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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39998	The hierarchical bishops claim to a divine right, tried at the scripture-bar, or, A consideration of the pleadings for prelacy from pretended Scriptural arguments, presented and offered by Dr. Scott, in his book intituled, The Christian life, part II, A.M., D.D. in his Enquiry into the New Opinions, &c., and by the author of the second part of the Survey of Naphtali ... / by Thomas Forrester ...	Forrester, Thomas, 1635?-1706.; Scott, John, 1639-1695. Christian life.; Monro, Alexander, d. 1715? Enquiry into the new opinions.	1699 (1699)	Wing F1596; ESTC R4954	340,417	360

the Method of procedure which our Lord Institute Matth. 18. he must by Parity of Reason allow the other part of the Institution touching the Juridical or Censuring Church to have its own place therein And that Consequently the Apostle was to take along the Authoritative concurrence of the Church Officers of Corinth in this procedure But the truth is he quite mistakes the Passage For in that Clause of Two or Three Witnesses the Apostle Intimats only the certainty of his coming the Third time He had taken up thoughts of and was preparing for his Journey and giving them previous warning of his coming he alludes to that of Deut. 19.15 to ascertain them thereof accordingly Thus Pool Annot. and Interpreters generally He had been at Corinth once Act. 18. Afterward he had twice purposed and promised to come once in the 1 Ep. Chap. 16.5 And now again here And then he adds in the Mouth of two or three Witnesses c. Thus Belgick Annot. Diodat thus senses this Clause in the Mouth of Two or Three Witnesses c. The meaning is saith he these Three warnings of my coming shal be as so many Witnesses by which if ye do not amend you shall be sufficiently convinced of incorrigible Rebellion to proceed to a sentence already penned 2 Cor. 10.6 cum jam bis terve id dixerim tandem ratum erit thus Grotius As for the Apostles threatning sharpness of Censure v. 10. And his Apostolical Rod 1 Cor. 4.21 It receives the same Answer by the forementioned distinction of the Apostles ordinary and Extraordinary Power and the cumulative and privative exercise thereof And if the Dr. will not take this from me may I hope he will from a far greater The Learned Iunius in Answer to Bellarmin pleading much to the Dr's Scope and Sense from this Passage of the Apostle Shall I come unto you with a Rod offers the same distinction De Concil lib. 2. Cap. 16. of the Ordinary and Extraordinary Rod secundum illam c. According to the common ordinary Rod saith he Peter was a fellow Presbyter 1 Pet. 5. but according to the singular and extraordinary he stroke dead Ananias and Sapphira He adds in respect of this common Rod Paul saith 1 Cor. 5. You being gathered together and my Spirit in the Name of the Lord Iesus But as to this singular one he saith Shall I come unto you with a Rod 1 Cor. 4.21 This common Rod he denyes to have been in the Hand of any one Man whether Apostle or other or that they had any sole or singular Prerogative in Churches constitute Grotius and others do here take in the same which Iunius mentions of the extraordinary stroke either the inflicting of Death as upon Ananias and Sapphira or Blindness as upon Elymas or Diseases The Belgick Divines joyn together the Exercise of punishment and Discipline in this Clause While I have been mentioning Iunius I must upon this occasion shew that in opposition to the Dr's Pleading in Relation to Successor Bishops to Apostles by Testimony of the Fathers Iunius will tell him De Clericis Cap. 14. Not. 15. that this is not to be understood of a Succession from Christs Institution quia nunquam instituit Christus ut Apostolis secundum gradum in Ecclesia Succederetur Christ never appointed Successors to the Apostles according to Degree And that the Fathers understood it of a Succession ex simili non ex pari of similitud not Parity And a similitud Secundum quid or imaginary according as Bishops were then Moulded The same Answer and distinction above Rehearsed serves for what he Adduces of Pauls delivering Hymenaeus and Alexander to Satan 1 Tim. 1.20 And that this is the Sense of Sound Divines appears in that this is made Paralel with 1 Cor. 5. wherein the Apostles Extraordinary Authority is by them distinguished from the Churches Ordinary Power As for his further Proof from the Apostles deriving this Spiritual Iurisdiction to Timothy and Titus the pretended Bishops of Ephesus and Crete and their supposed singular Authority and Censures and Judicially Cognoscing upon Ecclesiastical Causes which he draws from these Passages 1 Tim. 5.19 20. Tit. 3.10 We have above spoken to it at length and provenfully that the Evangelistick Function of them both who were fixed to no particular Posts together with the clearly supposed Power of Church Judicatories when Established as is evident in several Paralells and of the supposed Concurrence consequently of ordinary Officers with them in the Nature and Scope of these very Instructions themselves doth clearly eve●t his Pleading For what he adds of the Censuring Power of the Angels of Ephesus and Thyatira Rev. 2. What we have made already good of the Collective Sense of the word Angel and the Insufficiency of admitting him to be a single person or President to bear the weight of his Conclusion discovers the Vanity of this his Repeated Notion in this place The Dr. adds that the Bishops of the Primitive Ages were the sole Administrators of Spiritual Iurisdiction This we have above convict of untruth And whereas he tells us further that they ordinarly admitted their Presbyters Concurrence for Advice we have made appear that their Concurrence after Bishops were set up yea and by Confession of Bishops themselves was Authoritative not for Advice only The Dr. will needs have Cyprian to challenge a singular Authority of Excommunication Ep. 38 39. But if he will not set him by the Ears with himself Ep. 6 18 28. where he professes he neither could nor would do any thing without the Clergy and Ep. 78. where he shews that Presbyters had the Power of Imposing Hands and of Ordaining and unless also he can disprove what is made good anent their Ordaining alone especially in Aegypt in absence of the Bishop what we have touched anent the Chorepiscopi their Authority and Power herein which is at large made good by our Writers the Dr. must acknowledg that he misses his Mark in this Citation Cyprian also is so far from challenging a Cathedral Authority of sole Censuring as the Dr. wou●d make him that Epist. 33. he ownes the Presbyters as his Collegues even in the Point of Ordination and disownes any such usurped Authority In the Ordination of the Confessor Aurelius he thus expresses himself hunc igitur fratres dilectissimi a m● a Collegis qui presentes aderant ordinatum sci●tis Thus also Ep. 58. speaking of the Pastors he expresses himself Ego Collegae Fraternitas omnis And Ep. 6. shewing his earnest desire to meet with the Pastors while absent from them he gives this Reason ut ea quae circa Ecclesiae gubernacula utilitas communis exposcit tractare simul plurimorum examinata limare possemus And speaking there of the turbulency of some persons he says they were such as nec a Diaconis nec a Presbyteris regi posse c. Upon which Pamelius has this Note hinc non obscure colligitur

the same Judgment by necessary consequence we must make of Titus since the Dr. and his Fellows draw their proofs equally as to both from these Epistles 3. In these Epistles themselves their Power stands so described and circumstantiat as to Ordination and Jurisdiction over these Churches as it clearly excluds an Episcopal Preheminence and Authority For First As Diocesan Bishops they ought to have been designedly set and fixed as Officers in these Churches but the contrary appears in the Text I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus saith Paul to Timothy And again to Titus I left thee at Crete and to set in order things that are wanting Which words point at an occasional transient Imployment there not a fixed Instalment Secondly In these Epistles they are both called back without the least intimation of their returning Thirdly If their Power was Episcopal and Ordinary then in the Apostles Prescriptions and Rules anent their Successors the Power and Authority of these Successors ought to have been described and Rules given touching the Gifts Call Ordination c. of the Diocesan Bishop especially since the Dr. holds that the Description of and Authorizing such a Bishop is the great scope of both these Epistles and he will not say that this Office was to die with Timothy and Titus But so it is that the Apostle prescribs no Rules for any Church Officer higher than a Pastor and supposes still that he is the highest Ordinary Church Officer in all his Rules and Prescriptions in point of Church Government delivered either in these Epistles or any where else in Scripture Fourthly As Timothy is expresly called an Evangelist 2 Tim. 4.5 and consequently Titus is supposed to hold the same Office so this Office in the Judgment of Protestant Divines is acknowledged and held to be Extraordinary and Expired as that of the Apostles The Work and Exercise thereof consisting in a planetary Motion to Water where the Apostles Planted to bring Instructions from the Apostles to the Churches touching the Duties of both Pastors and People and Reports of the Churches State to the Apostles So their Office supposing the Churches in fieri as to their Organick Beeing in a great measure at least and also the Existence and Exercise of the Apostolick Office they must needs be as the Apostles themselves Extraordinary Officers And in special Timothy and Titus accompanying Paul in his Travels and continual planetary Motion being so clearly held out in Scripture concluds the Impossibility of their being fixed to any Station and proves that Character given to them by Ambrose as Evangelists viz That they did Evangelizare sine Cathedra Their continual planetary Motion is by some largly described from the Apostolick Epistles and the Acts of the Apostles Thus first Timothy is found at Berea with Paul Act. 17.14 then at Athens v. 15. thence Paul sends him to Thessalonica 1 Thess. 3.1 2. Then having been at Macedonia with Paul he came to him to Corinth Act. 18.5 Then he is with him at Ephesus and thence sent to Macedonia Act. 19.22 whether Paul went after him and was by him accompanied into Asia Act. 20. He is with him at Troas v. 5. and at Miletus v. 17. where Paul gave the Elders of Ephesus their last Charge as the Bishops of that Church And after this he is found either in Journeys or absent from Ephesus For after he is found a Prisoner with Paul at Rome being mentioned as his Companion in these Epistles written while Paul was there as the Epistle to the Philippians Philip. 1.1 Philem. v. 1. Col. 1.1 And he is never found again at Ephesus But towards the end of the Apostles Pilgrimage is sent for to Rome So Titus is found at Ierusalem before he came to Crete Gal. 2.1 thence is sent for to Nicopolis Tit. 3.12 then to Corinth Then he is expected at Troas 2 Cor. 2.12 13. and meets with Paul at Macedonia 2 Cor. 7.6 whence he is again sent to Corinth 2 Cor. 8.6 And after this near the time of Paul's Death is found at Rome from whence he went not to Crete but to Dalmatia 2 Tim. 4. 10. And after this is not heard of in Scripture So that whether we consider 1. The various Journies 2. The order of them 3. The time spent in them 4. The nature of their Imployment which was as the Apostles Co-adjutors to negotiat the Affairs of the Churches where they travelled and especially the Scripture-silence of their being Bishops of any one Church their supposed Episcopal Authority in these Churches of Ephesus and Crete doth palpably appear to be an Anti-scriptural groundless Fiction This Conclusion upon the premised accurat Search and Scripture account of Timothy and Titus is thus inferred by the reverend and learned Divines in their Conference at the Isle of Wight The Authors of Ius divinum minist Evangel In whose Words I have represented this Account both because of the judicious Concisness thereof and also because these Peices are but in few Hands These things thus premised its easie to discover the Absurdity of the Drs reasoning from his Third Instance to prove an Apostolical Authority Devolved upon Titus His Proof is from Chap. 1.5 For this Cause left I thee in Crete that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting and Ordain Elders in every City as I had appointed thee From whence the Dr. First Argues That Paul gave him the Supream Judgment in things that were wanting with an absolut Power to Reform and Correct them It is Answered 1 mo Tho an Episcopal inspection over this Church were granted the Dr. is infinitly behind in his Proof of Paul's devolving upon Titus an Apostolical Authority in the Scripture Sense and Extent as we have often told him 2 do Upon supposition of that which we have before made good Viz That both Paul as an Apostle and Titus as an Evangelist had extraordinary Offices and suted to such a Case and exigence of the Christian Church as is now gone off this direction and Command proper and peculiar to the one and the other as Apostle and Evangelist and supposing this Exigence of the Church can lay no Foundation of the Duty of Ordinary Officers 3 ti● By what consequence can the Dr. infer an Episcopal Authority and Inspection from these prescriptions to Titus unless he can prove the absolut seclusion of Ministers from the Work here enjoyned or any interest therein in Churches Constitut For as for what they did in the Constitution of Churches in fieri is not to the purpose I mean in respect of the Organick being especially since we find that the laying on of Hands in Ordination and the Authority thereof is in Scripture held out to be competent to a Presbytrie which they exercised upon Timothy himself one of our Drs supposed Apostles or Bishops and that tho Paul was present 1 Tim 4.14 2 Tim. 1.6 So that it is evident that neither Timothy nor Titus were instructed with any singular

Epistles and being again opposed by Dr. Pearson and Dr. Beveridge prepared and had almost finished his Second Defence which by the importunity of the Favourers of Prelacy was concealed Of which see the Learned Mr. Iamison in his Piece called Nazianzeni quaerela c. Part 2 d. Pag. 112 So that the Dr. hath no reason to speak so bigg and call this vindication Triumphant None can deny several of these Epistles fathered upon him to be Spurious as his Epistle to the Blessed Virgin and his two to the Apostle Iohn not to mention that of the Virgin Mary to him and for the Six mentioned by the Dr. he should know that as Learned Pens as he can mention have made appear that they are depraved and Corrupted if the Dr. will allow Usher Arch Bishop of Armagh and the Learned Rivet Videlius and Cook in his Censura patrum to be reckoned among that Number Yea Baronius himself the great Popish Historian who as Causabon holds presents from these Epistles the Papists refuges for several of their Errours yet acknowledges that somethings therein are defective in curia librariorum The Man was not so happy as to light upon the more polit Coppies found out by our Dr. and his Fellows In the forementioned Appendix the Dr. might have seen several Reasons adduced to prove these Epistles not to be genuine Such as 1. That diverse things quoted out of these Epistles by Athanasius Gelasius and Theodoret are either not found in them at all or found altered and Changed 2 ly That they Charge the Holy Martyr with supercilious Pride in extolling his own knowledg Epistle to the Trallians as reaching the Orders of Angels Arch-Angels differences of Powers and Dominations Thrones and Powers Cherubims and Seraphims c. Which none will believe to have fallen from the Pen of so Humble a Martyr nor can any but acknowledg that it is as far from the Simplicity of his times in an arrogant self-boasting as East from West And 3 ly His strange and anxious defence of the Episcopal Hierarchy wherein he these forged Epistles rather goes beyond all bounds of Truth and Modesty The Learned Authors of the foresaid Appendix have given several instances hereof which do palpably evidence such ●n Anti-scriptural Popish Strain as no Man of Sense can impute to this holy and early Martyr Nay none who owns the Scriptures of Truth but must needs accuse of Error For instance among many others in the Epistle to the Trallians he affirms The Bishop to be possest of all Principality and Authority beyond all c. And how will the Dt. make this accord with that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 3.5 Who then is Paul and who is Apollo but Ministers by whom ye believed In the same Epistle he enjoins a Reverence to the Bishop as to Christ as the Holy Apostles has commanded But where is this commanded In the Epistle to the Magnesians he enjoyns that nothing seems Right that seems not so to the Bishop For what is contrary to his Judgement is enmity to God The Apostle Paul spoke with more caution and Modesty when he enjoyned thus Be ye followers of me as I am of Christ. In the Epistle to the Philadelphians he enjoyns the Princes the Emperour c. and all the Clergy to obey the Bishop and this at such a time when there was no Christian Emperour or Prince nor many Years thereafter In the Epistle to the Smyrneans he saith The Scripture saith Honour God and the King but I say Honour God as the Author and Lord of all things and the Bishop as the Prince of Priests c. He affirms they are guilty of greater punishment that do any thing against the Bishop than they that rise up against the King Thus preferring them above Kings Yea he saith That such as do any thing without consulting with the Bishop is a Worshipper of the Devil And what Censure these sayings put upon the Reformed Churches Govern'd without Prelats yea what repugnancy is therein to the Holy Scriptures I think may be obvious to the Dr's meanest reflection So that he might have been asham'd to bring for his proof such spurious Epistles ● Yet he is bold to cite s●me of these Passages particularly in his Epistle to the Trallians and Magnesians altho he is forc't I suppose for very shame to smooth the expressions and curtail them For instance in stead of that Expression in the Epistle to the Trallians wherein he asserts the Bishop to be Possest of all Principalitie and Authority beyond all as much as it is possible for Men to be Possest of as it is truely translated out of the Greek The Dr. Represents only this what is the Bishop but he who hath all Authority and Power Which altho it be much the same with what is above rehearsed yet is far short in extent and Expression But if the Dr. hath so high a veneration for these spurious Epistles I would fain know how he will reconcile this and such like Expressions with that one Scripture Rom. 13.1 Let every Soul be subject unto the higher Powers c. Unless the Dr. will deny the Bishop to have a Soul he cannot exeem him from the obligation of this Command And if he be thus subject how is he Possest of all Principality and Authority beyond all as much as is possible for Men to be Possest of Or how will the Dr. make this accord with that Interest and Authority of the Civil Magistrat not only in Civils over all his Subjects but also in the Church and Kingdom of Christ which the Dr. in the same Book owns and asserts He also Cites the Epistle to the Magnesians wherein Obedience to the Bishop is enjoyned and contradicting him in any thing discharged which the Dr. will not deny to be cross to that limited Obedience which the Scripture enjoins to be given even to Parents by Children Who are Commanded to Obey them in the Lord only Moreover he Cites the Epistle to the Philadelphians wherein it is affirmed that such as belong to Christ are united to the Bishop such as are not are cursed And what censure this puts upon the Reformed Churches and how it Anathematizes them as not United to the Bishop I need not tell the Dr. nor what a black Theta he marks himself with in the Judgment of the Reformed Churches if owning such an absurd assertion I cannot stand upon many things that might be further noticed to evince the impertinency and Fooleries of these Citations Only it is very worthy of our observation that the Dr. in his Citation of his Epistle to the Magnesians obliges us in a piece of Ingenuity in expressing Ignatius's commending Obedience to the Bishop and the Presbytrie c which seems to allow the Presbytrie a Commanding Authority together with the Bishop as several of his Fellow-Pleaders in this Cause smooth the Episcopal Power but this I am sure is cross to the Drs. Scope and pleading who enhances

Augustin and Ambrose imputing also with Jerom the Episcopal Presidency which obtained in their time to the Churches Custom not to Divine Appointment do thus cast a contradicting blot upon his supposed Testimonies Ambrose acknouledging in special that non per omnia conveniunt Apostolorum scripta ordinationi quae nunc est in Eeclesia Comment in Cap. 4. ad Ephes. And tho it be controverted whether this was the true Ambrose yet we must tell him with the learned Professors of Saumur De Episcop Presb. Discrim P. mihi 300. Thes. 19. that he was Coetaneous with or rather more Ancient than Ambrose being Cited by Augustin who was Ambrose Disciple as an Holy Man lib. 2. ad Bonif. Cap. 4. which Epithet he would not have put upon a person of small account or one hetrodox 3 ly The Dr. knows that Jerom holds not the parity of Bishops and Presbyters as his privat Judgment only but least he or any else suppose this he proves it by Divine Testimonies of the Apostles Writings yea and gives the same Sense of them which Presbyterian Writers do And therefore the Dr. must acknowledg him in so far acting a Divine Witness not giving a human Testimony only and that he more than ●utweighs his Human Testimonies else he is obliged to examin his Pro●fs and Answer them and show if he can Ierom's Sense of these Scriptures to be disowned by any of his Authors which he doth not so much as attempt All who have seen Jerom's Testimony do know that he Reasons this Point of the Identity of the Office of Bishop and Presbyter from Scripture least any should take this to be his private Opinion Putat aliquis saith he non Scripturarum sed nostram esse sententiam Episcopum Presbyterum unum esse the one Name importing the Age the other the Office of the Pastor Then he goes through these Scriptures Philip. 1.1 Act. 20.28 Heb. 13.17 1. Pet. 5.2.3 Drawing out upon the whole this Conclusion that the Bishops Authority and Superiority to Presbyters was rather by Custom than any true dispensation from the Lord. But of this again The Drs. Second Exception is That Jerom being a Presbyter himself speaks in his own Cause and in a warmth of Passion to curb the insolency of some pragmatick Deacons Ans. Jerom reasoning both in this place Cited and the Epistle to Evagrius this Point from Scripture and exhibiting the Divine Oracles the Apostles Doctrin and practice for what he holds speaks the mind of God and no Passion and untill the Dr. Answer his Scripture-reasonings in the Forecited Testimonies he is lyable to the Charge of imputing to the Scripture and to the Apostles Passion and Partiality As for his being a Presbyter himself what then can no Presbyter speak truely and impartially upon this head Besides he knows that several of his Witnesses for Episcopacy and whom he most Esteems are by him supposed Bishops of his high Hierarchical Mould and how shall we receive their Testimony in their own Cause And why may not we impute to them partiality and Passion and reject their Testimony unless their Episcopal Chair hath as that of the Pope a supposed infallibility anne●ed to it So that the Dr. is put to this Delemma either to quite his great Episcopal Testimonies as insufficient upon his own Ground or admit this of Jerom. It is the same way from Athens to Thebes and from Thebes to Athens The Dr's Third Exception is That Jerom elsewhere owns the Bishop's Superiority whereof he exhibits First this Proof that in his Dialogue Advers Luciferians he gives this Reason why one not Baptized by the Bishop received not the Holy Ghost because the Holy Ghost descended on the Apostles Which the Dr. says makes it plain that he placed the Bishops in the same rank with the Apostles A strange Proof indeed First we heard that Jerom Reasons the Point from Scripture that the Bishop and Presbyter are all one and therefore it is odd from Jerom's Naming a Bishop to understand him of his Hierarchical Bishop Again Jerom says quid facit excepta Ordinatione Episcopus c. what doth the Bishop except Ordination which the Presbyter doth not A Clause and Passage we find the Dr. much harping upon but in his gloss upon this Testimony he doth in contradiction to himself and Jerom also appropriat to the Bishop the Administration of the Sacrament of Baptism What if one Reason thus against the dispisers of this Ordinance Such a Person is not Sealed by the Spirit because not Baptized by a Pastor for the Holy Ghost Descended on the Apostles Will the Dr. disown this Reasoning Or will he own the Inference that therefore Pastors are equal to Apostles Or say it were such a Reasoning such a Person or Persons cannot be Converted or Sealed by the Spirit not having heard the Converting Word Preached by a Pastor since the Apostles thus Converted and Ministred the Holy Ghost Will any but such as draw Reasons and Illustrations beyond the Moon as this Dr inferr that the Pastor is thus equal unto Apostles Will the Dr. in good earnest affirm that the Person who performs such Acts of the Power of Order as the Apostles did perform and with the saving Blessing of the Spirit is upon this Ground equalled in Office to the Apostles If so he must make all Faithful Pastors thus equal and overturn all his Reasoning from a supposed Succession of Bishops to the Apostolat The Dr's next Proof is drawn from Epist. 1. ad Heliod where he says the Bishops are in place of St. Paul and Peter And so say we are all Faithful Pastors whom Ierom makes one with Bishops according to the Scripture acceptation and at large makes it good in the place of Apostles as to the exercise of an ordinary Ministrie and the Power of Order and Jurisdiction Essential and necessar to the Church else our Lord had not promised His presence with His Apostles to the end of the World when He sent them out and Sealed their Patent to Preach the Gospel and Disciple all Nations to Him Of the same Stamp is that which he Cits of Ierom on Psal. 45.16 That in stead of the Apostles gone from the World we have their Sons the Bishops the Fathers by whom they are Governed For I pray will this Dr. either assert 1. That Ierom held that the Power of Government and Authority Ecclesiastick died with the Apostles that the Power of Order and Jurisdiction was not to be preserved continued in the Church and Exercised by ordinary Church Officers and in this respect enjoined in the Fifth Com●and which Commands Obedience to all Lawful Governours and so are Ministers called in Scripture under the Character and Denomination of Fathers Or 2 ly Can he deny that Ierom holds that except Ordination or rather the Rituals of it at that time appropriat to the Bishop the Pastors and Presbyters performed all Acts of the Power of Order and Jurisdiction And that

this Rite of Imposing of Hands concludes upon solid Grounds Presbyters Authoritative Concurrence in Ordination So that comparing our Dr's Concession with Dr. Forbes his Sense in Point of Ordination and with what we have evinced of Presbyters Authoritative Concurrence in Government in the Sense of the Primitive Church the Dr's Pleadings for the Prelates sole Interest therein is sufficiently overturned yea and the Inconsistency thereof with it self discovered For what he adds of Cyprian his Asserting that a Bishop of his Metropolitick Church might pro Episcopatus vigore Cathedrae autoritate have Chastised a Deacon without Appealing to the Synod The Dr. has pointed us to no particular place of Cyprian where this is found And upon Supposition of what is clearly supposible in Cyprians time anent the Presbytrie their Deference and Entrusting the Execution of some Censures to the President-Bishop who had then obtained such a Minut-Matter as the Chastising of a Deacon might well fall within the Compass of the then Bishops Deputed Authority which will abundantly Salve this Expression from Wounding Pastors or Presbyters Essential Interest in Censures and Government Besides that Cyprian owning so clearly Presbyters Essential Interest both in Ordination and Censures in the above-mentioned Epistles viz. 33.58.75 compared with 12. and 46. doth clearly evince he owned no such sole Authority of the Prelat as the Dr. alledges Which is correspondent to the Testimony cited of Tert. Apol. advers Gentes cap. 39. Ambrose Epistola ad Siagrium Considering further the Smallness of the Charge of Prelats in the first Rise of the Episcopus Praeses who had their Charge confined oft to little Dorps or Villages and that the Pronunciation or Execution of Censures or Sentences was in a Deference to the then Bishops appropriat unto them by the Presbytrie who still retained an Essential Interest in Cognoscing upon the Cause The forementioned fifth Canon of the Council of Nice which mentions the Separation from Communion by Bishops of the Province and by the Bishop from the Congregation and the Convention of Bishops of the Province for Cognoscing upon the Cause if Dubious doth no Whit favour the Dr's Conclusion of a Spiritual Iurisdiction wholly Seated in the Bishops the Radical Authority being still in the Presbyters or Consistorial Meetings of Pastors The fourth Peculiar of the Bishop as distinct from a Presbyter the Dr. tells us is To Confirm the Baptized which after their Instruction in Christian Faith was always performed by Prayer and Laying on of Hands upon which the Party Confirmed received the Gift of the Holy Ghost Tho upon the first Institution of this Imposition extraordinary Gifts followed as of Tongues c. Yet saith he it was not therefore intended as an extraordinary Ministry to cease with those extraordinary Gifts no more than Preaching attended with those extraordinary Miraculous Operations The Function it self cannot cease no more than that of Preaching Because the extraordinary Gifts and Effects are gone and Christ promising a continual Communication of the Spirit to his Church he must be supposed to continue it by this Ministry of Prayer and Imposition of Hands and the ordinary Operations the same way that extraordinary were Hence the Apostle puts the Laying on of Hands in the same Class with Baptism Heb. 6.1 2. and makes it one of the Principles of the Doctrine of Christ Therefore it must be intended for a standing Ministry in the Church Ans. I shall easily grant to the Dr that in the beginning of the Gospel and in the first Apostolical Times of the Christian Church there were sometimes extraordinary Effects and Efficacy of Gifts attending the standing Offices and Functions which are to be continued in the Church and the Duties of Prayer and Preaching As also that we have in Scripture Exemplified the Gifts of the Spirit attending the Imposition of Hands As likewise that there is an ordinary Communication of the Spirits Gifts and Graces in and by Christs Instituted Ordinances But all this is far remote from the Point in Question and reaching the Dr's Assertion and Conclusion viz. That Christ hath Institute Confirmation of the Baptized after Instruction by Imposition of the Hands of a Bishop as his sole Prerogative and in the Capacity of an Officer superior to a Pastor in Order to the Persons further Confirmation in the Faith Any with half an Eye may discover that this has no imaginable Connection with what the Dr. here offers As for that Text Heb. 6. it hath no Shadow of a Proof of what he brings it for It s true there has been several Comments given of that Clause of Imposition of Hands but none of them favours the Dr's Fancy and imagined Sense Some have taken it to be meant of a Ceremony adjoyned to Baptism it self for a Sign of Blessing and Consecration to God Some have taken it saith Diodat for Laying Hands on such Catechumeni as had been Baptized for Confirmation of their Faith or as a Badge of Renewing their Covenant in Order to Partaking of the Lords Supper See Pool 2. Vol. on the place Certain it is the Laying on of Hands was either for Healing Diseases Mark 6.5 Luke 4.4 Act. 28.8 Or Communication of Blessings Matth. 19.13 15. Or Communication of the Gifts of the Spirit to such as were separat to Gods Service in the Church Act. 6.6 and 17.6 and 13.3 So 19.5 6. Hence some under this Expression take in all the Spirits Gifts whereby we are Renewed Increased Strengthned and Built up to Life Eternal See Pool Annot. The Belgick Divines understand it of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost in the Primitive Church imparted to Believers in general Act. 8.16 17. And especially in the Institution of Ministers in the Church 1 Tim. 4.14 Where this Laying on of Hands is attribute to the Presbytrie Dr. Owen takes this Clause of Imposing Hands to import a Description of Persons to be instructed in the other Fundamental Principles but to be no Principle it self He also holds that in those days it did commonly accompany or immediatly follow Baptism Act. 8.14 15 16. and 19.6 Withal he shews that when Baptized Children gave an Account of their Faith and Repentance which others had done before they were Baptized they were admitted to the Communion of the Church the Elders thereof Laying their Hands on them in Token of their Acceptation and Praying for their Confirmation in the Faith An Account of this Matter given also by many of the Learned He distinguishes a fourfold Imposition of Hands The 1. Peculiar to our Lord in Way of Authoritative Benediction as when he owned little Children to belong to his Covenant he laid his Hands on them Mark 10.16 The 2 d. In Healing of Diseases Miraculously Luke 4.4 Mark 16.18 The 3 d. In Setting apart to the Work and Office of the Ministry 1 Tim. 4.14 5.22 The 4 th In Collation of Supernatural Gifts of the Holy Ghost Act. 8.17 and 19.6 Now that none of all these comes home to

their Doctrin and Practice they disown all dominion and Prelatical Principality in the Church and all outward grandure and greatness as inconsistent with their Office and the Office of all Gospel Ministers But to the Topick and ground of the Dr's Argument I Answer directly that the Apostles as they understood so they practised our Lords Precept in the sense we owne 1. In that they practised a compleat equality of Official Power among themselves This I hope he will not deny or if he do its easie to set all Protestant Divines in pursuit of him 2 In that they never exercised nor attempted to seek any Civil Greatness or Dominion such as the Prelats he pleads for do own as competent to their Office They knew that their Lord when but desired to give advice in a Civil Cause gave this return who made me a Iudg And declined the Imployment And that therefore neither they nor any of their Successors were to be Civil Counsellors and Spiritual Peers in Parliaments and Princes Courts 3. They disown all Dominion in one Pastor over another and discharged it earnestly Thus the Apostle Peter to be Lords over Gods Heritage 1 Pet. 5. Thus also Diotrephes affecting a Preheminence is rebuked by the Apostle Iohn And Paul owns himself and other Apostles as Stewards only in the House of God and disowns a Dominion as we have heard Next As for their Iurisdiction over subordinat Ecclesiasticks which is the Substratum of the Dr's great Answer and Question I do deny First that they exercised any Episcopal Jurisdiction properly taken over them Secondly such a Jurisdiction as did Cross this Precept The Proof of both these will fully discover the vanity of the Dr's Second Reply And First that the Apostles exercised no such Episcopal Authority over Ecclesiasticks or Churches planted as the Dr. pleads for is evident thus 1. Their Apostolick Authority connected with their Infallibility in Teaching reached to prescrib Duty to the Members and Officers of Churches consequently was cumulative thereto not privative thereof which appears in their enjoyning the exercise of Spiritual Iurisdiction as inherent in Church Officers as Excommunication 1 Cor. 5. And their owning a Spiritual Jurisdiction and Authority in Pastors both in the designations of Rulers Governours Overseers Bishops attribut to them As also in their frequent enjoyning the Peoples obedience and subjection to them as in that capacity Heb. 13.7.17 1 Pet. 5.2.3 1 Thess. 5.12.2 The Apostles did not as the Prelats invade the decisive Power of Pastors in Government but took along their decisive Votes and concurrence as we find in that Council Act. 15. where its evident that in every Point the Elders or Ministers conccurred with the Apostles in the Disquisition Sentence and decretal Letter 3. As the Apostles planted Churches with Pastors or Preaching Presbyters instructing them with Authority to Feed and Rule as Bishops or Rulers set up by the Holy Ghost so they committed the Government of the Churches to them in their last farewells without the least hint of Super-institut Officers of an higher Order So that the Apostles instructing Pastors with such Authority commanding its exercise enjoyning the Churches obedience to them exemplifying and Authorizing their interest in highest Judicatories yea making even Evangelists as Timothy pass through the Door of Presbyterial Ordination in order to the exercise of his Office Not to insist upon even Apostles submission to the Authoritative Imposition of the Hands of Prophets and Teachers when sent out upon a special Gospel Legation To which we may add the Apostles owning Pastors as Brethren Fellow-helpers Fellow-Labourers Co-Presbyters or Elders It follows inevitably 1. That as to the Perpetual Pastoral Charge the Authority of Preaching the Gospel the Administration of the Sacraments and the appendent Jurisdictional Power which by the Apostles Doctrin is a Lower Step to this and connected therewith they own the Pastors or Preaching Presbyters their Equals and their proper Successors in this Ministerial Authority consequently the ordinary Church Officers of the highest Order to whom they committed the Keys of Doctrin and Disciplin 2. That the Exercise of their extraordinary Apostolick directive Power and Authority which they could not divest themselves of while alive did no whit impeach the standing Authority of Pastors nor did it includ any Jurisdiction properly over Churches constitut and Moulded in their Organick being By Iurisdiction properly I mean such as is of a standing necessity in order to the Churches Edification in all times or such a Jurisdiction over Churches as may be supposed paramount unto or privative of the Jurisdictional Authority of Pastors and of Organick Churches Secondly That the Apostles exercised no such Authority over the Churches as did cross our Lords Precept and Prohibition is evident in that 1. Our Saviour discharged Imparity among Church Officers of the same kind and therefore this could not impeach the Apostles Authority over ordinary Officers 2. Our Lords instructing them with such a measure of the Spirit as was sutable to the First founding of the Churches and with Authority as his living and infallibly inspired Oracles to plant Churches and the Gospel Ordinances and Government therein Unless the Dr. will say that our Lords Precept did cross and contradict his design he must needs ackdowledg that the Apostles in exercising this directive Power and extraordinary Authority over ordinary inferior Officers could not cross this his Precept and Prohibition they being our Lords immediatly called infallibly inspired and extraordinarly Gifted First Messengers in order to this end Thus we have seen the vanity and insufficiency of the Dr's Second Answer But there is no end of Vanities The Dr's Third Answer is Prefaced with a very big and high Flown swelling boast That which he says baffles and exposes our Argument to all intents and purposes is that our Lord did that himself among them which now he Commanded them to do one to another And the doing of this one to another in obedience to his Command could not infer a Parity unless we Blasphemously infer that Christ and his Apostles were equal For our Lord recommends what he enjoins from his own constant and visible Practice among them that he their Lord and Master was their Servant And therefore it became the greatest among them to be Modest calm and humble toward their Brethren which would qualify them for Ecclesiastick Promotions This poor and mean Answer and Reason of the Dr's is a notion for which he is beholden to his Popish Masters And being here subjoyned to such big words brings to mind some Poetick Phrases Quid tanto tulit hic promissor hiatu And Projicis ampullas sesquipedalia verba And that of Partu●iunt montes nascetur ridiculus mus There 's no doubt that the Dr. has as much exposed and baffled his own Judgment and Reputation in this thrasonick weak Answer as in any thing else But to the point First I must tell him that if this Argument tending to prove from this Text

he did well to add to his bold Assertion his two Limitations of Matters of moment and Canonically which must be referred to his Explication But we have made appear from the Learned Iunius and others what was Presbyters interest in Councils and he must be posed who concurred and Acted Authoritatively in that Council Act. 15 As for the Comparison of the Old and New Testament Ministry used by some of the Ancients we have seen what a pitiful Argument it is in reference to his Conclusion and that the Comparison is only with reference to a similitude in point of of a Distinction and Subordination of Courts and Officers not a Parity or Identity of both OEconomies For this were to make an illustrating similitude or allusion to infer an Identity with absurdity if the Dr. should draw upon himself who will not hiss him I desiderat still and call for the Dr s. Scripture-proof of the Diocesan Bishops Superiority to the Pastor or Presbyter according to the true State of the Question and his undertaking and supposition in his Answers but there is no scent of it tho I am still in Quest of the same Pag. 30. He is still repeating again his Notion and Phantastical Conceit of Dichotomies Well what more to this scope Clemens Romanus saith the Dr. divides the Clergy into two Orders and so he doth the Jewish Ministry into Priests and Levites tho in either there is no equality But to this nauseous repeating Dr. I must Repeat again 1. Tho he should exhibit Clemens's Assertion of his Hierarchical Bishop it touches not the Point in Question which is anent a Scripture Assertion of such an Officer not what any Human Writers have Asserted 2. He has not made appear Clemens's subdivision of the Pastoral Office into his fancied Orders nor the Assertions of any Writers else to this purpose For Tertullians Testimony if it prove any thing it proves too much and beyond his Assertion Viz. The Deacons Power to Baptize which the Dr. cannot own without disowning the Scripture-accounts of this Office and the whole Body of Protestant Churches and Divines But to proceed with the Dr. P. 31. In stead of a solid Answer to our Scripture Arguments for the Parity of Bishop and Presbyter or our demanded Scripture-proof of his supposed Imparity I find the Dr. is still casting up his pityful recocted Crambe of Dichotomies and telling us trifflling quibles of Tertullian's sense of the Seniores mentioned in his VVritings he tells us he is not at a Point in it whether by Seniores Tertullian understood all Presbyters or those only advanced to the Episcopal Dignity And what this signifies to the point in question often mentioned the Appeal is made to all considering persons to Judge And whether in such pretended Answers to our Scripture Arguments for Presbyterian Government long since offered to the view of the Learned World and to our demand of a Scripture proof of his supposed Impariity this Man be not a poor Beggarly Trifler and a Skirmisher with his own Shadow Besides Tertullian asserts that praesident probati quique Seniores if the Dr. is not sure but that such in Tertullian's sense might be Pastors he must acknowledge that according to Tertullian such presided or had the Authority of a Proestos in Church Judicatories as were not of his Hierarchical Order So that he did not well to raise this frighting Ghost What more to our Question We are told next That Clem. Alexan. Stromat Lib. 6. reckons up Three Orders of the Clergy What then We reckon up Pastors Ruling Elders Deacons The question is what Degrees he assigns of the Pastoral Office And further upon what Scripture VVarrand How long will scorners delight in scorning and fools hate Knowledge VVhat more Are we yet arrived at the Dr's Answer to Presbyterian Scripture Arguments or his own Scripture Proofs of what he here beggs No. We hear next that Cyprian asserts the Episcopal Jurisdiction But all who have read Cyprian can tell him that he also ownes the Presbyters as his Collegues without whom he could do nothing And therefore that he owned no sole Episcopal Iurisdiction VVhat more Polycarp troubles the Dr. who divids the Clergie into two Orders in his Epistle to the Philippians VVhat will remedy this VVhy He recommends Ignatius his Epistles where the Apostolick Hierarchie is often mentioned But what assurance gives the Dr. that these were his genuine Epistles which now go under his Name there being Passages in these Epistles which the Dr. himself cannot but be ashamed of But Polycarp in the Dr's Opinion was a very modest humble Man whose useual Stile was Polycarp and the Presbyters that are with him Which the Dr. will needs have to express his Episcopal Distinction from them A proof which if you be a Friend you may take off his Hand when the poor empty Man has no better I see it is now dangerous for any Minister to say or write I and the Pastors that are with me least the Dr. fasten an Episcopal Gloss upon it The Dr. profoundly supposes that nothing but an Episcopal Jurisdiction and Priority could warrand this Phrase and order of his Words The contrary whereof can be cleared by so many Instances as renders this Reason obviously ridiculous What more we are told P. 32. That there can be nothing more extravagant than to conclude a Parity among Priests because the Ancients used the Jewish Phraseology since they frequentlie assert the Iurisdiction of Bishops above Presbyters But what can be more extravagant than this Dr's Trifling in this Debate and telling over and over ad nauseam usque this pityful quible not to the purpose and the point in question and in stead of an Answer to our Nervous Scripture-Arguments for the Official Parity of Bishop and Presbyter Iure Divino presenting idle repeated Stories of the Ancients Phraseologie anent the New Testament Church Officers which all Men of Sense cannot but see to be as far from the purpose as East is from West While pretending to run the Carrier of a fierce Assault upon Presbyterians he doth nothing but chase empty insignificant quibles with his back to his Adversaries and to the point and in such a faint declining of a closs and true Scripture-Dispute upon this Question according to its genuine Nature and Terms as all Judicious Persons who read his Pamphlet may see that the Presbyterians have this pityful cowardly Braggard in Chase who dare not encounter them and fairly deal Stroaks upon the point The Scripture Assertion of the Authority and Jurisdiction of the Bishop under that Character over the Pastor or Presbyter as an ordinary New Testament Officer is that which we are still seeking from this Dr. not the Assertion of Humane Writers Ancient or Modern which last notwithstanding so weak is his Cause he has not produced What more Answers P. 32.33 Hermes contemporary with Clemens Romanus reproved their ambition who in his time strove for Dignitie and Preferment Reader here is a