judgement was given hath thus Non hoc putandum de ultimo judicio c. We may not think this spoken of the last judgement but the seats of the Prelats or presidents by whom the Church is governed and the governors themselves are to be understood the judgment that is given cannot be any better way taken than for that which is said Whatsoeuer ye binde on earth shal be bound in heauen §. 3. The execution of this Apostolicall power after our Saviours ascent into Heaven THe power is clear will you see the Execution of it Look upon St. Paul the Posthumous and Supernumerary but no lesse glorious Apostle see with what Majesty he becomes his new erected Throne one while deeply (a) 2 Thess 36. charging and commanding another while (b) 1 Cor. 5.4.5.6.7 controlling and censuring One while (c) 1 Cor. 11.2 1 Cor. 16 1. giving Laws and Ordinances another while urging for their observance One while (d) 1 Tim. 1.6 1 Tim. 2.9 1 Tim. 6 13. 2 Cor. 13.2 2 Cor. 4.21 1 Tim. 1.20 ordaining Church-governours another while adjuring them to do their duties one while threatning punishment another while inflicting it And if these be not acts of Iurisdiction what can be such which since they were done by the Apostle from the instinct of Gods Spirit wherewith he was inspired and out of the warrant of his high vocation most manifest it is that the Apostles of Christ had a supereminent power in Gods Church And if any person whosoever though an Evangelist or Prophet should have dared to make himselfe equall to an Apostle he had been hissed out yea rather thunder-struck by deep Censure for an Arrogant and saucy usurper Now if our blessed Saviour thought it fit to found his Church in an evident imparity what reason should we have to imagine he did not intend so to continue it It had been equally easie for him had he so thought meet to have made al his followers equally great none better than a disciple none meaner than an Apostle But now since it hath pleased him to raise up some to the honour of Apostles no lesse above the 70 than the seventy were above the multitude only injoyning them that the highest in place should be the lowest in minde and humility of service what doth he but herein teach us that he meant to set this course for the insuing government of his Church Neither is it possible for any man to be so absurd as to think that the Apostles who were by their heavenly Master infeoffed in this known preeminence should after the Ascent of their Saviour descend from their acknowledged superiority and make themselves but equall to the Presbyters they ordained No they still and ever as knowing they were qualified for that purpose by the more speciall graces of the holie Ghost kept their holie state maintained the honour of their places What was the fault of Diotrephes but that being a Church-governour he proudlie stood out against St. John not acknowledging the Transcendant power of his Apostolicall Iurisdiction whom the provok't Apostle threats to correct accordinglie so as those that lay Diotrephes in our dish do little consider that they buffet none but themselves who symbolize with him in opposing Episcopal that is as all antiquity was wont to construe it Apostolicall government But you are ready to say This was during their own time they were persons extraordinary and their calling and superioritie died with them Parâ—câ—â—l 1. c. 4. Thus our Tileno-mastix in terms The only question is Whether of the ordinary Presbyters which were singlie set over severall Churches they advanced one in degree above his brethren We shall erre then if we distinguish not These great Ambassadors of Christ sustained more persons than one they comprehended in themselves the whole Hierarcy they were Christians Presbyters Bishops Apostles So it was they were Apostles immediatlie called miraculouslie gifted infalliblie guided universallie charged Thus they had not they could not have any successors they were withall Church governours appointed by Christ to order and settle the affairs of his Spirituall Kingdome And therein besides the preaching of the Gospel and baptizing common to them with other Ministers to ordain a succession of the meet Administrators of his Church Thus they were would be must be succeeded Neither could the Church otherwise have subsisted No Christian can denie this all binding upon a necessitie of Apostolicall succession though differing in the qualitie and degree of their successors §. 4. The derivation of this power and majority from the Apostles to the succeeding Bishops NOw therefore that we have seene what ground our Saviour laid for a superioritie in them Let us see how they by his divine inspiration erected it in others who should follow them â—hat was Apostolicall this was Episcopall It is true as Calâ—in saith that at the first all to whom the Dispensation of the Gospell was committed were called Presbyters whether they were Apostles Evangelists Prophets Pastors and Doctors as before the Apostles were commonly called by the name of Disciples in every Chapter yet in degree still above the 70 and we do still say one while Bishops and Curats comprehending all Presbyters and Deacons under that name another while Bishops Pastors Curats not distinctly observing the difference of names So they all were called Presbyters yet not so but that there was a manifest and full distinction betwixt the Apostles and Presbyters as thrise Act. the 15. They therefore though out of humility they hold the common names with others yet maintained their places of Apostles and governed the Church at first as it were in common And thus as St. Ierome truly All maine matters were done in the beginning by the common Councell and consent of the Presbyters their consent but still the power was in the Apostles who in the nearer Churches since they in person ordered Ecclesiasticall affairs ordained only Presbyters in the remoter Bishops This for the Consummation of it was an act of time Neither was the same course held at once in every Church whiles it was in Fieri some which were nearer being supplied by the Apostles presence needed not so present an Episcopacy Others that were small needed not yet their full number of Offices neither were there perhaps fit men for those places of eminence to be found every where whence it is that we finde in some Scriptures mention only of Bishops and Deacons in others of Presbyters not of Bishops This then was the Apostles course for the plantation of the Church and the better propagation of the Gospel where ever they came they found it necessary to ordain meet assistants to them and they promiscuously imparted unto them all their owne stile but Apostolicall naming them Bishops and Presbyters and Deacons according to the familiarity and indifferency of their former usage therein But when they having divided themselves into severall parts of the world found that the number of
Poza the braine-sick Professour of Divinity set up by the Iesuites at Madrill That it is free for any man besides and against the judgement of the holy Fathers and Doctors to make innovations in the doctrine of religion And for his warrant of contemning all ancient Fathers and Councels in respect of his owne Opinions borrowes the words in Ecclesiasticus Concil Constantinop Act. 5. Ecclesiast 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cited by the Councell of Constantinople Beatus qui praedicat verbum inauditum Blessed is he that preaches the word never before heard of impiously and ignorantly marring the text mistaking the sense belying the Authour slandering the Councell the misprision being no lesse ridiculous than palpable For whereas the words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in auditum he turnes them both into one adjective inauditum and makes the sentence as monstrous as his owne stupidity Pope Hormisda in his Epistle to the Priests and Deacons of Syria turnes it right Qui praedicat verbum in aurem obedientis He that preaches a word to the obedient farre bee it from any sober and Orthodoxe Christian to entertaine so wild and wicked a thought he hath learned that the old way is the good way Ier. 6.16 and wil walk therin accordingly and in so doing finds rest to his soule he that preacheth this word is no lesse happy than hee that obediently heares it neither shall a man finde true rest to his soule in a new and untrodden by-way If therefore it shall be made to appeare that this government by lay-Presbyters is that which the ancient and succeeding Church of God never acknowledged untill this present age I shall not need to perswade any wise and ingenuous Christian if otherwise he have not lost the free liberty of his choice that he hath just cause to suspect it for a misgrounded novelty For such it is §. 22. The fifteenth ground That to depart from the judgment and practice of the universall Church of Christ ever since the Apostles times and to betake our selves to a new invention cannot but be besides the danger vehemently scandalous c. LAstly it must upon all this necessarily follow that to depart from the judgement and practice of the universall Church of Christ ever since the Apostles times and abandon that ancient forme wherein we were and are legally and peaceably infeoffed to betake our selves to a new one never till this age heard of in the whole Christian world it cannot but be extremely scandalous and savour too much of Schisme How ill doth it become the mouth of a Christian Divine which Parker hath let fall to this purpose Quod duo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 posuerit Park Polit. Eccles l. 2. c. 5. Who dareth to challenge learned Casaubon for proposing two means of deciding the moderne controversies Scriptures and Antiquity what more easie triall can possibly be projected Who but a profest Novellist can dislike it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was the old and sure rule of that sacred Councell and it was Salomons charge Remove not the old land-marks Prov. ◠If therefore it shall be made to appeare that Episcopacie as it presupposeth an imparity of order and superiority of government hath been a sound stake pitched in the hedge of Gods Church ever since the Apostles times and that Parity and lay-Presbytery are but as new-sprung bryars and brambles lately woven into the new-plashed fence of the Church In a word thus if it be manifest that the government of Bishops in a meet and moderate imparity in which we assert it hath been peaceably continued in the Church ever since the Apostolicall Institution thereof and that the government of lay-Presbyters hath never beene so much as mentioned much lesse received in the Church untill this present age I shall need no farther argument to perswade all peaceable and well-minded Christians to adhere to that ancient forme of Administration which with so great authority is derived unto us from the first Founders of the Gospell and to leave the late supply of a lay-Presbyterie to those Churches who would and cannot have better The Second Part. §. 1. The termes and state of the Question setled and agreed upon THese are the grounds which if they prove as they cannot but do firm and unmoveable we can make no fear of the superstructure Let us therefore now addresse our selves to the particular points here confidenly undertaken by us and made good all those severall issues of defence which our holy cause is most willingly cast upon But before we descend to the scanning of the matter reason and order require that according to the old and sure rules of Logicians the terms be cleared and agreed upon otherwise we shall perhaps fight with shadows and beat the ayr It hath pleased the providence of GOD so to order it that as the Word it self the Church so the names of the Offices belonging to it in their severall comprehensions should be full of Senses and variety of use and acception and that in such manner that each of them runs one into other and oftentimes interchanges their Appellations A Prophet we know is a foreteller of future things an Evangelist in the naturall sence of the word is he that preaches the glad tidings of the Gospel an Apostle one of Christs twelve great Messengers to the world a Bishop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Overseer of the Church a Presbyter some grave ancient Churchman a Deacon a servant or Minister in the Church yet all these in Scripture are so promiscuously used that a Preacher is more then once termed a Prophet 1 Cor. 14. Act 1.20 2 Ep. Iohn 1 Peter 5.1 1 Tim. 4.6 an Evangelist an Apostle an Apostle a Bishop an Apostle a Presbyter a Presbyter an Apostle as Romans 6.7 a Presbyter a Bishop and lastly an Evangelist and Bishop a Deacon or Minister for all these met in Timothy alone who being Bishop of Ephesus is with one breath charged to do the work of an Evangelist and to fulfill his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Ministery It could not be otherwise likely but from this community of names there would follow some confusion of apprehensions for since names were intended for distinction of things where names are the same how can the notions be distinguished But howsoever it pleased the Spirit of God in the first hatching of the Evangelicall Church to make use of these indistinct expressions yet all this while the Offices were severall known by their severall Characters and employments So as the function and work of an Apostle was one viz. To plant the Church and to ordain the Governours of it of a Bishop an other to wit To manage the Government of his designed Circuit and to ordain Presbyters and Deacons of a Presbyter another namely To assist the Bishop and to watch over his severall charge of a Deacon another besides his sacred services to order the stock of the Church and to take care of
whereof Saint Peter acknowledges himself a Compresbyter for if it be alleaged as it is That this is against our owne Principles who allow but one Bâ—shop in one City and these were many let me put the Objector in minde that though these Bishops were called together by Saint Paul from Miletum to Ephesus yet they were not all said to be Elders of Ephesus but from thence monition went speediliest out to all places to call them and so we hear saint Paul say Ye all amongst whom I have gone preaching the Kingdome of God which plainly argues they were not confined to the compasse of one City or Territory but Over seers of severall and far-dispersed charges As Saint Paul therfore to his Timothy so Saint Luke here uses the terms promiscuouslâ— one being as yet in common use for both though the offices were sensibly distinguished And now what shall we say to this Tell me ye that look upon these Papers with censorious eyes tell me is all this think you no other than a formall presidence of an assembly without any power or command Is this to do but as a Consull in a Senate to propound Cases to gather Votes to declare the judgement of the Presbytery or Synod or as Zanchy resembles it ut Rector in Academia as a Rector in one of their Academies or rather as Saint Ierome whom you challenge for your Patron in this point hath it tanquam imperator in exercitu â—â—â—â—on Epist 〈◊〉 Evangâ—â—â— as a Generall in an Army who hath power both to Marshall all the troops and to command the Captains and Colonels and to execute Marshall law upon Officers If you have a mind to suffer your eies to be willingly blinded with such improbable suggestions falling from those whom you think you have otherwise reason to honour hugg still your own palpable errour not without our pity though without the power of redresse but if you care for truth and desire in the presence of God to imbrace it for truthes own sake without respect of persons aske your own hearts whether these charges and services laid by the elect Vessell upon his Timothy and Titus be any other than really Episcopall and such as manifestly carry in them both Superiority and Iurisdiction §. 7. The testimony of St. Iohn in his Revelation pressed NEither can all the shifts in the world elude that pregnant Vision and charge of the blessed Apostle St. Iohn in whose longer lasting time the government of the Church was fully setled in this threefold imparity of the Orders and degrees who having had the speciall supervision of the whole Asian Church was by the Spirit of God commanded to direct his 7 Epistles to the Bishops of those seven famous Churches by the name of so many Angels To the Angel of the Church of Ephesus To the Angel of the Church in Smyrna c. For what can be more plain than that in every of these Chur hes as for instance that of Ephesus there were many Presbyters yet but one Angel If that one were not in place above the rest and higher by the head than they how comes he to be noted in the throng Why was not the direction to al the Angels of the Church of Ephesus Divina voce laudatur sub Angeli nomine pâ—aepositus Ecclesiae Aug. Epi. 162. All were Angels in respect of their Ministery one was the Angel in respect of his fixed superioritâ— There were thousands of Starres in this firmament of the Asian Churches there were but seaven of the first magnitude who can indure such an invasion that one is mentioned many are meant as if they had said Non populum aggrâ—dit sed principem claâ—â— utique Episcopum Mâ—rlâ—rat To one that is to more To one Angel that is to more Angels than one To what purpose is it to insist upon any proprâ—ety of speech if we may take such liberty of Construction As if when the Prophet came to Iehu with a message and expresly said To thee O Captain he should have turn'd it off to the rest and have said To me that is Not to me alone but to all my felllows with me But to put this matter out of doubt it is particularly known who some of those Angels were Holy Polycarpus was knowne to be the Angel of the Church of Smyrna whom Ignatius the blessed Martyr mentions as by his Episcopacy greater than his Clergie Timothy had been not long before Bishop of Ephesus yea of the Asians now Onesimus was whose Metropolis Ephesus was Wherein Ignatius acknowledges 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a very great multitude of Christians so large that in the Emperour Leo's time Iura Graec. p. 88. 90. it had 36. Bishopricks under it And so was Sardis having under it 24. And shall we think that these great Dioceses were as some obscure Parishes wherein were no variety of eminent persons so as the Angel that is noted here must needs be of a large Iurisdiction and great Authority But if any man shall imagine these things spoken to the Angel as to him under that title in the name of all the rest let him know that this cannot be for that the charges and challenges there made are personall and such as could not be communicated to all for who can say that all those of the Church of Ephesus were patient and laborious Revel 2.2 that none of them fainted that they all lost their first love that all hated the work of the Nicholaitans who can say that all those of the Church of Smyrna were either poore or rich That none in the Church of Pergamus denyed the fath Besides here is a manifest distinction betwixt the Pastor or Bishop and those of his charge and they are described by the severalties of their estates As when he had acknowledged the Graces of Polycarpus the Angel of Smyrna Revel 2.10 and incouraged that blessed Martyr by way of premonition to some of his Church Behold some of you the devill shall cast into prison and ye shall be tryed and endure Tribulation ten dayes and then addressing to him Be thou faithfull to the death c. And in his fourth Epistle Revel 2.24 distinguishing the Angel or Bishop of Thyatyra from the rest of his charge But unto you saith saith he and the rest of Thyatyra as many as have not this doctrine and the depth of Satan as they speake I will put none other burden upon them but that which ye have hold fast till I come So that this conceit is no lesse wild than that other which followes it of my old acquaintance Brightman who makes not only these Angels the types of those Churches but those Churches of Asia the Types and Histories of all the Christian Churches which should be to the end of the world Thus the Bells say what some Hearers thinke So cleer is this truth that the Opposites have been forced to yield Priority here intimated but a Priority of Order onely not
gravity and holy Moderation as I verily suppoie our Island yeildeth none such let his person ruler let his calling be innocent and honourable It is not wealth or power that is justly taxable in a Bishop but the abuse of both and that man is weakly grounded which would be other than faithfull to his God whether in an higher or meaner Condition Forasmuch therefore as these imaginary dissimilitudes betwixt the Primitive Episcopacy and ours are vanished and ours for substance is proved to be the same with the first that ever were ordained and those first were ordained by Apostolike hands by direction and inspiration of the holy Ghost we may confidently and irrefragably conclude our Episcopacie to be of no lesse than Divine Institution §. 18. The practice of the whole Christian Church in all times and places is for this government of Bishops HOwever it pleaseth our Anti-praesulists to sleight the practice and judgement of all Churches save the Primitive Church which they also without all ground and against all reason shut up within the strait bonds of 250 yeers out of a just guiltinesse of their known opposition yet it shall be no small confirmation to us nor no lesse conviction to them that the voice as of the Primitive so of the whole subsequent Church of God upon earth to this very age is with us and for us Quod semper et ubique Alwaies and every where was the old and sure rule of Vincentius Lirinensis and who thinks this can fail him as well worthy to erre It were a long task to instance in all times and to particularize in all Churches Let this be the triall Turn over all histories search the records of all times and places if ever it can be shown that any Orthodox Church in the whole Christian world since the times of Christ and his Apostles was governed otherwise than by a Bishop superiour to his Clergy unlesse perhaps during the time of some persecution or short inter-regnum let me forfeit my part of the cause Our opposites dare not stand upon this issue and therefore when we presse and follow them upon this point they runne back fifteen hundred years and shelter themselves under the Primitive times which are most remote And why will they be thus cowardly They know all the rest are with us and against them yea they yeild it and yet would fain think themselves never the worse Antichrist Antichrist hath seized upon all the following times and corrupted their government what a meer gullery is this Do not they themselves confine Antichrist to Rome And hath not Bishop Downham diligently noted his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Boniface his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hildebrand his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the latter times Surâ—ly had these men bestowed that time in perusing Bishop Downhams discourse concerning Antichrist Diatrib de Antichrist 〈◊〉 â—â—on Lessâ—â—â— which they have spent in confuting his worthie Sermon they had needed no other either reformation or disproof For can any indifferent man be so extreamly mad as to think all the Christian world these men only by good luck excepted is or ever was turn'd Antichrist or that that Antichrist hath set his foot every where in all assemblies of Christians and that he still keeps his footing in all Gods Church upon earth To say nothing else concerning the notorious falsity hereof what a derogation were this to the infinite wisedome providence and goodnesse of the Almighty that he should so slacken his care of his Church as that he should from the very beginning give it up wholly up to the managing of Antichrist for the space of more than fifteen hundred years without any check or contradiction to his government no not within the first Century Yea but his Mystery began to work betime True but that was the mystery or iniquity not the mystery of good order and holy government And if the latter times should be thus depraved yet can any man be so absurd as to think that those holy Bishops of the Primitive times which were all made of meeknesse and humility and patience being ever persecuted and cheerfully pouring out their blood for Christ Loco supra citato would in their very offices bolster up the pride of Anti-christ Or if they would yet can we think that the Apostles themselves who saw and erected this superiority as Chamier himself confesseth would be accessary to this advancement of Anti-christ Certainly he had need of a strong and as wicked a Credulity of a weak and as wilde a wit that can believe all this So the Semper is plainly ours and so is the ubique too All times are not more for us than all places Take a view of the whole Christian world The state of Europe is so well known that it needs no report Look abroad ye shall finde that for the Greek Church Christianography of the Greek Ch. the Patriarchate of Constantinople which in the Emperour Leo's time had 81 Metropolitans and about 38 Arch-bishopricks under his Jurisdiction hath under him still 74 Metropolitans who have divers Bishops under them As Thessalonica ten Bishops under him Corinth four Athens six c. For the Russian Church which since the Mahumetan tyranny hath subjected it self a Patriarch of their own neer home of Mosco he hath under him two Metropolitans four Arch-bishops six Bishops For the Patriarchate of Jerusalem to which have belonged the three Palestines and two other Provinces Tirius reckons also five Metropolitans and ten Bishops For the Patriarchate of Antioch which hath been accounted one of the most numerous for Christians it had as the same author reckons fifteen Provinces allotted to it and in them Metropolitans Arch-bishops and Bishops no fewer than 142. For the Armenian Christians they acknowledge obedience to the government of two Patriarks of their own the one of Armenia the greater who kept his residence of old at Sebastia the other of Armenia the lesse whose residence was formerly at Mytilene the Mother City of that Province now neer Tarsus in Cilicia Mr. Sands reports their Bishops to be 300 but Baronius 1000. For the Jacobite Christians they have a Patriarch of their own whose Patriarchall Church is neer to the City of Merdin in Mesopotamia and he hath under his government many Churches dispersed in the Cities of Mesopotamia Babylonia Syria For the Maronites whose main habitation is in Mount Lebanus containing in circuit 700 miles they have a Patriarch of their own who hath eight or nine Bishops under his Jurisdiction For the mis-named Nestorian Christians they are subject to their Patriarch of Musal or Seleucia besides others which they have had Under one whereof is said to have been 22 Bishopricks and more than six hundred Territories For the Indian Christians named from St. Thomas they have their Archbishop lately subjected to the Patriarch of Musall For the African Christians we finde that in one Province alone under one Metropolitane they have had 164 Bishops
Christians especially in the greater Cities so multiplied that they must needs be divided into many Congregations and those Congregations must necessarily have many Presbyters and those many Presbyters in the absence of the Apostles began to emulate each other and to make parties for their own advantage then as St. Ierome truly notes began the manifest and constant distinction betwixt the Office of Bishops and Presbyters to be both known and observed For now the Apostles by the direction of the Spirit of God found it requisite a d necessary for the avoyding of schisme and disorder that some eminent persons should every where be lifted up above the rest and ordained to succeed them in the ouer-seeing and ordering both the Church and their many Presbyters under them who by an eminence were called their Bishops Or as the word signifies Supervisors and Governours So as the Ministers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. 3.7 they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for as the Offices so the names of Bishop and Deacon were of Apostolicall foundation These Bishops therefore were the men whom they furnished with their own ordinary power as Church-governors for this purpose Now the offi◠es grew fully distinct even in the Apostles daies and under their own hands although sometimes the names after the former use were confounded All the question then shortly is whether the Apostles of Christ ordained Episcopacie thus stated and thus fixedly-qualified with Imparitie and Iurisdiction For if we take a Bishop for a parochiall Pastor and a Presbyter for a Lay-elder as too many misconstrue the terms it were no lesse then madnesse to doubt of this Superioritie but we take Episcopacie in the proper and fore-defined sence and Presbyterie according to the only true and ancient meaning of the Primitive Church viz for that which we call now Priesthood the other is a meerly new and uncouth devise neither came ever within the Ken of antiquitie As for the further subdivision of this quarrell whether Episcopacy must be accounted a distinct Order or but a severall degree in the same Order there is heer no need for the present to enter into the discussion of it Especially since I observe that the wiser sort of our opposites are indifferent to both so that whichsoever you take may be granted them to be but Iuris humani And I cannot but wonder at the toughnesse of those other opposites which stand so highly upon this difference to have it meerly but a degree In the mean while never considering that those among the Pontificiall Divines which in this point are the greatest Patrons of this their fancy go all upon the ground of the Masse according to which they regulate and conforme their opinions therein First making all Ecclesiasticall power to have reference to the body of Christ Bellarm. de sacram Ord n. l. 1. c. 9. as Bellarmine fully then every Priest being able with them to make his Maker what possible power can be imagined say they to be above that The Presbyter therefore consecrating as well as the Bishop the Order in their conceit upon this ground can be but one So then these doughty Champions among us do indeed but plead for Baal whiles they would be taken for the only pullers of him down But for our selves taking order in that sense in which our Oracle of learning Bishop Andrewes Winton Epist ad Molin 1. ci es it out of the School qua potestas est ad actum specialem there can be no reason to deny Episcopacy to be a distinct order since the greatest detractors from it have granted the power of Ordination of Priests Deacons and of Imposition of hands for Confirmation to Bishops only They are Chamiers owne words Camer de Oe cumen Pontif. l. 10. c. 5. Accipere Episcopum novam potestatem Jurisdictionem non iverim inficias I cannot denie that a Bishop as such receiveth a new power and jurisdiction Moreover in the Church of England every Bishop receives a new Ordination by way of Eminence commonly called his Consecration which cannot be a void-Act I trow and must needs give more then a degree and why should that great and ancient Councell define it to be no lesse than sacriledge to put down a Bishop into the place of a Presbyter if it were only an abatement of a degree but howsoever this be yet if it shall appear that there was by Apostolicall Ordination such a fixed imparity and constant Iurisdiction amongst those who were intrusted with the teaching and governing Gods people that is of Bishops above the other Clergie as I have spoken we have what we contend for which whiles I see doubted I cannot but wonder with what eies men read St. Paul in his Epistles to Timothy and Titus Surely in my understanding the Apostle speaks so home to the point that if he were now to give direction to an English Bishop how to demean himselfe in his place he could not speak more fully to the execution of this sacred Office For I demand what it is that is stood upon but these two particulars the especiall power of Ordination and power of the ruling and censuring of Presbyters and if these two be not clear in the charge of the Apostle to those two Bishops one of Crete the other of Ephesus I shall yield the cause and confesse to want my senses §. 5. The clear Testimonies of Scripture especially those out of the Epistles to Timothy and Titus urged NOw because this is the main point that is stood upon and some wayward opposites are ready to except at all proofs but Scripture I shall take leave briefly to scan those pregnant Testimonies which I finde in those two Apostolicall Epistles and first Timothy is charged 1 Tim. 1.3 to charge the preachers of Ephesus that they teach no other Doctrine than was prescribed That they do not give heed to Fables and Genealogies If Timothy were an equall Presbyter with the rest those Teachers were as good as he what then had he to do to charge Teachers Or what would those Teachers care for his charge How equally apt would they be to charge him to keep within his own compasse and to meddle with his own matters It is only for Superiors to charge and inferiors to obey Secondly this charge S. Paul commits to Timothy to oversee and controll the unmeet and unseasonable doctrines of the Ephesian false teachers 1 Tim. 1.12 according to the prophecies which went before of him and that in opposing himselfe to their erroneous opinions he might war a good warfare This controlment cannot be incident into an equality In this charge therefore both given and executed however it pleased our Tileno-mastix in a scurrilous manner to jeer us upon the like occasion with a profecto erit pessimus Dominus Episcopus Paulus that S. Paul was an ill Lord Bishop I may truly say that both St. Paul and Timothy his disciple doth as truly Lord it heer in their
holyes Our Martyr goes on In his Epistle to those of Smyrna he is Ignat ad Smyr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Pag 16 11 if it be possible more punctuall Follow your Bishop saith he as Christ did his Father and the Colledge of Priests as his Apostles reverence your Deacons as ministring according to the command of God Let no man without the Bishop do any of those things which appertains to the Church Let that Eucharist be held right and unquestionable which is done by the Bishop or by such an one as he shall allow Where the Bishop shall appear there let the multitude assemble as where Christ is there all the heavenly hoast stands by him c. It is not lawfull without the Bishop to baptize nor to offer c. And soon after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Honour God as the Author and Lord of all things and your Bishop as the chief Priest bearing the image of God of God I say as chief and of Christ as Priest c. Neither is there any thing greater in the Church than the Bishop who is consecrated to God for the salvation of the world neither is there any among the Princes like to the King who procures peace and equity to his subjects c. And anone Let all your things be done in decent order in Christ Let your Laicks be subject to the Deacons Pag. 48. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â— the Deacons to the Priests or Presbyters the Presbyters to the Bishop the Bishop to Christ as he to his Father Could he speak plainer Lo saith Vedelius and our Scotus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this savours not of the age of Ignatius in whose time no such distinction as of the Clergie and Laity was on foot Weakly suggested Had they but read our Clement Clem. ad Corinth in his fore-recited Epistle to the Corinthians they had soon eaten this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he to the Priests their proper place is assigned The Laickes have their services 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Lay-man is bound to lay Ordinances But I may not so far hinder my way as to make excursions to meet with Cavills if any man be disposed to accept I am ready to give him full satisfaction in a meet season 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In his Epistle to Polycarpus he requires that no man should so much as marry without the Bishops consent and soon after Pag. 208. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Let all things saith he be done to the honour of God give regard to your Bishop as God to you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. My soul for theirs who obey their Bishop Presbyters and Deacons In his Epistle to the Ephesians magnifying their Bishop Onesimus he charges them to give all respects to him and addes Ye ought to look upon your Bishop as upon God himself since he waits upon the Lord and serves him And towards the end Following the holy Ghost for your guide obeying your Bishop and the company of Presbyters with an intire heart c. What shall we think of all this was not St. Ignatius see'd to speak on the Bishops side Or how would these words have sounded in the late Assemblies of Glasco and Edinborough Are we more holy than he Is the truth the same it was or is the alteration on our part All these have been large and full Testimonies of the acknowledged superiority of Bishops and of the high respects that are and were ever due to these prime governours of the Church But if any man think these came not yet home to the point let him cast his eye back upon the first Epistle ad Trallianos and mark well what he saith where having reckoned up the three so oft mentioned Orders of Bishops Presbyters and Deacons he addes Without these Pag. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. there is no elect Church without these no holy Congregation no assembly of Saints And I perswade my self that you also are of the same minde Lo here words which no Vedelius can carp at as interpolated imposing such a necessity of the being of these three severall Orders in Gods Church that it cannot be right without them I see and pity his shuffling Append. Notaâ—rum Crit. but would be glad to see a satisfactory answer from any hands Epist ad P Molin In the mean time I wish with learned Bishop Andrews those Churches where they are missing that happinesse which now to our grief and I hope theirs they are forced to want I have dwelt long with blessed Ignatius where could I be better That one Author is in stead of many why should I not boldly say if besides the divine Scriptures there were no other testimony but this one Saints it were abundantly enough to carry this Cause and I must wonder at any man who confessing Ignatius to have been so holy a Bishop so faithfull a Martyr so true a Saint can stick at a Truth so often so confidently so zealously recommended by him to the world For me let my soul go with his let his faith be mine and let me rather trust one Ignatius than ten thousand Cartwrights Parkers Ameses or any other their ignorant and Male-contented followers Tell me now my dear brethren tell me in good eanest Do you not think this Ignatius a likely man to build up the kingdome of Antichrist were not these shoulders fit for the supportation of that man of sin Away with these absurd and wicked fancies and if this charge of his were holy and Apostolicall wherein he requires us to honour our Bishops as the Lord himself whom they serve and represent what doom do you suppose would he have passed upon those who as such abhorre them and eject them as Devills I cannot without horrour think of either the act or the issue §. 12. The testimony of the Ancient Canons called the Apostles YEt perhaps if Ignatius went alone he might herein incurre some suspicion now all antiquity is with him never any ancient Author said otherwise We will begin with those Canons which are instyled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the holy and most venerable Apostles Surely if not theirs yet of some Apostolicall men near to their times worthy even for their age and authority to be reverenced of all Christians as the most credible witnesses of the state of those Primitive times In them besides the note of professed distance betwixt the Bishops and Presbyters proclaimed in every Chapter there are those which do imply a power and Iurisdiction as Can 15. Can. 15. If any Presbyter or Deacon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or any of the number of Clerks leaving his division or Parish shall go to another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and without the leave or allowance of his own Bishop abide in another Parish or charge we forbid him further to Minister especially if when his own Bishop calls him back he
saw and conversed with the Apostles Irenaeus saw Polycarpus by their hands was he ordained Bishop constantly lived and dyed a Martyr in that holy function Tertullian was not much below Irenaeus in age not at all below him in the clearnesse of his suffrage Edant origines Ecclesiarum suarum evolant ordinem Episcoporum suorum ita par successiones ab initio decurrentem ut primus ille Episcopus aliquem ex Apostolis aut Apostolicis viris habuerit authorem antecessorem c. Tertull. de praescription advers haer Edant origines c. Let them saith he set forth the Originals of their Churches Let them reckon upon the Order of their Bishops so running down by their successions from the beginning as that their first Bishop had one of the Apostles or Apostolicall men for his author and predecessor Thus do the Apostolicall Churches bring in their accounts as the Church of Smyrna h◠ving Polycarpus placed there by St. John the Church of Rome showeth Clement ordained by St. Peter and so the rest of the Churches show what sprouts they have of the Apostolike seed Even those which were first placed in their Episcopacie by the Apostles What can be spoken more fully for the Apostolike institution of Episcopacy This is more than enough to shew the state of the first ages of the Church under and after the Apostles And therein the superiority and Jurisdiction of Bishops received from their sacred hands Now if we think good to descend with the times which way soever we shall cast our eyes upon Ecclesiasticall histories upon Fathers upon Councels I speak it knowingly we shall meet with no other relation Should I undertake to gather in some proofs which are every where scattered in their undeniable records one Tome would not be enough and you might well aske the meaning of such waste I shall content my self to glean out some few Eares out of a large and plentifull field §. 14. The confessed Superiority of Bishops from severall arguments out of Antiquity ANd here in the first place it is well worthy to weigh much with us that all antiquity makes Bishops the successors of the Apostles The testimonies of Irenaeus Vide Bils loco citato Tertullian Cyprian Basil Theodoret Hierome Ambrose Augustine Sidonius and others are so familiarly quoted by all Writers that I shall not need to urge them In the next those titles of superiority and Jurisdiction which are giuen by all antiquity to Bishops above Presbyters Ambros in Ephes 4 idea Optatus l 1. contra Parmē Hieron in Ep. 60.17 Hierarch Ecles c. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epiphan in haeres 75. Conc. Carthag c. 68. Conc. Sardic c. 10. Sidon Apoll. l 9 Ep. 4. may well settle our assurance in it They are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rulers in Ignatius Principes sacerdotum in Ambrose the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Dionysius An order generative of other Fathers as Epiphanius They have an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 given them by the Councell of Carthage Excelsiorem gradum by Jerome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Councell of Constantinople eminence of oversight by the Councell of Sardica Incomparably eminent Apostleship by Sidonius Apollinaris Excellent dignity and authority by the Councell of Constantinople in Trullo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Concil Antioch c. 25. It were easie to be tedious in this kinde If now the Bishops of this Island challenge no more than is given to those Church-governours of the Primitive times certainly either they must be condemned or not justified In the third place it will easily be made to appear that in all the passages of Fathers and Councels the Presbyters are called the Bishops Presbyters Indeed how should it be otherwise Winton Epist ad Molin For as our learned Bishop of Winchester of old the Presbyters were as it were of the family of the Bishop and lived upon those distributions which were laid down as at the feet of the Apostles first so now at theirs untill the division of severall Parishes infoeffed them in a setled maintenance from their peculiar charges Thus as Doctor Downham instances Arrius is said to have been Alexander's Presbyter Petrus and Iraenaeus Timotheus and Macarius to have been Athanasius his Presbyters by the same token that Timotheus a grave and reverend personage as the history reports wittily and justly took off a foul aspersion from his innocent and honoured Diocesan The Deputies of Silvester in the Councell of Nice were his Presbyters Thus Crispio is named Epiphanius his Arch-deacon Heraclides to have been Chrysostome's Deacon It were easie to fill up pages out of Eusebius alone with such instances §. 15. Power of Ordination only in Bishops BUt in the fourth place the severall acts that were appropriated to the Bishops alone by the universall consent of all times do more than sufficiently evince their acknowledged superiority wherein even those Testimonies which are wont to be alleadged against us do directly plead for us Hierome himself can say Excepta ordinatione and Chrysostome who is cited for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 can yet adde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Only in laying on of hands Bishops go beyond them Homil. 11 in 1 Tim. 3 Neither is this any sleight difference or despicable priviledge but such as implyes a manifest Superiority as Ambrose justly inferreth and a clear distinction of Order Hands were imposed in the Church of old for more than one purpose In absolution for the penitent's reconciliation to God and the Church In Confirmation for the increase of Grace upon the baptized In Ordination for the blessing Conc. Carthag 4. c. 3. Benedicente eum Episcopo manum super caput ejus imponente and hallowing of the Ordained The first of these as incident and annexed to the holy Order of Priest-hood may be common to a Presbyter within his own compasse but the other two have been ever held so intrinsecall to Episcopacy that I would fain see where it can be showed that any extremity of necessity was by the Catholike Church of Christ ever yet acknowledged for a warrant sufficient to diffuse them into other hands It was to Timothy and Titus by the consent of all Antiquity Bishops of their severall Dioceses and not to any Ordinary Presbyter that St. Paul gives that charge of imposition of hands That Presbyter had been a monster among Christians that would have dared to usurpe it and the Church of those first ages observed it so Curiously that besides those strict Lawes which they made for the prevention of any such insolence restraining even one kinde of Chorepiscopi Rurall Bishops from this power for there was another sort which were in the nature and quality of suffraganes furnished with Episcopall right they have left unto us memorable records of their severe proceedings against such presumptions I may not forget two or three remarkable histories to this purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Colluthus a Presbyter of
They are under the government of the Patriarch of Alexandria to whose Jurisdiction belong both the Christians of Aegypt and those about the Bay of Arabia Upon whose late solemn Consecration how many Bishops attended and what solemnity were used were too long to rehearse For the Abassine Christians they are subject to their Abuna a Patriarch of their own Some report of an 127 Arch-bishops And Alvares that in one Church of the holy Trinity upon a solemn occasion he saw two hundred of their Mitred Clergie together Thus have I for the readers satisfaction contracted into a short view some passages of laborious Christianography of Mr. Paget gathered by him out of many Authors whereby it well appears how the Christian Church is governed abroad and which is very remarkable well near all of these in a manner utterly divided from the correspondence with Rome and professedly opposite to most of her errors and chiefly to her ambitious and tyrannous usurpation but all gladly ever submitting themselves to that Episcopall government which some few very ill-advised but very well self-conceited new-commers here in a corner of our Europe have for their own ends presumed to contradict §. 19. Of the Suppression of contrary records and the sole opposition of the heretick Aerius CLearly then all times all places all histories are for us not one that ever mentioned the discipline and government pretended It is a very poor and beggerly evasion of Parker and Anti-tilenus that perhaps there were some but they were suppressed suppressed now gramercy for that By whom I hope by the Hierarchy what when there was no opposition No colour of offence suppressed what not only their edition in this age of Presses but their very mention Can they perswade themselves others sure they cannot or if they can I would fain see them that among so many holy Fathers and faithfull recorders of all occurrences that befell the Church whose worthy monuments are in our hands there should not be the least touch either of their dislike of Episcopacy if there had been any or of their allowance of the discipline called for not so much as the least intimation of any City or region that was or wished to be otherwire governed then by a Diocesan Bishop As well may they tell us there are people at this day on and beyond the mountains of the moon who do still and ever have governed themselves by their platform though who and what they are could not cannot possibly be discovered Onwards then It can be no great comfort or credit to the disparagers of Episcopacy that the only founder and abettor of their opinion which we meet with in all the world of history and record is a branded heretick Arius branded even for this very point which they now maintain And how could this be if the conceit had been formerly currant Or why he singled from the rest if there had been others known to have been of the same minde No man ever wrote of hereticks who did not name him for one Epiphanius Austen Philaster And who can choose but blush to hear those who would go for Orthodox Christians now at the latter end of the day after so many ages of exsibilation to take upon them the defence of a noted heretick against all the holy Fathers of the Church yea against the whole Church of God whose judgment those Fathers expressly declared Hear then of your Patriarch all ye opposers of Episcopacy and then judge how you like him All agree in the story Epiphanius is the fullest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epiph. haeres 75. Aerius saith he was a man frantick-headed proud-minded an Arrian altogether He would fain have been a Bishop and when his schoole-fellow Eustathius came to that honour which he eagerly desired and missed of he was so much the more netled with emulation Eustathius humor'd him by all means he was still the more peevish at last he brake forth into Opposition and saith that Father his speech favored rather of madnesse then of sober humanity For he said what is a Bishop better then a Presbyter The one differs not at all from the other There is but one order one honour one dignity of both Doth the Bishop impose hands So doth the Presbyter Doth the Bishop administer baptisme So doth the Presbyter The Bishop dispenceth the service of God so doth the Presbyter The Bishop sits in his Chair or Throne Epiph. loco citato so doth the Presbyter These are the opinions among others for which Aerius was hooted not out of the Church only but out of the Cities towns and villages which I grieve to see taken up in this doting and last age of the world by those who should be both godly and wise He whom Epiphanius in the voyce of Gods Church stiles magnum mundo malum a great mischief to the world is now applauded by those who pretend to holynesse for a great patrone of Truth §. 20. The vindication of those Fathers that are pretended to second Aerius BUt what noyse is this I hear from our Antepiscopists of many Fathers who favoured and cryed up this opinion of Aerius surely if there had been any such the world would have rung of it ere now The then-present Church would sooner have noted it than those that lag after them so many hundred paces of years But to make this good more than once is laid in our dish by Parker Paracles l. 1. c. 7 and the censure of Tilenus the quotation of Medina which our Reverend and learned Bishop of Durham Dr. Morton in his Apology cites Apol. p 2. c. 12. Non Dubito c. I doubt not saith Medina to affirm that St. Jerome Sedulius Primasius Theodoret held with the Aerian hereticks that the Order of Bishops and Presbyters is Jure divino the very same It is well that he omitted St. Augustine Ambrose Chrysostome Oecumenius Well what of this the learned Bishop cites Medina but doth he approve him he scornes the motion Medina cites those Fathers as for this opinion The more shamelesse he Is it ever the truer because a sworn champion of the tyranny of Rome and a professed enemy to the reformed Religion impudently avers it It is enough for me to leave him to the castigation of Bellarmine and though I might spend paper in vindicating these sacred names from the aspersion of the favour of Aerianisme yet for that it is but incidently in our way Intolerabilis est Medirae impudentia Spalat de Rep. Eccles l. 2. c. 3. I shall rather remit my Reader to the learned and satisfactory discourse of the Archbishop of Spalato who hath prevented that labour All the rest are easily freed St. Jerome and St. Ambrose in the opinion of some seem to take in water For the former as he was naturally a waspish and hote good man so now being vexed with some crosse proceedings as he thought of John Bishop of Hierusalem heflew out into some expressions indeed but
yet such as in other places he doth either salve or contradict The passages are scanned throughly by many authors It is true then that he saith Bishops are greater than Presbyters rather consuetudine ecclesiae Hier. ad Evagrum than Dominicae dispositionis veritate but even in that withall he grants Episcopacy to be an Apostolicall Institution Eadem Epistola ad finem for he interprets himself that this Custome was derived and continued from the Apostles and that the Dominica dispositio of which he spake was to be taken of a personall appointment from Christ our Saviour Hier in 1 ad Tâ—tum Wherefore what can be more plain than that his toto orbe decretum relates to Apostolick Constitution The very pedegree of it is by himself fetcht from the time of the quarrels which St. Paul mentions in his Epistle to the Corinths One sayes I am of Paul another I am of Apollo I am of Cephas which was in the heart of the Apostolique times And relating those words of the Bishop of Jerusalems letters There is no difference betwixt a Bishop and a Presbyter he passeth a satis imperite upon it professing to his Marcella against the Novelty of Montanus With us our Bishops hold the place of the Apostles and that the drepression of their Bishops below their place was utterly perfidious And commenting upon that passage of the Psalme Hier. in Ps 44. In stead of Fathers thou shalt have children The Apostles saith he O Church were thy Fathers c. Thou hast instead of them children which are the Bishops created by thy self And which is for all where he is most vehement for the dignity of a Presbyter yet he addes Quid facit Episcopus exceptâ ordinatione quod Presbiter non facit What doth a Bishop besides Ordination which a Presbyter doth not That very exception exempts him from Aerianisme and those other clear testimonies besides more which might be cited show him though but a Presbyter no friend to the equality of our Presbyterians As for St. Ambrose they could not have pitch'd upon a better man a renowned Archbishop and Metropolitan and of so holily-high a grain as that he would not abate one inch of Archiepiscopall port and power no not to an Emperour Yet this is the man that shall plead against the superiority of Bishops And what will he say Of a Bishop and a Presbyter saith he there is one order or Ordination for either of them is a Priest but the Bishop is the first so that every Bishop is a Presbyter but not every Presbyter a Bishop for among the Presbyters the Bishop is the first But first of all by Parkers own confession it is not St. Ambrose that saith so but a changling in his clothes So not only Whitakers spalato Cocus Rivetus and others but even some of the great Pontifician authors as we shall see upon another occasion more fully Secondly Ambrose himselstells another tale Ambros de dignitate sacerd c. 3. c. 5. in his genuine writings There is one thing saith he that God requires of a Bishop another of a Presbyter another of a Deacon And again As Bishops do ordain Presbyters and consecrate Deacons so the Arch-bishop ordaineth the Bishop Do you not think this man likely to speak for the new government Thirdly if he had said as they make him they must give him leave to interpret himself The Bishop is Primus sacerdos that is saith he Princeps Sacerdotum §. 21. The practice of the Waldenses and Albigenses in allowance of Episcopall government SHortly then all times all histories all Authors all places are for us yea which is most remarkable even those factions which divided themselves from the Church as the Arrians Novatians Donatists yet still held themselves to the government of their Bishops It was their question whether this or that man should be their Bishop it was never questioned whether they should have any Bishops at all Yea in these latter times the very Waldenses and Albigenses when in some things they justly flew off from the Romish superstition yet still would have a Bishop of their own It was one of the Articles that was objected against them the Supremacy of the Pope Artic Vvald Annâ— 1170 and 1216 usurping above all Churches is by them denied Neither that any degree is to be received in the Church but only Priests Deacons and Bishops And Aeneas Silvius in his Bohemian history reporting the Tenets of the Waldenses hath thus Foxe p. 209. de dogmat Waldens Romanum pontificem c. That the Bishop of Rome is but equall to other Bishops that among Priests there is no difference that not dignity but merit of life makes one Presbyter better then another Those of Merindol and Cabrieres a people which about two hundred yeers ago came out of the Country of Piemont to inhabite in the waste parts of Provence being there planted and hearing of the Gospell pâ—eached in Germany and Switzerland sent in the yeer 1530. George Maurellus and Petrus Latomus to conferre with the learned men of those parts they met with Oecolampadius Bucer Capito Maurellus escaping home alone told his Compatriots how much they had erred and how their old Ministers whom they called their Barbes that is their Uncles had misled them But before this their complices the good Christians who were termed Albigenses did set up to themselves a Bishop of their own one Bartolomaeus remaining about the coasts of Croatia and Dalmatia Epist Legati Papae Card. Portinens vide Fox Acts c. of whom the Cardinall Portinensis the Popes Legat writes thus to the Archbishop of Roan about the yeere 1146. Etenim de Carcasona orâ—undus c. For one Bartolomaeus the Bishop of the Hereticks borne in Carcasona taking upon him the Deputation of that Anti-pope yeelded unto him a wicked and abhominable reverence and gave him a place of residence in the Town of Porlos and removed himselfe to the parts of Tholose This Bartolomaeus in the tenour of his letters which run every where in the first stile of his salutation entitles himselfe on this manner Bartolomaeus the servant of the servants of God to N. the salutations of the holy faith This man amongst all his other enormities makes Bishops and takes upon him perfidiously to govern and order the Churches Thus that Cardinall And those Angragnians who are commonly said for some hundred of yeers to have cast off all relation to the Church of Rome yet in their Confession of faith and answers exhibited to the President appointed Commissioner for their examination confessed and acknowledged upon mention made of ancient Councells That the Councels had made divers notable Decrees concerning the Election of Bishops and Ministers of the Church concerning Ecclesiasticall Discipline as well of the Clergy as the people These Chrisians were far from that peevish humour wherewith divers miszealots are now-a-dayes transported What speak I of these The very late
Christians who within the Ken of memory Hâ—drian Sarav Praelat ad tractat de gradibus minister came into this Kingdome for Protection had the noble Johannes a Lasco for their Bishop Thus it was with all Christian men and assemblies all the world over till within the age of some who might be yet living the waters of the Cantons and the Lake of Lemanus began to be troubled And now when the grosse errors of Doctrine came to be both discovered by one side and impetuously defended by the other and the impugners cruelly persecuted to bonds and death those who could not enjoy the freedome of the true Religion under their Popish Bishops thought themselves driven to set up Church-governors and Pastors of their own And these once estblished now must belike be defended They might not be under those they had they could not have those they should they rested under those they could get And hence is all this Distraction §. 22. The government by Bishops both universall and unalterable WE have seen the grounds of Church-government laid by our Saviour himself in imparity We have seen it so built up by Apostolike hands we have seen the practise of the ancient and subsequent Church laying on the roof to make a perfect Fabrick Yet what is all this if the charge be not universall and perpetuall yeild it to be so ancient as the Apostles themselves yet if it be arbitrary whether for time or place what have we gained Surely as God is but one and ever himself so would he have his Church There may be threescore Queens and fourscore Concubins and Virgins without number but his Dove his undefiled is but one and though she may go in severall dresses and trimmings yet still and ever the stuffe is the same Plainly though there may be varieties of circumstantiall fashons in particular Churches yet the substance of the government is and must be ever the same That ordinary power which the Apostles had they traduced to their successors as bequeathed by our Saviour in his last fare well to them unto the end of the world For we may not think as one said well that the Apostles carried their Commission with them up to heaven They knew it was given them for a perpetuity of succession He that said Go teach all Nations and baptize added Behold I am with you to the end of the world He could not mean it of their persons which staid not long upon earth after him he meant it of their Evangelical successors So was he with them as he was with his domesticks their Predecessors not in the immediatnesse and extraordinary way of calling not in the admirable measure and kinds of their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or gifts not in the infalliblenesse of their judgement nor in the universality of their charge but in the effectuall execution of those offices which should be perpetuated to his Church for the salvation of mankinde Such were the preaching of the Gospell and the administration of the Sacraments the ordaining Church-officers the ordering of Church affairs the infliction of censures and in short the power of the Keys which we justly say were not tyed to St. Peters girdle but were communicated to all his fellows and to all his and their successors for ever By vertue whereof all true Pastors can open and shut heaven gates above much more the Church doors hereupon earth And all these as are of such necessity that without them the Church could not at all subsist at least not long and in any tolerable Condition The power of these acts as it was by our Saviours Commission originally in the Apostles being by them conveyed to the Church and not by the Church conveyed to them So it succeeded accordingly in and to their successors and was incorporated into their office we that are Priests receive the Keys in Peter saith St. Ambrose Veniat ad Antistites saith St. Augustine Let them come to the Bishops by whom the keys are ministred in the Church As Beza said truly of the promise of the holy Ghost Beza de Graeci minist c. 5. that it was given for the good of the whole Church yet not unto the whole Church but peculiarly unto the Apostles to give to others at least so must it be said of this power And so indeed by Calvins own determination Calv. Instit 1. 4. c. 3. none but Pastors might lay hands on the ordayned Hoc postremo hâ—bendum est non universam multitudinem manus iâ—posuisse suâ—s ministris sed folos pastores and none but they were capable to weild the great censures of the Church Shortly then was this power left by the Apostles or was it not left If it were left as we could else have no Church was it left with all or with some with all it cannot the multitude cannot be thought fit for these affaires If with some then whether with one in a City or territory or with more If with more why is the charge then imposed upon one One Timothy in Ephesus One Titus in Creet One Angel in Thyatira One other in Philadelphia Laodicea and the rest And why are those single persons challengeable for the neglect And if this power and this charge were by the very hands of the Apostles entayled upon these eminent persons which should by due ordination therein succeed them and from them lineally descend upon us I wonder what humane power dare presume to cut it off Neither do I lesse marvell at the opinions of those Divines which holding Episcopacy thus to stand Jure Apostolico in the first institution yet hold it may be changed in the sequel For me I have learned to yeild this honour to these inspired men that I dare not but think these their ordinances which they intended to succession immutable Some kinds of Ceremonious prescriptions fell from them which were meant to be only locall and temporary those we have no reason to think our selves oblieged to but those which they left for the administration of Gods Church it shall be high presumption in any to alter because the Apostles did but meet together divers times on the first day of the week and St. Paul ordered that day for the laying aside their Collections And that is only called the Lords day by the Apostle How strongly are the vehement opposites of Episcopacy wont to maintain that day in succession to the Jewish Sabbath and that in all points unalterable by any humane authority Surely had they but the tenth part of that plea from the Apostles for this their Judaicall-Evangelicall Sabbath which we have for our Episcopacy they would make us feel the Dint of this argument and would in the rigorous observation of it out-do the Jews But you are now ready to choak me with some Apostolicall ordinances which were even of tâ— emselves reversed Be it so Then you tell me of the first form of their goverment of the Church which say you was by an