Publick Church-Communion since we can read the Gospel at home for I am really a Friend to the Apostle's Creed and believe the Communion of Saints which is an Article founded on express Scripture as well as the other Articles of that Creed and which must be had by joining to some Church or Congregation such as is described in the 19th Article of the Church of England But indeed if you speak of National or Provincial Churches which distinguish themselves by their own or other Mens Inventions I am of the Mind of Diogenes who would not be a Citizen of Athens because they required some separating Ceremonies whereas He took himself to be a Citizen of the World A Passage which the Pious and Ingenious Mr. Burscough in his late Discourse of Schism has Cited but whether to this Purpose let the World Judge I will not for the same Reason confine my Communion to any such Party because I am a Member of the Catholick-Church But for Ordinary Communion certainly every Christian ought to be a Member of some Congregation if he can so be and that which Consists of his Neighbours is most Agreeable to the Ends of Christian Communion And then as to Church Officers the Bible is Plain the Epistles of the Apostles Paul are full of Evidence for Bishops Presbyters and Deacons He left Tinus in Creet to Ordain Presbyters in every City Tit. 5. and 4.4 Eph. 11. He tells us that our Saviour gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers for the Perfecting of the Saints c. The Words are all Masculine and no Place Mentions a she Apostle or Evangelist But here let the Clergy observe the Consequence of pretending to Unscriptural Rights jure Divino which drives Men to Question whether they have any at all But let that Author and all Men know that the Ministers of the Gospel are Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the Mysteries of God 1 Cor. 4.1 They are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Presidents Persons that Preside or as it is rendred are over the Church in the Lord 1 Thess 5.1.2 We read 1 Tim. 5.17 of Elders that Rule well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tho' Presiding Presbyters a Passage one would think inconsistent with the Presbyterian Government as Opposed by the Episcopal For I know no better Description of a Bishop then a Presiding Presbyter and yet a Passage that hath been tortured to Prove Lay-Elders and to make that Government Jure Divino Indeed I know no Text so much relyed on except perhaps that 1 Tim. 4. 14. Timothy's Gift was given Him by laying on of the Hands of the Presbyters which Place the Learned Calvin himself quits as proving no such Matter Besides 't is Plain that St. Paul's Hands were laid on him too 2 Tim. 1.6 And I cannot but Observe that this Passage in this Second Epistle which was Written about Eleven Years after the First seems to fall from that inspired Writer to prevent the Mistake that Men might be led into by that other Text in the first Epistle and at the same time Insinuate that in Ordination the Bishop and Presbyters where a Church has both do best together so the same Apostle in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians Explains some Passages in his first as also some Things in his first Epistle to the Thessalonians that occasioned Mistakes are set right in the Second On the other Side 't is strange to see the Jus Divinum of Prelatical Government is founded by some on Passages that make most Strongly against it of which I shall Content my self at Present with one Instane Acts 20. 17. St. Paul from Miletus sent to Ephesius and called the Presbyters of the Church who v. 28. He says were made Bishops by the Holy Ghost this is a Place much relied on against the Difference of Order But Mr. Maurice in his Defence of Diocesan Episcopacy endeavouring to Enervate Mr. Clarkson's Argument from that Passage Quotes Ireneus L. 3. Cap. 14. Who he says being Born in the End of the First Century might have Notices from Tradition of more of St. Paul's Visitation than is Recorded by St. Luke and tells us that St. Paul having called together the Bishops and Presbyters of Ephesus and the other Neighbouring Cities c. The Text is the Presbyters Irenaeus says Bishops and Presbyters and Paul tells them that the Holy Ghost had made them Bishops Now let the Reason of Mankind Judge whether this Passage of Irenaeus be not much Stronger against Diocesan Episcopacy as it Imports a Difference of Order than the Text it self for some Prelates have endeavour'd to avoid the force of that Text by affirming that those Presbyters were all Bishops But if Irenaeus be in the right both the Bishops and Presbyters were Bishops of the Holy Ghosts making i. e. Jure Divino It seems the Apostles Rule 1 Pet. 5.5 was observed then which was about Twelve Years before that Epistle was Written viz. The Younger Presbyters did submit themselves unto the Elder tho' at the same time they were all Subject one to another and were cloathed with Humility And that this Ancient Father knew no other Difference will appear to the Impartial Reader who will consult these Passages Lib. 4. Cap. 43. Cap. 44. Cap. 52. Cap. 63. Lib. 5. Pag. 299. 322. Surely Mr. Maurice had as good let that Father alone and have wholly slid away from the Objection as he does in another Place for Mr. Clarkson making it his great Argument against Diocesan Episcopacy that it was wholly Impracticable supposing the Bishop the sole Pastor of the Diocess consisting of many Churches Pag. 226. and proving it irrefragably from Reason and the Testimony of Chrysostom and others and having mentioned Gregory Orat. 20. who Applauds the Multiplying of Bishopricks as an Excellent Art Souls being hereby better lookt after he Observes that others would have this less regarded and the Bishops Honour more Now what does Mr. Maurice say to all this why in Truth just nothing at all St. Chrysostom says that a Bishop at the Peril of his Soul is to take exact Notice of the Spiritual State of all under his Charge and constantly to perform all Pastoral Duties to the whole Flock he had need of many Thousand Eyes to look into the State of every Soul under him which of them can Digest bitter Remedies and who for want of them grow Careless Tho' he Order his own Life well if he does not exactly take Care of thee and of all that are under him to Hell he goes with the Wicked And in another Place it is very Burdensom to have the Charge of 150 Souls Now what is to be done These Matters are Plain If a Bishop be the sole Pastor of 500000 and some of them live 3000 Miles from the Bishops Pallace as for the Purpose the distance of the West-Indies from Fulham how is Chrysostom to be answered Why even by denying what he says Bishops says Mr.
Maurice Pag. 438. are certainly accountable for those who Perish by their Neglect of their proper Office but will not be Condemned for not doing the Office of a Presbyter to all the Particulars of his Diocess But pray what is the Office of a Presbyter if those Passages of Chrysostom do not describe it It were much better and Honester to say the Bishop is the President of the Presbytery and not the sole Pastor of the Diocess he may have the Care of Souls in one particular Parish but every Parish Presbyter is a Bishop of his Parish and as such those Passages of Chrysostom concern him and not the Diocesan who by the 71 Canon of the African Code is forbidden to leave his Cathedral Church and go to any other Church in his Diocess to reside there This would be Plain Dealing and a better Answer to the Charge of consulting the Bishops Honour more than the good of Souls than to tell the Story of the Cappadocian whose Blood poison'd a Viper that bit him Def. of Di. Epis Pag. 107. This had made Mr. Maurice in the right and Mr. Clarkson wholly in the wrong in this Matter For after all the Pains that Ingenious Independent has taken Diocesan-Episcopacy rightly Understood is too hard for him but taking the Diocesan as the Sole Pastor of a Diocess these Two Gentlemen do most manifestly Confute one another and neither of them in Truth are for the True Primitive Episcopacy That Chrysostom was Bishop of Constantinople in this Sence which I give of Primitive Episcopacy is very consistent with the aforesaid Passages and his Practice does no more Contradict his Doctrine then Dr. Vsher being the Arch-Bishop Ardmagh is an Argument that he did not Write the aforementioned Treatise Entituled the Reduction of Episcopacy c. I see no way of saving the Souls of either of Bishop or People without Discipline I see no Possibility of Discipline without allowing many Pastors in every Diocess too big for the Inspection of a single Pastor who have the Power of the Keys and I do not diminish here by the Diocesans Grandure unless it be Claimed by the Institution of Christ who has forbid such a Claim in the most Express Terms and told us his Kingdom is not of this World neither He nor His Apostles would meddle with Government and altho' I think the 13th Rom. which has been much urged for Arbitrary Power and unlimitted Submission to the worst of Rulers signifies no such thing especially being Written in Neros Quinquennium when his Reign was suitable to the Apostles Description of it in that Chapter Yet that and many such Texts shew that the Apostles thought not of any such Hierarchy of Divine Institution as the High Party pretend to it is not the Business of the Ministers of the Gospel to meddle with Government other than Pastoral at least till the Apostles shall sit on Thrones judging the 12 Tribes of Israel and when that will be God only knows But of this I am sure that there have been many Heretical Councils that the Councils of Rome held by Gregory the III. in the 8th Century consisting of 903 Bishops almost Thrice the Number of the Fathers at the Council of Nice Decreed the Worshipping of Images Excommunicated the Emperor Leo and deprived him of his Imperial Dignity for Opposing Images And whereas the Councils of Nice in the 4th Century appointed 3 Patriarchs one in Rome another in Alexandria and the Third in Antioch with Power to Convocate within their own Bounds particular Councils for timely suppressing of Heresies this was so far from suppressing them that many of those Patriarchs were most Notorious Hereticks and the great Promoters of Heresy Eulalius Euphronius Placitus Stephanus Leontius Spado Eudoxius all Patriarchs of Antioch were Arians in the very same Century So was Lucius Patriarch of Alexandria And tho' Julius Patriarch of Rome and most of his Successors in that Age were a Refuge to the Orthodox yer Siricius in that Age forbad Marriage to Priests and their affecting Supremacy was very Visible And Liberius one of them is given up by Bellarmine himself as an Arian and these Pretences at last issued in the Papal-Empire But yet in short I know no Reason why a Minister of the Gospel may not be made by the Civil Government a Lord of Parliament nor why a Lord of Parliament may not become a Minister of the Gospel It were no Disparagement to the Emperor to be an Embassador for Christ 2 Cor. 5.20 And I was pleased with a Story that I heard of a certain Clergy-Man on whom an Earldom descended who Wrote himself Minister of Jesus Christ and Earl of K. He that receiveth them receiveth Christ and he that receiveth Him receiveth Him that sent Him I have the same Expectations with the Author of the Case of the Regale that many of the Promises of the Glory of the Church must be fulfilled in this World that there are Original Fundamental and Divine Powers with which Christ has invested His Church that there is a Discipline which Christ has left in his Church and which is absolutely necessary with which Princes cannot Dispense and which they may not Over-rule that she has an Original Independance from all Kings and States who ought to be Subject to her Discipline if they Profess themselves Members of her that Censures are still in her Power and that she cannot Recede from them and that they would still have their Effect upon all truly Conscientious and restore the now well nigh lost Notions of a Church and Religion but then all these things must be found in the Bible and Men may as well make an Act to Burn the Bible Pres Pag. 23. as set Up for Rights Powers and Priviledges Jure Divino which are not to be found there He is certainly in the right Pag. 25. that nothing can be believed to be Religion by any People but what they think to be Divine and they can think nothing can be so that is in the Power of Man to alter or Transverse I look on every True Gospel Minister as representing the Person of Jesus Christ and Reverence Him as His Ambassador but I have his Instructions in my Hand and he must not expect that I shew any Regard to his Demands beyond those Instructions Suppose a Treaty of Peace between the Emperor and the Hungaeians now in Arms who Accept of the Terms offered them by His Imperial Majesty but Prince Eugene would have Two or Three of his own Fancies complyed with or no Peace should be would not the Hungarians think him very Impertinent and Saucy would not the Emperor think Himself ill Served by him and would not all the World think him stark Mad The Application is easie And here Sir I could particularly shew you that Anthropos and his Wife did gradually Rob the Laity of their Reason the Bible of their Senses by what Degrees Priest-crast grew and Christianity decayed but I must not Enlarge having been
much longer on this Head than I designed But I cannot Omit to give you a Copy of a Letter Written by Cardinal Woolsey to the Pope when we of the Laity began to shake our Ears and look about Us as you may find it Ld. Herb. Hist H. VIII No. 2. And now Sir Humphry what is there in all this that hinders but that you a High Church-Man and I an Occasional-Conformist or rather if you please an Occasional-Dissenter are not of Opposite Principles but of the same Perswasion in Matters of Religion Is there any particular Part of Religion in what I have Discourst under this Head in which Consideration you do not fully agree with me in all Respects Sure you cannot still think either English-Prelacy or Scotch-Presbytery Jure Divino tho' by the Civil Sanction they be justifyed in the respective Kingdoms where they are Established T' is a wonderful Thing considering for how many Ages Prelacy prevailed in the World and the many Forgeries of Pieces of Antiquities and the Indices Expurgatoriae that have been made that there are so many Things to be said against Jus Divinum out of Antiquity and on the other side 't is wonderful that if Presbyterian Government without a President Bishop had been Jure Divino that so Early as the Year 140. it should be Decreed over all the World to change it to Diocesan-Episcopacy which the Presbyterians indeavour to Prove out of St. Jerom and that in no Age since till of late the Jus Divinum of it should be Discovered And I believe it may be proved that the Albegois and Vaudois Churches which have been pure Churches from the Apostles Days have always allowed of President Bishops tho' not of Diocesans being sole Pastors of a Diocess Jure Divino But this Question is no matter of either Natural or Revealed Religion and therefore hinders me not to Conclude that you and I are not of Opposite Principles but of one and the same Perswasion in Matters of Religion especially since we are both Members also of the National Church heartily Approve of the Laws of the Land and cheerfully pay Obedience to them tho' both you and I would be Glad to see them altered so as to restore Discipline to Establish the Church of England more firmly to make a better Provision for the small Vicarages and Curacys to Unite our Differences and heal our Breaches to Provide for Employing the Poor to Suppress Vice and Immorality more Effectually and to promote Christian Knowledge both at Home and Abroad 2. And having been too Prolix tho' far from Impoverishing the Subject of the first Question I shall be short in my Answer to the other and as to the Second Whether if the Occasional-Bill had past it had secured the Government from such who are not sincere Members of the National Church nor heartily approve of the Laws of the Land nor chearfully pay Obedience to them but are of Opposite Prinnciples and not of one and the same Perswasion in Matters of Religion I will only say That 't is plain that altho' the Bill had passed Atheists Deists Socinians those that Value no Religion nor any Church if wise enough to avoid the late Act against Blasphemy Adulterers Common Swearers Extortioners and all those truly Scandalous Occasional-Conformists whose Lives shew that they neither heartily Approve of the Laws of God or of the Land and neither chearfully nor otherwise pay Obedience to them would be Capable of Publick Offices and Employments relating to the Government either in Countries or Corporations notwithstanding that Bill and would have been no way Affected by it a Person of Sober Life that had been in 5 or 6 Years 5 or 600 Times at Church and frequently received the Sacrament according to the Usage of the Church of England might have been removed out of an Office tho' he had also all that while laboured in doing Service to the Church as by Law Establish'd which will be of Everlasting Advantage to it and a Person of a Prosligate Life who had Publickly owned that he had not been at Church for as many Years might be Capable of a Wh. St. f. notwithstanding that Act but this is so Clear That it needs no Proof as to so much of this Question as relates to Religion and if you intend any other Laws the Defacto Men such as believe the Jus Divinum of Absolute Monarchy that take the Oaths to Her Majesty as an Ass eats Thistles that neither heartily Approve of the Laws of the Land abjuring the pretended James the III. and Establishing Her Majesty's Throne and the Protestant Succession nor the Law for Toleration nor chearfully pay Obedience to them would be all unaffected by this Bill surely the Promoters of it thought there was no Sin but going to a Protestant Meeting as one of the Characters in Timon of Athens thought there was no Sin but Murder Thirdly Whether the Administration of Publick Aflairs may not be in the Hands of Persons who are not of one and the same Perswasion in Matters of Religion nay of Men of opposite Principles without Confusion or tearing the Government in pieces between them and whether they may not notwithstanding draw together the same way for the Publick Good Now certainly Calvinists and Arminians High-Church and Low-Church Sherlockians and Southians such as take the Articles of the Church to be Articles of Faith and such as take them only to be Articles of Peace such as are for the Occasional-Bill and such as are not such as hold the Pope to be Antichrist and such as do not are not of one and the same Perswasion in Matters of Religion but of opposite Principles and yet Sir Humphrey you will not deny that they may be all employ'd without Confusion or tearing the Government in pieces between them and may notwithstanding draw together the same way for the Publick Good but the truth is this Queens Coronation Sermon p. 24. Mixing of Heaven Earth together as his Grace the Lord Arch-bishop of York expresses it When Men for difference of Opinion about the Methods of the publick Conduct break out into Parties and Factions sacrifice the Peace of the Kingdom to their own private Resentments and mingle Heaven and Earth for the supporting of a Side 'T is this which tears the Government in pieces It were indeed desirable that all the Subjects of England were good Christians for the sake of the Publick and of their own Souls for that Christianity gives the best Rules of Morality and the Name of Jesus Christ is the only Name under Heaven given among Men whereby they can be Saved Yet Faith is the Gift of God and Men may be of great Use in this World who may be very unhappy in the next It is a Notion long since exploded That Dominion is founded in Grace and Honesty Honour Skill and Imegrity may consist with a mistaken Belief as to revealed Religion and in this respect no Religion but the Popish or
Lay-Chancellor according to the good Example of Sylvanus of old who would find fault And the Legislators would soon think of giving their Courts a Civil Process instead of their horridly abused Spiritual Weapon Excommunication Were the Presbyter restor'd to his Just Right we might soon see some good Effect of Discipline which can never be exercised to any purpose till Parish-Communion be made more pure and the Pastor's Power be restor'd One Physician may as well take the Charge of all the Bodies in London as one Bishop of their Souls and the Congregations that are gather'd from the several parts of great Cities cann't have the personal Inspection nor ready Access to the Pastoral Help nor enjoy the Advantage of that Article of the Creed Communion of Saints which ought to be provided for in a well Disciplin'd Church And this is what my Soul longs for and not without hope For he that will impartially consider the late Writings for Episcopacy particularly those of Doctor Maurice and Doctor Scot and the Writings against it particularly of Mr. Baxter and Mr. Clerk son will as I conceive find these things true First That the Roman and English Prelacy as now Exercised are wholly dropt in the Scuffle and no Foundation found for either in Scripture or Primitive Antiquity Secondly That Independency if it be meant only of the Relation between a Pastor and his Flock and his Independent Right of Exercising the Power of the Keys over them it is plainly Jure Divino but if taken in a Sense excluding National Churches taking away all the common ordinary Means of Communion among Christian Congregations and leaving the Power of Ordination and Admission to the Lord's Supper in the People hath as little Foundation in Scripture or Antiquity Thirdly That Councils are for Advice not Legislation for Concord not Domination and have no Power to make Laws for the Universal Church They can no more Alter or add to the Laws of Christ than the Jewish Priests could Add to or Alter the Laws of Moses And as there never was so there never can be a General Council and that a Visible Head of the Universal Church on Earth Monarchical or Aristocratical is a meer Chinera never design'd by GOD nor of Use to Men. Fourthly That the Episcopacy which within a certain compass of Ground provides a Person chosen by the Presbytery to a Superintendency to preside in Conventions of the Clergy within his Precinct or Diocess to be consulted and principally join in the Ordination and Confirmation of Persons who desire to be admitted to the Lord's Supper to be advised with by every Presbyter within his Precinct where any Difficulties arise concerning the Exercise of the Keys but which destroy not the Power of the Presbyter nor the Primitive Church Species has good warrant in Scripture Antiquity Reason and the Nature of the thing I say chosen by the Presbytery For even Mr. Dodwel that unaccountable Bigot to Prelacy acknowledges that Bishops were first made by Election Fifthly Episcopacy thus stated is Jure Divino as all things aagreeable to right Reason are Jure Divino that is to say Reason teaches such Things without Revelation and if Reason had not been sufficient to this End he that spent Fourty Days on Earth after his Resurrection instructing his Apostles in the Things concerning the Kingdom of God would not have Omitted to direct them herein He that was faithful only as a servant gave Rules for every Pin in the Tabernacle Hebr. 3.5 and the very Colour of the Ribbons used by the Priests And our Lord who was Faithful as a Son over his own House would not have Omitted a Matter of such Importance So when Christ had Instituted the Office of Presbyters or Bishops and the Apostle given an Account of and Instructions for their Office there was no need to Institute the Method of their Concord which right Reason taught Men of all sorts of Learning as Philosophers Physicians c. Again Presbytery if it mean only an Equality of Gospel Ministers by the Institution of Christ it is Jure Divino as plain as Words can make it if it be meant the Form of Government so diversify'd as is usually meant by that Word it is not Jure Divino having no Reveal'd Institution And Reason taught all the Christian Church to appoint a President Bishop for Life and nothing but the Rise of Popish Prelacy could make the other Method seem Reasonable and Calvin himself as I take it fell into it out of Necessity and not out of Choice But surely this Part of Church Government is no more determin'd by Revelation than the Form of Civil Government Sixthly While under the Notion of CHVRCH GOVERNMENT the Clergy encroach on the Prerogative of the Civil Power whether it be in an Episcopal or Presbyterian Form neither God nor His Majesty will have the Obedience paid them which is due and the only way to support both Civil and Ecclesiastical Government is to keep them entirely distinct and unconfounded to give to Caesar the Things that are Caesars and to God the things that are Gods To own the Divine as the Vicegerent of Christ in his Prophetical and Priestly and the Civil Magistrate as his Vicegerent in his Kingly Office Particularly the Civil Power is to appoint the Bounds of Bishopricks and so is the Twelfth Theses of that clear headed and accurately Learn'd Dr. Isaac Barrow By the Laws of God and according to Ancient Practice Princes may Model the Bounds of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Erect Bishopricks Enlarge Diminish or Transfer them as they please Thus he where by Princes he necessarily intends the Legislative Power where-ever 't is placed by the Respective Constitution of Christian Kingdoms Seventhly Were these things well consider'd the Controversie between the Episcopal and Presbyterian would be certainly reconcil'd and even the Independent and Antipoedobaptist would probably be folded if the Terms of Union which the Church prescribes did not keep them out Which will come next to be consider'd after I have premised the few following short Propositions First Proposition When God bringing his First-begotten into the World commanded all his Angels to Worship him Hebr. 1.6 Luke 2.14 their Song was Glory to God on High on Earth Peace and good Will towards Men But while Christians have join'd with the Heavenly Host in the First Clause of that Song they have neglected the two other Parts thereof and for want of Peace on Earth the former and latter Clauses have made us yet but little Harmony Second Proposition The Eternal Father hath called himself The God of Peace Rom. 15.33 the Blessed Jesus is The Prince of Peace Rom. 16.20 the great Legacy which he left behind Him Isai 9.6 was His Peace and The Gospel of Peace John 14.27 is the great Instrument of Erecting that Kingdom of which Peace is one of the greatest Glories Till God give his People the Blessing of Peace we can't expect that Happy Time
the word Church till after the end of the Prophecy and this perhaps is also the Reason why the Reformed Christian Church of the latter Days is called the Bride the Lamb's Wife A Bride in opposition to the Whore and the Bride the Lamb's Wife in opposition to the Wife of Anthropos But this by the way only observe that Simon Magus the Father of these Aeons was if you believe Baronius fetch'd down out of the Air by St. Peter's Prayers at Rome Anno 45 about 4 Years before St. Paul wrote the Epistle to the Thessalonians And take notice also that Irenaeus in his 33 d. Chapter of his first Book observes that Ignorance and Impudence False Zeal Fury Envy and Lust were said to be born about the same time with this same blessed couple Now Sir you must excuse me if I have no kindness for any of the Off-spring of these Folk and if I find any thing put upon me as part of Revealed Religion which appears to be begot by Anthropos on Ecclesia and if you or the Men of your Party Write as many Books as would fill the Tower of Babel in behalf of such things I shall still remember such Texts as these to the Law and to the Testimony If they speak not according to this Rule 't is because there is no Light in them 8 Is 20. Thus it is written c. I must always say of the Christianity contained in the Writings of the Sacred Penman as Josephus says of the Writings of Moses Every thing that they wrote is yet extant and we must take it as they left it Joseph Page 92. without any room for Ornament or Variation And it was by this Principle which runs throughout his whole Work that Irenaeus routed all the Hereticks and all their Army of Aeons except this couple who have plagued do plague and will plague the World till the total downfal of Antichrist for as your aforesaid Oracle in his New Association Page 2. Page 17. observes when once we leave the Institutions of God there is no stop and our Imagination is our only Rule Magna est veritas prevalebi◠But 't is high time Sir to stop least after all you should think that I here condemn the Church of England as by Law Establish'd against which I don't say one word the late designed Act not being past For I do declare I take no Church to be a Whore unless she be guilty of Idolatry for that is Spiritual Adultery in Scripture Language I could wish that none but the Great Whore were concerned with Anthropos but some Churches that are not Whores are a little guilty of Jilting now and then and are too apt to Paint and to take some parts of the Attire of an Harlot tho' they are not so and therefore I wish all honest Churches would consider what it is that will be done when it shall be said that the Marriage of the Lamb is come 19 Rev. 7. and his Wife hath made her self ready The Case of the Regale makes the only considerable Matter in Controversie between the Church and Dissenters to be Episcopacy all other Matters being easily accommodated that Episcopacy was the Heir which they said come let us kill him that the Inheritance may be ours Page 248 that he takes Episcopacy to be no indifferent thing but Instituted by Christ and confirmed by the constant Practice of the Vniversal Church of Christ in all Ages Page 254. And yet in the Shape of a Wolf Page 27. He falls very fiercely upon his Brother Wolf of Rome and calls the Pope the Grand Schismatick and why e'en because Catholick Communion is broke by the Church of Rome in the Usurpation of her Bishops over all the rest of his Fellow Bishops and confining the Catholick Church to his own Communion then it seems that is Schism in the Pope which would have been Establishing Peace and Unity and Setling our Constitution upon a sure and lasting Foundation if done by the Occasional Bill Peace at Home Page 12. But if the Pope be in the wrong what is this Episcopacy that is of Divine Right And what is a Diocess and what Texts are there that prove an Equality among Bishops which do not also prove Presbyters to be Bishops St. Peter we just now read was a Fellow Presbyter and would never have Exhorted Presbyters to act the Bishop if he had known that Presbyters and Bishops differed in Order Jure Divino Nor would St. John who Wrote his Gospel about the Year 98 about 65 Years after he had received the Miraculous Gifts of the Holy Ghost and after he came out of the boyling Oil have omitted so necessary a Matter nor would he in his 2 d. and 3 d. Epistles just before his Death have misled the Church by calling himself the Presbyter which is the first word in both those Epistles especially in his Third Epistle in which he complains of Diotrephes who lov'd the Preheminence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a lover of Prelacy for not receiving him and for casting the Brethren out of the Church He would have been careful to have used the Stile of a Higher Order nay 't is plain he did not think it a Disparagement to the surviving Apostle of Jesus Christ to be styled a Presbyter but hitherto the Church of Christ remained a pure Virgin Hegesippus in Eus l. 3. c. 32. and Anthropos had not prevailed to introduce his Spouse in her stead This Parity appears from divers Places in Irenaeus in the second Century and the well known Place in St. Hierom the Confession of Binius in 1 Can. Apost is remarkable that the Names of Bishop and Presbyter were promiscuously used and not distinguish'd for above 200 Years I will add the words of the Learned Hales in his Discourse of Schism They deceive themselves and others who would perswade us that Bishops by the Institution of Christ have any Superiority above other Men except that which requires Reverence or That a Bishop is Superior by any other Law than Positivo and by the common Consent of Christians Do I then Sir Humphrey say any thing against the Constition of the Church of England not at all Jure Positivo The Priests and People are Governed by the Queen the Laws are made by Queen Lords and Commons there are as many Lord Lieutenants as Counties and Bishops as Diocesses and Archbishops as Provinces there are among the People Dukes Marquesses c. and among the Ministers Deans Arch-Deacons Prebends c. But for God's sake what Texts do you quote for the Jus Divinum either of the Monarchy limitted by our Laws and all the Subordinate Officers in the English Form of Government tho' the best in the World or for the Hierarchy of the Church of England with all its Subordinate Officers as described by Dr. Cousius in his Ecclesiae Anglicanae Politica Reprint that Book and let us have the Scriptures proving the Constitution Jure Divino in the next Edition
just as reasonable as to make an Engine to draw Mens Bodies into the same Dimensions We have no wild Liberty for Adamites to run about the Streets or Enthusiasts to disturb us in the time of Divine Service but the Church of England is secur'd in its Legal Establishments and a Liberty to Dissenters has received the Sanction of a Law Now that Maxim Salus populi suprema lex est appears in its Beauty being writ upon all the Actions of our King and not us'd by the People in Opposition to Monarchy Now the other Maxim Bono principi inservire est optima libertas is rightly applied being writ upon the Actions of the People both in and out of Parliament and not us'd by the King to enslave his People The Courage and Conduct of our King and the Wealth and Valour of the People have once more made Great Britain a happy Nation and the Arbiter of the Fate of Europe The Glory of His Majesty in procuring the late stupendious Peace and restoring to our Neighbours their Ravish'd Liberties is as much greater than that of Alexander Pompey Caesar or of any other of the Fam'd Conquerors as 't is more Glorious to hinder the World from being Conquer'd than to Conquer the World to save Mens Lives than to destroy them And what was said of the Romans who Restor'd Liberty to the Conquer'd Cities of Greece in the Days of Flaminius is more Emphatically true concerning His Majesty and his Loyal Subjects That at last there are a Prince and a People in the World born for the Safety of all others that crost Seas and made Wars at their own Costs and Peril to relieve the Oppressed to establish Laws and cause them to be observed and to maintain the Publick Security throughout the whole Earth But this is a Subject fit to fill a Volumn and not to be cram'd into a Parenthesis in a Preface and therefore I must hasten to what I principally intended And notwithstanding Matters in the State are so happily adjusted and Persecution ceases to be the Reproach of the Church yet we are still on very ill Terms among our selves in Matters of Religion and to make the following Discourse more intelligible as well as the Design of the Author I must a little consider the Grounds and Causes of our Divisions When by the Divine Mercy we had escapt out of the Tyranny of Rome and the Protestant Religion became the National Religion of England Ignorance was lamentably visible not only in the Laity but Clergy and whoever looks over the Lists of the Indocti Mediocriter Docti Docti into which Classes the Clergy were divided will plainly see the Necessity of the Forms of Prayer and Homilies so much complain'd of And as the Clergy's Ignorance made these things necessary so the First Reformers thought it their Wisdom to make the Transition from Popery to Protestant Religion as Vndiscernable as might be for this reason while they took away other Parts of the Clergy's Habits they left the Surplice that People might not miss the other Trinkets while they took away Transubstantiation they left the Posture of Kneeling which was much more sensible than the Doctrine while they took away the Adoration of the Cross they nevertheless continued it at Baptism though they threw off the Latin Service they kept a Liturgy in English while they Renounc'd the Authority of the Bishop of Rome they nevertheless continued the same arch-Arch-Bishops and Bishops in the same Provinces and Sees This Conduct they hop'd wou'd have brought the Papists to Church and it had that effect for some time but after that the English Refugees who went hence in the Reign of Queen Mary returned from among the Learned and Pious Reformers abroad who had gone quite through the Work of Reformation perhaps a Step too far the Clergy of England fell into two Parties one Party were for finding out Means of Reconciliation with Rome and bringing the Pope to Terms The other Party were for Accommodating Matters and Forming an Union between the English Church and Foreign Protestant Churches but there having been much fewer Non-Conformists found among the Clergy upon the Change of Religion made by Queen Elizabeth in Substantials than that made by King Charles the Second in Circumstantials the Party which inclined to Rome were much the stronger and most prevalent at Court. And although the State of Rome was generally opposed yet the Church of Rome was much hanker'd after though most were against the Pope's Supremacy yet many were for allowing him to be Principium Unitatis On the other side the most Learned and Pious of the Clergy were for the other Union Accordingly those that enclin'd towards Rome were extreamly fond of the Ceremonies that their Coalition with the Holy See might be the more easie From using the Cross at Baptism they might easily proceed to its farther use from Kneeling at the Sacrament they might take an occasion of Believing Transubstantiation or letting it alone that they might easily slip on something more upon the Surplice they had hopes to prevail with Rome to allow the Liturgy in English and while they kept up the Difference of Order between Bishops and Presbyters they were capable not only of arriving at the Lordship of a Bishop and at the Grace of an Arch-bishop but upon the Coalition had a Prospect of the Eminency of a Cardinal and the Holiness of a Pope They were for allowing Sports on the Lord's Day and for Holidays and a Religion that Men might wear Genteely for Singing Prayers which makes little difference between Latin and English in Point of Edification especially in that Time when very few cou'd read They were fond of God-fathers and God-mothers Bowing at the Name of Jesus and to the Altar and setting the Communion-Table Altar-wise On the other side the Pious Puritan Bishops were for Union with the Protestants abroad who scrupled most of these things and were for that Reason for taking these things away or at least for leaving them indifferent They were indeed for the pure Primitive Episcopacy and I conceive had they seen the following Discourse would generally have Subscribed thereto And this is in Truth the Reason that so many are to this Day so extreamly fond of things which they themselves account to be indifferent in their own Nature and which others take to be sinful The Grotian and Cassandrian Design was the good work in hand so much applauded by Arch-bishop Laud and his Adherents and Followers and Oppos'd by the Arch-bishops Abbot and Usher the Bishops Hall Davenant and others And this is the true Difference between the High Church and Low Church as they are called to this Day And here I cann't without great and pungent sorrow lament the Misery of the Church of England for almost a whole Century By this Means Protestant Religion which lies in those things wherein both sides agree and even Morality it self hath been little regarded and Mens Zeal for the most part
Heads and to make it obnoxious to the Romanists for its Invisibility And hence upon the Happy Revolution it was a Question between a very Eminent and Learned Prelate Vox Cleri P. 68. and the Prolocutor of the late Convocation What it was that distinguish'd the Church of England from other Protestant Churches The Bishop rightly affirming That the Church of England is an Equivocal Expression and was not distinguished from other Protestant Churches but by its Hierarchy and Revenues And the Prolocutor asserting That the Church of England was distinguished by its Doctrine as it stands in the Articles Liturgy and Homilies as well as by its Hierarchy And although since His Majestys happy Accession to the Throne His Pious and Princely Care of the Church hath fill'd the Archi-Episcopal and Episcopal Seats with Men of Consummate Piety Learning and Moderation whereby and by giving the Royal Assent to the Act for Indulgence He hath been our Deliverer from Tyranny in the Church as well as in the State yet it cannot be forgotten how during the Prevalency of the High Church Party in the late Reigns not Kneeling at the Sacrament not Baptizing with the Cross Hearing in Congregations which are Churches of Christ within the Definition given by the Articles of the Church were Prosecuted with the greatest Violence and Men cast out of the Church for those Reasons while Men of the most Profligate Lives Swore D n them they were for the Church of England and were admitted to the Sacrament without reserve That great Numbers of the sober Serious Subjects of England were kept out from that which was called the Church for Conscience sake and all the Prophane and Vicious let in that were willing to enter That those things that would make a Man Holy on Earth and prepare for Heaven yet would not let him into the Church and that he might be a beloved Member thereof who was not fit to live on the Earth and made most visible haste to the Devil These and the like considerations made me wonder that no Man had concerned himself to tell us plainly What the Church of England is And since the Cant of that Party is still The Church the Church I will like an Honest Lay-Christian that is not any way infected with Priest-Craft return a short Answer to the Question which may be at least of use to put some Body upon explaining it better The Articles of the Church to which all the Clergy have Subscribed and to most of which since His Majesty's happy Accession to the Throne the Dissenting Ministers have also subscrib'd expresly Teach us That the Visible Church of Christ is a Congregation of Faithful Men Article XIX in which the Pure Word of God is Preached and the Sacraments be duly Ministred according to Christ's Ordinance in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same Now whether this Description be meant of the Universal Church or of a single Congregation 't is thence an easie Conclusion That the Church of England is that Part of the Universal Church which is Compos'd of all the Congregations of Faithful Men in England in which the Pure Word of God is preached and the Sacraments duly Ministred according to Christ's Ordinance in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same And if this Description be allowed 't is impossible to exclude the Presbyterian Independant and Antipaedobaptist Churches from being Part of the Church of England Of the Antipaedobaptist may be the greatest doubt because they deny Infants to be capable Subjects of Baptism but nevertheless that Error excludes them not out of this Description for to the Subjects they allow to be capable and of which their whole Communion consists the Sacraments are duly Administred according to Christ's Ordinance in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same It is therefore a wonderful thing to hear Men on one side loudly declare in the Presence of God and the Congregation That they Believe the Holy Catholick Church and yet calling their Brethren that go under those several Denominations Phanaticks Hypocrites and other odious Names and Excommunicating them out of the Church And it is no less wonderful on the other side to hear some under those several Denominations accusing those that conform to the Establisht Ceremonies with Antichristianism and denying the Church of England to be a True Church when they themselves have Subscribed to that very Article and Five or Six and Thirty more of their Thirty Nine and are really Part of the same Church And this one Consideration Justifies the Practice of those who condemn the Imposition of unnecessary things by Communicating with the Moderate Dissenters and condemn the Separating Censorious and Schismatical Humour wherever sound amongst the Dissenters by Communicating with the Conformable Part of the Church And indeed it seems to be little considered by the Generality of Protestants how great the Agreement is between all the said Parties They have the same Rules of Faith Manners and Devotion for they own the same Scripture to be of Divine Authority and a perfect Rule of Faith and Life the same Creeds are Profest by them all the same Ten Commandments are acknowledged by them all as the Divine Law and they agree to our Saviours Exposition thereof and to all the Precepts and the Ordinances and Sacraments of the Christian Religion they have the same Object of Worship the same Mediator the Inspiration of the same Holy Spirit they have the same Objects of their Hopes and Fears they fly from the same Wrath and expect the same Glory Again these several Parties do condemn the Twelve new Articles of the Roman Faith all the Idolatries of the Mass Image-Worship Praying to Saints and Angels and for the Dead Monkery 1 Tim. 4.1 2. with all the Doctrines of Demons invented by the Hypocrisy of those Lyars nor do any of them retain any thing substantial in Doctrine or Practice introduc'd by the Apostacy of the Latter Times The Disagreement among them lies only about Imposing and Refusing Circumstances of Worship Observation of Days the Use of Habits and Gestures of Forms and Ceremonies and Unscriptural Forms of Church-Government and about Subscriptions and Oaths and Laws made to enforce Mens own Inventions All which I shall briefly touch when I have in the following Propositions endeavour'd to shew what are the true Terms of Union for the whole Christian World and how all the above-mention'd Parties may enjoy this their Unity in the Church of England When our Saviour condemn'd the Jewish Divorce he grounded his Sentence upon this Foundation From the Beginning it was not so and to discover the true Terms of Christian Unity we must look back to the Rise of Christian Religion CHRISTIANITY came into this World Pure and Free without the Jewish Yoak of beggarly Elements without the Heathen Niceties of painful Rights and Ceremonies It taught to Worship God in Spirit and Truth bound Men to no
City or Mountain prescribed no Postures nor Dresses it threw down all Inclosures and was a Gospel sit to be Preach'd to every Creature Our Saviour taught in Synagogues and in Mountains and in a Coat woven from the top throughout The Apostles wore the Habits of the Places where they dwelt and taught in the Synagogues that were built Both Christ and they used the Septuagint Translation and complied with the Customs and Hours of the Jews And in short the Apostles Rule was to become all Things to all Men 1 Cor. 9.22 and to comply with the innocent Usages of all Places but when those Customs or Usages Gal. 2.3 4 5. Gal. 5.1 2. were added to Christianity or impos'd they always rejected them with Abhorrence Thus were Matters left by the Apostles and the Disciples of the First Age followed their Example and hence the Christians among the Jews complying with their Customs and the Christians among the Gentiles with theirs the Christian World might within one Age be distinguish'd into the Judaizing and Gentilizing Christians Paul Circumcised Timothy among the Jews And Church-History tells us That Fifteen Jerusalem Bishops were Circumcised And the Empire of Habbasia which was Discipled by the Aethiopean Eunuch a Jewish Proselyte continue Circumcision to this Day though as no Religious Rite On the other side the Roman Christians and others among the Heathens used several of their Customs by that General Rule of becoming all Things to all Men. But as in the Apostles Time some used their Liberty for an Occasion to the Flesh and this Charitable Principle occasioned Differences among the Apostles themselves for Paul withstood Peter to the Face at Antioch for withdrawing from the Gentiles to please the Jews so in the following Ages Gal. 2.11 12. when the Power of inward Religion grew more cold the Customs which were taken up as convenient such as keeping Days in compliance with the Jewish and Heathenish Festivals distinguishing the Clergy by Habits as both Jews and Heathens used to do their Priests became at last to be accounted Sacred and the Days were taken for Holy Days and the Clothes for Holy Garments But the greatest Depravation of Christianity came from the Agreement that was between Jews and Gentiles in their setting up of High-Priests The shew of Order and Unity Mark 8.27 Luke 9.18 that appear'd therein was very tempting When our Saviour had told Simon Mat. 16.13 to 24. that he should be call'd Cephas and that the Church should be built on his Confession of Faith it is probable that the Apostles began to think of his being the Chief for the Question was soon after started among them Matth. 18.1 Mark 9.33 Luke 9.46 Ibid. and Mat. 20.25 Luke 22.25 Mark 20.42 Heb. 7.23 24. which of them should be greatest that is to say the Pope And had not our Saviour Positively and Catagorically resolved the Question both on that Occasion and in Answer to the Ambitious Sons of Zebedee Hierarchical Domination in greater and lesser Popes might have been thought Justifiable from the Example of the Jews whose Hierarchy was of Divine Institution But that our Saviour is our only High Priest is most evident That by that Rule of his It shall not be so done amongst you he hath taken away all colour of Domination among his Ministers on Pretence of his Institution seems a reasonable Opinion for the several Evangelists do so expresly agree in that Prohibition that it is impossible to evade it by the common Distinction viz. That our Saviour there forbids Tyranny and Ambition but not Superiority especially since the Evangelist Luke speaks not of the Authority exercised by Tyrants but Benefactors It doth no where appear that the Apostles were the Governors of the Seventy nor is any Difference in Order to be found in Scripture between Bishops and Presbyters for the Difference between the Apostles and the Seventy appears to be this that the Apostles were Persons chosen to be Witnesses of all that Jesus did or taught and of his Resurrection and Ascention they were of the Family of our Saviour and Privy to his whole Conversation in which Respect they neither had nor can have Successors No more than the Evangelists ☜ whom no Man pretends to have had Successors as Evangelists And it seems most reasonable to believe that whereas Dr. Hammond and others hold that the Presbyters mention'd Acts xx were also Bishops So they were Apostles also in the sense of St. Chrysostom Epiphanius Theodoret and others and Luke x. 1. and divers other Places the same word is used concerning them viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from whence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is derived And if we say that Apostles Bishops or Presbyters and Deacons are Officers of Divine Institution to continue in the Church surely we are right for such only do we find in Scripture and of such did the Governors of the Church at Philippi consist Phil. 1.1 Some indeed in Ecclesiastical History are said to have succeeded the Apostles but they succeeded them not as Matthias did Judas for he succeeded him in the Extraordinary Work of the Apostolate and therefore was chosen out of those who had accompanied with the Apostles all the Time that the Lord Jesus went in and out amongst them beginning from the Baptism of John unto the same Day that he was taken up and was added to them to make twelve Witnesses of his Resurrection Acts 2.21 22. but the Nature of the Succession was as Apostles Bishops and Presbyters in their several Sees whereas Apostles in the strict Sense as Apostles were not confin'd to any See but were Ministers of the whole Catholick Church and on whom as St. Paul speaks of himself was the care of all the Churches and unless it can be made appear that the Apostles have such Successors and also such as were Witnesses of what our Saviour did and taught as Matthias was the Apostolate as to so much of it must be Temporary from the Nature of the thing The Arguments for a Superiority of the Order of Bishops drawn from the Precedency of James at Jerusalem who there seems to be Superiour to the Apostles tho' he was none of the Twelve concludes only for a Bishops Power in his own Church where he is fix'd but nothing for the Superiority in Order of Bishops above Presbyters as of revealed Institution If Ignatius who tells us that St. Stephen was a Deacon to St. James had told us also of his Presbyters of a distinct Order no doubt but his Testimony had been concluding but a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and a Bishop are all one in Antiquity And although at first the Twelve Apostles who had the Infallible Direction of the Holy Ghost did ordain those President Bishops perhaps then but certainly afterwards they were made by Election The Epistles of St. John to the Angels of the Seven Churches of Asia prove not this Distinction of Order nor any thing more than shall
be hereafter accounted for in this Discourse And however the Epistles of St. Ignatius stand Irrefragably defended from the charge of being Spurious I cannot see but that allowing the Bishop to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is sufficient to comply with the full Sense of those Epistles especially if it be consider'd that the Bishops of which he speaks were made so by the Apostles themselves and no doubt were chosen by infallible Direction and must therefore deserve a most singular Respect But allowing Men to think as they see Evidence concerning this Difference of Order certainly the Practice of the Church may be such as may allow of Different Apprehensions without occasioning either Tyranny or Schism the Method whereof is attempted in this Discourse However it is plain that both our Saviour and his Disciples did wholly reject all Temporal Jurisdiction and applied themselves entirely to their Spiritual Administrations and that there was no Distinction Causes into of Spiritual or Ecclesiastical and Temporal or Civil in the Christian World for above Three Hundred Years after Christ Indeed while the Emperors were Heathens and the Judges too throughout the Empire the Christians according to the Advice of St. Paul forbare to go to Law 1 Cor. 6.5 6. and referred all their Differences usually to the Bishops or Pastors of the Congregations of which they were Members And when Constantine came to the Empire his mistaken Zeal confirm'd the Custom though the Apostle's Reason for it ceased And whereas the Civil Power ought to have been reassum'd by the Christian Magistrate and the Clergy eased of Secular Business his Edict set up the Clergy's Domination and from Arbitrators they became Judges and Christian Magistrates might not Judge unwilling Christians This Corruption grew so fast Socrat. lib. 7. cap. 11. that about the Year 430. in the Popedom of Celestine the Patriarchs of Rome and Alexandria did Degenerate from an Ecclesiastical to a Secular Ruling and Dominion And when I consider how positively that Degeneracy is forbidden by our Saviour Matth. 20.26 Luke 22.25 Mark 10.43 who upon all Occasions reprov'd it in his own Disciples When I consider what Miserie 's the Clergy Domination has caused more than Twelve Hundred and Sixty Years since that Degeneracy how it has turn'd the Church into a meer Worldly Kingdom and the Laws thereof into Humane Politicks I cannot but rejoice that by the Laws of England this Degeneracy is or might be cured were the Laws put in Execution and the Supremacy restor'd to the Civil Power And whether the Pope of Rome by this Degeneracy did commence the Apocalyptick Beast entring into the Seat of Daniel's 4th Beast and so the time of his Reign be expired may be worth the Consideration of those that study the Apocalypse But certain it is that in England the Bishop of Rome before the Norman Conquest had no allow'd Jurisdiction but the Conqueror coming in under the Pope's Banner gave him leave to send Legates into England From William Rufus he attempted to gain Appeals to Rome which occasion'd the Banishment of Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury during the Reign of that King Upon Henry the First he Usurp'd the Donation of Bishopricks On King Stephen Appeals to Rome On Henry the Second the Exemption of Clerks from the Secular Power And from King John he got the whole Kingdom I shall not trace the Steps by which the Kingdom recover'd it self out of the Hands of the Clergy but notwithstanding the Pope held our Ancestors Consciences in Slavery till the Reign of Henry the Eighth many Acts of Parliament were made to uphold and maintain the Sovereignty of the King the Liberty of the People the Common Law and the Commonweal as appears by the Statutes of Edward the Third and and Richard the Second Henry the Fourth and Henry the Fifth being Laws of Premunire and Provision by which the Civil Power was preserv'd and the Body secured against the monstrous pretended Foreign Head And upon the whole the Civil Power of England kept it self out of the Hands of the Priests in all Matters and Causes except Causes Testamentary and of Matrimony Divorce Rights of Tythes Oblations and Obventions for as the Emperors out of a Zeal and desire to Grace and Honour the Bishops allow'd them Jurisdiction in Causes of Tythes because they were paid to Priests in Causes of Matrimony because Marriages were Solemniz'd in the Church in Causes Testamentary because Testaments were many times made in Extremis when Priests were present So the Kings of England before the Reformation did all along derive Jurisdiction in these Causes to the Bishops though the Right remain'd in them as the Fountain But herein England hath been more unhappy than the Empire for whereas the Bishops when Christian Emperors granted them this Jurisdiction proceeded in these Causes according to the Imperial Law as the Civil Magistrate did proceed in other Causes our Bishops introduced the Imperial Law and since it came into the World the Canon Law also into England and endeavoured all they could to destroy Caesar's Image and Superscription They call'd their Courts Courts Christian as if the Civil Courts were but Courts of Ethnicks and their Causes Spiritual as if Civil Causes were Carnal And yet if an Honest Man Examine the Matter he will probably find as much Christianity in Westminster-Hall as in Doctors Commons and Adultery a Crime no more Spiritual than Murder Since the Reformation began the Civil and Pretended Spiritual Authority have been wresting and they are not yet fully agreed It was Enacted by the Statute 24 Hen. VIII Cap. 12. That all these Spiritual Causes should be Judged within the King's Authority and not elsewhere By the 26 Hen. VIII Cap. 14. The Parliament took upon them even in those Popish Times to Create new Bishops Suffragans and to appoint their Sees And this multiplying of Bishopricks is no new thing for if you will believe Giraldus Cambrenses he tells us in a Writing which he presented to Pope Innocent the Third That in Britain there were in the time of the Romans Five Provinces and accordingly Five Arch-Bishopricks under each of which was Twelve Bishopricks so there were Threescore Bishopricks at a time when the Island was not wholly Christianized Nor is the Translation of Sees any Novelty for in the Year 604 Pope Gregory did for the sake of Austin the Monk procure the Translation of the Archiepiscopal Seat from London to Canterbury where it remains to this Day notwithstanding the endeavour of Gilbert Folioth Bishop of London in the time of Henry the Second and the endeavours of other Bishops of London since to recover the Archiepiscopal Dignity But to proceed by Statute 1. Edw. VI. Cap. 2. The Writ of Conge delire was ousted and it was Enacted That none but the King by his Letters Patents should collate to an Archbishoprick or Bishoprick That all Process Ecclesiastical should be in the King's Name and the Test in the Name of the Person having
Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and the Seal to be the King 's Arms. And though this Act was Repealed by the First Marie Cap. 2. yet that Act was Repealed again by Primo Jacobi Cap. 25. And some think that the Statute 1 Edw. 6. Cap. 2. is revived thereby and those who are Enemies to the Church are ready to enquire What Penalties our Bishops are liable to by Issuing Process in their own Names and using their own Seals For notwithstanding the Cant of The Church the Church their Courts are the King's Courts and their Law the King 's Ecclesiastical Law and this is acknowledged by the Oath of Supremacy and all the Laws made to this purpose are but in Affirmance of the Common Law notwithstanding the Author of Vox Cleri Vox Cleri P. 1. was so fond of Loyalty to the Church This indeed was an Expression which explain'd the Carriage of the High Church-Party to His Present Majesty for though they talk'd loud in behalf of the Prerogative it was only that the Prerogative might pay them Tribute and they were willing it should rob the Lay-Subject if it allow'd them to possess what they had filch'd from the Crown The King and Queen must first Swear Allegiance to the Church before they should be Crown'd and then they thought they had catched them and refused to Swear Allegiance to them as the Law requir'd but if instead of that horrible abuse to which the Sacrament was exposed in the Late Reigns a Test were Compos'd renouncing Transubstantiation and Common-wealth Principles and obliging to maintain the Government of England by King Lords and Commons as it is now Established the King and Kingdom would be secured beyond all possibility of Danger and the just Rights of the Arch-Bishops Bishops and other Clergy would be maintain'd though those Jacobite Church-Men were sent out to the French King whom they were not able to bring in to them And it is observable That as in the Late Reigns all the Champions for the Hierarchy strove to prove that it was the Duty of Dissenters to submit to the Church Establish'd by Law in those things which they acknowledg'd to be in themselves unnecessary Impositions because they were impos'd by Authority but they commonly left the Government to shift for it self and to Answer for those Impositions to God Conscience and the World So now the same Party left His Majesty and all concern'd in the Late Revolution to Answer for it to God their own Consciences and the World for they wash'd their Hands and said They were Innocent of being concern'd therein but they were under the force of Providence and if His Majesty would uphold the Power of the Church and take care to sit fast they would pay Him Allegiance otherwise they were ready for the next that came if he had the good luck to get the better And this is the Substance of the late Writings of that Party How much better Friends are they to His Majesty who believe Him to have an undoubted Right to his Crown and to Govern the Church as well as the State and that they are bound not only not to Resist Him but to Assist Him with their Lives and Fortunes against all Opposers The Church of England rightly understood is Lovely and Desirable but that which hath confounded and divided the Church is the Jumble and Mixture that hath been made between the Bishop's Power which is of the Essence of his Office as a Presbyter the Power which he has as President of the Presbytery and the Power which he has by Delegation from the King A Primitive Bishop as is clear by innumerable Testimonies had no more under his Charge than he could Personally know and when Churches grew larger than one Bishop could Personally inspect they had more Bishops yet so as that one Bishop had the Precedency and in a short Time he only ingrost the Name and the others were called Presbyters from among whom upon the Death of the Bishop another was chosen to succeed him But the Truth is as is most evident and particularly by the Testimony of that Incomparably Learned and Pious Arch-Bishop Vsher That every Presbyter hath a Right of Governing his Church and Administring Discipline Vid. Vsher's Reduction and thence hath the Name of Rector and is in the English Office of Ordination commanded to Administer Disciplinam Christi the Discipline of Christ and he expresly avers That the omission of the Exercise thereof in England is only from the Custom receiv'd in England and that that Impediment may be remov'd by Law So that the Relation a Bishop hath to a Particular Congregation is no more than as a Presbyter the Precedency of a Bishop to the Presbyters in a Diocess is of Pure Primitive Practice grounded on the General Rules of doing all in Order though it be no part of Revealed Institution All Societies are taught by the Light of Reason to keep some Order and for convenience of Regular Converse the Person of a certain Number whom they agree to be First in Honourable Qualities hath a Natural Right to be President though still of the same Order Thus the President of a Colledge of Physicians is no more than a Physician to his Patients but he is a President to the other Physicians and it would be a strange Fancy for such a President to claim a Right of being Physician to all the Bodies in London and alone to administer some sort of Physick to all within the Bills of Mortality I doubt such an Usurpation would increase the Number of the dead and be justly reckon'd horrid Tyranny over the Living But there is a third piece of an English Bishop and in that he is plainly the King 's Ecclesiastical Lord Lieutenant in such a compass of Ground call'd a Diocess and this he has by positive Humane Law and in this respect is not a Church but a State-Officer entrusted with part of the Civil Power His Courts are Civil Courts and he sits in the House of Lords with respect to His Temporal Baronage If the Distinction aforesaid were well understood how easie were it to end the Controversie about the JVS DIVINVM of EPISCOPACY and the JVS DIVINVM of PRESBYTERY and INDEPENDENCY about the Delegation of the Bishop's Power to Lay-Chancellors and the Bishops Lording it over God's Heritage And how easie would it be to Rectifie abundance of Matters complain'd of in the present Practice of the Church For Example If the Bishops were made by the Delivery of the Baculum and Annulum by the King Staff and Ring as they were before the Conquest or by Letters Patents and were he made President of the Presbytery by their Election especially if the King did usually give the Staff and Ring or grant the Letters Patents to the Person first chosen by the Presbytery they might with the greater Assurance Pray for the Assistance of the Holy Spirit at his Election Were his Lay-power understood to be Delegated to his
delivered to Pope Julius with the Exposition of the Apostles Creed written by the Latine Doctors The Nicene and Athanasian Creeds were further Explications of this Creed in Opposition to Arrius who struck at the very Foundation even the Godhead of Christ And the Second Councill of Constantinople enlarged the Nicene Creed in the Article that concern'd the Holy Ghost in Opposition to Macedonius who denied the Godhead and Personality of the Holy Ghost and in the Articles concerning the Catholick Church and the Privileges belonging thereunto and when the Roman Church after the Days of Charles the Great had added the Article of the Procession of the Holy Ghost from the Son in Opposition to the Greek Church the Council of Trent it self hath recommended it to us Council Tredend Ses 3. As that Principle in which all that Profess the Faith of Christ do necessarily agree and the firm and only Foundation against which the Gates of Hell shall never prevail Thus out of their own Mouths may we judge those pretended Servants of our Saviour His Blessed Promise hath been perform'd to a Tittle his Church hath been preserved in spight of the Gates of Hell and the Rock hath been like the Foundations of the Earth unshaken by all Assaults of Hell of all that are there already and all that are hastning thither And it is to me a most Important Observation which is made by that Prophet and Apostle of this Latter Age Archbishop Vsher Usher's Sermon June 20. 1624. pag. 27. That whatsoever the Father of Lyes either hath Attempted or shall Attempt yet hath he neither hitherto Effected nor shall ever bring to pass hereafter that this Catholick Doctrine ratified by the common Assent of Christians always and every where should be Abolish'd but that in the thickest Mist rather of the most perplexing Troubles it still obtained Victory both in the Minds and in the open Confession of all Christians no ways overturn'd in the Foundation thereof and that in this Verity that one Church of CHRIST was preserv'd in the midst of the Tempest of the most cruel Winter or in the thickest Darkness of her Wainings And he further adds that if at this Day we should take a Survey of the several Professions of Christianity that have any large spread in any Part of the World as of the Religion of the Roman and of the Reform'd Churches in our Quarters of the Ethiopians and Egyptians in the South of the Grecians and other Christians in the Eastern Parts and should put by the Points wherein they differ one from another and gather into one Body the rest of the Articles wherein they all agree we should find that in those Propositions which without all Controversy are Universally received in the whole Christian World so much Truth is contain'd as being join'd with Holy Obedience may be sufficient to bring a Man to everlasting Salvation neither have we cause to doubt but that as many as do walk according to this Rule neither overthrowing that which they have builded by super inducing any Damnable Heresies thereupon nor otherwise Viciating their holy Faith with a lewd and wicked Conversation Peace shall be upon them and Mercy and upon the Israel of GOD. This is a Consideration of the greatest Weight and discovers the Foundation of Christian Vnity and of the Peace of the Universal Church And even J. W. in his Contest with the Right Reverend and Learned Doctor Stilling fleet Stilling Answ to sev Treatises 68.70 now Lord Bishop of Worcester proves the Vnity of the Roman Church by this Argument All those who Assent unto the Ancient Creeds are Undivided in Matters of Faith But all Roman Catholicks Assent unto the Ancient Creeds Ergo all Roman Catholicks are Undivided in Matters of Faith These says the Doctor are the most Healing Principles that have yet been thought of Fye for shame why should we and they of the Church of Rome quarrel thus long We are well agreed in all Matters of Faith which saith he I shall demonstratively prove from the Argument of J. W. drawn from his two last Propositions All who Assent to the Ancient Creeds are Undivided in Matters of Faith But both Papists and Protestants do Assent unto the Ancient Creeds Ergo They are Undivided in Matters of Faith and though this way of Arguing was only Ad hominem it is great Pity that the Major Proposition of the last Syllogism was not pronounced out of the Infallible Chair But certain it is That the Papists notwithstanding their great Boast of Vnity are much more Divided within themselves than any Protestants from each other for the Rent goes through the main Foundation of their Faith Their Church's INFALLIBILITY For where to place it they can by no means agree but as among that Party which calls it self the Church of England though some are Socinians Note If that Notion be true viz. That the Vaudois and Albigeois are the Two Witnesses 't is Demonstration that Hierarchy and Liturgy are no proper Terms of Union For although they have been pure Churches ever since the Apostles Days they have always been without both some Calvinists c. yet all agree in the Hierarchy and Common-Prayer So there are two things in which all Papists do agree viz. the Hierarchy under the Bishop of Rome and the Sacrifice of the Mass Upon these two Poles the Antichristian World stands firm though almost all others are controverted Fas est ab hoste doceri And therefore why may not the Governours of the Church of England fix upon those Terms of VNION wherein all Christians in the World are agreed which are few and plain and restore them to their Primitive Right of being the Foundation of the Peace and Unity of Christians Terms of Divine Institution will as certainly Unite the Christian World as Terms of Humane Institution have done the Antichristian And since it is not a Matter at present practicable to bring all sorts of Christians together to agree on those Terms it will be the Glory of the Church of England to set an Example which will be follow'd by all the Christian World There are in a Word some Truths which are the First Principles of the Oracles of God Heb. 5.12 and these are the Truths which ought to be the Terms of Union But I would not be misunderstood as if I thought no other Truths necessary for a Growing Christian There are the Principles of the Doctrine of CHRIST or as the Original the Word of the beginning of CHRIST which are necessary to Unite a Man to the Christian Church Heb. 6.1 and which are suited to the Unlearned as well as the Learned and ought to admit him into its Communion But there is also a going on to Perfection which becomes all Men that live in that Communion the degrees of which are various and the highest degrees most desirable but yet he that hath but two Talents ought not to be cast out of the Church
Ordination by laying on of Paul's Hands 1 Tim. 4.14 2 Tim. 1.6 and also of Ordination by laying on the Hands of the Presbytery The Primitive Church joined together the Bishops and Presbyters in Ordination and that will Please and Unite the Episcopal and Presbyterian And I don't know whether if any Independent or Antipoedobaptist be fond thereof it should be any Difficulty to the Church of England to let them Admit their Pastor with what Ceremonies they please so as he be willing to submit thereto perhaps they will have the better Opinion of him and he have advantage of doing more good And as for Reordination 't is but Confirming Ordinations made by Presbyters by Act of Parliament which is no new thing and that Affair will be settled without determining that difficult Point of Controversie Many of the Incumbrances on Conformity are removed particularly that which related to the Illegally Imposed Covenant and the Oxford Oath and if Subscription to the Terms of Union by all that shall receive Imployment in the Established Church together with fit Qualifications and a Sober Religious and Godly Life were accepted instead of all other Subscriptions and Oaths how happy should we see the Church of England Lastly These things would Answer the Objections and Remove the Antipathies and Prejudices of the Dissenters And as for the Indecencies justly complain'd of amongst some of them by those of the Established Part of the Church they do already sensibly Decay and would soon vanish away Good Manners is certainly as agreeable in Church as out of it and there is no necessity of being Guilty of Irreverence to avoid Superstition The Apostle advised the Women in the Church to have a covering on their heads 1 Cor. 11.10 because of the Angels And if the Angels gather the Devotion of our Souls from the Posture of our Bodies were it for no other Reason Men would neither Sleep nor Loll nor put on their Hats in Publick or Allow'd Assemblies especially they who keep them off all the Week besides The Service of the Body as well as the Soul is owing to him from whom the Glory of both is expected And the Apostle as if he had fore-seen the Folly of some People in this Matter expresly exhorts us to Present our Bodies a living Sacrifice holy and acceptable to GOD which is our reasonable Service But yet I 'm not so Sanguine as to believe it a Matter probable to be effected to bring the Episcopal Presbyterian Independent and Antipoedobaptist so near together immediately as that they should agree in one Mode of Worship or Form of Divine Service and yet I conceive they may be all United in the Church of England and under the Government of the Bishops without hurting their Consciences on the one side or cutting a Hem off the Surplice on the other And to this purpose I would propose I. That by a New Act of Vniformity Moderate Men may be comprehended and the Tolerable Tolerated II. That an Act of Parliament be pass'd for the more Positive Settling and Limitting the Bishops Courts and give them a Process suitable to their Civil Constitution III. That the Power of Excommunication and Absolution be restor'd to the Parish Pastor for Matter of Immorality or Gross Heresie and the Proof thereof be transmitted to the Court kept for that Diocess IV. That all the Teachers in Dissenting Congregations do make themselves personally known to the Diocesan and own his Civil Jurisdiction within his Diocess according to Law and Enter the Places of their Assemblies with him And that all Dissenters submit to the Conusance of those Courts if they are accus'd of Immoralities who may there have a Civil Punishment V. That because very many of His Majesty's Subjects are and probably will continue under the above-mentioned Denominations it might be advisable that the several distinguish'd Parties choose their Representatives to Assist at a Convocation in Matters of Manners and Good Life and other things which are not in Controversie VI. The Providence of God in the Instance of London-derry did shew us that all Endeavours of Agreement are blest by Miraculous and Extraordinary Appearances of the Divine Goodness And though we are not Besieged in England yet I doubt we are under an equal necessity of Unity and Concord in order to preserve to our selves and Posterity both the Commandments and the Creed And if the Episcopal Party though they will be render'd much more Numerous by such Comprehension reserving to themselves both the Property and Profits of the Church would nevertheless allow the Dissenters the Morning and Evening Hours for their Lectures and Assemblies they Engaging not to meddle with those Matters in Controversie which distinguish Parties amongst us but only to endeavour the Good of Souls which is the Interest and Duty of all Parties they would grow together insensibly and we should be in a short time the Happiest Nation on the Earth FINIS Books Printed for J. Lawrence at the Angel in the Poultry MR. Pool's English Annotations in Two Volumes Folio The Works of the Reverend Mr. Stephen Charnock B. D. in Two Volumes Folio The Life of the Reverend Mr. Richard Baxter with the History of the Times he lived in Written by himself Folio A Sermon Preach'd at the Interrment of Mr. Samuel Stephens Quarto A Sermon Preach'd at the Assizes at Buckingbam July 5. 1692. by Mr. John Howard Rector of Marston-Trussel Quarto The Evil of our Days with the Remedy of it A Sermon preach'd at a Visitation at Rothwell in Northamptonshire â—ctob 12 1697. By the same Author A Sermon preach'd before the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of the City of London at St. Mary-le-Bow Jan. 30. 1693. A Thanksgiving Sermon before the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Citizens of London at St. Mary-le-Bow April 16. 1696. Both by Will. Stephens B. D. Rector of Sutton in Surrey Quarto Mr. Lorimer's Apology for the Ministers who Subscribed to the Stating of the Truths and Errors in Mr. William's Book in Answer to Mr. Irail's Letter to a Minister in the Country Quarto Mr Lorimer's Remarks on Mr. Goodwin's Discourse of the Gospel Proving that the Gospel-Covenant is a Law of Grace and Answering the Objections to the contrary Quarto An Effort against Bigottry and for Christian Catholicism by Henry Chandler Quarto A Funeral Sermon occasion'd by the Death of the Eminently Pious Mrs Elizabeth Williams late Wife of the Reverend Mr. Daniel Williams Octavo A Practical Discourse concerning Vows with a Special Reference to Baptism and the Lord's-Supper Octavo Dr. Burton's Discourses of Purity Charity Repentance and seeking first the Kingdom of God Published with a Preface by Dr. John Tillotson late Archbishop of Canterbury Octavo Bishop Wilkins's Discourse of the Gift of Prayer and Preaching the Latter much Enlarged by the present Bishops of Norwich and Chichester Octavo A Free Discourse wherein the Doctrines that make for Tyranny are Display'd the Title of our Rightful and Lawful King William
this Realm provided alway that no Canons Constitutions or Ordinance shall be made or put in Execution within this Realm by Authority of the Convocation of the Clergy which shall be contrariant or Repugnant to the King's Prerogative Royal or the Customs Laws or Statutes of this Realm any thing contained in this Act to the contrary hereof notwithstanding And in the close of the said Act it follows Provided that such Canons Constitutions and Synodals Provincial being already made which be not contrariant nor repugnant to the Laws Statutes and Customs of this Realm nor to the damage or hurt of the King's Prerogative Royal shall now still be used and executed as they were before the making of this Act till such time as they be viewed searched or otherwise ordered and determined by the said Two and Thirty Persons or the more part of them according to the Tenor Form and effect of this present Act. But nothing being done in pursuance of this Power vested in that King thereby the same was again Enacted by Stat. 27. H. 8. c. 15. But the Power of Popery rendring that Law also Ineffectual it was again by Stat. 35. H. 8. c. 16. Enacted That that King should still have the same Authority during his Life But still nothing was done for the Priests chose rather to continue the Canons and Constitutions and Laws Ecclesiastical in the uncertainty in which they were left by the said Stat. 25. H. 8. c. 19. than that the King and Sixteen of the Temporalty should intermeddle in Matters Ecclesiastical But King H. 8. died and left the Ecclesiastical Constitutions as the were unestablish'd by the last mentioned Statute And the Reformation having made a considerable Progress in the Reign of Edw. 6. the like Power and Authority was again given to that King by Stat. 3. and 4. Ed. 6. c. 11. But still the Old Leaven remained and nothing was done in his short Reign and Popery returning to its Vigor under the Reign of Queen Mary the aforesaid Stat. of 25 H. 8. c. 14. was Repealed by Stat. 1. and 2 Phil. and Mary c. 8. And although that Act was Revived again by the Act of 1 Eliz. c. 1. yet that Authority which had been given to King H. 8. and King Edw. 6. seems not to be given by that Act to Q. Eliz. But by the same Act the High Commission Court was created to Act under the Queen's Prerogative which was quite another sort of Authority and left the Laws Ecclesiastical as they were left by the Stat. 25. H. 8. c. 19. And the High Commission being since found inconvenient and condemned by Law it seems to me that something remains to be done for the Establishment of the Church And therefore tho' I impute it to the Prevalency of Popery that all those Statutes were of no Effect yet I would hope that the Divine Providence did permit so many Laws of that Kind to be made with a design that they might be Presidents for the like Authority to be vested in our most Gracious Sovereign Queen Anne whose Life hath set a rare Example of Christian Piety whose Reign the Almighty hath blest with the best Bishops that ever fill'd the English Sees and whose Care of all her Subjects hath been so often Exprest with such moving Accents from the Throne of whose Affection to the Church of England no Man can doubt and who may easily render it a Means and Pattern of Union to all the Protestant Churches and in a short time to the whole Christian World I write not this without Ground but with good Reason and some Glimpse of Hope Had any of the said Statutes in the Reign of H. 8. been pursued Popery had been further establish'd And in the short Reign of Edw. 6. Things were yet in great Confusion Matters in Controversie had not been fully discust Laymen-had but just got the Bible which is the Instructions left by our Blessed Saviour into their Hands and therefore could not so well judge whether his Ambassadors followed his Instructions or no. Humane Inventions had so long been made Equal to Divine Institutions that it was not easie at that time to distinguish them And considering the gross Ignorance that abounded among the Clergy when the Transition was made from Popery to the Protestant Religion by Queen Elizabeth it is wonderful that the Reformation should have made so great a Progress as it did in her Reign During the Reign of King James the First the Spanish and French Matches the Cowardise and yet the Ambition of that King diverted his Thoughts to other Matters than the Establishment of the Church but yet a step was made towards it by the new Translation of the Bible which was made in his Reign During the Reign of King Charles the First the Cassandrian Design of a Re-union to Rome was pursued with great Industry and therefore no wonder that a better Establishment of the Church was not attempted in his Reign And perhaps till the Mischief of Enthusiasm had shewed us the necessity of a National Church it would have been difficult to have brought the Dissenters to any Reasonable Terms of Union and therefore the first Opportunity which seems to me to have presented it self for such an Attempt was at the Restoration of the Royal Family when it was in the Power of King Charles the Second to have Establish'd the Church on such Foundations as would easily have taken into her Communion almost all Denominations of Christians who had not cast oft the Ordinances of Christ and their Allegiance to the Civil Government But the foreign Education of the Royal Brothers had sixt their Inclinations to a Union with France and Rome and the Fear under which King Charles the Second laboured was not lest the Dissenters should not comply with the Act of Uniformity but lest they should One Party was to be turn'd out that another might be brought in So that this time was not improved towards our Union But after that Popery appear'd barefac'd under the late King James the Second and Advances were made both by the Church-Party and the Dissenters towards Union at the Revolution that Season was look'd upon as a happy Juncture for such an Attempt But to speak my Mind freely although I think no Man can give an Instance wherein his late Majesty King William shewed any want of Affection to this National Church yet his Education under another sort of Church-Government did as I apprehend cause the Church Party to take Umbrage as if he designed to bend the Constitution in the Church too much toward the Dissenter And might also occasion in the Dissenter Expectations of greater Concessions than are necessary to Peace and Unity But the Mischiefs of Enthusiasm in the late Times the Persecution of the Episcopal Party then and of the Dissenters in the Reign of King Charles the Second and the terrible Visage of returning Popery under the late King James have occasioned great Thoughts of Heart All
but otherwise let us not be bubled out of our Senses either by the Jus Divinum of Episcopacy or of Presbytery while by one is meant the English Hierarchy or the Seotch Church Government by the other Do not all Learned Men know that Pope Leo the Great who began his Popedom about the Year 440 in his 87th and 90th Epistles is express for a pular Election of Bishops And altho' Pope Symmachus in the latter end of the Fifth Century about the Year 498 endeavoured to exclude the People from the Election yet Pope Celestine the Second in the Year 1143 was the first Pope made without the Peoples Election even in the See of Rome where Priesteraft did most prevail And now in England the Dean and Chapter chose the Bishop in Pursuance of an Act of Parliament and by Authority from the Crown Hierom and Eutichius are express that in Alexandria from Mark their first Bishop one of the Presbyters was chosen to be Bishop by the rest So that the Presbyters could make a Bishop for we read of no Bishops that Ordained or Consecrated Him when so chosen which is the Practice in England The Learned Vsher acknowledges that the Presbyters Power which I plead for is taken from Him in England only by Law and may by Law be restored And yet because an Episcopacy was early in the Church the English Prelacy must be put upon us to be Jure Divino Take it as it is Jure Humano and I have not one word to say against it And 't is plain that notwithstanding the noise now made about the Jus Divinum of Bishops as a Superiour Order to Presbyters that was not the Sense of the Church at the Restauration of King Charles the Second for if it had the Lords Spiritual would never have agreed to the Stat. 12. Car. 2. Cap. 17. which restores Ministers Ordained by any Ecclesiastical Persons before the 25th of December then last past Alass Sir Christ himself and not the Apostles Ordained the Seventy Philip the Deacon sent Christianity into Abasinia where it still is by the Aethopian Eunuch who was no Bishop that I know of and yet they had Ordained Ministers before they received an Abuna or Archbishop from the Patriarch of Alexandria Let the Priests be Governed in all Countries as they are most Governable it hinders not but we may be all of the same and not of opposite Principles but of the same Perswasion in Matters of Religion I don't pretend to determine how far the Civil Power may enforce Reveal'd Religion but I hope all Christian Princes and States will take care that the Priests add not to or diminish from our Christianity in any Form and let them be Governed as they may but for God's sake let Discipline be restored and then 't is no great matter in what Form the Priests are managed Let every Minister who has the Cure of Souls be enabled to exercise Disciplinam Christi which I am sure is Jure Divino and perhaps the Reduction of Episcopacy to the Form of Synodical Government by Archbishop Vsher tho' not Jure Divine would be found so agreeable to Reason suitable to Primitive Practice and accomodate to the Ends of Discipline that a due Consideration thereof might in a while bring all Christian Churches into the same Form of Government without the Pretence of a Jus Divinum for it Let us have no Laws about the Matter of Reveal'd Religion but what are at least plainly justified by the Scripture and not be hampered by the Priests Additions in any Form and Discipline will be easie and without Difficulty But if the Parish Minister may not Excommunicate a Notorious Convicted Atheist Deist Blasphemer Idolater Prophane Swearer Sabbath-breaker Abuser of Parents Murderer Adulterer Thief Perjured Person Extortioner Barretor and such like but must complain to the Diocesan and an Appeal must lie to the Archbishop the same Reason may carry it to the Pope tho' our Laws justly prohibit it So in the other Form of Government if such a Criminal after Conviction by Law may appeal from his Pastor to the Sessions thence to the Presbytery thence to the Synod and thence to the General Assembly the same Reason will carry it to a General Council and I think there ought to be one Appeal more in such Cases viz. to the Day of Judgment Indeed if Priests may make us a Horse-load of Canons and Constitutions Ecclesiastical and load us with Ceremonies of which St. Augustine in his Second Epistle to Januarius complains that the Condition of the Jews was more tolerable than of the Church in his Time which was the 5th Century and the Transgression of every one of them shall be a new Sin there may be need of Appeals nor will it be sit to trust a single Person to teaze a Parish for not submitting to Priestcraft But the Laws of God are plain the Duties required by Christianity are well known and I am so far from Abridging the Ministers of the Gospel of their just Power that I think 't is a horrid shame that they have not more 'T is an excellent Passage cited out of Mr. Chillingworth by the late Author of a Discourse called the Principle of the Protestant Reformation I am fully assured that God doth not and therefore that Man ought not to require any more of any Man than this to Believe the Scripture to be God's word to endeavour to find the true Sense of it and to Live according to it The Bible the Bible I say the Bible only is the Religion of Protestants But though I agree with the Author page 5. That a Person by Baptism is not made a Member of any particular Church but only of the Christian Church Universal yet I conceive that he is wretchedly out when he insinuates That there is no Part of Primitive Church Communion which might not have been performed by a Woman as well as a Man and that a Woman 's Narrative would have been part of the Gospel Because that Bible tells me not that our Saviour had any She-Apostles or Evangelists Indeed Priscilla as well as Aquila did instruct Apollos but so may any good Woman instruct her Friend without being a Church-Officer And the Context of that Passage 1 Cor. 11.21 which he quotes seems to insinuate as if this Fancy of a Female Officer had got footing in the Church of Corinth but the Apostle tells us That the Head of the Woman is the Man ver 3. and that she ought to have Power or a Covering on her Head So far from being heard that she was not to be seen And in the next Chapter v. 28 29. he speaks of Church-Officers but of no She-Ones And again Chap 14. v. 34. He is plain in the Case Let the Woman keep Silence in the Church for it is not permitted to them to speak and so 1 Tim. 2.12 Again I think he is strangely out when he says page 11. That there is no absolute Necessity for
the High-Church Party in England or the High-Kirk Party or Cameronians in Scotland can make a Man otherwise honest to tear the Government in pieces Indeed Popery is inconsistent with Allegiance to all Protestant Kings and States For as Antonius de Dominis Arch-bishop of Spolato acknowledged above 80 years ago The Church under the Bishop of Rome is no more a Church but a human Government under the Monarchy of the Pope which is wholly Temporal And this Assertion of his may be easily justified out of the Lateran and other Councils and their most celebrated Writers So Thomas Aquinas tells us That the Pope is as much above Bishops as Bishops are above Kings and Princes that the Secular Power is subjected to the Spiritual as the Body to the Soul and that therefore 't is no Usurpation when a Prelate meddles with Temporal Matters So Bonaventure his Contemporary about the Year 1274 affirms That the Pope may depose Princes and this after Edwardus Salburgensis in his Oration to the Diet at Ratisbon about the Year 1248 had thus express'd himself There are now 175 Years elasps'd since Gregory the 7th laid the Foundations of an Empire under the shew of Religion which in the same Oration he calls the Empire of Antichrist But this is a matter so plain that it cannot be denied by any learned Protestant and I wish that none who bear the Protestant Name were of the Mind of Salmero who teaches that as well the Priestly as the Kingly Power is placed in the Pastors of the Church that so Christ may reign for ever For 't is not long since the Judges of England were solemuly told in a Sermon that St. Paul was a mix'd Person Alas these and such as these are the Principles which work Confusion and tear the Government in pieces whether they got into the Heads of Prelatists or Presbyterians or of Men of any other denomination But altho' the Christian Profession with a suitable Conversation ought to be look't upon as an excellent Qualisication for an Imployment where the Person has other Qualifications proper for such an Imployment and such a Man is certainly preferable to another of equal Skill who either makes no Profession of Religion or lives not according to his Profession Yet the antient Roman Honesty with the Roman Courage Loyalty and Love to his Country and largeness of Soul may render a Man more sit for an Imployment than a Selfish Persecuting Cowardly Arbitrary narrow Soul Fellow that oves none but his own Party tho' he believed his Creed never so firmly and roar'd for the Church never so boisterously and much more if all the noise he makes be for humane Inventions and Ceremonies The Priests are now competently ashamed of the pretended Jus Divinum of absolute Monarchy and when they have been scouted out of all their Pretences under all Forms to any Jus Divinum not to be found in the Scriptures Then and not till then will the Princes and States of Christendom be secure and quiet The proof hereof would be too prolix but I can't forbear to present you with a small sample The Pope in the 13th Century sent the Christian Princes a Pilgrimage to recover the Holy Land which was in truth only to take an Opportunity to usurp upon their Rights in their Absence and to set up his pretended Jus Divinum to be Monarch of the World Thus after Gregory the 9th had by Excommunication forc'd the Emperor Frederick the Second to an Expedition into the Holy Land he invaded Naples and other parts of the Emperor's Dominions and stirred up Henry the Emperor's Son to Rebellion and called a Council to depose him Nor would he make Peace with him tho' he sued to the Pope for it and tho' the Tartars carried all before them the Emperor could not obtain Liberty to assist the Christians but was forc'd to fight it out with the Pope till the Anti-christian Monster having the worst on 't broke his Heart Some time after Pope Innocent the 4th blessed the French King Lewis about the Year 1248 and sent him on the same Errand but gathered a Council at Lyons against Frederick and thereby hindred him from assisting Lewis who sought to make Peace between the Emperor and the Pope that he might be assisted but the barbarous Pope and his pretended Jus Divinum left the poor King and his two Brothers Captives to the Saracens and the whole Christian Army to be cut off Some time after Pope Gregory the 10th engaged the Emperor Rodulph to send an Army into Asia and after the Ruin of that Army and the Captivity of the Prince of Meckleburg who commanded it being the 7th Army in this Century that was sent on the Pope's Errand It happen'd that Cassianus Prince of Tartary turned Christian and conquered Syria from the Saracens and left Governors in it with express Orders that they should enter into a Confederacy with the Christian Princes of the West But Pope Bonisuce the Eighth to whom this Offer was made was so busy in maintaining his pretended Jus Divinum against the French King Philip whom he Excommunicated and his Posterity to the Fourth Generation that he wholly slighted this Offer which occasioned oned the loss of Syria made Capeacus who governed in Damascus for Cassianus to revolt to the Soldan of Egypt and gave occasion to the rise of the Ottoman Empire in the beginning of the next Age. Alass Sir were there no Princes in the Seventeenth Century ruined by Contests about those Jus Divinums I pray God the Eighteenth Century may afford no instances of any Prince undone by believing the Jus Divinum of Priestcraft These things considered it is not strange that the National Synod or Council of Gap Anno 1604 just 100 Years ago for the Reasons in their Acts mentioned and among others for that the Bishop of Rome with relation to Civil Affairs tramples on the lawful Authority of Magistrates giving taking away transferring Kingdoms thus resolve We Believe and Assert that he is the true and proper Antichrist the Son of Perdition foretold in the Word of God the Purple Whore that sits on the Seven Mountains in the Great City that has obtained Dominion over the Kings of the Earth and we wait till God as he hath promis'd and already begun to do shall break and conquer him by the Spirit of his Mouth and destroy him utterly by the brightness of his Coming But we are assured by a more infallible Authority that the Kings of the Earth shall hate the Whore and make her Desolate and Naked Rev. 17.12 16. and eat her Flesh and burn her with Fire The Kings and not the Priests are to work this Reformation and therefore tho' they had given their Power Strength Verse 13. and Kingdom to the Beast which the Kings of the Earth never gave to any but the Pope and his Church yet by re-assuming their respective Rights and asserting their just Supremacy God will some time or other
quasi tradita ab Apostolis asseruntur percutiuntur Gladio Dei Hier. in Agg. long after the 4th Century All those things which are asserted as delivered by the Apostles without the Testimony of the Scriptures are smitten with the Sword of God For it seems when Irenaeus and the other ancient Fathers had exposed all Vnrevealed Parts of Revealed Religion the Lovers of Priest-craft would have introduced some things as Revealed tho' not written but conveyed down by Tradition But I must not enlarge at least at this time on this Subject only having some Reason to know the Original of the Charter granted by the late Glorious King Willian Establishing a Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge I earnestly intreat the Reader to consider the Consequence of these Additions to Christianity with respect to that Design If I were now to apply my self to an Indian to instruct him in the Christian Religion I would appeal to his Experirience that Nature is corrupted and shew him the History thereof in the Scriplures 3 Gen. 5 Rom. 12.18 I would appeal to his Reason that Sin deserves Punishment and that Justice must be a Divine Attribute and shew him the same things in Scripture 34 Ex. 7. 45 Is 21. 3 Rom. 26. I would appeal to his Reason and shew him in Scripture what a loss Mankind was at to find out an Atonement that thousands of Rams and ten thousands of Rivers of Oyl would not suffice 6 Mic. 6.7 8. not the First-born the Fruit of the Body for the Sin of the Soul But that notwithstanding all that Man could do 49. Ps 7.8 the Redemption of the Soul was so precious that it must have ceas'd for ever Then I would shew him only by Revelation out of the Word of God That faithful saying and worthy of all Acceptation 1 Tim. 1.15 that Jesus Christ came into the World to save sinners and so proceed to Preach the Gospel to him and to instruct him out of the New Testament The suitableness of such a Propitiation for our Sins sufficient to satisfie Divine Justice and the Cravings of a wounded Spirit seeking Means to make Satisfaction thereto was in my Opinion the true Reason of the Progress of Christianity in the first Ages of the Church and will be so when rightly enforced to the yet Vuchristianiz'd Part of the World And the Man by this time would be very willing to believe those Scriptures to be the Word of God And the Proof thereof would be very agreeable to him Account of the Proceedings of the Society by Mr. Stubbs or as an Indian King lately exprest himself that there was a Saviour born for Mankind But when he had rejoyc'd in Christ Jesus and hugged his Bible and read in the end of it and elsewhere Deut. 4.2 22 Rev. 18.19 Prov. 30.6 the Curses pronounc'd against those that diminish from it or add to it and desired to be Baptized with what Face could I tell him that he must not be admitted to have any benefit thereby unless he will constantly submit to divers things not to be found there and that unless he did so he was both for God and Baal Wou'd he think it a decent thing to add to the Institutions of such a Redeemer But I will not enter into Particulars if the Design of the following Discourse do prevail these Matters will be considered by wiser Heads but by none who wish more the Glory of the Christian Church and particularly of that part of it in England than Your Christian Friend J. HOOKE CATHOLICISM WITHOUT POPERY SIR IN your Preface to your late Discourse Entituled Peace at Home you have rightly observed That the Controversie which is the Subject Matter of that Discourse ought not to be carried on with Heat and Passion but fairly debated with Reason and Moderation not by unknown Persons who may be Jesuits or Deists but by such as dare own their Principles and will endeavour to Reconcile our Differences and not inflame them I hope that an Acquaintance of some Years hath sufficiently convinc'd you that I am neither Jesuit nor Deist And I dare appeal to your Conscience whether I have not given you undeniable Evidence of an Affection to the Church of England and a desire not to keep up but to reconcile our Differences not to promote Parties and Factions but Peace and Unity not for the sake of any private End or Interest whatsoever but for the sake of Truth and for the general Good Thus far therefore I conceive my self to be such a Person as you wish your Answerer should be But because you and the Writers of your Party have taken the liberty to accuse Men of my Principles as Hypocrites as unfit to be Guardians of Children or Executors of Wills as dispensing with our Principles for the sake of an Office as setting up an Arbitrary Dispensing Power in our own Consciences as acting contrary to our Original Principles as if Occasional Conformity were such an Offence as in inconsistent with the Publick Safety and Occasional Conformists Persons sit to be rank'd with Papists Deists and Socinians I have thought it my Duty thus to acquaint you that I have also that other Qualification to become your Answerer That I dare own my Principles But alass to what End were your Applications made to Her Majesty on Occasion of the late Bill since by your own Confession the Fears and Jealousies of those who are Members of the Church of England and of those who dissent from it And the Matters in Controversie arising from those Fears seem in a fair way to be determined to the Satisfaction of all Parties by Her Majesties Gracious Speeches from the Throne That Her Majesty will always make it Her particular Care to encourage and maintain the Church as by Law Established and to maintain the Act of Toleration for the ease of Dissenters Give me leave to add alass to what end did you erect a Pompous Frontispiece before an Epistle Dedicatory a Preface a Discourse and a Postscript and all these on a Subject of which you seem to know no more than if you had lived in Turky or under the Great Mogul I mean the Principles of the Occasional Conformists for I had rather impute your unaccountable Mistakes concerning them to Ignorance than Insincerity And unless they be understood your Discourse in behalf of the Establish'd Government in Church and State of Uniformity Establish'd Religion and Establish'd Constitutions seems Calculated and may indifferently serve for the Meridian of Edenburg Geneva Paris Rome or Constantinople and with a small Variation of Names may be publish'd in behalf of the Constitutions in Church and State in all those places I take leave therefore to inform you That the Description of the Occasional Comformists is true which is given by the Author of a Letter to a Clergy-man concerning the Votes of the Bishops in the last Sessions who divides them into two sorts such as prefer the Worship of
the Church of England for a Constancy but hold the separate Congregations to be Lawful Churches and think themselves obliged in Conscience sometimes to Communicate with them tho' I had rather call such Occasional Dissenters and such as prefer the Worship of Dissenters for a Constancy but hold the Worship of the Church of England to be Lawful and think themselves obliged to testifie their Charity by Communicating sometimes with it who are properly Occasional Conformists I take leave also to inform you That both these sorts of Occasional Conformists do believe the Apostle's Creed and particularly the Holy Catholick Church or as the Nicene Creed has it They believe One Catholick and Apostolick Church They acknowledge the 19th Article of the Church of England That the Visible Church of Christ is a Congregation of Faithful Men in which the pure Word of God is preached and the Sacraments be duly ministred according to Christ's Ordinance in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same That neither sort of these Occasional Conformists find any such Article in any Creed as this I believe the High Church-Party of the Church of England And thus believing they thus Reason He that believes the Holy Catholick Church takes himself to be a Member of that Church and consequently believes it his Duty to refuse Communion with no Party of Christians whose Communion does not necessitate him to Sin and no Communion of Christians who are a Visible Church of Christ within the said Description given by the said 19th Article do necessitate him to Sin They make a great difference between the Use of a Ceremony or any indifferent thing about Religion and the Imposition thereof as necessary to Communion in the Ordinances of Christ and again another difference between the Imposition thereof by any particular Church or Division of Christians on those that Communicate with them and the Separation of that Division of Christians by such Ceremony or indifferent Thing from the rest of the Catholick Church The Use therefore of a certain Ceremony is what they do not scruple as wearing a Gown or Surplice Standing at the Creed Kneeling or Standing or Sitting at the Sacrament according to the Usage of that Party of Christians with whom they Communicate Again They don't scruple the like Ceremony tho' they be imposed by the Government on any National Church or Party of Christians so as they be not made Parties to the Imposition or compelled to declare their Approbation thereof by Word or Practise It is their Judgment That all Religion is Natural or Revealed That there is no Revealed Religion nor any part of it which is not found in the Word of God That nothing ought to be imposed amongst Christians as a Term of Communion which has not its Warrant from thence according to the Sense of the Primitive Church and the whole Protestant Church at the first Reformation And they think it absurd to talk of Unrevealed Parts of Revealed Religion It is therefore their Opinion that if any Party of Christians make a Law That whoever communicates with them must use such or such an Unscriptural Posture or Ceremony and must not have Communion with any other Christians who use not the same altho ' true Churches according to the said 19th Article of the Church of England and this under the Penalty of being starved or any other severe Penalty they take that Party of Christians to be such as the Psalmist speaks of Psal 94.21 who frame Mischief by a Law They think that such Party of Christians do thereby set up an unaccountable Schism in the Catholick Church and separate themselves from it by setting up their Posts by God's and their own Thresholds by his and their making a Wall between him and them so that the Schism lies at their Door and not at theirs who in Contradiction to such a Law continue Members of the Catholick Church They are of Opinion that the Roman Catholicks are justly charged with the greatest Schism that ever was in the Christian World because they separate themselves from the Catholick Church by their new Articles of Faith and Notorious Idolatries which they impose as Terms of Communion but they pretending that the things which they impose are necessary and to be comply'd with on Peril of Damnation are not therefore so Self-condemned as that Party would be who should by such a Law concerning things indifferent separate themselves from all the rest of the Catholick Church The Occasional Conformist therefore by his Communicating with the Church of England declares That he takes it to be a sound Part of the Catholick Church and his Communion with it is Communion with the Catholick Church and not with a Party He Communicates with it because he Agrees with it in all the Essentials of Christianity tho' he Approves not of its Impositions And his Communion with other Protestants is Communion with the Catholick Church of which he takes them also to be a sound Part. By the first he declares himself an Enemy to Separation by the second to unnecessary Impositions by both a Catholick Christian And he is the more confirmed in this Practice because of the plain Tendency of the Unscriptural Terms of Communion which the High Church-Party would establish to a Re-union with Popery as is obvious to any Person who shall seriously consider them And for satisfaction therein I would refer you to avoid Repetition to the Preface of a little Discourse entituled Catholocism without Popery where this Matter is particularly Considered And the Notions therein advanc'd have been effectually Justified by the Oracle of your Party the Author of the Case of the Regale Pontisicat a Book written directly against her Majesty's Supremacy and which has received a Second Edition which asserts That the Dissenter will neither take nor give quarter will neither propose nor accept any Terms of Reconciliation Page 255. and cannot for that unless only for that Reason be angry at the High-Party's seeking or offering Reconciliation with others who may be better disposed and that the whole and only difference between that Party and the Church of Rome Page 244. and which hinders Communion is the Extents of the Pope's Supremacy which the Galliean Church have thrown off as well as they But that all the difference between the Popish French Church and the Church of England are so far Reconcilable as not to hinder Communion And proposes in the First Edition a Treaty between our Convocation and the General Assembly of the Galliean Bishops and Clergy and complains in the Margin of the Second Edition pag. 263. That the English Convocation not being suffered to sit while that of France lasted rendered any Treaty betwixt them impracticable And pag. 179. proposes it plainly as a means to this blessed End that a Bill should pass to render all those that go to Meetings uncapable of any Place of Trust or Profit in the Government And that this must be the
Sorbon condemned it because they believed it to be written by a Jansenist but some Years after a Spanish Bishop having Translated it into the Spanish Tongue and Publish'd it with the Approbation of the Doctor 's of the Holy Inquisition Pesonius â— Hayer turned it into French Dedicated it to the Queen Publish'd it with the Royal Priviledge and the Approbation of the Doctors of the Sorbon And thus have I known a fierce Scotch Presbyterian sit with Reverence and Attention for a long time while one of my Acquaintance rend diverse parts of the Common Prayer but as soon as it was discovered how the Person was entertained my Friend who was a tall Man was glad to make the best use of his long Legs And here I will mention an Observation which I have frequently made That if you hear a Man declaring that no Man can be serious in the use of the Common Prayer nor worship God thereby with Fervency and Affection 't is forty to one that the Man never tried On the other hand if you hear a Person exclaiming against Extempore Prayer calling it Cant and Nonsense 't is as many to one that he never heard an Extempore Prayer in his Life but now there is one Occasional Conformist to my knowledge and I believe some thousands that have joined in worshipping God by the Common-Prayer a thousand times and have also joined in Worshipping Him as often with those that use no invariable Form who can testifie with great Assurance that both those sorts of People are wretchedly mistaken who can tell you that they know no reason why Christians should not agree in a Form as to the Matter of Prayer as well as of Belief or why those who make no scruple to sing the Psalms in Metre by Sternhold and Hopkins which is for the most part but a wretched Form of the Matter of Praise should scruple the Common Prayer which is much nearer Scripture Language than the aforesaid Version of the Psalms That it is a very agreeable Consideration that many Thousands of Pious Souls are at the same time joining in Adoring God in the same words as well as Desires without Idolatry and without any of the Additions made by the Papacy to the Christian Religion and in the best Liturgy in the World Especially when they consider that the 4 living Creatures improperly call'd Beasts in our Translation and the 24 Presbyters or Elders which represent the Christian Church are represented as constantly using the same Form of Thanksgiving and the like Forms are found 5 Rev. 9 12 13. 7 Rev. 10 12. 11 Rev. 17 18. 15 Rev. 3. 19 Rev. 1 2 6 7. And the same Persons can at the same time assure you that they never heard Cant or Nonsence among those who pray without a Form but for the most part the Expressions taken out of the Scripture the Prayers generally Premeditated Methodical Reverend and fervent accommodated to the various Circumstances of the Interests of Religion in the World both at home and abroad and the various Dangers or Judgments under which the Nation may be and to the Blessings of Heaven received They that so pray are never hindred from giving Thanks for Victories because 't is Lent nor from Humiliation under Judgments because 't is Christmass They usually have respect to the Subject Matter of the following Discourse which is a very good Preparation for Attention and a Means of obâ—aining a Blessing on the Sermon They can ingeniously and suitably accomodate their Devotion to the Circumstances of Families or Persons in Matter of Prayer or Thanksgiving for which it is impossible that any or all the Liturgies in the World can suffice Again these Occasional Conformists sinding that the blessed Spirit as a Spirit of Grace and Supplication is to convert the Jews Zach. 12.10 that in the 8 Rom. 26. The Assistance of the Spirit in Prayer is exprest by a word alluding to a Person who being to lift at a Beam has one that helps him to lift both at the end of which he has hold and at the other end too or signifying such a help as when one that is strong taketh up a Burden over-against another who is too weak and also sets his Shoulders against the other to lift up the Burden 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from these and other places of Sacred Scripture they are apt to gather that the Assistance of the Spirit in Prayer ought not to be confined I say confined to an invariable set Form of Humane Composure or only to enable the Minister to read a Prayer Audibly and Reverently nor are they willing to understand the Act of Uniformity in such a Sense as this That from and after the 24th Day of August 1662 neither the Parts nor Learning of any Minister of the Gospel nor the Gift of Prayer nor the Assistance of the Spirit in the Matter of Prayer should be of any further use in the Publick Worship of God They think it possible that Men may make an Idol of Words as well as of Wood or Stone and they are afraid that where the Spirit is rejected as a Spirit of Supplication he oft refuses to act as a Spirit of Grace And herein on Consideration I do verily believe that the good Church-man and the Occasional Conformist are of the same Mind But further as to all the Matters in Controversie between the Church-man and the Presbyterian and Independent as well as between Him and the Occasional Conformist which concern Matters of Ceremonies and Humane Additions such as the Sign of the Cross at Baptism the Posture of Kneeling at the Sacrament and the Surplice your Oracle above-mention'd has agreed That it is lawful for the Church to dispense with their Rites and Ceremonies and if lawful then necessary to heal the Schism of the Dissenters Page 247 That if they would all agree which of the indifferent things would purchase their Reconciliation the Church would readily grant it for so good an End Page 254. Indeed in another Form viz. As a Wolf strip'd of his Shepherds Cloathing he has been howling about the Streets for some time against the Dissenters and Occasional Conformists Protestants Jesuits Hellish Doctrines Diabolical Seed Fruit of Blood Massacre and all Wickedness Wild Enthusiasm Laodicean Latitude which God abhors Evil Beasts always Lyars Hideous Blasphemy Furious Phanaticks Impudence and Blasphemy Grin of a Lion Asses-ears Cloven-foot Thus in the compass of a few railing Pages beginning with the Jesuit and ending with the Devil and after all Page 59 complains of it as a heavy Charge against his Party That they do not treat the Dissenters in the Spirit of Meekness yet he tells us in that very Treatise Page 3. That the High Church should have little Quarrel with the Dissenters about all the Objections they make as to Habits Ceremonies Liturgy and even the Grand Point of Ordination by Presbyters in case of Necessity and where a Bishop could not be had if it were not for that
fulsom word Schism If they did not gather separate Congregations and set them up in Opposition to the Church they would be no Dissenters notwithstanding their different Sentiments as to the Points before mention'd for there are those in the Communion of the Church who may differ in Opinion about those things and may Reason and Argue them over with one another without any Breach of Charity or of the Unity of the Church which requires not that all Men should be exactly of the same Opinion in Matters of Discipline nor nof Faith but of one Communion this preserves the Unity of the Church Well said Wolf when you speak of the Church do but mean the Church in your Creed and fare-wel the Occasional Conformist for he does none of those ill things you complain of but is Sir Humphrey your very humble Servant and very fit for an Office Page 80. Occasional Conformity has no ill Consequence and is far from inferring of no Church and no Religion at all I acknowledge with that Author that setling the true Notion of the Church and the Priesthood as Instituted by Christ is really of Consequence and therefore in that little Discourse Entituled Catholocism without Popery I did earnestly request that it might be done for the Reasons therein mentioned Page 4.5 6. And there is the more Reason to desire it because else 't is hard to judge who are of opposite Principles and not of one and the same Perswasion in Matters of Religion especially since the aforesaid Oracle alias High Church Wolf tells us that the 39 Articles are not so much as Articles of Communion Page 16. far less of Faith He tells us that they are required from no Lay-men or any other but the Clergy who are in Office That there may be an Uniformity in the Doctrine publickly Preach'd So then Uniformity in Matters that are neither Matters of Faith nor Communion Constitutes the Church or is the Church-man then the Hypocrite instead of the Occasional Conformist being obliged to Subscribe and Preach a Doctrine in the Name of God which he does not believe and are the Ceremonies and Humane Additions more considerable in the Constitution of the Church than the 39 Articles But in truth this Matter ought to be search'd to the bottom and I am led to it by the same Author who in the beginning of that Discourse observes that there is a Mistake about the word Moderation for that it appears by the Context Page 1. the Original Word means a Patient and chearful Suffering of Afflictions So that instead of 4. Phil. 5. Let your Moderation be known unto all Men being a Text against Persecution it seems 't is a Text that supposes Persecution I must say that I never met with any Body that argued Indifferency as to Religion from that Text but surely 't is violently screw'd to make it favour Persecution Page 1. But 't is observed that this word is found but once in all our Bible and the word Clergy is found no oftner Page 2. and yet what work have we about that Word Laymen are not obliged to the Articles of the Church but only the Clergy who are in Office but how if the Laymen be the Clergy that is I mean God's Clergy or Inheritance for the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at least in that Sense is found no where in the Bible but 1 Pet. 5.3 where St. Peter having styl'd himself a fellow Presbyter exhorts the Presbyters to their Duty to feed the Flock of God which was among them as Bishops thereof not by constraint but willingly not for filthy Lucre but of a ready Mind neither as being Lords over God's Clergy which we read Heritage but being Ensamples to the Flock Now this Epistle being Written about the Year of our Lord 64 't is remarkable that he who was an Apostle and a Partaker of the Miraculous Gifts of the Holy Ghost above 30 Years before calls himself a fellow Presbyter which for some Reason or other our Translation reads an Elder and Exhorts the Presbyters which we read Elders to Episcopize which we read taking the over-sight But the thing which I would here observe is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the late Learned Scholiast Gregory reads it out of Oecumenius is not the Priests but the People however the Priests afterwards came to engross the Name One thing I would therefore desire of the Priests that they would let us in again for a Share at least and not believe that they only are God's Clergy or Inheritance I wou'd also intreat them that they would not be the Church because tho' that word is used in the New Testament about one hundred times yet it is not once used for the Ministers without the People I know 't is pretended that the Gospel of St. Matthew where the word is twice found but no where else in any of the four Evangelists it must signifie the Ministers but not to enter now into that Controversie 't is strange that in the other 99 Places it should signifie no such thing and therefore since the People are 99 parts at least of the Church I would not have the Priests pass for the Church and if these two things be granted me I fancy we shall by and by come into a fair way of delivering the World from that Controversie about Episcopal and Presbyterian Government But I can't here omit to give you a short hint of what may perhahs be more fully discours'd elsewhere The Apostle Paul 2 Thes 2.3 Tells us that the Day of Judgment should not come till there had been an Apostacy or falling away and that Man of Sin be revealed and so goes on describing the Papacy most accurately But I must own that till I read Irenaeus that best piece of Primitive Christianity I never understood the meaning of that Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But that Primitive Father acquaints us that the Primitive Hereticks of whom Simon Magus was the Father Lib. 1. Cap. 30. invented a new sort of God's called Aeons of whom they imagin'd originally but four Lib. 1. Cap. 1. but were still adding new ones Lib. 2. Cap. 22. till they came to be 4380 according to the number of the hours of the Days of the Year and to carry on this Generation they began betimes to couple their Aeons as Man and Wife and one of the first couple wore Anthropos and Ecclesia Lib 1. Cap. 34. Vera Sanct Ecclesia so they called this same Goddess the Wife of Anthropos And his Anthropos they held to be above God Irenaeus Page 54 which exactly agrees with the Anthropus mentioned by the Apostle Paul in the aforecited Place And hence also we may gather who that Whore is that we read of in the Revelations even this same Wife of Anthropos which seems to me to be the Reason why in that whole Book after the third Chapter you never meet with