as some say at the King's command and that without Law and Authority of Parliament were confessed by many and exclaimed against generally and divers charged the Bishops as guilty of Usurpation And how could they be less when they imposed the reading of the Book of Sports and Recreations on the Lord's Day and punished divers Ministers refusing to read it and which was not tolerable the Rule of their Proceedings in the Exercise of their Power were Canons never allowed by Parliament besides the business of Altars and bowing towards them which had no colour of Law. Many began to set up Images in their Churches and innovate in Doctrine In consideration of all these things a Reformation if it might be had was thought necessary not only for the perfection of the first but also for to cut off the late introduced Corruptions and prevent the like for the future An opportunity seemed to be put into the hands of a Parliament with an Assembly of Divines for Advice to do this A Reformation they promise begin to act in the way and the expectation was great But instead of perfecting the former Reformation they cause a new Confession of Faith and new Catechisms to be made instead of the former Litany and Set-form of Worship a new Directory is composed and allowed for Discipline the Episcopal Power is abolished and the former Government dissolved the Presbyterian way and that very near to that of Scotland is agreed upon So that whatsoever was formerly determined by Law is null and void In the end all that was done in Doctrine Worship and Discipline in a time of War without and against the mind of the King did vanish was rejected by many and received by few and such an Indulgence under pretence of favouring tender Consciences was granted that every one seemed to be left at liberty Hence sprang so many Separations and Divisions that England since she became Christian never saw the like There were Divisions in Doctrine so many as could not be numbred and men were in their judgments not only different but contrary And the former Errours pretended to be great were few in number far less noxious in quality to these latter which were very many and some of them blasphemous and abominable All the old damned Heresies seemed to be revived and raked out of Hell and the more vain and blasphemous the Opinion was it was by some the more admired For Worship instead of some Ceremonies or Superstitions at the worst all kind of Abominations brake out of the bottomless Pit. Some professed high Attainments and Dispensations to the contempt of Sabbaths Sacraments and Scripture it self Some turned Ranters as though the old abominable Gnosticks had been conjured up from Hell. Some become Seekers till they lost all Religion Some were Quakers and most rude uncivil inhumane Wretches deadly Enemies of the Ministery and most violent Opposers of the Truth and some no ways ill affected but otherwise well disposed people seemed to be suddenly bewitched as the Galatians were and could give no Reason nor Scripture for the Separation and Alterations To be Anabaptists seemed to be no Offence in comparison of the former For Discipline some adhered to the Prelatical Form and refused Communion with the Presbyterian Party who with the Scottish Kirk thought their way to be the pattern in the Mount. The Congregational was of another mind and stood at as far a distance from them on one hand as the rigid Prelatical Party did on another Yet in all this God preserved an Orthodox Party who retained the substance of the Protestant Religion with moderation and these are they whom God will bless and make victorious in the end For all these came to pass and were ordered by Divine Providence to discover the Frailty of all the Wickedness of some the Hypocrisie of others to mainifest the Approved to confirm the Sincere and let men know what a blessing Order and Government in Church and State must needs be Here are many Separations some passive but many active As for the Quakers Seekers Above-Ordinance-Men Ranters their Separation under pretence of greater Purity is abominable The Antipedobaptists and the Catabaptists cannot justify themselves and in the end it will appear The Dissenting Bretheren and Congregational Party after they began to gather Churches with the rigid Prelatists and Presbyterians cannot be excused They who actually concurred to procure a Liberty and Indulgence especially the Zealots in that work who had a design to promote their own way have much to answer for and their account will be heavy And surely they are no ways innocent who took away the former Laws and Government before they had a better and in their own power effectually to establish them And whosoever departed from the former legal Doctrine Worship and Discipline in any thing wherein it was agreeable to the Word of God must needs be worthy of blame as also those who took an ill course to introduce that which was better They who will not Communicate with others or refuse to admit unto Communion with themselves in all parts of Worship such as are Orthodox and not changeable with Scandal are Offenders and cannot be free from Schism in some degree The Usurpations of the Bishops and the Innovations made by them and their Party together with their Negligence and Remisness in the more material parts of Discipline gave no little cause of Divisions and Separations To be hasty high rigid in Reformation is a cause of many and great Mischiefs This Church of England upon the first Reformation within a few Years brought forth to God even under that imperfect Reformation many precious Saints and glorious Martyrs And after the Persecution how did she multiply and yield as many able and godly Ministers and gracious Servants of God as any Church in the World of that compass And all those good Children were begotten nursed and encreased whilst under one supreme independent national Judicatory And though the first Reformation was imperfect and the Church in some things corrupted and many Members of the same without sufficient cause persecuted by some of the ungodly and unworthy Bishops yet for any of the Subjects and Members to separate from her without some weighty cause must needs be a sin A Reformation might have been made without pulling down the whole Frame and opening a way to the ensuing Divisions Imperfection is no sufficient cause to separate from that Church wherein any person receives his Christian being or continuance or growth of that being neither is every kind of Corruption No Church but hath some defects but hath some corruptions and no man should depart from any Christian Society further than that Society is departed from God. To depart and divide upon conceits of greater purity and perfection or out of a spirit of Innovation or in any thing which is approved of God and not contrary to his Word cannot be lawful Let every one therefore reflect upon the former Divisions and
really contradicted by violent storms so it falls out here I hoped to have landed in a Region of perpetual peace but I was found in a Terra del Fuego a land of fire and smoak like unto Palma one of the seven Canary Islands where in September 1646 or thereabouts a fire first raged fearfully in the bowels of the earth and at length brake out and ran in five several fiery sulphurious streams into the main In like manner this power of the Keys runs in five several Channels but very turbulently and impetuously For the Pope the Prince the Prelate the Presbyter the Plebean rank do every one of them severally challenge it and nothing under a Jus divinum will serve the turn Therefore I will 1. Examine their several Titles 2. Deliver mine own judgement 3. Add something of the extent of a particular Church section 2 And this shall be my Method and the several Heads of my ensuing Treatise before I enter upon the second part of the Constitution of a Common-wealth which is Pars subdita The first title is that of the great Roman Pontiffe who perhaps will storm and that with indignation against any who shall presume to examine it This Bishop is the greatest Prelate and Clergy-man in the world And as old Rome from a poor beginning and a few people became the Imperial City of the world so this Prelate from a poor pesecuted Minister of the Gospel attained to this pitch of glory and contrary to the example of Christ and his Apostles lives in so great splendour pomp and State terrene that the Princes of the world cannot parallel him and for the power which he doth exercise and challange he his far above them His Court is very magnificent and cannot be maintained without a vast Revenue Some say that he is that second beast which came out of the earth and had two horns of a Lamb but spake as a Dragon and exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him c. Rev. 13.11 12. His name is Satanos his number 25. He assumed the title of Universal Bishop about the year of our Lord 666. So that his number in the name in the radical sum and in the time of his appearance is 666. And for orders sake I might 1. Observe the power 2. Relate the several reasons whereby the title to this power is confirmed 3. Examine whether they be sufficient or no 1. The power which is challenged is transcendent and very great and that not only extensively but intensively too it 's such as men never had and therefore could never give And therefore though he came out of the earth yet he derives it from Heaven To be the first Patriarch of the Imperial See will not serve the turn neither will he be content to be a man and fallible he must be infallible Neither will this satisfie him he must be the visible Head of the Universal Church universal Bishop and Monarch over all persons all Churches in all Causes Ecclesiastical Nay this Power is so extensive that he must have something to do in Heaven and much to do in Hell. He must be above all General Councils They cannot Assemble Conclude Dissolve without his power He must be President all Canons and Judgments which they pass without him are of no force and only what he approves is valid His very Letters must be Laws and if he please of Universal Obligation His Reservations and Dispensations are very high his judgments irreversible he receives last appeals from all Churches in the World he Judgeth all is Judged of none His power to execute is strange and his policy wonderful He hath plenitude of power Ecclesiastical Yet this will not suffice him he hath acquired temporal Dominions and is a secular Prince And because his Territories are not large he hath found out a way to possess himself of the Sword and all temporal power in ordine ad spiritualia must be his section 3 But what are the reasons whereupon this vast power is grounded Surely they do build upon a rock and not upon the sand Their reasons are taken from Politicks from the ancient Writers and from Scriptures too 1. From Politicks they take this for granted that amongst humane Governments Monarchy is the best 2. That amongst Monarchies Despotical excels this they dare not expresly affirm yet the papal power which is challenged is such 3. That if Monarchy be the best then surely the Government of the Church is Monarchical for that being instituted from Heaven must needs be the most perfect 4. That the first Monarch visible of the Church was Peter 5. That Peter was made such by Christ and received a power to transmit it to others and appoint his Successours 6. That he fixed his See at Rome and made the Bishop of that City his Heir so that he is haeres ex asse 7. That so soon as any person is legally elected Bishop of that See he is ipso facto the Universal Monarch and the proper subject of plenitude of all Ecclesiastical power 2. The Epithetes the Elogies the Encomiums of the Bishop and the See of Rome are collected out of ancient Writers and marshalled in order and they make a goodly show and who dare say any thing against them 3. Yet because these are not of divine Authority therefore they search the holy Scriptures and find it written that Peter was the only person and Apostle to whom Christ gave the Keys of Heaven's Kingdom and he must bind and loose on earth and what he shall so do on earth shall be made good in Heaven If this will not serve the turn Christ saith to Peter and to no other Apostles If thou love me feed my Flock my Lambs my Sheep and to feed is to govern and the Flock Lambs and Sheep are the Church section 4 Yet notwithstanding all these reasons many rational men think and they have reason for it that this power is so great that it 's intolerable presumption for any person to challenge it impossible for any man duly to manage it but only Jesus Christ who knew no sin and was not only man but the Son of the living God. Besides wise men do certainly know that the power was usurped and possessed by degrees first and afterwards the greatest Wits were set on work to invent a title the usual way of all unjust Usurpers 1. As for their Politicks they help them little for in that reason from Government they presuppose all and prove nothing from first to last neither can any wit of man prove any of their supposals yet all must be proved and that demonstratively and every one of them made evident otherwise the vast mighty Fabrick falls to the ground Many of themselves know in their Conscience the invalidity and weakness of every one of them 2. As for these passages of ancient Writers which seem so much to honour and advance that Church above others many of them are Hyperbolical and Rhetorical
any say its in the whole Church primarily in the Officers and Representatives secondarily for Exercise that 's the undoubted Truth and must needs be granted In all the former examples of the exercise of this power it s very remarkable and specially to be noted that where there was a Church with which the Apostles who were far and very far above all others who did succeed them might act they would not act alone but joyntly with the Elders Multitude Brethren and the reasons hereof are obvious 1. Because they would follow and observe Christs Institution 2. Give example for future times 3. They know that as they when their Faith was weak did strive amongst themselves for priority and superiority so there would many come after them who would contend what person or persons or party should be greatest Yet notwithstanding all this its certain that where the Government of a Church is not regular or a form of Discipline is not setled God in his infinite mercy supplies these defects by an Orthodox Pious Faithful Painful Ministry which is the Fundamental Office of Christ and the means of Conversion and Salvation of Mens Souls And though we have certain clear Rules for the generals and necessaries of Discipline yet as in extraordinary cases the Apostles did not observe them so neither in the like cases are we strictly bound to do otherwise If any desire the Testimony of former times and the practice of Ancient days Fathers Councils Histories might be alledged as they have been by many Learned Men of Latter times but of any one Person Blondel hath done most Dr. Andrews is punctual and peremptory in this right disposal of this power in the proper subject For after that he had spoken first of the Institution then of the Exercise he thus concludes and that most pithily Res ipsa rei ipsius promissio ratihabitio usus denique Ecclesiae datur ab Ecclesia habetur confertur in sive unum sive plures qui ejus post vel exercenda vel denunciandae facultatem habeant For this also he alledgeth the Council of Constance Cameracensis Cusanus Gersom and the School of Sorbone Tortura Torti pag. 42. The Congregational party must needs acknowledge this in general For this is it which Mr. Parker which Mr. Hooker of New-England go about to prove but their way is certainly too Democratical though Mr. Parker grants that their Government in respect of the Exercise is Aristocratical yet that expression is no ways good For if in proper sence any State Ecclesiastical or Civil be Aristocratical then the Optimates or such as answer unto them must needs be the primary Subject and the rest even Officers are Subjects and derive their power from the Aristocratical party But perhaps he means that the whole Church which he considers as Democratical singles out the best and fittest to be Governors and trusts them with the exercise of the power and from them the Government is denominated Aristocratical But in this sence all States should be Aristocratical section 14 For the more full and perfect understanding of this Government and Discipline Ecclesiastical we must know and remember it 1. That there are certain general Rules of Government which God himself observes in his Government both temporal and spiritual of the World and especially in the ordering of Men and Angels 2. These general Rules are observed by all well ordered States in the World and in the Constitution and Administration of them we may easily find them and without them we cannot well or fully understand their Model 3. All those are found in many places of the Scriptures neither without them can the Scriptures be well understood 4. Besides the fundamental and essential Rules of Government there are many Accidentals according to which all particular Polities may differ one from another 5. Church-Government as here handled is nothing else but the application of these general and essential Rules to a particular Community and Society of Christians whereby they may be continued in Unity Piety and Peace and mutually further one another in the Way to Heaven 6. These ends may be attained by a fathful godly diligent Ministry without any form of outward Discipline 7. Yet a form of Discipline established will much further help and strengthen the Ministery in this Work and effectually conduce to the attaining of these ends keep Christian Societies closer together and make them far more permanent firm and powerful 8. Every Christian in any Society Ecclesiastical is bound by his very Baptism without any further Federation to submit unto these general and essential Rules once applied 9. That in erecting a Church-discipline there must be a special care taken of two things chiefly 1. Of the Constitution that it be agreeable especially in essentials to Christ's Institution otherwise men may refuse and that justly to submit unto it 2. Of the Administration that it be committed to the wisest and the best who are most fit to manage it 10. Because many of the Ministers are not qualified for this business and there are many no Ministers of eminent piety learning and wisdom I see no reason why onely the Clergy or Ministery and every one of that Profession should alone be trusted with the power of Administration and these eminent persons excluded Where do we find the Spirit promised only unto Ministers and Bishops Do we not know and by experience that excellent Gifts and amongst others the Spirit of Wisdom and Government are given to others as well as to some of them Nay how many unworthy and unfit persons do we find entred into the Ministery And with us besides others the causes thereof are because Presentations and Admissions are granted for carnal relations favour gifts good turns and also because that Parishes are not fitly united and divided and the maintenance in many places of great charge is very poor Otherwise I know no reason why the Congregational Party should so much exclaim against Parishes For the work of Ministers is not only to edifie Believers but also to endeavour the conversion of Heathens and Publicans especially in their particular Assignations For if these division parochal were duly made Parishes might be very fit Assignations for the work and maintenance of the several Ministers and the same agreeable to the general Rule of Decency and Order 11. In the Constitution and Administration of particular Churches neither the practise of Christ nor his Apostles much less of the Primitives times can be any binding Rule For 1. Christ and the Apostles did many extraordinary things which we neither may nor can do 2. Divine Precepts either general or special are the only Rule which we are bound to follow 3. They did many things as the present times and the condition of persons and places required which may not be done by us or any other except we have the same power and in the like case 12. In the Constitution of a Church or in the Reformation
consider the present distractions and examine himself how far he either is or hath been guilty and confess his sin to God desiring pardon and for time to come endeavour peace and supply the defects of understanding which in some things is the cause of difference in judgment with the greater measure of Charity For though we had less knowledge then we have and yet more charity the breaches of the Church might easily be made up Thus far I have digressed and enlarged upon this Subject out of a desire to perswade every Member of a particular Church to submit unto the lawful Power thereof and continue united in the same Body till God shall give a Command and Commission to come out or separate section 5 The end of this Discourse concerning the distinction of the subjects of the same Church is to shew the nature and measure of subjection and the manner how we become subjects and what the Duties of Subjects are Something might be added concerning the manner of Admission which Mr. Parker and so many of the Congregational Way do think was not good and allowable His and their Exceptions I will not here mention but will with them confess 1. That as they be born in such a Parish or forced by the Magistrate they could not be Members of the Church 2. That Baptism without instruction of such as are capable is not sufficient 3. That it 's fit that every one when they are instructed so as to understand the substance of the Covenant should publickly in their own persons profess their Faith and make their Vow 4. That when this is done some care should be taken of their lives that it may be known whether they walk according to their Profession and their Promise Yet this may be said that by good Ministers something to this purpose was done though by others it was neglected And the Church even from the first Reformation required and intended this in the strict command of Catechising and in Confirmation For though Confirmation was no Sacrament nor proper to a Diocesan Bishop by Divine Institution yet the end was good and the effect might have been happy if it had been duly observed For it would have so qualified the Members of the Church that we should not have had so many ignorant so many scandalous in every Parochial Precinct But it was either neglected or abused But because to be a right qualified Member of a visible Church is not sufficient let every one remember that it 's his duty to be a Citizen and Subject of Heaven and to live accordingly For as the Apostle saith Phil. 3.20 Our conversation is in heaven so we turn it though there may be more in the Original For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be turned Jus municipum aut civium aut municipatus as Hierome Tertullian and Sidonius understands it with Beza à Lapide Musculus Heinsius The sence is that we are Burgesses Denisons and Subjects of Heaven and incorporated into an Heavenly Politie therefore let our life be holy and heavenly and let us converse most and chiefly with God and remember that we are but Pilgrims and Strangers upon Earth and by the observation of the Laws of this heavenly Kingdom we tend to our abiding Mansions above And if our lives and carriage be such though men may persecute us cast us out separate from us refuse to admit us yet we know our God approves us we have fellowship with him and with Jesus Christ his Son whilst we walk in the Light as he is Light and in the end we shall be happy and our Joy will be full section 6 As the Subjects must be divided and subordinated in a Civil State so must they be in a Church The people of Israel were three times numbred and divided the first numbring was by tens hundreds and thousands that Moses might make Officers and Judges for the civil Government Exod. 18. The second which was most exact and purely Ecclesiastical as you may read in the four first Chapters of the Book of Numbers which was so entitled by the Septuagint because of this Numeration and Division of the People They were also numbred the third time Numb 26. The end of the second numbring was that they might according to an excellent order encamp about the Tabernacle and also march in order before and after it The first division upon the numeration was of the Body of Israel into two parts 1. That of the Levites which was subdivided into four parts The second of the other twelve Tribes in one body first separated from the Levites and this was subdivided into four Squadrons and in every Squadron three Tribes which acccording to their Ensigns quartered at a distance East West North South of the Tabernacle the Levites being within them The Description of the Universal Church Revel 4. as learned Men have observed alludes to this order And both these Scriptures teach us that without numeration division and subordination there can be no order in the Worship of God or the Government of the Church And the first thing done upon this division according to God's command was the removing of the Lepers and Unclean out of the Camp which was the more orderly and easily done upon the former division and doth teach what must be in the constitution of a Church and exercise of Discipline section 7 Of the division either of particular Churches of one City and the territories thereunto belonging or of several Churches in one Province according to the Cities of the several Provinces we read nothing at all in the Scripture Neither can any such thing be evidently and certainly proved from the seven Angels of the seven Churches of Asia the less now called Natolia As for the divisions made afterwards in the Roman Empire I shall say something anon The Church of England if we may believe Mr. Brerewood was anciently divided into three Provinces according to the three Provincial Cities York London Cacruske in Monmouth-shire though after that we find Valentia and Flavia Caesariensis added to make five of which divisions we find something in Cambden Yet afterwards we find another division of the whole Island into two Provinces York and Canterbury These were divided into several Diocesses the Diocesses into Archdeaconries the Archdeaconries into so many Rural Deanries the Rural Deanries into Parishes This was an orderly way and did facilitate Government much The Church of Scotland was divided into Provinces and Shires and upon the Reformation as some tell us these Shires into Classical Presbyteries but afterwards reduced in our times under a certain number of Bishops Yet Arch-Bishop Spoteswood inform us out of their publick Records that from the first Reformation they had Superintendents In the Reformation intended in England when Episcopacy was taken out of the way and the Presbytery introduced they divided the Church according to the Counties the Counties into Classes the Classes into Congregations The Subordination was of Congregations to a
Politica Sacra Civilis Or A Model of Civil and Ecclesiastical GOVERNMENT WHEREIN Besides the positive Doctrine concerning STATE and CHVRCH in general Are debated the principal Controversies of the TIMES concerning the CONSTITUTION OF THE State and Church OF ENGLAND Tending to Righteousness Truth and Peace By GEORGE LAWSON Rector of More in the County of Salop. The Second Edition LONDON Printed for J.S. and are to be Sold by T. Goodwin at the Maidenhead over against St. Dustans Church in Fleet-street 1689. THE EPISTLE TO THE READER Reader IN the time of our divisions and the execution of God's Judgments upon the three Nations I set my self to inquire into the causes of our sad and woful condition and to think of some Remedies to prevent our Ruine Whilst I was busie in this search I easily understood that the Subject of our Differences was not only the State but the Church This gave occasion to peruse such Authors as write of Government and to study the Political part of the Holy Scriptures wherein I found many things concerning the Constitution the Administration the Corruption the Conversion and Subversion of Civil States and Kingdoms with much of Church-Discipline There I observed certain Rules of Government in general and some special and proper to Civil or else to Ecclesiastical Polities All these according to my poor Ability I reduced to Method and applyed them to our own Church and State severally I further took notice of our principal differences both Civil and Ecclesiastical and did freely deliver mine own Judgment concerning the particular parties and their Opinions yet so that I endavoured to be of no Party as a Party And tho' in some things I differ from them yet it was not out of singularity or an humour of opposition but out of an unfeigned desire of Truth which in many things I found so evident that whosoever should not acknowledge it must needs be wilful and blinded with partiality or prejudice Whilst I go on in this work I easily perceived that as our sins and impenitency brought God's Judgments upon us so our ignorance and errours in matters of Government with prejudice partiality pride obstinacy and want of charity were the causes of our divisions which gave great advantage to our Enemies and Foreign Polititians who as formerly so now especially at this time fear our union and agreement more than ever because we are become a Warlike Nation and furnished with Gallant Men both by Sea and Land therefore their great Work is to continue our Differences amongst our selves as subservient to their Interest These causes once discovered the Remedies were obvious if men were in any capacity to make use of them For sincere repentance and a real reformation private and publick with the punishment of crying sins are very effectual to avert God's Judgments And to renounce our Errours to be informed in the Truth to lay aside all pride partiality prejudice obstinacy self-interest to put on humility and charity which is the bond of perfection and to let the peace of God rule in our hearts are the only way to quench the fire of Contention and firmly to cement us together Yet though good men may propose clear truths dispel the mists of Errour perswade to repentance and pray yet there seems to be little hope of peace and settlement For after so many fearful Judgments executed upon us and severe admonitions given us from Heaven pride covetousness injustice oppression malice cruelty and abominable hypocrisie continue and nothing is reformed This is the reason why God's hand is stretched out still many persons have suffered many great Families have been ruined many feel God's heavy hand to this day but who shall suffer most and last no man knows Men of the same English Blood and of the same Protestant Profession continue obstinate in their Errors rigid and high in their Opinions resolved in their different Designs admire their own Models of Government in Church and State will not abate of their Confidence and refuse to recede from their supposed Principles Some are for a boundless Liberty and will not be confined by the rules and dictates of Reason or the common Faith revealed from Heaven these have no Principles but seem to have abandoned not only Christianity but their own reason Some are for Peace yet only upon their own terms though not so reasonable at they should be Some complain they are wrong'd and must be satisfied Others are very high and must be revenged Every party must reign or else they will be Enemies Many men of great Estates and excellent Parts who as yet have suffered little or nothing look on as Strangers and will do nothing whilst Church and State lye a Bleeding ready to breathe out their last And what can be the issue but that either we shall be brought very low made a poor and base people and willing of peace upon very hard terms and yet hardly obtain it or we shall be made a scorn and derision to the Nations round about us a prey unto our Enemies and they who hate us shall rule over us To prevent so sad a condition my humble request to all true hearted English Protestants is seriously to consider 1. What our Condition was before the Scots first entered England with an Army 2. What those things were which then the best and wisest desired to be reformed both in Church and State. 3. What Reformation we are capable of at this present time 4. Where the guilt of so much blood as hath been shed especially in Ireland doth principally lye 5. What our duty is as we are English as we are Christians as we are Protestants which amongst other things is to deliver the Gospel to our Posterity as we received it from our Fathers 6. What may be the most effectual means according to the rules of Reason and Divine Revelation to promote the publick good without respect of Persons or Parties that so no wicked men but onely such as fear God may have cause to rejoyce This is all I thought good by this Epistle to signifie unto thee at the present for the rest referring thee to the Book and remaining Thine to serve in the Lord George Lawson In opus politicum viri clarissimi Georgi Lawsonii popularis mei QVis tandem augustas regnandi digerit artes Et solidam sceptris commodat Author opem Instituit magnas subtilis pagina Gentes Dat populis pacem principibusque fidem Publica privatâ sudantur munia dextrâ Quod multi curant unius ecce labor Tam benè regna locat potuit regnâsse videri Heu major cathedrâ quà m fuit ille suâ Stant secura brevi subnixa Palatia chartâ Nec facilè amoto cardine regna labant Vendicat haec populis leges vim legibus armat Te Themi quae debes plectere sola potes Nil metuas neque jam metuaris Regule demptum est Posse nocere aliis velle nocere tibi Haec succurrisset
unto another till a form of Government and Discipline be setled Yet they are subject to Christ as the Head of the universal Church visible subject to God as supream Lord subject to their Pastours if they have any For they are commanded to obey them who rule over them and to submit unto them c. Heb. 13.17 For Ministers are Officers and Representatives of Christ and therefore must needs have power in foro interiori conscientiae as the Schoolmen speak Yet Ministers as Ministers have no power of the Keys in foro exteriori they are only eminent members of the Community otherwise the Government external of the several Congregations in one Community should be purely Aristocratical in them and Monarchical in a single Congregation 2. They are equal as members of a Community in respect of Power and Government which is not yet introduced or at least considered as not actually brought in they cannot command or judge one another neither can the whole sentence any single member For that were to act as a Common-wealth which as yet is not 3. The whole is in an immediate capacity to form a Government as you heard before This may be done immediately by the eminent and compleat members or by a delegation of a power of modelling the Government by a few of the principal and fit for such a work and afterwards approved and ratified by all And though the general Rules of Discipline are plainly delivered in the Scriptures yet few will understand them or apply them right and it 's an hard thing to abolish the corruptions of former Governments so that many times a Discipline is setled and perfected only by degrees and in a long time Not only the constitution but a reformation of a Church meets with many difficulties One reason is there is so little of Christianity in many and none in some that yet profess their Faith in Christ which either they do not understand or refuse to practise This hath given occasion to some to gather Churches out of Churches and to separate How justly or wisely this hath been done something may be said hereafter CHAP. IV. Of a Common-wealth in general and Power Civil section 1 THE subject of a Common-wealth being a Community which is twofold Civil and Ecclesiastical It remains and order requireth that I say something of a Common-wealth You heard before that the subject adequate of Politicks was a State or Common-wealth and that the parts of this Act are two 1. The Constitution 2. The Administration The Constitution as you may remember is the first part of Politicks whereby an order of Superiority and Subjection is setled in a Community wherein three things were principally to be examined 1. What a Community in general 2. What a Community civil 3. What a Community Ecclesiastical is and all this is done Therefore to proceed observe that a Community is like a matter without form in respect of something that it must receive yet a matter and a subject disposed and in proxima potentia to receive a form to perfect it and this form is that we call a Common-wealth a Polity a State wherein we may observe four things 1. That it is an order 2. An order of superiority and subjection this is the general nature of it 3. An order of superiority and subjection in a Community 4. Such an order tending to the peace and happiness of a Community 1. It 's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Order or as some understand the Philosopher an Ordination which is a disposing of things in their proper place For as the learned Father observes Ordo est parium dispariumque rerum sui cuique loca tribuens dispositio It 's inter plura which may be equal or unequal For there may be an order of Priority and Posteriority in time or place amongst equals Therefore 2. It 's an order of Superiority and Subjection in respect of Power Yet 3. Because there is a superiority and subjection in a Family a Colledge a Corporation therefore it 's an order of superiority and subjection in a Community whether civil or Ecclesiastical 4. Because there may be such an order in a Community of wicked men and Devils if that might be called a Community where the Association is unjust as properly it cannot therefore it must be such an order as tends and conduceth directly to the peace and happiness of the Community This an unjust order cannot do To understand this the better you must know that all Communities spiritual and temporal are grounded upon that Commandment of God Love thy Neighbour as thy self where that word Neighbour may signifie indeed a single person yet it includes a notion of society and the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Socius This Neighbour therefore is either a single person yet as a Society or collective as in a Family Kindred Congregation Corporation Community This Love is the true cause of all association and is the special duty of all parties associated A Common-wealth is grounded upon a branch of that great Love the fifth Commandment which presupposing superiority and subjection in respect of power requires certain duties of the parties superior and subject both in a greater and lesser society And because these duties cannot be performed in great Societies except this Order be setled therefore by that Commandment all Communities are bound so far as they are able to erect a form of Government In which respect Politicks are from God not only allowing and approving them nor meerly as enabling men but commanding them enabled to establish and preserve them established for the better manifestation of his glory and their own greater good temporal and spiritual From hence it 's evident that Politicks both civil and Ecclesiastical belong unto Theology and are but a branch of the same section 2 In this Common-wealth two things are most worthy our consideration 1. The Superiority 2. Subjection for it consists of two parts Which are Imperans Subditus the Soveraign Subject And because the Soveraign is Civil Ecclesiastical I will begin with the Civil and so proceed to the Ecclesiastical And seeing that Imperans the Soveraign is a concrete and therefore signifies the Power Subject of this Power I will first speak of Power then of the Subject of this Power The Power must be considered what it is in General Special In respect of the Subject I will declare the manner how it is acquired disposed This is the Method which I intend to observe and wherewith I acquaint the Reader My observation of it will make the Discourse more clear and distinct The Readers knowledge of it will help both his understanding and his memory Pars imperans the Soveraign civil which is the first part of a Common-wealth is one invested with Majesty civil Where observe 1. That it is a part of a Politie and that 's the general nature of it and is an essential or integral part which together with the
ratifie it in Heaven Yet in making of Canons they have power so far as to declare in Essentials to bind in positive Laws and in Circumstantials In ordaining of Officers the designation of the persons is theirs In Jurisdiction they have power to hear examine take witnesses apply the controversie or cause to the Canon determine and see the sentence executed and all this in a Soveraign and independant manner within the circuit of their own Church And whereas it may be said all this power amounts but to a little and is confined to a narrow compass It 's true it 's but a particle Yet the Church is more happy and the Government more excellent because it depends so little on man so much on Christ. And this power though diminutive yet through God's blessing is effectual and tendeth much unto the preservation of purity piety unity and edification and if well managed is an excellent means to enlarge Christ's Kingdom and further our eternal Salvation The result of all is this that particular Churches are not supreme but subordinate both in respect of the internal Government which is purely divine and also in respect of the external universal which is purely Monarchical under Christ. The Church of Rome doting upon her universal Head and Vicar-general presupposed and took for granted that the community of all Christians in the world were but one visible Church under and subject unto one and the same supreme independant Judicatory This no question is an error For though there be an universal visible Church yet it 's subject only unto one supreme Consistory in Heaven but not on earth either in a Monarchical or Aristocratical or Democratical form as shall be hinted hereafter And suppose the Pope had been an Ecclesiastical Monarch because the Patriarch of the first See in the Imperial City yet he could not be universal but only in respect of the Church within the confines of the Empire which did enclose all the other Patriarchates and was but a little parcel of the world CHAP. VII Of the manner of acquiring Ecclesiastical Power section 1 HAving manifested what Ecclesiastical Power of Discipline is I must search how it 's acquired for this as well as civil is derivative and that from Heaven and in a more special manner It 's not natural but acquired It 's also continued by Succession not Hereditary but Elective not in a Line as the Sacerdotal power confined to the Family of Aaron It 's first in God the Fountain of all power and from him derived to Christ as man and Administrator-general For so after his resurrection he said unto his Disciples All power in heaven and earth is given me some measure of this he by Commission delegates unto the Apostles Yet that power of theirs as extraordinary was not successive or to be derived to those who followed them as ordinary Officers of the Church for it expired with them Yet there was an ordinary power of Discipline derived to them and they never except in ordinary cases did exercise it but with the Church This some say was acquired by those words of Christ to Peter To thee will I give the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven c. Mat. 16.19 This power was given to Peter many of the Ancients say as representing the Church others think it was given him as Head of the Church others as representing the Apostles from whom it was derived to the Bishops or else as others tell us to the Elders of the Church But of this hereafter But whatsoever power the Apostles might have either severally or jointly considered it 's certain that Christ derived it to the Church whereof the Apostles were Members yet extraordinary Officers The Church acquired it therefore by free donation from Christ when he said tell the Church and afterwards whatsoever ye bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven Mat. 18.17 18. By this Church is meant no Vtopian aerial or notional body but such a society of Christians brought under a form of Government as may and can exercise this power as the Church of Corinth Ephesus Antioch Jerusalem or any of the Churches of Asia section 2 But though I intend in this to be brief yet I will observe some order and this in particular it is Power Ecclesiastical is acquired by lost immediate designation of Christ Apostles mediate institution and that justly unjustly Seeing none hath this spiritual power except given from God therefore it must needs be acquired as it 's derived It 's derived immediately to Christ as man the Apostles as his delegates Christ as man by his humiliation unto death the death of the Cross acquired an universal power over all persons in all causes spiritual And he received it upon his Resurrection and upon his Ascension being solemnly invested and confirmed began to exercise the same The Apostles being extraordinary Officers under Christ received their extraordinary power which was both intensively and extensively great from Christ. And 1. For the lost sheep of Israel before Christs death 2. For all Nations after the Resurrection 3. More fully and solemnly invested after Christs Ascension they began to act and that both in an ordinary and extraordinary way and that in Discipline as shall appear hereafter As they were extraordinary they could not as ordinary they might have successors section 3 As the power is derived in an ordinary way so it 's acquired by the Church mediately This Church did first consist of the Apostles the seventy Disciples and other believers of the Jews After that we find several Churches consisting of Jews and Gentiles After that a Church as taken from a Christian Community is once made up of persons a multitude of persons associated and endued with a sufficient ability to manage the power of the Keys in that visible body politick presently it acquires this power by virtue of Christ's Institution in these words Tell the Church c. as before For in that very Rule he gives to direct us how to deal from first to last with an offending brother he institutes the external government of the Church and both erects and also establisheth an independant tribunal After a Church is once constituted and this power acquired it 's exercised either by a general Representative or by Officers both these must be invested with power before they can act And these acquire their power by delegation or by being constituted Officers By these means the power may be acquired justly section 4 Yet it may be possessed or exercised unjustly It 's usurped when any arrogate it or take upon them to exercise it without just warrant from the Gospel Therefore 1. When a multitude of Christians who have no ability to manage it shall erect an independant judicatory they are Usurpers 2. When one Church challengeth power over another 3. When Presbyters alone or Bishops alone engross the whole power Ecclesiastical both of making Canons and of Jurisdiction and constituting Officers 4. Magistrates who as such take
upon them spiritual power 5. But the greatest Usurper is the Pope who usurpeth a power both intensively and extensively far greater than is due section 5 As the Power may be acquired so it may be lost For 1. When a Church is so far decayed as not to be able to exercise an independant jurisdiction or order as their association so their power is so much abated 2. When a Church doth wholly cease to be a Church then their power is wholly lost Yet when it 's hindred either by the Magistrate or by schisms and rents in it self so that it cannot exercise it yet it 's vertually in them And many times such is the neglect of Christians that they will not associate nor reduce themselves into Order when they might do it this is a great sin 3. When Representatives turn into a faction and betray their trust they lose their power as Representatives 4. All Officers are divested when for some just cause they are deposed or degraded but this belongs not to this part CHAP. VIII Of the disposition of Power Civil and the several forms of Government section 1 AFter the acquisition both of Civil and Ecclesiastical power follows the disposition of both which will take up a great part of this first Book And 1. Of the manner of disposing Civil Power This Disposition seems to be the same with acquisition because it cannot be acquired but by a certain subject neither can it be said properly to be actually acquired but at the very same time and by this very Act it 's placed in that subject Yet because Power Civil may be so communicated and acquired that it may be disposed of several ways and from these several ways of disposing arise several distinctions and differences of Common-Wealths I thought good to make Disposition a distinct thing from Acquisition and so handle it for the better understanding of this particular I will 1. premise some general Observations 2. Briefly declare the several ways of disposing Majesty and the several forms of Governments 3. Inquire into the Constitution of the Common-Wealth of England 4. Deliver some things concerning our condition in these late times section 2 The Observations are these The 1. which belongs unto that of Acquisition is That no power can be fully acquired till it be accepted of as well as communicated For no man can be bound to be a Sovereign against his will. 2. That Majesty is then disposed when it is placed and ordered in a certain constant subject which thereby may be enabled and bound to protect and govern 3. That to be disposed in this or that subject in this or that manner is accidental to Majesty though to be disposed is essential to a Common-Wealth 4. From the different ways of disposing this Power arise the different kinds as they call them of Common-Wealths For from the placing of it in one or more arise Monarchical Aristocratical and popular States 5. Majesty being the same in general in all States it may be disposed several ways and in several degrees in one or more Hence arise the difference of one Monarchy from another one Aristocracy from another one popular State from another 6. Though it may be a Question whether the disposing of Power in one or more can make a specifical difference yet Monarchy and Polyarchy are taken for different species of Common-Wealths essentially different Majestas disponitur pure in uno despotice hinc imperium section 3 Despoticum Regale monarchicum section 3 Despoticum Regale regaliter pluribus optimatibus hinc Aristocratia Democratia plebe hinc Aristocratia Democratia miste in pluribus hinc Status popularis omnibus hinc Status popularis The knowledge of this Scheme depends upon the difference and distinction of the parts and members of a Community For besides those which are but vertually members there are such as are sui juris independant upon others and these are divided into three Ranks As 1. Such as are only free 2. Such as are of the Nobility 3. Some that are super-eminent The two former are called in Latin Plebs optimates And amongst these optimates there may be very great difference as we find a Pompey or a Caesar amongst the Romans a Duke of Briganza amongst the Portugals who inherited a vast Estate in Lands These are called the Tres ordines the three States or Ranks of the whole Body of the People with us King Peers and Commons The super-eminent are few the Peers more in number yet not very many the Commons are the greatest multitude by far and make up the main body of the Society Yet with us of these there be several degrees and subdivisions Amongst the Commons we find the Freeholders and the Gentry and a great disparity in both Amongst the Peers there is a difference 1. In respect of the manner of acquiring of this Dignity and so some of them are such by ancient tenure amounting to so many Knights-fees some by Writ some by Patent These are called in Latin Barones Feudatarii rescriptitii diplomatici There is another distinction with us of Lords for some are Temporal some Spiritual The highest of these amongst us are those of Royal Extraction In France the Princes of the Blood. In some Countries as in Denmark and some say in Poland there be Peers and Lords which hold in Allodio and these are independant upon the King in divers respects such also the Princes of Germany be for the most part And in those States where such are found the Government usually is Aristocratical These Kings Dukes and Monarchs became such at first either for the antiquity of their Family and their greate Estates or for their super-eminent wisdom and vertue or for their rare exploits in War or Peace For such as are Generals and great Commanders in wars prudent and successful much beloved by Souldiers may do much dethrone Princes set up themselves and if it will not be fairly given they will forcibly take the Crown and sometimes they may deserve it and prove the fittest to wear it These are the three Ranks and Orders of the People section 4 These being known well will give some light to that which follows concerning the disposing of Majesty whether real or personal though all Majesty actually ruling must be in some sense personal First this super-eminent power may be placed Purely in one Purely in more in one and then that the State is called a Monarchy Yet it may be disposed in more than one several ways 1. More absolutely 2. More strictly limitted An absolute Monarch whether Elective or Hereditary is such as hath a full power over his subjects goods and persons as his own so that the people have neither propriety in their goods nor liberty of their persons They are but his servants and little better than slaves such Pharaoh's Subjects when Joseph had purchased their stocks their Lands their persons for the Crown seem to have been This Government is absolutum dominium and
decline even in most peaceable times and the Subjects become suddenly unhappy But if he be Wicked Vitious Insolent Impetuous Cruel he instantly becomes a Tyrant and then both Church and State begin to suffer much Religion is corrupted or suppressed and persecuted the Wicked are predominant and the best under Hatches Yea though the Prince may be of a good Disposition yet facile and flexible devoid of Wisdom and Courage and also destitute of good and faithful Counsellors and beset with wicked Men how easily is he misled involved in many Troubles and in the end brought to Ruine Sometimes a few cunning Politicians act him as a â—hild drive on their own Interest and neglect yea pervert the publick Good. How much more if the Monarchs be Children or Ideots as some be If in such a model God raise up a David a Solomon a Jehosaphat an Ezekiah a Josiah the People may be happy and have great Cause to be thankful for so great a Blessing There is another way of disposing Majesty than the former and that is when it 's fixed section 7 Purely in more than one And that is twofold in obtimatibus plebe When it is disposed in few and the same more eminent it 's called an Aristocraty so called from the quality of the persons who govern For they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 optimates primores praecipui the most eminent in the Community and above the common Sort or Plebean Rank for they are not only formaliter but eminenter cives as you heard before Their eminency ariseth from their noble Extraction as being descended from noble and ancient Families or from their great Estates or from both or from their excellent Vertues And such as in whom all these concurr are the fittest for Government Amongst the Romans these were called Patricii This Order of Peers which may be so called in relation of one unto another amongst themselves is sometimes confined to certain Families as they say it is in the Rhagusian and Venetian States and with a permission or prohibition to marry in inferior Families or there may be way made open for the Adoption of other persons for their eminent Vertues though of meaner Rank For virtus vera nobilitas Such were the Patricii minorum Gentium amongst the Romans And though political Vertues as Wisdom and Justice do best qualifie them for the place yet it 's requisite they have good Estates or sufficient Allowance otherwise they will oppress the people or be unfit to attend the publick Service Yet such as are born of noble and ancient Families have some advantage because they many times inherit great Estates are more honoured by the People have the benefit of the best Education sometimes participate some measure of the noble Spirit of their Ancestors whose rare Examples may do something too These though physically many yet morally are but one person collective They may have a president and such as the Duke of Venice And his Privileges Honour State and Dignity may be Paramount and he may have the precedency yet no negative Voice nor Power above the rest For the Power and all the particular Rights of Majesty are in them all jointly And when they in any business of State do differ the major part carries it and the rest submit This may be an excellent Government when all or the greater and predominant party are Wise and Just and follow some certain Rules of the Constitution and seek the publick good as all other Sovereigns should do If there be not care taken in the Succession that the best may succeed the best the body will corrupt and degenerate into an Oligarchy which is then done when either they agree to advance their own private Interest to the neglect of the publick or if they be divided one party bears down another and a few prevailing engross the Power and Usurp far more than is due and oppress the People and so prove a number of Tyrants When the richest engross the power to themselves it 's called a Timocraty If the Succession into places vacant either by death or some other way be by Election an excellent qualification prerequired some strict order for the admission should be observed least unworthy persons enter by Favour Money or some Indirect way And in this particular the State of Venice seems to excel Neither must any of them be suffered to swell and rise above the rest as many ways they may do especially if they be Men of excellent parts and successful and be trusted with too great a command in the Administration For some wise Men have observed That the unlimitted Commission granted Pompey at the first for the Pyratick War laid the Foundation of those bloody Civil Wars which followed Majestas pure disponitur in Plebe section 8 This is the last and basest kind of the pure Models For Plebs signifies the inferior rank of People which for number far exceed the rest Among these besides Artificers Husband-men and such as are for Trade and Traffick there may be some Merchants of great Estates some of more noble Descent and competent Revenue yet far short of such Eminency as is required in Peers or Princes which this kind of Government cannot brook Yet it may be so ordered as that the exercise of the Power may be trusted in hands of some just wise and experienced Persons which either must govern by course or be removed least trusted too long they engross the power to themselves or to some few Families or to a Faction predominant For this kind of Government is very subject to Faction Disorder and Tumults The name of it is a Democraty in which there is the greatest Liberty not only because they are free from Peers and Princes but because every one may be a Magistrate and proceed in such a way as opens to that end Yet because in such a State there be few Men of Learning Wisdom Experience in matters of State most of mean Education and many so taken up with their own private Affairs it can hardly continue long without some Alteration if not Ruine It presently degenerates into an Ochlocraty and when such there it cannot stay long before it become an Anarchy It 's a Curse and heavy Judgment of God to live in such a Government according to that in the Prophet And the People shall be oppressed every one by another and every one by his Neighbour the Child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient and the base against the honourable Esa. iij. 5 The Philosopher reckons up four several kinds of this Democratical Form and there may be many more some better some worse Of the Tumults and Intestine Dissentions amongst these Plebeans Histories tell us much But this is a subject which is not very profitable and I list not to enlarge upon it Majestas disponitur mixte in pluribus section 9 omnibus There is another kind of disposition different from the former and it 's called a mixt Government The reason
commended or reproved and charged with divers sins and threatned with such punishments as must fall upon all After all these proofs from Scripture recourse is had to Antiquity and Universality as sufficient grounds of a prescription which is a good kind of title But 1. In divine things especially such as are of ordinary and universal obligation Antiquity and Universality without a Divine Institution will not serve the turn 2. The Hierarchy prescribes as much and as high as Episcopacy invested with power of Ordination and Jurisdiction as proper to it self yet it s confessed to be only of humane institution 3. What is it how is it defined What Divine Institution can be made evident of that which they say is so universal and ancient 4. Who are the witnesses by whose testimony this Antiquity and Universality is proved They are besides some of later times but few and all within the Roman Empire many of them Bishops themselves and some of them bitter Enemies one against another They are not one of an hundred amongst the Bishops not one of a thousand amongst others Yet the Church in the Apostles times was enlarged to the ends of the Earth And as then so now there were in every Century thousands that did never write or if they did they wrote not of Episcopacy and many of them might be as great Schollars as those whose books are extant 5. There was a special reason why there might be Bishops and the same Hierarchical in the principal parts of the Roman Teritory as shall be touched hereafter 6. Suppose these Bishops to have the power of Ordination and Jurisdiction yea the whole power of the Keyes which includes the Legislative in making Canons can any man prove that they had it always in all places and if so that they had it severally in their several precincts and not joyntly with their fellow Bishops as Representatives in Counsels and also with Presbyters and others too It s well enough known that other besides Bishops had their suffrage in Synods Arles President of the Council of Basil proves stoutly that Presbyters have their Votes and without them he could not have carried the cause against Panormitan and his faction section 8 After the primitive and the Hierarchical Episcopacy comes in the English which hath something singular He that will understand the nature of it more fully must read Dr. Zouch Dr. Mucket Dr. Cosens the Civilian his Tables with him who calls himself Didoclavius upon him By all whom we may understand 1. It was not the primitive Episcopacy 2. It was clearly Hierarchical for we had Bishops and two Arch-Bishops of York and Canterbury the one the Metropolitan of England the other of all England The Bishops took their Oath of obedience to the Arch-Bishops as appeareth by the book of ordination They did arrogate the power of ordination to themselves though Presbyters did in the ordination impose hands with them and some of them confessed they had it only with the Presbyter joyntly Yet we know how that by others is eluded 3. Not to say any thing of their Titles Dignity Revenue Baronies annexed to their Sea their place in the house of the Peers in Parliament and their priviledges they had cast off in effect not only the people but Presbytery For though the Presbytery had their Clerks both in the Convocation of York and also at London if the Parliament sat there yet they took upon them in the end to nominate these Clerks and deprive the Ministers of their right of Election As for the Deanes and Chapters which should have been eminent Persons and chosen by the Presbytery in every Diocess to represent them they were degenerate from their original Institution and the Bishops who should have done nothing but joyntly with them did all things without them They in effect though unjustly engrossed the whole power of Administration 4. Yet this is observable that 1. They could make no Canons but joyntly in one Assembly 2. That joyntly amongst themselves without the Presbytery they had not this power 3. That no Canons were valid without the Royal Assent 4. Neither by the Constitution was the Royal Assent sufficient without the Parliament 5. That they derived much of their Ecclesiastical power from the Crown For by the Oath of Supremacy is declared that the King of England is over all persons even in Ecclesiastical causes Supream Governour In which respect all their secular Power Revenue Dignity and also their nomination and confirmation with their investiture is from him He calls Synods confirms their Canons grants Commissions to exercise Jurisdiction purely Ecclesiastical In the first year of King Edward the sixth by a Statute they were bound to use the Kings name not their own even in their Citations and as before they must correct and punish offenders according to such Authority as they had by the Word of God and as to them should be committed by the ordinance of this Realm So that if the Popish Bishops derive their power from the Pope and the English from the King neither of them could be jure divino And by this the title of most Bishops in Europe is meerly humane and that in two respects 1. Because its Hierarchial 2. Derived either from an higher Ecclesiastical or an higher secular power section 9 Thus far I have enquired though briefly and according to my poor ability into the definition and institution of a Bishop the subject of the Question which is this Whether a Bishop or Bishops be the primary subject of the Keyes The meaning whereof is 1. Whether they be the primary and adequate sole subject of the whole power of the Keyes whereof the principal though not all the branches are making Canons and receiving last appeals without any provocation from them For they may be subjects and not primary they may be subjects of some part and not of the whole power 2. Whether they be such subjects of this power in foro exteriori For in foro interiori the Presbyters have as much as they 3. Whether they be such subjects of such power in foro exteriori quatenus Episcopi reduplicative 4. Whether as such they be such a subject by Divine Institution For solution hereof it s to be considered 1. That except there be an Universal consent and the same clearly grounded upon Scripture both what a Bishop is and 2. That made evident that his Title is of Divine Institution the affirmative cannot be proved 2. That though a Bishop could be clearly proved to have the power of Ordination and Jurisdiction yet it will not follow from thence that he is the primary subject of that power For the negative many things may be said 1. Neither the papal nor the English Bishop so far as the one derives his power from the Pope and the other from the Crown can be the primary subject of this power the secondary they may be 2. For such as derive not their power from
is great danger to the Common-wealth therefore as every thing is armed with some power to defend it self so a sufficient strength is required in every political Body for to continue the safety thereof And this is a Sword not only of Justice but of War. This Sword of War especially cannot be well managed without a sufficient skill which cannot be had without instruction exercise and experience Hence the Art Military is not only useful but necessary in every well ordered State. One thing especially requisite in this profession is to have good Commanders men of valour and prudence able to lead and instruct others God himself would have Israel his own people a Warlike Nation Therefore after that he had given them possession of the Land of Canaan he left some certain Nations unsubdued only that the Generations of the Children of Israel might know how to teach them War at least such as knew nothing before of it Judg. 3.1 2. Those who lived in the times of Joshua were well experienced but the Generation following had no experience neither could they learn any without some Enemies constantly to exercise them Therefore though Wars be heavy Judgements yet it 's the will of God there should be warlike dissentions and that for many ends 1. To punish the wickedness of the World. 2. To let men know how sweet a blessing Peace is 3. To be a Nursery and School of breeding gallant men especially when he by them intends to do some great work In consideration of these things its good that any State in time of peace not only chuse Captains train Souldiers provide Arms but also send some into forraign Wars to learn experience Of this part of Institution as also of that of Learning you may read at large in Contzen Polit. lib. 4. lib. 10. Of the Laws of War Grotius may be consulted That some Wars are lawful especially such as are necessary and undertaken for our defence there 's no doubt and not only defensive but offensive arms may be justified out of the Holy Scriptures and from the Example of Abraham Joshua many of the Judges and David who were excellent Commanders under whom many gallant men served when God intended to ruin Judah he threatens to take away the mighty Man Esay 3.2 It 's a sad presage when the Gentry and Nobility of a Nation become vicious and effeminate and this was one cause of that heavy Judgment of God which many of them suffered in the late Wars Wherein England gained great skill and experience both by Sea and Land yet with the woful expence of much of her own blood And how happy had we been if so much valour had been manifested in the ruine of the Enemies of Christ and his Gospel Whosoever desires to understand more of this Subject as belonging to Politicks let him read Military Books If this be so necessary for the defence and safety of an earthly State how much more is the spiritual Militia necessary for the defence of our Souls section 18 There is another profession and the same useful for many things but in particular for to enrich the State it s that of Merchandise and Traffick These Merchants are of several sorts some deal in petty Commodities and sell by parcels some are for whole sale but the chiefest are such as are great Adventurers and Trade by Sea and Traffick with all Nations These are the great Monyed Men of the World who have great Princes and whole States their Debtors These furnish us with Rarities and Varieties of the Earth and enrich us with the Commodities of East and West South and North and the remotest parts of the World. These make new discoveries and might furnish us with many rare inventions Books and Arts but most intend rather private gain than publick good It were to be wished that our luxurious and wicked expences were turned another and better way to maintain Schollars in those Countries where they maintain Factours for the improvement of Learning and the propagation of Religion The King of Spain and the Jesuites are the only Politicians in this kind though it be a Question whether this profession be not derogatory to Nobility Yet King Solomon and Jehosaphat were Adventurers in Corporations and great Cities these Tradesmen and Merchants have their several Companies and their Orders and are called by some Systemes which cannot be well regulated without some Laws of the Soveraign power CHAP. XVI Of Subjects in an Ecclesiastical Politie section 1 OF subjection in general and subjection to a Civil Power I have spoken and because there is an Ecclesiastical power and subjection due unto it therefore order requires that I conclude the first part of Politicks with the explication of the nature of spiritual subjection and subjects This spiritual relation and duty arising from it presupposeth subjection 1. Absolute to God as Creatour and Preserver 2. To him as Redeemer 3. To Christ as Head and Universal Administratour of the Church and to him as having instituted an Ecclesiastical Discipline and promising to every particular Church using the Keys aright in their judical proceedings to be with them so as to make their judgment effectual and that what they bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven and what they loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven So that this subjection is due to the power of Christ in every particular visible Church For when a multitude of Christians associate and according to the Rules of Christ erect an independent Judicatory it s the duty of every one in that Association to submit unto it if he will be a Member of the same and enjoy the benefit of that external Government and by the very institution of Christ though there be no solemn Confederation they are bound so to do This subjection is different from that which is due from the people to their proper Pastours The power external of the Keys as you heard is 1. In the whole Church particular according to the extent as the primary subject of the same 2. In the Representative exercising this power 3. In the Officers The Representative is either general to which every particular person must submit or particular to which the particular Members of that Association and Division are bound to submit and none else Submission is due unto the Officers according to their intensive and extensive power and no further The Rule and Measure of this subjection are the special or general precepts of Christ and his Apostles and if a Church or its Representatives or Officers transgress these precepts they cannot justly challenge any submission as due unto them In this respect its necessary there should be Canons to regulate both the fundamental and also the derivative power and the same agreeable to the Gospel The want of these and the observation thereof may be an occasion if not a cause of separation whereof the Church it self may be guilty and will prove so to be This subjection ariseth from this
from an inferiour to a provincial Synod and from the Provincial to the Patriarchal which was the highest Court except the Christian Emperours call a General Council And that was said to be a General Council which extended beyond the bounds of one Patriarchate especially if it included all 9. After these Patriarchates began to be such eminent places many ambitiously sought them and there was great contention amongst themselves who should be greatest and have the precedency Neither could General Councils by their determinations prevent them for time to come 10. The Patriarch of Rome though but at the first one of the three and afterwards of the five and according to some of the seven if you take in Justiniana Prima with Carthage did challenge the precedency and preeminency of them all And though the Council of Chalcedon gave the Constantinopolitan See equal priviledges with his yet he would not stand to their determination but afterward challenged greater power then was due began to receive Appeals from Transmarine parts beyond the bounds of his Diocess and to colour his Usurpation alledged a Canon of the Nicene Council which was not found in the Greek Original He will be President in all General Councils no Canons must be valid without his Approbation His Ambition aspires higher when the title of Universal Bishop had been denied the Patriarch of Constantinople by Gregory the Great Boniface his Successour assumes it And by degrees they who follow him usurpe the Power and at length the civil Supremacy is arrogated and the Roman Pontiffe must dispose of Kingdoms and Empires and will depose and advance whom he pleaseth And is not he the Man of Sin and the Son of Perdition who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God shewing himself that he is God 2 Thes. 2.3 4. From all which words he that goes under the name of M. Camillas defines Antichrist in this manner Antichristus est Pontifex maximus Elatione vicariatu assimulatione Christo oppositus lib. 1. c. 3. de Antichristo As the Roman State subdued and subjected unto themselves the former Empires and Monarchies of the World and this in themselves after that became Vassals and Servants unto one Absolute Imperial Monarch and by him Rome-Heathen raigned over the Kings of the Earth Revel 17.18 So in tract of time Rome-Christian usurped Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical over all Churches and her Patriarch swallowing up all the power of the former Patriarchs became Universal Monarch and Visible Head of the Universal Church The occasions true causes of this Usurpation and the means whereby he by degrees aspired to this transcendent power are well enough known Some will tell us that Episcopacy or rather Prelacy was the occasion at least of the Hierarchy and the Hierarchy of the Papacy For if there had not been a Bishop invested with power in himself and a provincial Jurisdiction given to one Metropolitan and many Metropolitans subjected to one Patriarch the Bishop of Rome could have had no advantage nor colour for his Usurpation This makes many prudent men jealous of Episcopacy especially as many understand a Bishop to be one invested with the power of Ordination and Jurisdiction and that by divine Law without the Presbytery Division and Subordination which are essential to Government could be no proper cause of the Papal Supremacy But the trusting of power Ecclesiastical in one man extending and enlarging the bounds of one particular Church and independent Judicatory too far and subordinating the People and Presbyters to the Monarchical Jurisdiction of one Bishop the several Bishops to one Metropolitan the several Metropolitans to one Patriarch and several Patriarchs to one Roman Pontiffe did much promote and effectually conduce to the advancement of one man to the Universal Vicarage At the first institution of the Hierarchy neither the people nor Presbytery were excluded the Patriarchates were of a reasonable extent the Patriarchs independent one upon another and the end intended was Unity and the prevention of Schism and the subordination seemed to be made out of mature deliberation Yet humane Wisdom though never so profound if it swerve from the Rules of divine Institution proves Folly in the end Let not all this discourage any Ecclesiastical Community or disswade them from division co-ordination subordination if so be they keep the power in themselves as in the primary Subject and reserve it to the whole and not communicate it to a part and keep themselves within a reasonable compass From all this we may conclude that a Secession from Rome and the rejection of his Ecclesiastical Supremacy if so be we retain the true Doctrine and pure Worship of God is no Schism especially in England For 1. there were many Provinces out of the great Patriarchate and no ways subject to any of them but they had their own proper Primates and Superindendents Amonst these England was one and by the Canon of Nice had her own Jurisdiction and was under no Patriarch but a Primate of her own 2. The Bishop of Rome was at first confined to that City and after he was made Patriarch he had but the ten Suburbicarian Provinces and the rest of the Provinces of Italy had Milan for their Metropolis 3. That after the Conversion of the Saxons that that Bishop should exercise any power in England was a meer Usurpation And to cast off an usurped power and the same Tyrannical could be no Schism at all There is a Book printed at Oxford in the year 1641 wherein we find several parcels of several Authors bound up in one The first Author is Dr. Andrews the second Bucer the third Dr. Reynolds the fourth Bishop Usher the fifth Mr. Brerewood the sixth Mr. Dury the seventh Mr. Francis Mason The design of the whole is to maintain Episcopacy and in part to prove the Hierarchy 1. Some of the formentioned Authors do grant with Hierome that the Church was first governed by the common advice of Presbyters though this position in strict sence is not true as hath been formerly proved 2. Some grant that at the first Institution of Bishops a Bishop was nothing else but a President or Moderator in Presbyterial Meetings 3. That afterwards these were constant and standing with a power of Suderintendency not only over the people but the Presbyters within a City and the Territory thereof 4. That when a Church was extended to a Province in the Metropolis thereof they placed a chief Bishop called a Metropolitan who had the precedency of all the other City Bishops 5. That these Bishops could do no common act binding the whole circuit without the Presbytery 6. That there were such Bishops and Metropolitans in the Apostles times thus Dr. Usher doth affirm and he quotes Ignatius to this purpose 7. That there was an imparity both in the State and Church of Israel under the Old Testament and so likewise
of the Ministers in the Church of the New Testament Thus Dr. Andrews 8. That most Reformed Churches have Bishops or Superintendents and something answerable to Bishops The design of all this seems to be this to prove that Episcopacy and Hierarchy are Apostolical and Universal Yet none of these produce any clear divine Testimony for this much less any divine Precept to make this Regiment to be of perpetual and universal Obligation Neither doth any of them all tell us distinctly what the power of Bishops of Metropolitans of Patriarchs was nor whether they exercised their power as Officers or Representatives or by an immediate Jus divinum derived from Christ unto them All that can be made clear is that some kind of Bishops may be lawful and have been ancient and of good use tho' of no necessity As for the Hierarchy it 's meerly Humane and being at first intended for Unity was in the end the cause of the most bloody Schisms that ever were in the Church and an occasion of intolerable Ambition Emulation and Contention section 10 Subjects Ecclesiastical being distinguished and divided must be educated and so I come to Education and Institution Tho' spiritual Education be far more useful and necessary yet we find most men more careful to improve their Children for this World than the World to come The reason is they seek these earthly things more than God's Kingdom love the World more than God and prefer their Bodies before their Souls we should provide for both yet for the one far more than the other For what will it avail us to be temporally rich and spiritually poor to gain the World and lose our Souls This therefore is a special work of the Church to educate her Children and nurse them up for Heaven and the Magistrate Christian is bound to further her in this work Adam tho' Lord of the whole Earth and one who might give his Chrildren far greater Estates in Land than any man ever could yet brought them up not in idleness but honest labour But his principal care was to teach them how to serve their God and when they were at age to bring their Offerings before him God saith of Abraham I know him that he will command his children and his houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him Gen. 18.19 Joshua saith As for me and mine house we will serve the Lord Josh. 24.15 It was the command of God that Israel should diligently teach their Childrin the words of God and talk of them when they sit in their houses and when they went abroad and at their lying down and rising up Deut. 6.7 How often doth Solomon exhort to this duty and earnestly perswade all especially Children to hearken unto understand remember and constantly follow the Instruction of their Parents and their Teachers This was the care of Moses of Joshua the Judges and good Kings of Judah For this end the Priests Levites and Scribes were ordained of God and the Schools of the Prophets were erected for this work This was one prime work of the Levite to teach Jacob God's Judgments and Israel his Laws Deut. 33.10 This same commandment of spiritual Education is repeated in the New Testament Parents must bring up their Children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. This was the great work of Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastours and Teachers For they must not only pray but teach and labour not only for conversion but the edification of the Churches children Every Christian should help and further one another in this work As Parents in their Families should have knowledge and be able to instruct their Children so all Schools should have a care to inctruct the Schollars not only in Languages and humane Learning but also in the saving Doctrine of Salvation This was the reason why by the Canons of the Church they were bound to Catechise the Children committed to their charge The Universities and Colledges were bound to this likewise and were Seminaries not only for Lawyers Philosophers and Physitians but especially for Divines who though they improved their knowledge in Arts and Languages yet it was in subordination to their diviner and more excellent Profession To this Head belongs correction good example and prayer For the principal Teacher is the Spirit who must write God's truth in the heart and make all means of Education effectual The publick and principal Officers trusted by Christ with this work are the Ministers of the Gospel whose work is not meerly and onely to preach and expound but to catechise In these works we are either very negligent or imprudent For we should plant and water and pray to God for the encrease we should lay the foundation and build thereon yet some will do neither some will preposterously water before they plant and build before they lay the foundation and so do Christ little service and the Church little good Some â—ake upon them the Charge and are insufficient Men may teach by word or writing By word first the principle should be methodically according to the ancient Creeds and Confessions be taught this is the foundation Without this Sermons Expositions reading of Scriptures and Books of Piety will not be so profitable and edifying as they might be People should be taught to believe the saving and necessary truths of the Gospel obey his commands pray for all blessings and mercies and especially for the Spirit that their faith may be effectual their obedience sincere and also to receive the Sacrament aright and make right use of their Baptism Expositions should be plain and clear that the people may not only hear but understand and be moved by the truth understood Sermons should be so ordered as that the Texts proposed and the Doctrines and divine Axiomes thereof may be cleared understood according to the drift and scope of the Spirit And the application should be pertinent to inform the understanding with the truth and remove errours and when that is done to work effectually upon the heart and make it sensible of sin past and pertinent by the precepts the comminations and the promises to comfort and raise up the soul dejected and this especially by the promises of the Gospel and upon motives to exhort to duty and upon reasons restrain from sin This Ordinance and means of divine institution is much abused many ways by instilling of erroneous and novel opinions with which the people are much taken if delivered with good language by impertinencies digressions quaint terms and formalities But of these things I have spoken in my Divine Politicks This institution is so necessary that without it the Church cannot subsist nor the Government thereof be effectual section 11 Thus you have heard that the subject or as some call it the object of Politicks is a Common-wealth the subject whereof is a Community