Pastor they have their Presbyteries consisting of severall Shrivalties which meet together in the chiefe Towne or City next to them every week also once and have there their exercise of Prophecying after which the Moderator of the said Meeting asks and gathers the judgements of all the said Pastors concerning the doctrine then delivered or of any other doubtfull point that is then and there propounded And if the said Presbyters be divided in their opinions then the Question is under an injoyned silence put over to the next Synode which is held twice a yeare unto that all the Pastors of that Quarter or Province duly resort accompanyed with their Elders The Moderator of the former Synode begins the Action then a new Moderator is chosen for the present or as it seldome falls out the last Moderator by Voices continued Any Question of doubt being proposed is either decided by that meeting or if it cannot be so done is with charge of silence reserved till the Nationall Synode or Generall Assembly which they hold every yeare once Whither come not the Pastors onely but the King himselfe or his Commissioners and some of all Orders and Degrees sufficiently authorized for the determining of any Controversie that shall arise amongst them Thus he And certainly this beares the face of a very faire and laudable course and such as deserves the approbation of all the wel-willers to that discipline But let me adde that we either have or may have in this very same state of things with some small variation in effect the same Government with us onely there wants some care and life in their execution which might without much difficulty be redressed Every parish hath or by Law ought to have their Minister ever present with them and carefully watching over them In stead then of their Pastor Elders and Deacons we have in every Parish the Minister whether a Rector or Vicar Churchwardens Questmen or Sidemen and Overseers for the Poore and in places of any eminence a Curate or Assistent to the Rector who is a Deacon at least These may and ought and in some places doe duly meet together every week on a set day in their Vestry and decide such differences as happen amongst them and may well be enjoyned to take notice of such abuses and mis-demeanours as are incident into their parish for their speedy reformation within the Verge of their owne power In stead of their Presbyteries consisting of severall pastors we have our number and combination of ministers in the divisions of our severall Deanries under which are ranged all the Ministers within that circuit Over whom the Rurall Deane as he is called is every year chosen by the said Ministers of that division as their moderator for the yeare ensuing whose office if it were carefully looked unto and reduced to the originall institution might be of singular use to Gods Church This Deanry or Presbytery consisting of severall pastors may be injoyned to meet together every moneth or oftner if it seeme fit in some city or town next unto them and may there have their exercise of prophesying as I have known it practiced in some parts of this kingdom and as it is earnestly wished and recommended by that excellently-Learned Lord Verulame late Lord Chancelour of England in his prudent Considerations and then and there may indevour to decide any doubt that may arise in their severall parishes either concerning the doctrine of their Minister or scruple in cases of conscience and may transact any publique businesse that may concerne their whole division But if any such matter or question should arise as their divided opinions cannot fully determine it may under charge of silence be put over to a more publique meeting which is the synodall assembly of the Clergy held twice a yeare under the moderation hitherto of the Archdeacon And if there the question fayle of a full determination it is or may be referred with like silence and peace to a Diocesan Synode which may be held every yeare once under the presidency of the Bishop And if yet the decision come not home it may be referred to the determining of a Provinciall Synod or yet higher to a Nationall So as in these cases of doubts or errors if men would not be wanting to themselves nothing needs to be wanting in the state we now stand in to the safety and happinesse of our Church For matter of Ordination of Ministers the former Constitutions of our Church have deeply enjoyned the presence and assistance of those who by their originall institution are the Presbyterie of the Bishop at and in the examination and allowance of the persons to be ordained requiring also the joynt-imposition of those hands which attested the sufficiency of the said Examinates not without a severe sanction of two yeares suspension of the act of Ordaining to passe upon any Bishop or Suffragane that shall be found failing in any of the particulars The qualification of those that are to be ordained is in our Canons already set forth with much caution for their age their degrees their abilities the testimonie of their holy conversation neither need I doubt to affirm that he who besides all other circumstances of education is able to give a good account of his faith in Latine according to the received Articles of the Church of England and to confirme the same by sufficient testimonies out of the holy Scripture may be thought competently fit for matter of knowledge to enter upon the first step of Deaconship which the wisdome of the Church hath according to the Apostles rule appointed not without a sufficient distance of time in way of probation to the higher order of Ministery forbidding to give both orders at once and requiring that he who is ordained Deacon shall continue a whole yeare at least in that station except upon some weighty reasons it shall seeme fit to the Bishop to contract the time limited And lest there should be any subreption in this sacred businesse it is Ordered that these Ordinations should be no other then solemne both in respect of time and place neither ought they to be nor in some places are without a publique preconization of lawfull warning affixed upon the Cathedrall Church doore where the said Ordination shall be celebrated and over and besides the charge that none shall be admitted to be a Candidate of holy Orders but he who brings sufficient testimonials of his good life and conversation under the seale of some Colledge in Cambridge or Oxford or of three or foure grave Ministers together with the subscription and testimonie of other credible persons who have known his life and behaviour by the space of three yeeres next before it is well knowne to you that before the Act of Ordination there is publique Proclamation made to the whole Assembly that if any man knowes any crime or impediment in any of the persons presented for which he ought not to be ordained that hee should come
A MODEST OFFER OF Some meet CONSIDERATIONS TENDERED TO THE LEARNED PROLOCVTOR AND To the rest of the Assembly of DIVINES Met at Westminster BY A TRUE LOVER OF TRUTH AND PEACE Imprinted M.DC.XLIV A Modest Offer of some meet Considerations Tendered to the Learned Prolocutor and to the rest of the Assembly of Divines met at VVestminster LEarned and Reverend Brethren If you be now as is supposed upon the advise of a Forme of Church-Government I beseech you in the feare of God setting aside all prejudice to take into your sad thoughts these considerations following It is I perceive an usuall Prayer of many Preachers well affected to your Assembly that God would now after 1600 yeares universall practice of the whole Church of Christ upon earth shew you the patterne in the mount as if after so long and perfect inquisitions there could be any new discoveries of the forme that was or should be wherein I suppose their well-meaning is not a little injurious both to the knowne truth and to you for what revelations can we expect thus late or what monuments of either Scripture or history can now be hoped to be brought to light which your eyes have not seene and former ages have not inquired into Surely ye well know there can be but these three forms of Church-government possibly devised Either by Bishops or by Presbyteries or by the multitude of several and select congregations Every of which have both their abettors and theiâ— adversaries The first hath all times and places since the dayes of the blessed Apostles till this age to stand for it The second hath the late persecuted reformed Church of France which never desired nor meant to make their necessitated forme a patterne for others the Netherlands and Scotland for precedents of it The third hath the Ministers of New-England and their Associates commonly styled by the name of INDEPENDENTS vehemently contending for it The adversaries of every of these are as well known as their friends and the pleas which every of them makes for it selfe are as well known as either I suppose it is yet res integra else I should lay my finger upon my lips Both the Houses of Parliament your Assembly and the whole Kingdome stand yet free and unengaged to any part For the National Covenant as it is interpreted by some of your selves and those other Divines whose allowed Sermons have commented upon it intends not to abjure and disclaime Episcopacie as such but only bends against the whole present fabrick of Government as it is built on these Arches these Pedestalls so as if it be taken asunder from those some of them not necessary appendances you are no way forstalled in your judgement against it nor any other that hath lift up his hand in this solemne Covenant That I may not urge the Latine Translation of the same Covenant printed and sent abroad to the Low-Countries and France and other Churches which ran onely upon tyrannicum regimen Episcoporum that onely the Tyrannicall Government of the Prelates not their fatherly and brotherly preeminence is there abjured Your wisdomes know well how to distinguish betwixt a Calling and the abuses of the execution thereof betwixt the maine substance of a Calling and the circumstantiall and separable appurtenances thereunto from which it may be devested and yet stand intire I should be a flatterer of the times past which is not often seene if I should take upon me to justifie or approve of all the carriages of some that have been entrusted with the Keyes of Ecclesiasticall Government or to blanch over the Corruptions of Consistoriall Officers in both these there was fault enough to ground both a complaint and Reformation and may that man never prosper that desires not an happy Reformation of what ever hath been or is amisse in the Church of God But this I offer to your serious consideration whether Episcopacie stripped of all circumstances that may be justly excepted against and reduced to the Primitive estate may not be thought a forme both better in it selfe and more fit for this Kingdome and Church then either of the other How ancient it is I need not appeale to any but your selves who doe well know that there was never yet any History of the Church wherein there was not full mention made of Bishops as the onely Governours thereof neither can any learned adversary deny that they have continued with the generall allowance of Gods Church from the very Apostolike times untill this present age And whether it can be safe and lye not open to much scandall to exchange so ancient an institution hitherto perpetuated to the Church for a new where no necessity inforces us judge ye How universall it is being the onely received government of all the Christian Churches over the face of the whole earth excepting onely this small spot of our neighbourhood ye know as well as the undoubted relation of the Christianographie can tell you and how unsafe it may be to depart from the forme of all the Churches that professe the name of Christ who doe all submit themselves to Bishops or Superintendents except the fore-excepted I leave to your grave judgement Besides how Episcopacie is and hath long been setled in this Kingdome and as it were incorporated into it and enwoven into the municipall Laws of this Land so as that it cannot be utterly removed without much alteration in the whole body of our Lawes is a matter well worthy of not the least consideration But all these would yet seeme light upon the Balance if there were not an intrinsecall worth in the institution it selfe that might sway with you The Covenant bindes to the indeavour of such a Government as is according to the Word of God and the example of the best Reformed Churches And now let me appeale to your owne hearts and the hearts of all judicious and unprejudicate Readers whether the rules of Church-Government laid forth in the Epistles to Timothie and Titus doe not suppose and import that very proper jurisdiction which is claimed by Episcopacie at this day Which if it were not intended to be left as a perfect pattern to succession the whole Church of Christ should have been left in the dark without any direction for the succeeding administration thereof Those charges are plainly given not to many but to one and doe most manifestly imply not a parity but preeminence and power And if the example of the best Churches must carry it What Church could be more pure and more fit for our imitation then the Primitive and that part of it which immediately followed the Apostles of our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ And doe not you full wel know that our Histories and unquestionable Authors name the men whom those Apostles by imposition of hands ordained to this function Do not Ignatius Irenaeus Tertullian Polycrates Egesippus Clemens Eusebius Ierome instance in those persons who succeeded each other in those first Sees If you tell me
of the difference betwixt the Episcopacie of those first Ages of the Church and that of the present times I doe willingly yeeld it but withall I must adde that it is not in any thing essentiall to the calling but in matters outward and meerly adventitious the abatement whereof if it shall be found needfull diminisheth nothing from the substance of that holy institution What can be more expresse then in the ancientest of them the blessed Martyr Ignatius the mention of the three distinct degrees of Bishops Presbyters Deacons encharged with their severall duties which were yet never intermitted and let fall to this present day How frequently and vehemently doth he in his genuine Epistles twice in that to the Ephesians call for due subjection to the Bishop and the Presbyterie How distinctly doth he in his Epistle to the Magnesians name their Bishop Dama and their Presbyters Bassus Apollonius Stephanus How doth he in his Epistle Ad Trallianos set forth the Bishop {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and the Presbyterie {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} c. And if any man shall be so unjustly scrupulous as to call into question the credit of this gracious Author reserved no doubt by a speciall providence for the conviction of the schismes of these last times therein out-doing Vedelius himselfe who stoutly asserteth some of these Epistles whiles he rejects others as suppositious let him cast his eyes upon the no lesse famous and holy Martyr and Bishop Polycarpus who as Irenaeus an unquestionable Author tels us one whose eyes beheld that Saint did not onely converse with those that had seene Christ but also was by the Apostles constituted in Asia Bishop of the Church of Smyrna Let him if he can deny Cyprian the holy Martyr and Bishop of Carthage writing familiarly to the Presbyters and Deacons there sometimes gravely reproving them sometimes fatherly admonishing them of their duties in divers of his Epistles Let him deny that his contemporanye Cornelius Bishop of Rome acknowledgeth 46. Presbyters committed by the Catholique Church to his charge Shortly let him if he stick at this truth deny that there was any Christian Church of old any Historie All which duly considered I would faine know what reason can be shewed why that ancient yea first government by the Bishop and his Presbyterie received and with all good approbation and successe used in the Primitive Church and derived though not without some faulty omissions and intertextures which may easily be remedied untill this present day should not rather take place then a government lately and occasionally raised up in the Church for the necessity or convenience of some speciall places and persons without any intention of an universall rule and prescription If you shall say that this Government by Bishops hath been found by sad experience hitherto a block in the way of perfect Reformation destructive to the power of Godlinesse and pure Administration of the Ordinances of Christ give me leave to answer That first I feare the Independent part will be apt to say no lesse of the Presbyterian boldly pressing their defects both in constitution and practice and publiquely averring the exquisitely-reformed way to lye betwixt the Episcopall and Calvinian which they have had the happinesse to light upon neither want there those who upon challenge of further illumination taxe those Semi-separists as comming far too short of that perfection of Reformation which themselves have attained Secondly I must in the feare of God beseech you here to make use of that necessary distinction betwixt Callings and Persons for it oftentimes fals out that the Calling unjustly suffers for that whereof onely the Person is guilty Let the Calling be never so holy the rules of Administration never so wise and perfect yet if the person in whose trust they are be either negligent or corrupt or impotent in ordering his passions and carriage it cannot be but all things must goe amisse and much disorder and confusion must needs follow to the Church of God and if such hath been the case in some late times why should the blame be laid upon the Calling which both is innocent and might have been better improved Give me a Bishop such there have been and such there are let D. Potter the late Bishop of Carlile for instance be one that is truly conscionable pious painfull zealous in promoting the glory of God ready to encourage all faithfull Preachers and to censure and correct the lazie and scandalous carefull of the due imposition of his hands meek and unblameable in all his carriage and now tell me how the government of such an one regulated by the holy and wholsome Lawes of our Church can be said to be obstructive to the successe of the Gospel or to destroy the power of Godlines certainly if all be not such the fault is in the Men their Calling doth not onely admit of but incites them to all vertue and goodnesse whereof if they be defective let the Person take off the blame from the Function Neither doubt I to affirme that it may well be made good that the perfectest Reformation which the Church of God can be capable of here upon earth may consist with Episcopacie so regulated as it may be if it please the High Court of Parliament to pitch upon that course And indeed how can it be conceived that the carefull inspection of one constant prudent and vigilant overseer super-added to a grave and judicious Presbyterie should be any hindrance to the progresse of godlinesse especially when he is so limited by the bounds of good lawes and constitutions that he cannot run out without the danger of a just censure There are already many excellent rules of Government if they were awaked and actuated by full authority and where there is any deficiency more might be easily added to make the body of Church-lawes complete To give a taste of what may be effected with very little or no alteration of one Forme of Government to another I remember one of our Brethren of Scotland in a Discourse tending to the advancing of the Presbyterian way tells us that Dr. Montague the late worthy Bishop of Winchester asked King James of blessed memory whose sweet affability the world well knew How it came about that there were so few heresies and errors of doctrine broached and prosecuted to the publique disturbance of the Church of Scotland Unto which the wise and learned King is said to have returned this Answer That every Parish hath their Pastor ever present with them and watching over them That the Pastor hath his Elders and Deacons sorted with him That he with them once a week meets at a set time and place for the censure of manners or what ever disorder falls out in the Parish so as he by this meanes perfectly knowes his flock and every aberration of them either in matter of opinion or practice And lest any Error or Heresie may seize upon the
forth and declare it before any hand be laid upon his head for his full admission Notwithstanding all which care of our deare Mother the Church of England if it shall bee thought meet that any further act of Tryall shall passe upon those which are suitors for Ordination how easily may it be ordered that at the monethly or if need be more frequent meeting of the Ministers within the same Presbyterie or Deanrie they may be appointed to make tryall of their gifts and undergoe such further examination of their abilities as shall bee thought requisite ere they shall be presented and admitted by the Bishop and his Presbyterie to that holy function And whereas it is much stood upon that it is meet the people whose soules must have right in him to whose trust they are committed should have some hand in their consent to that Pastor by whom they must be fed it must be said that besides their devolution of their right to the patron who as their trustee presents a Minister for them it may be no prejudice at all to the power which by Law and inheritance is setled upon the patron that the person whom his choyce pitches upon be appointed before hand to preach for a triall to that congregation to which he is so designed and if either for his voice or other just exceptions he be found unmeet for them that another more fit may be recommended by the said Patron to the place but if through faction or self-will or partialitie the multitude shall prove peâ—vish and fastidious they may in such a case be over-ruled by just authority As for matter of censures it may not be denyed that there hath been great abuse in the managing of them both upon Ecclesiasticall persons and others suspension of Ministers upon slight and insufficient causes both ab officio and beneficio hath been too rife in some places of later times and the dreadfull sentence of Excommunication hath too frequently and familiarly passed upon light and triviall matters How happy were it if a speedy course may be taken for the prevention of this evil In the conference at Hampton-Court a motion was strongly made to this purpose but without effect if the wisedom of the present Parliament shall settle some other way for the curbing of contumatious offences against Church-authority it will be an act worthy of their care and justice In the meane time as for this and all other Ecclesiasticall proceedings it may with much facility and willing consent of all parts be ordered that the Bishop shal not take upon him to inflict either this or any other important censure without the concurrence of his Presbitery which shall be a meanes in all likelyhood to prevent any inconvenience that may arise from the wonted way of Judicature As for the co-assession of a Lay-presbyterie in swaying these affaires of Church-government Ye well know how new it is some of you might have been acquainted with the man that brought it first into any part of this Island and what ground there is for it either in Scripture or antiquity I appeale to your judgement Surely the late learned Author of the Counsaile for the reforming the Church of England although otherwise a vehement assertor of the French Discipline ingenuously confesseth that however those Protestants which live under Popish Governours have done wisely in deputing some choise men selected out of their congregations whom they call Elders to share with their pastors in the care and management of Ecclesiasticall affaires Yet those Protestant Churches which live under the government of Protestant Princes may with the safety of those respects which mutually intercede betwixt Pastors and people forbeare any such deputation for as much as the supreme Magistrate transfers for the most part to himselfe that which is the wonted charge of those deputed Elders concluding that those men do meerely lose their labour who so busily indevour on the one side to disprove the antiquity of the Lay-Eldership and on the other by weak proofes to maintaine cleane contrary to the minde of the Apostle that the text of Saint Paul 1 Tim. 5.17 is to be understood of Pastors and Lay-Elders Thus he with what faire probability I leave to your judgment Neither is it any intention of mine to meddle with any piece of that government which obtaineth in other the Churches of God but onely to contribute my poor opinion concerning the now-to-be-setled affaires of our own What shall I need to suggest unto you the dangerous under-workings of other Sects secretly indevouring to spring their hidden mines to the overthrow both of the one government and the other whereof without speedy remedy perhaps it will be too late to complaine no doubt the wisdom and authority of that great Senate whom ye also serve to advise will forthwith interpose it self to the prevention of those mischiefes which the variety of these heresies and sects though some of them cloaked with the fayrest pretences threaten to this poor Church It is no boot for me to tel you that the lesse disunion there is the more ground of safety and that where the holy purposes of Reformation may be effected with the least change there must needs be the most hope of accordance The rest to the wise application of the powerfull and judicious It is enough for me to have thus boldly shot my bolt amongst you and to have thus freely discovered my honest and well meant thoughts to so able judgments What I want in my poor indevours shall be supplyed with my prayers that God would be pleased to compose all our miserable distractions and to put an happy issue to the long and perilous agitations of this wofully tottering and bleeding Church and Kingdome Which the good God of heaven vouchsafe to grant for his great mercies sake and for the sake of the dear Sonne of his love Jesus Christ the Just Amen Septemb. 12. 1644. Philalethirenaeus FINIS Iren. advers. Haeres l. 3. c. 3.