A MODEST OFFER Of some meet CONSIDERATIONS Tendered to the Learned PROLOCUTOR And to the rest of the Assembly of Divines met at Westminster 1644. Concerning a FORM of CHURCH-GOVERNMENT By Jos Hall D. D. Late Bishop of NORWICH LONDON Re-printed and are to be Sold by Tho. Basset in St. Dunstans Church-yard in Fleet-street 1660. A Modest Offer of some meet Considerations Tendered to the Learned Prolocutor and to the rest of the Assembly of Divines met at Westminster LEarned and Reverend Brethren If you be now as is supposed upon the advise of a Form of Church-Government I beseech you in the fear of God setting aside all prejudice to take into your sad thoughts these Considerations following It is I perceive an usual Prayer of many Preachers well affected to your Assembly that God would now after 1600 years universal practise of the whole Church of Christ upon earth shew you the Pattern in the Mount as if after so long and perfect inquintions there could be any new discoveries of the form that was or should be wherein I suppose their well-meaning is not a little injurious both to the known truth and to you For what Revelations can we expect thus late Or what Monuments of either Scripture or History can now be hoped to be brought to light which your eyes have not seen and former ages have not enquired into Surely ye well know there can be but these three Forms of Church-Government possibly devised Either by Bishops or by Presbyteries or by the multitude of several and select Congregations Every of which have both their Abettors and their Adversaries The first hath all times and places since the daies of the blessed Apostles till this age to stand for it The second hath the late persecuted reformed Church of France which never desired nor meant to make their necessitated form a Pattern for others the Netherlands and Scotland for Precedent of it The third hath the Ministers of New-England and their associates commonly styled by the name of INDEPENDENTS vehemently contending for it The Adversaries of every of these are as well known as their friends and the Pleas which every of them makes for it self are as well known as either I suppose it is yet res integra else I should lay my finger upon my lips Both the Houses of Parliament your Assembly and the whole Kingdom stand yet free and unengaged to any part For the National Covenant as it is interpreted by some of your selves and those other Divines whose allowed Sermons have commented upon it intends not to abjure and disclaim Episcopacy as such but only bends against the whole present Fabrick of Government as it is built on these Arches these Pedestals so as if it be taken asunder from those some of them not necessary appendances you are no way forestalled in your judgment against it nor any other that hath lift up his hand in this solemn Covenant That I may not urge the Latine Translation of the same Covenant printed and sent abroad to the Low-Countreys France and other Churches which ran only upon tyrannicum reg men Episcoporum that only the Tyrannical Government of the Prelates not their fatherly and brotherly preeminence is there abjured Your wisdomes know well how to distinguish betwixt a Calling and the abuses of the execution thereof betwixt the main substance of a Calling and the circumstantial and separable appurtenances thereunto from which it may be devested and yet stand entire I should be a flatterer of the times past which is not often seen if I should take upon me to justifie or approve of all the carriages of some that have been entrusted with the Keyes of Ecclesiastical Government or to blanch over the Corruptions of Consistorial Officers in both these there was fault enough to ground both a complaint and Reformation And may that man never prosper that desires not an happy Reformation of what ever hath been or is amiss in the Church of God But this I offer to your serious consideration whether Episcopacy stripped of all circumstances that may be justly excepted against and reduced to the Primitive estate may not be thought a Form both better in it self and more fit for this Kingdom and Church than either of the other How ancient it is I need not appeal to any but your selves who do well know that there was never yet any History of the Church wherein there was not full mention made of Bishops as the only Governours thereof neither can any Learned adversary deny that they have continued with the general allowance of Gods Church from the very Apostolick times until this present age And whether it can be safe and lie not open to much scandal to exchange so ancient an Institution hitherto perpetuated to the Church for a new where no necessity inforces us judge ye How universal it is being the only received Government of all the Christian Churches over the face of the whole earth excepting only this small Spot of our Neighbourhood ye know as well as the undoubted Relation of the Christianography can tell you And how unsafe it may be to depart from the Form of all the Churches that profess the Name of Christ who do all submit themselves to Bishops or Superintendents except the fore-excepted I leave to your grave judgment Besides how Episcopacy is and hath long been setled in this Kingdom and as it were incorporated into it and enwoven into the Municipal Lawes of this Land so as that it cannot be utterly removed without much alteration in the whole body of our Lawes is a matter well worthy of not the least consideration But all these would yet seem light upon the Ballance if there were not an intrinsecal worth in the Institution it self that might sway with you The Covenant binds to the endeavour of such a Government as is according to the Word of God and the example of the best Reformed Churches An now let me appeal to your own hearts and the hearts of all judicious and unprejudicate Readers whether the Rules of Church-Government laid forth in the Epistles to Timothy and Titus do not suppose and import that very proper Jurisdiction which is claimed by Episcopacy at this day Which if it were not intended to be left as a perfect pattern to succession the whole Church of Christ should have been left in the dark without any direction for the succeeding administration thereof Those Charges are plainly given not to many but to one and do most manifestly imply not a parity but preeminence and power And if the example of the best Churches must carry it What Church could be more pure and more fit for our imitation than the Primitive And that part of it which immediatly followed the Apostles of our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ And do not you full well know that our Histories and unquestionable Authors name the men whom those Apostles by imposition of hands ordained to this Function Do not Ignatius Irenaeus Tertullian
Polycrates Egesippus Clemens Eusebius Jerome instance in those persons who succeeded each other in those first Sees If you tell me of the difference betwixt the Episcopacy of those first ages of the Church and that of the present times I do willingly yield it but withal I must add that it is not in any thing essential to the calling but in matters outward and meerly adventitious the abatement whereof if it shall be found needful diminisheth nothing from the substance of that holy Institution What can be more express than in the ancientest of them the blessed Martyr Ignatius the mention of the three distinct degrees of Bishops Presbyters Deacons encharged with their several duties which were yet never intermitted and let fall to this present day How frequently and vehemently doth be in his genuine Epistles twice in that to the Ephesians call for due subjection to the Bishop and the Presbytery How distinctly doth he in his epistle to the Magnesians name their Bishop Dama and their Presbyters Bassus Apollonius Stephanus How doth he in his epistle ad Trallianos set forth the Bishop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Presbytery 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And if any man shall be so unjustly scrupulous as to call into question the credit of this gracious Author reserved no doubt by a special Providence for the conviction of the Schisms of these last times therein out-doing Vedelius himself who floudy assereth some of these Epistles whilst he rejects others as suppositious let him cast his eyes upon the no less famous and holy Martyr and Bishop Polycarpus who as Irenaeus Iren. adver haeres lib. 3. cap. 3. an unquestionable Author tels us one whose eyes beheld that Saint did not only converse with those that had seen Christ but also was by the Apostles constituted in Asia Bishop of the Church of Smyrna Let him if he can deny Cyprian the holy Martyr and Bishop of Carthage writing familiarly to the Presbyters and Deacons there somtimes gravely reproving them somtimes fatherly admonishing them of their duties in divers of his Epistles Let him deny that his contemporanie Cornelius Bishop of Rome acknowledgeth 45 Presbyters committed by the Catholick Church to his charge Shortly let him if he stick at this truth deny that there was any Christian Church of old any History All which duly considered I would fain know what reason can be shewed why that ancient yea first Government by the Bishop and his Presbytery received and with all good approbation and success used in the Primitive Church and derived though not without some faulty omissions and intertextures which may easily be remedied until this present day should not rather take place than a Government lately and occasionally raised up in the Church for necessity or convenience of some special Places and persons without any intention of an universal rule and prescription If you shall say that this Government by Bishops hath been sound by sad experience hitherto a block in the way of perfect Reformation destructive to the power of Godliness and pure Administration of the Ordinances of Christ give me leave to answer That first I fear the Independent Party will be apt to say no less of the Presbyterian boldly pressing their defects both in constitution and practise and publickly averring the exquisitely reformed way to lie betwixt the Episcopal and Calvirian which they have had the happiness to light upon neither want there those who upon challenge of further illumination â—ave those Semi-separarists as coming far too short of that perfection of Reformation which themselves have attained 2. I must in the fear of God beseech you here to make use of that necessary distinction betwixt Callings and Persons for it oftentimes fals out that the Calling unjustly suffers for that whereof only the Person is guilty Let the Calling be never so holy and the Rules of Administration never so wise and perfect yet if the Person in whose trust they are be either negligent or corrupt or impotent in ordering his passions and carriage it cannot be but all things must go amiss and much disorder and confusion must needs follow to the Church of God and if such hath been the case in some late times why should the blame be laid upon the Calling which both is innocent and might have been better improved Give me a Bishop such there have been and such there are let Dr. Potter the late Bishop of Carlile for instance be one that is truly conscionable pious painful zealous in promoting the Glory of God ready to encourage all faithful Preachers and to censure and correct the lazy and scandalous careful of the due imposition of his hands meek and unblameable in all his carriage and now tell me how the Government of such an one regulated by the holy and wholsom Lawes of our Church can be said to be obstructive to the success of the Gospel or to destroy the power of Godliness Certainly if all be not such the fault is in the men their Calling doth not only admit of but incites them to all vertue and goodness whereof if they be defective let the Person take off the blame from the Function Neither doubt I to affirm that it may well be made good that the perfectest Reformation which the Church of God can be capable of here upon earth may consist with Episcopacy so regulated as it may be if it please the High Court of Parliament to pitch upon that course And indeed how can it be conceived that the careful inspection of one constant prudent and vigilant over-seer super-added to a grave and judicious Presbytery should be any hinderance to the progress of godliness especially when he is so limited by the bounds of good Lawes and Constitutions that he cannot run out without the danger of a just censure There are already many excellent Rules of Government if they were awaked an dactuated by full authority and where there is any deficiency more might be easily added to make the body of Church-Lawes compleat To give a tast of what may be effected with very little or no alteration of one Form of Government to another I remember one of our Brethren of Scotland in a Discourse tending to the advancing of the Presbyterian way tels us that Dr. Momague the Late worthy Bishop of Winchester asked King James of blessed memory whose sweet affability the world well knew How it came about that there were so few Heresies and errours of Doctrine broached and prosecuted to the publick disturbance of the Church of Scotland Unto which the wise and Learned King is said to have returned this Answer That every Parish hath their Pastor ever present with them and watching over them That the Pastor hath his Elders and Deacons sorted with him that he with them once a week meets at a set time and place for the censure of manners or what ever disorder falls out in the Parish so as he by this means perfectly knows his Flock and
or impediment in any of the persons presented for which he ought not to be ordained that he should come forth and declare it before any hand be laid upon his head for his full admission Notwithstanding all which care of our dear Mother the Church of England if it shall be thought meet that any further act of Tryall shall pass upon those which are suitors for Ordination how easily may it be ordered that at the monethly or if need be more frequent meeting of the Ministers within the same Presbyterie or Deanrie they may be appointed to make tryall of their gifts and undergo such further examination of their abilities as shall be thought requisite ere they shall be presented and admitted by the Bishop and his Presbyterie to that holy function And whereas it is much stood upon that it is meet the people whose soules must have right in him to whose trust they are committed should have some hand in their consent to that Pastor by whom they must be fed it must be said that besides their devolution of their right to the Patron who as their Trustee presents a Minister for them it may be no prejudice at all to the power which by Law and Inheritance is settled upon the Patron that the person whom his choice pitches upon be appointed beforehand to preach for a tryal to that Congregation to which he is so designed and if either for his voice or other just exceptions he be found unmeet for them that another more fit may be recommended by the said Patron to the place but if through faction or self-will or partiality the multitude shall prove peevish and fastidious they may in such a case be over-ruled by just authority As for matter of censures it may not be denied that there hath been great abuse in the managing of them both upon Ecclesiastical persons and others suspension of Ministers upon flight and insufficient causes both ab officio and beneficio hath been too rife in some places of latter times and the dreadful Sentence of Excommunication hath too frequently and familiarly passed upon light and trivial matters How happy were it if a speedy course may be taken for the prevention of this evill In the Conference at Hampton-Court a motion was strongly made to this purpose but without effect if the wisdom of the present Parliament shall settle some other way for the curbing of contumacious offences against Church-authority it will be an act worthy of their care and justice In the mean time as for this and all other Ecclesiastical proceedings it may with much facility and willing consent of all parts be ordered that the Bishop shall not take upon him to inflict either this or any other important censure without the concurrence of his Presbytery which shall be a means in all likelihood to prevent any inconvenience that may arise from the wonted way of Judicature As for the co-assession of a Lay-Presbyterie in swaying these affairs of Church-government Ye well know how new it is some of you might have been acquainted with the man that brought it first into any part of this Island and what ground there is for it either in Scripture or antiquity I appeal to your judgement Surely the late learned Author of the Counsel for the reforming the Church of England although otherwise a vehement assertor of the French Discipline ingenuously confesseth that however those Protestants which live under Popish Governours have done wisely in deputing some choice men selected out of their Congregations whom they call Elders to share with their Pastors in the care and management of Ecclesiastical affairs Yet those Protestant Churches which live under the Government of Protestant Princes may with the safety of those respects which mutually intercede betwixt Pastors and People forbear any such deputation forasmuch as the supreme Magistrate transfers for the most part to himself that which is the wonted charge of those deputed Elders concluding that those men do meerly lose their labour who so busily endeavour on the one side to disprove the antiquity of the Lay-Eldership and on the other by weak proofs to maintain clean contrary to the mind of the Apostle that the Text of Saint Paul 1 Tim. 5.17 is to be understood of Pastors and Lay-Elders Thus he with what fair probability I leave to your judgment Neither is it any intention of mine to meddle with any piece of that Government which obtaineth in other the Churches of God but only to contribute my poor opinion concerning the now-to-be-setled affairs of our own What shall I need to suggest unto you the dangerous underworkings of other Sects Secretly endeavouring to spring their hidden Mines to the overthrow both of the one Government and the other whereof without speedy remedy perhaps it will be too late to complaine no doubt the wisdom and authority of that Great Senate whom ye also serve to advise will forthwith interpose it self to the prevention of those mischiefs which the variety of these Heresies and Sects though some of them cloaked with the fairest pretences threaten to this poor Church It is no boot for me to tell you that the less disunion there is the more ground of safety and that where the holy purposes of Reformation may be effected with the least change there must needs be the most hope of accordance The rest to the wise application of the powerful and judicious It is enough for me to have thus boldly shot my bolt amongst you and to have thus freely discovered my honest and well-meant thoughts to so able judgements What I want in my poor endeavours shall be supplied with my prayers that God would be pleased to compose all our miserable distractions and to put an happy issue to the long and perilous agitations of this wofully tottering and bleeding Church and Kingdom Which the good God of heaven vouchsafe to grant for his great mercies sake and for the sake of the dear Sonne of his love Jesus Christ the Just Amen Sept. 12. 1644. FINIS