particulars and you will find a small remainder that preach piously and edifying also very few to equal the Compilers of our Homilies and then calmly consider the great use yea the great necessity of such Homilies But if you can furnish all our Churches with pious discreet edifying preaching Pastors I am abundantly satisfied and do you seal up the Book of Homilies till a new dearth of spiritual food which God in his great mercy prevent Amen Concerning Bishops and Priests WHoever unbiass'd reads the Scripture thence proceeds to the first Christian Writers and so goes on from Age to Age can't doubt but that the Church was always governed by Bishops that is by one Elder or Presbyter or President or what else you please to call him set over the rest of the Clergy with authority to Ordain to Exhort to Rebuke to Judg and Censure as he found cause no other form of Government is mentioned by any Authority for Fifteen hundred years from the Apostles downwards Now who can in reason and modesty suspect those Primitive Bishops who lived in the days of the Apostles chosen by them into the Church succeeded them in Church Government yea and in Martyrdom also for the Faith as Clemens Ignatius Polycarpus and others who I say can suspect them to be prevaricators in Church Discipline and take upon them another form of Episcopal Government contrary to Apostolican Institution These great Masters of Self-denyal who gave their Lives for the Truth would they transmit unto Posterity a Church Government contrary to the Truth let who will believe it I can neither believe it nor suspect it And there is yet another thing very observable that all the Orthodox Church dispersed all the world over some parts having no correspondence at all with the other by reason of distance some by Warrs divided and made cruel Enemies yet all agreed in this form of Government and not only the Orthodox but also the Schismaticks and Hereticks who separated from hated and persecuted the Orthodox Church they likewise retained still this form of Government as if all were of necessity compelled to acknowledg this having never known heard nor dream'd of other And therefore nothing but necessity if that can excuse those who first set up another form of Government to their own Masters let them stand or fall I will not presume to censure them I will only say That from the begining it was not so and I thank God 't is not so with us but as it was in the beginning so it is now with us and ever shall be I trust in God Amen But notwithstanding all this yet 't is very much to be doubted whether they were of any distinct superiour order from and above the Presbyters or one of the same order set over the rest with power to ordain Elders to exhort rebuke chastise as Timothy and Titus were constituted by St. Paul For though they were of the same order with the other Elders and Pastors yet there was great reason for some to be placed with greater Authority to rule over the rest The Scripture tells us That even in the days of the Apostles there were several seducing teachers leading the people into errors and heresies and more were to follow after the Apostles times grievous wolves in sheeps clothing and therefore it was very necessary to pick out some of eminent soundness in faith and godliness of life and set them up on high with great Authority as fixed Stars in the Heavens so styled Revel 1. to whom all might have regard in dangerous times as Marriners observe in their Sea-faring journies But the Scripture no where expresses any distinction of order among the Elders we find there but two orders mentioned Bishops and Deacons Of Deacons we shall treat afterwards Let us now proceed to the Order of Bishops and Priests which the Scripture distinguishes not for there we find but one kind of Ordination then certainly but one Order for two distinct Orders can't be conferred in the same instant by the same words by the same actions They who think Deaconship and Priesthood distinct the one subservient to the other though they intend in the same hour to consecrate the same Man Deacon and Priest do they not first compleat him Deacon then Priest I pray let any Man shew me from Scripture as I said Timothy or Titus or any one ordained twice made first Priest then Bishop which is absolutely necessary if they be distinct characters and 't is generally affirmed though I humbly conceive they scarce understand what they affirm I mean they understand not what these characters are whether Greek Hebrew or Arabick or what else But let that pass I desire them only to shew me how a Man can make two characters with one stroke or motion A. and B. at the same instant If then neither Timothy nor Titus nor any other were but once ordained whence can we gather these two distinct characters these two distinct Orders We find the Apostles themselves but once ordained those by the Apostles but once ordained and so on When St. Paul left Titus in Creete to ordain he mentions only one ordination that of Presbyters so the word in Greek no other ther 's no commission given him to ordain Bishops and Presbyters Who then was to ordain Bishops there not Titus he had no such command we do not find that St. Paul himself did And sure you will not grant that the Presbyters which Titus ordained that they could ordain Bishops there for you will not allow them to ordain so much as Presbyters Yet Bishops you will needs have in every City and in Creete were very many who ordained Bishops for them all Truly I can't find nor you neither I believe But you will say The superior order contains in it virtually the inferior order let this pass at present doth Presbyter then virtually cantain Bishop If so then all Presbyters are Bishops No say you Bishop is the superior order and that contains in it Presbyter You say so but by your leave you are to prove so or give me leave to say otherwise especially seeing I have Scripture for my saying and you have none for yours But should I grant Bishop the superior what then we find Titus ordained not any but Presbyters as he was commanded by St. Paul so we are still at a loss for our Bishops we find not their Ordination Or did St. Paul mistake in his expression and meaning Bishops in every City said Presbyters in every City let this pass also and I pray let us see what you mean by this The superior order virtually contains the inferior Do not you say they are two distinct Orders two real distinct indelible characters imprinted in the Soul as the School-men affirm give me leave to talk their Language though I understand it not If I take a fair paper and make an A. upon it for the character of Presbyter and then make a B. upon it for the Character of
for transgressing your humane Laws which they ignorantly conclude erroneous and shall not you perish for transgressing my Divine Laws which you know to be good and holy had I mercy on you and should not you have had mercy on your fellow servants with the same measure you meeted it shall be measured to you again I tremble to go farther but most humlby beseech you for Christs sake endeavour to regain these stray sheep for whom he shed his precious blood and think it as great an advantage as great an honour to you as it was to St. Paul to become all things to all men that you may gain some as doubtless you will many though not all and the few standers off will become the more convinced and at long running wearied out and gained also Thus having reduced all into one fold in true faith and Christian charity the present generation will much forget the succeeding generation will be wholly ignorant of these erronious fancies and all animosities being quite exinguished wholsome edifying Ceremonies may be easily introduc't again with comfort to all which are now irksome and grievous to many And so I pass on to the second matter The Church Service contained in the Book of Common Prayer whereof briefly because what I said before may be applyed to this also Concerning Church Service I will not here enter into the dispute whether it be lawful for a Church to have a set form of Prayer supposing that there are none but either highly fanatick or higly factious that affirm it unlawful and with such I have no reason to expect that reasonable Arguments should prevail for enough hath beeen already printed to this purpose I may also suppose that there is nothing contained in our Book of Common Prayer that is directly contrary to the Word of God for had there been any such thing we should have heard of it long since which I never yet did from any sober man And truly I might in the third place suppose that a Book of Common Prayer being no way contrary to the Word of God the use of it is far more conducing to Piety then to suffer extemporary prayer to be used generally in Churches experience hath fully declared it in our late confused times when a man should have heard in many Churches such extravagant such wild such rash such blasphemous expressions as would drive any sober conscientious person out of their Churches Can you with reason expect it otherwise when half the Churches in this Nation have not a tolerable maintenance to support men of parts and discretion fit to perform so solemn and holy an Office Had we the holiness the zeal the charity the humility of the Primitive times when men forsook all the World daily sacrificed their lives for the Service of God we might hope that God would graciously pour down upon us as he did on them the special gifts of praying and prophecying but now when most serve God for gain and would neither open nor shut the Church doors for nought as Malachi saith we must not expect those gifts and graces And therefore I conceive it absolutely necessary to have some form prescribed to be used by all for were there liberty left to the more able and discreet most would suppose themselves to be such few discovering their own weakness and were it left to the Bishop to licence as he saw fit it would prove a very great cause of our heart-burning among his Clergie and hatred towards himself yea and rebellion against him and the laws But now in Christ I humbly beseech the Governours of the Church calmly to consider Were it not better to have such a form of Service as would satisfie most The Fathers of our Church as I said before when they reformed this Nation from Popery were desirous to fetch off as many as they could retaining for this cause all the Ceremonies and Forms of prayer they could with a good rectisied conscience and therefore they prescribed that form of second service to be said at the Altar as carrying some resemblance to the Mass then the peoples delight which being now become the peoples hate should for the same resemblance according to the same rule of reason be now taken away We commend our Forefathers for doing piously and wisely and yet we will not imitate them they endeavoured to please and gain the people we will needs displease and lose them Certainly we cannot do our Forefathers a greater honour then to observe their rule of reason to confirm to the Times and therefore they are grossly mistaken who think it a dishonour to them 〈◊〉 us to take away what they have established when we keep close to the reason wherefore they did establish it Wise Physitians by the same rule of reason prescribe things clean contrary according to the temper of their Patients hot or cold Some other things I could mention in the Book of Common Prayer though no way ill in themselves yet fit to be altered and would obviously appear so to every wise man once resolved to compose such a form as would take in most of this Nation which I humbly conceive Governors should in conscience endeavour becoming all things to all men to gain some though not all yet happily gain all in process of time for the reason before specified But though I desire such a form of Service such Ceremonies also to be established as may give most general satisfaction yet I desire what is established may be generally observed and not a liberty left as some do propose to add or detract Ceremonies or Prayers according to the various opinions and humours of men for certainly this would cause great faction and division those that are for Ceremonies would run from their own Church to others where they were used others to some fine fancied Prayers of such as they approve of and thus some Churches would be thronged others deserted and no account could be taken by the Pastor of this Congregation Atheists also and Papists under pretence of frequenting other Churches would abandon all This course say you would bring but few into the Church and perchance drive some out who having been long bred up to such and such Ceremonies would have small devotion to frequent the Church if all or many were abolished To this I answer That certainly his Religion is vain that would abandon the Substance for want of the Ceremonies which he acknowledgeth to be no way necessary but only more satisfaction to his mind Surely a very ignorant mind who hath not learnt That obedience is better then sacrifice and whole burnt offerings And surely a very uncharitable mind who would not leave ninety and nine unnecessary Ceremonies to bring one sinful strayed Sheep into the Congregation and convert him from the error of his non-conforming way I profess I am amazed to see how many men of a very good sence in most things so zealously erroneous in this business of Religion seeing the
a Bishop the same paper contains both Characters but sure one Character doth not contain the other A. doth not contain B. nor doth B. contain A. So the same Soul may receive two Characters two Orders but if the two Orders be distinct how can they contain each other I understand no more then I do these Holy Characters If they can paint them out unto me in their proper figures perchance I may understand them better but as yet I ingeniously confess my ignorance I grant in a Metaphysical way of Abstraction the superiour species contains the inferiour genus A Man a rational creature contains the animality of a Horse the inferiour creature but doth not contain a real Horse in his belly nor can a man beget Horses or men when he pleases Nor can you truly say a man is a Horse I believe my Schoolmen would take it in snuff should I affirm any of them to be Horses c. But they affirm that a Bishop doth not only virtually contain the Priesthood but is really a Priest and can make Priests or Bishops as he please Whereby you may see this answer That the Superiour Order virtually contains the inferiour is a meer evasion it sounds as if it were something but really is nothing to our purpose at all for we are not now upon Metaphysical abstractions but real individual subsistencies two actual distinct Orders as they would have it two distinct indelible characters imprinted on mens souls by Ordination as A. and B. which can never be truly affirmed one of the other A. is not B. and B. is not A. a man is not a horse and a Horse is not a man so a Bishop ordain'd only Bishop is not a Priest nor a Priest a Bishop if they be distinct Wherefore I must beleive them one and the same Order especially seeing the Scripture applies the same name promiscuously to both which is the second argument of their identity to be one and the same Acts. 20. St. Paul sends to Ephesus to call the Presbyters of that Ghurch un-him at Miletum and speaking to them he calls them all Bishops in our Translation 't is Overseers Verse 28. So in his Epistle to the Phillippians he directs to all the Saints with the Bishops and Deacons both in the plural number so that by the word Bishops we must needs understand Presbyters for Bishops as we now take the word were never many in one City I pray observe also St. Paul Epis. to Titus 1. 5. For this cause left I thee in Crete that thou shouldest ordain Elders in every City if any be blameless for a Bishop must be blameless Is it not here evident that an Elder and a Bishop in St. Paul's Language is one and the same otherwise there were no coherency at all in St. Paul's speech If this be not convincing beyond all possible evasion I understand nothing of discourse Other such places are obvious in Scripture to every one I need mention no more only I desire to inform the Reader of a passage to this purpose in an Epistle of Clemens to the Corinthians This Clemens is mentioned in Scripture and is he whom St. Peter appointed his successor at Rome and who was of so great Authority that as St. Hierome tells us this his Epistle was read in Churches Now in this Epistle Clemens particularly sets forth the constitution of the Church by the Apostles and what Ministers they ordained in the Church to wit Bishops and Deacons he names no other which seems to me as full an evidence as can be that there were no other Orders in the Church in those daies but those two And yet we are sure there was then Presbiters in the Church for Peter and Iohn call themselves Presbyters and St. Peter calls them Presbiters to whom he wrote his Epistle so that if there were but two Orders to wit Bishops and Deacons Presbyters must be one and the same with Bishops or with Deacons not with Deacons therefore one and the same with Bishops One Order called by two names promiscuously in Scripture as hath been shewed before And I desire you to observe that of those two names Presbyter and Bishop if therebe any dignity and eminency exprest in one more then the other sure it is in the name of Presbiter not Bishop because the Apostles themselves and the chief of the Apostles as some would have it who stand highest on their Panâ—ables are in Scripture styled Presbyters or Elders as the word in our English Translation but never Bishops as I remember And therefore I can't but wonder why that haughty head of the Papists should not assume to himself the title of his pretended predecessor St. Peter Presbyter rather then Bishop unless it be by God's providential disposure to shew his blindness in this as well as in other things and make him confute himself by this name of Bishop which was never given to St. Peter no more then St. Peter gave unto him the Headship of the Church As to the interpretations and answers given to these and such like Scripture expressions sure I need not take any pains to confute them for they are so weak as that Petavius a late Writer and great stickler for the superiority of Episcopacy durst not trust to them nor would venture his credit to make use of them but sound out a new and rare conceit as he conceives That these Presters mentioned in Scripture and called by both names were all really Bishops and that the Apostles Ordained them so as most convenient for that time for the Congregations of the Faithful being small there needed no Priests under the Bishops to officiate and yet there was need of a Bishop in those small Congregations because there were several things to be done which were not within the power and capacity of Presbiters to act as he supposes viz. the laying on of hands and confirming the Faithful after Baptisme the veiling of devoted Women the reconciling of penitents the ordaining Deacons where there was need and adds moreover several impertinences as the making of Chrisme consecrating Church-Vessels c. And Petavius mightily applauds himself in this conceit as the only means to clear all difficulties Our Doctor Hammond also finding the usual interpretations of those places of Scripture above mentioned too weak to sustain the arguments builded on them for the Unity of Order goes along after Petavius a great way in the fore cited discourse though not in the later impertinances and affirms that the Presbyters then were all Bishops And so far I go with them that all were Presbyters all Bishops because all was one and one was all several names not several Orders as they would have it and this I humbly conceive firmly proved by my former Argument of one Ordination wherein two distinct Orders could not be conferred so that still I require them to shew me from Scripture where these Presbyter-Bishops were twice Ordained else it cannot be truly affirmed they were really
not in all the Churches of Christendom but neither approved nor known by the Primitive Church wherefore I require what you produce should be both Primitive and Universal and this to interpret some place of Scripture doubtful in it self not plain Now as to the business in hand I can't yield that the Scripture is very doubtful in it or scarce doubtful at all for though in Scripture 't is not in terminis said Presbytery and Episcopacy are both one and the same Order yet the circumstantial expressions are as I have shewed so strong and many that they are equivalent to a cleer expression in terminis Secondly this is not a matter of any indifferency but of vast and dangerous consequence if mistaken That a Church without such Bishops as you require can't be truly call'd a Church and so we shall exclude many Godly Reformed Churches For if Bishops be of such a superiour and distinct order as you pretend if the power of Ordination be inherent in them only Then where no Bishop no true Priests ordained where no Priests no Sacraments where no Sacraments no Church Wherefore I humbly beseech you be not too positive in this point lest thereby you do not only condemn all the Reformed Churches but the Scripture and St. Paul also who tells us That the Scripture is sufficient to make us wise unto Salvation both in matters of faith and works also to instruct and throughly furnish us to every good work and will any deny this of Ordination to be both a good and necessary work seeing that the powerful preaching the Word and administration of the Sacraments depend upon it Wherefore I dare not by any means suspect the Scripture defective in this weighty affair Yet to shew you our willingness to hear all things let us hear what you can tell us from Antiquity The first you bring is Epiphanius three hundred years after the Apostles from whom the main Objection is drawn against the Indentity of Order and shot as a Cannon Bell against us beyond all possible resistance but you will find it to be a meet Tennis Ball. Epiphanius making a Catalogue of Hereticks puts in Aertius for one who was an Arian and moreover held that Bishops and Priests were all of one Order and of equal Dignity and Authority and that a Presbyter had power to Ordain Confirm and in short to act any thing equal with a Bishop That he was an Heretick is apparent being an Arrian nay I shall not scruple to yeeld unto you that he was an Heretick in this his assertion concerning Episcopacy and Presbytery as we now understand them I say the Assertion contains Heresie in one part but not in every part viz. That the Bishop and other Presbyters are of equal authority and power to act this may in some sense be called Heresie for it is against Apostolical Constitution declared in Scripture therefore an Heresie and if you can shew me from Scripture as much against Identity of Order I shall brand him for an Heretick in that also but being sure there is no such thing in Scripture there can be no Heresie in affirming the Identity I fully agree with Tertullian we can make no judgment de rebus fidei nisi ex literis fidei of matters of Faith but from the writings of Faith that is the Scripture and therefore I shall never be pulled from this Pillar of Truth The Scripture is our compleat Rule of Faith no Opinion is heretical and damnable which is not against that Now Good Reader I pray take notice that Epiphanius was a very godly Bishop in the main but yet a very cholerick Man as appears in that his fierce contest with Iohn Bishop of Constantinople and his bitter expressions therein which I do not mention in disparagement of this holy Man but only to give the Reader a caution to remember that passionate Men do sometimes censure more severely than there is cause Epiphanius being a Bishop and finding the authority and dignity of Episcopacy much disparaged by Aerius being an Arrian Heretick falls upon him sharply for this his Opinion also wherein he was in part much to be condemned as I freely confest before but not in the very Point now in question nor doth Epiphanius himself condemn him in this particular as an Heretick but only in the gross to which I freely give my vote But you will tell me that a Man of a far milder temper St. Austin doth also enrol Aerius among Hereticks I know it well but I desire you to know that St. Austin doth not lay this to his charge as an Heresie for he saith only thus Aereus also was an Heretick for he fell into Arrian Heresie and he added some Opinions of his own then St. Austin recounts several of his Opinions whereof this was one That he affirmed there was no difference between a Bishop and a Presbyter where I pray you observe St. Austin gives us the reason why he ranks him with Hereticks viz. because he fell into the Arrian Heresie then follows And he added some Opinions of his own St. Austin calls these Opinions not Heresies for he doth not say he added more Heresies of his own Secondly I pray you observe St. Austin makes no mention of his affirming the Identity of Order but only this That there was no difference at all between Bishop and Presbyter wherein I will condemn Aerius as well as you But as for the Identity of Order 't is well known that St. Austin is noted by Medina a Papist Writer and others to encline to this Opinion but for my part I think the words quoted from St. Austin do not express any Opinion one way or other to this purpose but are only a Complement to St. Hierom who was but a Prespyter yet in humility St. Austin being a Bishop acknowledges him to be his superiour in many things But I desire you to take notice of another very remarkable and most worthy passage of St. Austin who tells us plainly that we are not to read him or any other Author ever so holy or ever so learned with any obligation to submit to his or their Opinions unless they prove their Opinions by Scripture or convincing Reasons So then had Aerius been declared both by Epiphanius and St. Austin also to have been an Heretick in this very particular of Identity of Order yet they bringing neither Scripture nor any reason at all but meerly a bare narrative of Aerius and his Opinions not so much as calling his Opinion in this particular Heresie much less offering proofs for it by St. Austin's rule we may with great civility to them and great confidence in the truth still affirm the Identity of Order But how will I answer that Objection taken out of St. Hierom who say you was as great a leveller of Bishops with Priests as any and therefore whatever comes from him you may be sure is extracted from him by the powerfulness of undeniable truth yet he confesses that
Orders of Episcopacy and Presbytery I now proceed to the third pretended Spitual Order that of Deaconship Whether this of Deaconship be properly to be called an Order or an Office I will not dispute but certainly no Spiriritual Order for their Office was to serve Tables as the Scripture phrases it which in plain English is nothing else but Overseers of the Poor to distribute justly and discreetly the Alms of the Faithful which the Apostles would not trouble themselves withal least it should hinder them in the Ministration of the Word and Prayer But as most matters of this World in process of time deflect much from the original constitution so it fell out in this business for the Bishops who pretend to be successors to the Apostles by little and little took to themselves the Dispensation of Alms first by way of Inspection over the Deacons but at length the total Management and the Deacons who were meer Lay-Officers by degrees crept into the Church-Ministration and became a reputed Spiritual Order and a necessary degree and step to the Priesthood of which I can find nothing in Scripture and the Original Institution not a word relating to any thing but the ordering of Alms for the Poor And the first I find of their officiating in Spiritual matters is in Iustin Martyr who lived in the second Century he relates that when the Bishop had consecrated the Bread and Wine for the Lords Supper the Deacons took it from him and delivered it to the Lay-Communicants there present and carried it also to the Faithful that were absent hindered I guess from coming by sickness or some other good excusing cause In the beginning when the Congregations of the Faithful were small the Bishop himself delivered the Communion to them but at length encreasing to great numbers it would have taken too much of their time for the Bishop to have delivered it to the whole Congregation so the Deacons were made use of as fit Persons for this matter for in those days there was always a Communion in the Assemblies on the Lords-Day and the Laity that Day brought their Alms and Presents with them which were delivered unto the Deacons to dispose of to the Poor by the Bishops direction and therefore the Deacons receiving from their hands their charitable Benevolence were thought the fittest to return again to their hands the consecrated Mysteries being part of their Offerings But 't is evident this was not yet come to be the general practice of all Churches but only in Greece where Iustin Martyr lived for Tertullian who lived in Africk some years after Iustin declares that the custom there was to receive the Blessed Sacrament from the hands of the Bishop only whom he calls the President that is whosoever was chief in the Assembly whether Bishop or Presbyter But yet I confess that this custom of the Deacons delivering the Blessed Sacrament or at least one part of it viz. the Chalice by degrees became the custom in most Churches in after Ages and so passing from one thing to another in time they came to administer the Sacrament of Baptism and at last to the Ministration of the Word the business which the Apostles peculiarly reserved to themselves and which the Bishops also for a long time reserved so entirely to themselves as it was thought a great insolency for any even for the Presbyters to take upon them to preach in presence of the Bishop Valerius Bishop of Hippo as Possidius relates was sharply rebuked by his fellow Bishops for suffering St. Austin then but a Presbyter to preach before him I know sometimes it was suffered also in other Churches but very rarely where the Bishop himself was of weak abilities for the Work and had some Presbyters under him very eminent And so it was with Bishop Valerius and St. Austin a Person of great note in those days And thus you see in process of time how strangely things alter from their original Institution the Bishops omit preaching and become servants of Tables and the Deacons for serving of Tables step up into the Pulpit and became Preachers But Petavius takes upon him to prove Deaconship a Spiritual Order and brings us a more early Author for it than Iustin that noble Martyr mentioned before Ignatius who in his Epistle ad Tralli calls Deacons as Petavius conceives Ministers of the Mysteries of Christ. Here I find that which I often lament Learned Men to go on in a track one after another and some through inadvertency some through partiality take many Passages of ancient Authors quite different from their meaning as here all following the first erroneous Interpreter of Ignatius Whoever first translated this Epistle of Ignatius sure this fancy of Deacons ran much in his head otherwise he could never have found them here for 't is evident the word Diaconus in this place relates to the Presbytery newly before mentioned telling the People they ought to be obedient to the Presbyters as to the Apostles of Christ then follows You must therefore please them in all things being Ministers of the Mysteries of Christ. Mark I beseech you You must therefore Is not Therefore a Particle relating to what went before viz. to the Presbyters otherwise the Speech is very absurd Should I say Presbyters are as the Apostles of Christ therefore you must in all things please the Deacons were it sence no but just Deus in Coele ergo baculus in Angulo but to say the Presbyters are as the Apostles therefore you must please them in all things being the Ministers of the Mysteries of Christ as the Apostles were this is very good coherent sense and so run the words of Ignatius but the weak Interpreter mistaking the word Diacanus ran into this error and many learned Men without any consideration have run after him I grant the word Diaconos is often set for Deacons specifically distinguisht from Presbyters but 't is very often set for all Ministers in general Apostles Bishops Presbyters as you find frequently in Scripture St. Paul in one Epistle viz. the 2d Cor. twice stiles himself and other Apostles Diaconous And I do the more wonder at the Interpreters mistake in this place because by the following words Ignatius here excludes the specifical Deacons saying Not the Ministers of meats and drinks Now we know the specifical Deacons were Ministers of meats and drinks to the Poor it was their proper work for this very end they were chosen and for no other as appears evidently in the Acts and therefore Ignatius saying Not the Ministers of meats and drinks directly excludes such Deacons and the word Diaconous must necessarily be taken in the larger sence and relate to the Presbyters before mentioned therefore please them in all things being the Ministers of the Mysteries of Christ not of meats and drinks for the Poor Whoever understands the Greek and will see must needs see the truth of what I affirm But Petavius intoxicated with this spiritual Order of Deaconship
of darkness to take full possession of their Souls and sometimes of their Bodies also both being sentenced thereby to the everlasting flames of Hell and likewise a power to release penitent souls from the chains of darkness and slavery of the Devil and restore them to the glorious liberty of the Sons of God whereby they are made Heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven If there be any thing under Heaven fit to stir up the Ambition of mortal men yea an ambition in Angels themselves sure this is it Who can forgive sins but God alone said the Iews to our Saviour Christ swelling with indignation against him for this though they had seen many divine Miracles wrought by him yet this is so peculiar so transcendent a divine act as not to be offered at by any but the great God Iehovah himself But blessed for ever be this great and gracious God who by his eternal Son Christ Jesus hath given this power unto men As his heavenly Father sent him with this power so sent he his Apostles with this power saying unto them Whosesoever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whosesoever sins ye retain they are retained Wherefore if there be any thing in the Office of a Bishop to be stood upon and challenged peculiar to themselves certainly it should be this yet this is in a manner quite relinquished unto their Chancellors Lay-men who have no more capacity to sentence or absolve a sinner then to dissolve the heavens and earth and make a new heaven and a new earth and this pretended power of Chancellors is sometimes purchased with a sum of Money their Money perish with them Good God! what a horrid abuse is this of the Divine Authority But this notorious transgression is excused as they think by this that a Minister called the Bishops surrogat but is indeed the Chancellors servant chosen call'd and placed there by him to be his Cryer in the Court no better that when he hath examined heard and sentenced the Cause then the Minister forsooth pronounces the sentence Just as a Rector of a Parish Church should exclude any of his Congregation and lock him out of the Church then comes the Clerk shews and gingles the Keys that all may take notice that he is excluded And by this his authority the Chancellor takes upon him to sentence not only Lay-men but Clergy men also brought into his Court for any delinquency and in the Court of the Arches there they sentence even Bishops themselves This is a common practise in later ages but in St. Ambrose his time so great a wonder as with amazement cryeth out against the Emperour Valentinian when he took upon him to judge in such cases saying When was it ever heard of since the beginning of the World that Lay-men should judge of spirituals he means in spiritual things not in temporal things which by the laws of God and man belongs to the Lay-Magistrate This was that Ambrose of whom the other great Emperour as Good as Great Theodosius Father to this Valeninian affirmed Ambrose onely knew how to act the Bishop and with all Christian humility this great Emperour submitted to the sentence of this godly Bishop denying him entrance into the Church for the cruelty acted by his Souldiers at Thessilonica by his command and upon his great repentance and pennance performed six months together and after publique confession in the Church was again absolved and joyfully received into the Church Oh my Great and Reverend Fathers of the Church the Bishops whom Christ hath cleaved to his high dignity whom he hath made Kings and Princes whom he hath called to sit with him on his Throne there to give sentence of eternal life or eternal death can you so tamely part with this prime flower of your Crown yea the very Apex of it and suffer the Lay-members of the Church to usurp this divine authority Or how can you answer it to the chief Bishop of our Souls if any one Soul by the ill management of the Chancellors should certainly perish shall not his blood be required at your hands But perchance some of you will answer 'T is no fault of yours but of your predecessors who gave such Patents unto them as by vertue thereof they exercise this power will ye nill ye 'T is too true and I remember when the Bishop of Wells hearing of a cause corruptly mannaged and coming into the Court to rectifie it the Chancellor Dr. Duke fair and mannerly bad him be gon for he had no power there to act any thing and there with all pulls out his Patent sealed by the Bishops Predecessor which like Perseus shield with the Gorgons head frighted the poor Bishop out of the Court Where are you Parliament men you great Sons of the Church so zealous for Episcopal Government yet suffer this principal part of it to be thus alienated and usurped by Lay-men If an unordained person take upon him to pray or preach with what outeries and severe Laws and with great reason also you fall upon him but if an unordained person take upon him to judge sentence and excommunicate Bishops themselves you calmly pass it over take no notice of it You will answer me The Bishops themselves pass it over yea and pass it away from themselves and their successors for to gratifie their kinsmen or their friends or perchance for worse why then should you stir in it Truly in this you have reason and the balme most wholly light on them who do not use all possible endeavour and implore your assistance also to rectifie this great abuse which subverts the main Pillar of the Church Government this is no Ceremonial matter but the very substance of it they strain at Gnats and swallow Camels For Chancellors to intermeddle in Probats of Wills payment of Tythes or any other temporal matters there is no scripture nor reason to condemn but rather to condemn Bishops should they interpose in such matters for which they have no commission from Scripture but rather a prohibition from that saying of our Svaiovr Man who made me a judge or a divider over you but then it will be necessary that Chancellors have also power of Temporal punishments and not prophane that high and holy power in sordid earthly things certainly a greater prophanation than to convert a Church into a Chandlers Shop the Church is a bulk of earthly materials and holy only by dedication the power of its Keys is in its own nature and original constitution spiritual and divine If Uzza being no Levite suffered death for laying hold on the Sacred Ark of God to support and hold it up what shall he suffer who being no consecrated person layes hold on the sacred authority of Gnd to pull it down from heaven to earth Let them consider But let not the Civilians for this account me an Enemy to their Profession which no man honours more and I heartily wish much more of our Civil matters were
commited to their management and judicature The Civil Law is that whereby most of the civilized World is govern'd and if we will have commerce with them 't is fit we should have able Civilians to deal with them which will never be unelss they have profitable and honourabl places to encourage them for it all that I beg of them is that they would contain themselves within their own Sphear of activity and not intrude into spiritual and sacred matters committed by Christ and his Apostles to the Priesthood And so I beg of Priests that they would not intermeddle in Lay and Temporol officer In the time of Popery when Spiritual and Temporal affairs were all intermingled and horribly confounded as the Pope took upon him Secular and Imperial authority directly contrary to the Word and Constitutions of Christ so the Bishops and Priests under him intermeddled in all Secular Affairs and offices and in this Nation Bishops were frequently Lord Keepers Treasurers Chief Justices Vice-Royes what not which is strangely un-Apostolical and unlawful their vocation being wholly Spiritual as Men chosen out of the World should have no more to do with it than of meer necessity for food and rayment Wherefore to take upon them any Lay-Office which must needs take them off much from the Ministry of the Word and Prayer is doubtless very sinful For Acts 6. we find the Apostles gave themselves continually to these and would not endure to have these interrupted by that charitable Office of taking care for the Poor certainly then they would have much less endured yea abominated to be taken off by temporal and worldly Offices And on this occasion let me speak a word to those of the inferiour Clergy who take upon them to study and practice Physick for hire this must needs be likewise sinful as taking them off from their spiritual employment had they studied Physick before they entered Holy Orders and would after make use of their skill among their poor Neighbours out of charity this were commendable but being entered on a spiritual and pastoral Charge which requires the whole man and more to spend their time in this or any other study not spiritual is contrary to their vocation and consequently sinful and to do it for gain is sordid and unworthy their high and holy Calling But Necessitas cogit ad turpia the maintenance of many Ministers is so small as it forces them even for food and rayment to seek it by other Employment which may in some measure excuse them but mightily condemn those who should provide better for them Whether this belongs not to King and Parliament I must humbly beseech them in Christs name seriously to consider I crave pardon for this I hope useful Digression and return to the Business of Excommunication This Sacred Authority of Excommunication being committed by Christ to the Apostles by them to their Successors was used in weighty and very scandalous matters very few examples of it in Scripture The incestuous Corinthian Hymenus and Alexander scarce another clearly exprest The Apostles being fully guided by the Holy Ghost in all things did exercise this power singly themselves but the succeeding Bishops having not the Spirit of that full measure used the assistance of the principal Clergy in their Diocess that the act might be more solemn and authentick the person excommunicated if he conceived the act injurious appealed to one or more neighbouring Bishops who assembled together and discussing the matter either confirmed or reversed the Act as they found cause And sometimes the matter proceeded so far as to cause an Assembly of the whole Province But each Bishop or Praepositus as St. Cyprian calls him and declares that he was absolute in his own Diocess to exercise his power and none condemned for using it but only for abusing it contrary to reason and conscience there were the only rules they proceeded by at first Afterwards when Bishops on this or other occasions met in Assemblies Provincial or General they made it divers Canons which passed for Rules and Laws to govern the Church by which doubtless are very good helps to bridle the extravagant passions of particular Men very apt in this corrupt age to prevaricate yet I cannot conceive them so far oblidging but new emergent circumstances may justly cause new and different Decrees yet so as every particular Bishop is oblidged for peace sake to submit to or at least to acquiesce in the General Decree of that Nation where he lives I said They are not bound entirely to submit to the Decrees of former Councils either Provincial or General because as I have shewed before all their Decrees are humane not Divine and all humane Ecclesiastical Laws are alterable according to the time and occasions by other General Councils As to the bounds of each Bishops Diocess they were occasioned several wayes The Apostles for the better spreading of the Gospel Preach't it first in the principal Cities which generally had great influence upon the adjacent parts by reason that the occasions of most call them thither and in these Cities they settled the chief Pastors of the Church with power to ordain Presbyters and Pastors in other lesser Cities and Towns round about as the Congregations of the Faithful encreased and all those Churches that were erected and Pastors establish't in them by these Apostolick Men in the chief Cities I humbly conceive in reverence of their worth and Apostolick authority were freely observant and subject to them which afterwards out of custom grew into a kind of right challenged by their successors Sometimes the authority of the Pastor or Bishop of a City was enlarged according to the temporal authority of the same it being the Metropolitan of this or that Countrey for so we find in the Council of Nice and other Councils the chiefest and largest authority given to the Bishop of old Rome because it was the first Imperial City to Constantinople as the second Imperial City to Alexandria as the chief City of that part of Africa to Antioch Ierusalem Ephesus Corinth Phillipi c. where you see that though Ierusalem were the first City from whence the Gospel issued forth Antioch the second City where the Gospel was planted and where the Faithful were first called Christians yet Rome Constantinople and Alexandria were preferred before them and had far larger Jurisdiction so that it is a meer humane temporal matter and Men have no farther obligation to it in conscience than for Peace sake and Order which in like manner obliges every Man to be subject to all Magistrates within their respective Jurisdictions There are yet two things more to be considered in this business First Where the Apostles first planted the Gospel in Cities with authority over the adjacent part it was in rich populous Countries where Cities were much nearer together than in these Northen parts and the circuit of each City was much less in compass so that the Bishop might well have the inspection
into all and understand the behaviour of each Pastor under him to admonish and chastise when there was cause Whereas with us partly by great distance of Cities partly by the favour of former Princes several Towns being cast into one Diocess they became so large as 't is impossible any one Bishop should have a sufficient inspection into them As I said before of great Parishes so here of Diocesses the Bishop knows not the names nor faces of half or a quarter of them much less their behaviour he may have as well a part of France in his Diocess to govern And as for their Triennial and Circuity Visitations they signifie just nothing as to this 't is a meer money business to pay procurations to the Bishop fees to Chancellors Registers c. the Bishop indeed usually makes a Speech unto them and a Sermon is preach't by some one of them wherein perchance good Admonitions are given but what knowledge can the Bishop by this have of their lives or doctrine or diligence If he continue long there he may learn a few more names or faces scarce any thing more I humbly conceive this ought to be redressed and the Diocess bronght into that compass that each Bishop may be a Bishop in Government as well as in Title and Authority over them But if the Diocesses be divided less and Bishops more encreased where shall we have maintenance for so many Bishops some having too little already When ever I shall see the Clergy of this Nation Congregated by his Majesties Authority resolved in good earnest to reform and establish all according to the holy Constitutions of the Primitive Times and come to this last mentioned contracting the bonds and in number encreasing the Diocesses and Bishops for them I 'le undertake to propose wayes both rational and conscientious of providing convenient maintenanee for all but I desire to be excused at present least greedy Harpies make ill use of my zealous intentions And so I proceed to consider a second abuse in Church Government which is Exempt Jurisdictions a thing altogether unknown to Antiquity and brought in by Papal Tyranny The Popes at the height of their usurped dominion taking upon themselves to be head of the Christian Churches to be the Universal Bishop thereof and all other to be but their Curates took then upon them also among other matters to exempt from the power of â—â—y their under Bishops whomsover they Pleased And out of policy to have the more Creatures and Vassals immediately depending on them in every Kingdom and Nation to stickle for them with Kings and Princes on all occasions did for the most part exempt all Monasteries who with their near Relations and Tenants made a great part of the Kingdom from the Jurisdiction of the Bishop they exempted also several Deans and Chapterss several peculiar Chappels several Arch-Deaconries and other and some of these were endowed with Archiepiscopal Jurisdiction in their Precincts wherein they acted whatever they pleased without controul of any but their Popeships All which would have appeared a confused madness in Primitive times when for any person to have been out of the Jurisdiction of all Bishops was to have been quite out of the Church and would have been lookt upon as a Heathen and Infidel according to the Primitive practice in all Ages till Papal usurpation And therefore all these Exempt Jurisdictions are meer Papal and if duely examined will be found opposite to the established Laws of this Kingdom since the reformation from Popery as they are directly opposite to the Primitive Canons of the Church before Popery was known or heard of And by reason of these Exempt Jurisdictions great disputes and great frauds arise between the Bishop and them and the poor Clergy are so pild and pold by them both that they are forc't to go in threadbare Coats whilst the several Officers of both grow fat and fair by fees extracted from them Wherefore I humbly conceive the Bishops with the rest of the Clergy are bound in conscience to implore the Assistance of both Houses of Parliament to Petition His Majesty for the redress of these abuses by Pious Laws Setling the Church Government in the Primitive purity and authority which most evidently was very great and as greatly reverenced Bishops being the persons to whom Christ and his Apostles committed the Souls of Men bought with the precious blood of Christ to whom be glory and to his holy Spouse the Church be all Sacred Authority for ever Amen A Charitable Admonition to all Non-Conformists MY beloved in Christ you see how earnestly I have pleaded for you to the Fathers and Governors of our Church that they would graciously condescend to abolish some Ceremonies in the Church that they may receive you into it but yet I have no great hopes that they will hearken to me you your selves for whom I plead destroy my hope for they presently dash me in the teeth saying go rather and perswade the Sons in duty to submit to their Fathers then Fathers to yield to Sons and can you deny but of the two you are rather to submit You think to excuse this by saying Were it not against your Conscience you would submit but you dare not for fear of displeasing God his holy Word forbids you I beseech you shew me in his holy Word any one clear sentence against any one Ceremony commanded in our Church you see plainly I am not biast to any one Ceremony and I am sure I have read the Scripture all over several times and I humbly conceive 't is no pride of heart if I think I understand Scripture as well as you and for my part I cannot find any one condemning Sentence in Scripture But you have the Spirit of God enlightening you which I want by this rule you may affirm any thing out of Scripture and I should be as mad in disputing against you as you in affirming it 't is madness for a blind man as you conceive me to be to dispute of colours therefore if you are so void of all reason as to expect your bare affirmation that you have light ought to convince all gain-sayers I shall not trouble my self or you to gainsay you farther but address my self to others who soberly undertake to shew me such Texts as an unbiast Christian willing and desirous to submit to all Scripture Truths as I am sure I am may discover the truth of them and I desire those sober undertakers to show me any one such clear Text to excuse their non-conforming as I show them for their conforming Submit your selves to every ordinance of man c. 1 Pet. 2. 13. and Obey them that have the rule over you and submit Heb. 13. 17. These are as clear as the Sun that you ought to obey Now if the Text you bring be not so clear but doubtful I beseech you is your conscience so bold against a clear Text and so timerous at a doubtful Text is this