surer order can be than that which Christs Word hath set down And if in any thing doubts arise in a Congregation they have other congregations with the Ministers to consult with For although every particular congregation be an absolute church having no jurisdiction over it but Christs alone and that immediatly yet it is not separated or divided from the neighbour churches so as that it should not hold communion with them or a consociation communicating together in all mutuall offices of helpe counsel comfort resolution in doubts advice in difficulties and the like this beeing the priviledge and benefit of the communion of Saints which is not limited to one particular congregation onely within it selfe but comprehendeth all the Members of the Catholique church wheresoever they are visible in any assemblies so as if any one congregation fall into an errour it is by others to bee admonished and conuinced that it may be reformed If it fall into any foule heresie which yet is not easie in a well constituted Church it must bee dealt withall accordingly as the case shal require the churches assembled must labour to reduce it and if after all meanes it proove incorrigible when there is no remedie they must renounce communion with that congregation And if that congregation shall bee further troublesome in breaking the peace of the Churches or of the civil state it is liable to such punishments as by the good lawes of the land are allotted to such and such offences For although no power on earth hath power over mens consciences in matters of religion yet God hath in his ordinance set up civil powers and Magistrates whom he hath armed with authority to punish such as doe openly transgresse either the Lawes of God or the just Lawes of the civil state For the Magistrate is Gods Minister both for the punishment of evill doers and for the praise and protection of them that doe well And for the better and more easie way for the civill Power to take cognisance of things of that nature it will become the duty of all the churches in a Synod or otherwise to convince the parties offending and if obstinate to complaine of them to the civill Magistrate Thus it is with a congregation as it stands in relation to other Churches and in a subjection to the civill power Now for a congregation considered in it selfe if a member therof do offend in any kinde what is to be done or who shall censure it I answer If the offence bee against the Law of Christ or his governement over that congregation then the same congregation hath power given from Christ to censure the Delinquent when after all due means he remains obstinate and incorrigible as 1 Cor. 5. But if the offence be against the law of the civil State he is then punishable according to that law by the civill Magistrate But here another question ariseth Whether the Minister or Pastor of the congregation alone have power of censure committed unto him or together with the congregation I answer Together with the congregation which therefore electeth certaine officers such as are most eminent for integrity gravity holinesse knowledge and judgement in matters of the congregation to represent the congregation and to assist the Minister in government and correction of manners And who fitter to take knowledge of home-delinquents than such as best know them And who are likeliest to use mercy compassion and moderation in such censures and better means of the delinquents amendment than such as are their godly neighbours And these officers either for the gravity of their yeares or manners are called Elders The * Prelats cannot endure the name of lay Elders but in Scripture we find them For {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} an Elder is taken both for a Minister of the Word and for a Lay Elder as they call it as 1 Tim. 5. 17. Let the Elders that rule well bee accounted worthy of double honor especially they who labour in the Word and doctrine Where Elders plainly signifie both such as rule and such as preach distinct one from the other So Rom. 12. 6 7 8. He that ruleth is a distinct officer from him that teacheth prophecieth And so 1 Cor. 12. 28. After Prophets or Teachers are set Helps governments or helps in government as our Translation hath it These Governors then simply considered were not Ministers of the Word but Lay men as they call them We could produce some Antients that speake of these lay governors or Seniors but at present for brevities sake wee omit them The antient Church of the Iewes had such Elders as we reade called Masters of the Synagogue Act. 13. 15. And if antiently in and after the Apostles time there were not such Elders how came it to passe afterward under Antichrist that the government of every particular congregation was delivered unto those of the Laity whom we call churchwardens and Side men who are to assist the Minister in matters of the Church though not in matter of censure which the Prelacy hath wholly usurped and monopolized to it selfe having thrust out and utterly exterminated as much as in them lieth the very name and memory of Lay Elders had wee not some records thereof in the lasting monuments of the Scripture Yea let the Prelates tell us how all that Lay Eldership as I may call it of Chancellors Commissaries and the rest came to be set up but to supply in some sort those antient Lay Elders whom the Apostles had set up and whom Antichrist puld down as being the main hinderance of the setting up of his Hierarchy For how had the Prelacie mounted to that height of power over the whole Church had the Lay Elders still continued in governing with godly Ministers the several congregations respectively So as the removing of the Lay Elders and the bringing in of Churchwardens and other Lay Officers into the church all subject to the Prelates jurisdiction and made their sworne vassals was the very up-setting of the Antichristian Throne in the Temple of God And this is that order of government without which the Prelates cry out There is no order Whereas that order which the Apostles left in governing the Church by Ministers ann Lay officers is the onely true Order Those words of Christ Goe tell it to the Church doe shew That censure of incorrigible faults was in the power of every Congregation So 1 Cor. 5. 4 5. c. In the second place to the former question concerning the ordaining of Ministers in every congregation in case there be neither Diocesan Bishops nor Synods to perform it I answer first That most men doe greatly mistake that here which they call Ordination of Ministers The Romanists have scrued it up to one of their seven Sacraments making the Imposition of hands upon the Priests head by the Prelate to be the outward signe of that inward grace which ex opere operato as they say is conferred
judgement zeale courage constancy unity unamity in the love of the Truth that such a perfect Reformation may be wrought as Christ at this time calleth for as his word appointeth as all Gods people every where thirst after and as the whole Antichristian faction is afraid of that so when Christ alone shall be set upon his Throne over our soules to rule us according to his word and to dwell among us by his Spirit the Kings throne may be for ever established in justice and judgement and Gods people in this Land may enjoy both inward and outward peace unto the day of Christ and so our posterity after us may blesse God and for ever call this Parliament The blessed Parliament Let the Reader correct as here he sees cause Errata PAge 4. line 1. reade 3. hundred l. 11. blot out 1. p. 6. l. 12. r. possibly be l. 20. r. as is usuall p. 7. l. 10. r. may be proved p. 11. l. 19. r. truly ancient p. 16. l. 8. r. order sake l. ult. r. of false p. 20. l. 10. r. of Prelates p. 16. l. 11. r. forme of Liturgie p. 24. r. in the Test. l. 26. r. Commandements of men p. 28. l. 23. r. grievances p. 31. l. 18. r. accommodate p. 34. l. 11. r. and is surest p. 38. l. 9. r. out of the way p. 50. l. 16. r. said Articles p. 66. l. 4. r. and lay p. 67. l. 14. r. 〈◊〉 CASES OF CONCIENCE CASE I. Whether Diocesan Bishops as they are commonly called be by Divine right THe answer is negative They are not The reasons are First Because the Scripture knoweth no such creatures as Diocesan Bishops for the Bishops mentioned in Scripture are none other than Presbyters whereof one or moe were set over their several congregations respectively as we clearly reade Tit. 1. 5 7. Act. 20. 17 â—8 So Act. 14. 23. compared with Philip 1. 1. So as Presbyters Bishops in Scripture are convertible termes every Presbyter a Bishop and every Bishop a Presbyter Secondly Because all such prelaticall jurisdiction and domination as our Diocesans usurpe and exercise is expresly forbidden by Christ himselfe as Mat. 20 25 26. Mark 10. 42 43. Luke 22. 25 26. Thirdly Because the Apostles condemned all such jurisdiction and domination as our Prelats use As 2 Cor. 1. 24. 2 Cor. 11. 20. 2 Thess. 2. 4. 1 Pet. 5. 3. 3 Joh. 9. 10. Fourthly Because Apostles themselves whose successors Prelats pretend to be never used any such jurisdiction as the Prelats doe neither in Ordination of Ministers nor in excommunication both which they doe most grosly abuse nor in making of Canons or setting up or imposing of Ceremonies both of meer humane invention which the Apostles utterly condemned Gal. 4. 9. 10. Col. 2. 8 c. Fiftly Because the Prelats are never able to prove by any demonstration from Scripture that their jurisdiction is of Divine authority their allegations are meere pervertings of scripture as they alledge first Christs ordaining twelve Apostles and seventy Disciples here was an inequality say they Ergo a superiority of jurisdiction But neither can hee prove here any such authority as they pretend or much lesse any subordination of the seventy unto the Twelve for the Twelve neither ordained nor sent forth the Seventy Secondly they alledge the post-scripts after the second Epistle to Timothy and after that to Titus which say That those two were Bishops But 't is cleare that those postscripts are no part of the Text as Beza well sheweth Nor are they to be found in the vulgar Latine translation which was at the least an hundred yeares after Christ Timothy and Titus were both Evangelists not resident anywhere but as the Apostles called them from Country to country as we read in Pauls Epistles and if they were to bee called Bishops according to the scripture they must have beene Bishops over one Congregation respectively Thirdly they aledge those seven Angels 1 Revel 2 3. These say they were seven Bishops This they can never prove And if Bishops yet Diocesans they were not seeing for some hundreds of yeares after there were no such Diocesse extant And our last Translation in the contents of the second Chapter of the Revelation calls those Angels the Ministers of those Churches And for the Angel to be meant of one single man doth imply many absurdities as that God should destroy a whole Church for one mans sake for God threatneth the Angell of Ephesus if hee repent not to remove his Candlesticke out of his place to wit that whole Church But God never doth so there is not in all the whole scripture any one example that God ever rooted out a whole State or Church generall or particular for one mans sinne be he Magistrate or Governor And if God for one pretended Prelates sin should remove or destroy a whole Church as that of Ephesus as there he threatens the Angell who alone is charged with one onely sinne which was a declination from his first love Then what security or safety can the whole Church or State of England long promise to it selfe so long as it harboreth in the bosome and bowels thereof such a crew and confederacy of most notorious and apostatised Prelates who have not now declined in some degrees from the faith formerly professed but have openly oppressed and persecuted the Preachers and preaching of the Gospel and that even unto bloud And againe to goe about to proove the lawfulnesse of Prelacy by the Word of God from a word of a darke and figurative signification against cleer and expresse testimonies of Scripture to the contrary is most absurd and too presumptuous For for Angell here to signifie a Prelate cannot possibly because the Scripture elsewhere as before damneth all Prelacy in the Church of Christ And there be many other reasons to confute them that these Angells were no such Bishops other than Scripture Bishops as aforesaid and that which was spoken to one was by a Senechdochae spoken to all as is usually in Scripture and cleare in all those seven Epistles Sixtly The wisest and learnedest of the Prelats at this day among us doe warily decline the Scripture in this point dare not stand to their authority as being point blanke against them but they fly to Custom and antiquity as the Papists doe for all their unwritten Traditions CASE II. Whether the next Age immediately succeeding the Apostles be not a sufficient warrant for Prelaticall jurisdiction seeing it may be mooved say they that there were then Bishops THe Answer is negative first because it is not a sufficient warrant to build the government of the Church upon any Humaine example which hath not expresse warrant from Gods Word Secondly Because those who were there called Bishops cannot be proved to have been Diocesan Bishops or to have had or exercised such a jurisdiction as our Prelates usurpe Thirdly could that be proved yet being not according unto but directly against the Scripture
we ought not to regard it Fourthly the very next age after the Apostles produced many grosse errours and superstitions as Eusebius tells us and as the Apostles premonished Act. 20. 29. yea they complained of it in their own times while they yet lived For the mysterie of Iniquity saith Paul doth already worke c. which mysterie was that of Prelacy as appeares clearely from that Text where the Man of sin who exalts himself over the Church is set forth as the head and top of that mysterie namely of the Hierarchy which is and hath been the Lâ—rna or source of all iniquity And Jerome who lived in the fourth Century said That Prelation over the rest of the Ministers was a thing of humane presumption and not of Divine Ordination and though it was first devised for a remedy against schisme yet it proved in time the greatest schisme that ever was namely the schisme of Antichrist and all his crew of Prelates from Christ the Hierarchy being a meer enmity against Christs kingdome betweene which two there is as great a Chasma or gulfe as between Paradise and Hell CASE III. But seeing Episcopacy is of very great and reverend antiquity as they say is it not best to reduce the present Prelacy to the antient condition of Bishops in the Primitive Church NO unlesse they can proove these Bishops to bee such as Gods Word alloweth Wee reverence that antiquity which is joyned with verity But antiquitie without verity is oldnesse of error as said old Tertullian When one asked Christ If it were lawfull for a man to put away his wife for every cause Christ gave no indulgence at all but reduced that antient abuse among the Iewes to the primitive institution of God in Paradise Secondly The matter in hand is of higher moment than to be regulated by any humane ordinance or reduced to any antiquity other than the Scripture it selfe For the thing here in question concernes no lesse than the honour of Christs Kingdome and his royall prerogative in the government of his kingdome as we shall further see Thirdly that which is originally vicious cannot by tract of time bee made good Custome we see hath not made Prelates better but worse and worse in all ages An evil egge brings forth an evill Bird And Christ saith An evill tree cannot bring forth good fruit And Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit shall bee hewen downe and cast into the fire And Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be plucked up by the roots And Either make the tree good and the fruit good or make the tree evill and the fruit evill If therefore the tree of Prelacie be originally and in its owne nature evill as having no foundation in Scripture as being none of Gods planting it ought to be so far from being a patterne for its antiquity as it ought utterly to be rooted up as being a novelty and not antiquity for that only is truly currant which is antiently true CASE IV. But if the Prelacy be plucked up and quite taken away what government shall be left for the Church of God FOr resolution whereof wee are to consider these necessary things First That that Government alone be set forth which Christ himselfe hath left us in his Word For who but the King and Law-giver of his Church and kingdome of Grace should give Lawes and appoint how it shall be governed Secondly we are not to think that Christ who was the Law-giver of the Old Testament was not also the Law-giver of the New and hath left us sufficient direction therin for the government of his people both for faith and manners Now in the Old Testament all must bee done according to the Pattterne shewed to Moses in the Mount even to the least pin in the Tabernacle So also for the Temple and the forme thereof David received all in writing by the Spirit of God 1 Chr. 28. 12. 19. No place is left nor power given to men to invent any thing or impose the least ceremony in the worship of God So in the New Testament is layd downe a perfect platforme of wholsome words which is profitable for doctrine for reproofe for correction for instruction in righteousnesse that the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto every good worke CASE V. But we see great difference in mens opinions concerning that forme of Government which Christ hath left in his Word What then shall we do in this case or what is that forme of Governement which we shall pitch upon FOr answere hereunto first however all such governement as is contrary unto and expresly condemned in the Word of God such as the Hierarchy is ought in no case to be admitted or maintained Secondly as wee cannnot doubt but that Christ hath left an exact prescript forme of governement in his Word for the Church of the New Testament so we ought diligently in the use of all good meanes to enquire after that good old way and to finde as much of it as wee can and to follow what we know Thirdly if after all our search there be not a full agreement in all godly mens judgements in some things which seem somwhat more difficult or doubtfull we must not therefore either reject so much as is cleare or yet breake Communion and fellowship with those Churches which differ from us in judgement or practise so long as they maintaine not any government which cannot be warranted by the Word of God holding that rule of the Apostle Let us saith he as many as be perfect be thus minded God shall reveale even this unto you Neverthelesse whereto we have already attained let us walke by the same rule let us mind the same thing CASE VI How can the Church be without prelates in these respects especially 1. For ordaining of Ministers 2. For inflicting of Censures 3. For calling of Synods 4. For determining of doubts arising in matters of Faith 5. In appointing of Ceremonies 6. For Orders sake 7. For Confirmation of children 8. For dedication of Churches 9 For the forme of Doctrine FOr answer hereunto First in generall there is no need at all of any such Officers in the Church as are not of any divine Institution as Prelats are not as aforesaid yea such officers in stead of any profitable usefulnesse are most unprofitable and pernicious as the Lord saith to false Prophets I have not sent them therfore they shall not profit this people at all Secondly and particularly First Prelates are no way requisite or necessary for ordaining of Ministers First because they ordaine rather a new order of Priests than true Ministers for which cause the Booke of Ordination calls them Priests whereas true Ministers are never called in the new Testament priests Secondly They ordaine no true Ministers of the Gospell if wee may beleeve their practise but rather a sort of dumbe Priests for when they have ordained a
full Minister as they call it having put the Bible into his hand saying Take thou authority to preach the Word of God yet for all this hee may not must not preach at all till he have obtained the Prelates License which he must purchase for a good fee Again they make such Priests as are dumb dogs and cannot barke being meere Ignoramuses and Sir John-Lacke-Latines abusing those words Receive thou the holy Ghost And Take thou authority to preach the Word of God And lastly They make no true Ministers of Christ seeing they bind all with the Oath of Canonicall obedience to be subject to their lawlesse laws in the execution of their Ministry Secondly There is no use nor need of Prelates for inflicting of Censures Their power practise of Excommunication is altogether unlawfull a meere usurpation and contrary to Gods Ordinance and that in many respects First because the Prelate is not the Pastor of that Congregation whose member is cut off by Excommunication Because the Prelate doth it alone hee or his Surrogate and this perhaps either a Lay-man or a dumb priest without any consent of the people Thirdly he excommunicates a man for every triviall cause that without due summons rashly and for his fee absolves him without any repentance or reformation without satisfaction to the people offended Whereas excōmunication is the highest censure is to be done by the Minister congregation joyntly after much means used to reclaim the offēdor for grievous scandals not to be restored without hearty repētance in a sad serious solemn maner Lastly if Prelats for the causes here alledged be of no use for the high censure of excommunication how much lesse need is there of thē for inflicting corporall or criminall punishment upon reputed Delinquents as deprivation of liberty by imprisonmēt of the ministry by deprivation degradation suspēsion deprivation of means and livelihood by imposing of intolerable fines and restraining men from the exercise of their particular Calling to the undoing of them and theirs Thirdly for calling of Synods cannot this bee without a Prelate may not this be by a Law dormant giving liberty when occasion shall be to have a Synod for the better ordering whereof a Moderator for the time being is by votes elected Fourthly For determining of doubts arising in matters of Faith what need is there for Prelats Are they fit or competent Iudges in such things Yea are they not herein egregious usurpers presumptuous and arrogant men Yea Antichrists in sitting thus in the Temple of God over mens consciences as Lords over mens faith Is not this a meere evacuating of the authoritie and sufficiencie of the Scripture which is the sole judge and rule of Faith Yet this Prelates presume to doe and challenge as their proper right so as in the twentieth Article which is of the Authority of the Church these words have beene of later dayes foisted in namely that the Church hath authority in Controversies of faith Fiftly Neither in appointing of Ceremonies are Prelates needfull Yea for prelates or Church or any humane power to ordaine and impose Ceremonies to binde the consciences in the worship of God this is expressely condemned and forbidden both by Christ himselfe and by the Prophets and by the Apostles Man may not impose the least Ceremony in Gods worship if hee doe he therein denies Christ Col. 2. 19. he holds not the Head And yet the aforesaid Article boldly affirmes saying The Church hath power to decree Rites and Ceremonies So as this Article whether meaning by Church the Prelates as they meane it or any other humane power ought to be to Christians no article of Faith or binding any mans Conscience Sixtly For orders sake for what order-sake are Prelates necessary or any way requisit what order they keep all men know what order can there be in a Babylonish goverment as the prelatical altogether is 7. For confirmation of children This also is a Babylonish Sacramēt as if it did confer some grace ex opere operato or some vertue dropping out of the Bishops Lawn sleeve Indeed this confirmation is a pretty knack to win credit to the Prelacy frō the blinde Vulgar which to everie wel taught Christian is both superstitious and ridiculous 8 For dedication of Churches this is a most notorious Romish Popish superstition is rather a meer prophanation than any dedication except it be to superstition idolatry as they at Rome do use their Temples they would make the world beleeve that by their many superstitious ceremonies in crossings censings adorations the like which they use in their dedication there goes forth a vertue by which holynes is infused into the wals pews especially into their sacred chancel Ninthly for the form of Liturgy if we goe no farther than our Service booke which is an extract out of Romes Latine service Missall or Masse-booke as it is confessed in the Booke of Martyrs the Romane Latine being turned into English if there were no more in it than this that it is the forme of Romes Worship and so as King Iames once called it an ill sayd Masse it might a little startle such Christians as hold that Christianity to be the purest which hath least conformitie with Antichrist and his superstitiōs For if wee be commanded to come out of Rome to have no communion with her idolatrous service let it then be well considered whether Christians may with a good conscience be present at the English Liturgy which is for the maine the Masse turned into English For although it be objected that it is purged from the Popish drosse yet if it should be brought to the Touchstone or tried in the Text let the wisest then judge how free from Popish drosse it is when therein they shall finde Romish superstitious Ceremonies maintained and prest upon mens consciences as the Surplice Crosse in Baptisme kneeling at the Sacrament standing at the Creed attended with their severall significations as if man had a power to set up any significant Ceremonies in Gods worship when as wee finde all kinde of signes and ceremonies in Gods service under the Old Testament though ordained by God himselfe to be utterly abolished by Christ and forbidden to Christians under the New Testament and much more all such as are of humane invention all which are of that nature as the Apostle cals them the Yoke of Bondage to such as are intangled therein exhorting all Christians to stand fast in the libertie wherewith Christ hath made us free And Col. 2. he plainly shewes all such ordinances to be an evacuation of Christs death and so an apostacie from Christ And no Christian I hope will plead for the use of humane ordinances in Gods worship when Christ hath abrogated all ceremonies of divine institution and hath left no footstep for any one Ceremonie in the New Testament and flatly condemns all commandements of men
withall stript of his office and so of his flock wherof another now is made the Overseer or Bishop and the title and Office of a Curate onely is left him according to the Collect for Bishops and Curates Or if there be a mentall reservation to every Minister of a congregation of the office of Pastorship yet when the title of Bishop is given to one above him even thus also is an invasion made upon Christs owne title and prerogative who is the onely {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the chiefe Shepheard or chiefe Bishop of his Church besides whom and above whom all the Pastors acknowledge none And if of Pastors some onely be called Bishops and the rest not here also Christs sheepehooke is wrung out of his hand as where he is called the Shepheard and Bishop of our soules So easie a thing it is by the alienation or impropriation of a name to set up such an office and government in the Church as wherby Christs government the proper office of his true Ministers are cast to the ground trampled under foot Moreover if ever this governement of Bishops falsly so called shall bee set up or continued in maner aforesaid yet farre bee it from those Worthies of the land whose justice is so cleare and unpartiall in other things and namely in the cutting off of all Monopolies in the civill State to erect or ratifie or any way to countenance such a Monopoly in Christs kingdome so derogatory to his incommunicable prerogative and to that stile and office wherein he hath so highly dignified and intrusted all faithful Ministers For what a Monopoly is this to take away the title wherein the Office of all true Pastors is comprehended and to transfer it to one alone among many Ob. But here it may be objected That the Reformed Churches beyond the seas as even Geneva it selfe have their Overseers which is a title and office equivalent to our Diocesan Bishops Episcopus signifying an Overseer why then is it not as lawfull to have the like in England I answer The case is farre different for such Overseers or Moderators as in other reformed Churches they are called as in the Kirke of Scotland are chosen by the Ministers and Elders and that but for one yeare and whose office is to call the Synods at certaine fixed times and to collect the votes the like But some say that our usurping Bishops shall bee perpetuall for their lives and how farre the power of their place and dignity may be extended especially when they have their election from the Court either immediate and absolute per se or by the means of a Conge de lier as whom so designed above the Ministers of the Diocesse in stead of the Deane and Chapter are bound to elect Or if they be but Triennial so to come under the visitation of a Trienniall Parliament yet who knows but such spirits may so work as in time to make Parliaments as geason as heretofore when some of them have confessed that they never dreamed to see a Parliament againe Or if they shall be continued from three yeare to three yeare yet this is also more than is used in forreine Reformed Churches And however for them to retaine the name of Bishop still as before is against Gods Word and not onely derogatory to Christs true Ministers for the present but also very prejudiciall to their liberty when such Bishops holding their favor in Court and their neerenesse to the Chaire of State may by that means grow awfull to those their Curates among whom some and perhaps too many may be found ready to prostitute their officiousnesse unto their Bishop in stead of Christ out of a hope to be made the heires apparant of the Bishopricke which though it be now cropt and deplumed yet will be still a bait for ambition which must be doing and will rather play small game than sit out All which considered I leave it to the Wise to judge what may bee the consequents thereof whether by this means either we or our children may come to see as great corruption both in doctrine and manners as now we doe For as I sayd before the time may come when God in his justice may deny this State the like opportunity so armed with a necessity of reformation as we neither could have wished nor any more can hope for to reforme Episcopall insolencie Or suppose a possibility of Prelates to become no worse than as the Parliament shall leave them yet the least rag of Prelacie making a rent in Christs coat as it beeing the head of such a Government as is condemned by the Word of God ought no more to be pieced to Christs livery seeing it destroyeth Christian liberty both in Ministers and people And all this I say ariseth from the very name of Bishop so misplaced for which cause it ought to be with the whole Bishopricke utterly extirped and that no lesse than the heathen Romans rooted out the very name of the Tarquins for the tiranny which they had exercised CASE X. Whether the whole Hierarchy being abolished the 39 Articles which were agreed upon in 62 by the Archbishops and Bishops c. in both Provinces doe any longer binde or that Ministers are bound to subscribe unto them I Answer First That these 39 articles taken conjunctim together no man can with a good conscience rightly informed subscribe unto them For secondly There be some of those articles which are very false as Article 20 which saith The Church hath power to decree Rites and Ceremonies and authority in Controversies of faith Both which are false as before is noted and were added since the same article was first made in King Edward the sixt his dayes Againe the 36 Article is no lesse false which saith The booke of ordination of Archbishops and Bishops and ordering of Priests c. doth containe all things necessary to such consecration and ordering Neither hath it anything that of it selfe is superstious and ungodly And therefore all so consecrated and ordered according to the Rites prescribed c. wee decree to bee rightly orderly and lawfully consecrated and ordered Now to this article all Ministers subscribe although they be false Bishops consecrated after the order of Rome and false Priests that are by false bishops so ordered Thirdly Art 3. it is sayd As Christ died for us and was buried so is it to be beleeved that he went down into hell Which going downe into hell imports a locall going downe into the place of hell which hath no proof in Scripture nor holds any proportion or analogie of faith but crosseth the truth of Scripture and the current of all sound interpreters and therefore not to bee beleeved as Christs death and buriall Fourthly some Articles are made of late by the enemies of grace the Prelates of so doubtfull and double a sence as those especially about Grace and Freewill that they have procured a
Declaration prefixed before the Articles in the Kings name prohibiting the free preaching of those points according to the Scriptures So as Ministers canot resolve what it is they subscribe unto in the sayd Article And therefore it is necessary that the said false Articles be wholly expunged and the doubtful as they pretend more fully explained and so the said Declaration prefixed taken away CASE XI Now all this done and the whole Antichristian yoke in the Prelacy with the burthen of all their Rites and Ceremonies removed from Christians neckes what is that particular form of government which is to be set up FOr answer First we premised something hereof in generall namely That Christs governement alone is to be set up in all true Christian congregations and so his yoke to be borne as our glory upon our neckes But secondly for further and a more particular unfolding of this government of Christ over every true Church or congregation First we are to enquire what the true Church of Christ is And secondly what is that governement which Christ hath appointed over every such Church For the first A true Church of Christ is a congregation of true beleevers men and women who by the Word of God preached are separated from the world and the reigning lusts thereof and declared to be such by the open profession of the true and right faith and by the conversation of Christian life conformable thereunto Such is a particular visible true Church or Congregation and so is as farre as wee can judge a true branch of the holy Catholique Church which is invisible comprehending the number of Gods Elect and is apprehended only by faith not by sight Now every such particular Congregation as aforesaid consisting of professed beleevers of the knowne truth of God according to which they frame the course of their life and conversation is in it selfe an absolute Church whose onely Governor for matters of faith and the true worship of God is Iesus Christ He it is that as King reigneth in this congregation and in all the members therof they acknowledge none other Governor for matters of Religion but Christ onely For herein stands his kingly Office and the Laws by which this King reigneth and governeth his Church is his written Word And his Vicegerent by whom Christ is alwayes present with every one of his severall Congregations is the holy Ghost which who so hath not is none of Christs Now having thus defined what a true Church of Christ is namely a congregation professing the known true faith every member thereof being able in some measure to give a reason of the maine points of faith and to make proofe of their profession by walking in a holy course of life hence it appeares who they be that are not admitted to bee members of this congregation or church of Christ therein to participate of the holy Sacrament untill their repentance and reformation namely all ignorant and prophane persons which neither beleeve a right nor live accordingly For the congregation of Christ is called the Communion of Saints being sanctified by faith in Christ and by his word and Spirit The second thing is to enquire and consider how this Church of Christ is to be governed To finde this out is no difficulty First sure it is that none but Christ is supreme and immediate Lord King and Governor of his Church whether of the Catholique or of every particular church or congregation rightly constituted as aforesaid so as no power on earth hath any authority to prescribe Lawes for the governement of this Church whether for doctrine or discipline whether for faith or worship but onely Christ whose written Word and Law is the onely rule of this government which Law all Princes who are therefore called Custodes utriusque Tabulae are bound by him whose Vicegerents they are to see well observed both by Ministers and people Here then wee will speake of the Officers which Christ hath appointed over every Christian congregation and those are either Ministers or other officers of the people First for the Ministers they are called by sundry titles as a Bishops or Presbyters b Pastors and Teachers c Ministers d Labourers and the like Their principall office is to pray to preach the word to administer the Sacraments And these Ministers however stiled in Scripture are all of equall authority not one over another nor one over many nor many over one each being in his place peculiar congregation under Christ alone as the King of his Church to whom he is accountable and under Christ to the civill Magistrate as being a subject But here a question may be moved whether a Synod of Ministers or of the churches have not power over any one Minister and so over all the Congregations either to censure particular persons or congregations or to prescribe and impose orders Rites Canons or the like For answer Some are of opinion that a Synod hath authoritie to binde particular churches to such rites as they shall prescribe and impose And they alledge that Synod or assembly of the Apostles wherein were determined certaine observances which they sent and imposed on the churches of the new convert Gentiles as necessary for them to observe some wherof were Iewish ceremonies Hence they conclude That a Synod collected of the churches hath power over particular churches to ordaine and impose ceremonies as necessary to bee observed But this act of the Apostles is no president or patterne for succeeding ages The reason is first because the Apostles were inspired with the holy Ghost which wholly guided them in all matters of the Church so as in that their determination they say expressely It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us to lay upon you no greater burthen Now what Synod in any age after the Apostles could ever say that they were infallibly inspired and assisted by the holy Ghost If any can infallibly assure me hereof that a Synod after the Apostles cannot erre but that they can truly say It pleased the holy Ghost and us then I will obey all their Decrees Secondly That injunction of the holy Ghost and of the Apostles was but {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} for that present time for the avoyding of offences betweene Iewes and Gentiles who in every city conversed together Which James the Apostle alledgeth for the only reason of that determination But we reade not in all the writings of the Apostles afterward that they either ordained or imposed the least rite or ceremonie to bee observed in any of the Churches of God yea they expressely condemned all such ordinances as before is shewed But here another question ariseth If particular congregations be not subject to bee ruled by Synods or the like jurisdiction what order can be expected or what meanes is left for ordaining of Ministers over every congregation For answer briefely First for order What better or
upon the Priest And even many Protestants are of opinion that Ordination cannot be performed but by a Prelate or at least by Ministers onely as without whose imposition of hands it were no Ordination or as if it did confer such an order Whereas the prime and proper conferring of this Order is by Christ himselfe inwardly calling and gifting a man for the work of the Ministry Secondly then what is that {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} ordaining and appointing of Ministers and {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the Imposition of hands which the Scripture speakes of I answer {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} signifying properly a stretching out of the hand it was used either in lifting up of the hands in token of sufferage in election of officers or in stretching out of the hand upon the head of the man chosen for confirmation Also when it was used by the Apostles it pleased God to bestow therwith the gifts of the holy Ghost and on some recovery of health This was very frequent in the Apostles times But afterwards in successive ages there was no such gift annexed to the laying on of hands Secondly Therefore it was of use according to its antient and ordinary custome in sufferages in elections of officers to declare assent and approbation of those for such and such places when after prayer hands were layd on them But by whom was this Imposition of hands used at the choice of Ministers I answer By those who gave their sufferages or votes to the election and those were sometimes the congregation it selfe and sometime others at their request joyning with them as we reade Act. cap. 6. 5 6. And all Ecclesiasticall stories tell us that antiently the election of Ministers was by every congregation respectively So as to them also of right belonged the laying of their hands as a token of their approbation and confirmation of him that was so chosen to that office And though we reade in one place That the Apostle layd his hands upon Timothy as 2 Tim. 1. 6. yet in another we reade as 1 Tim. 4. 14. that the Presbyterie layd their hands upon him Which Presbyterie comprehends as well the Elders of the people as those of the Ministry Accordingly wee exclude not the Elders or Ministers of other neighboring congregations from joyning in that worke for assistance especially in prayer for a blessing upon the new chosen Minister For so farre must we be from excluding any in this kinde that wee highly commend consociation and communication of gifts for assistance where it may be conveniently had Onely reserving to each congregation that peculiar interest and right which every true Church of Christ hath in chusing their owne Ministers and other Church officers And this stands with good reason for not onely antiquity both in and from the Apostles times pleadeth for this but even naturall reason and equity For reason willeth that such as chuse should ratifie Secondly Those who give the maintenance should chuse the Officer Thirdly Who have commonly better Ministers than those Congregations that upon good advice and counsell chuse them themselves Fourthly Where is greater love betweene Minister and people than where the liberty of such a choyce is enjoyed Fiftly What vertue at any time doth a Prelates imposition of hands adde to Ministers so ordained by him Or what bee those Ministers whom Prelates usually place over the people And I would aske any reasonable Christian whether hee would not rather have the approbation prayer and imposition of hands of the poorest godly man than of the most glorious Prelate Yea though hee were stiled even Grace it selfe For as James saith The effectuall fervent prayer of a righteous man prevaileth much It is not sayd The prayer of a great or learned man CASE XII How far may and ought true reformed Christian Congregations to hold communion among themselves and with other Reformed Churches FOr answer in generall First in generall it is agreeable to good and approved examples in Scripture to make firme leagues and faithfull Covenants for the maintenance of the true faith and religion of Christ See for this 2 Chron. 15. 12 13. and Chapter 34. 31 32 33. Ezra 10. 3 Nehem. cap. 9. 38. Severally in particular It stands both with Christian piety and prudence for all the members of a particular Church or congregation to enter into a firme covenant among themselves to maintain a holy communion together in the profession of the truth and practise of a holy life as becommeth the communion of Saints Thirdly It stands with the like Christian piety and prudence to hold a sweet and inviolable bond and communion with all other churches or congregations rightly constituted as we conceive according to Christs ordinance and walking according unto it Fourthly If there be any Christian Churches that doe in some small circumstances differ from us in that forme of government which wee conceive and beleeve Christ hath set up in his Word so as therein they may seem to come short of that exactnesse that is required nor yet are able to attaine unto it either in regard of some outward difficultie or human imperfection and frailty the judgement being as yet not fully enlightned and perswaded concerning which the Apostles rule is Let every man bee fully perswaded in his owne minde wee do notwithstanding not with-hold from them the right hand of fellowship but hold communion with them as the churches of Christ they holding the Orthodox Truth and the substance of the government which is suteable to the Church of Christ and joyning with us against the Common Adversaries of the Gospell concluding with that excellent saying of our Savior Christ They that are not against us are on our part The EPILOGVE or Conclusion HAving thus freely and faithfully though briefely as the present straits of time would permit declared what I have and doe conceive and beleeve concerning Christs kingdome and that forme and frame of the government thereof in his Church as I finde it recorded in the Scripture whereof I am in my conscience fully perswaded as my earnest prayer and trust is That Christ by his spirit and Word will leade his into all truth necessary to salvation so my hope is that however perhaps those things which I have here delivered according to the simplicity of my conscience will not so bee relished of all but that they wil seem bitter especially to the ignorant and carnall minded who savour not the things of Christ yet my confidence is that all the wise hearted and wel affected to Iesus Christ For If any man love not the Lord Iesus Christ that is love not to have Iesus Christ set up as Lord over their soules let him be Anathema Maranatha will embrace Christs yoke and to the uttermost of their power labour to advance his throne in all Churches or if that through Sathans malice cannot bee effected yet that they will set him up as sole Lord and King over their owne soules and so will joyne in communion with all those that doe or shall desire heere to serve Iesus Christ according to that purity of conscience which is required in every true Christian as the Apostle professed of himselfe and in that way wherein the name of Christ shall bee most magnified and his kingdome exalted heere on earth And this shall the better be done if a Law be made this present Parliament that as Antichrists kingdome in the Prelacy shall and must be cast out so Christs kingdom may bee freely set up in this kingdome while his people even as many as will are suffered freely to enjoy Christs Ordinances in their puritie and so may at length recover that Christian liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and for which his precious bloud was poured forth and whereof this Land by the Hierarchy hath beene till now deprived it being our hearts desire rather to live under Christs governement in this our owne native Countrey than for want thereof bee forced to flye into forreigne parts where how can wee so sweetely enjoy Christ without the bitter remembrance of our Native Soile which wee shall never cease to wish worse unto than to our owne Soules FINIS Acts 15. 16. Ezra 5. 6. Nehem. 4. Cum reflavit affligimur Cic. So D. Hall in his Booke of Episcopacie 2 Thess. 2. 7. Mat. 19. 3. Mat. 7. 17. Mat. 15. 13. Mat. 12. 33. 2 Ti. 1. 13. 3. 16. Phil. 3. 15 16 Ier. 23. 32. Mat. 18. 17. 1 Cor. 5. Mat. 15. 9. Ecc. 29. 13. Col. 2. 8. 18. Vol. 2. p. 667. print ed. 1631 Gal. 4. 9 10. Col. 2. 16. Gal. 5. 1. 1 Thess. 5. 1 Cor. 14. 15 * Ier. Heb. 12. 1 Sam. 1 King 1 pet. 5. 4. 1 Pet. 2. 25. Rom. 8. Act. 26. a Act. 20. Tit. 1. 5. 7. b Eph. 4. 11. c Luke 1. 2. 2 Cor. 11. 23. d Luk. 10. 7. 1 Cor. 3. 9. Act. 6. 4. Mat. 28. 20. Act. 20. 7. Mat. 20. 25 26. Heb. 13. 17. Quest Answ. Act. 15. Act. 15. 28. Act. 15. 21. Rom. 13. 1 Pet. 2. 14. * D. Hall in his Episcopacy by Divine right Act. 8. 17. Mar. 16. 18. Iam. 5. 16. Mark 9. 40. 1 Cor. 16. 22. 2 Tim. 1. 3.