Office of half-Presbyters began to be invented according to his own Computation That pag. 21. passim his supposition of the 24 Bishops of Judaea sitting about the Throne of James Bishop of Jerusalem and his other supposition of their being so ordinarily there And of the Bishops of Provinces in other Nations being so frequently many score if not hundred Miles off their people in the Metropolitane Cities when the people had no other Priest to Officiate doth tend to an Atheistical conceit that the Ordinary use of Sacred Assemblies and Communion is no very needful thing when in the best times by the best men in whole Countreys at once they were so much forborn Pag. 26. Again you have his full and plain Assertion That there were not in the space within compass of which all the Books of the new Testament were written any Presbyters in our modern Notion of them created in the Church though soon after certainly in Ignatius time which was above 50 years after the Rev. they were Pag. 60. He supposeth that whoever should settle Churches under a Heathen King among Heathens must accordinly make the Churches gathered subordinate to one another as the Cities in which they are gathered were though Heathen subordinate to one another of which more in due place Pag. 76 77. He saith that As Congregations and Parishes are Synonimous in their Style so I yield that Believers in great Cities were not at first divided into Parishes while the number of Christians in a City was so small that they might well assemble in the same place and so needed no Partitions or Divisions But what disadvantage is this to us who affirm that one Bishop not a Colledge of Presbyters presided in that one Congregation and that the Believers in the Regions and Villages about did belong to the care of that single Bishop or City Church A Bishop and his Deacon were sufficient at the first to sow their Plantations For what is a Diocess but a Church in a City with the Suburbs and Territories or Region belonging to it And this certainly might be and remain under the Government of a single Bishop Of any Church so bounded there may be a Bishop and that whole Church shall be his Diocess and so he a Diocesan Bishop though as yet this Church be not subdivided into more several Assemblies So that you see now what a Diocess is And that you may know that we contend not about Names while they call the Bishop of one Congreation a Diocesane we say nothing against him A Diocesan in our sense is such as we live under that have made one Church of many hundred or a thousand But Reader be not abused by words when it is visible Countreys that we talk of As every Market-Town or Corporation is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a City in the old sense so the Diocess of Lincoln which I live in at this reckoning hath three or fourscore Diocesses in it and the Diocess of Norwich about 50 Diocesses in it c. That is such Cities with the interjacent Villages Pag. 78. He saith When they add these Angels were Congregational not Diocesan they were every of them Angels of a Church in a City having authority over the Regions adjacent and pertaining to that City and so as CHURCH and CONGREGATION ARE ALL ONE AS IN ORDINARY USE IN ALL LANGUAGES THEY ARE Thus were Congregational and Diocesan also What follows of the paucity of Believers in the greatest Cities and their meeting in one place is willingly granted by us I must desire the Reader to remember all this when we come to use it in due place And you may modestly smile to observe how by this and the foregoing words the Dr. forgetfully hath cast out all the English Diocesans While he maketh it needful that the Cities be Ecclesiastically subordinate as they are Civilly and maketh it the very definition of a Diocesan Bishop to be a Bishop of a City with the Country or Suburbs belonging to it But in England no lesser Cities ordinarily at least nor Corporation-Towns are at all Subject to the great Cities Nor are any Considerable part of the Countrey Subject to them nor do the Liberties of Cities or Corporations reach far from the Walls or Towns So that by this Rule the Bishop of London York Norwich and Bristow would have indeed large Cities with narrow liberties But the rest would have Diocesses little bigger than we could allow to conscionable Faithful Pastors But he yet addeth more p. 79. he will do more for our cause than the Presbyterians themselves who in their disputes against the Independents-say that Jerusalem had more Christians belonging to the Church than could conveniently meet in one place But saith the Dr. This is contrary to the Evidence of the Text which saith expresty v. 44. that all the Believers were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meeting in one and the same place The like may be said of the other places Act. 4. 4. and 5. 14. For certainly as yet though the number of believers increased yet they were not distributed into several Congregations Will you yet have more p. 80 81. When the London Ministers say that the Believers of one City made but one Church in the Apostles days he answereth This observation I acknowledge to have perfect truth in it and not to be confutable in any part And therefore instead of rejecting I shall imbrace it and from thence conclude that there is no manner of incongruity in assigning of one Bishop to one Church and so one Bishop in the Church of Jerusalem because it is a Church not Churches BEING FORECED TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT WHERE THERE WERE MORE CHURCHES THERE WERE MORE BISHOPS I am almost in doubt by this whether the Dr. were not against the English Prelacy and he and I were not of a mind especially remembring that he said nothing against my disputations of Church Government written against himself when I lived near him Observe Reader 1. That even now he confessed that a Church and Congregation is all one 2. And here he confesseth that where there were more Churches there were more Bishops and his words Because it is a Church not Churches seem to import that de jure he supposeth it is no Church without a Bishop and that there should be no fewer Bishops than Churches And then I ask 1. Where and when do all the Christians in this Diocess of above an hundred miles long Congregate who meet but in above a thousand several Temples and never know one of a thousand of the Diocess 2. Doth not this grant to the Brownists that the Parish Churches are no Churches but onely parts of the Diocesane Church 3. And then if it be proved that the Diocesane Church form is but of humane invention what Church in England will they leave us that is of divine institution This is the unhappiness of overdoing to undo all and of aspiring too high to fall down into nothing And doth he not speak
Socrat. l. 7. c. 44. Joh. 5. 22. Gen. 3. 15. Joh. 17. 2. Mat. 28. 18 19. Eph. 1. 21 22. * The London Ministers Thanksgiving to the King is to be seen in Print As also their desire of B. Usher's Primitive Model of Government * Now 18 years this being written 9 years ago Whitgift â—aâ—avia Vid. p. 104. 110 111. 120 121. 1 Cor. 16. 1 2. Bilson Hooker answered as far as our cause requireth Remember also that Hooker's third Book is written to prove that no one Form is commanded in Scripture Therefore not the Prelatical How little doth this agree with Dr. Hammond ☞ And yet must I sweat never to consent to any alteration Bishop Downame Answered He fell after under the frowns of Bishop Laud himself his Book of perseverance being prohibited * Ambrose in Eph. 4. Aug. qu. in vet N. Test q. 101. Cypr. l. 3. ep 17. Concil Carth. Graec. c. 43. Carth. 2. c. 4. Conc. Arausic c. â— * The Prelates pretence for innovation All the cause is laid on Magistrates †Doth a publick Church Pastor govern but privately what meaneth he by that which can be good sence A private man may rule privately that is by Counsell Judicium publicum is the Officers judgment †In my Treat of the true way of Concord I have also disproved the Instances of Rome and Alexandria Bish Hall Petavius Bish Andrews B. Usher †Lib. 3. c. 30. de Doctrin Christian which Augustine seemeth to approve The Dispute at the Isle of Wight John Forbes Grotius ☞ Be it known to posterity that if the Prelates would have granted us but so much liberty our distracted Churches might have had Concord J. D. c. M. Ant. de Dom. Spalatensis †Yea never into one Parish of ten or twenty ☞ ☜ Dr. Hammond answered The Annotations * Quemad modum hodiâ— ab aliquâ—t seculâ—s Antioch in a sides Patr. noâ— est in ea uâ—be unâ—â— nomen habet sed in Meredin ad ripaâ—n Châ—bar in finibus Mesopotainae Jos Scaliger Animad in Euseb pag. 211. Yet I confess that he that converteth many caeteris paribus is fittest to be chosen for their Pastor on which account Greg. Nazianz. was chosen at Constantinople for the Success of his Ministry against Arianism And in my Church-History I have told you of a Council that decreed that if a Bishop neglected to turn any of his City from heresie he that converted them should have them for his flock which sheweth that there might on just cause be then more Bishops and Churches than one in a City and that they were not necessarily measured by the compass of ground but Churches might be mixt among each other as to habitation on such occasions â—â—â—â— Chrysostom de sâ—cerdotio cap. 17 p. 57 Even about so small a part of a Bishops or Pastors charge as the care of Virgins saith But if any one say that there is no need of a Bishop to meddle with such things as these Let him know that upon him will fall all the cares of Virgins duty and so all the accusation which shall be cast on Virgins And therefore it is much better if he administring the business himself he shall be void of those causes which he must susteine by others offences thus leaving that administration to live in fear of giving account or being judged for the sins which others do commit Adde also that he that performeth this office by himself transacteth all with great facility But he that is necessitated to do it by the vicarious labour of others besides that it is a great business to him to perswade all mens minds well to performe the work certainly he himself hath not so much remission of his labour by abstaining from that office as he must sustaine business and troubles from them that resist and strive against his judgment and opinion And if so great a Bishop as the Patriarks of Constantinople must not do so small a part of his work per alios alas what a life do our Diocesans live â—â—at Christ Mat. 18. in his â—â—â—l the Church â—â—anâ—th â—â—ll the congregation assembly or multitude and not only â—â— tell an absent Diâ—â—â—san Bishop when â—erâ—aps â—ne â—â—â—â—â—â— 20 4â— 6â—â—â—les to tell him see Grotius himself in his Aâ—â—t on the Text and his â—â—â—â—ort of sertullian and others See also Eâ—â—â—mus on the place And many others say the same though some would have the Church to be only the Bishop or as others the Presbytery Ruâ—herfords contrary reason is but a fallacy viz. The same Church that must be heard must be told but it is not the Congregation but the Elders that must be heard Ergo c. Ans The Church consising of the Pastor and people must be told and they have all ears that without confuson can hear at once but they cannot without confusion all speak at once therefore one must speak for all For this argument would equally prove that it is not any Presbytery or Court or many Ministers that should be told if it be but one that is to speak to the â—inner And it is not necessary that theâ— all speak to him As the chief Judge speaketh for all the Bench and the Prosecutor for all the Synod and yet the Court or Synod may be complained to so is it hear The samâ— man â—ay see with two eyes and hear with two ears and yet speak but with one tongue yet this reason once deceived me Seeing then that Christ instituted thus much of discipline in each particular Church it is clear that by his iâ—stitution every particular Church associated for presential Communion should have one or more â—â—â—tors authorized for so much discipline which is that which we plead for * Disput of Church Gover 2. That unjust excommunications bind not see the judgment of the most approved casuists in Bapt. Fragoso de Regim Reipub. p. 1. l. 1. pag. 112. Col. 2. Gregor Sayrus To. 2. l. 1. c. 17. num 2. 5. 8. c. And indeed they conclude that out of the case of scandal Magistrates Laws unjust materially that is to the Common hurt or that are against common good bind not in Conscience ut Id. Fragoso ib. p. 112. n. 234. 336. Wâ—â— citeth the consent of Silvest Tabien Bald. Bartol Hostiens Doctorum Communiter So that Mr. John Humfrey is not singular in his resolution of this Case though I gave him many cautions and limitations in the Letter part of which he hath printed in the end of his book 2 Cor. 5. 19. Act. 26. 18. Mat. 28. 20. * Hierome saith he dyed in the eighth year of Nero. aid â—oi Scaliger Anim. in Euseb Dorothaeun resutantem pag. 195. 1. Petavius 2. Bishop Downame 3. Master Mede 4. Bilson 5. Grotius 6. Bishop Jeremy Tailor 7. Doctor Hammond 8. All the Divines in the same Cause Cyprian in the Separation of Feliciss and sive Presbyters Epist 44. ed. Goul pag. 93. saith Deus unus
askt whether the King and Parliament had not power to set up a Bishop in every Corporation and to take down Deans Arch-Deacons Chancellours Officials c. and sew denied it 5. I askt my self iâ— the King and Parliament make such a change and command my Consent whether I must disobey them and forestall my obedience by a Covenant and Oath 6. I thought that what is imposed on all the Clergie to day may be imposed on the Laity next And then all Parliament men will be Sworn and Covenanted never in Parliament so much as to Consent to change any of the Church Government now established 7. I found that I must also swear That it ought so to stand which could mean no less than by a Divine Law when Mans Law may not alter it 8. I found such Heartiness Willingness required in the Swearer as required very full satisfaction in all this And that with the terrible re-nuncication of the Help of God in Christ if I do not all that I swear to 9. And I must be deprived of my Office for Benefice I had none and cast out of the ministry if I refused to take this Episcopal Covenant and Oath 10. And I knew that he that made no Conscience of deliberate Perjury had little reason to hope that he had any good Conscience true Grace or Honesty and specially if he concurred to involve all the Clergie or Nation in the guilt Upon these Considerations I set my self to a more searching study of the matter I read Gersom Bucer Didoclaue Jacob and after Parker Bains and others on one side and all that I could get on the other Downam again Bilson Hooker Saravia Andrews and many more And the result of my search was this I wondered to find so many write for and against Episcopacy without distinguishing the sorts of Episcopacy For I found reason to think one sort at least Tolerable yea desirable but that which the Oath of 1640. would have bound me to I found great reason to judge to be but what I have described it in this Book And I here give notice to the Reader that whereever he findeth me speak as against the English Diocesane Prelacy I mean it as described by Cousins and Dr. Zouch and as relating to that Oath and Canon and not in opposition to the Laws of the Land This Judgment then setled I never could see cause to change but the more I read of the Ancients Church History Counsels c. And many other Writers for Episcopacie Petavius Sancta Clara Spalatensis Dr. Hamond and many more the more was I confirmed in it to this day When Usurpation was at the highest I wrote accordingly in my book called Disputations of Church Government When the King came home I accordingly used my Endeavours as a Reconciler with the Ministers here called Presbyterians who seemed mostly of the same mind And how little an alteration of the Church Government in the Kings Declaration of Ecclesiastical Affairs did we receive with thankfulness and it would have been with a conforming joy but that we knew the leading Men that treated with us too well to hope that they had any intention to continue it but to use it they knew to what till they had done their work and got this Act of Uniformity In 1668. After I had been in the Goal and yet men called for the reasons of my Nonconformity I drew up some of my thoughts rudely And in 1671. The call being renewed I wrote this Book as now it is saving a few additional Notes But cast it by my Friends and my experience perswading me that the Bishops and their Parliament adherence could not patiently bear it Many years after some Letters past between Mr. Henry Dodwell then of Ireland and me And his last being tedious and he seeming not to intend or desire a publication of them I gave him but a short general return instead of a voluminous particular Answer especially because I had this Book written by me in which I had more than answered him and was not willing or at leasure to write over the same things again But when I had lately wrote in my Book of Concord a summary consutation of Mr. Dodwels schismatical Volumne in which he degradeth unchurcheth if not unchristeneth so many of the Protestants as having no Sacraments no Covenant right to Salvation but sinning against the Holy-Ghost and all for want of a Ministery derived by an uninterrupted succession of Episcopal Ordination from the Apostles and could not by importunity prevaile with him to answer Voetius de desperata causa Papatus or my Dispute of Ordination at last I received a Letter from him signifying his purpose upon his Friends desire to Publish his long Letter written to me out of Ireland So that I saw a necessity of Publishing my Treatise which contained more than an Answer to him And the rather because some R. Reverend Bishops and others had urged me to give an Account of the Reasons of my Non-conformity So that I had not leave to suppress this book nor be longer silent And yet I fear that they that so called for it will not easily bear it The summe of Mr. Dodwels Letter to me now in the press is to prove the possibility of right Discipline by our Diocesane Goverment as it is 1. Because Magistrates can exercise theirs by as few 2. Because the Ancients de facto did it by such Therefore it may be done To answer these two is to answer his Letter which one would think should be so easy that no Scholar should have need of help to do it 1. If any man canby an harrangue of words be brought to renounce his reason and experience so far as to believe that the Office of a Pastor may be performed to as many Parishes as the Office of a Major or Justice of Peace may and that Pastors have no more to do in watching over particular Souls instructing exhorting convincing comforting visiting worpshing Governing c than the works of a Justice of Peace amount to and that Dr. Stillingfleet e. g. shall be excused if he do no more for his Parish than Justice Rog. L'Estrange doth I undertake not to convince that man of any thing Read over the work of a Bishop as I have here discribed it from the Scripture and Dr. Hamond and compare it with a Justices work and if you can yet be deceived by Mr. Dodwel be deceived And yet I think there are in divers Parishes about us many Justices for one Pastor I am confident London Diocess hath a great number for one Bishop And either our Justices are bound besides what now they doe to labour as much to bring some to Repentance and such other work as the Pastors are bound to do or not If not it will not follow that as large a Circuit may be Governed by one Pastor as by one Justice If yea then he doth but condemne the Justices for unfaithfulness which will not prove that a
grant that it is not proper to the Bishops Office to Judge Excommunicate or Absolve but only to Rule the Action by giving another power to do it Ans 1. If so then nothing but Commissioning others is the proper work of the Episcopal order and then any Presbyter may in foro interno vel externo ordinarily exercise the whole power of the Keys upon the flocks he may Excommunicate and absolve publikly as an act common to his Office with the Bishops if it Please the Bishop to give him Power which he may do without making him a Bishop And if so I enquire whether God be not the maker of the Presbyters office and not the Bishop and whether God only describing it give not all the power by way of Law Charter or Institution and the Bishop give it not only by way of ministerial solemnization and investiture and if so whether he that is duely called to the Pastoral office which God only made and discribed wust not in season do the works of that office whether men commission him or not or whether at least he any more need the Bishops commission for Church Government Excommunication and Absolution than for Preaching and Celebrating the Lords supper seeing both are now thus confessed acts common to the order of the Presbyter and the Bishop I think all this is past contradiction And I ask then whether that all giving of power to another be proper to the Bishops order If yea than a Minister cannot give his Clerk power to chuse the Psalm or tune c. If not then may not a Bishop if he please also give power to the Presbyters to ordaine and to give other men power For if it be his proper work only to give power to others to do all the sacred acts of office he may give others power to ordain and if so then Ordination will be like Preaching Sacraments and Discipline which are none of them proper to the Bishops order And is not Church discipline the exercise of the power of the keys If then the power of the keys may be exercised by the Presbyters when ever the Bishops please it seems it is common to them with him as well as Sacraments and therefore belongeth not to a Bishop as a Bishop but as a Presbyter And if in my dispute of ordination I have fully proved that the power of the Ministry is given by Christ so far immediatly as that it passeth not through the hands of Electors or Ordainers to the receiver but is given by the meer Instrumentality of the Law or institution and that the Electors and Ordainers do no more than determine of the qualified person that receives it and publickly invest him or ministerially solemnize his Possession as the Burgesses chuse and the Steward or Recorder investeth the Major of a Corparation whose power floweth immediatly from the Charter granted by the King then all this controversie is at an end and I doubt not but that 's fully proved And if commanding another to do an office work be all that is proper to the Bishop I ask whether any thing there be proper to him and so whether we must have such an office For may not the King command the Minister to do all the work which belongeth to his function may he not appoint Magistrates and make Law to command it may he not punish those that do it not Is he not custos utriusque tabulae and must he not corect mal-administration in ministers and drive them to do their duty No doubt he may Obj. But he doth not ordaine Ministers though he command them to do their duty when ordained Ans 1. Our present question is not about Ordination but commanding men to Govern the Church by Discipline or fully to Rule by the Keys the people of a particular Church If this so far belong to the Presbyters office that he may do it by the Bishops Licence let him that can tell me why he may not do it by the Kings Licence and then as they were wont to say of old exceptâ ordinatione nothing but ordination only is proper to the Bishops office And that this is not proper neither 1. This objection it self doth intimate seeing the Bishop may give another Power to ordaine and then why may not the King 2. Many of the Schoolmen and the Papists themselves confess that the Pope say some or Prelates say others may impower an Abbot or Presbyter to ordaine of which see that unanswerable book of Voetius de desperata causa Papatus against Jansenius for Presbyters ordination 3. And our Church of England causeth Presbyters to impose hands with the Bishops and Bishop Downam aforecited is angry with his answerer for supposing that he pleaded for sole power of ordination in the Bishop when he spake but for a chief power And if nothing but a chief power in ordaining be proper to a Bishop why then are the Churches so confounded and beggered and altered by a contrary practice And why is a new office of Bishops set up in the world whose work is to hinder the Ministers of Christ from their officwork under pretence of a power of Licensing them to it when God licenceth them to the work when he calleth them to that office which essenti ally consisteth in a power and Obligation to do it when they have opportunity Moreover my Lord Bacon in his considerations as hath well manifested if impartiall wise men could have bin heard that the office of a Bishop is a function consisting in the exercise of personall skill or abilities and therefore must be done by him that hath them and not committed to another as the office of a Judg or Lawyer of a Phisitian of a Tutor c. no man chooseth a Tutor or Phisitian meerly to send another to him for his Tutor or Phisitian but â—â— do the work himself It is not like the place of a King whose right dependeth not on his parts or skill because he may Govern by others that are able And Grotius who one would think by their respect to him should have been regarded by them truly saith de Imperio sum potest Pag. 290 Nam illud Quod quis per alium facit per se facere videtur ad eas tantum pertinet actiones quarum causa efficiens proxima a jure indefinita est that is For this saying That whose a man doth by another he seemeth to do by himself belongeth only to those actions which neerest efficient cause is not defined by the Law But sure when God made the Pastoral office he meant that the persons called to it should do the work and not only appoint other men to do it And I would know whether the work of a Presbyter as to consecrae and celebrate the Sacrament c may be done per alium by one that is no Presbyter If not as all say not then I ask whether the Bishops work or the Presbyters be the more sacred If the Presbyters
and according to that word to declare them Impenitency openly Characterizing them to be persons unmeet for Christian Communion and such as till they repent are under the wrath of God and must expect his dreadful judgment and to command the Church in Christs name to withdraw from the Impenitent person and to have no Communion with him And all this is but the application of Gods word to his Conscience and the Churches If his seared Conscience deride it all we can do no more If he will forcibly intrude into the Communion of the Church against their wills it is like ones breaking into my house the Magistrate must restrain him as a violater of the peace as well as of the Churches liberties If the Magistrate will not the Church most remove from him If they cannot they must pronounce him morally absent as a forcible intruder and none of their Communion If the Church will not obey the Pastors sentence he hath no instrument but the same word to bring them to it Now all this being past denial let us come more particularly to enquire in all this what part there is essential to a Bishops office as such 1. Is it the making of Church Lawes or Canons About what 1. Either these Canons are but the Commanding of that which Gods Law made a duty before or of somewhat newly made a duty by themselves 2. Either they are Lawes or Commands to the Laity only or to the Presbyters or to the particular Bishops or all 1. If they do but urge the performing of some duty already made such by God in Scripture or Nature who ever doubted but Presbyters may do that even to teach and charge the people from God to obey his Laws And note that God daily maketh new duties by the Law of nature even providentially altering the Nature of things And so he maketh this or that to become Decent and Orderly and so a duty And maketh it my duty to speak this or that word to this or that person or to do this or that particular good work Even by varying occasions accidents and circumstances of things 2. But if these Canons make new duties which God hath not made 1. If it be to the Laity the Presbyters may do the like for they are Guides also of the Laity unless they are forbidden by a superior power If it be only to the Presbyters that will not reach our present case as shall be further shewed afterward 3. If it be to the Bishops themselves they cannot be Laws but meer agreements because one Bishop is not the proper Governour of another nor many of one nor the present in Council of the absent as such And here by the way it is worthy to be noted how much the Diocesanes contradict themselves in this claim of Government They say that they are of a distinct order and office from meer Presbyters because they have power to Govern them And yet they make 1. A Council of Bishops to have as high a governing power over particular Bishops of the same order 2. And an Arch-Bishop to be the Governour of Bishops 3. And a Primate or Patriarch to be the Governour of Arch-Bishops and yet not to be of a distinct Order or office but only of a distinct degree in the accidentals of the same order If Government prove a distinct Order or Office in one it will do so in the other And why may not the Magistrate make all the same Canons who ruleth them all But let us consider what these Canons may be 1. The Bishops make Canons how often Synods or Councils shall be held and when and where and when they shall be dissolved But 1. May not the King do the same And can that be proper to Bishops which the King may do Yea which all Emperours have formerly used 2. And is not this Cannon made to rule Bishops themselves who is it but Bishops or so much as them that you think should be called unto Councils And are the Bishops in Council of another order than themselves out of Council Need we an office of Bishops to rule Bishops of the same office 2. Canons are made about Temples Buildings Tithes Glebes Bells Pulpits Seats Tables Cups Fonts and other utensils And 1. who doubteth but the Magistrate may do all this yea that it belongeth to him to regulate such things as these 2. And who knoweth not that even Bishops are under these Canons also who are of the same order 3. And that Presbyters even in England are members of these Synods and so make Canons to rule the Bishops Ergo they are of a superior order to Bishops by your reasoning 3. Canons are made for the regulating of Ministers attire in the Church and out and for officiating garments as surplices c. And of these I say the same as of the former The King may do the same as Bishops may do and Bishops themselves are bound by them and Presbyters make them which three things prove that it is not the proper work of Bishops as a distinct order from meer Presbyters 4. Canons are made for worship Geâ—ures in what gesture to pray to receive the Sacrament to use the Creed c. And the same three answers serve to this also as to the case in hand 5. Canons are made for Holidaies publick Fasts and Thanksgivings and Lecture daies And the same three considerations fall in here 6. Canons are made for the ordering officers fees and such like in Bishops Courts And here all the same three things fall in 1. The King may do it 2. It is Bishops that are ruled 3. Presbyters also make the Canons therefore it is not jure divino the proper work of a distinct Order 7. Canons are made for the choice of what Translation of the Bible shall be used in all the Churches and what version or meetre of the singing Psalmes And of this also the three former things hold true 8. Canons are made to impose a Liturgie in what words Ministers shall speak to God and to the people And 1. This also the King may do and doth 2. And it obligeth Bishops 3. And Presbyters make it 9. Canons are made against Schismaticks new Discipline and constitutions non-subscribers unlicensed Preachers for the book of Articles of ordination for Catechizing Preaching Marrying Burying Christing and such like In all which each of the said three answers hold 10. Canons are made to keep Parents from open covenanting to God for their Children in Baptism that they shall not be urged to be present that God-fathers do that office and not they As also that none be baptized without the transient Image of a Cross and such like whether this be well or ill done the three former answers all hold in this 11. All the Canons that are for the restraint of sin as neglect of Church worship prophaning of it and other abuses have the same censure 12. The circumstantiating Canons how oft Bishops shall confirm and whom they shall
abilities and to manage Gods work in each assembly more skillfully and guide the Church more prudently and defend the truth more powerfully than common unlearned Presbyters could do Now let it be for the present granted that for such reasons Episcopacy in each Church was justly setled and call it an order or a degree as you please It will be a difficult question what shall be judged of those that have the same place and Title without the same Qualifications and precedencie of parts Because the Reason of his power faileth If one be chosen Bishop to keep out Hetesie and he prove a Heretick and the Presbyters Orthodox whatis his power to that end If one be chosen Bishop to keep out Schisin and he prove a Schisinatick or Sect-Master and the rest concordant what is his power If one be made Bishop to teach the people better than the Presbytres and to teach the Presbyters themselves and to defend truth and Godliness and he prove more ignorant than the Presbyters and Preach not to the thousandth or hundredth part of his Diocese once in all his life nor to any at all past once in many weeks or months or years and if he do but silence the Ministers that are abler and farr more pious than himself what power hath he as a Bishop to those ends Sure I am that dispositio materâ—e is necessary as sine qua noâ— ad receptionem formae If one be made a Schoolmaster that cannot reach the Scholars half so much as they know already but hath need to learne of them and yet will neither learne of them nor suffer them to learne without him I know not well how farr he is their Schoolmaster indeed If one be made a Physician that knoweth not half so much as I do I should be loth for Order sake to venture my life upon his trust Nor yet to venture my own life and others in a Ship that had an ignorant Pilote when the Mariners had more skill but must not use it Orders and Office that are appointed for the work 's sake essentially suppose ability for that work And without the necessary qualifications they are but the Carkasses or images of the office but of this before Therefore it is that the Christian flocks could never yet be cured by all the aâ—t or tyranny that could be used of the esteem of real Wisdome and Godlinesâ— and preferring it before an empty title or a pompous shew and from setting less by Ignorance and Impiety venerably named and arrayed then by self evidencing worth nor from valuing a Shepherd that daily feedeth them from a Wolfe in Sheeps cloathing that hathe Fangs and bloody jawes and fleeceth and devoureth the flock with the Shepherds And hence we may say that God himself useth to give Bishops to the Church whether men will or not while he giveth them such as Jerome Luther Melanâ—â—horn Bucer Calvin Zanchius c Who had Episcopal ability and really did that which Bishops were first appointed for while the Bishops would have hindered them and sought their blood They taught the people they bred up young Ministers they kept out Heresies and Schismes they guided the churches by the light of Sacred truth and by the power of Reason and Love And who than was the Bishop who is the real Architect he that buildeth the house or he that hath the title and doth nothing unless it be hindering the builders To this already said I add but two more intimations which I desire the sober impartial Reader to consider 1. Writing is but a mode of Preaching And of the two it is worse to have inept Sermons in Publick Assemblies and so Gods worke and worship dishonoured than to have inept bookes in private And no doubt the Pastors oversight extends to publick and private Now while the meer worth of bookes without any Authority commendeth them to the world though sometimes with some few giddy Pamphlets are accepted yet that is but for a fit and ordinarily the Book-sellers sufficiently restrain all that are not of worth because they cannot sell them But if a Bishop must impose on all the people what bookes they must read in many Kingdoms it will be for the Pope and Masse in others for Exorcism and Consubstantion c. 2. Is not order for the the thing ordered Episcopacy is for the Churches benefit by the Bishops eminent gifts and parts But if the Bishop be of lower parts than the Pastors and an Envious Malignant hinderer of their work Quere Whether the order being humane cease not ubi cessat subjecti dispositio relatio ad finem when the end and the pesons capacity cease II. But how the world by the countenance of Emperours was invited to come in t the Church How worldly wealth power and honour did indue them How Bishopricks were made baites for the proud and tyrannical and Covetous How such then sought them and so the worldly Spirit had the rule and altered Episcopacy I shewed in the History before THE Second Part. Having in the former Part laid down those Grounds on which the Applicatory Part is to be built and subverted the foundations of that Diocesane frame which we judge unlawful I shall now proceed to give you the Application in the particular Reasons of our judgment from the Evils which we suppose this frame to be guilty of CHAP. I. The clearing of the state of the Question THE occasion of our dispute or rather Apology is known in England 1. Every man that is ordained Deacon or Presbyter or licensed a Schoolmaster must subscribe to the Books of Articles Liturgy and Ordination as Ex animo that there is nothing in them contrary to the Word of God And by the late Act of Uniformity that he doth assent and consent to all things conteined in and prescribed by the said books as since altered we think for the worse 2. In the year 1640 the Convocation formed printed and imposed a new Oath in these words after others Nor will I ever give my consent to alter the Government of this Church by Arch-Bishops Bishops Deans Arch-Deacons c. as it stands now established and as by right it ought to stand 3. After this the Parliament in the Wars imposed a Vow and Covenant on the Ministers and People contrary to this called the Et caetrea Oath which Vow contained a clause to endeavour the exâ—â—rpation of this Prelacy In the Westminster Assembly before it passed many Learned Divines declared that they would not take it as against Prelacy unexplained lest it should seem to be against all Episcopacy which was not their judgment they being for the primitive Episcopacy To satisfie these men that else had protested against it and the Assembly been divided the Scots and some others being against all the additional Titles of Deans Chapters c. were put in as a description of the peculiar English frame of Prelacy which they all agreed against Since His Majesty's Restoration there are many Acts
shall there tell him whom to Baptize where there is no Bishop And the power of Baptizing is the first and greatest Key of the Church even the Key of admission And they that do among us deny a Presbyter the power of judging whom to Baptize and give the Lords Supper to do not give it to the Bishop who knoweth not of the persons But the Directive part they commit to a Convocation of Bishops and Presbyters and the Judicial partly to the Priest and partly to a Lay-Chancellor X. Epiphanius Haeres 75. saith The Apostles did not set all in full order at once And at first there was need of Presbyters and Deacons by whom both Ecclesiastical affairs may be administred Therefore where no man was found worthy of Episcopacy in that place no Bishop was set By which it appeareth that he thought that for some time some Churches were Governed without Bishops And if so it there belonged to the Presbyters office to govern Whereto we may add the opinion of many Episcopal men who think that during the Apostles times they were the only Bishops in most Churches themselves And if so Then in their long and frequent absence the Presbyters must be the governours XI That many Councils have had Presbyters yea many of them is past doubt Look but in the Councils subscriptions and you will see it A Synod of some Bishops and more Presbyters and Deacons gathered at Rome decreed the Excommunication of Novatianus and his adherents Euseb lib. 6. c. 43. Noetus was convented judged expelled by the Session of Presbyters Epiphan Haeres 47. c. 1. See a great number of instances of Councils held by Bishops with their Presbyters in Blondel de Episc sect 3. p. 202. Yea one was held at Rome praesidentibus cum Joanne 12 Presbyteris An. 964. vid. Blond p. 203 206 207. Yea they had places and votes in General Councils Not only ut aliorum procuratores as Victor and Vincentius in Nic. 1. but as the Pastors of their Churches and in their proper right I need not urge Selden's Arabick Catalogue in Eutych Alex. where there were two persons for divers particular places or Zonaras who saith There were Priests Deacons and Monks nor Athanasius a Deacon's presence Evenof late the Council of Basil is a sufficient proof XII The foresaid Canons of Carthage which are so full are inserted into the body of the Canon Law and in the Canons of Egbert Archbishop of York as Bishop Usher and others have observed XXIII Hierom's Communi Presbyterorum Concilio Ecclesiae gubernabantur seconded by Chrysostome and other Fathers is a trite but evident testimony XIV That Presbyters had the Power of Excommunications see fully proved by Calderwood Altar Damasc p. 273. XV. Basil's Anaphora Bibl. Pat. Tom. 6. p. 22. maketh every Church to have Archpresbyters Presbyters and Deacons making the Bishop to be but the Archpresbyter CHAP. XIV The Confessions of the greatest and Learnedest Prelatists 1. THe Church of England doth publickly notifie her judgment that Church Government Discipline and the power of the Keys is not a thing aliene from or above the Order of the Presbyters but belongeth to their office 1. In that they allow Presbyters to be members of Convocations and that as chosen by the Presbyters And whereas it is said that the Lower house of Convocation are but Advisers to the Upper I answer All together have but an advising power to the King and Parliament But in that sort of power the lower house hath its part as experience sheweth 2. There are many exempt Jurisdictions in England as the Kings Chappel The Deanry of Windsor and Wolverhampton Bridgenorth where six Parishes are governed by a Court held by a Presbyter and many more which shew that it is consistent with the Presbyters office 3. The Archdeacons who are no Bishops exercise some Government And so do their Officials under them The Objection from Deputation is answered 4. The Surrogates of the Bishops whether Vicar General Principal Official or Commissaries are allowed a certain part of government 5. They that give Lay-Chancellors the power of Judicial Excommunication and Absolution cannot think a Presbyter uncapable of it 6. A Presbyter proforma oft passeth the sentence of Excommunication and Absolution in the Chancellors Court when he hath judged it 7. A Presbyter in the Church must publish that Excommunication and Absolution 8. By allowing Presbyters to baptize and to deliver the Lords Supper and to keep some back for that time and to admit them again if they openly profess to repent and amend their naughty lives and to absolve the sick they intimate that the Power of the Keys belongeth to them though they contradict themselves otherwise by denying it them 9. And in Ordination the Presbyter is required to exercise discipline And the words of Act. 20. 28. were formerly used to them Take heed to your selves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you Overseers or Bishops to feed or Rule the Church of God Whence Bishop Usher gathereth that the Churches sence was that the Presbyters had a joynt power with the Bishop in Church Government And though lately Anno 1662. this be altered and those words left out yet it is not any such new change that can disprove this to have been the meaning of them that made the book of Ordination and that used it II. Archbishop Cranmer with the rest of the Commissioners appointed by King Edward the Sixth for the Reformation of Ecclesiastical Laws decreed the administring Discipline in every Parish by the Minister and certain Elders Labouring and intending by all means to bring in the ancient discipline Vid. Reform Leg. Eccles tit de Divinis Officiis cap. 10. And our Liturgy wisheth this Godly Discipline restored and substituteth the Curses till it can be done And the same Cranmer was the first of 46 who in the time of King Henry the Eighth affirmed in a book called The Bishops Book to be seen in Fox's Martyrology that the difference of Bishops was a device of the ancient Fathers and not mentioned in Scripture And of the opinion of Cranmer with others in this point his own papers published by Dr. Stillingfleet Irenic p. 390 391 c. are so full a proof that no more is needful III. Dr. Richard Cosins in his Tables sheweth how Church Discipline is partly exercised by Presbyters and by the Kings Commission may be much more And it is not aliene to their office IV. Hooker Eccles Pol. lib. 5. pleadeth against the Divine settlement of one form of Government And lib. 7. Sect. 7. p. 17 18. he sheweth at large that the Bishops with their Presbyters as a Consess governed the Churches And that in this respect It is most certain truth that the Churches Cathedral and the Bishops of them are as glasses wherein the face and very countenance of Apostolical antiquity remaineth yet to be seen notwithstanding the alterations which tract of time and course of the world hath
prescribed in Scripture professed that it was always his opinion And joyned with us in our proposals for Bishop Ushers Model Dr Stillingfleet in his Irenicon hath said so much against the Jus Divinum of our Prelacy as can never be answered I have talked with many of the Bishops and Episcopal Conformists my self of these matters and I do not remember that ever I spake to one accounted a Learned man that did not confess when driven to it that the Greatness of the Diocesses and the Chancellors Government by the Church Keyes were causes of so great a lapse of discipline as is to be groaned under And can shew us no probability it possibility of restoring it while it so stands And yet they would have us subscribe and swear never to endeavour any alteration of the Church Government not excepting in our place and calling by petition or otherwise no though the King commanded us Bishop Hall in his Mod. Offer doth confess the faultiness and desires reformation and in his excellent Peace-maker would take up even with a presidencie durante vita as sufficient to reconcile us Dr. Hammond himself oft complaineth of the lapse of discipline and the clergies and peoples vices thereupon The Liturgy wisheth the godly Discipline restored but doth it not as if in our case it could not be done Abundance of their Writers lament the scandals of clergy and people which have abounded of which I shall say somewhat more anon 2. And this is yet plainlier confessed by the Actual omission of discipline We need not to dispute whether that can or be ever like to be done by our Prelacy which is no where done and never was done no not by any one man of them not excepting the very best so that if they had not come neer the Erastian opinion in their hearts and thought this use of the Keyes to consist but in bare Teaching or the rest to be of no great need it had not been possible that they should have quieted their Consciences Or at least if they did not do it by saying I cannot help it It is not long of me As Bishop Goodman layeth it on the King in the case of Chancellours and most lay it on the Church-Wardens and Ministers for presenting no more But all must confess that little is done besides the troubling of Nonconformists It is not one of a thousand in a Diocesse I am confident that ever is brought under the excercise of Church discipline that ought to be Nor one of many thousand that should be so according to the ancient Canons of the Churches If I should give no other instance than the ordinarie neglect of all Gods publick worship Preaching Prayer and Sacraments in publick Churches or any other Religious Assemblies I do not think but ten thousand persons in this Diocesse and twenty thousand if not fourty in London Diocesse are guilty that were never questioned by the Church I may therefore argue thus That which never was done by any one Bishop in England being the confessed work of their office is naturally or Morally Impossible to be done or if it have a possibility it is as bad as none when it never was once reduced into act But the true exercise of Church discipline on all or the hundredth or many hundredth person that it is due to was never done by one Bishop in England that can by any credible History be proved since the deformation or reformation Ergo. The strength of the Major is plain 1. From the Bishops own mouths who use to praise themselves as the Wisest Learn dst and best of the Clergie and therefore fitter to be trusted with the Government of the Church than all or any of the Presbyters though but under then And they would take it heynously if we question their wisdom conscience or honesty and if they are all or most so good sure it is long of the state and constitution of their places and not long of their persons that their very proper work is made but a shaddow and a dream 2. But though this be but ad homines yet really we have had very worthy and excellent persons to be Bishops what a man was Jewell Arch-bishop Grindal had Godliness enough and resolution too to make him odiâ—s and favoured Lectures and Preaching c. Enough to bring him down if Cambden Godwin or Fuller are to be believed but never could do this work of discipline upon one of hundreds or thousands under him We had an excellent Arch-Bishop-Abbot afterwards good enough to be reproached by Heylin and to suffer what I need not mention but never able to do this work What Learned Judicious worthy men were his Brother Robert Abbot and after him Davenant Bishops of Salisbury And how good a man was peaceable Bishop Hall so Usher in Ireland Moron and many more But no such thing was done by any of them what should I say now of Bishop Reignolds and Bishop Wilkins Men Learned and extraordinary honest in these times But let any man enquire whether any such thing as the discipline in question is exercised on the thousandth Criminal in their Diocese Indeed we have heard in Bishop Reignolds Diocese of a great number censured for Nonconformity And it is his praise that it was not his doing but his Chancellours though heretofore Judge Advocate in Fairefaxes or Cromwells Army And to say now that it is long of Church-Wardens Chancellours c. Is but to say that the Church is corrupted the Episcopal discipline almost quite cast out and all the remedy is to say It is long of somebody Like the Physician whose Praise was that his patients dyed according to the rules of art or the nurse whose praise was that though most of the Children perished it was long of themselves or somebody else IV. But the fullest experience which so far satisfieth me that all the books in the world cannot change me in this is my own and the rest of my Brethren in the Ministry I have lived now through Gods wonderful mercy threescore years wanting lesse than four In all this time whilst the Bishops ruled I never heard one man or woman called openly to repentance for any sin nor one ever publikely confess or lament any sin Nor one that was excommunicate in any Country where I came except the Nonconformists Nor did I hear of any but one man to my remembrance who did formal penance for Fornication I doubt not but there have been more But the number may be conjectuâ—ed by this I lived under a great number of drunken and ignorant Curates that never preached and Schoolmasters my self and many more were round about us that were never troubled with discipline or cast out I never lived where drunkards and swearers were not common but never one of them underwent the Churches discipline But those that met to fast and pray and went to hear a Sermon two miles off when they had none at home But yet this is the last