bloodiest and sharpest War was to be endured rather than the least error in Doctrine and Discipline And another Wishing that all the Prelates in the Kingdom and himself were together in a bottomless Boat at Sea for he would be content to loose his life so the Bishops might loose theirs Will not all these seem strong and tearing winds rending the rocks of all Order and good Government in which God was not Rather than the small and still voice which walked in the Garden in the cool of the day when God came to enquire calmly after Adams sin Or will they not seem rather so many Predictions which we have seen fulfilled sadly upon that place and those persons whoyet were as ignorant of the Prophetick import of their own expressions as Caiphas was of Christs offering himself for the world when he counselled the Jews That it was expedient that one man should die for the People And yet knew not the import of Christ dying for the People When men pass sentence upon themselves God often sees it executed The Israelites no sooner wish they had died in the Land of Egypt or in the Wilderness But the Answer is returned As I live saith the Lord as you have spoken in mine Ears so will I do to you And the Heathen Poet could teach us the same lesson Evertere domos totas optantibus ipsis Dii faciles I do not like raking Fire out of Embers by searching for the faults of men who Perished in their own Flames and are objects of our Pitty more than Passion Otherwise no Nation under Heaven could afford examples equal to that of Scotland for the proof of rigid Presbyterian Discipline Of which how much is settled after more then 100 years are run out since the Nobles Gentry and People have been vehemently sollicited to kill and slay each other or any body else rather than be without it the present state of Affairs there may bear us witness Would it be a good course of judging of Episcopal Government to rake into the Records and Histories of 1600. Years for the errors of all Bishops whòm worldly Interest or Passion or other human frailties have carried beyond the gravity austerity humility and Apostolical Piety of their Primitive institution And will this serve to level imparity the principle of all Order and Government and secure the modern Presbytery from the like irregularities or excesses Certainly those accusations and calumnies which Politicians say secure other States subvert the foundations of the Churches peace which are laid in Charity the Characteristick note of a Christian. By this ye know if ye be my Disciples says Christ If ye love one another And in ancient times the common saying was Ecce quam diligunt Christiani That execrable delight and joy which any one takes to accuse or to find faults in others he hath from the Devil Who is the great accuser of the Brethren It is evident to what a miserable extremity the divisions about Church-Government had brought a great Nation From disputing and fighting for this and that Form we at last knew no Form at all Every one doing what seemed good in his own eyes God having justly taken away from Both what was so intemperately desired and contended for on either side Both Episcopacy and Presbytery that strive for it Do it surely for this common end That the people being taught to know God aright might glorifie him in their Lives and Conversations The People I say who are more easily disposed to Innovations and Disobedience many times by the artifice and insinuations of a few than can be reclaimed again by the Authority Eloquence and Wisdom of many They are therefore a commiserable body and being commonly the Masters of error the weakest part of whom being their mind and meer servants to the Ambition of others How much doth it most truly import the Sacred Function to be wholly employ'd in saving the Souls of these men from perishing in a Famine of Spiritual food and nourishment But while both strive for the Rule and Form of doing this without imputation of Ambition or Usurpation Is it not pitty to think the matter should ever come to that pass that one half of the Nation must be first destroyed And instead of settling Christs Discipline that no body at this rate should be left to become Christs Disciples whom Error or the Sword had not devoured That both may Rule and yet not strive is proposed here by our Pious and Learned Prelate By which Charity and Brotherly Love may be restored almost wholly extingushed out of the hearts of men and the grain of evil Seed sown in place thereof destroy'd which hath brought forth ungodliness to this very time In the mean time it is a work worth propounding and worthy of the Office and industry of all men in whom is the true fear of God the principle of honour as well as wisdom who are followers of either Party That they soften the minds of the tenacious and refractory and sweeten the Spirits of the sowre and morose That they may say one to another as Abraham did to Lot Let there be no strife I pray thee between me and thee and between my Herdmen and thy Herdmen for we be Brethren And let every Pious Humble and peaceable Overseer and Bishop Presbyter and Ruler of Christs Flock and Watchman over the pretious Souls of men so labour at the Throne of Grace for this weatherbeaten Ship of Gods Church hardly escaping yet the waves of confusion and disorder that she may at last hear an Angell from God speaking to her as once to St. Paul Fear not beloved Thou must be brought before Caesar and God hath given thee all those that Sail with thee Episcopal and Presbyterial Government conjoyned BY Order of the Church of England all Presbyters are charged to Minister the Doctrine and Sacraments and the Discipline of Christ as the Lord hath commanded and as this Realm hath received the same and that they might the better understand what the Lord hath commanded therein the Exhortation of St. Paul to the Elders of the Church of Ephesus is appointed to be read unto them at the time of their Ordination Take heed uunto your selves and to all the flock among whom the Holy Ghost hath made you Overseers to Rule the Congregation of God which he hath purchased with his Blood Of the many Elders who in common thus ruled the Church of Ephesus there was one President Whom our Saviour in his Epistle to that Church in a peculiar manner stileth the Angel of the Church of Ephesus and Ignatius in another Epistle written about twelve years after unto the same Church calleth the Bishop thereof betwixt which Bishop and the Presbytery of that Church what an harmonious consent there was in the ordering of the Church-Goverment the same Ignatius doth fully there declare by Presbytery with St. Paul understanding the Company of the rest of the Presbyters or Elders who
EPISCOPAL AND Presbyterial Government CONJOYNED Proposed as an Expedient for the compremising of the Differences and preventing of those Troubles about the matter of CHURCH-GOVERNMENT Written in the Late times by the late Learned and Famous Ja. Usher Arch-Bishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland And now published seriously to be considered by all sober conscientious Persons and tendred to all the Sons of Peace and Truth in the three Nations for recovering the Peace of the Church and setling its Government Tolle jano nominis crimen nihil restat nisi criminis nomen Tert. Apol. Contra rationem nemo sobritis contra Scripturam nemo Christianus contra Ecclesiam nemo pacificus senserit Aug. de Trin. London Printed in the Year 1679. THE PREFACE IF any one ask who is He presumes to Publish the Papers of that Learned Pious and peacable Prelate worthy of eternal Memory without approbation first had of such as hold the Chair in the several Parts of controverted Discipline I Answer The Learned men of each Party are not yet agreed nor do I know when they will be and the times require that some means be used to advance the Peace of the Church and preserve the Nation That Peace I mean whereby the minds of men may be disposed to lay aside all old animosities and upon a common Principle of Union become charitable and so perpetual Friends The Faithfull and true Ministers of the Gospel of Peace will I hope give their allowance to this attempt Pious and Charitable in its intention For the contrary minded who would have Fire come from Heaven to consume all those who receive not their Dictates I shall only rebuke them with that of our Saviour to his Disciples ye know not of what manner of Spirit ye are Peace therefore and Christian Concord is not the matter these men seek but perpetual Parties and Sidings wherein perhaps they hope to appear Somebody which temper even in the minds where it ought least to be hath embroyl'd the world in miserable Feuds And this being perceiv'd by men experienced in Publick business hath produced variety of complaints Sir Edwyn Sandys discoursing of the division of Protestants abroad into Lutherans and Calvinists complains That the Ministers of each side have so far bestirr'd themselves that the Coal which a wise man with a little moisture of his mouth would soon have quenched they with the wind of their breath have contrariwise so enflamed that it threatneth a great ruine and Calamity on both sides And a little after reprehending the heat and extremity of contention They make more account says he of some empty Syllogism than of the Peace of the Church and happiness of the World The most Learned and Pious Hugo Grotius bemoaning the Discords of Christian Leaders Says Si in eorum Bellorum quibus tam diu vastatur Europa causas inquirimus inveniemus hoc incendium maximè ab ijs quos pacis praecones esse debuerunt excitatum And Mr. Dury after all his Travells in the matter of Ecclesiastical Peace found at last the difficulty to lie at home among those of his own Profession which caused him to lay down this Maxim That neither can a Civil Confederation be truly framed among Protestants nor when it is framed can it be faithfully maintained except the foundation thereof be laid in the minds of the Clergy The expedient here proposed by this Learned and Pious Prelate for Composing the Controversies and contentions about Ecclesiastical Government will not make the wounds wider I hope I do not see how it can And if it bring with it a healing virtue to unite and consolidate Parties discontinued in any measure I shall not repent me of acting the Empyrick in applying this Sovereign Receipt which came fortunately to my hands to the curing all those fretting ailments have so long troubled the Church Nor will this attempt of mine be insecure if the Learned and Pious Guides of either Party be consulted It is Dr. Hammond's judgment That a moderate Episcopacy with a standing assistant Presbytery as it will certainly satisfie the desires of those whose pretensions are regular and moderate craving nothing more and in some things less than the Laws of the Land so it will appear to be that which all Parties can best Tolerate and which next himself both Presbyterian Independant and Erastian will make no question to choose and prefer before any of the other Pretenders And Mr. Baxter no friend to modern Episcopacy earnestly incultating the Pastoral care and oversight of Souls I speak not this says he against any Bishops that acknowledge the Presbyters to be true Pastors to Rule and Teach the Flock and take themselves only to be the Chief and Presidents among Presbyters yea or the Rulers of Presbyters that are Rulers of the Flock But of them that Null the Presbyters Office and the Churches Government and Discipline by undertaking it alone as their sole Prerogative Me thinks as Agrippa said to Paul Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian I might here step in and tell these Learned and Pious Controvertists That almost they may be persuaded to be Friends But the Principal defence I intend my self against the censures of my Publishing those Papers Is the sense of the late King himself in his Posthumous admired Book Not says he that I am against the managing of this Presidency and Authority in one man by the joynt Counsel and Consent of many Presbyters I have offered to restore that And again I was willing to grant or restore to Presbytery what with reason or discretion it can pretend to in a conjuncture with Episcopacy So that the purpose the late King had of uniting his divided People If God had so permitted whose judgments are wonderfull and his ways past finding out was upon Grounds agreeable to the design of this Paper And therefore what was by Him so Piously and Prudently intended for restoring Peace and Unity to the Church is so much the more necessary now by how much we understand That intention of the said King and that the same Parties remain still estranged in conuntenance and conversation And yet it would not be so if some instrument or medium could be used to bring them to debate with an humble Christian Spirit on terms of reconcilement and unīty Which whensoever it shall by Gods gracious Dispensation and Providence over us be granted so much of our passions and interest must be laid aside as not to think it imaginable in the traverse of such long and sharp disputes and diffirences That one Party should be totally guilty and the other altogether innocent When I consider a Presbyterian will it be well to fetch a Character from all the frailties and failings of men of that Persuasion If one Preached It would never be well till twice 7. Prelates be hanged up as the 7. Sons of Saul were hanged up in Gibeon And another That the
then had a hand not onely in the delivery of the Doctrine and Sacraments but also in the administration of the Discipline of Christ for further proof whereof we have that known Testimony of Tertullian in his Apology for Christians In the Church are used exhortations chastisements and divine censure For judgment is given with great advice as among those who are certain they are in the sight of God and it is the chiefest foreshewing of the judgment which is to come if any man have so offended that he be banished from the Communion of Prayer and of the Assembly and of all holy Fellowship The Presidents that bear Rule therein are certain approved Elders who have obtained this honour not by reward but by a good report who were no other as he himself elsewhere intimateth but those from whose hands they used to receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist For with the Bishop who was the chief President and therefore stiled by the same Tertullian in another place Summus Sacerdos for distinction sake the rest of the Dispensers of the Word and Sacraments joyned in the common government of the Church and therefore where in matters of Ecclesiastical judicature Cornelius Bishop of Rome used the received form of gathering together the Presbyters of what persons that did consist Cyprian sufficiently declareth when he wisheth him to read his letters to the flourishing Clergy which there did preside or rule with him the presence of the Clergy being thought to be so requisite in matters of Episcopal audience that in the fourth Councel of Carthage it was concluded That the Bishop might hear no mans cause without the presence of his Clergy and that otherwise the Bishops sentence should be void unless it were confirmed by the presence of the Clergy which we find also to be inserted into the Cannons of Egbert who was Arch-Bishop of Tork in the Saxons times and afterwards into the Body of the Canon Law it self True it is that in our Church this kind of Presbyterial government hath been long disused yet seeing it still professeth that every Pastor hath a right to rule the Church from whence the name of Rector also was given at first unto him and to administer the Discipline of Christ as well as to dispence the Doctrine and Sacraments and the restraint of the exercise of that right proceedeth only from the custom now received in this Realm no man can doubt but by another Law of the Land this Hindrance may be well removed and how easily this ancient form of government by the united Suffrages of the Clergy might be revived again and with what little shew of alteration the Synodical conventions of the Pastors of every Parish might be accorded with the presidency of the Bishops of each Diocess and Province the indifferent Reader may quickly perceive by the perusal of the ensuing Propositions I. In every Parish the Rector or incumbent Pastor together with the Churchwardens and Sidesmen may every week take notice of such as live scandalously in that Congregation who are to receive such several admonitions and reproofs as the quality of their offence shall deserve and if by this means they cannot be reclaimed they may be presented unto the next monthly Synod and in the mean time debarred by the Pastor from access to the Lords Table II. Whereas by a Statute in the 26th year of King Henry the eight revived in the first of Queen Elizabeth Suffiagans are appointed to be erected in twenty six several places of this Kingdom the number of them might very well be conformed unto the number of the several rural Deanries into which every Diocess is subdivided which being done the Suffragan supplying the place of those who in the ancient Church were called Chorepiscopi might every month assemble a Synod of all the Rectors or Incumbent Pastors within the Precinct and according to the Major part of their voices conclude all matters that should be brought into debate before them To this Synod the Rector and Church-Wardens might present such impenitent persons as by admonition and suspension from the Sacrament would not be reformed who if they should still remain contumacious and incorrigible the sentence of Excommunication might be decreed against them by the Synod and accordingly be executed in the Parish where they lived Hitherto also all things that concerned the Parochial Ministers might be referred whether they did touch their Doctrine or their Conversation as also the censure of all new Opinions Heresies or Schisms which did arise within that Circuit with liberty of Appeal if need so require unto the Diocesan Synod III. The Diocesan Synod might be held once or twice in the year as it should be thought most convenient Therein all the Suffragans and the rest of the Rectors or Incumbent Pastors or a certain select number of every Deanry within that Diocess might meet with whose consent or the Major part of them all things might be concluded by the Bishop or Superintendent call him whither you will or in his absence by one of the Suffragans whom he shall depute in his stead to be Moderator of that Assembly Here all matters of greater moment might be taken into consideration and the Orders of the Monthly Synods revised and if need be Reformed And if here also any matters of difficulty could not receive a full determination it might be referred to the next Provincial or National Synod IV. The Provincial Synod might consist of all the Bishops and Suffragans and such other of the Clergy as should be elected out of every Diocess within the Province The Primate of either Province might be Moderator of this meeting or in his room some one of the Bishops appointed by him and all matters be ordered therein by common consent as in the former Assembly This Synod might be held every third year and if the Parliament do then sit according to the Act for a Triennial Parliament both the Primates and Provincial Synods of the Land might joyn together and make up a National Counsel Wherein all Appeals from inferior Synods might be received all their Acts examined and all Ecclesiastical constitutions which concern the state of the Church of the whole Nation established FINIS THe Form of Government here proposed is not in any point repugnant to the Scripture and that the Suffragans mentioned in the second Proposition may lawfully use the Power both of Jurisdiction and Ordination according to the Word of God and the Practise of the Ancient Church Luke 9. 55. Europae speculum 172. Votum pro pace 62. Disc. tending to Eccles. Peace pag. 2. 3. Pref. to the power of the Keyes Gildas Salv. 338. Act. 26. 28. pag. 144. pag. 173. Rom. 11. 33. Char. 1. large declar 403. 1 King 19. 11. 12. Gen. 3. 8. Joh. 18. 14. Num. 14. 2. v. 28. Juven Sat. 10. Joh. 13. 35. Rev. 12. 14. 2 Esdr. 4. 30. Eccles. 10. 24. Prov. 1. 7. Gen. 13. 8. Act. 27. 24. a The form of Ordaining of Ministers b Ibid. ex Act. 20. 17 28. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so taken in Mat. 2. 6. and Apoc. 12. 5. 19. 15. c Rev. 2. 1. d 1 Tim. 4. 14. e Ibidem etiam exhortationes castigationes censura divina nam judicatur magno cum pondere ut apud certos de Dei conspectu summumque futuri judicii praeindicium est si quis ita deliquirit ut à communicatione orationis conventus omnis sancti commercii relegeâ—ur praesident probars quique seniores honorem istum non pretiosed Testimonio adepti Tertul. Apologet. cap. 39. f Nec de aliorum manibus quampraesidentium sumimus Id. de corona militis cap. 3. g Dandiquidem Baptismi habet jus summus sacerdos qui est Episcopus dehinc Presbyteri Diaconi Id. de Bapt. cap. 17. h Omni actu ad me perlato placuit contrahi Presbyterium Cornel apud Cypr. ep 46. i Florentissimo illic clero te cum praesidenti Cyp. ep 55. ad Cornel. k Ut Episcopus nullus causam audiat absque praesentia Clericorum suorum alioquin irrita erit sententia Episcopi nisi clericorum praesenti â confirmetur Conc. Car. thag cap. 23. l Excirption Egberti cap 43. m 15 q. 7. cap. Nullus The Parochial government answerable to the Church Session in Scotland The Presbyterial monthly Synods answer to the Scottish Presbyteries or Ecclesiastical meetings Diocesan Synods answerable to the Provincial Synods in Scotland The Provincial and National Synodanswerable to the General Assembly in Scotland