Generality of their Theologues and Canonists reduce them to Seven whereof Sacerdotium is the highest Order Which Opinion indeed makes Episcopatus to be but Gradus Sacerdotii and compriseth Cantores under the Lectores It is also the Judgment of some Moderns That after the Chor-Episcopi were exauctorated by the Primitive Church as useless and burdensome that Presbyters were termed Antistites in secundo Ordine which they collect from that Iambick of S. Gregorie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. i.e. The venerable Senate of Presbyters that preside over the People and possess the second Throne Deacons were indeed prohibited by the ancient Canons to sitdown before Presbyters without their Leave and Command But as for the Demeanour of Bishops in reference to their Presbyters it was a Canon renewed more than once Ne sedeat Episcopus stante Presbytero Yea more than so There be some not inconsiderable Antiquaries who are so far from thrusting Presbyters below the Hatches that they have elevated Deacons to the upper Deck of the Superiour Clergy imagining that only Sub-Deacons and these Orders below them are to be accounted the Inferiour Clergy which they would collect from Hierom. on Tit. and Aug. Epist. 162. But non sic fuit ab initio if we consult the 6th Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles where we may find that they are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz Mensarii Eleemosynarii See Can. 16. Concilii Sexti Generalis Can. 4. Conâ—cilii quarti Carthag and S. Chrysostom's Comment on the 6th of the Acts. Yet it cannot be denied but that in the latter Centuries of the Primitive Church the Order of Deacons at Rome who were but seven in number according to the Primitive Institution and that of Presbyters very numerous began not only to equal themselves but also to look big upon the Presbyters and the Arch-Deacon assumed the Title of Cardinal Deacon which Superciliousness not only gave occasion to the framing of those Canons we have already hinted at against them but also to St. Hierom a Presbyter to take the Pen in his hand that he might vindicate his own Order from the Contempt of their Inferiours which he doth at length Epist. 85. ad Evagrium For let Blondel and Salmasius pretend what they please this Renowed Father had no quarrel with the Order of Episcopaly but was not a little irritated by the sawcy and arrogant behaviour of the Deacons and that they might learn to know and keep their distance and that Presbyters might look down upon them as the Church-Nethinims he screws up the Presbyteratus as nigh to Episcopacy as possibly he can And if I were not afraid to be accounted an impertinent Digressor it were easie to demonstrate from the Writings of this Father that he acknowledged the Power of Ordination Iurisdiction and Confirmation to belong most properly to Bishops And even in his Comment on Titus on which Blondel layes the greatest stress he hath this differencing Expression In quo differt Episcopus à Presbytero exceptâ Ordinatione Now as Exceptio firmat Regulam in non exceptis so the Exception is presumed as true as the Rule And his ad evit and a Schismata c. is by the greatest Antiquaries looked upon and not without good reason as such an Accident that did emerge in the Apostles days And how can it be conceived that a man of Hierom's Temper who was indeed very Pious and Learned but withal had much Keenness in his Spirit neither did his great Adversary Ruffinus belye him in this Character ut erat in quod intenderat vehemens that he would have taken it in good part that Augustine should call himself Major Hieronymo quà Episcopus if he had not believ'd the truth thereof Credat Iudaeus Apella non ego Not to mention his writing always respectfully to Pope Damasus as his Superiour in the Church So that one of the fifteen passages usually cited out of St. Hierom's Works to prove the Superiority of Bishops over Presbyters and that is his Dial. adv Luciferian doth preponderate more with me than Spalatensis lib. 2. c. 3. who saith That Hierom's Prejudice against Bishops cannot be excused Neither can I deny but that he was much irritated by the insolent Pride of Iohn Patriarch of Hierusalem I shall only take notice of that which indeed I account a Punctilio not worth the noticing though the Enemies of this Sacred Order we are pleading for lay no little weight upon it therefore I shall speak a little unto it and that is Hierom his asserting that in the Infancy of the Christian Church there was an Identity of Names and that Episcopus and Presbyter signified one and the self same thing For Answer I never judg'd it a real Controversie which is managed about Names He must be drenched very deep in the dregs of Malice saith Tertullian who raiseth deadly Quarrels about Words or Names if there be no real Controversie about Things Therefore I shall readily grant unto them that Bishops of old were called Presbyters or Elders and shall go a greater Length too than Ambrose in his Comment on the Ephesians if it be his who tells us that Omnis Episcopus est Presbyter sed non omnis Presbyter est Episcopus For I verily believe that in the Infancy of the Gospel Presbyters were also termed Bishops or Overseers and that the Appropriation of those Names to the different Orders or Degrees of the same Order was not made till a little after Yet I joyn not Issue with these who cite the 20th Chapter of the Acts verse 28. to this purpose They who are for the Genevian Platform will have those Elders to be nothing else but Presbyters and they hug this Text as their Palladium because as they fondly imagine it affords them an Achillaeum Argumentum against Episcopacy for here say they the very Name and Office is confounded with that of Presbyter Overseer in the Original being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But I must take the boldness to say that I lay more stress upon the sole Testimony of Irenaeus than on all the Commentaries which have been written on this Text since the year 1638 to 1600 or since 1536. when Calvin settled at Geneva till this present year of God For that Ancient and peaceable Father who carried Peace in his Breast as well as in his Name living withiâ— 180 years of the Birth of Christ He was the Disciple of Polycarp who was brought up at the feet of S. Iohn the Apostle and conversed with many Apostolick men and had an easie Tradition of the sence of this place This Irenaeus in his five Books against Heresies especially the Valentinian Gnosticks expresly teâ—ls us lib. 1. c. 14. that these Elders were Bishops of Asia He of Ephesus being their Metropolitan or Arch-bishop And lest any should imagine that it would have been a tedious Work and Attendance for the Apostle to call for all the Bishops of Asia we must
sealed with his most precious bloud were well informed that this way of Election was the Apostolick Method who in the first Vacancy of that Sacred Colledge of Apostles did fill it in this manner as we read in the first Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles and that it was the most Ordinary Custom of the Primitive Church to do so and of our own also not many years ago I am fully perswaded that our Gracious Sovereign whom God bless with a long and prosperous Reign over us who hath also manifested such transcendent Goodness towards this Church would be pleased graciously to Condescend to the humble Address of his obedient Subjects and Servants whereby the mouths of the Adversaries of our Church may be stopped and these Reproaches which are cast upon the Office wiped off as That Bishops are only the Creatures of Courtiers or of some Leading Church-men introduced by Motives best known to themselves and that they are yet but Presbyters as having no Call from the Church but only invested with a little more Secular Power than they formerly enjoyed and that the said Office amongst us is nothing but a Politick Design contrived rather to serve Secular ends than the Evangelical and Ecclesiastical Interests And in fine That the Prayers of the Chapter in their Elections are but a Mocking of God in seeking Grace to direct them in the Choice of a fit Person for the vacant Place whilst being predetermined by a Conge-d'elire from Court they make indeed no Election at all Vid. Concil Arelatens 2. Can. 35. Concil Avernens Can. 2. Concil Aurelianens 5. Can. 3. Concil Toletan 4. Can. 18. Synod Antiochen Can. 23. Concil Aurelianens 2. Can. 7. Concil Aurelianens 3. Can. 2. Concil Avernens Can. 2. Concil Aurelianens 5. Can. 3 4. Concil Toletan 4. Can. 18. Concil Parisiens Can. 6. Nullus Civibus invitis Ordinetur Episcopus nisl quem Populi Clericorum Electio plenissimâ quaesâ—êrit voluntate c. Et Concil Cabilonens Can. 10. Si quis Episcopus de quacunque Civitate fuerit defunctus non ab alio nisi à Comprovincialibus Clero civibus suis alterius habeatur Electio sin autem hujus Ordinatio irrita habeatur Vid. Ambros. Lib. 2. Offic. cap. 24. Bonis artibus sincero proposito nitendum ad Honorem arbitror maximè Ecclesiasticum ut neque resupina arrogantia vel remissa negligentia sit neque turpis affectatio indecora ambitio ad omnia abundat animi directa simplicitas satisque seipsa commendat Greg. 1. Lib. 9. ex Registro Epist. 50. ad Ethericum Episcopum Galliae ita fatur Nihil in dandis Ecclesiasticis Ordinibus auri saeva fames inveniat nil blandimenta surripiant nil gratia conserat Honoris proemium vitae sit provectus sapientiae incrementum madestia morum ut obtinente hujusmodi observantiâ indignus qui proemiis quaerit ascendere judicetur dignus cui bonum testimonium actio perhibet honoretur Vid. ejusdem Greg. Hom. 4 13 14. in Evang. in qua postrema scitè describit Mercenarium Vid. etiam Hieronymi Comment in Tit. ad ea verba Constituas per civitates Presbyteros A Brief Historical Account of the Form of Electing Bishops in the Primitive Church THat the Method of Election expressed in the Article was observed in Ecclesia primo-primitiva as Gratian somewhere speaks That is in the First Three Centuries may appear from the subsequent Historical Instances Clemens Rom. the First of the Christian Fathers next the Apostles in his excellent Epistle to the Corinthians gives a full Account of that Method of Election which was practised in the Infancy of the Christian Church and is absolutely consonant to that we wished for in the last Article But for brevity's sake we remit the ingenuous Reader to the 101 pag. of that Epistle Yet for all our haste I must make a little stop and Congratulate with all Lovers of Antiquity the Restitution of the only genuine Treatise of that Apostolick man unto the present Church this notable Epistle so full of Primitive Simplicity Candour and Zeal having like the River Alphaeus run under ground for so many Centuries of years But in this last Age that Fountain Arethusa hath appeared to the Publick view of the World The next Instance is in the 39th Chapter of Tertullian his Apologetick where he speaks to this purpose Praesident probati quique Seniores honorem istum non Pretio sed Testimonio adepti c. The next in the Series of time is the Famous Origen in Hom. 6. in Levit. who there speaks to the same purpose Yet it cannot be denied but that Sixtus Senensis Praesat in Bibliothec. averrs the said Commentary to be falsly ascribed to Origen as also that on Iob and he pretends solid Reasons for his Assertion S. Cyprian is so copious in this matter and his mind so well known therein unto all that have read his Works that we need not consume any Paper in citing that zealous Father I shall therefore remit the Reader to his 68th Epistle throughout and the 52d wherein he tells us That his fidus Achates Cornelius Bishop of Rome was chosen Clericorum pene omnium testimonio This amicable Couple may put us in mind of those friendly Pairs Celebrated by the Antients viz. Damon and Pythias Pylades and Orestes Achilles and Patroclus if all our Bishops were so affectionate no Rebeckah could perswade them to steal the Birthright by supplanting an elder Brother And that the Patriarch of Alexandria who was next to Rome till Constantinople quoniam erat nova Roma shuffled him by was chosen by the Presbyters there and that from among themselves even from the dayes of S. Mark is evident from Eusebius Hierem Theodoret and Eutychius To this Purpose Athanasius in his Second Apology introduceth P. Iulius the first Complaining of the irregular Promotion of Gregorie the Cappadocian by the Arrians unto the See of Alexandria Si enim posâ— Synodum in Culpa deprelâ—ensus fuisset Athanasius non tamen oportuit Creaâ—ienem noâ—â— Episcopi ita illegaliter praeter Canonem Ecclesiasticum fieri sed in ipsa Ecclesia ex ipso sacerdotali Ordine atque ex ipso Clero ejus Provinciae Episcopos constitui nequaquam ex illis qui nunc Apostolorum Canones violant To the same Purpose also Gregorie Nazianz in Oratione Quando assumptus est in consort Pat. Nam etsi Paternis laboribus succedere dulce est ac noto ac familiari gregi praeesse jucundius est quà m externo alieno addam etiam Deo carius nisi me fallit mentem eripit consuetudo non tamen conducibilius est nec tutius quà m ut volentibus praesint volentes quandoquidem neminem vi duci vult Lex nostra nec coactè sed sponte gubernari Ambrose Com. in Epist. ad Ephes. cap. 4. if it be his sayeth Antiqua consuetudo fuit ut antiquissimo Presbytero antiquissimus
of the Councel of Ancyra and the 13th of the Councel of Neo-Caesarea as also the 10th of the Councel of Antioch In all which the Privilege that is accounted most essential to the Episcopal Function viz. The Power to Ordain Presbyters and Deacons which Ierom supposed to be the only formal Difference betwixt Bishops and Presbyters is denied to the Chor-Episcopi And though it may be objected That the tenth Canon of the Councel of Antioch which is one of the Provincials that was adopted by the sixth General Councel insinuates that the Chor-Episcopi were consecrated as Bishops by the Imposition of the Bishop's hands yet that seems either to be a sophisticated Canon or that it was a Ceremony of particular Designation like to that of the thirteenth of the Acts For it is most certain S. Paul was an Apostle long before that Imposition of Hands Which Gloss upon the Canon appears to me to be most probable because this Provincial was celebrated a little after that Famous Councel of Nice and it is most improbable that they would have contradicted so expressly that great Oecumenical in two Particulars viz. The Ordination of a Bishop by one individual of that Order and the making two Bishops in one Diocess whereas that first General Councel ordains three Bishops at least to concur in the Ordination of a Bishop and appoints but one Bishop in every Diocess The Ignorance of which Canon was a matter of Regret to the great Augustine qui Valerio in Episcopatu Hipponensi non successit sed accessit On which account although he design'd Eradius his own Successor yet he would not have him ordain'd in his own time erit inquit Presbyter ut est quando Deus voluerit futurus Episcopus And though it may be presumed that P. Damasus was not ignorant of that Canon of Antioch if there was truly any such he living so nigh to the time of that Councel yet in his Constitution whereby he endeavours to abolish the Chor-Episcopi which we find in Decr. Gratian. p. 1. Dist. 68. c. Chor-Episc he calls them meer and single Presbyters and that through Pride only they usurped the Episcopal Office and that by virtue of their Ordination they could not exercise any Episcopal Privilege both the Councel of Neo-Caesarea and Damasus ground upon this Foundation That Presbyters succeed only to the 70 Disciples and not to the Apostles But suppose the Foundation on which they build to be a tottering Basis yet we may clearly read so much upon the Frontispiece of that Superstructure That they judged the Chor-Episcopi to be nothing else but Presbyters But as to the Succession the Learned Spalatensis a great Asserter of the Episcopal Privileges judgeth aright that both Bishops and Presbyters are the Apostles Successors in potestate ordinaria but with this difference that the former succeed in plenitudinem potestatis the latter in partem sollicitudinis which in the case of the Chor-Episcopi was a little amplified that Restraint which the Ecclesiastical Law hath laid upon the intrinsecal Power of a Presbyter being taken off For an Ecclesiastick may be impowered jure Sacerdotii to do many things in actu primo even when the exercitium actûs is sitly bound up by the Canons of the Church in order to the eviting of Schism Scandal and Confusion in the House of God which ought to be Domus Ordinata And if that accurate Antiquary Beveregius had well considered this he would not I suppose have so bitingly maintained That the Chor-Episcopi could be nothing else but Bishops Article XIII Mat. 20. 26 27 28. 1 Tim. 5. 1 2. 2 Tim. 2. 24 25. Philem. 8. 9. HAVING but just now mentioned the Honour of the Clergy I would next advise all the Governours of the Church to demean themselves courteously and affably to all their Christian Gentileness and Condescendence being the fittest Machin to scrue out internal Respect from all Ranks of People For nothing commends Church-men so much as a Pious Modesty all Degrees of Persons but especially theirs being like Coins or Medals to which howsoever Virtue give the Stamp and Impression Humility must give the Weight Let not therefore any of them in their Travels towards the Northern Pole use insolent Boastings towards any Person of Honour especially in their own Habitations which ought to be Asyla to all And let them not improve that strange Logick any more as to inferr That some Gentlemen are bigot Fanaticks because they earnestly entreated them to preach on the 29th of May seeing they were upon the Place and the Church was vacant though they were not pleased to do it Or to conclude that they called some other Bishops Cheats Knaves because they wished that all of them were as good and just as their own Ordinary For without all Peradventure one haughty expression of a proud Priest hath a greater Tendency in it to proselyte a far greater number to Fanaticism than twenty uttered by the humblest of them all can bring over to Conformity And let all honest Ministers of the Gospel have a large share of those Acts of Humanity none of which deserve that Title who afford not a due Respect to their Superiours either in Church or State he being most unworthy to command who hath not first learned to obey nothing being more easie than a little Civility And yet an obliging Deportment in reference to the Clergy is a matter of great Importance for the good of the Order For by cherishing all those as Sons and Brethren who are well principled and make Conscience of their Office they insinuate themselves into the Hearts of those who next to the favour of God and of their Prince are indeed the best Support of their Government for as the Excellent Historian hath said Concordiâ res parvae crescunt Discordiâ maximae dilabuntur O! how lovingly as there had been no disparity at all did St. Ignatius Polycarp Irenaeus Cyprian the three Asian Gregories Athanasius Basil Augustin and many other Lights of the Primitive Church converse with their respective Colleges of Presbyters Neither will I ever forget that excellent Attestation of the Pious and Eloquent Bishop Hall deservedly termed the English Seneca who appealed to his own Clergy If his Deportment amongst them were not such as if he had been no more but a Presbyter with them or they all Bishops with him Away then with that invidious expression in reference to Presbyters The Inferiour Clergy though it is one of my Eusticks That all the Governours of our Church were superiour to all their Presbyters in that which is usually termed Clergy But whether that Fantastick Phrase savour more of Pride or Ignorance it can hardly be determined Sure I am in the Primitive Church only Deacons and Sub-Deacons with the rest of the Orders inferiour to them were so accounted As for Presbyters they were called Clerici Superioris loci And though some Popish Schoolmen have multiplyed the Sacred Orders into the number of Nine yet the
habere sayeth Gregorie Nazianz. plus est quà m omnia possidere It was also a golden Sentence worthy of that Golden Mouth which uttered it Eleemosyna est Ars omnium artium quaestuosissima to which that Dutch Proverb is consonant Thest never enricheth Alms never impoverish and Prayer hinders no wark and when the hand of Violence seiseth on a charitable man's Estate he may say with him in Seneca I have at least thaâ— still which I have given away And lest it should be objected thaâ— this Method of gratifying this Iâ—on Agâ— is singular and unpracticable I must 〈◊〉 them in the end That many in 〈◊〉 Primitive Church have gone a 〈◊〉 length in Self-denyal For S. Cyprian 〈◊〉 no sooner converted to the Christian Faith but he instantly abandoned a very plentiful Patrimony to the Use of thâ— Poor So did S. Paulinus afterwardâ— Bishop of Nola And so soon as Epiphanius and divers others undertook thâ—â— Eminent Employment they immediately expended all for the behoofe of the indigent Members of that mystical and glorious head from which exhaustible Fountain every good Gift is derived I have been the more prolix on this Particular First Because I would have Bishops carefully to avoid the Application to themselves of that Satyrical Character given by one of a Puritan That he is such an Enemy to Merit and so afraid of Pharisaical Ostentation that in a seeming Complyance with our Saviour's Precept in the matter of Charity Not to let the left hand know what the right Hand doth he lets none in Heaven or in Earth know it And next Because People are generally apt to look upon Charity as the most infallible Demonstration of the Sincerity of the Faith and Piety of Church-men all being naturally prone to homologate that of S. Augustine Quanta est Charitas quae si desit frustra habentur caetera si adsit habentur omnia And Clemens Alex. gives it as the best Motto of an Ecclesiastick Terram calcare didici non Adorare And if this Self-denyal were universally practised by Church-men there should be no place found for that Complaint of Boniface of Mentz usually termed the Apostle of Germany Ecclesia Antiqua ligneos habuit calices sed aureos Episcopos At Hodierna calices aureos sed ligneos Episcopos Neither would any sober Person take Occasion from any Donation made to the Church to say Hodie venenum infusum est Ecclesiae or Ecclesia peperit divitias Filia devoravit Matrem Yea there should not have been any need of that eloquent Sermon of S. Chrysostom preached against those who envyed the Wealth of the Clergy Vid. Can. Apost 58. Item Concil Turonens 1. Can. 1 2. Concil Toletan 3. Can. 7 19. Concil Antisiodorens Can. 38. Concil Cabilonens Can. 3. Concil Toletan 11. Can. 2. 5. Concil Bracarens 3. Can. 4. Concil Turonens 2. Can. 9. Concil Gener. 6. Can. 33. ubi legimus quod non Genus sed Mores attendendi sunt ad Manus-Impositionem Et Can. 50 51. istius Concilii Concil Carthaginens 4. Can. 15. Cujus haec sunt formalia verba Vt Episcopus vilem supellectilem mensam ac victum pauperem habeat Et dignitatis suae authoritaâ—em Fide ac vitae meritis quaerat Et Can. 95 ejusdem Concilii Concil Agathens Can. 3 4. Concil Vasens Can. 2. Concil Aurelianens 4. Can. 14. Concil Turonens 2. Can. 18. Concil Parisiens Can. 1. Concil Aurelianens 5. Can. 10 11. Concil Hispalens 2. Can. 10. as for Monasteries There is sâ—arce any ancient Councel whether General or Provincial but speaks of them But all the Qualifications of St. Paul's Bishop are expressed at length in the first Canon of the fourth Councel of Carthage To which I remit the ingenious Reader Vid. Chrysost. Homil. 65. in Gen. 47. Vid. August Ad. Bonifac. Comitem Epist. 50. Si autem privatim possidemus quod nobis sufficiat non illa nostra sunt sed pauperum quorum Procurationem quodammodo gerimus non Proprietatem nobis damnabili Vsurpaâ—ione vindicamus Et Serm. 2. Cap. De Vita Clericorum Vnum filium habes putes Christum alterum duos habes putes Christum tertium decem filios habes Christum undecimum facias suscipio Hieronym Ad Nepotian Habens victum amictum his contentus ero Et nudam crucem nudus sequar Comment in Galat. cap. 6. Qui clementiam non habet nec indutus est viscera misericordiae Lachrymarum quamvis spiritualis sit non adimplebit Legem Christi Ambros. lib. de Offic. 1. cap. 30. Non satis est bene velle sed etiam bene facere Non quid dixeris sed quid feceris c. Lib. 2. Offic. cap. 21. Gregor 1. Lib. 5. Epist. 29. De Episcopo Mariniano Largam manum habeat necessitatem patientibus concurrat alienam inopiam suam credat quia si haec non habeat Vacuum Episcopi nomen tenet and in his Epistle to the Emperour Mauricius he holds forth at length the great Advantages of a Monastical Life though I cannot approve that Sentiment of his Plerique sunt qui nisi omnia reliquerint salvari apud Deum nullatenus possunt Anselm lib. 13. cap. 28. Pasâ—e same morientem quisquis enim pascendo hominem servare poteras si non pavisti occidisti Vid. totam Chrysost. Hom. in cap. 6. Epist. ad Hebr. Greg. 1. Lib. 12. Epist. 6. Et Tertul De Iejunio though at that time he was Montanizing Vid. omnes libros Prosp. de Vita Contemplat Et Hieron Panegyric in vitam solitariam Idem Epist. 2. Isidor Pelus Epist. ad Palladium Diaconum Bern. Declam in illud Evang. Reliq omnia c. Article III. Ier. 23. 21. Ioh. 10. 1. Act. 19. 13. 14 15 16. 1 Tim. 3. 6. Heb. 5. 4. 3. Ioh. 9. IT were to be wished That none set themselves forward to leap into a vacant Chair and to ascend with too much Precipitation that Summum Sacerdotii fastigium before others much more modest and more worthy It was the regret of Gregory Nazianz. That some in his time were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they Commenced Divines and Bishops in one Day who yet understood nothing before nor brought any thing to the Order but only a good Will to be there Whence he fitly compares such Mushroms to the Dragon's teeth sown by Cadmus as the Fable hath it which immediately sprung up Giants out of the Earth armed Cap-a-pe perfect men and perfect Warriours in one day But this is the excentrick Motion of rash and ignorant young heads and ambitious Hereticks For the most eminent Pillars of the Primitive Church such as S. Cyprian Gr. Naz. Ambrose Augustine Nectarius Chrysostom Synesius and many others from a Principle of Humility and a serious Consideration of the weightiness of that Charge declined the same with all Vehemency imaginable till by the Civil and Ecclesiastical Authority and the Inspiration of the Almighty and great Mortifications they were at
World that his Heart joyns Issue with St. Augustin's Wish That when Christ comes again to Iudge the World he may find him either praying or Preaching Which last behoved to be the Practice of Bishops in some Parts of the World unless either they or the People belonging to their Cathedral were deprived of Preaching on the Lords Day For in the Churches of Africa no Presbyter was permitted to preach in Presence of the Bishop till the time of Valerius St. Augustine's immediate Predecessour in the See of Hippo Who as Possidius in the Life of Augustine reports being a Greek and by reason of his little Skill in the Latin Tongue unable to Preach to the Edification of the People Hippo being a Roman Colonie admitted S. Augustine whom he had lately ordained Presbyter to preach before him which was ill resented by some Bishops yet became a Precedent at last to other Churches But there is another Exception besides that of bodily Infirmity which may sufficiently warrant the Conscience of a Bishop to forbear Preaching pro hic nunc and that is a desire to experiment the Gift of another within his Jurisdiction whether a Candidate or one already in Orders for seeing he is Virtute Ossiâ—ii Pastor pastorum that Inspection must needs be a special part of the Episcopal Function Vid. Concil Aurelianens 1. Can. 13. Cujus haec sunt formalia verba Quod Episcopus si infirmitate non fuerit impeditus Ecclesiae cui proximus fuerit Die Dominico deesse non debet Et Can. 2. Concil Toletan 11. Where an unpreaching Bishop is fitly termed Praeco mutus But because the Elegancy of the Style and Matter would invite any to read that Canon I shall therefore give the ingenuous Reader an account of it Quantum quis praecelsi culminis obtinet locum tantum necesse est praecedat caeteros gratiâ meritorum ut in eo qui praesidet singulis singulariter ornetur eminentiâ Sanctitatis habens semper in ore gladium veritatis in opere efficaciam luminis ut juxta Paulum polens sit exhortari in doctrina sana contradicentes revincere Nos proinde nostri Ordinis gradum vel suscepti Regiminis modum magnopere cogitare debemus ut qui officium Praedicationis suscepimus nullis curis à divina Lectione privemur Nam quorundam mentes Pontificum ita corporis otio à Lectionis gratia secluduntur ut quid doctrinae gregibus subditis exhibeat non inveniat Praeco mutus Insistendum ergo semper erit Majoribus ut quos sub Regiminis cura tuentur fame Verbi Dei perire non sinant The Ninteenth Canon of the sixth General Councel speaking almost to the same Purpose and adds something more That in the Exposition of Scripture they ought to follow the Interpretation of the Primitive Fathers and Doctors of the Church and not presume to deliver to their Auditors Quicquid in buccam venerit And for that end recommends unto them the accurate Study of these Ancient Luminaries of the Church Which useful Speculation is too much neglected in this Age To which that of the Egyptian Priest to the Grecian Philosopher may be applied Ye have neither knowledge of Antiquity nor Antiquity of Knowledge Vid. Augustin contra Faustum Manish Lib. 32. cap. 10. At vero qui Electus ab Ecclesia ministerium Evangelizandi renuerit ab Ecclesia ipsa meritò contemnitur Qui enim sibi prodest Ecclesiae bene intelligitur utroque pede calceatus Vid. etiam Lib. 19. De Civit. Dei cap. 19. Chrysostom Lib. 2. De Sacerdot Hieronym ad Nepotian Greg. 1. Part. 1. De Cura Pastor Article VII Prov. 27. 23. Act. 15. 36 41. 20. 28. Act. 8. 14 15 17. Heb. 6. 2. NExt Let this Shepherd of Pastors be careful to visit his Diocess once every year in Conformity to the Antient Canons unless it be of a very great Dimension and the Churches therein so numerous that the Difficulty is insuperable But what is wanting the one year should be supplied in the beginning of the next that by such accurate Visitations he may find opportunity to Water what God hath Planted and to thrust those out of the Vineyard whom the Great Master never sent to work there they being hurried thereinto by their own insufficient forwardness Simoniacal Pactions and other unconscionable Principles and whose after-Practices are found too sutable thereunto And let him exactly take notice when he comes upon the place if the Minister and People perform reciprocal Duties and afford mutual Encouragements one to another But seeing all these Particulars are fully expressed in the Books for Visitations I shall add no more but this General That he is bound to take inspection If the Incumbent use a conscionable Endeavour to perform all Personal Relational and Functional Duties Which if he be found to do let him have his due Encouragement For Virtus laudata crescit c. laudando praecipimus But if any be deprehended to be very defective in their Intellectuals or Morals or in any of the elicit or imperat Acts of those Faculties so that Charity it self cannot be so blind but may perceive that they throw down more with the one hand than they build with the other Let these be Censured according to their Demerits For as a Skilful Physician our Prelate is obliged to purge the Mystical Body of its most noxious Humours by applying seasonable Catharticks and a Dose too that is proportionable to the Distemper and as a good Surgeon speedily to cut off these Organical Members which are already sphacelated lest that Gangrene invade the whole Body Ense recidendum ne pars sincera trahatur saith the Poet. Which if he do not he must resolve to be accountable to the most impartial Tribunal imaginable which is infinitely above the pretended Justice of Aeacus Minos and Radamanthus for those destructive Neglects which carry the apparent Ruin of many Souls in the front of them Likewise at these Visitations they may find an excellent opportunity of retriving jure-postliminii that Antient Ceremony of Confirmation excluding in the mean time all Superstition therefrom though some are apt to believe that it is not the fear of giving Offence which is the Remora of this useful Practice but rather the Laziness of some Church-Governours that Ceremony being one of the honourable Prerogatives of Episcopacy and as some thought incommunicable to Presbyters there being very few Instances of any of them who in the Primitive Church were delegated to perform the same And sure the seasonable noticing if Ministers and Parents have exercised their respective Duties in order to the Education of Young Ones is so far from giving just matter of Offence to any that if rightly considered it would be found in it self a Work highly commendable and very profitable for the Church if Conscionably practis'd For what harm can the Imposition of a Bishop's hands do to any unless they have the Polonian Plica or
two great Wheels of that hellish Combination viz. By maintaining the Lawfulness of Defensive Arms in Subjects against their Prince which if once taken up do seldome fail to become offensive e're they be laid down I shall say no more against this Infernal Spring but that the Primitive Church knew no such Doctrine nor Practice and they must be grossely ignorant of their Tenents who imagine the Contrary it being Lippis Tonsoribus notum That Preces Lachrymae were the only Offensive and Defensive Arms of that Church against her most violent Persecutors under the Notion of Authority So that we need not Instance S. Mauricius with his famous Thebaean Legion Nor the Army of Iulian the Apostate Nor make a Retrogradation unto the Apologetick of Tertullian who tells the Roman Emperour That the Christians in his time were so numerous that they had so filled the Court and Places of Judicature yea and the Imperial Army it self that they wanted not sufficient Physical Power to defend themselves against all their Adversaries If their excellent Religion had not taught them rather to suffer patiently for God than to resist the Authority then in Being which though wickedly exercised they acknowledged to be derived from God Or if they have the Confidence to say That there is an Obligation lying upon People when they dream of a Necessity to Reform the Church if they suppose the Prince to be negligent and that not only without but also against the Authority of their Sovereign Such Bigots though dying in the Attempt were never reputed Martyrs by the Primitive Church but rather judgjudged Seditious as is evident from Can. 60. Concil Elib Which insinuates this Reason That Paul made not Use of his Hands but only of his eloquent Tongue against the Idols of Athens If such Phanatical Principles be found in them let them be rejected as the dangerous Spawn of Presbyterian Independant and Anabaptistical Brood which is still endeavouring to hatch a Cockatrice Egg that may prove a Basilisk to this Church And I fear there be too many such young Snakes already taken in her Bosome which being once warmed with the heat of Sedition will do their endeavour to sting unto death the Mother that fosters them Yet I should wish that if any of these Youths be found towardly though pitifully marred in their Education the Bishop who is most concerned in them would take them home to his own Family and by piece-meal instill better Principles into them It being found by Experience that they who are sincere Converts become most zealous for the Interest of the Church 6. The next Particular I would have noticed is that of Simony Therefore let all those who desire to enter into Holy Orders or who are to be transplanted from one Church to another purge themselves by Oath of that Crime It cannot be denyed but that the usual Oath tendered in this Church is indifferent strict though some in this subtle Age have invented modes of evading it But whatsoever Paction Parents make privily with the Patron let not the Sons be balked from vindicating themselves of being Art or Part of those hellish Transactions it being more consonant to Reason that they who are of approved Integrity should be waved than those who are under Suspition For as Iulius Caesar said of his Wife so it should be with all Ministers of the Gospel even not only void of a Crime but also of Suspicion But I fear the contrary is too frequently done That Oath being tendered in Course to those who are under no Suspicion but these sometimes pretermitted who are under a flagrant Scandal of Simony Which Omission not only verifies that of the Poet Dat veniam corvis c. but also brings an indelible Reproach on the Church and Governours thereof And if any Church-man having come by a blank Presentation should be so graceless as to fill up the Name of his reciprocal Beneficiary because he hath replenished the Pockets of his Patron with some money though a jeering Laick would happly say Emerat ille prius vendere jure potest Yet there is not modest Ecclesiastick but would be so far out of Countenance with that Reproach upon the Church as to return nothing else save that Lamentation of the Poet Pudet haec opprobria nobis Et dici potuisse non potuisse refelli And if any refuse to take the Oath when it is tendered to them let them be declared Inhabiles according to the ancient Canons And if they be found afterwards guilty notwithstanding they have taken the Oath let them be degraded and excommunicated for adding Perjury to that Crime which needed no Complication to make it great for they who living in the Gall of Bitterness and Bond of Iniquity have owned Simon Magus for their Father ought not to be reputed Sons of the Church And let all those Gehazites who have the Impudence to sell such Matters that kind of Merchandise having become too much in fashion in this Age be Censured according to the Canons of the Church For to their Souls as an old Father hath said St. Ambrose by name in lieu of the Grace of God a Leprosie doth cleave much worse than that which did adhere unto the Covetous Servant of Elisha and his Seed for ever Their common Apology may be easily answered For though it is no Spiritual Gift which they sell and consequently not properly Simony yet it is Spirituali annexum and therefore declared by the Canons of the Church to fall under the Censure of that Crime and its Denomination And seeing by all the Laws whereby our Church is Governed the Officium is declared inseparable à Beneficio there being no Ministeria vaga amongst us and by the Canon-Law when a Presbyter was Ordained sine Titulo the Bishop who did so was bound to maintain him till he were otherwise provided Therefore our Church hath good reason to censure the Buyers and Sellers of Benefices as Simoniacal Persons Now over and above that Pathetical Declamation of St. Ambrose I could amass many other sharp Invectives of the Fathers against this Crime but I forbear lest this Article swell to too great a Bulk and shall only add this Wish That seeing there be too many Laick Patrons who have a liquorish Appetite after the sweetness of God's Bread as one phraseth it to a very bad Sence I say I wish that they were authorized by a Municipal Law to gather up the Fruits of the first Year's Vacancy or of the half thereof where there is an Annat provided that the Bishop of the Diocess with the Advice of the respective Presbytery who may be presumed to know better than any the State of a vacant Church within their own Bounds have the Nomination of the Incumbent Which expedient would not only obviate that detestable Crime but should also prevent many other Inconveniences not fit to be here expressed As for the pretence of a Law wherewith some in this Land are apt to
â—alliate their Simony I shall remit them to the Epistle Dedicatory of D. I. Forbes of Corse before his Tractate upon Simony Where our learned Compatriot with an Holy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 declames most rationally against that Surreptitious Edict which he fitly terms Non Lex sed Labes and though some account it Lex soli yet that it should never be reputed by any Christian to be Lex Poli. If we should amass all the Canons of the Councels and Invectives of the Fathers these alone would amount to no small Volume but lest this Enchiridium swell too much I shall supersede many of them yet the ingenious Reader may find divers of them subjoyned by way of Confirmation to this Article But to shew how detestable that Crime of Simony was in the eyes of the ancient Church and how cautious these Primitive Lights were in that Affair I cannot forbear just now to notice that Canon of the Councel of Ancyra which determined That nothing should be given at the time of Receipt of the Eucharist though under the notion of Charity to the Poor lest any should suspect that Donation to be made for the holy Communion But alack we have reason to fear in this Age that the time is come of the fulfilling of the Prophecy of S. Bernard That Christ will again descend from Heaven and take the whip in his hand and scourge mercenary Priests out of his Temple as formerly he did other kinds of Merchants Which Flagellation too many avaricious Prelates of Rome have good reason to fear for presuming to dispence in this Matter not only with all the ancient Canons but also with the inviolable Law of God by practising various kinds of Simony not fit here to be expressed I am not ignorant of that base Flattery of some Roman Parasites I mean the Sycophantine Canonists who look upon the Pope of Rome as the Lord Paramount on Earth of all the Degrees of Priesthood whence they inferâ— that he cannot commit Simony though he should make Sale of them all because a Lord may lawfully sell his own Which perverse Doctrine as it was well observed so it is most rationally confuted by that moderate and learned Roman Doctor Cl. Espencaeus in his excellent Comment on the Epist. to Tit. to which I remit those base Flatterers for their Castigation And I wish from my heart that some leading men in this Church did not transcribe that Copy of pretended Dispensations If it were so we should not find any of them so impudent as to give it under his Hand that a simple Rebuke is an adequate Punishment unto a Presbyter who is convict of notorious Simony that this least of Censures is an Expedient fit enough to unload the Church of that great Burden of Reproach w ch such a flagrant Scandal had laid upon it But seeing this Oracular Response of Delphi is so diametrically opposite to all the ancient Canons we hence perceive Fortuna quem nimium favet stultum facit 7. In the last place I would tender this humble advice to all the Governours of this Church Seeing they enjoy the Privilege of the Advocation of some Churches that they be exceedingly solicitous to provide Persons for those Vacances that are Pares Negotio and let them be of Alexander the Great his Mind about the Succession whose last words were Detur digniori rather than the more uncertain Testament of Pyrrhus the Epirote who bequeathed all at Random unto him who had the sharpest Sword For if it be otherwayes indifferent Spectators will be apt to pass this Verdict upon it That Bishops are no more concerned with the Interest of the Church than Laicks and that they have drawn them a Copy to present insufficient men But as I hope none of the sacred Order shall in that Race which God hath set before them be found to resemble Atalanta who was diverted from her Course by the three golden Apples of Hippomanes a fit Emblem of the Profits Pleasures and Glory of the World which are a Snare to all and ruine the greatest part of the Sons of men So I should wish that none of them be so blind with natural Affection as to bring a Reproach upon themselves and give Scandal to the Gospel by preferring unworthy Relatives in the Church Perit enim omne judicium saith Seneca cùm res transierit in affectum I cannot deny but if indifferent Persons who have a Faculty of judging such Matters do observe in those a competency of means adapted to the end of their Employment so much Respect may be deferred to a natural Obligation that caeteris paribus they may be preferred for there is a Possibility of erring when they consult not with Flesh and Blood as is evident in civil Matters from Antipater's Mistake in preferring Polyspercon to the Protectorship of Aridaeus though his Son Cassander was found by experience to be the fitter man and that Greek Emperour who mixed the Meal of the Western Christians with Lime when they went to recover the Holy Land from Infidels was recommended to the Imperial Dignity by his dying Father before his elder Brother meerly upon the account of that publick Spirit and Sentiments of Justice which the misjudging Father apprehended to be in him But if the Tie of Nature be the A and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his Recommendation there being scarce any thing else to make the aequilibrium far less to preponderate the Scale but only some grains of homogeneal Blood then let a Church-man remember that in the Cause of God a good Levite regards not his nearest Relations nor doth acknowledge his Brethren And let them trace the Foot-steps of that Holy Groslhead Bishop of Lincoln when one of his Relatives who was but a ground-Labourer heard of Grosthead's Preferment his gross Ignorance and meanness of his former Employment were no Remora to his vain Ambition in desiring to be a Labourer in God's Vineyard But that famous Prelate repelled him with this deserved Sarcasm Cousin said he If you want a Yoke of Oxen I will cause buy them to you if ye are destitute of Seed to sow your Ground I will supply that also or if your Plough be broken I will give you a new one But an Husbandman I found you and an Husband man I leave you Vid. Can. Apost 30. Item Synod Neo-Caesariens Can. 2. Concil Arelatens 3. Can 1. Concil Toletan 4. Can. 19. Concil General 6. Can. 14 15. Concil General 4. Can. 2. Where the Giver the Receiver the Mediator even all that are found to have trucked in that sinful Affair of Simony are condemned to great Censures Yea Can. 3. Concil Bracarens 2. there is an Anathema danti Anathema accipienti Concil Aurelianens 2. Can. 3 4. Concil Avernens Can. 2. Concil Aurelianens 5. Can. 3. Concil Toletan 8. Can. 3. Concil Toletan 2. Can. 8 9. Concil Bracarens 3. Can. 7. Concil Cabilonens Can. 16. sic se habet Nullus Episcopus nec Presbyter
in General Councels to have had a Consultive Voice seeing some Deacons who could speak good sence and understood the matter in Controversie intus in cute were admitted to all their Deliberations This is evident from the Instance of the Great Athanasius at the First Councel of Nice who as he testifies of himself was then but a Deacon of the Church of Alexandria and not the President of the Councel the Asâ—ertion whereof was a great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in I. Calvin yet permitted not only to Debate but also to Consult because he understood the Arrian Heresie as well as any of them all And that they had a Decisive Voice I mean Presbyters and many times Deacons also in the Provincial Councels we need no other Evidence than the Inspection of the Inscriptions and Subscriptions of these Synodical Acts and Canons Neither did any approved Bishop of the Primitive Church erect a Tribunal within his own Precinct from which velut à Tripode he alone inconsulto Clero pronounced Oracular Responses and Fulminating Sentences against any of the culpable Clergy whose gross Midemeanours deserved the highest Censures of the Church But this was done by a Judicial Concurrence of the Synodical Meeting at least of some select Brethren delegated thereby to be the Bishop's Assessors in that Act of Judicature This is most evident from the Resolution of S. Cyprian and in so clear a matter we need not amass any more Instances who being consulted by some of his Clergy what they should do in the Case of the Lapsed he answered That being now alone he could say nothing to it for that he had determined from his first Entry upon his Bishoprick not to adjudge any thing by his own private Order without the Councel and Consent of the Clergy which in the present Case holds very well à minori ad majus Yea it is one of the most trite Axioms of the Canon-Law Episcopus solus honorem potest deferre sed solus auferre non potest Vid. Can. Apost 38. Item Concil Carthaginens 1. Can. 11. Carthaginens 2. Can. 10. Cartharginens 4. Can. 22 23. The express Words of the last Canon are these Vt Episcopus Nullius causam audiat absque praesentia Clericorum suorum alioquin irrita erit Sententia Episcopi nisi Clericorum praesentiâ confirmetur Can. etiam 28 29. ejusdem Concilii Concil Aurelianens 3. Can. 15. Concil Turonens 2. Can. 1. 6. Concil Hispalens 2. Can. 6. Cujus haec sunt formalia verba Comperimus quendam Presbyterum à Pontifice suo injustè olim dejectum innocentem exilio condemnatum which Tragedy hath sometimes been acted upon other Scenes than that of Spain Ideo Decrevinus juxta Priscorum Decretum Synodali sententiâ Vt nullus nostrùm sine Concilii examine dejicere quemlibet Presbyterum vel Diaconum audeat Episcopus enim Sacerd. libus Ministris solus honorem dare potest auferre solus non potest Tales enim neque ab uno damnari nec uno judicanâ—â— poterunt honoris sui privilegiiste exm sed praesentati Synodali judicio quod Canon de illis praedepâ—â—it 〈◊〉 Vid. Greg. 1. Lib. 11. Epist. 49. Si quid de quocunque Clerico ad aures 〈◊〉 pere enâ—rit quod te juste possit offendere facilè non credas sed praesentibus Senioribus Ecclesiae tuae diligenter est veritas perscrutanda Et tunc si qualitas rei poposcerit Canonica Districtio culpam feriat Delinquentis This was the Advice of that great Bishop of Rome to one of his Suffragan Bishops And I wish it were well observed by all of that Order If it were so we should not at any time hear of the Relegation of any Presbyter without a Judicial Ecclesiastical Process first deduced against him Epist. Ignatii ad Trall Orig. lib. 3. Contra Cels. compares the Bishop in the Church to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Presbytery to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S. Ignatius before him resembled the Bishop to the Nasi in the Sanhedrim and the Presbyters as the Common Councel of the Church to the Bishop Vid. Cypr. Epist. 6. 10. 18 24 34. Hierom. ad cap. 3. Isai. Nos habemus in Ecclesia Senatum nostrum Coetum Presbyterorum Ambros. in 1. Tim. c. 3. Hic enim Episcopus est qui inter Presbyteros primus est Idem in Rom. 5. though it 's more probable that Hilary the Roman Deacon was Author of that Commentary which is frequently cited by S. Augustine with great Applause Nam apud omnes utique gentes honorabilis est Senectus unde Synagoga postea Ecclesia Seniores habuit sine quorum consilio nihil agebatur in Ecclesia But if any desire to be fully cleared in the matter of Fact let them read Blondel his Apology where we find a Shoal of Instances for the Assessorian Dignity of Presbyters and Councels I shall only point at two or three which are obvious to any who have any acquaintance with Church-History We shall begin with Pope Victor and though his Spirit was too violent which peaceable Irenaeus scrupled not to tell him yet he acted not any matter of moment without the Consent of his Clergy So at Antioch P. Samosatenus that Heretical Patriarch was Deposed by a Synod consisting of Bishops Presbyters and Deacons and in their Names the Synodal Epistle was penned and directed to the Catholick Church and Cornelius at Rome declares That all his Presbyters concurred with him in Condemning the Schismatick Novatus though as Eusebius informs us he had sixty Bishops to be his Associates in that Synod Neither can we pretermit that Excellent Councel of Illiberis whose laudable Canons are yet very instructive to thee Catholick Church in which there were but nineteen Bishops and twenty six Presbyters But that which is instar omnium in the first and best of General Councels I mean that at Ierusalem that the Presbyters had a decisive Voice with the Apostles is evident to any who can read without Prejudice the Tenour of those Decrees I shall shut up this Point with the Judgment of a learned and moderate Episcopal man who in his Irenicum speaks to this Purpose The Top-gallant of Episcopacy cannot be so well managed for the right steering the Ship of the Church as when it is joyned with the Vnder-sails of a moderate Presbytery A Succinct Dissertation Concerning the Chor-Episcopi as they were termed in the greek-Greek-Church or the Vicarii Episcoporum as they were named in the Western Church WE have added this Paragraph ex superabundanti to prove that some Presbyters were honoured Iure Suffragii in General Councels It being granted by all that the Chor-Episcopi did subscribe in their own names even in those Oecumenical Assemblies If we shall make it appear that they were nothing else but Presbyters invested with some more Power than ordinary I hope the point is gained which we designed to prove Now the same is evident from the 13th Canon
suppose it was not of such a Latitude as the then Third and now Fourth Part of the Terraqueal Globe at least of the known World Nor the Dimension of all Asia the Lesser called Anatolia by the Greeks as being East from them and now Natolia by the Turks Neither was it the Roman Asia in its greatest Latitude which comprehended the great Kingdom of Pergamus viz. Ionia Aeolis Lydia Caria with the two Mysia's and Phrygia's The Proconsular Asia was yet less for it comprehended only Ionia and Aeolis with the Islands of the Aegaean Sea and about the Hellespont But Asia proprâ—â— dicta of which the Apostle and Irenaeus speak was least of all for it had no more in it but Ionia and Aeâ—liâ— as I herom tâ—stisies and Erasmus is of the same opinion that Asia in the Acts â—mports only that Country where Epheus stood that is Ionia Now though 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 as it is distinguished â—â—om the Greater consisted of many other Provinces over and above what we have expressed 〈◊〉 Bithynia Paphlagonia 〈…〉 Pontus Armenia the Lesser Lyâ—aonia Pisidia Isauria Lyciaâ— and 〈◊〉 yet all of them amount not â—igh to the Dimension of the Famous Kingdom of France And though Ionia was very Fertile and consequently Populous yet the Dimension thereof being but small it was â—asie for St. Paul staying at Miletus a little City on the Coast of Iâ—niaâ— not far from Ephesus and St. Hiâ—rom saith truly within ten Furlongs of the Ostiary 〈◊〉 that famous River Meander to call foâ— all the Bishops of that Province to come untâ— him We have insisted the longer upon this â—istorico-Geographical Digression to demonstrate to the World that Presbyterians make much adoe about nothing and build their largest Hopes on a sandy Foundation But let us grant to them which I know D. Hammond and they that follow him will not yield that the Apostle in his Epistles to Timothy and Titus usâ—th these Names promisâ—uously what have they gain'd thereby Were Bishops of old called Elders So were the Apostles in Scripture sometimes termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet no man in his right Wits but will grant that they had a Superiority over Presbyters and Deacons Use is certainly the best master of Words For Nomina being ex insâ—ituto that which is applyed to signifie such a Notion of the Mind may by common Consent import a contrary Conception as is well observed by that glorious and learned Martyr King Charles the first in his Dispute at Newport in the Isle of Wight where that Royal Champion like another Athanasius fighting against the World tells those Presbyterian Ministers That he is not much concerned whether they call Episcopatus Ordo or Gradus or what Name they give it provided they acknowlege the Superiority of those Church-Officers over Presbyters and Deacons This was formerly â—â—â—â—uated by that great and good Prince in his Disputation with M. Henderson at New-castle whom he routed both Horse and Foot and sâ—nt home that Apostle of the Covenanâ— a Royal Proselyte For this great Athleta like to the invincible Hercules in all his Labours was in all the Disputes that he managed with his unparallel'd â—en more than Conquerour through Him that loved him Yea Salmatius and Blondel the two great Champions of Presbytery are constrain'd 〈…〉 least in the 〈…〉 betwixt Presbyters and 〈◊〉 And if Blondel from the year 〈◊〉 which he makes the Epocha of that 〈◊〉 Impropriation had made a 〈◊〉 to CXI he would have found S. Ignatius in his Epistles which are accounted 〈◊〉 clâ—arly and frequâ—ntly distinguishing betwixt Bishops Presbyters and Deacons and that in no less than 35 several 〈…〉 which we have no leisure to 〈…〉 accounted 〈◊〉 for these 〈…〉 so fully vindicated by 〈…〉 and D. Pearceson that all the Gratings of Salmasius Blondel Capellus and D. Owen will never file off the least Atom from their Solidity I hope all they of the Episcopal Order and Way will pardon this Digression I shall therefore only deprecate for the Tediousness thereof if these insignificant Lines chance to fall into the hands of others all my Design being to speak a Word for Truth and to give an evidence to the World that I am no bigot Presbyterian But we have not yet done with this Article For there is something yet quod cadit in Consequentiam Let not therefore the Governours of our Church be inaccessible to any of their Presbyters nor suffer them to dance Attendance at their Gates as if they were the poor Yeomen of their Guard Clemens Rom. in his excellent Epistle describes the Lord Jesus to this Purpose whom all Church-men ought to imitate Dominus noster I. Christus Sceptrum magnificentiae non venit in jactantia Superbiae arrogantiae quamvis potuerit sed in humilitate For I would have them to remember That it is not Nature but only the Providence of God that hath made the Difference betwixt them and it 's possible rather the Grace of their Prince than any Merit of their own which hath dignified them with such a Title And if the same be substracted their â—rest would instantly fall down to the Point base of the Shield And when Presbyters come where Bishops are let them enjoy a ferene Countenance without any supercilious Command to keep their Distance or according to the new coyn'd Phrase Know your Measures But I wish they consider and practise that sober Measure which an Heathen Poet prescribes unto all Mushroms of a Night's growth Fortunam reverenter habe quicunque repente Dives ab exili c. For good Words never hurt the Mouth nor excoriate the Tongue And when any Presbyter who is sufficiently known to have been constantly of sound Principles and Practice conform shall with all due respect Represent some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Ecclesiastical Government For I believe they think not themselves we are living in Platonis Republica sed in Faece Romuli to whicâ— Regret he is prompted by his Loyalâ—y 〈◊〉 Church and State let him not be 〈◊〉 away as presumptuous and Impertinent to tender an Admonition be it never to Brotherly and humble to one that iâ— forsooth so much his Superiour as if the ingenuous Presbyter had committed a Solaecism greater than that of 〈◊〉 who prâ—sum'd to teach the Great 〈◊〉 the Stratagems of War But 〈…〉 them to remember That Humanum 〈◊〉 aliquando bonus 〈…〉 and hath need to be awaken'd to 〈◊〉 his Charge and 〈…〉 times suggest 〈…〉 Alexander the Great 〈…〉 to Abdolominus a poor Gardiner 〈◊〉 of the Blood Royal of Sidâ—n That 〈◊〉 spake bettâ—◠〈…〉 point of 〈◊〉 than eve◠〈◊〉 heard from any of his greatest Captains Yea Antiâ—â—â—us the Great declared solemnly That he had learned more concerning Truâ—hs as to the Interest of his Government from a poor Countrey Peasant in one Night's Conâ—renee with him than he had done from all hs Courtiers heretofore For if such Presbyters be discountenanced and their
Company slighted that Disrespect put upon them will give occasion unto many to imagine that somâ— Bishops conceive an internal Honour at the first viâ—w of those who have been constantly Loâ—al as if a ravenous Wolf had suddenly appeared unto them or that Perâ—eus had accosted ed them with Gorgon's Head upon his Shield because in the glass of their straightness they behold their own Obliquities Rectum being Index sui obliqui But seeing good words when they are given very liberally are but empty Complements without good Deeds for that Chaâ—acter of the Echo may be applied to maâ—y Promises and Oaths now-a-dayes Foâ— est praetereaque nihil It is also one of my Eucâ—icks That the Fathers of the Church espouse the just Interest of their Sons to the utmost of their endeavours and that if a Minister of the Gospel have any Business before a Secular Court the Bishops would be pleased to assist him in his innocent pursuit or Defence according to the Sphere of their Activity For whither shall a Son flee for Protection if his own Father abandon him But if they shall meet with more humanity and readiness to dispatch their affair from those Members of the Court who are not in Orders 〈◊〉 the Great Officer of State for the present is highly applauded by all the Clergy for his Assability and Favour in their Addresses to him for Justiceâ— some will be apt to conclude that these Fathers are only so termed Equivocally and deserve rather to be called Step-fathers as being too like unto Saturn of whom the Poets feigned that he devoured his own Children But Arbor honoretur cujus nos umbra And what greater evidence can bâ— desired of any Allegorical 〈◊〉 a Busâ—ris a Polyphemus a Diomedes or the Inhabitants of Taurica Chersonesus than this Hypothesis Let us suppose it the great Endeavour of some to undermine and blow up by base Calumnies and false Suggâ—stions as if they carried Faux's daâ—k Lanthorn in their Tongues the Reputation of some of their Brethren they having no other provocation to that Diabolical Office except their Envy of a litle favourable Aspect and good opinion which some Great Persons have conceived of them they being hugely concern'd to study a Monopoly of those Grandees lest at any time they give an ear to any true Suggestion against themselves or that any ascend an empty Chair who are not their Creatures or of their own swarthy Complexion Truth it self having told us Qui malè facit odit Lucem But the best Countermine I know to the Fears and Jealousies of those men the most forcible Antidote against their Cordolium is to undeceive them by this Assurance which every honest man is ready to give them that they would deem 〈◊〉 the greatest unhappiness in the World to be constrain'd to draw in the same yoke with those that have cast off the yoke of Holy Iesus or to be of the same Order with those who are guilty of so many Disorders Which voluntary Engagement may afford them more security against their Imaginary Fears than if the Object of their Dread did affect the stupidity of Iunius Brutus whose counterfeited Folly paved the way to the first Consulship of Rome And let us suppose these Obloquies to be as successful as Malice it self could wish it being a very old Maxim in the School of Envy Calumniare 〈◊〉 aliquid adhaerebit and as one said truly concerning that accursed Combination call'd the Covenant That Lyes were the Life of their Cause yet these traduced Brethren have not only the gracious Promises of the Gospel to support them with that blessed Spirit who did Dictate those Holy Lines but also the consideration of that of St. Augustine Quisquis detralâ—â—â—â—mae meae addit Mercedi meae Yea a seriou Reflection upon that of an Heathen man cannot but somewhat solace them Senâ—â—a having said Mala opinio benè parta delectat The Brazen-wall of a good Conscience within being a sufficient Fence and Cordial too against the malicious Batteries from without which the Infinite Wisdom usually makes to end in a Brutum Fulmen because these uncharitable Arietations proceed mostly from Persons of Brutish affections But let us jubjoyn this last Hypothesis That some of these Sons of Belial as if they had sucked the Breasts of Hyreanian â—ygeâ—s and had petrified Bowels were as implacable in their Malice as those cruel Roman Emperours one of which Monsters of Nature said Non adhuc â—ecum â—edii in gratiam another ita serii ut se â—â—â—ri sentiat a third wished That all they whom he hated had but one neck that with 〈◊〉 blow he might cut it off And a fourth said concerning the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his own Brother 〈◊〉 Divus modo ne sit viâ—us Yet I would have these suffering Brethren seriously to consider that the Servant is not greater than his Lord and seeing Innecency it self was persecuted from the Womb to the Tomb and from the Craâ—â—â— to the Grave both with the Scourge of Hands and Tongues they who are almost infinitely guilty before God ought not to take it in ill part far less to be overcome with despondency of mind when they trace the Footsteps of their Lord and Master for not only the Patriarchs and Prophets of old with the Apostles of our Great Master but also many other eminent Lights of the Primitive Church have run the same Fate so that they are not singular in this rugged way such as Narcissus of Hierusalem Eustathius of Antioch Athanasius of Alexandria Gregorie Nazianzen S. Basil of Cappadocia and S. Chrysostom of Constantinople Most of which were persecuted by the Instigation of Churchmen because they endeavoured to rectifie those Errors and to redress those Abuses which had fullied the very Altar of God That Aphorism Corruptio optimi est pessima being not only a Physical Observation but too often verified of Morals also And these suffering Brethren have good reason chearfully to undergoe the Fate of Aristides even to suffer the Ostracism because they are too vertuous Though I confess let them be as innocent as was once the man without the Navel they will be look'd upon as Criminal if they do not homologate all that some men say or do Vid. Concil General 1. Can. 14. Concil Carthaginens 4. Can. 34. Vt Episcopus in quolibet loco sedens stare Presbyterum non patiatur Can. 35. Vt Episcopus in Ecclesia in Consessu Presbyterorum sublimior sedeat intra domum verò Collegam se Presbyterorum esse cognoscat Can. 37. Diaconus ita se Presbyteri ut Episcopi ministrum esse cognoscat Can. 39. Diaconus quolibet loco jubente Presbytero sedeat Can. 40. Vt Diaconus in Convenâ—u Presbyterorum interrogatus loquatur Concil Arelat â— Can. 18. Arelat 2. Can. 15. Concil Laodic Can. 2â— Synod Quini-Sexâ— Can. 7. Concil Bracar 2. Can. 2. a part whereof hath these words similiter Parochiales Clerici servili timore in aliquibus eperibus
Episcopis servire non cogantur quia scriptum est Nâ—que ut dominantes in Clero Vid. Hieronym Epist. 2. ad Nepotian where he sayes Sâ—a subjectus Pontifici tuo quasi Animae Parentem suscipe which Counsel savours very little of Fanaticism se Sacerdotes non Dominos esse noverint Honorent Clericos quasi Clericos ut ipsis à Clericâ—s quasi Episcopis honor deseratur sâ—itum est illud Oratoris Domitii Cur ego te inquit habeam ut Principem cum tu me non habeas ut Senatorem Augustin Epist. 48. Nonomnis qui parcit amicus est nec omnis qui verberat iâ—micus c. Ambros. Serm. 14. Leon. 1. Epist. 82. Greg. 1. De Cura Past. par 3. Admonendi sunt Subditi ne plus quà m expedit sint subjecti ne cum student plus quà m necesse est hominibus subjici compellantur Vitra eorum venerari Article XIV Psal. 95. 6. Mat. 18. 20. Rom. 15. 6 16 17. 1 Cor. 1. 10. 5. 8. 6. 20. 11. 2 4 7 22 34. 14. 33 40. Col. 2. 5. Tit. 1. 5. Heb. 10. 25. SEING we have so frequently mentioned the ancient Canons of the Church it being as indecent if not as dangerous for a Church to be without Canons as for a State to be without Edicts these serving not only as a Directory to the reciprocal Duties of Bishops Presbyters and People but being also Boundaries to all I wish we had some thing that looked like them and served in Lieu of them till they be imposed by Authority For the Tender of the Canonical Oath unto the Candidates of that Sacred Function doth necessarily presuppose some Canons according to which their Obedience should be squared and by which also the Injunctions of their Superiours ought to be regulated For I hope none of them are so simple as to imagine that this Oath doth imply an absolute implicit Obedience unto the Beneplacita of Ecclesiastick Governours as if Sic volo sic jubeo slat pro ratione Voluntas were the adequate Law of our Church The Angelical Dâ—ctor hath better deâ—in'd it who tells us that to speak properly Lex est Sententia praecipiens honesta c. and that it must be enacted with the general Consent of the Clergy otherwise it cannot be a binding Law to the Church and if those Qualifications be wanting though that Precept may be â—ermed An Ecclesiastical Law yet it is not truly such but Violentia Yea more than so as the Swearing of a Souldier to the Colours of his General doth not only import that he knows them from the Standard of the Common Enemy but also that this Sacramentum Militare is with a due Subordination unto him who gave that General his Commission unless any have a mind to imitate the Treachery of that famous Wolsâ—ein of whom it is reported by some that before his fatal Retreat to Fgra he took an independent Oath of the Imperial Army For the Precepts of the Superiour must not interfere with the Commands of the Supreme which if they be found to do they ought not to be obeyed And if it be concluded that this Canonical Oath in the privation of Canons is but a meer Non-ens Certainly these Fanatical Preachers are most obliged to some Bishops who have permitted them still to Officiate in this Church and yet were never so impertinent as to require from them any Subscription to this Chimerical Fiction Therefore I would humbly entreat the Reverend Fathers of our Church to meet privately amongst themselves accompanied with one or two of their respective Presbyters 〈◊〉 they judge most Judicious and knoâ— to be of unquestionable Principles and let them unanimously resolve upon an Uniformity of Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government to be practised in this Church It is certainly a matter of Lamentation that our National Church should resemble America in its first Discovery for as Peter Martyr and Ioseph Acosta report a good Horseman in one Summer's day's Travel might meet with variety of Languages Habits and Religion amongst that Barbarous People Sure I am not to speak of Confirmation which is already pressed they might easily introduce a Platform of Administrating the Blessed Sacraments of the Gospel For when one varies from the precise words of the Institution which is but too frequently done he shall hardly perswade me that he hath Consecrated those Holy Symbols or Elements as they are usually termed at that time the words of the Divine Institution being the Essential Form of a Sacrament And let not the Lord's Prayer be any more neglected in the Consecration of the Eucharist which as St. Cyprian testifies was the constant Epiphonema of that Solemn Benediction in all the Churches of Christ in his time The same is also attested by St. Hilary and St. Augustin As for the Gesture at the Holy Table I humbly suppose Standing will be found the best Expedient to introduce Uniformity into this Church not only because it staves off the serupulous Fears of an Arto-latria but also in regard we find direct Evidence for the Practice thereof in the Primitive Church I shall only produce one Private and another Publick Authority for it though many more might be adduc'd to this purpose Dionysius Alexandrinus who lived about the middle of the third Century and Wrote Anno Dom. 260. testifies in a Letter to Pope Xystus That it was the Custom of the Church in his time to stand at the Lord's Table As for the Publick Authority The 20th Canon of the Great and First General Councel at Nice is sufficient where we find Kneeling on the Lord's Day and on the day of Pentecost expresly prohibited and the practice of Standing at their Devotions explicitly enjoyn'd And that because the Lord's Day is the ordinary Christian Festival and the whole time of Pentecost which comprehends the fifty dayes betwixt Easter and Whitsunday inclusively the constant Festivity of the Church Tertullian and Epiphanius looking upon it as an Apostolical universal Tradition not to kneel all that time Whence we may infer That if some men speak Consequenter ad Principia one whereof is That this Blessed Sacrament is the most solemn part of Christian Devotion they must either grant that the Eucharist was received on those dayes in a standing Posture or that the People of God did not at all communicate at these times which were a very absurd Notion seeing they are acknowledged by all who are not wildly â—aâ—atick to be the fittest Seasons for the Participation of that great Mystery whereas that of Kneeling is but consequentially inferr'd because the Fathers usually term the Holy Eucharist The most sublime the most solemn and most useful part of Christian Devotion and that it is Tremendum adorabâ—le Mysterium though under Favour we must expound it and so the Context usually imports of internal Adoration unless we intend to joyn Issue with the Popish Idolatry As for that irreverent and lazy Posture of Sitting we
for he must needs be a Stranger to all Church-History who is altogether unacquainted with these ensuing Instances The first is of Maris Bishop of Chalcedon a blind Bishop yet he fought not Andabatarum more but boldly told the Emperour Iulian to his Face That he was glad the Almighty had bereav'd him of his Eyes that he might not see such a vile Apostate as he was Such was the Freedom of Spirit wherewith even an Arrian Bishop was endued in Behalf of the Christian Religion But the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of S. Basil a greater and much more Orthodox Bishop was so admirable in the Eyes of the Lieutenant of the Emperour Valens that this Heretical Servant told it as one of the greatest Wonders in the World unto his Arrian Master That there was no Threatening imaginable could deterr that Metropolitan of Cappadocâ—a from the Path of Truth and Vertue St. Chrysostom his Freedom of Spirit in reprehending the Vanities of the Empress Eudoxia was so great that some supposed it had too much of the Satyr in it and that his wonderful Eloquence would have run in a smoother Channel if a little Gall Vinegar and Vitreol had not sometimes troubled the Stream But he deserved from all and in a right Sence too to be term'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a kneeless Bishop he being inflexible to all the Petitions of Ignorant and Scandalous Ecclesiasticks who lived within the Priphery of his Patriarchate Neither could all the Hopes or Fears wherewith the greatest Secular Persons in the World accosted him divert that Resolute Prelate from that which he judged just and Good and a part of his Episcopal Charge Though we might subjoyn many other Examples to this Purpose yet I shall forbear for the reason above frequently express'd Yet we cannot balk in Silence the well-known Instance of that most worthy Prelate of Millan who repell'd for the space of eight Moneths that good Emperour Theodosius the Great from the Holy Eucharist that blessed Sacrament being frequently celebrated in the Western Churches at that time and that for his temerarious and cruel Sentence in the mattter of Thessalonica But whether the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of that great Bishop or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of that great Emperour were most admirable I shall not determine but shall shut up this Historical Account with that Resolute Answer which this couragious Prelate gave to Valentinian the second Emperour of the West who being instigated by his Mother an Arrian to give the Principal Church at Millan to those Hereticks did meet with this unexpected Repulse from S. Ambrose in the Porch of his Cathedral Non prodam Lupis gregem mihi commissam hic occide si lubet In which Expression his holy Boldness in Conjunction with a due Submission to superiour Powers affords new matter of Admiration Now in regard that this little Cento of History hath wasted more Paper than at first I imagin'd it should do we shall therefore add no more Authorities to this Article Article XVII Mat. 23. 6 7 8. c. Act. 21. 20. Rom. 12. 10. 2 Cor. 3. 5. 2 Pet. 3. 15. WHatever Bombast Epithets others give unto them Let all Bishops when they Converse and salute one another viva voce or by writing use no other Compellation than that of Brethren which is most consonant unto the Primitive Pattern all Christians then living as Brethren and denominating one another under that notion of Fraternity which word was much used in the Infancy of the Church and from it the Pagans also took occasion to traduce our Religion But none used it more than the Ministers of the Gospel whether Bishops or Presbyters it being as Baronius that great Annalist hath well observed the most usual Compellation of all Bishops among themselves where there was a parity of Age or no great disproportion But when any of the Order who had stepped in upon a decrepit old age called by the Latines Aetas Capularis and Silicernium did converse with one of the same Order much younger than himself he usually called him Son and vice versâ the younger termed the elder Father though none of them were so young but that fourty Winters at least had snowed upon their Heads yea very few Presbyters were Ordained in these Times of Persecution whose Pulse had not beaten twice twenty years To which if some late Criticks had well adverted they would have made Use of a better Argument to repudiate the pretended Areopagite as there want not some solid reasons to do the feat than his impertinency in calling Timothy Son at the Close of his Book Of Ecclesiastical Hierarchy though say they the said Timothy was equal to him if not his Superiour in Piety Doctrine and Authority both being Bishops of famous Churches and Ephesus where Timothy Govern'd rather a Mother-Church than Athens and that it was the General Custom of the Primitive Church for Bishops to call one another Brethren But this is a meer Fallacy à dicto secundum quid ad dictum simpliciter For in respect of Age he might have called him Son though in many other things he had been his Superiour seeing we find more than a thousand years after that time when Christian Simplicity and Humility were much rarer in the World that Ioseph Patriarch of Constantinople flatly refused the Emperour thereof whose almost desperate Affairs in that Conjuncture required as great Complyance with the Latin Church as Conscience could possibly permit to prostitute himself to the Bishop of Rome by giving him the usual Adorations of the occidental Church at that time and plainly told him that if Eugenius the 4th by whose Influence the Councel of Florence was celebrated which was first assembled at Ferrara were a man much elder than himself he would call him Father if but of equal years he would term him Brother if much younger he would style him Son without the â—east mention of his pretended Title of Holiness And this was all the Compellation and Obeysance could be obtained from that peremptory Patriarch It were also desireable That all our Bishops took Place among themselves according to their Age excepting the Metropolitan or Primate who is constant Praeses of that Sacred Colledge and who usually in the Primitive Church was eminent above the rest not only in all laudible Qualifications but also in respect of Age. For in doing so they would not only imitate the Sons of that great Patriarch Iacob but they would shew themselves humbly obsequious to many ancient Canons which appoint the Precedency of Bishops among themselves to be at least conform to the Aera of their present Dignity of which we shall give an account at the end of this Article it being a most indecent Spectacle and that which in the City of Sparta would have appear'd a very ridiculous Pageantry to see a Reverend old man treading upon the Heels of one who might have been his Grand-child and yet of that same Order with himself But whether young
or old if they be once of the Order there is all the reason in the World that all of them should be interested in all the material Concerns thereof Time was when there were no such peculiar Precincts in this Church which are now termed Dioceses but all of that Sacred Order Governed this Church Communi-consilio Suffragio and therefore were denominated Episcopi Scotorum in general And without Peradventure all Bishops and Presbyters Canonically Elected and Ordained are Iure Divino Organical Members of the Catholick Church as is sufficiently demonstrated by M. Hudson and divers others though we should prescind from all Limitations of Diocesan and Parochial Churches which restrictive Boundaries were only determined Iure Humano Damasus and Platina testifying that P. Evaristus primus in urbe Roma divisit Titulos Presbyteris For if this most reasonable correspondence and good Understanding were observed amongst all the Bishops of a National Church there should be no occasion given unto any of that Order to regret that they are seldom call'd to give their Advice in the most important Affairs of the Church far less their Consent required to the Management of them Nor should they complain that when their Assistance is offered they are us'd much worse than the Pedarii Senatores at Rome the point-blank contrary being put in execution to that which the Plurality had resolved upon as if they were not the Edifiers of Sion but the Builders of Babel and understood not one another's Language Which Slight put upon Bishops may a little alleviate the Neglect of Presbyters For Solamen miseries c. But I would humbly tender my Advice to the Governours of our Church not to use such singular Methods and dis-joynted Counsels lest they give occasion unto intelligent Persons for to resemble them unto Lewis the Eleventh of France of whom it was said That he carried all his Councel about with him upon one horse And Philip de Commines that excellent Historian observes it to have been the cause of the final Ruin and fatal end of that King's Rival Charles the Warlike That he harkened to no Counsel save that of his own Perhaps some of these Leading-men have not only the Vanity of Themistocles the Athenian General who dispatch'd all the important Concerns of his Office the last day of his Abode in the City as Plutarch reports in the History of his Life but also the ambition to be thought no less sufficient than that Perpetual Dictator whose great Parts did cast such a dark shadow upon his insignificant Colleague in the Consulship that they who in mockery did calculate the Fasti Consulares design'd that Year thus Iulio Caesare Coss. the remaining Bibuli sitting rather as Ciphers than Consuls in the Church of God Yet let them be never so sharp I hope they will acknowledge there is some acuteness in that expression of the Wise Man In the multitude of Councellors there is Safety and some sence in that old Maxim Plus vident oculi quà m oculus and in this also Vis Consilii expers mole ruit suâ For they who will not give ear to the Advice of any other man be he never so godly and Learned must needs be such Opiniators as Iamblicus out of Aristotle speaks of who imagine themselves a middle sort of Rationals betwixt God and Man Yet these Fantastical Semidii shall not only dye like men but they have good reason to fear that there shall be no such King found as David was to follow the Bier and to Lament over them thus Dyed these Generals of the Ten Tribes as Fool dieth Nay on the contrary they may apprehend the Fate of Iehoram that wicked King of Iudah who departed Not being desir'd i.e. None seriously affecting the prolongation of that Life which was so useless and noxious to the World And let them remember that there is scarce any Ancient Councel if ever they did read them whether General or Provincial so that we need not amass Citations to this purpose but Ordains every Metropolitan to Assemble a Councel of his Comprovincials once every year at least that with common Advice and Consent they may resolve on those things which concern the Good of that Church at whose Helm Providence hath placed them And it is very observable That there have been some in the World who having dream'd of an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in themselves as if these Fantastick Deities did emulate one of the Names of the true God which is Schaddai yet have been led by the Nose by some Sycophantine Creatures of their own which sons of Ptolomee Ceraun and Campobasso will not fail when occasion serves to cut the Throats of their deluded Patrons But whatever Success their Subterranean Attempts may have that Ecclesiastick must needs be too prodigal of his Fame who is surrounded with such disingenuous Varlets that cast so dark a Shadow upon him which proves not only a great Scandal to the Church but also a very great Reflection upon his own Judgment and Honour For as Constantius Chlorus said well He who is not faithful unto God can never be faithful unto man It was an old saying Nulla fides pietasve viris qui Castra sequuntur I wish there be no ground to apply this to any of the Spiritual Militia of this Age and that none of them may be found like to that perfidious Grecian Lysander who vaunted of himself That as some men cheated young Children with a little dose of Sweet Junkets so he used to Trepan men with Oaths And it is beyond all doubt that they must needs be men of prostituted Consciences and who would make no bones of falsifying their own Oaths for a little Worldly Interest who endeavour to perswade a Metropolitan Councel to become guilty of Perjury without all Peradventure such Persons would not think any singular Wickedness too great for them to boggle at Vid. Concil Arelat 1. Can. 9. Cujus haec sunt verba Vt nullus Episcopus alium Episcopum conculcet Concil Carthag 4. Can. 83. Concil Milevit Can. 13. Concil Agathens Can. 16. Concil Bracar 1. Can. 24. Cujus haec sunt formalia verba Item placuit ut conservato Metropolitani Episcopi Primatu caeteri Episcoporum secundum suae Ordinationis tempus alius alii sedendi locum deferat Concil Antioch Can. 9. Concil Carthag 4. Can. 25. Vid. Greg. 1. Lib. 12. Epist. 15. Cùm certum sit Honoris ista Distinctio ut ipse prior major habeatur qui prius fuerat Ordinatus Communitatis consilio concordi actione Clem. Alex. Paedagog Lib. 5. Strom. Tertull. contra Marcion Lib. 4. contra Psychicos though he had followed the Errour of Montanus before he wrote that Invective against the Orthodox yet there be some sad Truths in it Orat. Gregorii Nâ—zianz post reditum Article XVIII Act. 20. 30 31. Rom. 16. 17. Philip. 3. 2. 2 Tim. 2. 2. Tit. 1. 9 10 11. HAving hinted already at the Sentence of