man surmise that the difference between them was only by distinction in the former kind of power and not in this latter of jurisdiction are not the words of the Law manifest which make Eleazer the Son of Aaron the Priest chief Captain of the Levites and overseer of them unto whom the charge of the Sanctuary was committed Again at the commandment of Aaron and his Sons are not the Gersonites themselves required to do all their service in the whole charge belonging unto the Gersonites being inferiour Priests as Aaron and his Sons were High Priests Did not Iehoshaphat appoint Amarias the Priest to be chief over them who were Judges for the cause of the Lord in Ierusalem Priests saith Josephus worship God continually and the eldest of the stock are governours over the rest He doth sacrifice unto God before others he hath care of the Laws judgeth controversies correcteth offenders and whosoever obeyeth him not is convict of impiety against God But unto this they answer That the reason thereof was because the High-Priest did prefigure Christ and represent to the people that chiefty of our Saviour which was to come so that Christ being now come there is no cause why such preheminence should be given unto any one Which fancy pleaseth so well the humour of all sorts of rebellions spirits that they all seek to shroud themselves under it Tell the Anabaptist which holdeth the use of the sword unlawful for a Christian man that God himself did allow his people to make wars they have their answer round and ready Those ancient Wars were figures of the spiritual Wars of Christ. Tell the Barrowist what sway David and others the Kings of Israel did bear in the ordering of spiritual affairs the same answer again serveth namely That David and the rest of the Kings of Israel prefigured Christ. Tell the Martinist of the High-Priests great authority and jurisdiction amongst the Jews what other thing doth serve this Turn but the self-same shift By the power of the High-Priest the universal supreme Authority of our Lord Iesus Christ was shadowed The thing is true that indeed High-Priests were figures of Christ yet this was in things belonging unto their power of Order they figured Christ by entring into the holy place by offering for the sins of all the people once a year and by other the like duties But that to govern and to maintain order amongst those that were subject to them is an office figurative and abrogated by Christs coming in the Ministry that their exercise of jurisdiction was figurative yea figurative in such sort that it had no other cause of being instituted but only to serve as a representation of somewhat to come and that herein the Church of Christ ought not to follow them this Article is such as must be confirmed if any way by miracle otherwise it will hardly enter into the heads of reasonable men why the High-Priest should more figure Christ in being a Judge then in being whatsoever he might be besides St. Cyprian deemed it no wresting of Scripture to challenge as much for Christian Bishops as was given to the High-Priest among the Jews and to urge the law of Moses as being most effectual to prove it St. Ierom likewise thought it an argument sufficient to ground the Authority of Bishops upon To the end saith he we may understand Apostolical traditions to have been taken from the Old Testament that which Aaron and his Sons and the Levites were in the Temple Bishops and Presbyters and Deacons in the Church may lawfully challenge to themselves In the Office of a Bishop Ignatius observeth these two functions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concerning the one such is the prehemince of a Bishop that he only hath the heavenly mysteries of God committed originally unto him so that otherwise than by his Ordination and by authority received from him others besides him are not licensed therein to deal as ordinary Ministers of Gods Church And touching the other part of their sacred Function wherein the power of their jurisdiction doth appear first how the Apostles themselves and secondly how Titus and Timothy had rule and jurisdiction over Presbyters no man is ignorant And had not Christian Bishops afterward the like power Ignatius Bishop of Antioch being ready by blessed martyrdom to end his life writeth unto his Presbyters the Pastors under him in this sort O◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 After the death of Fabian Bishop of Rome there growing some trouble about the receiving of such persons into the Church as had fallen away in persecution and did now repent their fall the Presbyters and Deacons of the same Church advertised St. Cyprian thereof signifying That they must of necessity defer to deal in that cause till God did send them a new Bishop which might moderate all things Much we read of extraodinary fasting usually in the Church And in this appeareth also somewhat concerning the chiefty of Bishops The custome is saith Tertullian that Bishops do appoint when the people shall all fast Yea it is not a matter left to our own free choice whether Bishops shall rule or no but the will of our Lord and Saviour is saith Cyprian that every act of the Church be governed by her Bishops An Argument it is of the Bishops high preheminence rule and government over all the rest of the Clergy even that the Sword of persecution did strike especially always at the Bishop as at the Head the rest by reason of their lower estate being more secure as the self-same Cyprian noteth the very manner of whose speech unto his own both Deacons and Presbyters who remained safe when himself then Bishop was driven into exile argueth likewise his eminent authority and rule over them By these letters saith he I both exhort and COMMAND that ye whose presence there is not envied at nor so much beset with dangers supply my room in doing those things which the exercise of Religion doth require Unto the same purpose serve most directly those comparisons than which nothing is more familiar in the books of the ancient Fathers who as oft as they speak of the several degrees in Gods Clergy if they chance to compare Presbyters with Levitical Priests of the Law the Bishop they compare unto Aaron the High Priest if they compare the one with the Apostles the other they compare although in a lower proportion sometime to Christ and sometime to God himself evermore shewing that they placed the Bishop in an eminent degree of ruling authority and power above other Presbyters Ignatius comparing Bishops with Deacons and with such Ministers of the word and Sacraments as were but Presbyters and had no Authority over Presbyters What is saith he the Bishop but one which hath all principality and power over all so far forth as man may have it being to his power a follower even of Gods own Christ Mr. Calvin himself
which that surcease were likely to draw after it Let the Lord Maior of London or any other unto whose Office Honor belongeth be deprived but of that Title which in itself is a matter of nothing and suppose we that it would be a small maim unto the credit force and countenance of his Office It hath not without the singular wisdom of God been provided that the ordinary outward tokens of Honor should for the most part be in themselves things of mean account for to the end they might easily follow as faithful testimonies of that beneficial vertue whereunto they are due it behoved them to be of such nature that to himself no man might over-eagerly challenge them without blushing not any man where they are due withhold them but with manifest appearance of too great malice or pride Now forasmuch as according to the Antient Orders and Customs of this Land as of the Kingdom of Israel and of all Christian Kingdoms through the World the next in degree of Honor unto the Chief Soveraign are the Chief Prelates of God's Church what the reason hereof may be it resteth next to be enquired XVIII Other reason there is not any wherefore such Honor hath been judged due saving only that publick good which the Prelates of God's Clergy are Authors of For I would know which of these things it is whereof we make any question either that the favour of God is the chiefest Pillar to bear up Kingdoms and States or that true Religion publickly exercised is the principal mean to retain the favour of God or that the Prelates of the Church are they without whom the exercise of true Religion cannot well and long continue If these three be grented then cannot the publick benefit of Prelacy be dissembled And of the first or second of these I look not for any profest denyal The World at this will blush not to grant at the leastwise in word as much as Heathens themselves have of old with most earnest asseveration acknowledged concerning the force of Divine Grace in upholding Kingdoms Again though his mercy doth so farr strive with mens ingratitude that all kinde of Publick iniquities deserving his indignation their safety is through his gracious Providence many times neverthelesse continued to the end that amendment might if it were possible avert their Envy so that as well Common-weals as particular Persons both may and do endure much longer when they are careful as they should be to use the most effectual means of procuring His favour on whom their continuance principally dependeth Yet this point no man will stand to argue no man will openly arm himself to enter into set Disputation against the Emperors Theodosius and Valentinian for making unto their Laws concerning Religion this Preface Decere arbitramur nostrum Imperium subditos nostros de Religione commonefacere Ita enim plenicrem adquiri Dei ac Salvatoris nostri Iesu Christi benignitatem possibile esse existimamus si quando nos pro viribus ipsi placere studuerimus nostros subditos ad eam rem instituerimus Or against the Emperor Iustinian for that he also maketh the like Profession Per sanctissimas Ecclessias nostrum Imperium sustineri communes res elementissimi Dei gratia muniri credimus And in another place Certissimè credemus quia Sacerdotum puritas deâ—â—â—â— ad Dominum Deum Salvatorem nostrum Iesuis Christum fervor ab ipsis missa perpetua preces maltum favorem nostra Reipublica incrementum praebent Wherefore onely the last point is that which men will boldly require us to prove for no man feareth now to make it a question Whether the Prelacy of the Church be any thing available or no to effect the good and long continuance of true Religion Amongst the principal Blessings wherewith God enriched Israel the Prophet in the Psalm acknowledgeth especially this for one Thou didst lead thy People like Sheep by the hands of Moses and Aaron That which Sheep are if Pastors be wanting the same are the people of God if so be they want Governors And that which the principal Civil Governors are in comparison of Regents under them the same are the Prelates of the Church being compared with the rest of God's Clergy Wherefore inasmuch as amongst the Jews the benefit of Civil Government grew principally from Moses he being their Principal Civil Governor even so the benefit of Spiritual Regiment grew from Aaron principally he being in the other kinde of their principal Rector although even herein subject to the Soveraign Dominion of Moses For which cause these two alone are named as the Heads and Well-springs of all As for the good which others did in service either of the Common-wealth or of the Sanctuary the chiefest glory thereof did belong to the chiefest Governors of the one sort and of the other whose vigilant care and oversight kept them in their cue Order Bishops are now is high-High-Priests were then inregard of power over other Priests and in respect of subjection unto High-Priests What Priests were then the same now Presbyters are by way of their place under Bishops The ones Authority therefore being so profitable how should the others be thought unnecessary Is there any man professing Christian Religion which holdeth it not as a Maxim That the Church of Jesus Christ did reap a singular benefit by Apostolical Regiment not only for other respects but even in regard of that Prelacy whereby they had and exercised Power of Jurisdiction over lower Guides of the Church Preciates are herein the Apostles Successors as hath been proved Thus we see that Prelacy must needs be acknowledged exceedingly beneficial in the Church and yet for more perspicuities sake it shall not be pains superstuously taken if the manner how be also declared at large For this one thing not understood by the vulgar sort causeth all contempt to be offered unto higher Powers not only Ecclesiastical but Civil whom when proud men have disgraced and are therefore reproved by such as carry some dutiful affection of minde the usual Apologies which they make for themselves are these What more vertue in these Great ones than in others we see no such eminent good which they do above other mon. We grant indeed that the good which Higher Governors do is not so immediate and near unto every of us as many times the meane labours of others under them and this doth make it to be less esteemed But we must note that it is in this Case as in a Ship he that fitteth at the Stern is quiet he moveth not he seemeth in a manner to do little or Nothing in comparison of them that sweat about other toil yet that which he doth is in value and force more than all the labours of the residue laid together The influence of the Heavens above worketh infinitely more to our good and yet appeareth not half so sensible as the force doth of
most willingly thereunto even of reverence to the Most High with the Flower of whose sanctified Inheritance as it were with a kinde of Divine presence unless their Chiefest Civil Assemblies were so farr forth beautified as might be without any notable impediment unto their Heavenly Fâ—nctions they could not satisfie themselves as having showed towards God an Affection most duâ—iful Thus first in defect of other Civil Magistrates Secondly for the ease and quietness of Scholastical Societies Thirdly by way of Political necessity Fourthly in regard of quality care and extraordinancy Fifthly For countenance into the Ministry And lastly even of Devotion and Reverence towards God himself there may be admitted at leastwise in some Particulars well and lawfully enough a conjunction of Civil and Ecclesiastical Power except there be some such Law or Reason to the contrary as may prove it to be a thing simply in it self naught Against it many things are objected as first That the matters which are noted in the holy Scripture to have belonged unto the ordinary Office of any Minister of God's holy Word and Sacraments are these which follow with such like and no other namely The watch of the Sanctuary the business of God the Ministry of the Word and Sacraments Oversight of the House of God Watching over his Flock Prophesie Prayer Dispensations of the Mysteries of God Charge and care of mens Souls If a man would shew what the Offices and Duties of a Chirurgion or Physician are I suppose it were not his part so much as to mention any thing belonging to the one or the other in case either should be also a Souldier or a Merchant or an House-keeper or a Magistrate Because the Functions of these are different from those of the former albeit one and the same man may happily be both The Case is like when the Scripture teacheth what Duties are required in an Ecclesiastical Minister in describing of whose Office to touch any other thing than such as properly and directly toucheth his Office that way were impertinent Yea But in the Old Testament the two Powers Civil and Ecclesiastical were distinguished not onely in Nature but also in Person the one committed unto Moses and the Magistrates joyned with him the other to Aaron and his Sons Jehosophat in his Reformation doth not onely distinguish Causes Ecclesiastical from Civil and erecteth divers Courts for them but appointeth also divers Iudges With the Jews these two Powers were not so distinguished but that sometimes they might and did concâ—â— in one and the same Person Was not Ely both Priest and Judge After their return from captivity Esâ—â—as a Priest and the same their Chief Governour even in Civil Affairs also These men which urge the necessity of making always a Personal distinction of these two Powers as if by Iehosaphat's example the same Person ought not to deal in both Causes yet are not scrupulous to make men of Civil Place and Calling Presbyters and Ministers of Spiritual Jurisdiction in their own Spiritual Consistories If it be against the Jewish Precedents for us to give Civil Power unto such as have Ecclesiastical is it not as much against the same for them to give Ecclesiastical Power unto such as have Civil They will answer perhaps That their Position is onely against conjunction of Ecclesiastical Power of Order and the Power of Civil Jurisdiction in one Person But this Answer will not stand with their Proofs which make no less against the Power of Civil and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in one Person for of these two Powers Iehosaphat's example is Besides the contrary example of Heli and of Ezra by us alledged do plainly shew that amongst the Jewes even the power of Order Ecclesiastical and Civil Jurisdiction were sometimes lawfully united in one and the same Person Pressed further we are with our Lord and Saviour's example who denyeth his Kingdom to be of this Wold and therefore as not standing with his Calling refused to be made a King to give sentence in a criminal Cause of Adultery and in a Civil of dividing an Inheritance The Jews imagining that their Messiah should be a Potent Monarch upon Earth no marvail though when they did otherwise wonder at Christ's greatness they sought forthwith to have him invested with that kinde of Dignity to the end he might presently begin to reign Others of the Jewes which likewise had the same imagination of the Messiah and did somehat incline to think that peradventure this might be He thought good to try whether he would take upon him that which he might do being a King such as they supposed their true Messiah should be But Christ refused to be a King over them because it was no part of the Office of their Messiah as they did falsely conceive and to intermeddle in those Acts of Civil Judgement be refused also because he had no such Jurisdiction in that Common-wealth being in regard of his Civil Person a man of mean and low Calling As for repugnancy between Ecclesiastical and Civil Power or any inconvenience that these two Powers should be united it doth not appear that this was the cause of his resistance either to reign or else to judge What say we then to the blessed Apostles who teach That Souldiers intangle not themselves with the businesses of this life but leave them to the end they may please him who hath chosen them to serve and that so the good Souldiers of Christ â—ught to do The Apostles which taught this did never take upon them any Place or Office of Civil Power No they gave over the Ecclesiastical care of the Poor that they might wholly attend upon the Word and Prayer St. Paul indeed doth exhort Timothy after this manner Suffer thou evil as a noble Souldier of Iesus Christ No man warring is entangled with the affairs of Life because he must serve such as have pressed him unto Warfare The sense and meaning whereof is plain that Souldiers may not be nice and tender that they must be able to endure hardnesse that no man betaking himself unto Wars continueth entangled with such kinde of Businesses as tend only unto the ease and quiet felicity of this Life but if the service of him who hath taken them under his Banner require the hazard yea the losse of their Lives to please himâ— they must be content and willing with any difficulty any peril be it never so much against the natural desire which they have to live in safety And at this point the Clergy of God must always stand thus it behoveth them to be affected as oft as their Lord and Captain leadeth them into the field whatsoever conflicts perils or evils they are to endure Which duty being not such but that therewith the Civil Dignities which Ecclesiastical Persons amongst us do enjoy may enough stand the Exhortation of Paul to Timothy is but a slender Allegation against them As well might we gather out of this place that Men having Children or Wives
men as contrariwise the ground of all our happiness and the seed of whatsoever perfect vertue groweth from us is a right opinion touching things divine this kind of knowledge we may justly set down for the first and chiefest thing which God imparteth unto his People and our duty of receiving this at his merciful hands for the first of those religious Offices wherewith we publickly honour him on earth For the instruction therefore of all sorts of men to eternal life it is necessary that the sacred and saving truth of God be openly published unto them Which open publication of heavenly mysteries is by an excellency termed preaching For otherwise there is not any thing publickly notified but we may in that respect rightly and properly say it is preached So that when the School of God doth use it as a word of Art we are accordingly to understand it with restraint to such special matter as that School is accustomed to publish We find not in the World any People that have lived altogether without Religion And yet this duty of Religion which provideth that publickly all sorts of men may be instructed in the fear of God is to the Church of God and hath been always so peculiar that none of the Heathens how curious soever in searching out all kinds of outward Ceremonies like to ours could ever once so much as endeavour to resemble herein the Churches care for the endless good of her Children Ways of teaching there have been sundry always usual in Gods Church For the first introduction of youth to the knowledge of God the Jews even till this day have their Catechisms With Religion it fareth as with other Sciences the first delivery of the Elements thereof must for like consideration be framed according to the weak and slender capacity of young Beginners unto which manner of teaching Principles in Christianity the Apostle in the sixth to the Hebrews is himself understood to allude For this cause therefore as the Decalogue of Moses declareth summarily those things which we ought to do the Prayer of our Lord whatsoever we should request or desire so either by the Apostles or at the least-wise out of their Writings we have the substance of Christian Belief compendiously drawn into few and short Articles to the end that the weakness of no mans wit might either hinder altogether the knowledge or excuse the utter ignorance of needful things Such as were trained up in these Rudiments and were so made fit to be afterward by Baptism received into the Church the Fathers usually in their Writings do term Hearers as having no farther communion or fellowship with the Church than only this that they were admitted to hear the Principles of Christian Faith made plain unto them Catechizing may be in Schools it may be in private Families But when we make it a kind of Preaching we mean always the publick performance thereof in the open hearing of men because things are preached not in that they are taught but in that they are published 19. Moses and the Prophets Christ and his Apostles were in their times all Preachers of Gods Truth some by Word some by Writing some by both This they did partly as faithful Witnesses making meer relation what God himself had revealed unto them and partly as careful Expounders Teachers Perswaders thereof The Church in like case Preacheth still first publishing by way of Testimony or relation the truth which from them she hath received even in such sort as it was received written in the sacred volumes of Scripture Secondly by way of explication discovering the mysteries which lye hid therein The Church as a Witness preacheth his meer revealed Truth by reading publickly the Sacred Scripture So that a second kind of preaching is the reading of holy Writ For thus we may the boldlier speak being strengthened with the examples of so reverend a Prelate as saith that Moses from the time of antient Generations and Ages long since past had amongst the Cities of the very Gentiles them that preached him in that he was read every Sabbath day For so of necessity it must be meant in as much as we know that the Jews have alwayes had their weekly Readings of the Law of Moses but that they always had in like manner their weekly Sermons upon some part of the Law of Moses we no where find Howbeit still we must here remember that the Church by her publick reading of the Book of God preacheth only as a Witness Now the principal thing required in a Witness is Fidelity Wherefore as we cannot excuse that Church which either through corrupt translations of Scripture delivereth instead of divine Speeches any thing repugnant unto that which God speaketh or through falsified additions proposeth that to the people of God as Scripture which is in truth no Scripture So the blame which in both these respects hath been laid upon the Church of England is surely altogether without cause Touching Translations of Holy Scripture albeit we may not disallow of their painful travels herein who strictly have tyed themselves to the very Original letter yet the judgment of the Church as we see by the practise of all Nations Greeks Latines Persians Syrians AEthiopians Arabians hath been ever That the fittest for publick Audience are such as following a middle course between the rigor of literal Translators and the liberty of Paraphrasts do with greatest shortness and plainness deliver the meaning of the Holy Ghost Which being a labour of so great difficulty the exact performance thereof we may rather wish than look for So that except between the words of translation and the mind of Scripture it self there be Contradiction every little difference should not seem an intolerable blemish necessarily to be spunged out Whereas therefore the Prophet David in a certain Psalm doth say concerning Moses and Aaron that they were obedient to the word of God and in the self-same place â—or allowed Translation saith they were not obedient we are for this cause challenged as manifest Gain-sayers of Scripture even in that which we read for Scripture unto the people But for as much as words are resemblances of that which the mind of the Speaker conceiveth and Conceits are Images representing that which is spoken of it followeth that they who will judge of words should have recourse to the things themselves from whence they rise In setting down that Miracle at the sight whereof Peter fell down astonished before the feet of Jesus and cryed Depart Lord I am a Sinner the Evangelist St. Luke saith the store of the Fish which they took was such that the Net they took it in brake and the Ships which they loaded therewith sunk St. Iohn recording the like Miracle saith That albeit the Fishes in number were so many yet the Net with so great a weight was not broken Suppose they had written both of one Miracle Although there be in their
man doubt how God should accept such Prayers in case they be opposite to his Will or not grant them if they be according unto that which himself willeth our answer is That such suits God accepteth in that they are conformable unto his general inclination which is that all men might be saved yet always he granteth them not for as much as there is in God sometimes a more private occasioned will which determineth the contrary So that the other being the rule of our actions and not this our requests for things opposite to this Will of God are not therefore the less gracious in his sight There is no doubt but we ought in all things to frame our wills to the Will of God and that otherwise in whatsoever we do we sin For of our selves being so apt to err the onely way which we have to streighten our paths is by following the rule of his Will whose footsteps naturally are right If the eye the hand or the foot do that which the will commandeth though they serve as instruments to sin yet is sin the commanders fault and not theirs because Nature hath absolutely and without exception made them subjects to the will of man which is Lord over them As the body is subject to the will of man so mans will to the Will of God for so it behoveth that the better should guide and command the worse But because the subjection of the body to the will is by natural necessity the subjection of the Will unto God voluntary we therefore stand in need of direction after what sort our wills and desires may be rightly conformed to his Which is not done by willing always the self-same thing that God intendeth For it may chance that his purpose is sometime the speedy death of them whose long continuance in life if we should not wish we were unnatural When the object or matter therefore of our desires is as in this case a thing both good of it self and not forbidden of God when the end for which we desire it is vertuous and apparently most holy when the root from which our affection towards it proceedeth is Charity Piety that which we do in declaring our desire by Prayer yea over and besides all this sith we know that to pray for all men living is but to shew the same affection which towards every of them our Lord Jesus Christ hath born who knowing onely as God who are his did as Man taste death for the good of all men surely to that Will of God which ought to be and is the known rule of all our actions we do not herein oppose our selves although his secret determination haply be against us which if we did understand as we do not yet to rest contented with that which God will have done is as much as he requireth at the hands of men And concerning our selves what we earnestly crave in this case the same as all things else that are of like condition we meekly submit unto his most gracious will and pleasure Finally as we have cause sufficient why to think the practice of our Church allowable in this behalf so neither is ours the first which hath been of that minde For to end with the words of Prosper This Law of Supplication for all Men saith he the devout zeal of all Priests and of all faithful Men doth hold with such full Agreement that there is not any part of all the World where Christian people do not use to pray in the same manner The Church every where maketh Prayers unto God not onely for Saints and such as already in Christ are regenerate but for all Infidels and Enemies of the Cross of Iesus Christ for all Idolaters for all that persecute Christ in his followers for Iews to whose blindness the Light of the Gospel doth not yet shine for Hereticks and Schismaticks who from the Unity of Faith and Charity are estranged And for such what doth the Church ask of God but this That leaving their Errors they may be converted unto him that Faith and Charity may be given them and that out of the darkness of ignorance they may come to the knowledge of his truth Which because they cannot themselves do in their own behalf as long as the sway of evil custom ever-beareth them and the chains of Satan detain them bound neither are they able to break through those Errors wherein they are so determinately setled that they pay unto falsity the whole sum of whatsoever love is owing unto Gods Truth Our Lord merciful and just requireth to have all men prayed for that when we behold innumerable multitudes drawn up from the depth of so bottomless evils we may not doubt but in part God hath done the thing we requested nor despair but that being thankful for them towards whom already he hath shewed mercy the rest which are not as yet enlightned shall before they pass out of life be made partakers of the like grace Or if the Grace of him which saveth for so we set is falleth out over-pass some so that the Prayer of the Church for them be not received this we may leave to the hidden Iudgments of Gods Righteousness and acknowledge that in this Secret there is a Gulf which whole we live we shall never sound 50. Instruction and Prayer whereof we have hitherto spoken are duties which serve as Elements Parts or Principles to the rest that follow in which number the Sacraments of the Church are chief The Church is to us that very Mother of our New Birth in whose Bowels we are all bred at whose Brests we receive nourishment As many therefore as are apparently to our judgment born of God they have the Seed of their Regeneration by the Ministery of the Church which useth to that end and purpose not onely the Word but the Sacrament both having Generative force and vertue As oft as we mention a Sacrament properly understood for in the Writings of the Ancient Fathers all Articles which are peculiar to Christian Faith all Duties of Religion containing that which Sense or Natural Reason cannot of it self discern are most commonly named Sacraments our restraint of the Word to some few principal Divine Ceremonies importeth in every such Ceremony two things the Substance of the Ceremony it self which is visible and besides that somewhat else more secret in reference whereunto we conceive that Ceremony to be a Sacrament For we all admire and honor the holy Sacraments not respecting so much the Service which we do unto God in receiving them as the dignity of that Sacred and Secret Gift which we thereby receive from God Seeing that Sacraments therefore consist altogether in relation to some such Gift or Grace Supernatural as onely God can bestow how should any but the Church administer those Ceremonies as Sacraments which are not thought to be Sacraments by any but by the Church There is in Sacraments to be observed their Force and
other saith That the old did onely shadow Grace which was afterward to be given through the passion of Iesus Christ. But the after-wit of latter daies hath found out another more exquisite distinction That Evangelical Sacraments are causes to effect Grace through motions of signes legal according to the same signification and sense wherein Evangelical Sacraments are held by us to be God's Instruments for that purpose For howsoever Bellarmine hath shrunk up the Lutherans sinews and cut off our Doctrine by the skirts Allen although he terms us Hereticks according to the usual bitter venom of his first style doth yet ingenuously confess That the old School-mens Doctrine and ours is one concerning Sacramental efficacy derived from God himself assisting by promise those outward signes of Elements and Words out of which their School-men of the newer mint are so desirous to hatch Grace Where God doth work and use these outward means wherein he neither findeth nor planteth force and aptnesse towards his intended purpose such means are but signes to bring men to the consideration of his Omnipotent Power which without the use of things sensible would not be marked At the time therefore when he giveth his Heavenly Grace he applyeth by the hands of his Ministers that which betokeneth the same nor only betokeneth but being also accompanied for ever with such Power as doth truly work is in that respect termed God's Instrument a true efficient cause of Grace a cause not in it self but onely by connexion of that which is in it self a cause namely God's own Strength and Power Sacraments that is to say the outward signes in Sacraments work nothing till they be blessed and sanctified by God But what is God's Heavenly Benediction and Sanctification saving onely the association of his Spirit Shall we say that Sacraments are like Magical signes if thus they have their effect Is it Magick for God to manifest by things sensible what he doth and to do by his most glorious Spirit really what he manifesteth in his Sacraments The delivery and administration whereof remaineth in the hands of mortal men by whom as by personal Instruments God doth apply signes and with signes inseparably joyn his Spirit and through the power of his Spirit work Grace The first is by way of concomitance and consequence to deliver the rest also that either accompany or ensue It is not here as in Cases of mutual Commerce where divers Persons have divers acts to be performed in their own behalf a Creditor to shew his Bill and a Debtor to pay his Money But God and Man doe here meet in one Action upon a Third in whom as it is the work of God to create Grace so it is his work by the hand of the Ministry to apply a sign which should betoken and his work to annex that Spirit which shall effect it The Action therefore is but one God the Author thereof and Man a Co-partner by him assigned to work for with and under him God the Giver of Grace by the outward Ministery of man so farr forth as he authorizeth man to apply the Sacraments of Grace in the Soul which he alone worketh without either Instrument or Co-agent Whereas therefore with us the remission of Sinne is ascribed unto God as a thing which proceedeth from him only and presently followeth upon the vertue of true Repentance appearing in man that which we attribute to the vertue they do not only impute to the Sacrament of Repentance but having made Repentance a Sacrament and thinking of Sacraments as they do they are enforced to make the Ministry of the Priests and their Absolution a cause of that which the sole Omnipotency of God worketh And yet for my own part I am not able well to conceive how their Doctrine That human Absolution is really a cause out of which our Deliverance from Sinne doth ensue can cleave with the Council of Trent defining That Contrition perfected with Charity doth at all times it self reconcile offenders to God before they come to receive actually the Sacrament of Penance How it can stand with those Discourses of the learned Rabbies which grant That whosoever turneth unto God with his whole heart hath immediately his Sinnes taken away That if a man he truly converted his Pardon can neither be denyed nor delayed It doth not stay for the Priest's Absolution but presently followeth Surely if every contrite Sinner in whom there is Charity and a sincere conversion of Heart have Remission of Sinnes given him before he seek it at the Priest's hands if reconciliation to God be a present and immediate sequel upon every such Conversion or Change It must of necessity follow seeing no man can be a true Penitent or Contrite which doth not both love God and sincerely abhor Sinne that therefore they all before Absolution attain Forgivenesse whereunto notwithstanding Absolution is pretended a Cause so necessary that Sinne without it except in some rare extraordinary Case cannot possibly be remitted Shall Absolution be a Cause producing and working that Effect which is alwayes brought forth without it and had before Absolution be thought of But when they which are thus before-hand pardoned of God shall come to be also assoiled by the Priest I would know what force his Absolution hath in this case Are they able to say here that the Priest doth remit any thing Yet when any of ours ascribeth the Work of Remission to God and interpreteth the Priests Sentence to be but a solemn Declaration of that which God himself hath already performed they scorn at it they urge against it that if this were true our Saviour Christ should rather have said What is loosed in Heaven ye shall loose on Earth then as he doth Whatsoever ye loose on Earth shall in Heaven be loosed As if he were to learn of us how to place his words and not we to crave rather of him a sound and right understanding lest to his dishonour and our own hurt we mis-expound them It sufficeth I think both against their constructions to have proved that they ground an untruth on his speech and in behalf of our own that his words without any such transposition do very well admit the sense we give them which is that he taketh to himself the lawfull proceedings of Authority in his Name and that the Act of Spiritual Authority in this case is by Sentence to acquit or pronounce them free from sinne whom they judge to be sincerely and truly penitent which Interpretation they themselves do acknowledge though not sufficient yet very true Absolution they say declareth indeed but this is not all for it likewise maketh innocent which addition being an untruth proved our truth granted hath I hope sufficiency without it and consequently our opinion therein neither to be challenged as untrue nor as unsufficient To rid themselves out of these Bryars and to make Remission of Sinnes an effect of Absolution notwithstanding that which hitherto hath been said
they have two shifts At first that in many Penitents there is but Attrition of heart which Attrition they define to be Grief proceeding from Fear without Love and to these they say Absolution doth give that Contrition whereby men are really purged from Sinne. Secondly that even where Contrition or Inward Repentance doth cleanse without Absolution the reason why it commeth so to passe is Because such Contrites intend and desire Absolution though they have it not Which two things granted The one that Absolution given maketh them contrite that are not the other even in them which are contrite the cause why God remitteth Sinne is the purpose or desire they have to receive Absolution we are not to stand against a sequel so clear and manifest as this that alwayes remission of Sinne proceedeth from Absolution either had or desired But should a reasonable man give credit to their bare Conceit and because their Positions have driven them to imagine Absolving of unsufficiently-disposed Penitents to be a real creating of further vertue in them must all other men think it due Let them cancel hence forward and blot out of all their Books those old Cautions touching Necessity of Wisdome lest Priests should inconsiderately absolve any man in whom there were not apparent tokens of true Repentance which to do was in Saint Cyprians Judgement Pestilent Deceit and Flattery not only not available but hurtful to them that had transgrest a frivolous frustrate and false peace such as caused the unrighteous to trust to a lye and destroyed them unto whom it promised safety What needeth Observation whether Penitents have Worthiness and bring Contrition if the words of Absolution do infuse Contrition Have they born us all this while in hand that Contrition is a part of the matter of their Sacrament a Condition or Preparation of the Minde towards Grace to be received by Absolution in the form of their Sacrament And must we now believe That the Form doth give the Matter That Absolution bestoweth Contrition and that the words do make presently of Saul David of Iudas Peter For what was the Penitency of Saul and Iudas but plain Attrition horrour of Sinne through fear of punishment without any long sense or taste of God's Mercy Their other Fiction imputing remission of Sinne to desire of Absolution from the Priest even in them which are truly contrite is an evasion somewhat more witty but no whit more possible for them to prove Belief of the World and Judgement to come Faith in the Promises and Sufferings of Christ for Mankinde Fear of his Majestie Love of his Mercy Grief for Sin Hope for Pardon Suit for Grace These we know to be the Elements of true Contrition suppose that besides all this God did also command that every Penitent should seek his Absolution at the Priests hands where so many Causes are concurring unto one effect have they any reason to impute the whole effect unto one any reason in the choyse of that one to pass by Faith Fear Love Humility Hope Prayer whatsoever else and to enthronize above them all A desire of Absolution from the Priest as if in the whole work of Man's Repentance God did regard and accept nothing but for and in consideration of this Why do the Tridentine Council impute it to Charity That Contrites are reconciled in Gods sight before they receive the Sacrament of Penance if desired Absolution be the true Cause But let this passe how it will seeing the Question is not What vertue God may accept in penitent Sinners but what Grace Absolution actually given doth really bestow upon them If it were as they would have it That God regarding the Humiliation of a Contrite Spirit because there is joyned therewith a lowly desire of the Sacrament of Priestly Absolution pardoneth immediately and forgiveth all Offences Doth this any thing help to prove that Absolution received afterward from the Priest can more than declare him already pardoned which did desire it To desire Absolution presupposing it commanded is Obedience and Obedience in that Case is a Branch of the vertue of Repentance which Vertue being thereby made effectual to the taking away of Sinnes without the Sacrament of Repentance Is it not an Argument that the Sacrament of Absolution hath here no efficacy but the virtue of Contrition worketh all For how should any Effect ensue from Causes which actually are not The Sacrament must be applyed wheresoever any Grace doth proceed from it So that where it is but desired only whatsoever may follow upon Gods acceptation of this desire the Sacrament afterwards received can be no cause thereof Therefore the further we wade the better we see it still appears That the Priest doth never in Absolution no not so much as by way of Service and Ministry really either forgive them take away the uncleanness or remove the punishment of Sinne but if the Party penitent come contrite he hath by their own grant Absolution before Absolution if not contrite although the Priest should seem a thousand times to Absolve him all were in vain For which cause the Antients and better sort of their School Divines Abulensis Alexander Hales and Bonaventurt ascribe the real abolition of Sinne and eternal punishment to the mere pardon of Almighty God without dependency upon the Priests Absolution as a cause to effect the same His Absolution hath in their Doctrine certain other effects specified but this denyed Wherefore having hitherto spoken of the vertue of Repentance required of the Discipline of Repentance which Christ did establish and of the Sacrament of Repentance invented sithence against the pretended force of Humane Absolution in Sacramental Penitency Let it suffice thus far to have shewed how God alone doth truly give the vertue of Repentance alone procure and private Ministerial Absolution but declare remission of Sinnes Now the last and sometimes hardest to be satisfied by Repentance are our Mindes and our Mindes we have then satisfied when the Conscience is of guilty become clear For as long as we are in our selves privy to our own most hainous Crimes but without sense of God's Mercy and Grace towards us unlesse the Heart be either brutish for want of Knowledge or altogether hardned by wilful Atheisme the remorse of Sinne is in it as the deadly sting of a Serpent Which point since very Infidels and Heathens have observed in the nature of Sinne for the disease they felt though they knew no remedy to help it we are not rashly to despise those Sentences which are the testimonies of their experience touching this point They knew that the eye of a Man 's own Conscience is more to be feared by evil doers than the presence of a thousand Witnesses in as much as the mouths of other Accusers are many wayes stopt the ears of the accused not alwayes subject to glowing with contumely and exprobation whereas a guilty Minde being forced to be still both a Martyr and a
we that no publick detriment would follow upon the want of honorable Personages Ecclesiastical to be used in those Cases It will be haply said That the highest might learn to stoop and not to disdain the advice of some circumspect wise and vertuâ—us Minister of God albeit the Ministery were nor by such degrees distinguished What Princes in that case might or should do it is not material Such difference being presupposed therefore as we have proved already to have been the Ordinance of God there is no judicious man will ever make any question or doubt but that fit and direct it is for the highest and chiefest Order in God's Clergy to be imployed before others about so near and necessary Offices as the sacred estate of the greatest on earth doth require For this cause Ioshua had Eliazer David Abiathar Constantine Hosius Bishop of Corâ—nba other Emperors and Kings their Prelates by whom in private for with Princes this is the most effectual way of doing good to be adminished counselled comforted and if need were reproved Whensoever Sovereign Rulers are willing to admit these so necessary private conferences for their Spiritual and ghostly good inasmuch as they do for the time while they take advice grant a kinde of Superiority unto them of whom they receive it albeit haply they can be contented even so farr to bend to the gravest and chiefest Persons in the Order of God's Clergy yet this of the very best being rarely and hardly obtained now that there are whos 's greater and higher Callings do somewhat more proportion them unto that ample conceit and spirit wherewith the minde of so powerable Persons we possessed what should we look for in case God himself not authorizing any by miraculous means as of old he did his Prophets the equal meaness of all did leave in respect of Calling no more place of decency for one then for another to be admitted Let unexperienced wits imagin what pleaseth them in having to deal with so great Personages these Personal differences are so necessary that there must be regard had of them 4. Kingdoms being principally next unto God's Almightiness and the Soveraignty of the highest under God upheld by wisdom and by valour as by the chiefest human means to cause continuance in safety with honor for the labors of them who attend the service of God we reckon as means Divine to procure our protection from Heavens from hence it riseth that men excelling in either of these or descending from such as for excellency either way have been enobled or possesing howsoever the rooms of such as should be in Politick wisdom or in Martial prowess eminent are had in singular recommendation Notwithstanding because they are by the state of Nobility great but not thereby made inclinable to good things such they oftentimes prove even under the best Princes as under David certain of the Jewish Nobility were In Polity and Council the World had not Achitophels equal nor Hell his equal in deadly malice Ioab the General of the Host of Israel valiant industrious fortunate in Warr but withal head-strong cruel treacherous void of Piety towards God in a word so conditioned that easie it is not to define whether it were for David harder to miss the benefit of his War-like hability or to bear the enormity of his other Crimes As well for the cherishing of those vertues therefore wherein if Nobility do chance to flourish they are both an ornament and a stay to the Common-wealth wherein they live as also for the bridling of those disorders which if they loosly run into they are by reason of their greatness dangerous what help could thereever have been invented more Divine than the sorting of the Clergy into such Degrees that the chiefest of the Prelacy being matched in a kinde of equal yoke as it were with the higher the next with the lower degree of Nobility the reverend Authority of the one might be to the other as a courteous bridle a mean to keep them lovingly in aw that are exorbitant and to correct such excesses in them as whereunto their Courage State and Dignity maketh them over-prone O that there were for encouragement of Prelates herein that lactimation of all Christian Kings and Princes towards them which sometime a famous King of this Land either had or pretended to have for the countenancing of a principal Prelate under him in the actions of Spiritual Authority Let my Lord Archbishop know saith he that if a Bishop or Earl or any other great Person yea if my own chosen Son shall presume to withstand or to hinder his will and disposition whereby he may be with-held from performing the work of the Embass age committed unto him such a one shall finde that of his contempt I will shew my self no less a Persecutor and Revenger than if Treason were committed against mine own very Crown and Dignity Sith therefore by the Fathers and first Founders of this Common-weal it hath upon great experience and fore-cast been judged most for the good of all sorts that as the whole Body Politick wherein we live should be for strengths sake a three-fold Cable consisting of the King as a Supreme Head over all of Peers and Nobles under him and of the People under them so likewise that in this conjunction of States the second wreath of that Cable should for important respects consist as well of Lords Spiritual as Temporal Nobility and Prelacy being by this mean twined together how can it possibly be avoided but that the tearing away of the one must needs exceedingly weaken the other and by consequent impair greatly the good of all 5. The force of which detriment there is no doubt but that the common sort of men would feel to their helpless wo how goodly a thing soever they now surmise it to be that themselves and their godly Teachers did all alone without controulment of their Prelate For if the manifold jeopardies whereto a people destitute of Pastors is subject be unavoidable without Government and if the benefit of Government whether it be Ecclesiastical or Civil do grow principally from them who are principal therein as hath been proved out of the Prophet who albeit the people of Israel had sundry inferior Governors ascribeth not unto them the publick benefit of Government but maketh mention of Moses and Aaron only the Chief Prince and Chief Prelate because they were the well-spring of all the good which others under then did may we not boldly conclude that to take from the people their Prelate is to leave them in effect without Guides at leastwise without those Guides which are the strongest hands that God doth direct them by Then didst lead thy People like Sheep saith the Prophet by the hands of Moses and Aaron If now there arise any matter of Grievances between the Pastor and the People that are under him they have their Ordinary a Judge indifferent to determine their Causes and to end their strife
the light of a true and sound understanding which sheweth what honor is fit for Prelats and what attendancy convenient to be a part of their honor Touching Priviledges granted for Honor's-sake partly in general unto the Clergy and partly unto Prelates the Chiefest Persons Ecclesiastical in particular of such quality and number they are that to make but rehearsal of them we scarce think it safe left the very entrails of some of our godly Brethren as they term themselves should thereat haply burst in sunder XXI And yet of all these things rehearsed it may be there never would have grown any question had Bishops been honored only thus farr forth But the honoring of the Clergy with wealth this is in the eyes of them which pretend to seek nothing but mere Reformation of Abuses a sin that can never be remitted How soon O how soon might the Church be perfect even without any spot or wrinckle if Publick Authority would at the length say Amen unto the holy and devout requests of those godly Brethren who as yet with out-stretched necks groan in the pangs of their zeal to see the Houses of Bishops risted and their so long desired Livings gloriously divided amongst the Righteous But there is an impediment a lett which somewhat hindreth those good mens Prayers from taking effect They in whose hands the Soveraignty of Power and Dominion over the Church doth rest are perswaded there is a God for undoubtedly either the name of Godhead is but a feigned thing or if in Heaven there be a God the Saerilegious intention of Church-Robbers which lurketh under this plausible name of Reformation is in his sight a thousand times more hateful than the plain professed malice of those very Miscreants who threw their Vomit in the open face of our blessed Saviour They are not words of perswasion by which true men can hold their own when they are over-beset with Thieves And therefore to speak in this Cause at all were but labor lost saving only in respect of them who being as yet un-joyned unto this Conspiracy may be haply somewhat stayed when they shall know betimes what it is to see Thieves and to run on with them as the Prophet in the Psalm speaketh When thou sawest a Thief then thou consentedst with him and hast been Partaker with Adulterers For the better information therefore of men which carry true honest and indifferent mindes these things we will endeavour to make most clearly manifest First That in Goods and Livings of the Church none hath propriety but God himself Secondly That the honor which the Clergy therein hath is to be as it were God's Receivers the honor of Prelates to be his chief and principal Receivers Thirdly That from him they have right not only to receive but also to use such Goods the lower sort in smaller and the higher in larger measure Fourthly That in case they be thought yea or found to abuse the same yet may not such honor be therefore lawfully taken from them and be given away unto Persons of other Calling XXII Possessions Lands and Livings Spiritual the wealth of the Clergy the Goods of the Church are in such sort the Lords own that man can challenge no propriety in them His they are and not ours all things are his in that from him they have their being My Corn and my Wine and mine Oyl saith the Lord. All things his in that he hath absolute power to dispose of them at his pleasure Mine saith he are the Sheep and Oxen of a thousand hills All things his in that when we have them we may say with Iob God hath given and when we are deprived of them The Lord whose they are hath likewise taken them away again But these sacred Possessions are his by another tenure His because those men who first received them from him have unto him returned them again by way of Religious gift or Oblation And in this respect it is that the Lord doth term those Houses wherein such Gifts and Oblations were laid His Treasuries The ground whereupon men have resigned their own interest in things Temporal and given over the same unto God is that Precept which Solomon borroweth from the Law of Nature Honor the Lord out of thy Substance and of the chiefest of all thy Revenue so shall thy Barns be filled with Plenty and with new Wine the fat of thy Press shall overflow For although it be by one most fitly spoken against those superstitious Persons who only are scrupulous in external Rites Wilt thou win the favour of God He vertuous They best worship him that are his Followers It is not the bowing of your Knees but of your Hearts it is not the number of your Oblations but the integrity of your Lives not your Incense but your Obedience which God is delighted to be honored by Nevertheless we must beware lest simply understanding this which comparatively is meant that is to say whereas the meaning is that God doth chiefly respect the inward disposition of the Heart we must take heed we do not hereupon so worship him in Spirit that outwardly we take all Worship Reverence and Honor from him Our God will be glorified both of us himself and for us by others To others because our Hearts are known and yet our example is required for their good therefore it is not sufficient to carry Religion in our Hearts as Fire is carried in Flint-stones but we are outwardly visibly apparently to serve and honor the living God yea to employ that way as not only for our Souls but our Bodies so not only our Bodies but our Goods yea the choice the flower the chiefest of all thy Revenue saith Solomon If thou hast any thing in all thy Possessions of more value and price than other to what use shouldest thou convert it rather than to this Samuel was dear unto Hannah his Mother The Childe that Hannah did so much esteem she could not but greatly wish to advance and her Religious conceit was that the honoring of God with it was the advancing of it unto honor The chiefest of the Off-spring of men are the Males which be first-born and for this cause in the antient World they all were by right of their birth Priests of the Most High By these and the like Precedents it plainly enough appeareth that in what Heart soever doth dwell unseigned Religion in the same there resteth also a willingness to bestow upon God that soonest which is most dear Amongst us the Law is that sith Gold is the chiefest of Mettals if it be any where found in the bowels of the Earth it belongeth in right of honor as all men know to the King Whence hath this Custom grown but onely from a natural perswasion whereby men judge it decent for the highest Persons alwayes to be honored with the choisest things If ye offer unto God the blinde saith the Prophet Malachi it is not