of basest men In good earnest I would thank any man that can shew me one good Antiquity to countenance such Delegation of an entrusted Office to Deputies specially to such Deputies as themselves doe not cannot trust Doth any man dare or can any man think it fit to Delegate the Tuition or Education of a tender Prince committed to his Charge or Care by his Royall Father I beseech you Is not the flock of Christ stiled by the Spirit of Christ An Holy Priesthood a Royall People Shall it then bee fit or lawfull For any man to transmit this Trust to any whomsoever especially to such a crue of faithlesse Hirelings God forbid SECT II. CHAP. III. I shall passe their Sole Iurisdiction also being the Common Theame of all that write of this Question specially when I finde some of themselves disclaime that Epithet of Sole and if they can bee content to leave This out I have lesse to speak against them Wee come to Ordination or to speak as they use though some of them love not to heare of it Sole-Ordination This is the main Master-piece of all Episcopacy All things else in the Church they yeeld equally committed to Presbyters onely Imposition of Hands they say is solely retayned to the Bishop so Downham Bilson and of late One of their owne that offers to yeeld the Cause for one example of Lawfull Ordination by Presbyters without a Bishop One Example what dare he say France Belgium no parts of Germany hath Lawfull Ordination though by sole Presbyters without Bishops Downham is somewhat more moderate and yeelds such Orders Lawfull but in case of Necessity or at least some great Exigency in which hee hath the Charity to include the Reformed Churches abroad though as hee saith They are of age and might speake for themselves But they urge us to shew Antiquity allowing any such Ordination without a Bishop It hath beene shewed and yet never answered that I know that some Councels have intimated enough Presbyters were wont of old to Ordaine without Bishops As that of Ancyra Can. 1â— It shall not bee lawfull for Choriepiscopi or Presbyters to Ordain without consent of the Bishop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for so the words are in Balsamon though some of themselves translate the words very strangely Which cleerly intimates That before this Canon Presbyters and Choriepiscopi who had not still Ordination from three Bishops though some had so did usually Ordaine without the Bishops leave much more without his presence and that too in Other parishes besides their Owne Else it is strange the Councell should now forbid it if It had never beene done before Nay the Canon doth not now absolutely forbid it which is much to bee marked but onely commands the Bishop's leave should bee asked to all such Ordinations But if This Imposition of hands were a Sole property of Bishops as now some make it the Bishop could not give leave or depute others to doe it For This even among themselves is a received Axiome Episcopus potest delegare ea quae sunt Iurisdictionis non ea quae sunt Ordinis Hitherto also may be refer'd all those Canons that require Presbyters to Lay on their hands with the Bishop in Ordination As Can. 3. Concil Carth. about the yeare 418. and that of Aken 400. yeares after Yea and this was the practice of the Church in St. Cyprians time as appeares by his 6. and 58. Epist. So Ierome in his Epistle to Rome and St. Ambrose among his Epistles Book 10. Yea and This is our Law also which requires â—â—oadjutors to Bishops in Ordination Consonant doubtlesse to the most Antient practice of the Primitive Church even in the â—postles Times as appeares by that of Paul to Timothy on whom were laid the Hands of the Presbytery not of the Presbyterate or one Presbyter as learned Mr. Thorndick not onely yeelds but proves who yet is no enimy to Bishops Neither could I ever finde one good Antiquity against Ordination by Presbyters or for Sole Ordination by Bishops I finde indeed Collythus and some others Un-priested by Councels because Ordained by Presbyters alone but That Act of the Presbyters was done in faction against the Bishop and their fellow Brethren Yea and in most cases if not in all Those Orders so annul'd by Councels were confer'd by One Priest alone and so were indeed as unlawfull as if by one Bishop alone I might adde that some Great men of good Note have strongly maintained all those Councels erred which so Unpreisted Those that had beene Ordained by a Presbyter or Presbyters without a Bishop Amongst These are some of Note in the Popish Church It being a Common Instance among the School-men disputing Whether Orders once confer'd could be annul'd and they all conclude the contrary Yea and many of These also strongly prove that Priests may as well Ordain as Bishops and their Reason seemes very good for say they Seeing a Preist can Consecrate and by Consecration Transubstantiate which is more Why can hee not also Administer the Sacrament of Orders which is lesse Yea and some of them dare affirme Neither Bishop nor Pope can licence Priests to give Ordination except The Power of Ordination bee de jure in Presbyters For They all yeeld the Pope himselfe cannot licence One that is not a Preist to Consecrate the Hoste because none but Preists have That Power of Consecration And a Licence doth not confer Orders without Imposition of hands as They all grant Fâ—r my owne part I ever thought That of Bucer most Rationall Deus non simpliciter singularibus Personis sed Ecclesiae Ordinandi potestatem tradidit For so indeed it seemes the Work of the whole Church who are to Elect to testifie also and seale their Election by Laying on their hands And the Presbytery are but the Churches servants in This Act. I could heartily wish It were reduced to This againe which I fully conceive to be most agreeable to Right Reason Scripture and All Good untainted Antiquity Yet till This be again restored I much desire the Prelates would leave off some of the Ceremonies which I hear they use in it though not by Law I think lest they drive all good men from taking Orders SECT II. CHAP. IV. I Shall now passe from this kinde of Church Antiquity and passe to the best Antiquity the infallible Truth of God in Holy Scripture In it I shall shew there is little for much against Bishops whether we consider the Name or Office of a Bishop as now it is setled The Name I finde but foure times in all the New Testament In Two of which the Name is so indifferently used that it maketh nothing towards an issue of This Question Those are 1 Tim. 3. vers 1 2 3. and 1 Pet. 2.25 And what can be gained from hence truly I see not In the other places it maketh against them as I shall shew more at large by and by But the Word Elder a true Bishop is used
When Paul writes to the Church of the Thessalonians 1 Thes. 5. v. 27. commanding That Epistle to be read to all the holy Brethren the Church of the Thessalonians should have Jurisdiction over other Churches which truely I doe not thinke to be a strong Argumentation Secondly the Word is taken collectively for the Assembly and charge of Ministers and not for One as appeareth evidently Revel 2. v. 24. He saith speaking to the Angel To you and to the rest in Thyatira he puts the Angel in the plurall number which hee would not have done had he written to a single Bishop Thirdly these Epistles are written to the whole Church for the threats and promises are read to them and the Epiphonema of every Epistle is this he that hath an eare let him heare what is spoken to the Churches But yet if this superscription could give any advantage to the Angel it would but extend to his owne congregation The Laodicean Angel hath no influence upon the Philadelphian or the Smyrnite and if that be not proved nothing is gained in the point of Episcopacy except it could be proved that these Angels had in their care many congregations under these particular Churches which never hath nor ever will appeare I hope it is manifest to all men that they cannot establish Episcopacy by Scripture Secondly there is much in Scripture against them For the word Elder and Bishop is all one Tit. 1. ver 7. For this cause left I thee in Creet that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting and ordaine Elders in every City as I had appinted thee for a Bishop must be blamelesse as the Steward of God First he sheweth Titus what manner of man an Elder must be viz Blamelesse and now proveth it because a Bishop must be blamelesse As if I should write to Thomas to live soberly because a Man must be sober it necessarily followeth that Thomas is a man So that Phil. 1. he writes to the Bishops and Deacons at Philippi Is it probable that a little Towne in Macedonia should have many Bishops when one Bishop must have many Cities in his Dioces Those Who translated the Bible foresaw This And therefore Acts 20. They have translated the word Episcopus an Over-seer Yet in other places they translate it Bishop And the Jesuites say Piae fraudes sunt licitae The carriage of the Apostles in severall places is remarkable when they come to a City as Acts 20. They send for the Elders of the Church never thinking of a Bishop he is so inconsiderable a man These places I hope make cleerely against them So now I will endeavour to shew what the Scripture holdeth forth for Church Government SECT II. CHAP. V. IN this search you will agree that the Government is fixed there where you shall see setled the plenary and absolute power of Election of Officers Decision of controversies and Excommunication of those that transgresse This you will find ministerially in the Officers But initiativè virtualiter conclusivè in the People The Officers are called Overseers Rulers and Elders c. Some of these are to preach and administer the Sacraments others to watch over mens manners others to serve Tables and looke to the poore All these are chosen by the People but whensoever by their industry any delinquency is discovered the whole matter is brought to the Church and there the people and Elders doe passe their definitive sentence Examine but where election of Officers decision of controversies excommunication of members are recorded and you shall have them all in the Church not representative but in the whole Church consisting of Officers and other members As first for election Acts 1.15 Peter speaketh to the People and telleth them they must choose one in Iudas his place and ver 23. It is said They appointed Two It is true the lot divided which of them two should be the man a course in the like case not unlawfull to us at this day But the reducing of it to Two was the act of the Church though Peter was amongst them So afterwards Timothy received his Evangelicall gift by the Imposition of Presbyteriall hands which Presbyters were in this worke the servants of one present Congregation Secondly Decision of Controversies either in cases of Conscience or in point of manners In cases of Conscience when Paul and Barnabas had no small difference about Circumcision they sent to Jerusalem where the Apostles Elders and Brethren meeting together joyntly returned that answer which you finde Acts 15 23.24.2◠Some would presse this place this act of the Apostles further and give to every Synod a Commanding Power because it is said Act. 15.28 It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us to lay no further burden upon you Therefore they say a Synod hath a commanding and burdening Power But I cannot consent to that for then the major part of the Churches in Europe Africa Prester Iohns Country might meet and command all the Churches of Christ which God forbid in what they pleased and that jure divino for God when hee giveth a rule to his Church hee speaketh to the whole Church of Christ and not to any particular Congregation I only presse it thus farre That the People were joyned even with the Apostles in that Great Synod The Commanding power of the Synod lay in this that the Apostles speak the minde of the Holy Ghost But such authority is not left in us and therefore no such Obligation upon others Truly if there were such a power left us I should with much scurple resist any act of such Government whereof I could make a good construction For many times the power Commanding is more dangerous than the thing Commanded but there is no such power Neither as I said before doe I presse it with such a designe In cases of Civill converse Mat. 18.17 Wee must make our addresses to the Church and hee that will not heare the Church must be as a Publican In that place the greatest dispute will be What is meant by the Church for some will say Here is meant the Church representativè either in more as the Presbytery or in one as the Bishop and not the Church at large But I would labour to evince the contrary Weigh either the Context or the generall signification of the word Church and I hope the true sense will be manifest For Let us see how Church is taken in the Scripture It is used sometimes figurativè and sometimes properly Figurativè as when a particular house is called a Church As the Church in his house Rom. 16.5 Secondly When by Synecdoche the head is put for the whole as Christ is called the Church 1 Cor. 12.12 Thirdly Collectivè When all the Churches of Christ are called the Church 1 Cor. 10.32 It is used perhaps under some other figures but it will bee long to quote them all Secondly It is used Properly in two phrases First When the Congregation is
name of a Civill Lord with which bare name or shadow I fight not but also a vast unweldy I had almost sayd unlimited Power in Civill Government which must needes draw on a mighty Traine and cloath it selfe with glorious Robes of long extended and magnifique stiles scarce to be marshal'd by a better Herald than Elibu who could give no Titles Or in the last place which should be first a true faithfull Overseer that over one single Congregation hath a joynt care with the Elders Deacons and rest of the Assembly who are all fellow helpers yea servants each to others faith This last is a Bishop of the first Institution of Christs allowance setled in divers Churches even in the Apostles times The first is of the second Century when Doctrine Discipline all Religion began to waine For even then Mysterious Antichrist was not onely conceived but beganne to quicken The second rose last though first intended by the Churches Enemy Rising up while the world was busie looking all one way as amaz'd at the new Beast successour to the Dragon This is now our Adversary One monstrously compounded of different yea opposite Offices and those the greatest both Ecclesiasticke and Civill for which he seemes no way able no way fit and that for many reasons which may be brought from Scripture Church-Antiquity State-Policy I shall begin with the last as that I now ayme at most Here let us view our Bishop a while as a private man before his Office Next as a Lord over Church and State in his Office Then with some necessary Consequents to his Office as now it is exercised in this Kingdome Thus shall we quickly judge how sutable to true Policy of State are either the Antecedents Concomitants or Consequents of this too officious two-headed Bishop Antecedents to his Office are his Birth Education Election Ordination c. Concomitants or rather Ingredients we may call that almost illimited power both Intensive in sole Ordination Jurisdiction Directive by Injunctions Canons c. Corrective by Excommunication Suspension Deprivation c As also Extensive over so vast a Diocesse Hither also wee may referre his power Iuridicall or Legislative in Parliament Judiciall in many Great yea Civill Tribunals And of all monsters most ugly his power Delegative then which this sunne hath seene nothing more monstrous at least as of late it hath beene exercis'd By Consequents I meane his Relations acquired by his office both Vpward to his Soveraigne Creator Benefactors as Downward to his owne family Creatures and hang-by Dependants CHAP. II. LEt us begin with Antecedents in them the first Which we shall finde very unsutable to his after acquired office For the most part he is Ex faece plebis humi-serpent of the lowest of the people an old complaint Now for such a low borne man to be exalted high so high and that not gradatim but per saltum too as oft it is in one of few or no Schoole Degrees which yet indeede at best are scarce degrees to the Civill honour of a Peerâ— must needes make as great a Chasme in Politickes as such leapes use to doe in Naturalls A great Evill must it be and that both in himselfe and to himselfe from others In others eye his honour will be the object not so much perhaps of envy as scorne while every man of lowest worth will still value himselfe at as high a rate and still conceive he wanted not the vertuous desert but fortunate reward a Bishop had Now every Action will from hence displease sith unexpected sudden happinesse is oft times fault enough Now That fitting deportment which may but expresse the just dignity of his place answere the majesty of his high calling shall be esteem'd but pride insolence and at best but affection And from some such displeasing action or gesture though but surmis'd on some groundlesse fancy oft his very person comes to be distasted and then adieu all effectuall good which his words or actions else might soone effect Sure the chiefe Dominion of Gospell Ministers should be in That the Lord and master of the Gospell so much requires My sonne give me thy heart If a Minister once come to lose the heart and affections of his people he may indeede study some way to force their bodies but shall scarce ever winne a soule or save a sinner Homo duci vult cogi non potest if you can fasten any force on his whole person it must be that of Love For sure the Gospell constraint is onely that of Love The love of Christ constraineth This and this onely is an irresistible Attractive an uncontroulable constraint Thus is the Minister the Bishop hurt in regard of Others In regard of Himselfe sudden great changes are dangerous in Nature the skilfull Grasier the expert Gardiner will not translate from barren to an over-fruitfull soile for this suffocates the Spirits and destroyes the Plant. The sudden unexpected newes of a sonnes life which was reported dead was the death of the Parent as we read in Roman Histories High places cause a swimming in the braine your Faulkners seele a Pigeons eye when they would have her soare high to prevent a vertigo I conceive from this Reason and mainely from this it was the good pleasure of the Spirit that under the Law when the Church had an influence into state affaires the High Priest should be chosen out of one eminent family of the stocke of Levie and some of the Kings of Israel are reproved by God for that they chose their Priests out of the meanest of the people He that is to goe in and out before the people and is their guide must be without blemish Those Horses which are designed to a lofty Ayre and generous manage must be of a Noble race Non bene conveniunt nec in una sede morantur Majestas Origo plebeia The Vapours which by the sunne are raised to a great height even to the second Region being of so meane a Progeny are but the matter of hayle snow raine storme and tempest which by Historians are observ'd to bee the frequent Prognostickes or at least companions of Wars and confusions CHAP. III. BUt some will say this defect in Birth may bee repaired in Breeding else we shut the doores of hope and by Consequence of Industry to Cicero Marius and such other Worthies who though but of a low Pedegree may advance themselves even to the Helme and there approve themselves men admirable in the way of Government 'T is true Art oft-times helpeth Nature some men of smal beginnings by their vertues have deserved for a Motto and impreso the Poets words Et quae non fecimus ipsi Vixea nostra voco But when was this seene in a Bishop Let us therefore in the next place examine their Breeding and see whither in probability that be not as disadvantagious to their Office as their Birth Our Education if we intend service in way of Civill Policy must be in
Iohn did appoint Bishops they have gained nothing for I shall allow that Christ also hath instituted Bishops and that Bishops are Iure divino yea I will allow that they are to feed Christs flock to rule Christs inheritance in Christs sense but I shall never allow of these Bishops which are now the subject of our dispute There are Three sorts of Bishops as Beza saith There are of Gods Institution and they are those who have a power over their proper flock with the rest of the Church and no other There are also of Mans Institution and this ever overfloweth into the Neighbour parish And lastly there is a Demonicall Bishop and this is hee who challengeth the Sword as well as the Keyes This last may well be stiled Demonicall for sure God never erected This order nor Man in his right senses Where it will then fixe is cleere enough Even on him Whose darke Mysteries most of these men have been very well acquainted with The long Robe and the Sword doe not well agree To see a Lawyer tyed to his Sword till hee put off his Gowne is not so comely but to see a paire of Lawne sleeves to stifle a Scepter if it were but on a stage I would cry out Spectatum admissi risum teneatis SECT II. CHAP. II. THus having run through that little Treatise yet with some wonder that a person of his profession piety and known learning should doe That which might in any sense seeme to impose on those whom hee loveth I proceed to some other things which I finde produced from Antiquity by the greatest Patrons of that kinde of Episcopacy which wee now oppose Yet by the way I must note here also That either none seeme to state the Question between us right or else all seem to dissert it Our Question as I have often said is not of the name of Bishop or his power in Ecclesiasticalls only but also and mainly of his Civill power and Temporalls Which all the Patrons of Episcopacy seeme to shun as a dangerous Rock and hovering aloofe off goe about to prove by Antiquity that Bishops had this Name and some power even in the Primitive Church which though I thinke none can force me to beleeve yet I dispute not But demand Whether any Bishops had such power in Ecclesiasticis Civilibus as ours now have in England Yet because they insist so much on Antiquity for Ecclesiasticall Episcopacy I will be content to follow them there also beleeving wee shall finde no one foot-step in true Antiquity of such a Bishop as wee now have established in England though wee should strip him of all Civill power and consider him only in Ecclesiasticis Shall I begin with his Election which indeed is somewhat higher than they use perhaps dare to begin I can produce many Antiquities to prove the Election of all Church Officers was in the People yea and that for divers ages after the Apostles who indeed at first appointed These themselves and good reason why when there were no People to choose their Officers till converted by the Apostles who afterward left This Power to the Whole Church rightly constituted And This continued in the Church for divers ages as appeares by Constantines Epistle to the Church of Nice Athanasius also ad Orthâ—doxos and St. Cyprians sixth Epistle with many instances mâ—re which might bee and daily are produced It is true that after the Apostles and purer times of the Church were gone the Clergy began to lord it over the people and to bereave them of their due priviledge yea oft times agreed among themselves to choose One Superintendant as we may call him whom they called Father and Bishop and in This perhaps they did not amisse if This Bishops power rested only on the Clergy and never reached to the people who else sure by all reason should have had a vote in choosing any Officer much more such a great Commander But let all the Patrons of Episcopacy produce mee one found Antiquity for such Election as is now in use with us Let them from undoubted Antiquity for three hundred yeares after Christ nay much more for I easily see their evasion let them I say shew me but one instance of our Conge d' eslire It is the Thing I speak of not the Word Let them shew me except in the dark times of Popery power given to ten or twelve Men except all the Clergy explicitely consented to choose such a Bishop And yet This is not halfe that which lies in our Elections whcih indeed are not at all made by so much as the Chapiter of any Cathedrall but received only by Those who dare not refuse it but of this I spake before in the first Section I am content to passe their Election which I perceive none of them care much to examine and come to the Execution of their Office In which I might instance in two or three maine points as sole Ordination sole Jurisdiction Delegation c. I meet with none that take upon them to defend this last which as a Great States-man observed many yeares since was a Thing at first view most monstrous and unreasonable For will any man living think it reasonable my Lord Keeper should ad placitum delegate whom hee will to keep the Seale and judge in Chancery without consent of his Majesty and the State that entrusteth him with this Great Office Yet These Men hold it fit to entrust a Vicar-Generall Chancellors Officials Surrogates and yet under Officers to keep the Seale yea weâ—d the Scepter of Christ and all the Church which yet they say is entrusted with them But with whom have they left the sheep in the Wildernes Were there nothing else but This I cannot but hold our Episcopacy an intolerable Tyranny sâ—eing a Bishops Dog I am not much amisse lording it over the People Ministers Gentry Nobility All while his Master is perhaps Revelling Dicing or doing Worse for worse they doe Nor is this any way to be helped ' while to one Lord Bishop is granted so vast a Territory Which yet he commandeth as absolutely under that most significant term of Diocesan Primate or Metropolitan as any Temporall Prince can doe by the name of Earl Duke King Emperor or any other I oft remember the dry Oxe-hide that was brought to represent Alexanders great Dominions But I see them so farre from standing on the middle to keep down all that indeed they oft touch is not at all but are acting the Lord Temporall I might say more remote enough from their own Diocesse Which yet of it selfe is oft so large that no one man living could sufficiently Visit and Over-see it except he could get the Pope to Transubstantiate him also and so get a Vbiquitarian Body To supply which hee is oft forc'd to puffe up his wide sleeves and look very big And yet much yea most of all his Office must bee done by Delegates who are oft yea usually the lowest dregs
for in the Art of Phisicke though our parents at a very great remotenesse were wiser it hath passed for a currant position that Phlebotomy almost in any case was more than dangerous and that men might pay deare for their learning they have beene as wise in Tenets of State-Policy Have not too many great ones closed in with Neroes conclusion mâ— oderint dum metuant Lastly Episcopacy hath beene the basis the superstructure the All the soule of Church Discipline for these many ages but dabit his meliora Deus Some of these Tenets spring from invincible Ignorance others have beene the base pullulations of spirits enslaved to false ends This No Bishop no King as I have fully proved pertakes of both and therefore hath no weight with me nor I hope shall ever hereafter be of credit with any body else for we see that old received truthes are not alwaies to be entertained and so I leave them with their maxime to the sentence of every judicious Reader SECT II. CHAP. VII THere yet remaineth an objection or two which must necessarily receive an answer before I shut up this discourse 1 Obj Allow there are some inconveniencies yea great ones in Episcopacy yet ex malis minimum it is better to beare these than groane under worse If Episcopacy be taken away Schismes and Heresies will breake in as armed men Tyranny is more eligible then Anarchy the wofull sense of Anarchy begot that sad Proverbe It is at it was with Israel when there was no King Ans. I doe agree to this that a confusion is a most lamentable condition and that those times are very perillous when every mans hand is up against his brother Ephraim against Manasses and Manasses against Ephraim Yea I doe professe the distraction of Heresies the most miserable of all Civill conquassations disjoynt the outward estate but Heresies distract our soules dismember our Churches stave off Iew and Gentile who know not whether part to believe shake the weaker cause heart-burning amongst the stronger doe exceedingly provoke God to wrath and displeasure But first let us consider whether it be possible to be without Heresies and Schismes Secondly whether Episcopacy be not the efficient cause of the most grievous Schismes and Heresies Thirdly whether Those which may justly be feared upon the removall of Episcopacy be of such dangerous consequence as to weigh downe the keeping up of that Government rather than to hazard what inconveniences may there-hence follow And 1 to the first of these It will bee cleere both from experience and Scripture and reason that Heresies must come Look over all Nations and all times and you shall finde them distracted with difference of opinions How many severall Sects doe you heare of amongst the Jewes and some of them extreame grosse the Sadduces the Pharisees the Esseans Herodians with many more though a great Critique reduce them to Three Christ had no sooner committed the care of his Church to the Apostles Disciples and ordinary Ministers but they were over-runne with Heresies Yea in their time some were of Paul some of Apollo some of Cephas in the interim Christ quite laid aside In the Church of Pergamus were there not some that held the Doctrine of the Nicolaitans In Thyatira did not some of the Church listen to the Prophetesse Iezebel who taught them to commit fornication and to eate things offered to Idolls Barnabas and Paul were at some difference the Doctrine of workes was pressed upon the Galatians and the resurrection from the dead questioned by the Corinthians Amongst Heathens where Morality was their God had you not the Peripatelickes the Sceptiques the Platonists the Epicureant and many other Sects The Pope and Papâ—cy have beene much turmoyled with Schismes and these Schismes have produced great confusions amongst them In the yeare of the Lord 420. Boniface the eighth being chosen the Clergy chose Eulatius and there they decreed one another Heretickes Simmachus and Lawrentius caused the same distraction in the yeare 499.760 Pope Custantine being convinced of Schismes and berest of both his eyes he and Philip another Pope were deposed and Stephen elected in their places Thus it was 958.973.995.1047.1058.1062.1083.1100.1118.1124 in the yeare of the Lord 1130 the disputes betwixt Gregory and Peter Both chosen Popes were so famous that it was growne a Proverbe and recorded in this verse Petrus habet Romam totum Gregorius orbem Every twenty yeares had such changes as these even till of late that Church hath beene vehemently turmoyled with all their Learned Amongst the Schoolemen some are Scotists some Thomists among the Polemiques some Iesuites some Dominicans And all these wrangle each with other In the yeare of our Lord 1400. there was a great dispute about the Originall sinne of the Virgin Mary Betweene 1215. and 1294. was that great Faction betweene the Guelsians and Gibelines though both were Papists One desending the authority of the Pope the other of the Emperour In some points of Controversie Bellarmine one of their ablest Writers is not to be read without restriction and not without Licence of superiors If we survey all Antiquity we shall finde no one Century free from Heretickes Ebion Cerinthus Marcion Samosatenus Novatians Sabellians Nepotians Maniches Arrians Pelagians with many others have troubled the Church from time to time If you descend so low as our daies even among Protestants you shall meet with too too many Divisions Luther and Calvin and the English Church betweene both a Calvinist for Doctrine a Lutheran for Discipline The Lutherans are divided in Rigidiores Molliores and these differ toto Coelo The Calvinists have many disputes How fiercely doth learned Erastus contend with Calvin and Beza about Excommunication denying the Church any such power The Church of England hath three maine Divisions The Conformist the Non-Conformist and the Separarist The Conformist hath the Orthodox Divine contending with the Arminian Socinian Pelagian Anabaptist and divers others who yet All stile themselves Sonnes of the Church of England The Non-conformist is uncertaine what he scrupleth for some can dispence with one of the three Grand Nocent-innocent Ceremonies some with another some with neither The Separist is subdivided too as they say into Seperatist and Semi-seperatist Many other Divisions there also be will be in Churches here Yea it is cleare in Reason that Divisions Sects Schismes and Heresies must come For many are apt to advance themselves and undervalue all others and Mens Braines being fertile of errors after they have conceived they must bring forth though the Gospell suffer never so much by it And while This Temper is among men you must still expect Schismes and Heresies The Scripture hath put this out of all doubt it saith Heresies must come Christ came to set a Sword not only betweene the Good and Bad but even among Professors of the same Christian Religion that Those who hold out to the End may have their Honour and Reward It is to be marked that Christ