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
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
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
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
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
THE REFORMED BISHOP OR XIX ARTICLES Tendered by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Well-wisher of the present Government of the Church of SCOTLAND As it is settled by Law In order to the further Establishment thereof Tertul. Praescript advers Haer. Id verum quod primum Sanctum est Veritatem cujuslibet amicitiae anteponere Aristot. in Ethic. lib. 1. cap. 6. Printed for the Author Anno Dom. 1679. ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER IN order to the better understanding of the Nature of this ensuing Remonstrance I judged it fit to premit some Particulars to the serious Consideration of the Iudicious Reader 1. That over and above the Homologation of our Assertions in the respective Articles by Reason and inartificial Arguments derived from Authority and dispersed like so many Veins Nerves and Arteries thorow that Complex Body I thought it â—it to Confirm those great Truths embosomed in these XIX Proposals by a more evident Method First Seeing Divine Authority is both Infallible and more Noble than any other Therefore we have Superscribed every Article with the Royal Placet of the King of Kings And that these Sacred Allegations may also serve as Rubricks or Titles to Indicate the Principal Contents of the several Articles Yet we have not cited the places at large Charâ—tably believing that whosoever will be at the pains to read these Lines will think it no trouble to find out the Chapter and Verse in the Holy Bible as they are â—ere pointed at Next We have immediately subjoyned to every Article some Canons of Councels being extensively much more to be regarded than the Authority of any Individual Father seeing they necessarily presuppose a Complex of many For without a Sanhedrim of divers Ecclesiastical Seniors no Councel can consist And intensively too in the Iudgment of those who look upon these Canons as binding to the Church But in the eyes of all Rational men they afford a more Authentick Testimony of the Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government of the Church of God at that time than any One particular could do In the last place We have annexed some Testimonies of the most Famous Luminaries of the Primitive Church whose Doctrine is not found to interfere with the most approved Morals and Rituals of the Catholick Church in the Ages wherein they lived yet we have very seldome cited them at large for the Reason above expressed 2. Let the Reader take notice That as the Aera of our Allegations is the Apostolick Age though there was no Provincial Councel Celebrated therein far less any General save that at Hierusalem which was obligatory to the whole Church then in Being whatever some Divines imagine to the contrary So the Terminus ad quem of the Citation of Councels is The Sixth General Synod called otherwise Synodus Quinti-Sexta It had been very easie to amasse a multitude of Canons posteriour thereunto yet we judged it neither necessary nor fit to proceed further because not long after that Convention the Image-storm arose Some adhering to the Councels which were Assembled by Leo Isaurus and Constantinus Copronymus where the Image-Worship was Condemned by the Iconoclastae as they were then termed and others cleaving to that of Constantine and Irene at Nice and to some Roman Synods where the Adoration of Images was approved by those who were named Iconolatrae Then the Greek and Latin Churches began to be divided which have never since that time been thorowly Cemented As for the Vltimate Term of the Allegation of the Fathers We have fixed on Gregory the Great Inclusively whom I look upon as the Last of that Venerable Number Yet we have sometimes mentioned though very sparingly Isidore of Sevil Beda Anselm and St. Bernard The three former because they are so often alleged in the Canon Law and the Last in regard of the Sublimity of his Style blended with so much Eloquence and Divine Zeal in his 4. Books De Consideratione Ad Eugenium tertium Though I am not ignorant that he was at the Distance of many Centuries from Gregory the First at Rome 3. In the third place I shall subjoyn a word or two concerning the Apostolick Canons as they are usually termed in regard we have here made some Vse of them They were indeed to the number of 185 Received by the Sixth General Councel But whether they were the same which are now extant is not certainly known But in respect that some Ecclesiastical Writers reject them all as Apocryphal and some admit but 60 of them Yea the Plurality but the 50 which are first in order Therefore I have laid no great stress upon them citing these only which either in express terms or sence at least are adopted by some of the most approved General or Provincial Councels But whether these Canons were Collected by Clemens of Rome or of Alexandria we shall not Determine though the last is most probable 4. Next I shall give a brief account why the sixth General Councel is termed Synodus Quini-sexta because under that Notion we have many times cited it The ingenuous Reader shall know that the fifth General Councel assembled by Justinian the Great and the sixth by Constantinus Pogonatus made no Canons for Discipline but only some Defitions or Declarations in Matters of Faith the Former determining against some Errors fathered upon Origen fathered I say by Hereticks upon that Zealous man whose Books they Corrupted if we believe Ruffinus and him whose Testimony is more to be regarded viz. Vincentius Lyrinensis and Condemning the Writings of the Tâ—ia Capitula v. g. Theodorus Mopsuestâ—nus Theodoret of Cyrus and Ibas of Edessa as savouring of Nestorianism The other against the Monothelites and Condemned the Doctrine of divers Patriarchs of Constantinople One of Alexandria and one of Rome viz. Pope Honorius for the Hereticks themselves were dead long before that time But that the Church might be regulated not only in Matters of Faith but also in point of Manners Justinian the second Son to Constantinus Pogonatus boni Patris Filius pessimus Summoned a new Synod for that effect who did again meet in Tâ—ullo an apartment of the Imperial Palace And in regard the Fathers thereof made 102 Canons to supply the defect of the fifth and sixth General Councels therefore that Councel was termed Synodus Quini-sexta so the Greeks as Balsamon observes call that Convention 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Synodum Quintam-sextam And it being re-assembled within few years to the Former four or five at most so that the greatest part of the Eastern Bâ—shops who were present at the Former were also present at the Later as may appear by their Subscriptions to hoth these Councels therefore the Canons of that Synod usually pass under the Name and Notion of the sixth General Councel This we take to be the more probable Account which Tarasius Patriarch of Constantinople and Petrus Bishop of Nicomedia gave of it in the Face of the second Councel of Nice as it is termed viz. Actionem quartam istius
Testimonies of the Fathers and of Ecclesiastical and Secular History produc'd in these Articles without any Indication of Paragraph Chapter or Book where to find them But there be two Reasons of this Omission first Because these Authorites are generally obvious to any who understand any thing of Antiquity or History So that they who daily carry about a far greater Library in their Brains than is here pointed at cannot but easily find them out The other Reason is once and again hinted at already viz. lest this little Book swell to a great one And for that same End we shall put a Period to this Premonition reserving Liberty to make this Protestation which I hope all Charitable Readers will believe That I have shunned as the Syrenian Rocks those four Wayes whereby the Iudgment of a Writer may be perverted though it were but in Penning nineteen Articles for the good of the Church viz. Timore Cupiditate Odio vel Amore so sayes Hierom in Amos cap. 6. and Isidorus Hispalensis lib. 3. cap. 57. But if the Reader will have Patience till we arrive at the Peroration he will then find this Protestation much enlarged To which we hasten Propitio Numine Carpere detrahere vel imperiti possunt doctorum autem est qui laborantium novere Sudorem vel lassis manum porrigere vel aberrantibus iter ostendere Hieronym Com. in Cap. 4. Ion. THE REFORMED BISHOP SEEING there be too many who are apt to exclaim against the Governours of this Church under the Notion of Ambitious Auaritious and Luxurious Persons as if they designed not the Glory of God nor the Good of his Church and Re-establishment of its Government upon lasting Foundations But that Honour Gain and Bodily Ease are the adequate Ends of their undertaking that eminent and weighty Charge It is most probable That if the Primitive Pattern were retrived into this Age it would endear the present Government to all those who have not put off the Use of Reason with all sense of Religion and Loyalty Which holy emulation may be rendred practicable by the seasonable and speedy improvement of the ensuing Proposals And would to God our present Church-Governours could say in reference to all their holy Predecessours what Themistocles the Athenian did usually declare concerning One of his viz. Miltiadis Trophaea sibi somnos adimere Article I. Exod. 28. 36 37 38. Levit. 21. 6 17. Psal. 132. 9. Isa. 56. 10 11 12. Ezek. 34. 2 3 4 c. Mal. 2. 1 2 c. Mat. 9. 15. Act. 13. 1 2 3. 2 Cor. 6. 5. 11 27. 1 Tim. 3. 2 3 4 c. 4 12. 6 2. Tit. 1. 7 8 9. 1 Pet. 5. 2 3. THAT None be Elected to that Sacred Order but these only who are approved to be Eminent in Piety Charity Learning Humility Gravity Hospitality and in the Exercise of the Four Cardinal Vertues Whose Pedigree and Education reflect no stain of Dishonour upon them And I do heartily wish That all Church-men especially the Governours thereof were honourably descended which being joyned with the former Endowments would render their Piety the more splendid and their Example the more efficacious For as it contributes to the Temporal Felicity of our holy Religion to have Kings to be its Nursing-Fathers so without all peradventure it tends not a little to the Honour and Enlargement of the visible Church to have Nobles to be it's Priests Gregâ—rie the seventh usually termed Hildebrand and Sixtus Quintus were indeed men of Illustrious Spirits if they had been sanctified though their descent from one Illustrious House was meerely Ironical But these are rare to be found and scarce one such in an Age the Gifts and Parts of those who are Terrae Filii being generally as low as their Birth And let the Godliness of our Church-Governours be evidenced to all Charitable Judgments by a blameless Conversation in the World so that no man may truely say black to their Eye And let their Christian Prudence be demonstrated by a well-ordered and Religious Family all the Constituent Parts thereof being as far removed from Vanity Intemperance Prodigality and all sort of Profaneness as the East is from the West So that it may justly be termed a Sanctuary for its Devotion as was the Court of Theodosius the Younger For if a man know not how to rule his own house how shall be take care of the Church of God vid. 1 Tim. 3. 1 2 3. c. and Tit. 1. 6 7. c. Now if these indispensible Apostolick Precepts were conscionably practised by the Governours of our Church a generous Disdain of all Carnal Illectives and Blandishments of the Flesh would immediately spring up in the Soul So that they should have good reason to say with that noble Roman Major sum ad majora natus quà m ut Corporis mei sim Mancipium Yea more than so it shall produce in the Soul such an absolute Mortification that the Result will be an entire Resignation of the Ecclesiastick to God without any Reservation Limitation or Exception and to borrow but once a Phrase from the Mysticks an universal self-abnegation and as it were a Soul-annihilation Then they needed not fear that the men of the World would at any time tax them with that Diabolical Ceremony of Kissing Bandstrings there where the living God should be adored and not the Idol of a beautiful Strumpet and that they abominate a Crucisix in their Closets much more than a Cestus or any other Symbol of Venus The Mitre which should be engraven HOLINESS TO THE LORD should not any more be reproached as being impressed with the black Characters of an Whore's Name or that the Priest's Rocket hath too much Sympathy and Fellowship with the Kirtle of a Courtezan But on the Contrary all charitable Persons would be so just to them as to suppose them of the temper of Bernard who cryed cut Thieves Thieves when he was unlawfully accosted and that in the Practice of Mortification they imitate S. Hilarion who did thus expostulate with his own Body Faciam Aselle ut non ampliùs calcitres Nec te hordeo alam sed palëis Fame siti te conficiam They would apply to them that Commendation of Alexander the Great for his Continency Victor magis Darii Vxorem non videndo quà m Darium vincendo and that of the Poet. Fortior est qui se quà m qui fortissima vincit Moenia Yea they would be apt to conclude that these had not only studied to good Purpose the 〈◊〉 Chapter of the Enchiridion of that excellent Stoick Epictetus and the brief but very emphatical Advice of that Christian Poet Boethius Sever lib. III. De Consol. Phil. Metr 5. But also that they have merited from the World that Character which Clemens Alex. lib. 7. Strom. hath given of a Man that is Verè Gnosticus or a devout Ascetick Voluptatis causâ aliquid agere â—is relinquit qui vulgarem vitam seqâ—â—tur Et râ—â—erâ
last inclined thereunto By which Shieness they verified that Observation of Sulpitius Severus speaking of the ninth Persecution Men in those dayes saith he much more greedily sought Martyrdom in the Cause of Christ than for Bishopricks or other Preferments in the Chuch Vid. Can. Apost 30. 31. Item Concil Gener. 1. Can. 2. Concil Carthaginens 4. Can. 1. Concil Antioch Can. 17. Concil Toletan 1. Can. 10. Concil Avernens Can. 2. 6. Concil Parisiens Can. 3. Concil Aurelianens 5. Can. 9. Concil Matisconens 2. Can. 11 13. Concil Toletan 4. Can. 18 20 21 24. Concil Agathens Can. 6. Concil Gen. 6. Can. 35 86. Concil Toletan 8. Can. 8 ad finem Solus ergo accedat ad sacra Dei Mysteria tractanda quem Morum innocentia Literarum splendor reddunt illustrem Concil Toletan 3. Can. 1. Nullus deinceps ad promerendos Honores Ecclesiasticos contra Canonum Statuta aspiret indignus c. Vid. August Tract 46. ad cap. 10. Ioan. Quid est sua quaerentes non Christum gratis diligentes non Deum propter Deum quaerentes c. Hieronym Comment in eum locum Titi Nemo te contemnat Qualis enim aedificatio erit Discipuli si se intelligat Magistro esse majorem quia vehementer Ecclesiam Christi destruit meliores Laicos esse quà m Clericos Lâ—onis 1. Epist. 22. Sin in Laicis vix tolerabilis videtur Inâ—citia quanto magis in iis qui praesunt nec excusatione digna est nec venia Vid. etiam Origin Hom. 6. ad cap. 8. Levit. Hom. 4. in lib. Iudic. Vid. Panegyric of Greg. Nazianz. upon S. Basil the Expressions whereof which mostly concern this Particular we have already cited in the Article and what he sayeth on S. Basil he almost repeats in that great Encomiastick upon Athanasius and further adds Et priusquam pergentur purganâ— heri Sacrilegi hodie Sacerdotes heri sacrorum expertes hodie in sacris Duces veteres in malitia ac novi in Pietate quorum mores haud quaquam Gradum indicant sed Gradus mores c. And Leo magnus Epist. 91. speaks to the same purpose Cùm valde iniquum sit absurdum ut imperiti Magistris novi antiquis rudes praeserantur emeriâ—is nam inordinata erunt omnia si â—ictilia aureis lignea praeâ—erantur argenteis c. Likewise Greg. the Great did frequently wish as is evident from his excellent Treatise De Cura pastorali That Church-Offices were bestowed on those alone who did not ambitiously sue for them but fled from all Promotion and yet had deserved well of the Church by honest Principles and an holy Life and a diuturnal Proof of the excellency of their Knowledge and Prudence It being saith he in this Divine Art as it is in all other Sciences and Trades viz. no small Disgrace thereunto to promote any to be Masters in that Profession who are nothing else but Bunglers and Smatterers For which he cites the usual Saying of Gregorie Nazianz. Nemo per legem Nauticam admittitur ad gubernacula navis nisi priùs din sederit ad remos c. And what Theodosius the Great was wont to say of his two Sons Arcadius and Honorius is applyed by this great Bishop to all ignorant Clergy-men Conducibilius est ut vitam privatam agant quà m doctrina nulla cum periculo aliis imperarent The serious Consideration of which sad Truth was the great Prompter of Charlemain to prefer only those in the Church who were good Prosicients in Knowledge and Vertue and to reject all lazy Drones from those rich Hyves the frequent Reflection on that no less prudent than conscionable Practice gave occasion to that excellent Masculine Queen Elizabeth of England to keep alwayes beside her an exact List of the worthiest men in the Universities and that in order to Church-Promotions Article IV. Mat. 21. 12 13. Ioh. 2. 16. 10. 1. Act. 8. 10. 2 Tim. 4. 3. Tit. 1. 10 11. 2 Pet. 2. 14 15. MUCH less should they be preferred to that Sacred Function who are rei ambitûs and have endeavoured by indirect means to purchase that Degree unto themselves These by the ancient Canons being declared Inhabiles for ever to officiate at the Altar As also they who had been publick Penitents lest the Umbrage of their former Scandals should stain the pure white of the Ephod But to obviate the Inconveniences mentioned in the foregoing Proposal and this in haâ—d It were most desireable that this ensuing Method should be observed for Election of Bishops to vacant Places there being first a most humble Address made by the Clergy of the Nation to our Gracious Sovereign graciously to permit the same and the Favour supposed to be granted viz. That immediately after the Vacancy the Primate should warn by his Letters the Chapter of that Diocess to convene themselves and they being assembled to call the whole Synod together unto a certain day appointed for Fasting and Humiliation at which some of the most grave and learned of the Ministers appointed by the Chapter should Preach in order to the Conscientious Choice of a Person fit for that Eminent Employment And that after Fasting and Prayer in the Cathedral Church a List be made of a certain number of the most Pious Learned Prudent and Grave Persons by the common Suffrages of all the Ministers of the Diocesan Synod and that some discreet Persons among them be commissionated to carry the said List to Court and humbly to present the same to his Majesty and with all due Submission to entreat his gracious Majesty to present out of that number one to the vacant Chair They sufficiently knowing them all to be Pares Negotio and throughly acquainted with the State of the Diocesse and with all the Tempers of the Clergy and considerable Laicks who live within that Precinct I shall not mention the Observation of Spondanus upon the Enterview of Francis the First one of the French Kings with Pope Leo the tenth at Bononia the renowned Historian I. A. Thuanus having made the same Observe in the first Book of his admirable History Neither shall we reflect on the most Christian Deportment of Valentinian the first in reference to the Postulation of St. Ambrose Nor what is decree'd by Charlemain and Lewis the Godly Lib. 1. Capitular cap. 84. Least of all on the pious Act of Lewis the ninth deservedly termed St. Lewis his burning with Indignation that pretended Privilege of Nomination granted by the Pope saying that the Election of Bishops belonged only to God and his Church It being a trite Axiom of the Canon-Law Petitio plebis Electio Cleri Consensus Principis vid. Leonis 1. Epist. 85. But sure I am If his gracious Majesty who is a Lover and Protector of this Church ex traduce it being one of his Royal Epithets to be the Defender of the Apostolick Faith and Government which that glorious Martyr King Charles the first
succederet in Episcopatum There be many Epistles of S. Leo to this Purpose which are adopted by the Canon Law Vid. Epist 88. habetur Dist. 63. Epist. 93. habetur etiam Dist. 63. Epist. 95. habetur Dist. 62. where he speaks thus Nulla ratio sinit ut inter Episcopos habeantur qui nec à Clericis sunt Electi nec à Plebibus expetiti And Epist. 90. he requires these things as necessary to the Ordination of a Bishop viz Subscriptio Clericorum Honoratorum Testimonium Ordinis Consensus Plebis And in the same Epistle speaking of the Choice of a Bishop he sayeth it was done Subscribentibus plus minus septuaginta Presbyteris Therefore it is observed That all the Clergy concurred to the Choice of the Bishop of Rome himself except what was done in that time called the infaelix Seculum which turned all good Order topsy-turvy in the Church till the Rise of Gregorie the seventh in whose time Popery began to culminate in the Cuspe of the Tenth House thence Casaubon calls it Haeresin Hildebrandinam That it was so before the time of Hildebrand is evident from the Gloss upon the Canon-Law which from the Decree of P. Honorius the third Concludes Non posse eligi Praelatum ex aliena Dioecesi sed illum postulandum praevalere electionem personae de proprio Clero electioni factae de alio etiamsi illa facta sit à minore parte electorum And in the Theodosian Code L. 33. De Episcop Cler. we find an Imperial Constitution of Arcadius and Honorius Corroborating that Ecclesiastical Law ne viz. in Ecclesiis alii quà m Originarii Locorum ordinentur For it was ob inopiam Clericorum Catholicorum that Nectarius a Laick was chosen and Ambrose designed somewhat miraculously As for Tarasius and Photius it was long before other Bishops gave them the Right Hand of Fellowship But whoso desires more ample Satisfaction in this matter let them read M. Anton. De Dom. Repub. Eccles. l. 3. c. 3. where he proves at great length from Councels Fathers and Church-History that the regular Election of Bishops did pertain to the Clergy Sedis vacantis and that many Ages after the Famous Councel of Nice Sure I am if that Method had been constantly observed some who are now situated in the Zenith of the Church should have still remained but few Removes from the Nadir thereof as Henry the third of France said to some Bishops of his own Nomination who pressed him to pemit the Election to run in the ancient Channel That if it had alwayes done so they should never have been Bishops Article V. Ier. 23. 11. Zeph. 3. 4. 1 Tim. 3. 2 4. 4. 7. 6. 20. 2 Tim. 2. 16. Tit. 2. 1 2 3 〈◊〉 WHEN the Prelate of this Church is regularly Elected and Consecrated let him manifest the Sacredness of his Order rather by the Gravity of his Deportment and Spirituality of his Discourse tending alwayes to the edification of the Hearers than merely by his Canonical Garb Though it was alwayes my Judgment that it is most consonant to Reason and good Order that the Clergy be differenced by their Habit from the Laicks For that Sacerdos Habitus according to the African Dialect of Tertullian in his obscure Treatise De Palliâ— imports no less And if they go abroad without that Discrimination they should not enjoy the Privileges which the Civil Law hath granted in their favours as was well discerned by that Learned Devout and Resolute Prelate Arch-Bishop Lawd that he may verifie of of his Function what Minutius Foelix said of Christians in general Non habitu Sapientiam praeserimus sed mente Non magna eloquimur sed vivimus And may give no occasion to any to apply that of St. Hilary to himself Sanctiores sunt aures Plebis quà m corda Sacerdotum Not to mention that more Celebrated Sentence Surgunt indocti rapiunt Coelum c. That which the Traveller Sands sayes of the Mufti at Constantinople ought to be the Commendation of all Church-men Grave were his Looks and grave was his Deportment I deny not but Urbanity if seasonable is tolerable in a Church-man There is a time to laugh saith Solomon and they who have a solid Interest in Holy Iesus have the greatest reason in the world to be merry The Morosity of an Aristarchus and Soureness of a Diogenes are not only unpleasant to Company but also Scandalous to Religion as if it behoved all real Christians to be sick of Bellerophon's Disease which was A furious Sadness On which account some Brain-sick Hereticks in this Land have brought up a Reproach upon the most Rational and Excellent Religion in the World St. Cyprian had a most complaisant Conversation with his Presbyters as is Recorded by Pontius Diaconus in the History of his Life and Martin of Towrs had his own Jests as Sulpitius Sâ—verus reports of him and St. Ambrose had his witty Repartees as is testified by St. Augustine yet they were accounted the gravest men of their Time But as for Scurrility and a trade of Buffoonery or Drollery and the least shadow of Obscenity with all trifling Discourses Church-men should hate them all Cane Angue pejus remembring that old Maxim Nugae nugae in quolibet ore At in ore Sacerdotis Blasphemiae It being Noted as a great Crime in Pope Iulius the third by that great Historian Thuanus that he was ad Scurrilitatem usque festivus And if before Plebeians they lose the least of their Gravity they may resolve upon it to lose infallibly so much of the intrinsick Authority of their Office Vid. Concil Carthaginens 4. Can. 45. Concil Matisconens 1. Can. 3. 4. Concil Bracarens 1. Can. 30. Bracarens 3. Can. 2 3. Synod Quini-Sext Can. 27. where we have these words Clericus vestem sibi convenientem induat tam in urbe quà m in via Concil Agathens Can. 28. Concil Carthaginens 3. Can. 3. Carthaginens 4. Can. 60. where we find these words Clericum scurrilem verbis turpibus joculatorem ab Officio retrahendum Vid. etiam Can. 61 62. ejusdem Concilii Vid. Clement Alex. Paedagog circiter finem Et Lib. 3. Strom. circa initium Tertull Lib. de Pudicitiâ Chrysostom Lib. 3. De Sacerdotio Prosp. de Vita Contemplativâ Lib. 1. Greg. 1. Cura Past. part I. Bernard Lib. 1. De Considerat Article VI. Isa. 56. 10. Act. 6. 4. 20. 20 31. 1 Cor. 9. 16 17. 2 Tim. 4. 3. LET this Prelate be frequent in preaching the Blessed Gospel not neglecting that Duty every Lord's Day whether at home or abroad if he be in health Which was expressly ordained by the 19. Canon Synod Quini-sext and 20 Can. of the fourth Councel of Carthage That he may not only avoid the Sarcasm of that Buffoon who said He would hide himself in the Pulpit where the lazy Bishop would not find him for a Year and Day But also by his Practice may demonstrate to the
a Fanatical Leprosie in their heads And sure I am the fervent Prayer of an Holy Bishop seconded with the Devotion of that Church before which the Confirmed Person hath Solemnly Homologated his Baptismal Vows may do much good in order to the procuring of their growth in Grace and the Knowledge of Holy Iesus and the enabling of them to perform these vows and Purposes and that Profession of Faith which they had before embraced in Baptism But we need not insist any more on this particular for the Usefulness thereof is so evidently and fully holden forth by D. Hammond Taylor Dallee Hanmer and Baxter that no rational man will any more doubt thereof Vid. Concil Toletan 4. Can. 35. Cujus haec sunt formalia verba Episcopum per cunctas Dioeceses Parochiasque suas per singulos annos ire oportet ut exquiraâ— quo unaquaeque Basilica indigeal quod si ipse aut languore aut aliis Occupationibus implicatus id explere nequiverit Presbyteros probabiles aut Diaconos mittat qui Reditus Basilicarum Reparatioâ—es Ministrantium vitam inquirant But the Form of these Visitations is holden forth at greater length Can. 1. Concil Bracarens 2. Sic incipit Placuit omnibus Episcopis atque convenit ut per singulas Ecclesias Episcopi per Dioeceses ambulantes primùm discutiant Clericos quomodo ordinem Baptismi teneant vel Missarum whereby we are to understand the ordinary Liturgie of the Church for what the Greeks called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Latines about that time called Mâ—ssa qualiter quaecunque Officia in Ecclasia peragant Et si rectè quidem invenerint Deo gratias agant sin autem minimè docere debent ignaros modis omnibus praecipere sicut Antiqui Canones jubent c. Et sic posteà Episcopus de illa Ecclesia proficiscatur ad aliam As for those Canons which concern the Ceremony of Confirmation and the Privilege of Bishops therein they are so Numerous that it 's in vain to consume Paper about them Vid. Hieronym in Epist. ad Galat. cap. 5. Resecandae sunt putridae Carnes scabiosa ovis à caulis repellenda ne tota domus massa corpus pecora ardeant corrumpantur putrescant interiant Arrius in Alexandria una scintilla fuit sed quia non statim oppressa est totum orbem ejus flamma populata est Vid. etiam Prosp. lib. 2. De vita Contemplat cap. 7. Bernard de Considerat Lib. 4. Article VIII Isa. 42. 19 20. Mat. 10. 16. 23. 16 24. Luk. 6. 39. 12. 42. 1 Tim. 4. 6 13. 5. 22. 6. 3 11 12 13 14. Tit. 1. 8 9. 2. 7 8. § Mat. 26. 52. Act. 23. 5. Rom. 13. 1 2. 1 Pet. 2. 13 14. §. Iohn 2. 16. Act. 8. 20 21. 1 Tim. 5. 21. 2 Tim. 2. 2. 2 Pet. 2. 3. SEEING the Candidates of the Sacred Function are no inconsiderable part of the Episcopal Charge Let those of that Eminent Order exactly note the ensuing Particulars before they proceed to Ordination 1. If they have a competent measure of Knowledge whereby they are able to oppose and Convince Gain-sayers Vrim and Thummim should be laid up in the Pectoral of every Gospel-Priest That is The Light of Knowledge and Perfection of Manners For if they be sent of God the Almighty will put his Word into their mouths before he set them over the Nations And if any be found to reject Knowledge let them be rejected from being Priests unto the Lord Our Saviour having told us that if the blind lead the blind both shall fall into the ditch But alas there be too many in this Age to whom that old Observation may be too justly applied Multi fiunt indoctorum Magistri c. 2. Yet there be some who undergo the Fate of our first Parents The Tree of Knowledge bereaves them of the Tree of Life For as there be Comets which have the Light and Elevation of Stars so there are Vicious Persons that are endued with excellent Parts and though they have the Venom of Dragons in their Hearts yet they have precious Stones in their Heads And there be too many who resemble the Carpenters of Noah's Ark they are Instrumental in saving others and in the mean time by acts of Immorality ruine their own Souls and though their Heads be like the Winter-Sun which is sometimes full of Light yet their Hearts resemble the Winters Earth which is alwayes cold and barren Therefore their present Conversation should be carefully examined And let a Prelate of the Church choose rather to lay his Hands upon Thorns than on the Heads of those whose Hearts are polluted and their Deportment is scandalous to the World which cannot but prove a Stumbling-Block to many and paves the way to Speculative Atheism in their Hearers 3. But as a Compound of Intellectuals and Morals let the next Inquisition be after his Prudentials Which Inquest is too much neglected in this Age. S. Gregorie of Rome hath told us that Ars Artium est Cura Animarum And sure he needs no small Measure of Christian Prudence who hath not only his own Soul to govern but is also appointed to be the guide of others Our Saviour hath Commanded all his Disciples to joyn the Wisdom of the Serpent with the Innocency of the Dove Which holy Sagacity is indispensably necessary in all Ministers of the Gospel in Destitution whereof he that is Iuvenis moribus if admitted to Sacred Orders will bring that Curse upon the Church Children shall rule over them 4. Neither ought he to be Iuvenis aetate For The word of the Lord was precious in those dayes when the Child Samuel ministred before him in a linnen Ephod I wish the Canonical Year appointed by the Ancient Church were well observed in this Then no Minor should be found to intrude himself into the Administration of Spiritual Matters to whom the Civil Law permits not an irrevocable Management of his own Temporal Affairs And let not a Dispensation be given to any upon the pretext of the more early Blossoms of his Youth For that will open too wide a door to many others to claim the same Privilege though no praecox fructus is visible in them or scarce any appearance of Winter-fruit For unto all such that Dicterium may be fitly applied Malitia supplet aetatem Therefore let all the Governours of the Church be careful to stop the Career of those hasty Births who run abroad with the Shell on their Heads 5. And let them not fail to search diligently into the Principles of the Candidates before they give them Imposition of hands And if they be found to be either Schismatical as that they are apt to Controvert the Lawfulness of the present Government of the Church by Arch-Bishops and Bishops or to question any innocent Ceremony which may be imposed by Authority or Disloyal by justifying the late damnable Rebellion at least as to the
vel Abbas seu Diaconus per proemium ad sacrum Ordinem accedat si accesserit ipso honore privetur Concil Toletan 6. Can. 4. the express words thereof being adopted by Concil General 6. Can. 22. are these Ob pecuniam promotos sive Episcopos sive Clericos deponi jubemus Concil Toletan 10. Can. 3. Where at great Length Bishops are prohibited to prefer unworthy Relations to Churches Vid. Hieronym in Malach. ad cap. 1. Coecum animal offert qui ordinat indoctum loco docti Magistrumque facit qui vix Discipulus esse poterat Origin Hom. 6. in Levitic 22. in l. Num. August lib. De Catechizandis rudibus cap. 9. Ambros. de Dignitaâ—e Sacerdot Cap. 5. Cum Ordinaretur Episcopus quod dedit aurum fuit quod perdidit Anima fuit Cum alium ordinaret quod accepit pecunia fuit quod dedit Lepra fuit gratiam cum Ordinareris non suscepisti quia gratuitò 〈◊〉 non meruisti Idem Lib 4. ad Cap. 4. Luc. Leon. 1. Epist. 84. 85. ad Episcop Afric ubi invehitur adversus Candidatos nimium juvenes Greg. 1. in Evang. Tract Hom. 4. Lib. 4. Epist. 55. Vid. etiam Lib. 5. Epist. Ambros. in Oratione contra Auxentium Non pila quaerunt ferrea Non arma Christi milites Coactus repugnare non novi Sed Dolor Fletus Orationes Lachrymae fuerunt mihi arma adversus milites talia enim sunt mumimenta Sacerdotis aliter nec debeo nec possum resistere fugere autem relinquere Ecclesiam non soleo servum Christi non Custodia corporalis sed Domini providentia sepire consuevit Here we have a clear Authority of a great and good man condemning Defensive Arms in Subjects against their Prince in any Case whatsoever But the Iambicks which usher in this Testimony have been prefixed thereunto by another hand Article IX Isa. 30. 20. Zech. 11. 17. Act. 6. 2 3 4. Rom. 12. 4 5 6 7 8. THIS Article may be termed the Corolary of the two former as divers ensuing fall under that Denomination For if the Superintendency of the Doctrine Discipline Worship and Government of the Church especially of his own Diocess should be the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of this Office yea the Center and Circumference of the Episcopal Vocation as may appear from the preceding Proposals then we may pertinently inferr That the Crime of Non-Residency must be very odious in the Sight of God and scandalous to the Church unless very urgent Reasons plead for a Dispensation for a short time What was said of some Monks by Anthony the Father of them Monachus in oppido ut piscis in arido may be applyed to all wandering Levites who are found straying in Cities where there is no Cathedral The Spanish Bishops in the Councel of Trent argued well against Non-Residency That it was contrary to the ancient Canons and repugnant to that which was established jure Divinâ— yet they needed not have gone further for a Topick to prove the Point than their own Natural Reason It being a self-evident Principle That when the End is commanded all the Means are supposed to be enjoyned without which it cannot possibly be obtained Now this Spiritual Employment alone being a burden too weighty for Atlas his Shoulders it being S. Chrysostom's Judgment that the Burden of a Bishop was formidable even to an Angel to undergo unless sufflaminated with the Divine aid so that a Church-Governour would need Argus's Eyes and Briareus's Hands to buoy up the Church from sinking Therefore there can be no place left for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Non-Residency And if any have the Forehead to say that the most part of these Duties incumbent on a Bishop may be performed per Vicarium he must give me leave to apply the other part of that Maxim per Vicarium intrabit Regnum Coelorum Sure the ancient Church had no such Sentiments For when the Fathers of the Councel of Sardica took notice that some Bishops used to go to Court upon By-errands and private Designs of their own they ordained That no Bishop should go to Court unless either immediately Summoned by the Emperour's Letters or that their Assistance were required to help the oppressed to right Widows and Orphans and to rescue them from the unjust Grasps of Potent and Merciless Oppressours or to seek Occasion to represent unto the Supream Magistrate the most pressing Grievances of Church and State not suppressing the Oppressions of great Ones whether without any Shadow of Law or under some Pretext thereof Summum jus proving too often Summa Injuria and finally to preserve their Respective Cities from imminent Ruin thus Flavianus the Patriarch resorted to Constantinople to intercede with Theadosius the Great in Behalf of his Antiochians whose Extermination that exasperated Prince had designed and who can blame S. Leo of Rome for travelling many Miles to divert that Flagellum Dei from being a Scourge to his City who at last like to the high Priest Iaddus prevailed in his Sute Neither can we omit the usual Temptation to Non-Residency which is Plurality of Benefices a Scandal condemned even by the Councel of Trent for a Crime Such Ingrossers would never have troubled Rome as â—nce a Scottish Bishop did prompted by his Conscience to be rid of a considerable part of his Charge and Revenues But as the Peace of Conscience so this Heterogenial Conjunction passeth my Natural Understanding and I think my shallow Capacity shall never reach it How one man can be Parson in one Diocess and Bishop in another and yet have a simultaneous Sufficiency for both For who is sufficient for one of these Things And if it be said that they are not without a Precedent being nothing else but Emulators of that infamous Bishop of Lincoln of whom it is written That he had an Organical Church within himself as having monopolized all the Species of Ecclesiastical Offices in his own Person at one time yet I would demand of these Monopolists for I ingenuously confess that such a Davus as I would need an Oëdipus to unriddle this Mystery If they can determine the proper Boundaries and Measures of the Subordination of that Excentrick Rectory to the Bishop thereof and whosoever doth it intelligibly erit mihi magnus Apollo and much wiser than that Monster Sphinx in my Esteem For under the Notion of a Presbyter he ought to be subordinate to his Ordinary and should reverence him as a Father and yet in the mean time he may possibly claim jure Stationis the Place and Privilege of an elder Brother But seeing I have not so much Geometry as to determine these Marches I shall only subjoyn this Sentiment of mine That though many have good Reason to doubt how these scattered Flocks shall be competently fed by one who doth not pretend to Bilocation yet I have not the least Scruple imaginable to believe that they have a Cordial Design to feed their own
Families to the full and not to live precariously But I fear that this Tympany in their Splenes shall at last produce an Atrophia in the Mystical Body unless a more skillful hand than that of an Empyrick do speedily apply Chalybeat Potions to their Hypochondria Vid. Can. Apost 14. 37. Item Concil General 1. Can. 15 16. Concil Sardicens Can. 8 9 10 11 14 15 20. Concil General 2. Can. 2 3. Concil General 4. Can. 5. the Canon Law having adopted that and the 10 Canon of that Councel against Plurality of Benefices Concil Antioch Can. 3. 11. Concil Carthaginens 3. Can. 37. Concil Aurelianens 2. Can. 13. Concil Carthaginens 5. Can. 5. Cujus haec sunt formalia verba Placuit ut nemini sit facultas relictâ principali Cathedrâ ad aliquam Ecclesiam in Diâ—ecesâ— constitutam se conferre vel in repropria diutiùs quà m oportet Constitutum curam vel frequentationem propriae Cathedrae negligere But what would these Fathers have thought of those Bishops who reside not at all within their own Diocesses and see their Cathedral but once or twice a year at most Their Punishment we find in the 80 Canon of the sixth General Councel Si quis Episcopus vel eorum qui in Clero censentur vel Laicus nullam graviorem habeat necessitatem vel negotium difficile ut à sua Ecclesia absit frequentiùs sed in Civitate agens tribus diebus Dominicis unà non conveniat si Clericus est Deponatur si Laicus à Communione separetur Vid. Athanas. Apolog. ad Constantium Imp. Vid. Chrysost. lib. 2. de Sacerdot Prosp. Lib. 2. de Vita Contemplativa Greg. 1. lib. 8. Epist. 11. Et Secund. Part. Cura Pastor Bernard lib. 3. de Consideratione ad Eugenium Article X. Luk. 12. 14. Ioh. 18 36. 2 Tim. 2. 4. 4. 10. IF Non-Residency be a Crime in Ecclesiasticks their immersing themselves in Secular Affairs must needs be a piacular Transgression and Scandal of the first Magnitude For such demonstrate themselves to be the genuine Issue of Demas who first harkened to the Gospel and afterwards embraced this present World but with this Difference that Demas again devoted himself entirely to the Ministerial Function but these who leap out of their own Element as if they were Animalia Amphibia declare by their Polypragmatickâ— that they have a Complacency to live and die divided betwixt God and the World and for all the World resemble that infamous Pope Boniface the eighth who the one day appeared in the Habit of a Priest and the next in that of a Secular Person Yet with this Discrimination that some have adventured to do so when it was no year of Iubilee to the Church It cannot be denied but that it hath been alwayes reputed even in Pagan times too one of the Honourable Flogiums of an absolute Sâ—cular Prince to be Mixta persona cum Sacerdote He being Cusâ—os utriâ—sque Tabulae and as Constantine the Great said of himself Episcopus extra Ecclesiam But I did never read that it was accounted an Encomium of a Church-man to be Mixta persona cum Saecularibus Sure the Primitive Church judged not so it being the great Care of these Times to free Ecclesiasticks from what might be either Scandalous or Burdensome to theâ— Calling Therefore by their Address to the Great Constantine they pâ—â—rchased that Decree in their favours That the Orthodox Clergy should 〈◊〉 exempted from all Civil Offices or whatsâ—â—ver might hinder their attendance upon the Services of the Church His Son Constantius decreed That Bishops in many Cases should not be chargeable in the Seâ—ular Courts but be tried in an Assembly of Bishops Which Privilege was extended by Honorius to all the Clergy That they should be tryed before their own Bishops and by another Constitution That for the Veneration which is due to the Church All Ecclesiastical Causes should be decided with all possible speed The Scope of all which laudable Constitutions was to obviate the unnecessary avocation of Church-men from their own peculiar Employment But let those â—insey-woolsey Mâ—dlers take example before they be made such Examples from the Tragical end of that famous Chronologue Funcius who commanded this instructive Epilaph composed by himself to be engraven upon his Tomb Disce mâ—o exemplo mandato munere sungi Et fuge ceâ— Pestem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vid. Can. Apost 7. 80. Item Concil Chalcedonens Can. 3. Concil Carthaginens 1. Can. 6 8 9. Concil Carthaginens 3. Can. 15. Conâ—il Milâ—vitan Can. 19. Concil Agathens Can. 7. The Reason which is generally given by these Canons why Ecclesiasticks ought not to immerse themselves in Sâ—cular Affairs is that of the Apostle Nemo militans Deo implicat se negotiis Saecularibus Vid. Hâ—eronym ad Nepotian De vita Cler. Negâ—tiatorem Clericum quasi quandam pestem suge c. Cypr lib. 1. Epist. 9. Augustin 〈…〉 Quaest. Vet. Nov. Test. cap. 〈…〉 â—mperf in Matth. quod 〈◊〉 tribuunt Chrysostomo Hom. 38. ad cap. 21. Matth. All which Homily speaks very pertinently to this purpose Cassiod in Ps. 70. Article XI WE have not yet done with the excentrick Orbs and Epicycles of the Episcopal Function which should be carefully evited as Distractions from their proper Employment and no less dangerous than the Syrenian Rock Therefore let me perswade all Office-bearers in the Church to be very shie in medling with State-matter and to hate cane angue pejus the abbetting of State-Factions and let them be ashamed to be found Parasites to any For all these Irregularities are abominable Stains in a Mitre It being an Observation of a very ancient Date that Church-men never made good Politicians the fatal ends of many of them in Britain being a sufficient Evidence thereof For when Ecclesiasticks abandon Christian Simplicity which is the great Ornament of all the Disciples of Holy Iesus but especially of Church-men and betake themselves to the infamous disingenuity of Pope Alexander the 6th and that Mali corvi malum ovum Caesar Borgia For as Guicciardin reports the Father never spake as he thought and the Son never thought as he spake it is but just with God who is Truth it self and abhors all deceitful men to cast them out of his Protection and not only to cause them tast even in this Life the bitter Fates of Tantalus Sisyphus Tityus Prometheus and the Belides but also to permit them to dye the Death of Slaves rather than of ingenuous Persons because they have divested themselves of the proper Gaâ—b of the Sons of the Church as a Pope said of a French Bishop taken armed with a Cask and Corslet Yet this Dehortation is not so to be understood as if it were absolutely unlawful for the Governours of the Church to be Assessors in any Secular Court For if a grand Case of Conscience be under debate there or if the Interest of the Church be highly concerned they may be lawfully
present if called thereunto not only as the fittest Persons to resolve those Doubts which must needs be granted by all if it be supposed they have the due Qualifications of their Office For Artifici in sua Arte â—redendum est but also in regard they are the Representatives of a considerable Body in the Nation Yet in the mean time let them with all Modesty and Humility decline to intermeddle with Affairs that are purely Secular in imitation of the Arcients their Abstention and of that most Reverend Modern Prelate L. Andrews the Pious and Learned Bishop of Winchester And when they are called by their Prince to give their Advice in the Supreme Councel of the Nation let them not be mâ—er Pedarii Senatores or the insignificant Eâ—â—oes of some leading Secular Subject but with a Christian Freedom of Spirit as having Dependance upon none save God and his Vice-gerent upon Earth let them give their Judgments impartially according to their Consciences eying singly in all their Consultations and Suffrages the Glory of God and the Good both of Church and State But if it happen because of the Sins of the Land that the Prerogative and Privilege seem to interfere let them use their utmost Endeavours to find a Temper that they may be alwayes found to be Nuncii Pacis and not Bellows of Sedition and Whirlwinds agitating the contrary â—ides of Faction and sometimes tossed upon a Sâ—ylla or Charybdis by them To which unstable Elements the Graecians resembled the Orators and People of Athens But if any of them desire to ride safe at Anchor nigh to a calmer Shore let them make it their chiefest Study to become Favourites of the Court of Heaven without any Affectation of being Darlings of the World or special Favourites of any Court-Minion upon Earth For if they be found to entertain no sublimer Studies than these little Arts of Policy they need not expect an Euge bone serve from the Lord Paramount of the World and but little Trust in the end from those Terrestrial Grandees whom now they pretend to adore For though the great Minister at the time hath by his admirable Abilities served the Interests of Church and State much better than all of them have done yet he may be afraid of as ingrateful a Requital from some of them as a very generous Person in the like Circumstances did meet with not long ago though he had done very good Offices to this Church For alas these old Aphorismes Semel malus semper malus qui sallit in minimis etiam in maximis are too frequently verified in this Age. And that prodigious Wit who now sits at the Helm hath the more reason to apprehend that distastful Event it having been his Fate heretofore to find such unsuitable Returns from many who had experienced his real and great Favours in Abundance The best Antidote against this unthankful Venom of these Vertiginous Creatures is the unparallel'd Constancy of his Prince's Favour which I hope will not fail to buoy him up in the midst of all these fluctuating Euripi and most violent Hurricanes which have threatened more than once to tear all his Sails in pieces as long as the sinking Example of the great Deputy of Ireland is recent in Memory And in fine Let them all study such an abstractedness from the World and an entire precision from Secular Affairs that all may find reason to judge that they are the Persons who use the World as the Apostle phraseth it as if they used it not because the fashion thereof passeth away Yet though any of them were at much Pains to promove the Mystical Espousals of any Heretrix in this Land with that Lion of the Tribe of Iudah it were a very commendable Procuration as being a part of their Charge But to go about with vehement clandestine Sollicitations to make up a Match betwixt Secular Persons as if they had been employed Ambassadours to conclude the Treaty and Marry them by Proxy is so far from an Ecclesiastick's due Recollection that it argues an intolerable Distraction yea so invidious and disobliging that it hath proved no small Temptation to many Persons of Quality known to be Lovers and Supporters of the Order to have fallen by that excentrick Motion into no small disgust therewith Vid. Concil Toletan 10. Can. 2. Which Ordains those of the Clergy who are Seditious or Factious against Authority to be immediately 〈…〉 all Dignity and Honour Concil Carthaginens 4. Can. 56. Gujus haâ—c sunt formalia Verba Cleriâ—us qui Adulationâ— Prâ—ditioâ—ibus vacare deprehenditur ab 〈◊〉 degradatur Vid etiam Can. 5â— 58 5â— 61. ejusdem Concilii As for the Testimonies of the Scriptures and of the 〈◊〉 Seeing these which are adduced to Homologate the Article immediately preceding this in hand do 〈◊〉 very â—itly for Confirmation of the samâ— I shall therefore for breviâ—y sake 〈◊〉 the Reader unto the perusal of them But if any grudge for want of these let them read Epist. Clem. Rom. ad Corinth Cypr. De Simplicitate Praâ—lat vel de Vnit. Eccles. and Ambros. De Dignitate Sacerdot In which Excellent Treatises they will find abundant Testimonies to this purpose Article XII Act. 1. 15 16 23 15. 6 22 23. 22. 18 20 c. 1 Pet. 5. 3. 3 Ioh. 9 10. HAving mentioned in the fore-going Article That Bishops are the Representatives of the Organical Church it is a most Rational Consequence That in all the great Concerns thereof they ought to consult the Represented otherwise let them not any more usurp that Title it being an approved Maxim of Law Quod omnes tangit ab omnibus tractari debet and there is another whose Application I wish they deserve not Nemâ— fiat deterior per quem melior factus non est This was asserted long ago by a most Ancient and Honourable Bishop St. Ignatius in Epist. ad Trall where he calls Presbyters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Councellours and Assistants of the Bishop and his Synedrion making them parallel to the Sanhedrim or Councel of Elders that were joyned to Moses in his Government to facilitate the Burden to him But within the Sphere of their own Dioceses I hope none of them will act any matter of Importance without the Advice of the most Judicious and Conscientious of their Clergy I shall not take upon me to determine Whether Episcopatus be Ordo or Gradus tantum or if Presbyters in the ancient Occumenical Councels had a Decisive Suffrage sure I am in some later ones they had And in the most Ancient we find Presbyters Subscribents to the Canons And if it be alleged that they were but Delegates of some absent Bishops for the Chor-Episcopi did unquestionably Subscribe for themselves yet it is as certain that their Delegation could not make them Bishops Nam quod alicui suo nomine non licet nec alieno licebit But they must needs be Hospites to all Antiquity who deny them even
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
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
perfidious XXX Canon of the Councel of Lateran with his Legate Pandolphus were now alive they would be found to talk of that inauspicious King of England named Iohn his constrained Resignation and it is no small wonder after so many Centuries of years to hear again in this Age any noise of that vain and illegal Pretence which all sober Persons imagined had been blown up long agoe by that Subterranean Powder-Plot but it seems they intend to give a Demonstration to the World that no Prescription of time can render a common Whore honest And if a grain-weight of Christian Ingenuity or Humanity can be found in that late prodigious Conspiracy against our Church and State let the Universality of that infernal Design with those base Appendages of diuturnal plotting vile Ingratitude Treachery and Cruelty be the sole Judges thereof And in fine it is my humble Judgment that till these Coals of Iuniper be quenched which have too long inflamed all the Vitals of the Christian Church I mean the Puritanical Papist and Jesuited Puritan our unchristian Animosities and Feuds many whereof are meer Logomachies and groundless shall never be throughly extinguished till the devouring Fire of Hell consume these lesser Flames Neither will I ever forget that notable Instance of this Concordantia Discordantiarum which that excellent Historian I. A. Thuan. affords unto us in his 56th Book where he tells us that the Daemagogues of Paris and Pulpiteers of Rochel centered in that point of treacherous inhumanity viz. to put to Death all Prisoners of War even after the publick Faith had been given unto them But Tractent fabrilia Fabri Therefore the Antisignani of the Arrians Macedonians Nestorians and Eutychians not to speak of many other Hereticks were not only conven'd before the respective General Councels which are accounted the most famous of them all but were also judicially convicted and Sentenc'd with the highest Censures of the Church before the Civil Magistrate took any other notice of them as Delinquents than to compell those erroneous Schismaticks to appear personally before the Ecclesiastical Court to which they had been legally summoned The Church in these Dayes laying down this as an inviolable Conclusion that they would not fail to do their own Duty and if the Civil Magistrate afterwards neglected his let him answer to God for it who punisheth Potentes potenter and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as saith Herodot in Chione and Seneca omne sub regno graviâ—ri regnum est And in that great Audit every man must stand and fall to his own Master The Brachium Seculare being indeed fit enough to restrain exorbitant Practices but it hath no direct Influence upon irregular Judgments and I fear it makes more Hypocrites than sincere Converts Fire and Faggot the beloved Argument of the Roman Church having a more natural Tendency to a preternatural Consumption than to a Spiritual Conversion Therefore the Arrians whose Courses were generally very violent and bloody are deservedly look'd upon as the genuine Parents of these Coercive Motives and disingenuous Arts which were judged very heterogeneal to the Nature and Constitution of the Church which as it transacts only in Spiritual Matters so it could inflict no other than Spiritual Censures and Chastisements But when the fiery Dominicans arose the Dream of Dominicus his Mother being a sad Prognostick of the Violence of that Order they might justly have been termed in this Regard Arriani Redivivi so merciless was that Persecution of the poor Waldenses to which they carried both Lanterns and Faggots Which bloody Method continues to this day in the Spanish Inquisition these violent Spirits being usually the cruel Lords of that infamous Judicatory whose inhumane Machins resemble the wild and Barbarous Fancies of Mezentius and Procrustes the unnatural Bellowings of Phalaris his Bull the Turkish Gaunching and Impaleing upon Stakes much rather than the harmless Engines of the Gospel And if a Pythagorean 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were possible I would imagine that there had been a transmigration of the Souls of these Dominicans into the Bodies of some late Presbyterians one egg or Fish not being found liker to another than is the Resemblance of some of these Incendiaries on which account one of their abortive Issue hath in one of his Pamphlets not unfitly termed their Covenant Taht great Instrument of Blood whereby he verifies that common Observation Omnis Apostata persequitur suum Ordinem But seeing the Dominicans were nothing else but the Emissaries of those Masters who pretend to be S. Peter's Successors and in their fierce Anger and cruel Rage have cut off more than the Ears of many who were much more innocent than that Servant of the high Priest Therefore I cannot forget to take notice in this Place of another great Abuse committed by some Popes For the Croysade which was at first design'd to rescue the Holy Sepulchre from the Possession of Infidels to which great Undertaking many Myriads of Christians were animated by the preaching and Miracles of S. Bernard was so perverted from that Primary pious Institution that it was employed to the utter Extirpation of many thousands of the simple and harmless Inhabitants of the Mountains of Languedoc and Provence Such is the Affectation of the Roman Bishops to wear the Livery of that Scarlet-coloured Beast But the bright Olybian Flames of the Primitive Church which were not Ignes comburentes sed lambentes hated with a perfect Hatred those Sanguinary Spirits as may appear from the Deportment of S. Martin of Tours who as Sulpitius Sev. reports refused to communicate with Ithasius and Idacius two Spanish Bishops because they did prosecute unto Death some of the Priscillianists and that before the Tyrant Maximus though it cannot be denyed but that they were detestable Hereticks even Manichaei Redivivi and consequently but half Christians So great was the Aversion of these truly Evangelical Spirits from Shedding of Blood even in the Cause of God Yea more than so so great was the Antipathy that S. Martin had conceived against such violent Courses that when he was informed the Tyrant had impower'd some Military Tribunes to go into Spain there to depopulate the Country pillage the goods of all those who would not conform he immediately went to that Emperour and freely told him That this pretended Zeal was not kindled by a Coal from the Altar of God but rather an infernal Fire bred in the Breasts of some furious Bishops and fomented by the Venome of that old Red Dragon the natural Feuel thereof the Event whereof could be no other than that of a furious Tempest or overflowing Inundation which bears down all before it and puts no Difference betwixt the Good and the Bad Old or Young Male or Female but sweeps away all promiscuously or like unto a number of ravenous Wolves let loose upon a Multitude of harmless and naked Animals which have not the Faculty to discriminate betwixt the mangy Sheep and those which are sound in
the Flock So it should fare with those defenceless Creatures if an Hostile Army should invade a peaceable People living securely without any Fear or Apprehension of such a sudden Deluge Friends and Foes Heterodox and Orthodox Conformist and Non-Conformist would be all overflowed alike the insolent Souldier having no other Eyes to discern but what Nature hath given to all living Creatures betwixt the Faith of an Heretick and the Orthodox save only by their Paleness and Garb. So that they who are accustomed to Rapine almost from their Infancies if they found rich Moveables and easily transportable to their own Countries whether the Owners were rich in the Faith or not they would not concern themselves with that nice Distinction But as it was said of the dayes of Caligula That it was then Crime enough to be rich so all should be Fish that should come in their Net so impartial would these rude Souldiers be And the Emperour would be so far from attaining his End that it would rather harden these deluded People to persist in their Non-Conformity they looking upon themselves as Martyrs at least Confessors for their imaginary Faith the most ignorant among them being at least so intelligent as to understand that this is not the peaceable Method of the Gospel to proselyte any to the Christian Faith but point blank contrary thereunto By which truly zealous Intercession this Devout man at last diverted the Tyrant from that most cruel Design But in fine I shall remit them to the serious Consideration of the State and Practice of the Primitive Church when the Civil Magistrate was no Christian but a Persecuter of that way whose Concurrence they could not expect to their Discipline but rather a violent Opposition thereunto And if any of them seemed to put to their helping hand it was not any Love to the Discipline of the Church but Ragione del ' Stato as the Italians phrase it Thus the Emperour Aurelianus did drive away Paulus Samosatenus that Arch-heretick and Bishop from Antioch but it was out of no Principle of Respect to the Church that he did so for he was accounted one of the Persecuting Emperours but from Reason of State because that proud Heretick was a great Incendiary in that City Let therefore the present Church imitate that excellent Pattern of the Primitive before the Halcyonian day of the great Constantine But if in ordine ad Spiritualia they will needs make their Address to the Secular Magistrate for the Coercion of Delinquents I wish it were rather in the matter of gross Scandal contumaciously persever'd in notwithstanding of the highest Censures of the Church inflicted upon them than of the Sentiments of the Judgment which proceed not the length of unwarrantable Practices For they who are incorrigibly profane are more overawed by the Terror of man than by the Fear of God and much more by the Temporal Sword of the Criminal Judge than by the Spiritual Sword of the Church for habitual Practical Atheists may without breach of Charity be presum'd to be such in Speculation I shall only instance the Profanation of the Lord's Day by Salmon-Fishing there being a vile Pack of brain-sick Hereticks in this Land who allow the Practice of it I am indeed far from pleading for a Judaical Sabbath in this Church But for any who are called Christians to be so employed in the time of God's Solemn Worship must needs be very odious in the Sight of Heaven and exceedingly scandalous in the Eyes of all those who are devoted to a Religious Service Neither find we any such Irregularities tolerated in any Christian Church which passeth not under the name of Barbarous no not in Geneva or Amsterdam I know certainly that this Insolency hath been represented both privately and publickly to the chiefest Governours of this Church and they obtested to implore the Assistance of his Majesties Secret Councel in order to the effectual Suppression of that Scandal as being so reflective upon the present Government but I fear it hath not yet been done for there is neither Bruit nor Fruit of that Address But if the Governours of our Church desire to avoid those bitter Sarcasmes Medice cura teipsum Turpe est Doctori c. De ingratis etiam ingrati queruntur qui non ardet non accendit Si vis me flere c. Which in plain English import that we should wash our own Mouths before we apply Gargarisms to others Or to use our Saviour's Phrase pull out the Beam before thou espy the Mote then let them have a special Care not to be found Profaners of the Lord's Day themselves Which Scandal ' they ought to shun the more solicitously because it was one of the Rocks on which their Predecessours did split if we may believe the verbal Assertion of many living Witnesses and that which a late learned Writer hath consign'd in print Which Reflection should serve at least as a Pharos to prevent all Shipwracks of that nature for the future But how this Beacon hath been observed may be perceived from the ensuing little Story A Bedal of a Country-Church being questioned not long agoe before a Country-Session for bringing home a Burden of Flax on the Lord's Day made this Apology for himself That not many Days before there had been a Bishop in that Village who in his Return from the North where he had been visiting his aged Father of the same Order with himself lodged all Night in the Minister's House though the Incumbent was not at home and not staying to supply that Vacancy travelled many Miles that Day of his Removal which was the Lord's Day with a great Baggage-Horse in his Train whose Burden was far above the Proportion of Flax he had brought home Whence he inferr'd That he thought the Bishops had brought such Carriages in Fashion on the Lord's Day and that he might lawfully imitate them who were the Fathers and Lights of the Church From which blunt but true Story for the poor door-keeper was censured in Publick for all his imaginary Authentick Apology I shall also deduce this Inference That all Church-men should be as vigilant as Dragons over their Conversation in the World that they give not the least Offence unto any that Stumbling-block occasioning the most dangerous Fall which is laid by the imprudent deportment of an Ecclesiastick The Plurality of men being more enclined to live by Examples than by Rules the former being much more obvious to Plebeian heads than the latter besides it hath a secret Magnetical Virtue like the Loadstone it attracts by a Power of which we can give no Account Yea such is the perverseness of humane Nature since that woful Lapse of our first Parents that the generality of men are more prone to follow Evil than to imitate that which is Good But that we may shut up this Point I shall add no more to the Prosecution of Delinquents in Foro Ecclesiastico but only this Wish That the Governours
Spirit and should be reduc'd to such a Fixation that amounts to an immoveable Constancy in that which after mature deliberation hath once been well resolved upon in conformity to that Advice of Judicious Salust Antequam incipias Consulta ubi Consulueris maturè facto opus est But that Fixation must never come the length of a Caput Mortuum For as a faint-hearted Creature is easily frighted by the Audacious so an unconstant wavering Spirit is with no less facility imposed and wrought upon by the Crafty That Character of Socrates Semper eodem incedebat vulâ—u and that Prince's Motto Semper idem are decent Epithetes in a Church-man As the inflexible Justice of Aristides merited that Elogium That the Sun might be sooner diverted from its Course than that Noble Athenian from the Path of Iustice So the inviolable Resolution of Athanasius to adhere unto the Truth procured that deserved Encomium Sedem potiùs mutare voluit quà m Syllabam Yea less than a Syllable even the interposition of one Letter into the Churches Creed would have composed the Difference betwixt the Orthodox and Arrians and have procured eternal Peace to the Christian World all the Years of the Reign of the Emperours Constantius and Valens and that in all probability much more effectually than the Nine disparate Creeds Penned by the Arrians during the Reign of Constantius But they adhered closely to the Council of Nice and did choose rather to cast themselves upon the Providence of God than to consent to the least Alteration they perceiving that the substitution of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 did not only pervert the Sence and enervate the Authority of that great Synod but that it did totally invalidate its Determination for Consubstantiality For the Orthodox considered that as Wisdom is alwaies justified of her own Children So that Wisdom which descends from above is first pure then peaceable And that Optabilius est Bellum pace impiâ à Deo distrahente But I greatly fear that there are too many in this Iron Age so flexible that they would Cause to renounce not only any Letter of the Alphabet but also all the Dutch Consonants and Selavonian Words yea both Α and Ω before they willingly abandoned their Seats they being Willows and not Oaks Which was given as the reason by an old Courtier why he stood but I suppose not uprightly in favour during all the Twenty four Years of Bloody War betwixt the Red Rose and the White such persons having a Versatile Ingenium as was said of Cato the Elder which can uti foro servire Scenae But a prudent Resolution with a Couragious Constancy in a Church-Governour will not fail to animate all the Presbyters within his Jurisdiction to exercise Church-Discipline impartially without any fear of finding their own subordinate Authority baffled in the matter of Appeals when Scandalous persons provoke from their Award to the Bishops Tribunal which is too frequently practis'd in this Age. But if in lieu of strengthening they perceive their Superiours palpably weakening their hands by conniving too long and indulging too much unto some Delinquents it will give occasion even to those who cannot but approve the form of Government to wish that they had never seen such Governours who regard not the Glory of God or the Good of his Church nor the Credit of their own Office nor the Reputation of their Clergy and that they are too like unto K. Saul given rather for a Curse than a Blessing unto the People of God All Laodicean Bishops and all who as the Satyr said blow hot and cold with one mouth being hateful in the sight of God and odious in the eyes of those who have a pure zeal for the Glory of God and the Good of his Church for Corruptio optimi est pessima Yet I doubt not but that this free Remonstrance though made by the most Conform of the Clergy shall verifie that of the Royal Prophet Tange montes fumigabunt which by some of the old Fathers is applied to these rancorous Vapors which barefac'd Truth exhales from some Mountains of worldly Dignity And from these little partial Policies which savour too rankly of a timorous sinful Compliance Judicious Spectators will take occasion to compare them unto Aesop's Dog who would neither do good nor let good be done and to the Crimaean Tartars who will not suffer the Polonians to manure a parcel of fertile ground interjacent betwixt them and that part of the Ancient Scythia Europaea neither will they be at the pains to cultivate it themselves I deny not but Pax cum hominibus Bellum cum vitiis is an Ancient Christian Maxim But sure I am Pax cum hominibus vitiis is an Antichristian Conjuncture But the impartial execution of Discipline hath also a Train of many other excellent Advantages following after it For all the Cardinal Vertues do evidently and eminently appear therein And it is an imitation of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of our Great Master as also the best Expedient to perswade all Ranks of people to comply with their Admonitions and to submit enirely and cheerfully to the Yoke of Discipline when they perceive their Rulers to be no Respecters of Persons and that their Justice is so far blind as not to put any difference in their Censures betwixt the Noble and the Ignoble the Rich and the Poor But if any Byass be perceived towards the Left Hand of Secular Interest unbyassed persons will be apt to resemble those Canons whereby they pretend to be regulated unto Spiders Webs as one compared Solon's Laws which catch the lesser Insects but the greater ones pass through them Scot-free It was certainly the Consideration of the unmalleable impartiality of a Prelat which prompted that Great Emperor Theodosius to say That he knew no Bishop but Ambrose There is but little fear in this byassed Age of the World of the violation of that Antique Precept Ye shâ—ll not countenance a poor man in his Cause but the Reverse thereof is too frequently transgressed it being an old Complaint Dat veniam Corvis vexat Censura Columbas Another Advantage of the impartial Execution of Discipline is a great Conformity to the Method of the Primitive Church And sure if the prudent practice of many disused Penitentiary Canons were retrived into this Age it would resemble the Face and Garb of the Ancient Christian Church much more than it doth Me thinks it cannot but be a matter of great admiration unto any that is acquainted with the Primitive History to find even before the Roman Empire turn'd Christian such a Crowd of Penitents especially the Lapsi willingly offering themselves to undergo the severest Penances enjoined by those Ancient Canons which were so strict and diuturnal that many of them required many years appearance in Sackcloth and Ashes before they were accomplished the Church-Guides wanting the Brachium Saeculare to second their Discipline and many times
Inhability pronounced by the Primitive Church against all those who had been Publick Penitents Declaring them for ever incapable to Officiate at the Alâ—ar whether they were Candidates of 〈◊〉 Holy Function or already in Orders It 〈…〉 here subjoyn That they took the same course with all those who deserved to be such suppose they continued for a time Refractory to the Discipline of the Church whom they reduc'd if of the Clergy to the Laick-Communion and thought it favour enough in doing no more Which Censure was not to participate of a mutilated Sacrament as some ignorant Papalins pretend in their pitiful Arguings for that detestable Sacrilege but to be in the state of Laicks that they should not any more enjoy the Honour of sitting among the Clergy or of being reputed such And they must needs be void not only of Greek and Latin but of common Sense too who do not perceive that to be the genuine Import of those numerous Canons of the Eastern and Western Churches which have pronounced that kind of Censure against the great Delinquents of the Clergy these refractory Persons being so much the more Criminal because they added Contumacy to their Guilt and were many Removes from Conviction I wish from my very heart that the same Method had been us'd in this Church which would have obviated that great Reproach which hath of late befallen it in reference to those of the Clergy who engag'd into a Schismatical and Seditious Combination against the Government of Church and State that pernicious Conspiracy levelling both at Prince and Priest though many well-meaning Creatures were seduced by these Ignes fatui like those simple Souls which followed Absalom to Hebron Yet this was not the sole Aggravation of their guilt For as if it had been too little for them to become once the Sons of the Devil they confirmed that hellish Confederacy by reiterated Oaths in Complyance with that old Maxim Tutum sceleribus per scelera est iter And not satisfied with raising a devouring Fire in this national Church they rested not till they promoted that Combustion by throwing Firebrands into the Bowels of our Neighbour Kingdom as if they were the genuine Issue of Semele after Iupiter had approached unto her with the Ensigns of his Deity which raging there much worse than Aetna or Vesuvius could have done or the most violent Vulcano in the World inflamed all the Vitals of that well constituted Government the Universal Conflagration of this poor Island being carried on by these Boutefeu's with no less Pretence of Divine Zeal than if they had fetched the first coal thereof from the Altar of God If Justice had been done on those Incendiaries they would at least have been reduc'd ad Communionem Laicorum and they ought to have looked upon it as a very great Favour indulg'd them to have been permitted to remain in Statu quo priùs without any other Chastisement than the Corrodings of their own Consciences when they reflect upon the Catastrophe of that horrid Tragedy they had been Acting which was the Barbarous Assassination of one of the best of Princes and a final Desperation of being Advanced to any higher Degree in the Militant Church That Hereticks and Scismaticks even after they have returned with penitent Hearts to the Catholick Church should look upon it as a very great Favour to be permitted to continue in the Order wherein they were before that Scandalous Lapse yet absque omni spe Promotionis is so evident from the ancient Fathers that we need not wast any Paper thereabout there being no less than thrice mention thereof in prima Causa secundae Partis Decreti Gratiani Vid. Q. 1. C. 42. C. 112. Q. 7. C. 21. In all which Paragraphs that Expression is still mentioned Vt in magno habeant beneficio Tolerantiam in Statu quo priùs permanendi absque c. But O! How my heart doth ach For as the Tragedian hath said Curae leves loquuntur ingentes stupent when I consider what a Scandal the Preferment of some of these hath given to the Church of God Their grasping of that which formerly they had solemnly abjured and persecuted odio Vatiniano as one of the strongest Limbs of Anti-Christ puts me in mind of that of the Poet Ille Crucem sceleris pretium tulit hic Diadema Which Honourable Elevation is too apt a Temptation to pave the way in corrupt Nature unto inveterate Knavery when it is observed That early Villany is prosperous in Youth and hath the hap to be Crown'd in old Age unless it be such a Mock-Diadem wherewith an Ambitious Nobleman was once Stigmatized in this Land To which unhappy Advancement and ominous Elevation as the Causa defectibilis together with that Curse which usually attends such Weather-cocks many are apt to impute the Non-pursuance of the true Ends of this present Government and the re-establishment thereof on sure Foundations that Proverb being too often verified 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. Mali principii malus exitus and Errours in prima concoctione are most dangerous For Sir Iohn Presbyter is scarce yet warned to Remove from his Usurped Possession save only that in lieu of a Presbyterian Moderator we now have a Presbyterian Bishop invested with a new Title and larger Revenues And what greater Demonstration need we of it than this That some Presbyterian Preachers and Ministers too are Tolerated by the sole Authority of some Bishops to enjoy the Officium Beneficium of those Churches wherein they have been Bellows of Schism and Sedition and never yet acknowledged any Church-Judicatory higher than their Kirk-Session since the re-establishment of this Government Which is a sufficient evidence that simile simili gaudet and Birds of one feather flock together For if there were not such Bigots to cajole the Populace the Fanaticks of this Land would soon crumble away to nothing Another evidence of the Continuance of their doting upon their Darling Presbytery is Their Design to depress as much as possibly they can those of the Conform Clergy who have been constantly Loyal to Church and State Who in his right Wits would imagine when any Episcopal See Theological Chair or Headship of a College is vacant but that they would be ready secundum vires Inventarii to prefer unto those Vacancies a well-qualified Person who would be fast to their Government upon the account of his Loyal Principles But we see the contrary practis'd Their old associates in that Hellish Combination must be the only men of whom they are fond whereby they embrace Ixion's Cloud instead of Iuno and verifie the common Proverb Quos Iupiter vult perdere illos dementat and Qui sibi nequam cui bonus which joyn issue with that of Homer Talis est hominum Terrestrium mens Qualem quotidie ducit Pater Virorumque Deorumque But aliquisque malo fuit usus in illo For these being the inveterate Socii Criminis they are sure they will never upbraid them
from those Seminaries of Knowledge and fruitful Nurseries of the Muses eminent Plants might blossom in Process of Time to the great Advantage either of Church or State as Divine Providence shall determine their Lot And seeing these Stations of Philosophy are the best Seminaries this Nation enjoys for perfecting Young men in order to that Sacred Function Therefore let not these Professours Monopolize them for many Yeares by nestling their Families therein as if the Foundator had designed nothing else but the Provision of their Posterity But let them be enjoyned to live in a Celibate State that with less Distraction they may prosecute their Studies and after the expiration of five or six years at most let them give place to others that by such a happy Circulation all the Corners of the Land may reap the Advantages of that Foundation It were in my humble judgment a very desirable Blessing to this Nation That His Gracious Majesty with his Great Councel would be pleased to allow some few Months Cess to be stocked for the Inhancing of the Revenues of the Universities especially of the Primar and Masters of Philosophy that the Head of the House may have a competent and constant Annual Intrado to live Splendidly according to the dignity of his Station And this opening of Free-Schools to the Professours of Philosophy without any expectation of the least acknowledgment from any Scholar and that under the pain of immediate Extrusion from the respective House where they Officiate would not only obviate those Scandalous Animosities which too frequently occurr betwixt Masters of different Colleges in the Exercise of their beggarly Trade of Mendicating Scholars but would also be found the best Expedient to Retrive jure postliminii that ancient University-Discipline which hath been obnoxious to such a woful Lapse that it hath undergone the Fate of an immemorial Dispossession For if Avarice and Self-interest did not prevail with too many over the Qualifications and Proficiency of those intrusted to their Charge yea and preponderate the Publick Reputation of the House where they live many who are now ambabus ulnis amplexi would be declar'd incapable to enter within the Philosophick Porch as being deprehended foundered in the feet and frequently Criminal in breaking Priscian's Head And not a few who have already entred within these Gates of the Muses would either be found unworthy to remain there upon the account of Vitiosity of Life which is contagious to the rest of the Society or be Extruded for Non-proficiency in their Studies Degradation to a lower Class till they caught hold of Minerva's Train would certainly be the least of their Censure Neither should the Subject by this wished for Contribution be a Loser but as we use to speak he should prove a Gainer at the long run for what is now expended by them would by this Method of Free-Schools preserve no less if not much more to their Posterity over and above their more laudable Education For Persons of all Ranks in this Nation usually sending their Sons to be taught in some University which is highly Commendable and much applauded beyond Seas they are according to their Quality oblig'd to Dispense proportionable Salaries to their Instructors Yea they who have the Inspection of them are necessitated to require these Honoraria seeing the Provisions of some Foundations are so small a pittance that they are disproportionable to that Victus and Amictus which the most Sober Person stands in need of Not to speak of the fuel of Charity and Hospitality and those Materials for buying of Books and Entertainment of a Servant to wait upon them which the Dignity of that Office calls for All which require much more money than the Poverty of some Foundations can afford And let this Chancellour of the University contribute his utmost endeavours that the Provost or Head of the College usually term'd Primar excell not only in the above expressed Qualities that he may deservedly be termed the Principal of that Incorporation but that also he be Doctor of Divinity and the Reformed Canon Law that he may be in a capacity to conferr that Dignity upon the most Learned of the Clergy when their Ordinary shall call them thereunto that many may be encouraged to merit that Degree Honour being the best Nursing-Mother of Arts and Promover of Sciences But let those who are not only Pious Learned and Prudent but also known to have deserved well of the Church by their constant Loyalty be invited in the first place to the participation of that Honourable Degree For it is well enough known that Bishops are not in a capacity to promote all such to the most eminent Dignity of the Church it were indeed a pitiful Nation if the number of those did not far surpass that of the Episcopal Sees suppose the Church were so happy as to have the absolute Disposal of them therefore it were but just and fit that such deserving Persons were at least rewarded with those minute and inexpensive Honours as a Character of the Churches special Favour towards them But seeing the Royal Family the sole Fountain of Honour hath gratified our Universities with that honourable Privilege and Faculty To dispense that Cognizance of Learning to the Worthy let the Chancellours have a special Care that the same be not abused and disgrac'd by the Promotion of the Unworthy For if old Knaves Epicures Buffoons and grosse Ignorants who have not a mouthful of good Latin nor the art to form a right Syllogism not to speak of those Doctorculi Dominarum be advanced to that Honour it may provoke his Majesty to recall that Privilege from Universities which hath been so vilified And suppose his Majesty be not informed of such an Abuse yet it will infallibly render that Honour despicable for an Age at least We read indeed of that famous Epaminondas that by his undertaking the sordid Office of a Scavenger he rendered that which was formerly accounted the basest the most honourable in his City But I fear these pitiful Doctorculi shall be found the Reverse of the Story and the Antipodes of that gallant Theban for the Degree will never dignifie them but they will vilifie the Honour And it shall fare with it in the end as it did with the Order of S. Michael in France which was at first reputed very honourable but when two or three unworthy Persons were admitted unto that Fraternity no man of any worth would look after it any more nor regard it in the least who had any Regard to his Reputation Thus Thuan in the 23 d Book of his excellent History introduceth a French Gentleman speaking to this Purpose of that Order of Knighthood which was first instituted by Lewis the 11th and at last abolished by K. Henry the Third Torquem Conchiliatum postquam indignis promiscuè communicari coepisset non jam esse fortium virorum Insigne sed omnium bestiarum Collare And it shall be the Fate of those ignorant Knights
get leisure to look up to Heaven And at last concluded that the true Cause of their aversation though they were asham'd to utter it was that old Maxim Ignoti nulla cupido and Blind Men should not judge of Colours Yet that indiscreet Repulse proved such a Temptation to the Author that he had much ado to restrain himself from throwing those painful Papers into the jaws of Vulcan and hardly refrained from crying out with Scipio Africanus Ingrata Patria ne ossa quidem mea habebis but could not forbear the pronouncing that Expostulation Bone Deus Ad quae tempora me reservasti Yet some were more charitable to their Intellectuals than to their Morals And did apprehend that the Fear of the Expence of a Dedication made them so shye wherein they were indeed greatly mistaken For as it was never the intention of the Author to prey upon his Patron he having alwayes hated a beggarly Dependance so it was as little in his mind to shelter himself under the Wings of such Protectors lest that Support should prove a Staff of Reed in the end that Lucubration being design'd for a Noble Person of much greater Worth and Eminency who was pleased out of his own mouth to permit that Honour to the Author yea more than so who was so obligingly condescending as to declare That he look'd upon it as a special Honour design'd for himself so vast is the difference betwixt a Noble and a Plebeian Education the Effect whereof will appear in its own time there being as to this great Undertaking an indispensible necessity of complying with that sound Advice in reference to the Writing of a Book judiciously In nonum prematur annum And I wish that even these years be found commensurable to such a Work For the Author of such a Laborious Task hath good reason to say as Virgil did of his Works se versus suos componere ut Vrsi foetus lambendo But from this supposed Misconception we may inferr That none should controvert upon the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 till they be sure of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And thus ended that Narrative But if it be further Objected That howsoever those of the Order imploy their time they have Chaplains whose Province it is to Supervise the Press For Answer This were indeed a pertinent Objection and fit Expedient if they who pass under that Notion did emulate those of that Office in England some whereof not only merited to be Doctors of Divinity but have also a stock of Knowledge little inferiour to any of the Nation But with us some have not any Servants that go under that Denomination and I wish in the destitution thereof they be not wanting to that Oeconomical Religious Solemnity termed Family-Worship And as for those who are invested with that Title they are usually such pitiful ignorant Striplings that they have not sufficient capacity to examine to good purpose the most inconsiderable Catechism far less are they pares negotio for so great a Work which cost the Learned Bishop Andrews eighteen years Study And if any of these Chaplains had the forehead to undertake such Animadversions it might be deservedly said of them velut Asinus ad Lyram and they would be found to resemble Aesop's Cock who preferr'd the Barley-grain to the precious Gemm and greater fools than Paris who put a greater estimate on fading Beauty than on Wisdom or Power yea they would be observed to run parallel to the Phrygian Midas who preferr'd the Pipe of Pan to the Harp of Apollo and got Asses Ears for the Guerdon of his foolish Judgment Neither should they have any thing to magnifie their ignorant boldness save that Epitaph of Phaeton whose Fate they would surely undergo Et si non potuit magnis tamen excidit ausis But it is high time to end this little Enchiridium which is swell'd to a greater bulk than at first we design'd it it being one of my greatest troubles in studying brevity to avoid Prolixity Therefore I shall conclude with this one Sentiment upon the whole Premises I am fully perswaded that if our Governours did cordially comply with the fore-going Proposals this Church which hath been long Militant in the most pitiful sence would at last become Triumphant and should erect the Trophies of its victory over its most implacable Enemies And our Bishops being honoured by the Almighty to be the Instaurators of this Church should in fine have occasion to say of it as Augustus Caesar said of Rome Inveni lateritiam relinquo memoream For I have heard many well-meaning Persons who pass under the Notion of Fanaticks solemnly declare That if they observed our Bishops making Conscience to perform all those Duties which are incumbent on their Office they would be as forward as any to hugg them in their Arms and ready to submit cheerfully to their Jurisdiction Yea more than so That if their Morals were intire and eminent their moderate Rituals would be but feeble Scar-crows and fearless Bug-bears to them For when they see any Ecclesiastick of an Holy Life and who sets about all the Duties of his Calling diligently and faithfully though he be diametrically opposite and point blank contrary to their Way yet they inwardly reverence him and defer no little external Respect to him yea they are apt to envy our Church the Possession of him and to say Talis cùm sit utinam noster esset And I am fully perswaded that this would be a more durable Enoticum than that German Interim which was contrived with so much Craft by that Triumviri of Almain viz. Flugius Eslebius and Sidonius But this is to be understood onely of those Fanaticks whose Hectick Fever hath not as yet proceeded the length of an incurable Marasmus The best Epiphonema I can subjoyn as an Epilogue to this Enchiridion is the Royal Judgment of one who deserves to be termed A Nursing-Father both to Church and State who hath testified of himself That he esteemed it his greatest Title to be called and his chiefest glory to be the Desender of the Church both in its true Faith and its just Fruitions equally abhorring Sacrilege and Apostacy This is that Glorious Martyr King Charles the First in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where he expresseth himself thus Not 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 as a fit Means to avoid those Errours Corruptions and Partialities which are incident to any one man also to avoid Tyranny which becomes no Christian least of all Church-men besides it will be a means to take away that burthen and odium of Affairs which may lye too heavy on one mans shoulders as indeed I think it formerly did on the Bishops here And a little after in that same Section concerning the Difference betwixt the King and Two Houses in point of Church-Government His Majesty adds this Brief but most Judicious Sentiment concerning Church-Government A right Episcopacy would at once satisfie all just Desires and Interests of good Bishops humble Presbyters and sober People so as Church-Affairs should be managed neither with Tyranny Parity nor Popularity neither Bishops ejected nor Presbyters despised nor People oppressed Amen FINIS ERRATA IN the Advertisement to the Reader pag. 4. lin 21. for 185 read 85. p. 7. l. 14. for as is equvalent r. as equivalent 1. 15. for one r. an p. 8. l. 4. for happily r. haply p. 10. l. 19. for collation r. collate p 12. l. 1. for happily r. haply Book p. 3. l. 17. for one r. an p. 5. l. 15. for rocket r. rochet p. 15. l. 19. for wee k which r. week which l. 25. for were more r. were never more p. 25. l. 23. for Solitudes r. Sollicitudes p. 32. l. 16. for reputation r. reparation p. 38. l. 16. for officers r. offices p. 45. l. 7. for other r. of their l. ult for chose r. choose p. 52. l. 18. for his r. this p. 53. l. 4. for exhaustible r. inexhaustible p. 80. l. 27. for speaking r. speaketh p. 93. l. 23. dele Judge p. 182. l. r. for church-men r. Church-man p. 190. l. 3. for irreclamable r. irreclaimable p. 251. l. 18. for regiment r. regimen the fame p. 152. l. 2 p. 268. l. 13. for flacce r. flacci p. 298. l. 8. for 〈◊〉 r. Marmorean