the first place let us rightly understand the meaning of this prejudice Is it because this Discipline doth censure scandalous disorders and enquire into the state of the flock as watching over their souls This is its high commendation in the sight of God and good men Doth Episcopacy care for none of these things Surely a Bishop is an Overseer to exercise the Office of a Bishop is to take the oversight of the Church and those that are over us in the Lord watch for our souls as those that must give an account thereof Howbeit Presbytery is not more severe in censuring the breach of Gods Commandments then the Hierarchy in censuring the breach of their own constitutions Or is the offence taken upon pretence that Presbyterians affect and arrogate an arbitrary power would rule by faction and exercise a rigout to the stirring up of animosities and unquiet humours Since the friends of Prelacy are loudest in this crimination I crave leave to use this mild retortion Is there no appearance of domination in Prelacy Was nothing like unto it objected to the dignified Clergy If you say those invectives and clamours were false and scandalous then let reason and charity be permitted to make some Apologie for the other discipline which the Nation hath hitherto never experienced in any measure of national uniformity and settlement But there are remedies at hand to prevent the abuse of any Government that is of it self lawful and laudable Certainly the wisedom of the King and Parliament with the advice of grave Divines may prescribe sure and certain rules of discipline Moreover to cut off all occasion and prevent all appearance of domineering all political coercive jurisdiction in matter of Religion may be with-held if need require from Ecclesiastical persons and that meer spiritual power alone which is 〈◊〉 to their office may be left to their management which is in the Name of Christ and by Authority from him to admonish the untuly and if they continue obstinate by the same Authority to declare them unworthy of Church-Communion and Christian Society and to require the Lords people to have no fellowship with them that they may be afflicted and humbled And because spiritual censures appertaining only to the Conseience may be too little regarded when no temporal dammage is annexed to them there may be a collateral civil power always present in Ecclesiastical Meetings to take cognizance of all Causes therein debated and adjudged in order to temporal penalties Vpon the whole matter aforegoing we firmly build this position That the Presbyterian Party ought not in Justice or Reason of State to be rejected and depressed but ought to be protected and encouraged Nevertheless there being a seeming complication in this business and an other ample party appearing in competition a difficultie remains and the matter falls into a further deliberation And thereupon we are fallen upon the second main Enquiry II Qu. Whether the Presbyterian Party may be protected and encouraged and the Episcopal not deserted nor disobliged Section XIX The grand Expedient in this difficulty is a well grounded Accomodation producing an intire and firm union That the Accommodation may be true and solid not loose and hollow it must be such as will content and satisfie for continuance and that it may be such the tearms thereof must not be repugnant to the conscientious principles of either party Otherwise whatsoever it be it is but a botch and will never hold Wherefore we now examine whether those principles are such as set the parties at an irreconcileable distance or else make the proposed union possible and hopeful As touching holy Doctrine they both receive the nine and thirty Articles of the Church of England unless that one side may demurr upon one or two passages respecting the Form of Ecclesiastical Government and Ceremonies being the matters now in question and remote from the foundation And in very deed the Doctrine of the English Bishops in general that lived in the elder times of Protestantism as Jewel Pilkington Babington and of the latter Bishops their Followers as Abbot Carleton Morton Usher Hall Davenant is intirely imbraced by the Presbyterians when as many of the latter Prelatists departed from it in the great point of Predestination Redemption Free-will effectual Grace Perseverance and Assurance of Salvation and termed it Puritan Doctrine Whereupon I conclude that those Prelatists of this Age who are the genuine Off-spring of the old Episcopal Divines will not divide from Presbyterians upon the account of Doctrine and that the other sort need not divide from them any more then from the rest that are of the Episcopal Perswasion But in the Form of Church Government the breach is much wider and the Reconciliation seems more difficult Indeed the Dominion of Prelacy and the exact Presbyterian parity are opposite Extreams Nevertheless a regulated Episcopacy and Presbytery may be found so far from mutual opposition and inconsistency that they may close together in a sweet Harmony The Scripture Bishop and the Evangelical Pastor is one and the same Officer The Primitive Ecclesiastical Episcopacy was not reputed by the Antients a different Order of Ministery The Bishop was only a Presbyter in a higher degree the President of the Presbytery and ruled in consociation with all the Presbyters The better part of the Scool-men place the difference only in degree not in order Of the same judgement were the old Episcopal Divines in England and even in the last times Morton Hall and Usher Whereupon they held the Forreign Protestant Churches that had no Prelaies to be true Churches and their Pastors true Ministers of Christ. And this is very remarkable in the most rigid Prelatists of their times when upon the new erecting of Prelacy in Scotland certain Scottish Bishops were to be consecrated here in England Bishop Andrews moved this question whether they ought not first to be ordained Presbyters as having received no Ordination from a Bishop Arch-Bishop Bancroft being there present maintained there was no necessity of Re-ordination for where a Bishop cannot be had Ordination given by Presbyters must be esteemed lawful This Solution being applauded by the other Bishops Doctor Andrews acquiesced On the other side an absolute equality among Ministers is not essential to Presbytery but a prudential priority according to the Churches occasions and consequently a stated Presidency may be admitted For the main principle of Presbytery is this That every Minister is truly a Pastor and that pastoral Authority includes both teaching and ruling for which cause the Presbyters may not yield up themselves as the Bishops meer Curates or Subjects For that would nullifie their Pastoral Office as to one part thereof which is as essential to it as the other in regard whereof the Presbyters are in Scripture called Bishops or Overseers and are charged to take the oversight of the Flock But this is no way violated by admitting a stated Moderator or president Bishop As concerning Worship or Divine Service
we conclude that those who agree in the Doctrine of Faith cannot disagree in the substance of Worship They differ only about the Liturgy and Ceremonies And the dissenting side oppose not all Liturgy but desire that the present form may be changed or reformed They oppose not any circumstance of Decency and Order but desire that mystical Ceremonies of humane institution may be abolished or not injoyned Section XX. Thus the Coalition of these two Interests into one appeareth possible because their conscientious principles on both sides have not that repugnancy but that they may well close together in a due temperament and constitute one solid Ecclesiastical politie And nothing hinders this conjunction but the obstinacy either of one or both parties from a humour of opposition or incurable enmity or some carnal designe Among the Bishops and Episcopal Doctors some of the most eminent have witnessed to the world their desires of Accommodation by their endeavours and proposals that way The Presbyterians preferr an uniting accommodation though upon yielding terms before division with an intire Toleration The incomparable Bishop Usher in the beginning of the late Troubles proposed his model Intituled The Reduction of Episcopacy unto the form of Synodical Government received in the ancient Church as an expedient for the comprimizing of the now differences thus declaring That by Order of the Church of England all Presbyters are charged to minister the Doctrine Sacraments and Discipline of Christ as the Lord hath commanded and as this Realm hath received the same And that they might the better understand what the Lord hath commanded therein the Exhortation of St. Paul to the Elders of the Church of Ephesus is appointed to be read unto them at the time of their Ordination Take heed to your selves and to all the flock among whom the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to rule the Congregation of God which he hath purchased with his own blood Mark well how this pious learned Prelate declares his own sence and interprets the meaning of the Church of England that the Holy Ghost hath made all Ordained Ministers Bishops or Overseers to rule the Congregation of God He saith further Though in our Church this kinde of Presbyterial Government hath been long dis-used yet seeing it still professeth that every Pastor hath a right to rule the Church and to minister the Discipline of Christ as well as to dispense the Doctrine and Sacraments And the restraint of the exercise of this Right proceeds onely from the custom now received in this Realm no man can doubt but by another Law of the Land this hinderance may be well removed If the Presbyterians imbrace these or such like Proposals what hinders the agreement in that great and most difficult point in difference to wit Church-Government Section XXI If both parties refuse to meet each other and to walk together in a middle way the weaker party must needs be tolerated There is indeed a third way by subverting the rejected side but we believe that in the present case it is so abhorrent to humane reason and Christian Charity thâ—â—we will not take it into consideration Wherefore the Question lies between an Accommodation and a Toleration which of these two shall be chosen and why the former is more desirable for both sides then the latter I offer these arguments And first Multiformity of Religion publickly professed doth not well comport with the spirit of this Nation which is free eager zealous apt to animosities and jealousies besides that it hath ever had a strong propension to Uniformity Also it is too well known that the dividing of Church communion is the dividing of hearts and that we shall not live like brethren till we agree to walk in one way Only let this be well observed and ever remembred that the necessary and injoyned terms of this Unity be not in things superfluous but necessary at least for edification order and peace Moreover Toleration being not the daughter of Amity but of Enmity at least in some degree supposeth the party tolerated to be a burden especially if conceived dangerous to the way established and commonly holds no longer then meer necessity compels and consequently neither party take themselves to be safe the one alwaies fearing to lose its authority and the other its liberty And if men will lay aside self-conceit and fond indulgence to the way of their own perswasion they will quickly finde that the temper of this Kingdom doth not well accord with extreams on either hand Certainly well-minded and serious people were never better prepared for an equall Accommodation They are weary of tedious dissentions in Church and State and have seen felt the sad consequents thereof and could they once attain to setled union upon the same grounds they would do their utmost to hold and keep it inviolable Without controversie the earnest thoughts of such a compoture did expedite the peaceable return of his Majesty The Presbyterians vigorously acted for it although they knew there were some that breathed out revenge and cruelty against them yet they hoped that the prevailing part would be sober and carry it with all moderation But they relyed chiefly upon his Majestie 's Wisdom Equity and Goodness whose Virtues attested by faithfull witnesses proclaimed him the Soveraign Reconciler and Healer of our breaches And surely they will never repent of their honesty and loyalty And let them rest assured that their moderation shall plead for them in the time to come Section XXII If one party coming forward to meer their brethren make a tender of such propositions as in al reason may procure unity and order in the Church and cannot pass further without regret of Conscience in this case for the other party to go about to strain them higher is most unreasonable and uncharitable Let them remember his Rule who is Lord and Head of the Church Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you do ye the same unto them Now such proposals may suffice for peace which will not satisfie humour and faction and carnal interest Unity and order may be obtained by those terms that do not prejudice the conscientious principles of either party and are not defective in things necessary I mean not onely to salvation but to the Churches peace and edification and verily to insist upon such terms alone is the most Christian and most rational way to a solid and sure peace As for the Presbyterians what they offer will sufficiently attain the said ends and what they stand upon doth not cross the said rule of Charity and Prudence Their proposals touching Prelacy Liturgy Ceremonies and Canonical Subscription are in no wise repugnant to the Churche's being or wel-being Section XXIII That Prelacy as it stood in England is not essential to a Church-State we call to witness the far greater number of Protestant Episcopal Divines yea the whole current of them till the times next fore-going our Civil wars Archbishop Bancroft no way
indulgent to Presbytery withstood the re-ordaining of those Scottish Presbyters elect Bishops upon this reason That they might not seem to question the Ministry of the Reformed Churches For which cause who can forbear to censure the palpable absurdity of some latter Prelatists that unchurch all the forreign Reformed Churches and nullifie their Ministery and Ordinances They have taken up a most destructive killing opinion which 〈◊〉 the unspeakable advantage of the Romish Church lets out the Vitals of the Protestant Cause and Religion And shall any that are hearty Protestants be fond of such Opinionists Moreover it is no less evident that the Prelacy as it stood in England is without the warrant of Divine right and that not only in regard of Lordly titles and exercise of temporal Dominion but also in regard of sole Jurisdiction and deputation of power Is there any text in the Scripture where the name and work of a Bishop is appropriated to a superior Order or degree in the Ministery Do not all the texts of Scripture that mention the name and work of a Bishop attribute both to all ordained Ministers Can there be a clearer evidence that a Bishop and Presbyter is the same spirituall Officer Besides to maintain the Divine right of Prelacy it sufficeth not to shew from Scripture any kinde of difference between a Bishop and a Presbyter unless it can be likewise proved that the Bishop is the alone subject or receptacle of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction that he alone hath rule and government over all the Presbyters within his limits yea and over all the Churches leaving no power to the Presbyters but to execute his Injunctions But there is nothing more express then that the Holy Ghost hath made all Presbyters to be Bishops or Overseers and hath commanded them to rule the Church and to exercise Episcopacy or to take the oversight thereof And that this is the sence of the Church of England is manifest by appointing the exhortation of Saint Paul to the Elders of the Church of Ephesus and the character and qualification of Bishops written by the same Apostle unto Timothy to be read unto Presbyters at the time of their Ordination Hereupon a late famous Defender of Prelacy was driven to leave the beaten path of Episcopal Divines and to take a new way but to the ruine of the Cause maintained by him He saith That although the Title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Elders hath been extended to a second Order in the Church and is now in use onely for them under the name of Presbyters yet in the Scripture times it belonged principally if not only to Bishops there being no evidence that any of that second Order were then instituted though soon after before the Writings of Ignatius such were instituted in all Churches Here it is fully granted that the Scripture Presbyters were Bishops and that the second Order of meer Presbyters which were no Bishops was not then instituted whereupon it follows that a meer Presbyter who is no Bishop is not of divine institution but a meer humane Creature if the holy Scriptures be the perfect Rule of all Divine Institutions Neither is the abatement of Prelacy unto moderate Episcopacy or Presidency any departure from the practice of the ancient Church but a true reviving of the same which was an election made by the Presbyters of one of their own number to preside amongst them and that upon no pretence of Divine Right but for remedy of Schism as Jerome witnesseth And with this Bishop or President the whole Presbytery joyned in the common Government of the Church Bishop Usher plainly shews how easily the ancient form of Government may be revived again and with what little shew of alteration namely by erecting a Suffragan Bishop in every rural Deanery into which every Diocess is subdivided who may every moneth assemble a Synod of all the incumbent Pastors within the Precinct and according to the major part of voices conclude all matters that should be brought into debate before them yet with a liberty to appeal if need require to the Diocesan Provincial National Synods That the number of Bishops should be very much augmented doth evidently appear to all that know and consider the weight of Episcopal Superintendency and the learned Bishop now mentioned gives a hint that their number might be very well conformed to the number of rural Deaneries Surely so many hundred populous Parishes now under the Government of one Bishop might be well divided into many Diocesses ample enough And such a course would make not only for the edifying of the Church by the more effectual inspection of many Bishops for one but also for the advancement of Learning by the multiplication of preferments Wherefore nothing of the Churches being or well-being nothing of Divine Institution or primitive practise doth withstand the reduction of Prelacy to moderate Episcopacy or the ancient Synodical government to which the Presbyterians may conform without repugnancy to their principles Section XXIV The point of Ceremonies comes next under debate And for as much as it concerns Divine Worship it is of high importance and a tender point of Conscience And herein we affirm that the Presbyterian concessions are no way defective but sufficient and ample unto all regular devotion in divine Service All natural expressions of devotion or natural external worship they readily acknowledge as kneeling and lifting up of the hands and eyes in prayer and such like which are called natural because nature it self teacheth all Nations to use them without any divine or humane Institution and a rational man by the meer light of nature is directed to them yet not without some government of counsel and discretion For in these things nature is in part determined and limited by the custome of several Ages and Countries and by the difference of several Cases In the act of adoration the prostration of the body is used according to nature in some ages places and occasions and not in others In ancient times the wearing of fackcloth and ashes and renting of clothes were fit expressions of humiliation and that according to nature yet the same suits not with our times For herein nature is subject unto some variety and now adays the wearing of the meanest apparel were sutable in a day of Humiliation because it is now a convenient natural expression of self-abasement and a kind of abstinence Likewise kneeling is a natural prayer-posture but where it cannot be used conveniently standing is naturally agreeable nevertheless neither the one nor the other is necessary where infirmity or other necessity makes it inconvenient Moreover they do not scruple the meer circumstances of order as time place and method without which humane actions cannot be performed They allow and commend all matters of decency as decent Churches or meeting places and furniture as a Pulpit Cloth Communion Cup and a grave habit for a Minister and in holy duties a grave posture of body composed countenance and
the degenerate and corrupt times We see the greatest Kings and Monarchs have their Councels There is no Temporal Councel in England of the higher sort where the Authority doth rest in one person Again he saith Bishops have their infirmities and have no exception from that general malediction which is pronounced against all men living Vaesoli c. Nay we see the first warrant in spiritual causes is directed to a number Dic Ecclesiae which is not so in temporal matters Again we see that the Bishop of Rome fas est ab hoste doceri and no question in that Church the first Institutions are excellent performeth all Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction as in Consistory and whereof consisteth this Consistory but of the Parish Priests of Rome which term themselves Cardinals à Cardinibus Mundi because the Bishop thereof pretendeth to be universal over the whole world Touching the second point the deputation of their Authority he saith the Bishop exerciseth his Jurisdiction by his Chancellor and Commissary official c. We see in all Laws in the world offices of confidence and skill cannot be put over nor exercised by Deputy except it be especially contained in the Original Grant and then it becomes dutiful There was never any Judge that made a Deputy The Bishop is a Judge and of an high nature whence cometh it that he should depute considering all trust and confidence is personal and inherent and cannot or ought not to be transposed Surely in this again ab initio non fuit ita But it is probable that Bishops when they gave themselves too much to the glory of the world and became Grandees in Kingdomes and great Councellors to Princes then did they deleague their proper Jurisdiction as things of too inferiour a nature for their greatness and then after the similitude of Kings and Count Palatines they would have their Chancellours and Judges This and much more hath that great Scholar Lawyer and States-man observed in that excellent discourse Yea our late Soveraign in his discourse touching the differences between himself and the two Houses in point of Church-Government declares in these words that he is not against the managing of the Episcopal presidency in one man by the joynt counsel and consent of many Presbyters but that he had offered to restore it as a fit means to avoid those errours and corruptions and partialities which are incident to any one man also to avoid Tyranny which becomes no Christians least of all Church-men besides it will be a means to take away that odium and burden of affairs which may lye too heavy on one mans shoulders as he thought it did formerly on the Bishops here Section XXXVIII By the desired reduction of Prelacy to the coalition of Episcopacy and Presbytery in a due temperament His Majesty will be so far from giving up or weakning that power and influence which in right and reason he ought to have over Church and State that he will thereby gain a surer and a larger interest Bishops lessened in power and encreased in number and resident in the Churches and duly dispencing the Word and Sacraments are not like to alienate the King from Parliaments nor Parliaments and people from the King but will become more popular and able to fix the hearts of the people to obedience and loyalty And this popularity of Bishops and Presbyters being alone without potency is no rational ground of distrust or jealousie to the King For their influence upon others will not be from greatness of power and command but from venerable esteem and reputation and that stands upon their prudent pious and peaceable behaviour Besides his Majesty can easily keep them in such dependence on himself as that he shall not hold this interest at their courtesie Do any suggest the Presbyterians may grow upon him Surely there are and will be enough to balance them Certainly they have seen so little good of changes that a reasonable condition with security will be acceptable to them Undoubtedly the union of both parties by an equal accommodation is the interest of Prince and people the strength and stability of King and Kingdom Let neither side lay hold on present mutable advantages to press them too far but let all consider what will stand with lasting tranquillity And above all let his Majesties wisdom who hath the high concernment of three Kingdoms for himself and his Heirs for ever lay a good and solid foundation for the time to come Section XXXIX Finally this accomodation is the interest of Jesus Christ the Redeemer and Head of the Church in as much as it takes in and secures thousands of godly able Orthodox Ministers thousands and ten thousands of godly peaceable Christians who otherwise might be rejected and oppressed And it may well be acceptable to the whole Christian world because it bears conformity to the whole State of Christendom to the forreign reformed Churches in Presbytery to the rest of the Churches in Episcopacy and to the ancient Church next to the Primitive times in the orderly conjunction of Episcopacy and Presbytery FINIS THE Second Part OF THE Interest of England In the Matter of Religion Unfolded in a Deliberative Discourse PROVING That it is not agreeable to sound Reason to prefer the Contracted and Dividing Interest of one Party before the general Interest of Protestantism and of the whole Kingdom of England in which the Episcopal and Presbyterian Parties may be happily United Written by J. Corbet Rector of Bramshot The second Impression Corrected and amended LONDON Printed for George Thomason and are to be sold at the Rose and Crown in St Pauls Church-yard 1661. I Intreat the Reader to take notice That in these Discourses I do not mention parties to maintain Division but to procure Vnion That necessity compels me to use those names of difference which I heartily wish might be no more remembred But whilst disagreeing Parties last names of difference cannot cease and to forbear their use is to little purpose My business is to take things as I find them and to state the Case between the Dissenters and to shew how far they agree and how little they differ for this end That Parties both Name and Thing might cease for ever Moreover as I use not the name of Presbyterian in the way of glorying so I use not the name of Prelate or Prelatist in way of reproach but meerly for distinction sake and I have warrant for it from the friends of Prelacy with whom it is not unusual to mention the name of Prelate in an honourable Sence The Second Part of the Interest of England in the Matter of Religion THe former Treatise of the Interest of England in the Matter of Religion makes known the way of peace in the reconciling of those two grand Parties the Episcopal and Presbyterian which if made one would take in and carry along the strength of almost the whole Nation The whole structure thereof rests upon these Positions as
Party which cannot be rooted out but will be always considerable either as friends or enemies especially when those tearms do comprise some part of their victory that should accept them Let the Episcopal Clergy observe the spirit of the Nation and the condition of the Times that they may rightly comprehend the measure of their own hopes The English are a generous Nation and as they delight in the Majesty and Glory of their King so also in the splendid condition of subordinate Governours that their manner of living be in some sort conformable to the dignity and opulency of the Nation Accordingly they seem to take pleasure that the Ecclesiastical State be upheld by a fair Revenue and competent Dignity yet with moderation For if the Clergy do rise to Princely or Lordly wealth and power they may become the envy of the Nobility and Gentry Let them remember they stand by Grace not by their own strength but by their Prince His Favour The Nation in general may be taken with a grave and masculine decency in all Sacred things sutable to their spiritual Majesty but I make a Question whether in this noon-tide of the Gospel they will fall in love with excessive gaudiness pompous shews and various affected gestures in Sacred Administrations and not rather esteem them vanities too much detracting from the dignity and purity of Gospel-Worship In this noon-tide of the Gospel the Bishops cannot magnifie their Office but by other courses then what were taken in former and darker times Meer formalities will no longer dazle our eyes We shall think they have work of an higher nature then to look only to the observation of outward Forms and Rites ann Ceremonies they must make a nearer approach to the Presbyterian practice in the constant Preaching of the Word in the strict observation of the Lords Day in keeping a true watch over the Flock and in correcting the real scandals that break forth in mens conversations And if they walk in these paths the Prelatists and Presbyterians will not be far asunder Perhaps the friends of Prelacy may imagine that in this coalition Presbytery may at length undermine Episcopacy but reason shews that Episcopacy will stand more firm in conjunction with Presbytery then by it self alone In the body natural there is some predominant humour as sanguine cholerick melancholy or phlegmatick yet none of these do subsist alone without the mixture of the rest in a due temperament In like manner the Body Ecclesiastical may be of several complexions or constitutions as Episcopal or Presbyterial according to the predominant quality Now if the Presbyterian Churches would become more firm and stable by the superintendency of one grave President and the truth is in all Presbyteries there appeareth some Episcopacy either formal or vertual so an Episcopal Church may be judged more firm and stable by a Bishops superintendency in consociation with assistant Presbyters And to remove the fear of the incroachments of Presbytery it is easie to discern that Episcopacy if it contains it self within moderate bounds will be always in this National Church the predominant quality In the Conclusion of this Discourse let me offer these few Essayes concerning the pathes of peace Section XLV The glorifying and pleasing of the highest Potentate and universal Monarch and the eternal happiness of immortal precious souls are the most noble and blessed ends of Government Let his Majesties Reign be happy and glorious in attaining these ends A Christian King esteems it the excellency of his regal Power to hold and manage it as the servant of Jesus Christ to be a Protector of the true Church the Body of Christ the Lambs wife for whose redemption Christ dyed and for whose gathering and perfecting the world is continued It is the Character of this true Church to make the holy Scriptures the perfect rule of their faith and life to worship God in spirit and in truth according to the power and spiritual worship of the Gospel to walk by the rule of the new Creature in spiritual mortification and crucifixion to the world to study holinesse in sincerity to strive to advance it in themselves and others and to have influence upon others unto sound knowledge faith humility godlinesse justice temperance charity The true Church lies in the middle between two extreams Formalists and Fanaticks They are of circumspect and regular walking no way forward in attempting or desiring alterations in a civil State A Prince doth hold them in obedience under a double bond For they know they must needs be subject not onely for wrath but for conscience sake Indeed we will not conceal that in lawful wayes they assert that liberty which is setled by the known Laws and fundamental Constitutions the maintaining whereof is the Princ's as much as the Peoples safety Section XLVI That being the happiest politie that is founded in true Religion and most fully suited to mens everlasting concernments it greatly behoveth Governors to mark and avoid those things which bring Religion into contempt and tend to the increase of Atheism and infidelity The many various Sects and absurd opinions and fancies and pretended Revelations of these latter times have much lessened the reverence of Religion in England This is a great evil and much observed and decryed by the present times There is another evil no less injurious to the honour and estimation of Christian piety to wit Ceremonial strictness with real prophaness or at the most but lukewarmness in the real part of Religion And this is the true state of the Papacy by occasion whereof Atheists have so abounded in Italy Machiavel observes in his time that Christianity was no where less honoured then in Rome which is the pretended Head thereof Let this evil be seen prevented and remedied that the sacred name of the Church be given to a society not carnal but truly spiritual according to that of the Apostle We are the Circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh Section XLVII It is the preheminence of His Majesty as General Bishop of the Land for so He is in a political sence to visit His people of all ranks by His prudent inspection And it is worthy of His chiefest care and search to know whether every Pastor be resident with his own Flock and doth constantly on every Sabbath teach them the good Knowledge of God what Pluralists do seize upon several Congregations thrusting or barring out laborious Ministers and leaving the sheep in the hands of one who is a meer mercinary and careth not for them whether Preaching in Cathedral Churches be more frequent since the reviving of Deans and Chapters then before when those places were supplied by one or two stipendiary Ministers whether the Precincts of Cathedrals be the purest parts of the Land and the Members thereof the purest parts of the Clergy as in reason they ought to be In all His Majesties superintendency there is
and Popery be set up with a bloody Inquisition Section XI And verily if there were a design to reconcile England to Rome let all means be used totally to quash the Puritanes or Presbyterians but if England will keep her self pure from Romish Abominations let her be a kinde Mother to these her Children For this Interest is one chief strength of the true Reformed Protestant Religion Let those well known Principles that strike to the heart of Popery be brought forth for evidence to wit the perfection of holy Scriptures in opposition to unwritten Traditions the Authority of Canonical Books in opposition to the encroachments of the Apocrypha the distinct knowledge of the Doctrine of Salvation according to every mans capacity in opposition to implicite Faith the reasonable serving of God according to the Word in opposition to blind devotion Spiritual Gospel Worship in opposition to a pompous train of Ceremonies the efficacious edifying use of religious exercises in opposition to the Popish Opus operatum or work done lastly the power of godliness in opposition to splendid Formality Whether the Prelatical or Presbyterian party be the more rooted and grounded in these Principles let knowing persons consider and give judgement It hath been observ'd not by vulgar ones but by States-men in former times that the Puritans stood between the Papists and the swaying part of the later Prelatists as a partition wall which was therefore to be broken down as was reported to make way for an attempted reconciliation In those times a Venetian Agent in England being intimately acquainted with the Popes Nuncio here resident had fathomed the depth of his Religious Negotiation touching this grand affair and in his account given to the State that sent him and since published to the world hath these notable observations That in the Realm of England are three Faction the Catholicks the Protestants and the Puritans Now saith he these three Factions in Religion though they all oppose one another yet the hatred of Protestants against Puritans is greater then against Catholicks and that of Catholicks is greater against Puritans then against Protestants and that of Puritans is greater against Catholicks then Protestants and thus both Catholicks and Protestants do easily combine together for the ruine and rooting out of Puritans What these Protestants are he thus declares they did not so engage themselves to those particular opinions meaning of the Reformation but they have since set themselves to reform the abuse of Religion by reducing themselves again to the old practise of their Forefathers The Puritans he describes in these words that being seasoned and initiated with the Doctrine of Calvin they judge the English Reformation imperfect and so refused submission to that form of Policy Such is the account of this Statesman both a Forreigner and a Papist and not to be supposed partial in favour of Puritans Now by Protestants he understands only those that adhered to the English Prelacy And so indeed that party have impropriated the name to themselves excluding the Presbyterians who in the mean while complain of palpable injury and give evident proof that they of right have as much Interest in that venerable name As touching the passages here quoted let them rest on the Relators credit and their own evidence whatever it be What our great Clergie intended I determine nothing but in equity leave it questionable How far they actually advanced this way be it collected out of their own Writings and other manifest Expressions It is no novelty for Papists to impose the name of Puritans on such as retain the old Protestant spirit of Antipathy to Rome which is a good argument to prove that in the party more peculiarly so called lies the heart and strength of aversness and enmity to the Heresies and Idolatries of the Roman Church Wherefore Those Bishops in the Church of England who were heartily averse from Popish Innovations were more benigne and favorable to Puritans and themselves accounted Puritan by the adverse party and upon the same account the Gentry of this Kingdom were so esteemed And let it be well observed that the more primitive times of Protestantism were more leaning to that which Romanizing spirits have called Puritanism Pardon the frequent use of this terme for I glory not in it but am constrained to use it for distinctions sake in bringing former things to remembrance Should not King Nobles and Commons remember their Darling Protestiantism and not abandon that sort of persons which contribute so much to the upholding of it It is confessed there have been some scandals given yet more taken But in this case let the saying of our blessed Lord be minded Not only woe to the man by whom the offence cometh but woe to the world because of offences It will not be well with England while we give way to passion and prejudices from offences taken and so run from one extream to another Where is the wise Counsellour Can we come to no temper Is there no healing for us Shall we sleep securely whilest the Seedsmen of the Envious One the Jesui's and other Romish Agents sow the Tares of Division in our Field not only to weaken and hinder but to choak and eat out our common Faith Yea blessed be God for our gracious Soveraign who makes it his care and study to allay distempers and compose differences by his just and gracious concessions already published concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs Section XII The Presbyterians are loaded with many calumnies as that they are against the Interest of Civil Magistracy especially of Monarchy that they are giddy factious schismatical domineering and what not Let not prejudice but reason sway mens minds in matters of such importance As concerning the Interest of Civil Magistracy that Presbyterians pluck from it the power in Causes Ecclesiastical that they erect Imperium in Imperio is a groundless and gross mistake Take the declared Judgment of the highest in that way according to their own words To the Political Magistrate is allowed a diatactick ordering regulating power about Ecclesiastical Matters in a Political way So that he warrantably reforms the Church when corrupted in Divine Worship Discipline or Government He convenes and convocates Synods and Councils made up of Ecclesiastical persons to advise and conclude determinatively according to the Word of God how the Church is to be reformed and refined from corruption and how to be guided and governed when reformed He ratifies and establishes within his Dominions the just and necessary Decrees of the Church in Synods and Councils by his Civil Sanction He judgeth and determineth definitively with a consequent political judgement or judgement of discretion concerning things judged and determined antecedently by the Church in reference to his own act He takes care politically that even Matters and Ordinances meerly and formally Ecclesiastical be duely managed by Ecclesiastical persons orderly called thereunto He hath a compulsive punitive or corrective power formally political in matters of Religion
and pull down but not to build up They do not hang in the air bur build upon a firm ground they have setled principles consistent with the rules of stable policy Contrariwise Fanaticks truly and not abusively so called do build castles in the air and are fit instruments to disturb and destroy and root out but never to compose and plant and settle for which cause their Kingdom could never hold long in any time or place of the world Upon this ground Presbytery not sectarian Anarchy hath been assaulted with greatest violence by the more observing Prelatists against this they have raised their main batteries this appeared formidable for it is stable and uniform and like to hold if once setled in good earnest This party do not run so fast but they know where to stop they are a number of men so fixed and constant as none more and a Prince or State shall know where to find them They do not strain so high but they consider withal what the Kingdoms of the world will bear and are willing to bring things to the capacity of political Government They can have no pleasure in commotions and alterations for order and regular unity is their way and therefore stability of Government and publick tranquility is their interest It is most unreasonable to object that the late wilde postures extravagancies and incongruities in Government were the work of Presbytery or Presbyterians The Nation had never proof of Presbytery for it was never setled but rather decryed and exposed to prejudice by those that were in sway and that in the more early times of the late Wars The truth of this matter is cleared by a passage of our late Soveraign in a Letter to his Majesty that now is All the lesser Factions were at first officious Servants to Presbytery their great Master till time and Military Success discovering to each their particular advantages invited them to part stakes and leaving the joynt stock of uniform Religion pretended each to drive for their party the trade of profits and preferments to the breaking and undoing not only of the Church and State but of Presbytery it self Thus the joynt stock of uniform Religion was left and Presbytery neglected before the first War was ended Yea and those that stedsastly adhered to it were maligned and reviled by the exorbitant party for opposing their new models or agreements of the people Section XVII Neither can Sects or Schisms with any truth or justice be reckoned the Off-spring of Presbytery Consider the French Dutch Helvetian Churches how intire they keep themselves in Orthodox Vnity from the Gangreen of Sects and Schisms A wide Breach was once made in the Netherlands by Arminius and his Followers but after some years conflict it was healed by the Synod of Dort The Church of Scotland is inferiour to none in the unity of Doctrine and Church-Communion and their form of Ecclesiastical Policy and method of Discipline is very effectual to prevent the broaching of Errour King James in discourse with an English Bishop is reported to have rendred this account why so few Heresies and Errours of Doctrine are united and prosecuted to the publick disturbance of that Church Every Parish hath their Pastor ever present with them and watching over them and he with his Elders and Deacons hath a weekly meeting for censure of manners by which he perfectly knows his Flock and every abberation of them in doctrine practise and lest any heresie might seize upon the Pastor they have their Presbyters which meet together once also every week in the next chief Town or City and there they have their exercise of prophesying after which the Moderator asks the judgement of all the Pastors concerning the doctrine then delivered or of any other doubtful point then propounded and if the Presbytery be divided in their opinions the question is under an injoyned silence put over 〈◊〉 the next Synod which is held twice a 〈…〉 which the Pastors of that quarter or province do duly resort accompanied with their Elders and any question of doubt is either decided by that Assembly or with charge of silence reserved to a national Synod which they hold every year once whither come not the Pastors onely but the King himself or his Commissioners and some of all orders and degrees sufficiently authorized for determining of any controversie that shall arise among them Could the Bishops in former times procure a greater unity in the Church of England Whence therefore should this charge arise peradventure some Presbyterians have turned Sectaries Surely it would be taken for a weak arguing to say That Prelacy is the way to Popery because some Prelatists have turned Papists The truth is Sectarianism grew up in a Mystery of Iniquity and State policy and it was not well discerned till it became almost triumphant by Military successes But after that its growth and strength did manifestly appear Presbytery began to struggle with it and so continued until by the power of the Army it was inforced to sit down but never to comply Whereupon the tongues and pens of Sectaries were imployed against none more then the Presbyterians And I should be glad to hear of such bitter Invectives of the Papists against the Prelatists not that I rejoyce in the sin of the one or the suffering of the other but that the Protestant friends of Prelacy might more incline to their Protestant Presbyterian Brethren Surely the way to prevent the growth of the two utmost extreams is for the two middle parties to draw up and close together But however the world goes the Presbyterians shall ever keep as good a distance from the Sectaries or Fanaticks as the Prelatists shall from Papists And verily there is no greater bar against Fanaticism then the right Presbyterian principles as not to sever but joyn the written word and spirit for direction the spirit and use of Ordinances for Edification to erect a stated Church-Order and Discipline to allow to the Church a directive and to every Christian a discretive judgment to insist only upon Divine Scripture Warrant and to wave humane authority in matters of Religion For such is the temperament of these Maximes that they commend and require a distinct knowledge and illumination in the mind and in the affections lively motions and stirrings against Formality and blind Devotion and so do satisfie the minds of those who conceive that in true Religion there is spiritual light and life and power and also they shew the necessity of the written Word of constant publick Ordinances and private Exercises of Religion and of the direction and discipline of the Church all which do serve to settle the mind against dilusive impulses and wild fancies and raptures Section XVIII But of all the prejudices and scandals taken against this way there is none greater then this that it is represented as tyrannical and domineering and that those who live under it must like Issachar crouch under the burdens In
to be against the Rules of Government to hold under a rigid yoke a free people of such a number and quality and intermingled in all estates and rauks and intimately conjoyned with all parts of the body Politique that it is almost impossible to exclude their Interest from a considerable share in publique actions Besides is it for the service of Christ and the encrease of his Kingdom the Church that so many able Divines should be debarred the use of their Lords Talents that so many laborious Ministers should sit still in silence that when Christ teacheth us to pray that the Lord would thrust forth Labourers into his Harvest those Labourers should be thrust out of his harvest Surely this would make a cry in the ears of the Lord of the Harvest Let me add this 'T is a hard matter to silence them that will preach virtually in pious Conferences whose occasional and Table Discourses will be a kind of Sermon Let me offer a third way Will they afford them liberty of Conscience and yet stave them off as a divided Party to stand alone in their Principles and Interest Verily I cannot think it is in their heart so to do What then remains but to prepare the way and to make the path straight for a solid and perfect closure by laying aside those unnecessary occasions of stumbling Section XVII If the neglect of brotherly Pacification hold on and the Hierarchy resolve upon their own advancement to the highest pitch one may well conclude That they make a full reckoning to wear out the Presbyterians and to swallow up their Interest conceiving they are able to effect it by degrees and that greater changes then these have been wrought without much ado And we confess indeed that a great change in Religion was made by Qu. ELIZABETH without much dispute or difficulty The alteration was not sudden but gradual Camden writes That in the entrance of the Queens Reign for a whole moneth and more the Roman Religion stood as it did at the death of Queen MARY On the 27. of December the Epistles and Gospels the Lords Prayer Creed and Ten Commandements together with the Letany were read in the English Tongue On the 22. of March the intire use of the Sacrament in both kinds was restored by Parliament On the 24. of June the Sacrifice of the Mass was abolished and the whole Liturgy restored into English In July the Oath of Supremacy was given to the Bishops And in August Images were taken out of the Churches and broken or burnt Why may not the Hierarchical Interest swallow up the Presbyterian as easily as Protestantism prevailed over Popery Surely I take these several cases to be very different And first because Queen ELIZABETH had this fundameutal maxime as agreeable to her Conscience and the Interest of Her State to banish hence the exercise of the Roman Religion But our Gracious King in His Christian Prudence and Compassion seeks the uniting of His Protestant Subjects and the healing of their breaches by His Wife and Gracious condescentions already Declared Besides in the beginning of the Queens Raign the inferiour Clergy of this Kingdom universally appeared to be but lukewarm Papists and many of them might be supposed to be Protestants in hearts and the most of them very unlearned and indifferent men in Religion And a great part of the Hierarchy were not more zealous than the rest For when at that time the Ecclesiastical Promotions in England were numbered above nine thousand four hundred in all there were not more then fourscore Rectors of Churches fifty Prebendaries fifteen Heads of Colledges twelve Arch-Deacons twelve Deans six Abbots and Abbesses and fourteen Bishops that refused the Oath of Supremacy Also the English Service was so prepared that it might be no abomination to the Papists no positive thing therein occurring repugnant to their Doctrine for which cause they frequented the same for the first ten years and the Pope did not in many years send forth his thunder lightning against the Queen And Popery being in substance a Religion contrary to what was publickly professed had no advantage for encrease by publick Preaching or Books publickly allowed All these accidents did help forward to an absolute settlement of the Protestant Religion But we may find the state of things far otherwise in point of disposition or inclination toward the Dominion of absolute Prelacy and the rigorous imposition of Ceremonies and the extirpation of the dissenting Party For there are now in England thousands of Ministers dis-satisfied in the Hierarchy and Ceremonies who are all competently and many of them eminently learned They are not generally of light spirits but steddy and well resolved and tenderly affected touching their spiritual liberties The way which in scorn is called Puritanism is not another Religion in substance than Protestantism but the very same or one branch thereof distinguished from the other by an accidental difference Protestant and Puritane Doctrine and Worship all men may know to be the same for substance and Puritanism will grow up with Protestantism notwithstanding all opposition as I have manifested in the former discourse Commonly those people who try all Doctrines by Scripture and are swayed more by its Authority than by the Ordinances and Customs of men do much hesitate and stagger concerning the sole Jurisdiction of Bishops the pomp of the Hierarchy and sacred mystical Ceremonies of Humane Institution And therefore let the Episcopal Party never look to be rid of these difficulties till they remove the matters in Question whereat a knowing people are always ready to stumble Neither in these times are the Presbyterians so hateful a generation as some would have them they are odious to none but those to whom they were ever odious or else to such Ignorants as follow the Cry and speak evil of they know not what They have had no considerable loss of their number by revolt and whatever comes to pass they think never the worse of their main Cause which I have expressed in the Character given of them And if some or many of them have a liberry in their own judgements touching conformity yet that conformity will not strengthen the designs of those Prelatists that are most rigid in such impositions and seek to tread down the Presbyterians It was a notable question which a Carthaginian Senator put to Hanibal's Agents after the great overthrow given to the Romans at Canna When they had magnified Hanibal's great Atchievements Hanno asked them Whether any of the Romans had come to demand Peace and whether any Town of the Latines or any of their Colonies had yet rebelled against the Romans The Agents denying the one and the other Hanno replied Then is the War as intire yet as at the first I apply this to shew how easily men mistake the progress of their own affairs and think themselves to be ready for a triumph when indeed they have gotten little and the state of the controversie is still
lesser differences Section XXXIV Furthermore a great prejudice is taken up against Bishops ruling in consoâ—iation with Presbyters and against Classical or Presbyterian meetings as inclining to Faction and likely to produce alterations which evils are supposed to follow tbe distributing of the power among many Whereupon the Government of a single Person or a Bishop having sole Jurisdictson is apprehended to be the surest means of keeping Church affairs in a fixed state This prejudice having a great shew of truth we must stoop to pry into it more narrowly And first we have this political maxime to direct us in this inquiry that the condition of the people to be governed is the best rule of discerning the aptest form of Government And according to this principle we resolve that absolute Prelacy is the only Government to hold a people that content themselves with a customary service and the Religion of their Country and of their fore-fathers whatsoever it be All Discourses Debates Disputations and all occasions of contest touching Religion and particularly that exercise which is called prophesying must be avoided But this Government is not so agreeable to a people that are given to search the Scriptures and try Doctrines In England where the inferior Clergy or Parochial Ministery is not rude and ignorant but in a great part learned and conscientious where the common people in a great part try all things that they may hold fast that which is good the Ecclesiastical jurisdiction cannot conveniently reside in a Prelate alone governing by severe Canons and denouncing excommunication against all those that express any dissent from any particulars of the received Forms of Worship and Discipline For among such a people this is a likelier way to beget some great distemper then to keep all in quietness and deep silence But a form of Government more free by distributing the power among many and regular meetings for free debates with in certain limits will be much more peaceable and succesful It is here acknowledged that in such an order of things dissentions may arise and cause some interruptions Nevertheless no great inconvenience but sometimes much advantage may follow The stirrings of warm contests may be unadvisedly condemned For as Thunder purgeth the Air so these stirrings may purge the Church from Corruptions ingendering in it Let the frame and order of things be so established that both parties may be made hopeless concerning factious attempts of promoting this or that extream that the contests may not be on the one side for Dominion nor on the other side for inordinate liberty but on both sides for Truths due freedom and then they will end in peace If great mistakes should arise in such meetings and seem for a while to pass currently there may be found some persons of that wisedome integrity and reputation as to be able to shew the fallacy and to convince those of both sides that intend uprightly In which case if they perceive an evil spirit on work and an evil design hatching among some they will turn away with indignation from the contrivers of such mischief Wherfore let the frame of Ecclesiastical politie lean neither towards Tyranny nor Anarchy but be set upright for just liberty Let good orders be kept and priviledges not violated and the greater number of those who mean honestly will not be led into the snare of faction And selfish ambitious pragmatick spirits that trouble them will easily be detected and abandoned Section XXXV Unto this reasoning let the authority of an Eminent pacifique Bishop be superadded concerning the way of order and stability in the conjunction of Episcopacy and Presbytery Bishop Hall in his Discourse Intituled A modest offer of some meet considerations to the Assembly of Divines at Westminster commends the method of the Church of Scotland for prevention of Errour and Heresie by a gradual proceeding from the parochial meeting to the Presbytery from thence to the provincial Synod and from thence to the general Assembly for determining any controversie saying Thus bears the face of a very fair and laudable course and such as deserves the approbation of all the well-willers to that Discipline But let me add That either we have or may have in this very state of things with some small variation in effect the very same Government with us Instead of Presbyteries consisting of several Pastors we have our combinations of Ministers in our several Deanries over whom the rural Dean is chosen every year by the Minsters of that Division as their Moderator This Deanry or Presbytery may be enjoyned to meet every moneth or oftner in some City or Town next to them and there they may have their exercise of Prophecying as I have known it practised in some parts of this Kingdom as it is earnestly wished and recommended by that Excellently Learned Lord Verulam in his prudent Considerations where if any Question fail of determination it may be referred gradually from the lesser to the greater Assemblies till it be brought to a National Synod In the same discourse the said Bishop commends one constant prudent vigilant Overseer superadded to a Grave Judicious Presbytery without concurrence of which Presbytery the Bishop or Overseer should not take upon him to inflict Excommunication or any other important Censure Having discovered certain general Impediments I proceed to Argue upon the particular Concernments of the King of the Nobility and Gentry and of the Episcopal Clergy Section XXXVI His Majesties Concernment in this grand Affair transcends the particular concernments of all others whether Parties or Persons and that beyond all comparison Others may advance themselves and Families by the present occasions and give over in time when they have builded their own houses Many and perhaps the most if changes come may retreat and serve the Times for their own security but the King never descends from the Stage of publick Action and can never cease to be interessed in His people Others having much to get and little to lose may make themselves by present advantages but the King hath little to get but much to secure and not the present occasional and mutable advantage put perpetual stability is His Inrerest His Majesty hath worthily gained the Reputation of a Wise and Gracious Prince of an excellent spirit and temper for these times And truly a Prince as wise as Solomon hath no Wisedom to spare from the weight of these businesses Let the God of the spirits of all flesh and the Father of Lights continually give to His Majesty a large heart and comprehensive Understanding that may see far and near and fetch within its compass all circumstances consequents and moments that are requisite to the forming of a perfect judgment concerning these great Affairs Section XXXVII After so long a War between King and Parliament and after all the changes in Government the King being at length restored to His full Power and Greatness and the people being satiated with Civil Warres tumults and