be found in either of them it is very surprising that ever since the Reformation in this Island there have been two Parties which have set up for different Schemes of church-Church-Government the one called Presbyterian and the other Episcopal and that either of them hath been so zealous for establishing its Government that nothing will please either of them if its Government be not of Divine Institution by which the one Party can damn the other But upon what grounds either of them can call it's Church Government Jure Divino if it is not institute in every point by God as the Jewish Government was I cannot comprehend For First That Church Government which is from God must be revealed by him to his People some way or other but no Scheme of Church Government hath as yet been revealed Therefore all Church Government must be of Humane Institution That no Scheme of Church Government is yet revealed is evident because there 's none in all the New Testament unless we are perswaded that when we read the words Bishop Deacon Diaconess we have found the very individual Scheme of Government that was in use amongst the Apostles For my part I understand no more of their Church Government by reading these words than one can understand of the Civil Government of Scotland if he heard only of a President of Council or of some Officers of State Secondly If the Apostles had constitute a Church Government after which we were obliged to model one as if it were immediatly from God surely we must understand it in all its parts otherwise we cannot follow it in all its Form but the Practice of the Apostles in constituting their Church Government is but little known to us therefore it 's impossible for us to follow their Practice in forming a Church Government Nor do we follow at present the Practice of the Apostles in as far as we know it otherwise there should be no Bishop by virtue of a Conge d'es lire nor should the Presbyterian Government want Diaconesses and other Officers which were in Use in the Primitive Churches because by the same Authority we either add or diminish from the Practice of the Apostles in Church Government if it be an Article of Faith by the same Authority we can change their Practice altogether Lastly I cannot believe that any particular Form of Church Government is prescribed to all particular Churches otherwise we may reasonably suppose that the Apostles who have been at the pains to writ down all that is necessary to be believed would not have omitted to leave it to Posterity Seeing then that we have no Scheme of Church-Government in the Scripture where must we go next to prove either the Episcopal or Presbyterian Government to be of Divine Institution I suppose it must be from the practice of the Fathers of the first Centuries but if they were Men like unto our selves capable of Error and Folly I hope their practice will be of no more Authority than they had reason on their side That the Fathers of the first Centuries were Men fallible like unto our selves may be proved by these two considerations First They have erred in points of the greatest Consequence Justin Mar tyr the most ancient of all the Fathers next to Clemens Romanus was of Opinion that the Saints should Reign a Thousand Years in Jerusalem before the Resurrection should be accomplished Which was the Opinion of the Chiliasts condemned by all the Orthodox Ireneus mantained Iren. contra Hoer that our Saviour was above Fourty Years when he suffered Death contrary to what we are taught by the Evangelists Clemens Alexandrinus believed lib. 1. Strom. that the Angels fell in Love with the first Women and that this Love transported them so far as to make them indiscreetly to discover unto them many secrets which they ought to have concealed The reason I suppose made honest Clemens entertain such a Notion was that the Women in his days were more reserved in discourse than they are at present Tertulian against all Reason lib. 1. Adver Marc. makes God subject to the same passions that we are subject to And Cyprian who was Turtllian's admirer hath mantained many of his ridiculous Opinions Secondly they have been at great Variance amongst themselves and mantained different Opinions of great moment Justin Martyr and Ireoeneus promised us the pleasures of a new Jerusalem upon Earth for a Thousand Years whilst Dionisius Alexandrinus and St. Hierome laught't at them for fools But grant that we should follow the practice of the Fathers In Church-Government let us see what we can learn from their Writings To perswade us that there were many Bishops in one Church we have both the Authority of the Holy Scriptures and of Clemens Romanus Epist 1. ad Cor. Yet Ignatius Tertullian and Cyprian affirm that there was and ought to be but one Bishop in a Church at a time Now whether to believe these Fathers or the Holy Scriptures or to reconcile them both by telling that the words Bishop and Presbyter were used promiscuously is left to the Discretion of every disputing Divine A whole Church did meet together to manage their own Affairs when the Schism of Felicissimus was to be debated it was to be done according to the Will of the People and by the consent of the Laity as Cyprian witnesseth in his 10 Epist but either this was the Custom of all the particular Christian Churches or only that of Carthage if it was the Universal Custom we don't know and that it was the practice of the Carthaginian Church doth not bind all other Churches to follow it If Presbyters had not the same Inhaerent Right to perform all the Ecclesiastical Offices which the Bishops had I don't understand why Cyprian being Exiled Writes Epist 5. to his Clergy exhorting and begging of them to discharge their own and his Office too that so nothing might be wanting either to Discipline or Diligence Nevertheless according to the present practice where Episcopacy is in fashion no body can ordain but a Bishop Presbyters were not Estential to the Constitution of a Church for Tertullian in his Exhort ad Castitatcm sayeth that where there are no Presbyters the Bishop alone Administers the two Sacraments of the Lord's Supper and Baptism Yet how there can be a Bishop without Presbyters if the word Bishop be taken in the sense it is used now a dayes must be the same thing as if a Man could be called the Father of a Familie who had none When Cyprian maketh an Apology to his Presbytery or Commune Concilium as he termeth it for ordaining Aurelins a Lector without their consent we don't know whether it be out of Civility to them or out of his duty the words are Epst 38. In ordinationibus clericis solemus vos ante consulere mores ac merita singulorum communi consilio ponderare c. where the Word solemus may be taken as if in duty he ought to do so
Nevertheless this Empire had split in pieces in its very Infancy its People being in Ease and Plenty and its Soldiers left to follow the itch of their own Inclinations if there had not been some Men by decay of Nature perhaps incapable of the Vices then in Vogue which had the foresight to joyn Priest-Craft with their Civil Government for Banishing from it as much as possible both Mental and Corporal Vices and for bringing People's Consciences under Subjection that they might the more nicely observe a strictness in Morals Then it was that the Assyrian Monarchy had it's Church-Government as well as in succeeding Ages the Persian Graecian Roman and and all other Heathen Governments had their's which have been composed of Persons of more than vulgar Gapacities capable to continue a probable History of a World to come to make acquaintance with its imaginary Inhabitants and to become Mediators betwixt them and their fellow Citizens whom they always managed both for the Glory of their Gods and for their own private Advantage Then was it the Custom to Sacrifice not only Beasts but Men Women and Children and to impose all the Idolatry imaginable upon the World by their Oracles the Cheat of which hath been often discovered as particularly by Theophilus Bishop of Alexandria who shewed the Inhabitants of that Town the hollow Statues into which the Priests privately crept to give their Responses Of all the Pagan Church-Governments we know most of that of the Romans Romnlus and his Sucessor Numa Pompilius being made sensible by their own Experience and that of their Neighbours how great a Ligament of Government political Religion was took care to Institute several Orders of Priests to whom all their Subjects might pay Honour and by whom they were to be instructed how to pray what Sacrifices what Vowes what Gifts would be acceptable to the Gods and in a word in all the Ceremonies made use of in Divine-Service The Pontifices of all the Priests seems to have had the greatest share of Church-Government for Cicero in his Oration to them tells them that the Honour and Safety of the Common Wealth the Liberty of the People the Houses and Fortunes of the Citizens and the very Gods themselves were all entrusted to their Care and depended wholly on their Wisdom and Management The Superintendent of the Pontifices was one of the Most honourable Offices in the Common Wealth upon which account all the Emperors for their own Interest and after the Example of Julius Caesar either took the Name of Pontisex Maximus or actually discharged the Office themselves and even the Christian Emperors retained the Title till Gratian refused it The Jews were the only People on Earth that had continued to them the Knowledge of the true GOD who was pleased to reveal his Will from time to time to their Fore-fathers commanding Moses his Servant to give them his Laws and to Model a Church-Government to the Members of which were to be committed the Divine Oracles This was the State of the Jews whilst the wise Governours of all othr Nations such as Solon Lycurgus and Numa Pompilius were sensible of the use of Religion but were not able to become acquainted with the true God for want of Revelation So that their Opinions about His Will and Nature and those of all the Ancient Philosophers have been so many ridiculous Whimsies But no sooner did the Son of GOD appear who was the Original and Model of all Perfection than he was to be a Light to the whole World and a great part of the Jewish Laws was to lose their Authority For he knowing the Will of God his Father better than Moses was pleased to reveal to all Nations that it was no longer the design of God to make a distinction betwixt Jew and Gentile but that he would embrace every Nation that would believe in him and obey his Laws At Thirty years of Age he began to establish his most excellent Religion meeting with all the Opposition imaginable from the Jews as an invader of their Fundamental Laws He was Persecuted and followed all his life with Assaults of Malice and Cruelty His Credit was Slandered his Doctrine slighted and at last he was put to Death with all sort of Torture and Disgrace His only Companions upon Earth was a parcel of poor People whom he called his Disciples and to whom he taught a Doctrine that called men from their Lusts and Pleasures that offered Violence to their Natural Inclinations That required the greatest strictness of Life That revealed Truths above the reach of Natural Comprehension and that obliged Men to take up a Cross to follow the Example of a Crucified Saviour in expectation of an invisible World This Jesus then is of more value to us than e're Moses was to the Jews he being our Law-giver our God and our Saviour who hath given Laws to all those who will believe and acknowledge his Authority Our Saviour when he came into the World as he was God so was he Omniscient knew what Opposition his Doctrine would meet with and with what Misfortunes his Followers would be dogged He came not to a particular People as Moses did to the Jews of whose obedience he was assured but he came to the People of the habitable Earth to teach them the way to Heaven by Repentance and Faith At his first Arrival he found no Church but the Jewish which was to evanish at his Appearance Therefore he laid the Foundation of one himself by Preaching and working Miracles and by triumphing on the Cross over Ignorance and Wickedness which had ruled all the Heathens After his Ascension into Heaven on the day of Pentecost he sent down the Holy Ghost upon his Apostles and Disciples who were assembled at Jerusalem enduing them with the Gift of Tongues and of working Miracles Commissionating them to propagat his Church and Kingdom thro' the whole World Which accordingly they did Preaching the Gospel first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles many of them taking particular parts of the World to make known the Joyful News of Salvation Thus St. Andrew Preached the Gospel in Scythia St. Bartholomew in India St. Matthew in Parthia and St. John in the lesser Asia They went from Town to Town and from Village to Village publishing the Blessed News of Immortality and constituting Bishops and Deacons the first Fruits of their Ministry leaving them to govern and to enlarge the particular Churches over which they had placed them Tertullian saith de Praescrip advers Haereti That Clemens was ordained Bishop of Rome by St. Peter and Polycarp Bishop of Smirna by St. John Now Let us enquire whether our Saviour or his Apostles after his Death left any distinct Scheme of Government to be followed by all particular Churches which Scheme if there be any must be found in the Holy Scriptures or in the Writings of the Fathers who succeeded immediatly to the Apostles but if no Scheme of Church Covernment is to
A Bishop was Elected both by the Clergy Laity of his Parish as we learn from the Death of Bishop Anterus in whose place Falianus was Elected at Rome for fayeth Eusebius lib. 6. c. 28. All the People met together in the Church to chuse a Successor proposing several illustrious and eminent Personages as fit for Office whilst not one so much as thought on Falianus then present till a Dove miraculously came and sat upon his head in the same manner as the Holy Ghost formerly descended on our Saviour and then all the People guided as it were with one Divine Spirit cryed out with one Mind and Soul that Falianus was most worthy of the Bishoprick and so straightways taking him they placed him in the Episcopal Throne At present we know Bishops are chosen only by the Clergy contrary to the Practice of the Church of Rome as we have seen in the Example of Falianus The People had power to depose their own Bishops as the People of Spain did Martiales and Basilides and who had their Proceedings ratified by an African Council assembled in the Year 258. Cyprian Epist 68. But in what Cases People could depose a Bishop is not determined by Antiquity In the Primitive times every Christian was considered both as a Member of the Universal Church and as one of that particular Church where he lived if therefore he erred in any Article of Faith he was judged guilty of Heresie And if he was at Variance with his Bishop he was guilty only of Schism and consequently deserved either the Name of Heretick or Schismatick Yet it 's clear that at present one may be at Variance with his Bishop without being reputed Schismatick For Example if a particular Man in the Diocess of Tork should have a personal prejudice against his Bishop and would not Communicat with him altho in the time of Cyprian he would have been guilty of Schism had he been at Variance with his Bishop From this short account and what more could be collected about the Practice of the Fathers from their Writings in Church Government we can learn nothing but Titles Names and some general Rules observed in the Exercise of the Governments of particular Churches which made up the Universal Church therefore it must be an Error to assert that either the Episcopal Government in England or the Presbyterian in Scotland as they are now constitute was in fashion in the Primitive Ages What then in Reason ought to be affirmed for Truth about Church-Government appears to be That the Apostles and those they appointed to preach the Law of their Master living in times when they had no Civil Government to protect them were persecuted and harrassed from place to place having most of the Magistrats and Philosophers to be their declared Enemies therefore it was their greatest business only to preach a Crucified Saviour who was risen from Death and ascended up into Heaven to be Mediator betwixt his Father and all People that would follow the Laws of his Gospel which Laws they taught to all their Proselyts which made up the Catholick Church And that the Members of it might be the better instructed in the Mysteries of their Religion it was necessary to have them erected into particular Churches or Societies as the Circumstances of the Times would allow Which accordingly they did and regulated their outward Forms that all things might be done in Order and Decency Hence arose the necessity of Church-Officers to keep all things right and to put the Divine Laws in Execution The Bishop was the first Presbyter in Honour for his Apostolick Qualities amongst other Presbyters who were so many new Apostles to be sent abroad to convert the Pagans and to constitute new Churches as they found Believers after what forms were most convenient And by such means were Churches erected at Jerusalem Alexandria Rome Carthage c. Which Churches so long as they wanted the Protection of Civil Magistrats so long did they keep a good Correspondence amongst themselves having frequent Meetings to suppress all Heresies which Meetings were called Councils Now may we be of Opinion That our Saviour did forsee that the Christian World would be divided into distinct secular Governments and that each Government would have the order kept amongst the Men set apart for Divine Service which was agreeable to it's Constitution For tho particular Churches might have different Governments yet the Universal Church is no more dismemb'red than if a King who had different Countreys in Subjection could be denyed to be Master of them all because that his Laws were put in Execution in one of them by a Viceroy in another by a few Noble Men and in the Third by a parcel of Commons To strengthen this Opinion we know That no sooner the Roman Emperours and their Subjects become Christians but there was an Analogy betwixt their Civil and Ecclesiastical Governments For the whole Empire being divided into Fourteen Diocesses each of them comprehending several Provinces and every province several Cities Every City as it had a temporal Magistrat for executing Justice so was there also a Bishop for Spiritual Order and Government Every Province as it had a Proconsul whose Seat was usually at the Metropolis So there was in the same City an Arch-Bishop or Metropolitan In every Diocess there was a Vicarius who dwelt in the principal City of the Diocess where all Imperial Edicts were published There was also a Primat to equal him and to whom the Determination of all differences of the Clergy did belong And lastly as the Fourteen Diocesses were ruled by four Praetorian Prefects in civil Matters so were they governed in Church Affairs by Patriarchs who were superiour to Primats by reason of the Dignity of these Cities where they had their Sees fixed as at Rome Constantinople Alexandria Antioch and Jerusalem But to what hight Church-men can improve their Power may be learned from the Patriarchs of Rome who had once almost enslaved the whole Christian world by their Supremacy Purgatory Indulgences and Pardons auricular Confessions and Caelibacy of the Clergy As there is a necessity of some Church-Government to be in every Common-Wealth that by its Discipline its Members may be keep'd in duty both to God and to their fellow Subjects So every Church-Government ought to sympathize with that Civil Government it meets with to make up one Christian Society But to shew what Church and Civil Governments agree best together let us take a short view of all them which are in use at present in the Christian world Tho Man hath a Natural Inclination to Society yet that which constitutes a Body Politick is Confederation and a Consent of Governours and Governed from which we have the different kinds of Civil Government Monarchy Aristocracy and Democracy And paralel to these are three kinds of Church-Government Hierarchy Superintendency and Presbytrie Monarchy is a Government that 's vested in one single Person who is absolute and hath a Right of