4.1 2. Acts 20.28 31. Col. 1.28 2 Thes 2.11 Gen. 31.40 Act. 15.6 Mat. 18.17 he is personally to instruct and catechise and confer with all of his charge he is to visit the sick he is to admonish reprove comfort counsel warn and charge every one night and day with tears as a Father his Children he is to assist in neighbour-meetings and Church-associations of Pastors and Brethren for concord and communion he is to hear all such Causes as need due and regular discipline And is any one man able to do all this as it should be done to any of those Parishes in City o◠Country which abound with multitudes of Souls that would find work for many Minsters to do it faithfully as it should be done Whereas if there be one in a Parish and in some one with a Reader or Curate that is thought enough I confess at that rate that many do the work of the Ministry it is an easie matter for one man to be a Pastour to a Parish of a dozen Miles compass in the Countrey and St. Giles's in the Fields St. Martins Stepney and Cripple-gate in the City of London But to do the work of a Pastour faithfully and entirely to all the Souls within any one of these and such like Parishes would require a whole Colledg and combination of Ministers We see in a Troop of Horse of but some fourty or fifty men there is a Captain and a Lieutenant besides other Officers In a Regiment of Fifteen hundred much more of fifteen thousand what a vast number of Officers are there Captains over thousands Captains over hundreds Captains over fifties and Captains 〈◊〉 tens Deut. 1. 15. Every tenth man was to have a Captain or Officer But there is many a Parish in England that may have Ten thousand Souls in it and but one or two Pastours appointed to look to all these fouls When King Solomon built his Temple He set threescore and ten thousand to be bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand to be hewers in the mountains and three thousand and six hundred to be overseers to set the people a work 2 Chron. 2.18 But in the building of the Lords spiritual Temple there is not one Pastour to a thousand Souls in many Parishes of England I know many will think there are too many Ministers I think there are to many bad ones but I never read or heard of any Kingdom or place or people to this day that had too many faithful Ministers And I shall think it a holy and happy time when such a thing is but I despair to see it in this world Were it not that there are not Ministers enough to do all the pastoral work of each Congregation I should think most of the godly Ministers in England notoriously guilty before God of gross neglect and unfaithfulness for want of personal and private oversight of all their people though I think a great deal more might be done by many than ordinarily is Well then there being so great a want of Ministers and no want of Magistrates would you have Ministers to turn Magistrates too must those few that are be hindered and distracted by calling them off to worldly and secular businesses Is it not enough that Ministers have more work upon their hands than they can do and would you make them more and that too diverting and alien work extra Episcopal and almost if not altogether pragmatical work What is this but to serve Satan in the name of Christ and under pretence of Order to pull down Order and make the Church more low and weak by much than it is The holy Apostles of our Lord were of another mind when they saw they could not both look to the corporal necessities of the poor and the spiritual necessities of Souls too they contrived an expedient for both They appointed a new office of Deacons in the Church to see to the bodily necessities of the poor but say they We will give our selves continually to prayer and to the ministry of Gods word Act. 6.2 4. Far unlike to those that leave the Word of God and Prayer and give themselves to the doing of worldly matters and secular businesses and teach men so and plead for it as their priviledg and a means of advantaging the Church and of promoting holiness and peace Non tali auxilis nec defensoribus istis tempus eget 15. Arg. 8. Those who maintain it to be good to have Clergy-men armed with secular jurisdiction do urge for reason the practise of the ancient Bishops and Churches for the first three hundred years while the Church was without Christian Princes and Magistrates It was usual in those times for the people to refer their dissentions about worldly things to the decision and arbitration of their Bishops who to prevent going to Law before Heathen Magistrates and to prevent and compose differences and strifes and keep peace among their people would give themselves the trouble to hear and arbitrate Causes and Pleas and worldly differences referred to them And hence it is argued that if it was lawful for Clergy-men to be Arbitrators and elected Judges to decide between brethren it is lawful for Clergy-men to be Judges made and constituted by authority and commission from the higer powers 16. As to this I take it to be true as to matter of fact that it was usual for the Bishops of those times to hear and arbitrate civil Causes and Rights And it grew by occasion I was a saying by a misconstruction of the Apostles words 1 Cor. 6.5 I speak to your shame Is it so that there is not a wise man amongst you no not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren Thinking none more wise and consequently more fit to arbitrate and decide their Causes than their Bishops And this continuing to the time of Constantine and he finding them in possession thereof continued it to them and confirmed it in their hands by Law which was the beginning of Clergy-mens lordliness and domination the fruits and consequents whereof have been very calamitous to the Church ever since 17. I have many things to say as to this As 1. That it is very likely the ancient Bishops who took upon them this trouble of hearing and arbitrating the civil Rights and Causes of their people did it with no joy they were not fond of it they thought it a burden and if they might have had their choice would rather have been free from all such trouble So much is intimated in a passage which Davenant in his Determ quest 11. aforenamed quoteth out of Augustine They did not esteem them priviledges or easements but molestias for so are Augustines words as cited molestations and troubles But the Bishops and Clergy of our times seek them contend for them and are tenacious of such things as priviledges 2. Either the Bishops imployed in the hearing and arbitrating those Causes were the same with our Diocesan Bishop or they were
not If they were then what discretion could there be in the people to refer all the Causes within the Bishops Diocess supposing it to be of the same extent and bigness with the Diocesses of Bishops in England to one man their Bishop And what discretion could it be in such a Bishop as among us the Bishop of Norwich the Bishop of London the Bishop of Lincoln c. to take upon him the trouble of hearing and arbitrating all Civil causes controversies and differences of the people inhabiting so vast a compass as his Diocess He must do nothing else but meerly hear civil Causes He must be but a Bishop in name How expensive and very inconvenient would it be for all the Christians in any the least Diocess in England much more in the greatest to travel with their Law-Suits to the Bishop of the Diocess His House then must be a meer Westminster hall and all the days in the year scarce the Lords-day excepted must be term-time with him To think that the Apostle ever meant any such thing when he counsels them to refer their matters to a wise Arbitrator is a gross wresting of his words For he wrote to the Church of Corinth which was but one particular Church Is there not a wise man among you He must be a wise man among them one near at hand easie to be resorted to to whom they might refer their Causes And therefore it could not be that the Christians then referred their Causes to a Diocesan Bishop such as ours And if not then the Cause of our Diocesan Bishops will receive a deep wound and it will make way for an unwelcome truth That the Bishops to whom the people referred their Causes were the Pastors of every Parish the very same with our Parish-Ministers and the Rectors of Parsonages These of the Clergy were the fittest to arbitrate the Causes of all the people within their Parish A Parish-Bishop or Minister may with far more ease arbitrate and compose the dissentions and suits of all in his Parish than the Diocesan Bishop can do of all the Pastors and people in his Diocess 3. It is not the intent and meaning of the foresaid words of the Apostle that Pastors should be imployed in hearing and arbitrating the secular Causes of their own people or of the people of other Parishes I will not say it is absolutely and universally unlawful nor will I say it is expedient in no case at all There may be Cases rarely here and there in Parishes so circumstanced both under Christian and Pagan Magistrates in which it may be both lawful and expedient for the Pastors to arbitrate and compose suits and differences among the people But generally and for the most part it is inexpedient For either he will do right or do wrong If he do right it is well if one side be not displeased and fall out with him and take a grudge against him and either turn from him and not hear him or hear him with prejudice and so by this means the Pastor may be an occasion of much sin and damage and damnation to his Soul which prudence and piety and compassion in a Minister doth forbid and will make him watch against If he do wrong then it is hurtful to his own Soul it is a wronging of the Innocent and a perverting of Justice and a scandal to his Ministry Besides He can scarce do it but with distraction If he do it but a little it will be a hindrance to his other work and distract him much more will it hinder and distract him if he should use it and do it frequently And the words of Christ are considerable and worthy to be thought or Luke 12.14 Man who made me a judge or a divider an Arbitrator between you 4. The words of the Apostle may be well understood in this sense either there is besides your Pastor a wise man among you and one that is able to judge between brethren or there is not If there be refer your contentions and civil causes to him Neither go to Law before the unbelievers nor do you trouble your Pastors and Bishops but single out a wise man among you one that is able to hear and decide your Causes and make him Judge and Arbitrator between you If there be not one such wise and able man among you then it is a shame and reproach to you all What Do you call your selves Saints Do you not know that the Saints shall judge the world even Angels themselves Are they no then fit to judge on earth small matters and to decide a petty controversie about mine and thine between Brethren but Brother goeth to Law with Brother and that before the unbelievers This is to your shame 5. When Constantine came to the Crown and Magistrates became Christians the most expedient way had been to have eased Pastors of all those molestations and avocations and lest the Pastor nothing to do but his own part and the Magistrate his part To make the Clergy worldly Judges and Magistrates is no benefit but a burden it is nothing that a wise man should rejoice in but rather groan under as a pressure and hindrance and pray to God to be eased of it and rejoyce in being free from it and at liberty to imploy all the time which was wont to be spent in such Secular affairs in Religious and Sacred exercises which have a more special tendency to Souls good and are most becoming a Pastor 18. Lastly I will set the worthy Davenant against himself who going about to prove that the Bishop of Rome hath no temporal power over Kings lays down this position Bonum spirituale non postulat ut ulla temporalis potestas a Romano pontifice exerceatur And if not by him then by no other Bishop or Pastor whatsoever Non est enim in ordine ad hunc finem aut necessarium medium aut accommodatum aut licitum aut denique cum spirituali censura excommunicationis ullo jure connexum Spiritual good doth not require that any temporal power be exercised by the Bishop of Rome for it is not in order to this end either a necessary mean or fit or lawful or lastly by any right knit with the spiritual censure of excommunication Determ quest 4. And he gives very substantial proofs I am at a loss how to reconcile him to himself But whether he be consistent to himself or not I lay not my cause upon that the other proofs and evidences do overpower my understanding 19 Now if it be manifestly inexpedient to make Clergy-men Magistrates and grant them civil jurisdiction then it must needs be manifestly inexpedient to make them supream Magistrates and to confer upon them the highest jurisdiction which Subjects be capable of as to be Lords in Parliament and to have equal votes with the Peers and Nobility of the Realm and sit as Princes there to be many days and weeks and months from their Flock and to be
if we were upon a high towring Steeple or the tâ—p of a Pinacle we cannot look upward nor downward behind uâ— nor before us nor on either hand but we be in extream fear of falling For Gods sake for your own sake for the Churches sake ease us of these burdens deliver us from these snares let us not be pragmatical and busie-bodies you do not love to hear Divines pragmatical in the Pulpit and why should it please you or us to be pragmatical out of the Pulpit We thank you for your love and well-meaning zeal but you would not have us undone by you and Church and State suffer by us and by our standing for worldly honours and preferment We had rather be pure and simple Bishops and Clergy-men than neither pure Clergy men nor pure Lay-men but mungrels between both simple bodies are the most solid and compact Gold and Silver mixt is not so pure and firm as pure Gold We had rather be simple followers of Christ and Peter and Paul and the first and most ancient Bishops than any thing that man can make us Never fear that we shall want honour countenance reverence and due maintenance while we our selves fulfil our name and place and there are men and Christians among us If we want any outward desirable reputation esteem or conveniency God will be to us an alsufficient good and our very wants will be sanctified to our good Let us go to our flocks and several charges whence we came hinder us not Let us not be advanced in wealth in honour in preferment above the rest of our brethren who be equal with us in wisdom holiness and industriousness and many of them do exceed us We had rather dye preaching and praying and visiting and instructing the souls of our people than dye voting in Parliament and agitating State matters there If â—ou need our advice at any time in things pertaining to the Church and which come within the sphere and compass of our calling we are ready night and day to do the best service we can And we desire you will not look upon us as a divided party from the rest of our Brethren and Protestant Divines in the Nation but that you will in all your consultations about Church-affairs use the advice of the most sound and holy and impartial and prudent and experienced Divines in all the Nation and by all means possible keep the Sword and coercive power out of the hands of such as be proud and lordly and usurp over their Brethren and would set us all on a flame and are plain worldly hypocritical self-seeking men and rather Papists and Infidels in heart than sincere Christians and Protestants You need consultation with Divines for your Souls as you do with Lawyers for your Estates and Physicians for your Bodies But as you can make due use of Lawyers and Physicians by advising and consulting with them in all necessary cases without making them Statesmen and Peers and Lords in Parliament and loading them with secular greatness honour and jurisdiction so you may make all due and faithful use of us as Bishops spiritual Pastors and Casuists in Gods Church by using our advice and consultation when there is need without loading us with worldly honours and making us Statesmen and Peers and Lords of the Realm and Lords and Law-makers in Parliament such things be extra-episcopal They will be small honour and comfort to us when we come to dye and give up our accounts to God Bend your endeavours to unite all Protestants and to strengthen the common cause of Christianity Faith and Holiness against the reigning errors and vices of the times and the most malignant distempers of mankind now degenerate and far departed from God If you find us such as we should not be do right and justice and let no mans crimes go unpunished nor any scandal lye upon the Churches by any person or party whomsoever Fidelity to God to you to our own souls and to the Church compels us to make this address and to quit our hands of all such matters as will not stand with sound prudence and integrity The first and best part of wisdom is not to err and do amiss for then there will need no repentance but having erred the next and only wisdom is to repent and reform that God may forgive us and men may have forgiving goodness and charity in their breasts towards us 25. In case Bishops and Clergy men shall stand for their worldly dignities and places in Parliament and plead prescription and the example of their ancestors and the right of their successors and think it hard measure to be reformed the Soveraign with the Nobles and Commons in Parliament should say to them We are Gods Ministers bearing the Sword and are to be a terrour to evil doers and a defence to them that do well We are to correct all disorders and abuses Let every soul be subject to the higher powers If we find you to be out of your place and calling we are to take cognizance thereof and see that Archippus take heed to the Ministry which he hath received in the Lord that he fulfil it Col. 4.17 As we may not forbear to use your advice and consultation both publick and private when there is cause so neither may we call you to counsel and consultation needlesly and avocate you from your Studies and Episcopal and Pastoral work in Prayer and Preaching and Overseeing your several flocks without cause unto you belongeth the power of the Word and Keys unto us belongeth the power of the Sword If you see any misdemeanours in us do your duty faithfully kill us not by kindness flatter us not to our ruine make utmost use of that authority God hath given you in his Church to edification conceal nothing from us and the people which is godly and profitable for us to know spare to reprove no sin which is a sin and which needs reproving do your duty faithfully be prudent be pious be peaceable be diligent and blameless in your place and we shall defend you and be a terrour to all that would harm and oppose you But if it will not content you to be as Peter and Paul and the holy Bishops and Pastors of old but you will needs be usurping the Magistracy and seeking domination and make your Brethren of the Clergy your underlings if you will needs be pragmatical and busie-bodies and neglect the work of Prayer and Preaching and suffer the souls of your people to want due oversight and pastoral care if you will beat your fellow-servants and causelesly fall out with your Brethren and the universal Church we must not wink at such offences but declare them to be crimes punishable by a lawful Magistracy which we are under God We will hear of no plea or prescription against Piety Prudence and Peace Usurpation domination pastoral negligence and unfaithfulness and gross imprudencies are not priviledges but sins and crimes to say they