclesiastical Promotion was to be the Servant of all and therefore many of the Primitive Bishops fled and hid themselves upon the first Motion of their being nam'd to the Episcopal Dignity And the other Citation from Book the third Similitud 8. insinuates the very same thing that I intend viz. a Principatus then established as the fixt Government of the Church which some were too too hasty to grasp 2 Tim. 4. 3 4. Vid. Dickson in Matt. and Answer to the Irenicum by G. R. vid. Bez. in 〈◊〉 Vid. Smectim Jus divin Minister Anglican The Unbishoping Timothy and Titus Altare Damascen Durh. Dissert on the Revel v. Cotel Not. inpriorem Epist S. Clem. p. 96. in quibus fusâ— solide demâ—nstratur argumentum a confusione nominum nequaquam Jurisdictionem Authoritatem Episcoporum supra Presbyteros labefactare posse V. Doctiss Bevereg cod canon Eccles primit lib. 2 c. 11. Vid. Clariss Dodwell dissert Cypr. p. 205. Walo Mess Tertul. de Baptismo Stromat Lib. 6. Pastor Herma * Apud clariss Dodwell disertat Cyprian p. 205 â— Cotel in prieâ— Epist Clemen ad Corinth 1 Cor. 15. 7. Wâ—â—â— Mâ—â— * Aplog prosenten Hieronym Amstol 1646. Vind. St. Ignat. Adversus Hereses lib. 3. cap. 3. V. Doctiss Cav Hist liter p. 18. Blondel Apolog p. 9. Plerique Latinorum Hieronymo teste secundumpost Petrum fuisse putaverunt ut ante annum Domini 65 ad Romanae Ecclesiae clavum sedissenecesse sit Apol. pro sent Hier. p. 9. page 9. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vid. doctiss Bevereg cod Can. Eccles Prim. lib. 2. p. 314. 1 Cor. 3. 5. 2. Cor. 3. 6. Acts. 6. 4. Coloss 4. 7. 1 Thess 3. 2. Coloss 4. 17. Vid. etiam Bevereg ubi supra Pag. mihi 40 41. Pag. 10. Edit Jun. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pâ— mihi 52 53. V. Cotel Not. in Pr. S. Clemen Epist col 95. Apud Jun. Not. in Clemen p. 12. * Iren. lib. 3. cap. 3. Polycarpus autâ—â—â—non solum ab Apostolis edoctus conversatus cum multis excis qui dominum nostrum viderunt sed etiam ab Apostolis in Asia in ea quae est Smyrnis Ecclesia constitututs Episcopus qurm nos vidimus in prima nostra aetate * Catalog â—pt Eccles Apol. p. Iâ— Vid. Test Veterum ad frontem editionis Oxon