THE REASON OF Church-governement Urg'd against PRELATY By Mr. John Milton In two Books LONDON Printed by E. G. for Iohn Rothwell and are to be sold at the Sunne in Pauls Church-yard 1641. The Reason of Church-government urg'd against PRELATY THE PREFACE IN the publishing of humane lawes which for the most part aime not beyond the good of civill society to set them barely forth to the people without reason or Preface like a physicall prescript or only with threatnings as it were a lordly command in the judgement of Plato was thought to be done neither generously nor wisely His advice was seeing that persuasion certainly is a more winning and more manlike way to keepe men in obedience then feare that to such lawes as were of principall moment there should be us'd as an induction some well temper'd discourse shewing how good how gainfull how happy it must needs be to live according to honesty and justice which being utter'd with those native colours and graces of speech as true eloquence the daughter of vertue can best bestow upon her mothers praises would so incite and in a manner charme the multitude into the love of that which is really good as to imbrace it ever after not of custome and awe which most men do but of choice and purpose with true and constant delight But this practice we may learn from a better more ancient authority then any heathen writer hath to give us and indeed being a point of so high wisdome worth how could it be but we should find it in that book within whose sacred context all wisdome is infolded Moses therefore the only Lawgiver that we can believe to have beene visibly taught of God knowing how vaine it was to write lawes to men whose hearts were not first season'd with the knowledge of God and of his workes began from the book of Genesis as a prologue to his lawer which Josephusâ— ight well hath noted That the nation of the Jewes reading therein the universall goodnesse of God to all creatures in the Creation and his peculiar favour to them in his election of Abraham their ancestor from whom they could derive so many blessings upon themselves might be mov'd to obey si cerely by knowing so good a reason of their obedience If then in the administration of civill justice and under the obscurity of Ceremoniall rites such care was had by the wisest of the heathen and by Moses among the Jewes to instruct them at least in a generall reason of that government to which their subjection was requir'd how much more ought the members of the Church under the Gospell seekâ— to informe their understanding in the reason of that government which the Church claimes to have over them especially for that the Church hath in her immediate cure those inner parts and affections of the mind where the seat of reason is having power to examine our spirituall knowledge and to demand from us in Gods behalfe a service intirely reasonable But because about the manner and order of this government whether it ought to be Presbyteriall or Prelaticall such endlesse question or rather uproare is arisen in this land as may be justly term'd what the feaver is to the Physitians the eternall reproach of our Divines whilest other profound Câ— erks of late greatly as they conceive to the advancement of Prelaty are so earnestly meting out the Lydian proconsular Asia to make good the prime metropolis of Ephesus as if some of our Prelates in all haste meant to change their solle and become neighbours to the English Bishop of Chalcedon and whilest good Breerwood as busily bestirres himselfe in our vulgar tongue to divide precisely the three Patriarchats of Rome Alexandria and Antioch and whether to any of these England doth belong I shall in the meane while not cease to hope through the mercy and grace of Christ the head and husband of his Church that England shortly is to belong neither to See Patriarchall nor See Prelaticall but to the faithfull feeding and disciplining of that ministeriall order which the blessed Apostles constituted throughout the Churches and this I shall assay to prove can be no other then that of Presbyters and Deacons And if any man incline to thinke I undertake a taske too difficult for my yeares I trust through the supreme inlightning assistance farre otherwise for my yeares be they few or many what imports it so they bring reason let that be looke on and for the task from hence that the question in hand is so needfull to be known at this time chiefly by every meaner capacity and containes in it the explication of many admirable and heavenly privileges reacht out to us by the Gospell I conclude the task must be easie God having to this end ordain'd his Gospell to be the revelation of his power and wisdome in Christ Jesus And this is one depth of his wisdome that he could so plainly reveale so great a measure of it to the grosse distorted apprehension of decay'd mankinde Let others therefore dread and shun the Scriptures for their darknesse I shall wish I may deserve to be reckon'd among those who admire and dwell upon them for their clearnesse And this seemes to be the cause why in those places of holy writ wherein is treated of Church-government the reasons thereof are not formally and profestly set downe because to him that heeds attentively the drift and scope of Christian profession they easily imply themselves which thing further to explane having now prefac'd enough I shall no longer deferre CHAP. I. That Church-government is prescrib'd in the Gospell and that to say otherwise is unsound THe first and greatest reason of Church-government we may securely with the assent of many on the adverse part affirme to be because we finde it so ordain'd and set out to us by the appointment of God in the Scriptures but whether this be Presbyteriall or Prelaticall it cannot be brought to the scanning untill I have said what is meet to some who do not think it for the ease of their inconsequent opinions to grant that Church discipline is platform'd in the Bible but that it is left to the discretion of men To this conceit of theirs I answer that it is both unsound and untrue For there is not that thing in the world of more grave and urgent importance throughout the whole life of man then is discipline What need I instance He that hath read with judgement of Nations and Common-wealths of Cities and Camps of peace and warre sea and land will readily agree that the flourishing and decaying of all civill societies all the moments and turnings of humane occasions are mov'd to and fro as upon the axle of discipline So that whatsoever power or sway in mortall things weaker men have attributed to fortune I durst with more confidence the honour of divine providence ever sav'd ascribe either to the vigor or the slacknesse of discipline Nor is there any
that I do not feare his winning of many to his cause but such as doting upon great names are either over-weake or over sudden of faith I shall not refuse therefore to leaâ— ne so much prudence as I finde in the Roman Souldier that attended the crosse not to stand breaking of legs when the breath is quite out of the body but passe to that which follows The Primat of Armagh at the beginning of his tractat seeks to availe himselfe of that place in the 66 of Esaiah I will take of them for Priests and Levites saith the Lord to uphold hereby such a forme of superiority among the ministers of the Gospell succeeding those in the law as the Lords day did the Sabbath But certain if this method may be admitted of interpreting those propheticall passages concerning Christian times in a punctuall correspondence it may with equall probability be urg'd upon us that we are bound to observe some monthly solemnity answerable to the new moons as well as the Lords day which we keepe in lieu of the Sabbath for in the 23 v. the Prophet joynes them in the same manner together as before he did the Priests and Levites thus And it shall come to passe that from one new moone to another and from one Sabbath to another shall all flesh come to worship before me saith the Lord Undoubtedly with as good consequence may it be alledg'd from hence that we are to solemnize some religious monthly meeting different from the Sabbath as from the other any distinct formality of Ecclesiasticall orders may be inferr'd This rather will appeare to be the lawfull and unconstrain'd sense of the text that God in taking of them for Priests and Levites will not esteeme them unworthy though Gentiles to undergoe any function in the Church but will make of them a full and perfect ministery as was that of the Priests and Levites in their kinde And Bishop Anâ— rows himselfe to end the controversie sends us a candid exposition of this quoted verse from the 24 page of his said book plainly deciding that God by those legall names there of Priests and Levites means our Presbyters and Deacons for which either ingenuous confession or slip of his pen we give him thanks and withall to him that brought these treatises into one volume who setting the contradictions of two learned men so neere together did not foresee What other deducements or analogies are cited out of S. Paul to proâ— e a likenesse betweene the Ministers of the Old and New Testament having tri'd their sinewes I judge they may passe without harme doing to our cause We may remember then that Prelaty neither hath nor can have foundation in the law nor yet in the Gospell which assertion as being for the plainnesse thereof a matter of eye sight rather then of disquisition I voluntarily omitt not forgetting to specifie this note againe that the earnest desâ— e which the Prelates have to build their Hierarchy upon the sandy bottome of the law gives us to see abundantly the little assurance which they finde to reare up their high roofs by the autority of the Gospell repulst as it were from the writings of the Apostles and driven to take sanctuary among the Jewes Hence that open confession of the Primat before mention'd Episcopacy is fetcht partly from the patterne of the Old Testament partly from the New as an imitation of the Old though nothing caâ— be more rotten in Divinity then such a position as this and is all one as to say Episcopacy is partly of divine institution and partly of mans own carving For who gave the autority to fetch more from the patterne of the law then what the Apostles had already fetcht if they fetcht any thing at aâ— l as hath beene prov'd they did not So was Jerâ— oams Episcopacy partly from the patterne of the law and partly from the patterne of his owne carnality a parti-colour'd and a parti-member'd Episcopacy and what can this be lesse then a monstrous Others therefore among the Prelats perhaps not so well able to brook or rather to justifie this foule relapsing to the old law have condiscended at last to a plaine confessing that both the names and offices of Bishops and Presbyters at first were the same and in the Scriptures no where distinguisht This grants the remonstrant in the fift Section of his descâ— e and in the Preface to his last short answer But what need respect he had whether he grant or grant it not when as through all antiquity and even in the loâ— iest times of Prelaty we finde it granted Ierome the learned'st of the Fathers hides not his opinion that custome only which the Proverbe cals a tyrant was the maker of Prelaty before his audacious workmanâ— p the Churches were rul'd in common by the Presbyters and such a certaine truth this was esteem'd that it became a decree among the Papall Canons compil'd by Gratian Ansâ— l me also of Canturbury who to uphold the points of his Prelatisme made himselfe a traytor to his country yet commenting the Epistles to Titus and the Philippians acknowledges from the cleernesse of the text what Ierome and the Church Rubrick hath before acknowledg'd He little dreamt then that the weeding-hook of reformation would after two ages pluck up his glorious poppy from insulting over the good corne Though since some of our Brittish Prelates seeing themselves prest to produce Scripture try all their cunning if the New Testament will not help them to frame of their own heads as it were with wax a kinde of Mimick Bishop limm'd out to the life of a dead Priesthood Or else they would straine us out a certaine figurative Prelat by wringing the collective allegory of those seven Angels into seven single Rochets Howsoever since it thus appeares that custome was the creator of Prelaty being lesse ancient then the government of Presbyters it is an extreme folly to give them the hearing that tell us of Bishops through so many ages and if against their tedious muster of citations Sees and successions it be reply'd that wagers and Church antiquities such as are repugnant to the plaine dictat of Scripture are both alike the arguments of fooles they have their answer We rather are to cite all those ages to an arraignment before the word of God wherefore and what pretending how presuming they durst alter that divine institution of Presbyterâ— which the Apostles who were no various and inconstant men surely had set up in the Churches and why they choose to live by custome and catalogue or as S. Paul saith by sight and visibility rather then by faith But first I conclude from their owne mouthes that Gods command in Scripture which doubtlesse ought to be the first and greatest reason of Church-government is wanting to Prelaty And certainly we have plenteous warrant in the doctrine of Christ to determine that the want of this reason is of it selfe sufficient to confute all other
pretences that may be brought in favour of it CHAP. VI That Prelaty was not set up for prevention of Schisme as is pretended or if it were that it performes not whâ— t it was first set up for but quite the contrary YEt because it hath the outside of a specious reason specious things we know are aptest to worke with humane lightnesse and frailty even against the soliâ— est truth that sounds not plausibly let us think it worth the examining for the love of infirmer Christians of what importance this their second reason may be Tradition they say hath taught them that for the prevention of growing schisme the Bishop was heav'd above the Presbyter And must tradition then ever thus to the worlds end be the perpetuall cankerworme to eat out Gods Commandements are his decrees so inconsiderate and so fickle that when the statutes of Solon or Lycurgus shall prove durably good to many ages his in 40 yeares shall be found defective ill contriv'd and for needfull causes to be alter'd Our Saviour and his Apostles did not only foresee but foretell and forewarne us to looke for schisme Is it a thing to be imagin'd of Gods wisdome or at least of Apostolick prudence to set up such a government in the tendernesse of the Church as should incline or not be more able then any other to oppose it selfe to schisme it was well knowne what a bold lurker schisme was even in the houshold of Christ betweene his owne Disciples and those of Iohn the Baptistaboâ— fasting and early in the Acts of the Apostles the noise of schisme had almost drown'd the proclaiming of the Gospell yet we reaâ— e not in Scripture that any thought was had of making Prelates no not in those places where dissention was most rife If Prelaty had beene then esteem'd a remedy against schisme where was it more needfull then in that great variance among the Corinthians which S. Paul so labour'd to reconcile and whose eye could have found the fittest remedy sooner then his and what could have made the remedy more available then to have us'd it speedily and lastly what could have beene more necessary then to have written it for our instruction yet we see he neither commended it to us nor us'd it himselfe For the same division remaining there or else bursting forth againe more then 20 yeares after S. Pauls death wee finde in Clements Epistle of venerable autority written to the yet factious Corinthians that they were still govern'd by Presbyters And the same of other Churches out of Hermas and divers other the scholers of the Apostles by the late industry of the learned Salmatius appeares Neither yet did this worthy Clement S. Pauls disciple though writing to them to lay aside schisme in the least word advise them to change the Presbyteriall government into Prelaty And therefore if God afterward gave or permitted this insurrection of Episcopacy it is to be fear'd he did it in his wrath as he gave the Israelites a King With so good a will doth he use to alter his own chosen government once establish'd For marke whether this rare device of mans braine thus prefeâ— ' d before the ordinance of God had better successe then fleshly wisdome not counseling with God is wont to have So farre was it from removing schisme that if schisme parted the congregations before now it rent and mangl'd now it â— ag'd Heresie begat heresie with a certaine monstrous haste of pregnancy in her birth at once borne and bringing forth Contentions before brotherly were now hostile Men went to choose their Bishop as they went to a pitcht field and the day of his election was like the sacking of a City sometimes ended with the blood of thousands Nor this among hereticks only but men of the same beliefe yea confessors and that with such odious ambition that Eusebius in his eighth book testifies he abhorr'd to write And the reason is not obscure for the poore dignity or rather burden of a â— ochial Presbyter could not ingage any great party nor that to any deadly feud but Prelaty was a power of that extent and sway that if her election were popular it was seldome not the cause of some faction or broil in the Church But if her dignity came by favour of some Prince she was from that time his creature and obnoxious to comply with his ends in state were they right or wrong So that in stead of finding Prelaty an impeacher of Schisme or faction the more I search the more I grow into all perswasion to think rather that faction and she as with a spousall ring are wedded together never to be divorc't But here let every one behold the just and dreadfull judgement of God meeting with the aâ— dacious pride of man that durst offer to mend the ordinances of heaven God out of the strife of men brought forth by his Apostles to the Church that beneficent and ever distributing office of Deacons the stewards and Ministers of holy almes man out of the pretended care of peace unity being caught in the snare of his impious boldnesse to correct the will of Christ brought forth to himselfe upon the Church that irreconcileable schisme of perdition and Apostasy the Roman Antichrist for that the exaltation of the Pope arose out of the reason of Prelaty it cannot be deny'd And as I noted before that the patterne of the High Priest pleaded for in the Gospel for take away the head Priest the rest are but a carcasse sets up with better reason a Pope then an Archbishop for if Prelaty must still rise and rise till it come to a Primat why should it stay there when as the catholick government is not to follow the division of kingdomes the temple best representing the universall Church and the High Priest the universall head so I observe here that if to quiet schisme there must be one head of Prelaty in a land or Monarchy rising from a Provinciall to a nationall Primacy there may upon better grounds of repressing schisme be set up one catholick head over the catholick Church For the peace and good of the Church is not terminated in the schismelesse estate of one or two kingdomes but should be provided for by the joynt consultation of all reformed Christendome that all controversie may end in the finall pronounce or canon of one Arch-primat or Pâ— otestant Pope Although by this meanes for ought I see all the diameters of schisme may as well meet and be knit up in the center of one grand falshood Now let all impartiall men arbitrate what goodly inference these two maine reasons of the Prelats have that by a naturall league of consequence make more for the Pope then for themselâ— Yea to say more home are the very wombe for a new subantichrist to breed in if it be not rather the old force and power of the same man of sin counterfeiting protestant It was not the prevention of schisme but it
those smaller squares in battell unite in one great cube the main phalanx an embleme of truth and stedfastnesse Whereas on the other side Prelaty ascending by a graduall monarchy from Bishop to Arch-bishop from thence to P imat and from thence for there can be no reason yeilded neither in nature nor in religion wherefore if it have lawfully mounted thus high it should not be a Lordly ascendent in the horoscope of the Church from Primate to Patriarch and so to Pope I say Prelaty thus ascending in a continuall pyramid upon pretence to perfect the Churches unity if notwithstanding it be found most needfull yea the utmost helpe to dearn up the rents of schisme by calling a councell what does it but teach us that Prelaty is of no force to effect this work which she boasts to be her maister-peice and that her pyramid aspires and sharpens to ambition not to ◠erfection or unity This we know that as often as any great schisme disparts the Church and Synods be proclam'd the Presbyters ◠ve as great right there and as free vote of old as the Bishops which the Canon law conceals not So that Prelaty if she will seek to close up divisions in the Church must be forc't to dissolve and unmake her own pyramidal figure which she affirmes to be of such ◠niting power when as indeed it is the most dividing and schism◠icall forme that Geometricians know of and must be faine to inglobe or incube her selfe among the Presbyters which she hating to do sends her haughty Prelates from all parts with their fork◠d Miters the badge of schisme or the stampe of his clov◠n foot whom they serve I think who according to their hierarchies ac◠nating still higher and higher in a cone of Prelaty in stead of healing up the gas◠es of the Church as it happens in such pointed bodies m◠eting fall to gore on◠another with their sharpe spires for upper place and precedence till the councell it 〈◊〉 prove the greatest schisme of all And thus they are so farre fro◠hindring dissention that they have made unprofitable and eve◠noysome the chiefest remedy we have to keep Christendom at one which is by councels and these if wee rightly consider Apostolick example are nothing else but generall Presbyteries This seem'd so farre from the Apostles to think much of as if hereby their dignity were impair'd that as we may gather by those Epistles of Peter and Iohn which are likely to be latest written when the Church grew to a setling like those heroick patricians of Rome if we may use such comparison hasting to lay downe their dictatorship they rejoys't to call themselves and to be as fellow Elders among their brethren Knowing that their high office was but as the scaffolding of the Church yet unbuilt and would be but a troublesome disfigurement so soone as the building was finis◠But the lofty minds of an age or two after such was their small discerning thought it a poore indignity that the high rear'd government of the Church should so on a sudden as it seem'd to them squat into a Presbytery Next or rather before councels the timeliest prevention of schisme is to preach the Gospell abundantly and powerfully throughout all the land to instruct the youth religiously to endeavour how the Scriptures may be easiest understood by all men to all which the proceedings of these men have been on set purpose contrary But how O Prelats should you remove schisme and how should you not remove and oppose all the meanes of removing schism when Prelaty is a schisme it selfe from the most reformed and most flourishing of our neighbour Churches abroad and a sad subject of discord and offence to the whole nation 〈◊〉 home The remedy which you alledge is the very disease we groan under and never can be to us a remedy but by removing it selfe Your predecessors were believ'd to assume this preeminence above their brethren only that they might appease dissention Now God and the Church cals upon you for the same reason to lay it down as being to thousands of good men offensive burdensome intolerable Surrender that pledge which unlesse you sowlely us◠rpt it the Church gave you and now claimes it againe for the reason she first lent it Discharge the trust committed to you prevent schisme and that yeoan never do but by discharging your selves That government which ye hold we con◠esse pr◠s much hinders much 〈◊〉 move◠much but what th◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Church no but all the peace and unity all the welfare not of the Church alone but of the whole kingdome And if it be still permitted ye to hold will cause the most sad I know not whether separation be anough to say but such a wide gulph of distraction in this land as will never close her dismall gap untill ye be forc't for of your selv◠ye wil never do as that Roman Curtius nobly did for the Churches peace your countries to leap into the midst and be no more seen By this we shal know whether yours be that ancient Prelaty which you say was first constituted for the reducement of quiet unanimity into the Church for thē you wil not delay ◠o prefer that above your own preferment If otherwise we must be confident that your Prelaty is nothing else but your ambition an insole◠t preferring of your selves above your brethren and all your learned scraping in antiquity even to disturbe the bones of old Aaron and his sonnes in their graves is but to maintain and set upon our necks a stately and severe dignity which you call sacred and is nothing in very deed but a grave and reverent gluttony a sanctimonious avarice in comparison of which all the duties and dearnesses which ye owe to God or to his Church to law custome or nature ye have resolv'd to set at nought I could put you in mind what counsell Clement a fellow labourer with the Apostles gave to the Presbyters of Corinth whom the people though unjustly sought to remove Who among you saith he is noble minded who is pittifull who is charitable let him say thus if for me this sedition this enmity these differences be I willingly depart I go my wayes only let the flock of Christ be at peace with the Presbyters that are set over it He that shall do this saith he shall get him great honour in the Lord and all places will receave him This was Clements counsell to good and holy men that they should depart rather from their just office then by their stay to ravle out the seamlesse garment of concord in the Church But I have better counsell to give the Prelats and farre more acceptable to their cares this advice in my opinion is fitter for them Cling fast to your Pontificall Sees bate not quit your selves like Barons stand to the utmost for your haughty Courts and votes in Parliament Still tell us that
severall Pulpits of the City and assembling all the diseased in every pariâ— should begin a learned Lecture of Pleurisies Palsies Lethargies to which perhaps none there present were inclin'd and so without so much as feeling one puls or giving the least order to any skilfull Apothecary should dismisse 'em from time to time some groaning some languishing some expiring with this only charge to look well to themselves and do as they heare Of what excellence and necessity then Church-discipline is how beyond the faculty of man to frame and how dangerous to be left to mans invention who would be every foot turning it to sinister ends how properly also it is the worke of God as father and of Christ as Husband of the Church we have by thus much heard CHAP. II. That Church governement is set downe in holy Scripture and that to say otherwise is untrue AS therefore it is unsound to say that God hath not appointed any set government in his Church so is it untrue Of the time of the Law there can be no doubt for to let passe the first institution of Priests and Levites which is too cleare to be insisted upon when the Temple came to be built which in plaine judgement could breed no essentiall change either in religion or in the Priestly government yet God to shew how little he could endure that men should be tampring and contriving in his worship though in things of lesse regard gave to David for Solomon not only a pattern and modell of the Temple but a direction for the courses of the Priests and Levites and for all the worke of their service At the returne from the Captivity things were only restor'd after the ordinance of Moses and David or if the least alteration be to be found they had with them inspired men Prophets and it were not sober to say they did ought of moment without divine intimation In the Prophesie of Ez-kiel from the 40 Chapt. onward after the destruction of the Temple God by his Prophet seeking to weane the hearts of the Jewes from their old law to expect a new and more perfect reformation under Christ sets out before their eyes the stately fabrick constitution of his Church with al the ecclesiasticall functions appertaining indeed the description is as sorted best to the apprehension of those times typicall and shadowie but in such manner as never yet came to passe nor never must literally unlesse we mean to annihilat the Gospel But so exquisit and lively the description is in portraying the new state of the Church and especially in those points where government seemes to be most active that both Jewes and Gentiles might have good cause to be assur'd that God when ever he meant to reforme his Church never intended to leave the governement thereof delineated here in such curious architecture to be patch't afterwards and varnish't over with the devices and imbellishings of mans imagination Did God take such delight in measuring out the pillars arches and doores of a materiall Temple was he so punctuall and circumspect in lavers altars and sacrifices soone after to be abrogated left any of these should have beene made contrary to his minde is not a farre more perfect worke more agreeable to his perfection in the most perfect state of the Church militant the new alliance of God to man should not he rather now by his owne prescribed discipline have cast his line and levell upon the soule of man which is his rationall temple and by the divine square and compasse thereof forme and regenerate in us the lovely shapes of vertues and graces the sooner to edifie and accomplish that immortall stature of Christs body which is his Church in all her glorious lineaments and proportions And that this indeed God hath done for us in the Gospel 〈◊〉 shall see with open eyes not under a vaile We may passe over the history of the Acts and other places turning only to those Epistleâ— of S. Paul to Timothy and Titus where the spirituall eye may discerne more goodly and gracefully erected then all the magnificeâ— ce of Temple or Tabernacle such a heavenly structure of evangelâ— ck discipline so diffusive of knowledge and charity to the prosperous increase and growth of the Church that it cannot be wonder'd if that elegant and artfull symmetry of the promised new temple in Ezechiel and all those sumptuous things under the Law were made to signifie the inward beauty and splendor of the Christian Church thus govern'd And whether this be commanded let it now be jâ— dg'd S. Paul after his preface to the first of Timothy which hee concludes in the 17 Verse with Amen enters upon the subject of his Epistle which is to establish the Church-government with a command This charge I commit to thee son Timothy according to the prophecies which went before on thee that thou by them might'st war a good warfare Which is plain enough thus expounded This charge I commit to thee wherein I now go about to instruct thee how thou shalt set up Church-discipline that thou might'st warre a good warfare bearing thy selfe constantly and faithfully in the Ministery which in the I to the Corinthians is also call'd a warfare and so after a kinde of Parenthesis concerning Hymenaeus he returnes to his command though under the milde word of exhorting Cap. 2. v. 1. I exhort therefore As if he had interrupted his former command by the occasionall mention of Hymeneus More beneath in the 14 V. of the 3 C. when he hath deliver'd the duties of Bishops or Presbyters and Deacons not once naming any other order in the Church he thus addes These things write I unto thee hoping to come unto thee shortly such necessity it seems there was but if I tarry long that thou maâ—'st know how thou ought'st to behave thy sâ— lfe in the house of God From this place it may be justly ask'â— whether Timothy by this here written might know what was to be knowne concerning the orders of Church-governours or no If he might then in such a cleere tâ— xt as this may we know too without further jâ— ngle if he might not then did S. Paul write insufficiently and moreover said not true for he saith here he might know and I perswade my selfe he did know ere this was written but that the Apostle had more regard to the instruction of us then to the informing of him In the fifth Chap. after some other Church precepts concerning discipline mark what a dreadfull command followes Verse 21. I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect Angels that thou observe these things and as if all were not yet sure anough â— e closes up the Epistle with an adjâ— ring charge thus I give thee charge in the sight of God who quickneth all things and before Christ Jesus that thou keepe this commandement that is the whole commandement concerning discipline being them ine purpose of the Epistle
which nature hath ingraven in us the Gospell as stands with her dignity most lectures to us from her own authentick hand-writing and command not copies out from the borrow'd manuscript of a subservient scrowâ— by way of imitating As well might she be said in her Sacrameâ— of water to imitate the baptisme of Iohn What though â— he retaine excommunication â— s'd in the Syna â— ogue retain the morality of the Sabbath she does not therefore imitate the law her underling but perfect her All that was morally deliver'd from the law to the Gospell in the office of the Priests and Levites was that there should be a ministery set a part to teach and discipline the Church both which duties the Apostles thought good to commit to the Presbyters And if any distinction of honour were to be made among them they directed it should be to those not that only rule well but especially to those that labour in the word and doctrine By which we are taught that laborious teaching is the most honourable Prelaty that one Minister can have above another in the Gospell if therefore the superiority of Bishopship be grounded on the Priesthood as a part of the morall law it cannot be said to be an imitation for it were ridiculous that morality should imitate morality which ever was the same thing This very word of patterning or imitating excludes Episcopacy from the solid and grave Ethicall law and betraies it to be a meere childe of ceremony or likelier some misbegotten thing that having pluckt the gay feathers of her obsolet bravery to â— I de her own deformed barenesse now vaunts and glories in her stolne plumes In the meane while what danger there is against the very life of the Gospell to make in any thing the typical law her pattern and how impossiblâ— in that which touches the Priestly government I shall use such light as I have receav'd to lay open â— t cannot be unknowne by what expressions the holy Apostle S. Paul sparâ— s not to explane to us the naâ— ure and condition of the lâ— calling those oâ— dinances which were the chiefe and 〈◊〉 offices of the Priests the elements and rudiments of the world both weake and beggarly Now to brâ— ed and bring up the childâ— en of the promise the heirs of liberty and grace under such a kinde of government as is profest to be but an imitation of that ministery which engender'd to bâ— ndage the soâ— s of Agar how can this 〈◊〉 but a foul injury and derogation if not a cancelling of that birth-right and immunity which Christ hath purchas'd for us with his blood For the ministration of the law consisting of câ— all things drew to it such a ministery as consisted of caâ— all respects dignity precedence and the like And such a ministery establish't in the Gospell as is founded upon the points and terâ— of superiority and nests it selfe in worldly honour will draw to it and we see it doth such a religion as â— unnes back againe to the old pompe and glory of the flesh For doubtlesse there is a certaine attraction and magnetick force betwixt the religion and the ministeriall forme thereof If the religion be pure spirituall simple and lowly as the Gospel most truly is such must the face of the ministery be And in like manner if the forme of the Ministery be grounded in the worldly degrees of autority honour temporall jurisdiction we see it with our eyes it will turne the inward power and purity of the Gospel into the outward carnality of the law evaporating and exhaling the internall worship into empty conformities and gay shâ— wes And what remains then but that wee should runne into as dangerous and deadly apostacy aâ— our lamented neighbours the Papists who by this very snire and pitfall of imitating the ceremonial law fel into that irrecoverable superstition as must needâ— make void the covâ— nant of salvation to them that persist in this blindnesse CHAP. IV. That it is impossible to make the Priesthood of Aaron a pattern whereon to ground Episcopacy THat which was promis'd next is to declare the impossibility of grounding Evangelick government in the imitation of the Jewish Priesthood which will be done by considering both the quality of the persons and the office it selfe Aaron and his sonnes were the Princes of their Tribe before they were sanctified to the Priesthood that personall eminence which they held above the other Levites they receav'd not only from their office but partly brought it into their office and so from that time forward the Priests were not chosen out of the whole number of the Levites as our Bishops but were borne inheritors of the dignity Therefore unlesse we shall choose our Prelatâ— only out of the Nobility and let them runne in a blood there can be no possible imitation of Lording over their brethren in regard of their persons altogether unlike As for the office wch was a representation of Christs own person more immediately in the high Priest of his whole priestly office in all the other to the performance of wch the Levits were but as servitors Deacons it was necessary there should be a distinction of dignity betweene two functions of so great odâ— But there being no such difference among our Ministers unlesse it be in reference to the Deacons it is impossible to found a 〈◊〉 upon the imitation of this Priesthood For wherein or in wâ— worke is the office of a Prelat excellent above that of a Paâ— in ordination you 'l say but flatly against Scripture for there we know Timothy receav'd ordination by the hands of the Presbyâ— y notwithstanding all the vaine delusions that are us'd to 〈◊〉 that testimony and maintaine an unwarrantable usurpation But wherefore should ordination be a cause of setting up a superiour degree in the Churchâ— is not that whereby Christ became our Saviour a higher and greater worke then that whereby he did ordaiâ— e messengers to preach and publish him our Saviour Every Minister sustains the person of Christ in his highest work of communicating to us the mysteries of our salvation and hath the power of binding and absolving how should he need a higher dignity to represent or execute that which is an inferior work in Christ why should the performance of ordination which is a lower office exalt a Prelat and not the seldome discharge of a higher and more noble office 〈◊〉 is preaching administring much rather depressehim Verily neither the nature nor the example of ordinationdoth any way require an imparity betweene the ordainer and the ordained For what more naturall then every like to produce his like man to beget man fire to propagate fire and in examples of highest opiâ—â—on the ordainer is inferior to the ordained foâ— the Pope is not maâ— e by the precedent Pope but by Cardinals who ordain and consecrate to a higher and greater office then their own CHAP. V. To the
point of Christianity and will stirre him up to walk worthy the honourable and grave imployment wherewith God and the Church hath dignifi'd him not fearing left he should meet with some outward holy thing in religion which his lay touch or presence might profane but lest something unholy from within his own heart should dishonour and profane in himselfe that Priestly unction and Clergy-right whereto Christ hath entitl'd him Then would the congregation of the Lord soone recover the true likenesse and visage of what she is indeed a holy generation a royall Priesthood a Saintly communion the houshold and City of God And this I hold to be another considerable reason why the functions of Church-government ought to be free and open to any Christian man though never so laick if his capacity his faith and prudent demeanour commend him And this the Apostles warrant us to do But the Prelats object that this will bring profanenesse into the Church to whom may be reply'd that none have brought that in more then their own irreligious courses nor more 〈◊〉 holinesse out of living into livelesse things For whereas God who hath cleans'd every beast and creeping worme would not suffer S. Peter to call them common or unclean the Prelat Bishops in their printed orders hung up in Churches have proclaim'd the best of creatures mankind so unpurifi'd and contagious that for him to lay his hat or his garment upon the Chancell table they have defin'd it no lesse hainous in expresse words then to profane the Table of the Lord And thus have they by their Canaanitish doctrine for that which was to the Jew but jewish is to the Christian no better then Canaanitish thus have they made common and unclean thus have they made profane that nature which God hath not only cleans'd but Christ also hath assum'd And now that the equity and just reason is so perspicuous why in Ecclesiasicâ— censure the assistance should be added of such 〈◊〉 whom not the vile odour of gaine and fees forbid it God and blow it with a whirleâ— out of our land but charity neighbourhood and duty to Church-government hath call'd together where could a wiseman wish a more equall gratuitous and meek examination of 〈◊〉 offence that he might happen to commit against Christianity 〈◊〉 here would he preferre those proud simoniacall Courts 〈◊〉 therefore the Minister assisted attends his heavenly and spirituall cure Where we shall see him both in the course of his proceeding and first in the excellence of his end from the magistrate farre different and not more different then excelling His end is to recover all that is of man both soul and body to an everlasting health and yet as for worldly happinesse which is the proper sphere wherein the magistrate cannot but confine his motion without a hideous exorbitancy from law so little aims the Minister as his intended scope to procure the much prosperity of this life that oft-times he may have cause to wish much of it away aâ— a diet puffing up the soul with a slimy fleshinesse and weakning her principall organick parts Two heads of evill he has to cope with ignorance and malice Against the former he provides the daily Manna of incorruptible doctrine not at those set meales only in publick but as oft as he shall know that each infirmity or constitution requires Against the latter with all the branches thereof not medling with that restraining and styptick surgery which tho law uses not indeed against the malady but against the eruptions and outermost effects thereof He on the contrary beginning at the prime causes and rooâ— of the disease sends in those two divine ingredients of most cleansing power to the soul Admonition Reproof besides which two there is no drug or antidote that can reach to purge the mind and without which all other experiments are but vain unlesse by â—dent And he that will not let these passe into him though he be the greatest King as Plato affirms must be thought to remaine impure within and unknowing of those things wherein his purenesse and his knowledge should most appear As soon therefore as it may be discern'd that the Christian patient by feeding 〈◊〉 here on meats not allowable but of evill juice hath disorder'd his diet and spread an ill humour through his 〈◊〉 immediatly disposing to a sicknesse the minister as being much neerer both in eye and duty then the magistrats speeds him betimes to overtake that diffus'd malignance with some gentle potion of admonishment or if ought be obstructed puts in his opening and disenssive conâ— This not succeeding after once or twice or oftner in the 〈◊〉 of two or three his faithfull brethren appointed thereto be advisâ— him to be more carefull of his dearest health and what it is that he so rashly hath let down in to the divine vessel of his soul Gods temple If this obtaine not he then with the counsell of more assistants who are inform'd of what diligence hath been already us'd with more speedy remedies layes neerer siege to the entrenched causes of his distemper not sparing such servent and well aim'd reproofs as may best give him to see the dangerous estate wherein he is To this also his brethren and friends intreat exhort adjure and all these endeavours as there is hope left are more or lesse repeated But if neither the regard of himselfe nor the reverence of his Elders and friends prevaile with him to leave his vitious appetite then as the time urges such engines of terror God hath given into the hand of his minister as to search the tenderest angles of the heart one while he shakes his stubbornnesse with racking convulsions nigh dispaire other whiles with deadly corrosives he gripes the very roots of his faulty liver to bring him to life through the entry of death Hereto the whole Church beseech him beg of him deplore him pray for him After all this perform'd with what patience and attendance is possible and no relenting on his part having done the utmost of their cure in the name of God and of the Church they dissolve their fellowship with him and holding forth the dreadfull sponge of excommunion pronounce him wip't out of the list of Gods inheritance and in the custody of Satan till he repent Which horrid sentence though it touch neither life nor limme nor any worldly possession yet has it such a penetrating force that swifter then any chimicall sulphur or that lightning which harms not the skin and rifles the entrals it scorches the inmost soul Yet even this terrible denouncement is left to the Church for no other cause but to be as a rough and vehement cleansing medcin where the malady is obdurat a mortifying to life a kind of saving by undoing And it may be truly said that as the mercies of wicked men are cruelties so the cruelties of the Church are mercies For if repentance sent from heaven meet this lost wanderer and draw