against all such negative interests in the Election or Maintenance of the Ministers of the Gospel as are not of Divine appointment and institution IV. Next Bishops have no more warrand from Scripture for such an interest and priviledge than others have And the power of Patronage hath been as grosly abused if not more and as scandalously offensive and I am sure more prejudicial to the interests of the Church and to the thriving of Religion when in the hands of the Bishops than when in the hands of other persons And there is no ground from Scripture either by precept promise or example that any one Church Officer should ordinarly be intrusted with such an interest and priviledge in the Looking out Nomination and Election and in the Maintenance or Living of the Ministers of the Gospel V. But to cut of all farther debate we utterly disclaime any such Officer in the Church as a Bishop in a sense superior to or distinct from an ordinary preaching Presbiter or Elder These terms are of one and the self same signification in the Scripture as will appear to any that will be at the pains to read the Texts where ever the word Bishop is mentioned And I know no man or Angel that hath power to separate what the Spirit of God in the Scripture has joyned and made one and the same And consequently a Bishop can have no such priviledge Non entis nulla sunt accidentia nullae affectiones nullae proprietates VI. And tho' prelacy were a Lawful Office as it is not and tho' the Prelates were Successors to the Apostles as they most ridiculously pretend since as we already cleared it was impossible the design of their Office could admit of any Succession yet sure I am in this priviledge of Patronage they never did nor doe follow the example of the Apostles For even the Apostles themselves in the Election of Matthias to be one of their number made use of the Concurrence of the People And in the ordination of the Pastors of the Church they made use of the concurrence both of the Presbitry and People And if they joined the Presbitry and People and admitted them to an interest in relation to the highest acts of the Ministerial Call they questionless also left them a share 1 Tim 4.14 in the Looking out Nomination and Election of the ordinary pastors Nam qui vult majus vult etiam minus Act 15.2 25.27 Act 13.1 2.3 Act. 14 27 28 Nay which is more the ordinary Teachers of the Church and others did concurr in sending out of the very Apostles themselves to some special pieces of their Ministry And accordingly the Apostles think it not below their Dignity to give them an account how they had behaved in their Commission So that let the Prelates pretend Succession to whom they will they can never pretend to be Successors of the Apostles to whom a Sole power of Jurisdiction and Ordination was as much a Stranger as to any Presbyter in the Church VII But lastly if by Ecclesiastick Patronages the Lawful Church Judicatories be meant tho' in that case both the Title of Patronage and the extent of power thereby understood must be rejected yet there is no doubt but the Judicatories of the Church have a very special hand and interest in the Looking out Nomination and Election of the Ministers of the Gospel and have a power Ministerially to authorize them for their office and to send them forth to Labour in the Lord's Vine Yard And by consequence do also Ministerially invest them with a Right to meddle with their Maintenance A Ministers only Right thereto being a Lawful call to the Office and Faithful discharge of his duty in it as we have formerly marked SECT XIX A pretence from the failings and mistakes of the Church Judicatories c. I. THE last pretence that I shall notice is this that Presbitries and People are not infallible but are subject to Mistake and Erre in the Election and Choice of Pastors as well as the Patrons And therefore the Patron 's Power of Election is no more injurious to the Church than she is to her self II. For answer to this it may be considered First That the lawful and ordinary method of Electing the Pastors of the Church being an Ordinance and Institution of Divine Appointment and the power of Patronage on the contrary being nothing else but an useless Invention of Men and a most groundless and unreasonable Usurpation upon the Church and clearly inconsistent with and destructive of the Institutions of Jesus Christ The Church and People of God may very safely and confidently rely and depend upon the Lord for his Blessing and direction in the right choice of the Ministers of the Gospel when they Act in a way of his own appointment which they who Act in so unjust and unwarrantable a method as this of Patronage have no ground to expect And tho' the Lord for wise and holy ends may some times leave his Church and People to themselves and let them fall in errors and mistakes in this as well as in other cases yet duty must not be forsaken for fear of failings in the performance We must both Pray to God for a discovery of what is duty when it is unclear to us and when it is discovered we must Pray for strength and assistance to perform it a right and then set about it in the Lord's strength with a humble confidence and dependance upon him for his blessing and direction who hath never said to the house of Jacob seek ye my face in vain III. Next tho' as is already said there be no institution either in Church or State but what by Reason of the Weakness and Corruption of Men may be abused yet this is no sufficient ground for laying aside an institution that is either morally necessary or positively enjoined by God The only rule and remedie in this case is Tollatur abusus et maneat usus let the matter be regulate by Acting in it according to the word of God which fully and clearly discovers what both Church-Judicatories and People may or may not do in the case But â—n the contrary the abuse and offensiveness of unnecessary unwarrantable institutions does strongly militate against their farther use If the Presbitry do at any time miscarry in a way that they are warranted by God to follow we must pray that God may purge his own House and purifie the Sons of Levi And the help and assistance of Superior Church-Judicatories must be made use of And in cases of general and publick defection the Civil Magistrate may employ his power circa Sacra But those mistakes can never warrand us to leave the institutions of the infinite love and wisdom of God and betake our selves to our own weak and witless inventions in the matters of God. Christ's promised presence with his Church may be a sufficient encouragement for his People to cleave and adhere to him in wayes of his own appointment Whereas those who go astray and follow crooked Paths ingyring themselves as Officious and Busie Bodies in the affairs of the Church without a Lawful Call can expect nothing but that God in his Justice should leave them to be a Snare both to themselves and others Certainly were these things really believed as all profess they do peoples practise would be very far different from what it is But such is the Atheism of mans heart thâ—â— while we confess the truths of God with our Lips our Hearts are too oft far from him IV. I begin now to be weary of noticeing such trifles And the truth is it might be amazing to hear men otherways rational offer such empty pretences instead of Solid and Convincing reasons if the cause would admit of any better But it is Vitium Causae and so we need no more admire to see a weakness inevitably cleave to the ablest Wits in the defence of what is unjustifiable than to see the strongest of men succumb in raising a weight that is above his natural strength to undergo The strength of mens Spirits as well as of their Bodies have their limits and are not infinite And since I mind nothing farther that can be objected but what with very much ease may receive a full solution from the Grounds already represented I think it will be needless to give either the Reader or my self any farther trouble on this Subject V. I shall only add that it is the duty of all God's People in this land to wrestle with God that he may incline the hearts of all Ranks of Men in their several stations and capacities to return to a hearty and cordial Compliance with and a chearful Acquiescence in the just and rational Determinations that were once made by publick Authority in this Nation both in this and other steps of a true Reformation And that the Lord may not be provoked by a too open Contempt of the Gospel of Peace the Crying Sin of the Nation and our sinful slighting of his Mercies to suffer his Church after so much wrestling to sink under her present Bondage and Captivity by reason of this and other unjust and grievous usurpations into which after so many and great Deliverances we are again for our Sins brought into Subjection FINIS
and Exerted in and over the Church and People of God by the Patrons of Kirks and Benefices in reference to the Call and Maintenance of the Ministers of the Gospel This I shall endeavour to performe as distinctly and with all the plainness and Brevity I can find the subject will admit And that so much the rather That I know those for whose satisfaction I principally Write are sufficiently capable to discover the weight of Truth and Reason without the attendance of any Rhetorical Excursion or Embellishment of Expression And if I Err in any thing especially in matters that are out of my common Road I expect the Reader will be Candide and Favourable in his Censure II. The Method which I shall observe in the prosecution of this Design shall be 1 To give some short account of what seems to have been the first Rise and Original of the Rights of Patronage with a view of its several Branches as it hath been Exercised in and over the Church of Scotland in Relation to the Ministerial Call and Maintenance 2 I shall endeavour to discover the Emptiness of these Grounds that are or may be adduced for a Foundation to the Institution of Patronage whereby it will appear how groundless and unjust the Claims and Practices of Patrons in this matter have been 3. I shall offer some positive Reasons against the pretended Right it self 4. And lastly I shall examine some Pretences that may be alledged for clearing that Patronage is not so injurious to the Interests of the Church as it is represented to be To these Heads as being the most material and needful to be handled in a Subject of this Nature I shall confine what I have to say and thence it is hoped any thing else that might be expected in Relation to this argument will receive sufficient light III. The right of Patronage may be defined to be a Power to present and nominat a person to be institute in a vacant Church Office and Benefice by those who are or pretend to be the Founders or Doters of Kirks or Benefices Potestas praesentandi aut Nominandi instituendum ad Vacans Beneficium aut Officium Sacrum c. I know There are many useless Debates among the Canonists concerning the Definition of Patronage which I shall not insist upon seing the Thing it self is by the sad experience of this Church and Nation but too well known IV. Only I cannot omit to observe that the very Name and Title of Patron is somewhat ominous and unlucky as Importing a kind of Servitude and Bondage upon the Church For as in the Roman Laws and Customs a Patron albeit the Name import Favour and Protection was still understood to retain a very hard Interest in the Persons and Estates of such Servants as he had manumitted and set free from their Bondage and a Right of Reducing them to their former condition of Slavery upon pretences of Ingratitude or a Carriage any way unsuitable to the favour of Freedom they had received so sure I am this pretended Right of Patronage of which we are to treat hath in these respects been very answerable to its Name in restraining and impeding under the fair Colour of Protection the Church and People of God from the Free and Lawful Exercise of their Spiritual Liberties and Priviledges as we shall fully clear in the progress of this Discourse V. To come then to the first part of the method proposed I shall not determine the Time when this Corruption for so I must call it since Vetustas Erroris non Consuetudo sed Corruptela dicenda est entred into the Christian Church The Canonists themselves are not fully agreed as to this It may be very clear in the General That it was the work of some time and Pains to bring the rights of Patronage to that Form and Consistence in which they have been exercised over the Christian Church Patronage was not an Institution That was framed and received and perfected at one dash It is also very certain that ab Initio non fuit It was not so much as heard of in the pure and primitive times but hath been by small and insensible degrees dropt and sown in the field of the Church by the Enemy among other Tares while men were Asleep that is while the Church was unawars Matth. 13 25. and not so watchful as need was so that ' its little wonder the particular time of the Entry of this power be hard enough to be condescended upon VI. It may likewise be very clear That since the foundation of Patronage was the Building or doting of Kirks and that the liberty of such Building and Doting was not much allowed and perhaps less practised before the times of Constantine the Great which was about the begining of the fourth Century I say from this it may be clear that before Constantine's time the priviledge of Patronage could not be introduced VII And tho' some may alledge that in the year of Christ CCCC The fifth Council of Carthage Concil 5. carthag Can. 9. Council Mile vitan Can. 16. and thereafter in the year CCCCII. The Council of Millan both in the times of the Emperors Honorius and Arcadius did desire of the Emperors that there might be some Persons considerable for wealth and Piety appointed for defence of the Church in her Rights and goods or patrimony against such as should attempt any Invasion upon them and that those Persons came afterwards to get the name of Patrons or defenders of the Church Yet these are not the Patrons we are Inquiring after VIII For as this sort of Patronage was to be managed cum provisione Episcoporum by the Advice and Consent of the Pastors and Office-bearers of the Church so it was nothing else but a branch of the Magistrates Cumulative Power circa Sacra and only for defence of the Churches Patrimony against Sacrilegious Misapplications and no way concerned with the Call and Election of the Ministry nor had this sort of Patronage any Privative or Negative Interest in their Stipends or Maintenance Neither were these Patrons accounted Church Officers as the Canonists will have the Patrons we are enquiring after to be nor were those Bishops then Patrons themselves because they were a part of the Church that was to be defended Et nemo potest esse sibi patronus Their trust was with the Church's consent Elective and not Hereditary and much less purchasable for money as a part of a mans privat patrimony and Fortune I conceive it will be needless to add any thing farther upon the difference that is so palpably evident betwixt these and our pretended Patronages tho' it may be said that this Institution was in some respect the foundation of these patronages we are in search of if we consider that as at the first appearance this was a trust in it self not discommendable but rather in some cases necessar and useful so in after times it did by little and
safely conclude that tho' the care of the Church's Patrimony be no way to be neglected yet there is no necessity to erect a particular office for that end distinct as the Canonists would have it from all Civil and Ecclesiastical offices of Divine Appointment and Institution with which the Church and People of God are abundantly provided as far as there is any need by the infinite Love and Wisdom of Jesus Christ her only Head and Law-giver This were indeed a most direct species of superstition to devise New and Onerous Institutions supra quod statutum est And far less is it necessar to invest any Office bearer of this Nature with such an additional Priviledge as is claimed by the Patrons of Kirks and Benefices in reference to a negative Interest in the Election and maintenance of the Ministry SECT XI Patronage is no institution of Divine appointment but a manifest usurpation I. BY what hath been said it sufficiently appears how groundlels this Right of Patronage is which might be enough without any farther to Justifie the proceedings of the Publick Authority of the Nation Anno. 1649 in the abolishing of this Priviledge But that the Injustice as well as Groundlesness of this Right may yet more appeare I shall in the next place according to the method proposed offer some clear and convincing reasons against it wherein I shall shun the repetition of what I have already said and keep the same plainness I have hitherto observed II. The assertion we undertake to prove is clearly this That the Patron 's pretended Priviledge of a negative Interest c about and concerning the Call and Maintenance of the Ministers of the Gospel claimed by the Patrons of Kirks and Benefices is a sinful and unjust usurpation without warrand from the word of God destructive to the true Liberties and Interests of the Church and most scandalously offensive to all ranks of Christians therein as I think may be clear from these Grounds III. First this pretended Priviledge is no Ordinance nor Institution of our Blessed Lord There being no ground from Scripture either by Promise Precept or Example for investing any single Person with such a Priviledge as the looking out Nomination and Election of the Ministers of the Gospel the principal Office bearers of the Church of Christ neither is it so much as pretended to be founded upon Scripture It being confessedly of a farr later date and all that is alledged for it is nothing else but some surreptitious Edicts Canons and corrupt Customes which as Doctor Forbes of Corss terms it non leges sunt sed labes And therefore for any man or Angel to give or assume such a priviledge In Epist ante tract de Simon where our Blessed Lord the Church's only King Lawgiver hath not given it as a most sinful usurpation over his Crown and Dignity and a bold Invasion upon the Rights of his dearly purchased spouse IV. In all the Catalogues of the Officebearers of the Church mentioned Rom 12. 1 Cor 12 Eph 4. in the Scripture there is nothing like a Patronage recorded And if those Priests who Married the Daughters of Barzillai and were called by their name Ezra 2 61. were Justly counted as polluted and were removed from the exercise of their Office tho' Lawfull in it self because they could not instruct their descent from the Record of genealogies And their removal ratified by the sentence of the Tirshatha or Governour and they discharged to Eat of the most Holy things till a Priest with Vrim and Thummim should stand up and clearly declare God's mind in the case and so supply the defect of these records Then surely and with a great deal of more Reason ought the Christian Magistrate to remove such an unwarrantable Institution as this of Patronage till its Right to medle in the affairs of the Church be clearly instructed from the Divine records of the Scripture which I am sure will never be done V. This is a ground that will be opposed by none who own the Scriptures of God to be the perfect Rule and Square by which the Government of the Church is to be Regulate And that our Lord Jesus Christ who is the great and Wonderful Counseller and the Father's Wisdom was Faithful in all his Fathers House to him that appointed him Heb 3 2. For as the arrogating of such a priviledge without warrand from the word of God is most derogatory to and a high and injurious reflection upon the infinite Love Wisdom and Faithfulness of our Blessed Lord and directly implyes that he hath not sufficiently provided his Church with a compleat method for Furnishing and Election of her own Office-bearers without calling in the weak and Superstitious devices of Men's invention to her assistance So such as dare offer to rectifie his Institutions as defective or to call in question our Lord's Wisdom and Faithfulness in this may go a great length to question his ability to save to the uttermost There is a nearer and firmer connexion betwixt these than every one thinks We see it clearly in the Popish Church For as there was never a Society in the World that invented moe superstitious Offices such as Cardinals arch-Arch-Bishops Bishops Deans Arch-Deans Chancellors Officials Commissars c. with so much Reflection upon the Wisdom and Faithfulness of Christ as King and Head of his Church so no Society on Earth has been more injurious to our Blessed Lord's Office of Priest-hood in Robbing him of the honour of that compleat Satisfaction payed by him to Divine Justice for the sins of his People And it is undeniable that as both this device of Patronage and that Anti-evangelical Opinion of Merit owe their Original to the same corrupt Fountain so the Church's sad experience can testifie that they have still been found to be mutual Abettors Supports of each other as we hinted before and may have farther occasion to observe hereafter VI And hence we may safely conclude that the publick Authority of the Nation in the yeare 1649 had all the Reason Imaginable to say parl 1649 cap that the priviledge of Patronage was an Evil and Bondage under which both Ministers and People in this land had long groaned that it is a Popish custom brought in upon the Church in the times of Ignorance Superstition And the Canonists themselves such as Lambertinus Panormitan Pistorius c. do expresly acknowledge that Patronage is a kind of servitude upon the Church Jus vocationis says Amesius non potest proprie esse vel Episcoporum Dioecesanorum vel Patronorum Ameâ— â—e cas conâ—cien cap 25. Parl. 24. vel Magistratuum qua sunt tales quia Christus qui ministerium instituit de istis ordinibus nihil singulare praescripsit nihil novi juris ipsis communicavit Ecclesiane sine iis optime ordinatam reliquit That is the Right of calling Ministers cannot properly belong either to the Diocesan Bishops nor to Patrons
power to be truly Civil For first no Conveyance or Confirmation of a Right can alter it's Nature which it still retains come thorow what hands it will and let it be disguised under what terms you please Nor 2ly can any Law or Magistrate Conferr or Confirm a power that is Materially and in it self Unjust and Unlawful for it is not enough to make a power Materially Just and Lawful that it be formally Legal Shall the Throne of Iniquity says the Psalmist have fellowship with Thee that frames Mischief by a Law Psal 94.20 Esa 10.1 And wo unto them says the Spirit of God by the Prophet Esaias that decree an unrighteous decree and who write grievous things that they have prescribed and it is an acknowledged principle Id tantum quis potest quod de Jure potest And 3ly These Conveyances and Confirmations of Patronage by grants from the civil Magistrate were invented for no other end but to put the Patron 's usurped power under the protection of Civil authority and to be an apron of fige leaves to cover the Stain of Symony with which the Patrons were most justly branded when they Bought and Sold their usurped Priviledges over the Church with as little Scruple and Remorse as they would have bargained for a Yoak of Oxen. Lastly this pretence is as Empty and Frivolous for evincing the pretended Rights of Patronage to be a power truly civil as if the gifted Brethren as they are called should justifie their usurpations in preaching of the Gospel and Administrating the Sacraments by alledging they had a power from the Civil Magistrate so to do XII But in the next place neither is this Priviledge a power truly Ecclesiastick or Spiritual For tho' these Acts in which it is exerced be Spiritual and in Sacris yet this can no more make it a truly Spiritual power than the like Acts of the gifted Brethren in preaching the Gospel and Administrating the Sacraments can make their assumed power to be truly Spiritual Both these usurpations proceed from the same Antichristian and Anti-evangelical Spirit 2ly If the priviledge of Patronage were a truly Spiritual power or office it could not be conveyed or transmitted by Birth or Right of Blood. For under the new Testament there is no such Conveyance or Transmission of Sacred Offices A Minister enjoyes not his office by the common Rules of Succession and Birth and much less a Patron 3ly If Patronage were a truly Spiritual office it could not be bought and sold as a part of a Mans private Inheritance and Patrimony 4ly Tho' the pretended right and power of Patronage in process of time came to it 's full stature by being Authorized in the Canon Law yet if we trace it back to it's first Original it will be found to be nothing else but a groundless and superstitious usurpation without any wartand from the word of God or consent of the Church and manifestly contrary to all the Ancient Ecclesiastical Canons concerning the Election of Pastors Annon cuilibet notum est Hom. 13. de Resurrect says the reverend Beza pro electionibus fuisse in Ecclesiam intrusos Patronatus c. Tam aperte antiquis Canonibus repugnantes quam Tenebrae Luci sunt contrariae Does not every one know says he that Patronages c were obtruded upon the Church in the place of lawful Elections as clearly against the ancient Canons as Light is contrary to Darkness And in his Treatise de notis Ecclesiae he inveighes yet more sharply against such abuses Collationes inquit sive Ordinariae sive Devolutae quas vocant Resignationis Jura ubi tandem nisi in Satanae Coquinâ sunt excogitatae c. Where says he were these Inventions of Collation either Ordinary or by Devolution as they term them first devised but in the Devil 's own Kitchine And again in his Confession of Faith Beze confess fid Christ cap. 5. inter tract Thâ—ol nunquam receptum est in Ecclesiis Christianis jam constitutis ut quis admitteretur ad functionem Ecclesiae nisi Liberè Legitimè electus ab Ecclesiâ cujus inter-eraâ— Itaque tota ista nundinatio praesentationum pleni Juris Patronatus Collationum Resignationum aliorum hujusmodi scelerum a Satina profecta est quamvis ambigi non possit quin ista ab initijs magis laudabilibus profecta sint That is it was never the custom of any Christian Church already constitute that any man should be admitted to an Ecclesiastical Function unless he were freely and lawfully chosen by the Church particularly concerned And therefore all that Trade and Trafficking of presentations the plenum jus of Patronages Collations Dimissions and other wicked Corruptions of that Nature owe their original intirely to the Devil tho' it is not to be doubted but there were some plausible pretexts for their first Institution XIII Lastly if Patronage be a power truly Spiritual and Ecclesiastick then the Patron must have this power either as an Office-bearer in the Church or as a private Church Member and that he hath it neither of these wayes may be thus evinced 1. as a Church Officer he hath it not fro in all the Catalogues of Church Officers mentioned in the Scripture Rom 12. 1 Cor. 12. Eph. 4. there is not the least shadow of a Patron either as to Name or Thing 2ly If he have this power as an Office-bearer in the Church then he must either have it as a Church Officer in general and so it will belong to all Church Officers and not to the Patron alone tho' he were a Bishop Quod enim convenit tali qua tali convenit omm tali or other ways he must have it as such a Church Officer in particular in which case likewise all Church Officers of that Kind should have this power also and not he alone for the reason before assigned a quatenus ad omne And the truth is it is very difficult to conjecture under what kind of Church Officers a Patron can have the least pretence to list himself but take him to which of them all he will the power must still be common to all the Officers of that kind and not proper to him alone XIV And far less can the Patron have this priviledge as a private Church Member else every Church Member should have it as well as he the poorest and meanest Christian in the Church of God having no less Right to such common priviledges as are competent to all Church Members in general than the greatest and richest Patron I shall not determine how far such an unjust usurpation may stain and blemish the Patron 's own Church-Membership Jam. 2 1 2 3 4. Jude v. 16. Gal. 3.28 Col. 3 11. but sure I am in matters of common Right there is no respect of persons for in Christ there is neither bond nor free Sect. XII The power of Patronage is destructive of the Institutions of Christ for Election of the Pastors of
certa ratione possint ab omni Ecclesiâ procurari sed si ab alijs penderet vocatio Ecclesia saepe destitueretur certa ratione sibi ministros procurandi et proinde talis Ecclesia esset a Christo Jnstituta quae non esset sibimet sufficiens in seipsa de cas conscien L 4 C 25 25 That is Ministers are apointed by Christ in his Church that by the same certain and ordinary method they may be procured by every Church But if the Call of the Ministry must depend upon others the Church might oft-times be destitute of a certain method of procuring her own Pastors so that in that case such a Church should be institute by Christ as were not sufficient in it self to provide for her ordinary Necessities which is altogether inconsistent with the infinite Wisdom and Fidelity of Christ And tho' this Author it may be understand the Church otherways than we do yet that makes no difference in the present case The Argumentis very cogent in what ever sense the term be taken XVII Nay which is yet worse this method of Patronage destroyes or at least weakens the very nature of a Ministers Call for the Call of a Minister must be Divine and not humane it must be of God and not of Men. The Call of the Apostles indeed was neither of Men nor by Men their Office in the Church being extraordinary long since determined They were called immediately by the Lord himself to be Ear and Eye witnesses of his Doctrine Miracles and Resurrection That they might afterwards deliver them to the World. as is clear from Acts 1.23 In which it was impossible for them to have any Successors whence it is that the Apostle Paul calls himself an Apostle born out of Time Tho' his Call to the Office was immediatly by Christ himself and he reckoned himself in other respects to be not a Whit behind the very Chiefest Apostles But the calling of the ordinary and standing Officers of the Church 1 Cor 15.89 10 2 Cor ij 15. such as Preaching and Ruling Elders Doctors and Deacons tho' it be by Men that is by the intervention of such men as have divine warrand and Commission to Act therein yet it must not be of Men that is it neither hath its Authority from men nor must it come thorow the hands of such men as have no warrand from Jesus Christ the Church's only Head and Law giver to medle in it For this were truly to make them the Servants of Men and not of God. XVII And that this method of calling the Ministers of the Gospel by Patrons makes their Call to be partly Humane and of Men I think will need but little to clear it it being evident that the rise of the external Call at least flowes from such Men as the Spirit of God never breathed the call of his sent Servants by and to whom the Looking out Nomination and Election of the Pastors of the Church and the Presenting them to the Church Judicatories for Tryal and Admission was never entrusted or committed And therefore a Minister's Call in that method must at lest in part be Humane and not Divine And consequently must be of Men and not of God Malum enim ex quolibet defectu bonum non nisi ex integracausa And as such an unwarantable Mixture cannot but pro tanto very much weaken I shall not say nullisie a Mininister's Call so certainly it cannot but very much marr his Confidence and obstruct his Comfort in the exercise of his Ministry as we shall see hereafter To this purpose Zanchius tells us after he hath been speaking of the Ministerial call Ex his autem omnibus apparet quam nulla sit vel non Legitima eorum Dei Ministrorum vel Ecclesiae Pastorum vocatio qui solius Regis vel Reginae vel Patroni vel Episcopi aut Archiepiscopi Diplomate Bullis Jussu Judicio fiunt vel Eliguntur id quod dolendum est adhue fieri in ijs Ecclesiis qui tamen purum Dei verbum habent sequuntur ut in Ecclesia Anglicana c. That is it is very clear how much either Null or at lest not Lawsul the Call of those Ministers of God or Pastors of the Church must be who take their Election only from the Patents Bulls Warrands or Appointment of a King Queen Patron or Bishop c Which yet to our grief is done even in these Churches who have and follow the profession of the true word of God as in England c. XVIII And lastly the Assertors of this pretended power of Patronage cannot deny but it were most absurd and unreasonable for any single Person how pious and judicious soever to assume and take upon him the Looking out Nomination and Election of all the Ruling Elders and Deacons of a Congregations And to oblidge the Church to accept and receive such as he should so Nominat and Elect tho' those viz. the Ruling Elders and Deacons be but the inferiour Officebearers of the Church and the people of God no way so neerly concerned in the right choice of them as in that of their Pastors who are appointed of God as the most special ordinary means of their Salvation And therefore for any Man without Christ's warrand to assume the Nomination and Election of the Pastors of the Church who are the principal Office-bearers in the House of God and in the right and due choice of whom the good of Souls is so neerly concerned must be much more absurd and unreasonable And there is no ground that can be urged for allowing the Patrons a priviledge of Electing the Principal Office-bearers of the Church that may not with much more force and advantage be pressed for giving him a power to Elect the Inferiour Office bearers also I grant the case is different but still I see no difference that with any appearance of reason can be assigned to determine the point in favours of the Right of Patronage as to the Principal Office beaters and not as to others save this that the Patrons settling of a Maintenance in favours of the Pastors must give him a greater Interest in the choice of those than he can have in that of the others on whom he hath conferred no Benefice And of how much weight this pretence is we have already seen and shall not repeat what we have said upon this Head. SECT XIII The power of Patronage is against the Freedom and Interest of common Society I. AS this power of Patronage is no Institution of Jesus Christ but clearly inconsistent with and destructive of his Institutions so it is against the Freedom Interest of the Church considered as a Common Society It being a priviledge naturally Inherent in all free Societies such as Republicks Cities Colledges Corporations c. To Elect and Choice their own Rulers and Office bearers of which Freedom this priviledge of Patronage does clearly Robb and Deprive the Church II. For if we
an extrinsick power for compleating of their Call as if it were defective without him IX And as the sad experience of the Church in general if men would doe themselves the favour to see things as they are and without prejudice and prepossession hath in all Ages sufficiently demonstrated that there is no method under Heaven that can regular the Inventions of men in the matters of God so as to keep them within any tolerable bounds so the experience of our own Church in particular hath confirmed this truth beyond all contradiction X. We all know to give no other instance what provisions and limitations were made by the Church by King James the sixth his own consent in the Year 1600. with all the Caution that humane foresight or providence could devise for reducing of Episcopacy to some kind of Moderation as they term it to which the Bishops themselves did consent subscribe and solemnly swear and the King in person in the General Assembly did ratifie the whole matter All the freedoms and liberties of Presbitery being confirmed by parliament And we know as well that all the bonds that could be put on the Prelates did in a short time as many did then foresee prove nothing else but Ropes of Sand and as uncapable to bridle the lusts of that corrupt and Ambitious party as a Fish-book or a Thorn would be to catch the great Leviathan Job 41. In short all these caveats and injunctions solemn Vows Oaths and Promises were broken and the Bishops mounted to their usual Grandeur and Lordly Dominion over the Church notwithstanding of them all The Church complains and cryes out on that violent and treacherous alteration of her established Government And the Bishops find themselves oblidged to meet and consult how to vindicate themselves from such terrible Imputations And accordingly they publish an Apology in Latine and address it to all Christian Churches at home and abroad An Apology that as it discovers their Treatchery and Perjury to be a most detestable and horrid piece of Villany so it clearly tells us what effect the most wise and prudent regulations of such humane Inventions in the matters of God will have And may serve the Church for a constant beacon to beware of taking the like measurs for the future Take their own words Conditiones istae Refultatio libelli de regimine Eccles. Scotican pro tempore magis quo contentiosis rixandi ansa praeriperetur quam animo in perpetuum observandi acceptae That is their design in these solemn Promises Vows and Oaths was never to keep them but only to serve a Turn and to lull the People unto some sort of a calm and security against the clamor that was raised upon the apparent alteration of the Established Government of the Church An Apology indeed Ingenuous enough and very becomming the Faith and sincerity of that party who still incline to follow the Wisdom of the old Serpent without any mixture of the Innocence and Simplicity of the Dove but I am sure it were scarce credible that ever any that pretended to the name of a Clergy-Man or to the Title of the Reverend and Spiritual Fathers of the Church should make use of it if they themselves had not published it to the World. And there is no Crime their Adversaries could charge them with of ablacker Nature than this defence fastens upon them XI But this not being my present designe having only faln by accident upon this particular The true use of it that at present we intend is that it would be a piece of stupid and sinful folly after such a warning to run ourselves upon these Rocks on which the peace and safety of the Church hath been so oft ready to split If in such cases we should be-take ourselves to rely on our own pitiful and weak Counsels and projects and reject the institutions of the Infinite and unsearchable Love and Wisdome of God we should truely be guilty of forsaking the Fountain of Living Waters and of Hewing out to our selves Cisterns broken Cisterns that can hold no Water And should take the most compendious method that could be Jerm 2.13 Levit 26 to provoke the Lord to punish us yet seven times more for all our iniquities XII The true Rule in these cases is that since such Institutions as are not in themselves absolutely necessary either by necessity of Means or Precept and do of their own nature so much tend to Corruption Oppression Scandal and Superstition tho' never so well regulat are still ready to deboard and exceed all bounds Therefore the best and only way to prevent their exorbitancies is altogether to Cashier them from any other farther use XIII I shall only add that as the Institution of Visitations was very fit and necessary for enquiring into the lives and carriages of the pastors of the Church after they were admitted and settled so it is sufficiently known that the patrons of Kirks and Benefices have still endeavoured with all their force to put a stop to the exercise of these Visitations as knowing that most of the pastors of their Nomination were as little or less able to endure such a scrutiny as they were unsatisfactory at their first admission I shall not mention what other Reasons the patrons had for such a kindly protection of those men they may be easily guessed tho' I am sure with little credit to either party SECT XVII Another pretence that the Church may reject the Person presented in case of insufficiency I. THE next pretence that may be made use of to alleviat the guilt of patronage in its usurpations over the Liberties of the Church is this That the Parish or Presbitery may reject or refuse to admit the person Elected by the Patron in case that after tryal he be found insufficient or unqualified either as to parts or manners And therefore the Church can be at no loss by the Rights of Patronage II. It must certainly be an other force than that of Reason that can draw such a consequence This method of arguing is just the same as if a man should say it is needless to stop the entry of a Robber into a house or to put him out after he is entred because any harm he can doe may be easily either diverted or repaired sure I am this is very sar from our Blessed Lord's method of reasoning Matth. 29. Luk. 12.39 If says he the good man of the house had known in what watch the Thief would come he would have watched and not have suffered his house to have been broken up III. If evil must not be done that good may come of it and if the Jesuitick Quibbles of a good intention cannot justifie a bad action much less is evil to be tolerate and allowed because 't is possible to prevent or repair its bad effects Nam quod possibile est esse possibile est non esse one may be answers another That which may be may also not be
nor to Magistrates as such because Jesus Christ who appointed and institute the the Ministry hath prescribed nothing singular concerning these orders nor hath communicated any new Right to them and hath left his Church very well ordered without them VII And if these priviledges of Patronage be without Foundation either from the word of God or from moral use and necessity as we have already proven and shall yet farther clear They can be nothing else but unjust and unreasonable Vsurpations And as usurpations in all Societies are deservedly very odious so a fortiori in the Church of the living God the most truly free Society on Earth whose Liberties and Priviledges are purchased at no lower rate than the most precious Blood of the Immaculat Lamb and Eternal Son of God they must be much more detestable Sure I am if the most eminent and judicious congregation in the Land should claim such a Priviledge in reference to the choice and maintenance of the meanest servant in the Patron 's Family He would with a great deal of reason look upon it as a most intolerable usurpation and oppression For as our Patrons do maintain that de jure they are not oblidged to seek the advice of either Presbitry or Paroch to the Nomination and Election of a Pastor but that both are oblidged to accept the Person whom the Patron presents if he be found in any measure externally qualified for the Office of a Pastor in general without any other enquiry or consideration So to do them right the practice of Patrons in this matter hath been no way disagreeable to their claims unless it be to the worse VIII We have but too much Reason to apprehend that this unjust and unwarrantable usurpation is one of these crying Sins by which God hath been provoked in his Justice to lay wast and desolate most of the great families of the Land. There are many standing Monuments of God's wrath and displeasure against such as medle in the affairs of his house without his own warrand and appointment Saul Vzziah and Vzzah are Recorded among others not as idle Stories but as warnings to Men in all after-ages of the Church not to partake in their sins left they also partake in their Plagues Vzzah had a much fairer and better pretext 2 Sam 6 6 1 Chron 13 9 to put his Hand to the Ark of the Lord than any of our Patrons have for their acclaimed priviledges He but touched the Ark of God in a case where he thought an extreme and indispensible necessity oblidged him to it And yet the Lord will not let his rash and preposteous Zeal pass unpunished because he Acted without a warrand For tho' he was a Levite and as such was commanded to carry the Ark on his Shoulders but not on a Cart yet being no Priest it was unlawful for him to touch it with his Hand Numb 4 15. And therefore the Lord is pleased to single him out and to make him an example of his Justice and Displeasure both for the general Sin of the Congregation in carrying the Ark on a Cart and not upon the Shoulders of the Levites and for his own Particular Sin in stretching forth his Hand to touch it without a Lawful call tho' his pretext and the seeming necessity of it was such that even David a man according to God's own Heart was tempted to fret at so heavy and unproportioned a Punishment of so slight and trivial a fault as he thought this was IX And that this power of Patronage is no institution of God's appointment may yet farther be clear from this that all Lawful powers that are of God are either Civil or Ecclesiastick and Spiritual For as to mixt powers that is such as are neither purely Civil nor purely Spiritual and Ecclesiastick and such as give the Office-bearers of the Church an interest in the management of Secular Affairs and give Secular powers an interest in Sacris we must freely disown them as having no foundation eitherin Divinity or good Policy but expresly contrary to both and as having ever been found by the Church's dear bought experience to be nothing else but the weak devices of ambitious and aspiring men to marr the progress of the Gospel and to bring the Church in subjection to a strange head Plants that are not of our Heavenly Father's Planting and most unbecoming the Wisdom of any Christian Church or State to tolerat and allow And certainly as the Magistrate or Civil powers of a Nation have no warrand to medle in Sacris so there is no Conscientious Minister of the Gospel but will find his charge so weighty without any farther addition of secular Affairs that he must say from the sense of his own weakness and the great extent of the duties of his Function with the great Apostle of the Gentiles who is sufficient for these things I Ergo tu saies Bernard to Eugenius Et usurpare tibi aut Dominans apostolatum aut Apostolicus dominatum Such a mixture as this is manifestly contrary to the dictates of our Blessed Saviour who hath expresly told us That his Kingdom is not of this World but a poor and contemptible handful in the Eyes of Men taken out of the World. And therefore as our Blessed Lord never gave any Instructions or precepts see Luk 22.25 Math 20.25 John 15.19 to the Civil Powers to medle in Sacris so he never gave any direction to the Office-bearers of the Church for the administration of civil Affairs But on the Contrary as we formerly hinted expresly dischargeth the same And therefore we may well give such unwarrantable mixtures that sutable Epiphonema apage hoc mixtum genus hominum prolemque biformem X And that this power of Patronage is one of these amphibious and irregular Inventions may be clear not only from these many confused Opinions of these Canonists themselves on this Head but also from these undenyable Grounds For first that this power of Patronage is not a power truly civil may be sufficiently evinced from the Nature of these Acts in which it is exerced to wit the Looking out Nomination and Election of the Ministry and the Negative interests acclaimed therein and in their maintenance All which are Actions of a Spiritual and Ecclesiastick Nature and such as by the Holy Ghost are always given to the Church and to none other as we shall see hereafter And accordingly in the primitive and apostolick times and some hundreds of years thereafter the Looking out and Election of the Ministers of the Gospel was still managed by the Church her self without the interposition of Patrons And the maintenance of the Ministry was a part of that trust in which the Deacons an ordinary and standing Office in the Church were imployed as we have already seen XI And tho' the conveyance and confirmation of the most part of Patronages hath been from the Civil Magistrate by rights under the great Seal c. yet this cannot prove that