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A39854	Two sermons the first preached in Christ-Church, Dublin, Feb. 19, 1681, at the consecration of the Right Reverend Fathers in God, William Lord Bishop of Kildare, William Lord Bishop of Kilmore, and Richard Lord Bishop of Kilalla : the other, preached in the Cathedral Church of St. Patrick, at the primary visitation of the most Reverend Father in God, Francis Lord Arch-bishop of Dublin, Apr. 24, 1682 / by S. Foley ...	Foley, Samuel, 1655-1695.; Moreton, William, 1641-1715.; Sheridan, William, 1636-1711.; Tenison, Richard, 1640?-1705.; Marsh, Francis, 1627-1693.	1683 (1683)	Wing F1400; ESTC R2994	25,191	58

who did oppose the Superiority of Bishops above Presbyters was Aerius almost 330 Years after our Saviour a very Proud Humorsome Man who because he could not obtain a Bishoprick which he aimed at as Epiphanius informs us (p) Epiphanii Haeress 56. seu utalii 75. Speaking of Aerius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Afterwards Eustathius made him a Presbyter and Master in the Hospital in P●ntus but for all this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And he after much shew of discontent quitted the Place and led many poor people after him telling them that a Presbyters was as good as a Bishop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he resolv'd that a Bishop was not above a Presbyter and for his he was by the good Men of those days condemn'd of Heresie and therefore we cannot but suspect that there is a little too much assurance in the Men of our Times who desire to be thought most Pure and Orthodox and yet will undertake against the whole Church of God for many hundreds of Years to defend a Notorious Infamous Heretick a Heretick who had no Sober Man in those Ages to Countenance him For as for Medina who says That St. Hierome Sedulius and others were of his Heresie the Most Learned Arch-Bishop of Spalato do's prove him (q) In his Second Book De Republ. Eceles cap. 3. Of the difference between the Opinions of St. Hierons and Aerius See the Learned John Forbes his Irenicum Lib. 2. cap. 11. to be very impudent for saying so But all this and much more of this nature makes but little with some in this Cause For when by Learned Men it was demonstrated That Bishops were above Presbyters in the very First and Purest Ages of the Church They whose Passions or Interests had render'd them Enemies to that Order made this Reply That Diotrephes sought the Preheminence in the Apostles times and the Mystery of Iniquity did then begin to work Among others this is the Answer of a Presbyter of great Fame and Repute among his Followers who were deeply Engag'd in the Late Troubles Alezander Henderson (r) Henderson 's First Paper Pag. 157. Of the Edit Anno 1649. and his Second Paper Pag. 170. I wind together Diotrephes and the Mystery of Iniquity the one as an Old Example of Church-Ambition which was also too palpable in the Apostle themselves and the other as a Cover of Ambition afterwards discovered which two brought forth the great Mystery of the Papacy at last in a Letter to the Late King of Blessed Memory and in his First Paper he had the modesty to call our Bishops The (s) His First Paper Pag. 154. It is too well known That the Reformation of Hen. VIII was most imperfect in the Essentials of Doctrin Worship and Government and although it proceeded by some degrees afterwards yet the Government was never Reformed the Head was Changed Dominus non Dominium and the whole Limbs of the Antichristian Hierarchy retained upon what Snares and Temptations of Avarice and Ambition the great Enchanters of the Clergie I need not express Limbs of the Antichristian Hierarchie I shall not positively Charge him with what a Reverend Divine who had been a Member of the Synod of Dort tells us (t) Bishop Hall Of Episcopacy Pag. 52. was Reported of him That when he was Moderator of that famous Assembly at Glasgow (u) See the Large Declaration about the Troubles in Scotland Pag. 237. he said That St. Paul himself by Appointing Bishops was a Worker in that Mystery of Iniquity But 't was not long after that this Answer was Applauded That the Socinians Independents and Anabaptists took confidence from he Example and termed the Mystery of the Holy Trinity the Power of inflicting Ecclesiastical Censures and the Baptizing of Infants The Mystery o Iniquity And truly some Learned Men think that there cannot be more said for the Baptizing of Infants nay for the Cannon of the Scripture and for the Observation of the Lord's Day it self than for Episcopacy However shall we think that our Saviour would be so unkind to his Church as to deliver it up wholly to the Management of Antichrist for fifteen hundred years together Nay if Bishops because Bishops must be Antichrists how can we avoid reckoning St. James himself the Brother of our Lord the Antichrist of Jerusalem Timothy the Antichrist of Ephesus and Titus of Creet And St. John should not have directed his Epistles to the Seven Angels but in our New Stile to the Seven Antichrists of the Churches of Asia Shall we think that Christ's Apostles themselves who Lived to See and to Establish Episcopacy as to the Essential Parts of it as it now stands would betray his Church into the hands of Antichrist and help to exalt the Man of Sin and that many of the most Godly and Faithful Servants of Jesus Christ the Blessed Martyrs of the Primitive Church would be themselves Limbs of Antichrist and rejoyce in him far be it from us to entertain such horrid Imaginations But to take no farther Notice of odious Terms and ill Language Did Christ's Apostles behave themselves Unfaithfully in their Charge and when they had Converted Persons enough to make a Church did they Establish any other Form of Government than what they had receiv'd Commission from their Master to Establish and which was to Endure to the End of the World all which Time we see he has promised his special Presence and Assistance to their Legal Successors And as to those who succeeded the Apostles shall we suspect that such good Men that Men who died for the Gospel durst presume to set up a Government contrary to it and so unanimously agree in so wicked a Contrivance They were doubtless Holy Conscientious and Mortified Persons very Humble and Devout and therefore we cannot honestly say as some would have the first devisers of Episcopacy to have been That they were Covetous Proud Ambitious Tyrannical and Usurpers Was it Honour Riches State and Grandeur that those Humble Patient Men who were always under Persecution could be Corrupted and Allured with in those Days when as the famous Petrus de Marca upon occasion (w) Pet. de Marc. de Concord Tom. 2. Pag. 81. Sect. 4. of Pope Leo his Letter to Anastasius Bishop of Thessalonica truly observes That Episcopatus erat veluti gradus quidam ad crudelissima supplicia a Bishoprick intituled the Possessour only to the Priviledge of being more Barbarously Tormented than othes Nay after that Age the Bishops themselves were so good Men so excellent (x) Calvin's Instit Printed at Geneva 1550. cap. 8. Sect. 53. that Calvin says and we may venture to take his word when he speaks well of any of that Order that a bad Bishop would have been esteemed instar portenti as a strange prodigious thing shall we suppose that these Men would be so abominably ungrateful to their Lord and Saviour as most Sacrilegiously to violate his own Institution and so injurious to their

TWO SERMONS The First Preached in Christ-Church Dublin Feb. 19. 1681. AT THE CONSECRATION Of the Right Reverend Fathers in God WILLIAM Lord Bishop of Kildare WILLIAM Lord Bishop of Kilmore AND RICHARD Lord Bishop of Kilalla The Other Preached in The Cathedral Church of St. Patrick At the Primary Visitation of the Most Reverend Father in God FRANCIS Lord Arch-Bishop of Dublin Apr. 24. 1682. By S. FOLEY A.M. Fellow of Trinity Colledge near Dublin and Chaplain to His Grace LONDON Printed for Moses Pitt● at the Angel in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1683. To the Right Reverend Fathers in God WILLIAM Lord Bishop of Kildare WILLIAM Lord Bishop of Kilmore AND RICHARD Lord Bishop of Kilalla My Lords THE Sermon which I had the Honour to Preach at the Consecration of Your Lordships I do now Publish in hopes that it may give a little Satisfaction to some mistaken People who may happen to read it and I dedicate it to Your Lordships in hopes that Your Lordships will demonstrate that that is feasible which I say will be expected from and that that Respect is deserved by which I say is due to those of Your Lordships Order I am my Lords Your most dutiful and humble Servant SAMVEL FOLEY A Consecration SERMON PREACHED In Christ-Church Dublin Feb. 19. 1681. The beginning of the Epistle appointed by the Church for this Service being 1. Timothy iii. 1. This is a true Saying if a man desire the Office of a Bishop he desireth a good work ST Paul having in the preceding Chapters given Timothy some general Account of the true Faith and suitable Worship of God as a necessary means for the continuing and extending of the one and for the becoming performance of the other proceeds in this to treat of the Government of the Church And by way of Introduction to what relates to the particular Offices of those persons who were to be respectively concern'd in it He makes a Declaration to this purpose That whosoever desires to be invested with that Power and Authority which of Right belong to the highest and most eminent of them he desires an Employment worthy and honourable an Office by which he may be enabled to do some Service to his great Creator be a publick Blessing to the Age he lives in a Dispenser of God's Favours to men and as it were an Agent to maintain and keep up a Correspondence between Earth and Heaven For this I judge a Paraphrase not strained on the Apostles words This is a true Saying c. Being to speak before this great and honourable Audience upon this Occasion and Subject I shall humbly beg leave to make a modest Enquiry into these following particulars First Whence our present Bishops have their Authority Secondly Whether Episcopacy hath any Advantages above other Forms of Church-Government Thirdly What may be justly and reasonably expected from Persons entrusted with that Sacred Authority Fourthly What Honour and Respect is due from us to them By what I shall say in resolution hereunto 't will I hope be plain enough That he desires a good Work who desires the Office of a Bishop I begin with the First Enquiry Whence our present Bishops have their Authority That ever since these Nations have pretended to Adore Jesus Christ as their Lord and Redeemer They have in Obedience to him Worshipped God after a way not known before is denied by none That all who have agreed in this belief and way of Worship have reputed themselves in that respect a Community different from Civil Bodies Politick is as evident from their Exercising and Submitting to an Authority distinct from all Civil Power That Bishops have been the Chief meerly Spiritual Governours of this Society from the very first Constitution of it here and that those Venerable Persons whom we now call Bishops have receiv'd the Spiritual Authority they claim from others of that Order and Title who received the same from their Predecessors and so in a continued series from the first entertainment of that Religion in these Islands were it necessary might with much ease be clearly made out So that the Question will be reduc'd to very narrow Terms What Authority and from whom the first planters of Christianity among us were intrusted with to Communicate to others For more full Satisfaction in this matter it being liable to many mistakes of evil consequence I shall lay down what I have to say concerning it in these distinct and plain Propositions 1. That Our Blessed Saviour had Power and Authority to Institute and Form a Society over the whole World to be governed by such Laws and such Officers as he should appoint This is evident both from the Prophecies concerning the (a) Isaiah ix 6. Messiah in the Old Testament That the Government should be upon his Shoulders and the like and also from what is said of Jesus Christ in the New That (b) Acts x. 38. Hebr. iii. 1. 1 Pet. ii 25. Mat. xxviii 18. Proprie Episcopus Dominus Jesus est Origen on Mat. xxiv God Annointed him with the Holy Ghost and as it were Consecrated him to be Vniversal Pastour and the great Apostle and High Priest of our Profession and Bishop of our Souls and that he had all Power both in Heaven and in Earth and that he did in his own Person Rule and Govern make Laws and constitute Governours and not only did he declare Gods Will to Mankind but did also take order that such Persons should be admitted into that his Society by Baptism as were willing to submit to the Rules and Constitutions of it 2. That Our Saviour committed the Government of this Society to those who in the Evangelists are call'd Apostles This appears from the tenour of the Commission which he gave them when he breathed on them the (c) John xx 21 22. Holy Ghost As my Father sent me so send I you Whosesoever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whosesoever Sins ye retain they are retained 3. The same Authority which was given to the Apostles to Govern this Society excepting those attendants of Gifts as of Tongues doing Miracles and the like Extraordinary Helps and Supplies which the Necessity of the Primitive Church requir'd till it came in the Vnity of the Faith unto a perfect Man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ as St. Paul expresses it was for ever to continue to their Successors This appears from the very Nature and Design of that Government which Christ appointed it being so absolutely necessary to the preservation (d) Ephes iv of his Society and consequently of his Religion that such a Society could not subsist without it and therefore as necessary to continue that Society as first to form it Some will think more necessary in succeding Ages than at that time when our Saviour's Miracles were so fresh in their remembrance their Devotion so new and their Zeal so warm and vigorous We likewise find this plainly intimated

in the Commission which Christ gave his Apostles (e) Mat. xxviii 18 20. Go and teach or make Disciples in all Nations and lo I am with you alway even unto the end of the World Now they themselves were not to live so long and therefore this special Presence and Assistance must be understood to have been promised to their Successors also Farther Christ sent them as his Father sent him that is with such Authority to Ordain others and to Institute Ecclesiastical Discipline and so to make Successors and to communicate to them of that Spirit which he breathed on them as Moses did to Joshua (f) Deut. xxxiv 9. the Spirit of Wisdom by laying their hands upon them And hence it was that St. Paul told the Bishops of Asia upon whom he had lay'd his hands when upon his Summons They met him at Miletus (g) Acts xx 28. That the Holy Ghost had made them Overseers or Bishops over the Church of God I may add that all Disputers in this Cause and all Pretenders to different Forms of Church-Government do Acknowledge some Form to be always necessary and consequently Authority to Rule and Govern for ever to reside in some Persons or other 4. That Bishops be the true extent of their Authority what it will are declar'd to be in Scripture and were look'd upon in the first Ages h of the Church as Successors to the Apostles and so Authoriz'd by Christ to Govern this Society Thus far we have but little Controversie with the main Opposers of Episcopacy For they cannot deny but that our Bishops are Presbyters and therefore if as they will have it Presbyters were the Antient Bishops and are Successors to the Apostles our Bishops upon that account are so If therefore we be satisfied that Our Saviour gave some Power and Authority to his Apostles with a design that They should leave it to others to be transmitted through all Ages (h) St. Cyprian Epist 75. p. 225. Edit Oxon. Potestas peccatorum remittendorum Apostolis data est Ecclesiis quas illi à Christo missi Constituerunt Episcopis qui eis Ordinatione Vicariâ successerunt successively to some fit persons for the Exigencies of the Church and that our Bishops are Successors to those Apostles which one Party of our Churches Adversaries are obliged to own by virtue of their being Presbyters and which the other have no pretence to deny here in Ireland whatever Fables (i) For Confutation of which See Mason's Vindiciae Ecclesiae Anglicanae Primate Bramhali's Works and the Second Part of Dr. Burnet's History of the Reformation they have invented to disparage the English Consecrations we being able to prove That our present Bishops of Ireland were Consecrated by (k) For Instance His Grace the Most-Reverend Father in God Michael Boyle the present Lord Arch-Bishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland together with Dr. Margetson the Late Primate of Ireland the truly Learned and Pious Dr. John Parker late Lord Arch-Bishop of Dublin Dr. Pullen then Arch-Bishop of Tuam and the present Lord Arch-Bishop of Cashell and Seven other Bishops who died since were Consecrated Jan. 27. 1660. By Dr. John Bramhall Arch-Bishop of Armagh who was Consecrated May 26. 1634. by Primate Vsher who was Consecrated Anno 1621. by Primate Hampton who was Consecrated May 5. 1613. by Dr. Thomas Jones who was Consecrated by Adam Lostus Arch-Bishop of Dublin 12. May 1584. who was Consecrated by Hugh Curwin Anno 1562. who was Consecrated Arch-Bishop of Dublin Septemb. 8. 1555. being the Third Year of Queen Mary together with James Turberville Bishop of Exceter and William Glin Bishop of Bangor This appears out of our Records and by this may any of the present Lords Bishops of Ireland Justifie their Consecration such Bishops as receiv'd their Consecration from other Consecrated Bishops and so on to before the Reformation from Records never in the least question'd or suspected we must Acknowledge that what Authority our present Bishops have They have from Christ Jesus The way being thus far clear'd before I proceed to the main thing behind to wit To demonstrate that Bishops are a distinct Order from and above Presbyters by that Authority They have receiv'd from Christ I shall deduce some few Corollaries from what has been said such as 1. 'T is evident from hence That when the Apostles Ordained Bishops they did it by Authority given them by our Saviour and not only in pursuance of a Jewish Custom of creating Elders which the famous Mr. Selden so much contends (l) Selden de Synedriis Lib. 1. Cap. 14. for Had they not done it upon an Account peculiar to Christianity St. Paul when a Jew and a most violent Persecutor of Christs Church had had as full Authority to make Bishops as when a Apostle and must have deriv'd it not from the Holy Ghost as he constantly Affirms but from his Master Gamaliel 2. Hence it follows That Bishops have not their Authority from the Civil Magistrate There is a great difference between the designation of a Person to an Office and the giving him Authority in it Thus a Mayor of a Corporation is Chosen by the Burgesses of it but receives his Authority from the King alone and so in many other instances And therefore this Assertion of ours cannot be suspected as any way prejudicial to our Princes Antient Right of Electing Bishops The Church is a Society and Body Politick distinct from that of the Common-wealth which appears from hence That it did subsist when separated from and persecuted by all Civil-Powers it is founded upon Principles different from the Law of Nature and common Notions of Mankind and settled by Divine Positive Laws and consequently the Government of it must be proportionable And they who resolve to hold the contrary Opinion may take its Foundation along with it and believe the Gospel it self to be no Law but as Enacted by the Civil Magistrate 3. We may hence infer that all other Bishops are not merely Substitutes of the Bishop of Rome and that he in the Right of St. Peter is not the Only Bishop who hath his Authority from Christ so that all must receive theirs from him This was with much Vehemence and equal Applause defended in the (m) Hist Council of Trent Lib. 7. pag. 574. of the last Edition Engl. Council of Trent by Father Laynez General of the Jesuits and Friar Simon a Florentine did there likewise maintain That the Institution of Bishops in the Apostles was only Personal and ended with them But this as the good Bishop of Paris then said is a Novel Doctrine first invented by Cajetane to gain a Cardinalship and as such was Censured by the Doctors of the Sorbonne and Richerius a (n) Richerius Cap. 10. Sect. 11. Sorbonne Doctor in his History of General Councills lately Printed has made it out That in Antient Times the very Italian Bishops themselves did subscribe Bishops Dei Gratia

it was not to the Seven Churches themselves is evident from his Saving That the seven Churches were the Seven Candlesticks but the Seven Stars (c) Rev. i. 20. St. Austin says by the Angel is meant Praepositus Ecclesiae St. Hierom Angeli Ecclesiis Praesidentes This Sense is allow'd by Bullinger and Beza were the seven Angels which did shine in them That the Angel of each of those Churches was not a Synod of Presbyters but a Single Person appears from this that the Reproofs and Charges given there are Personal We cannot say for instance that all the Elders of the (d) Acts xx 17 18. Church of Ephesus where St. Paul settled many could agree in all those Qualifications and Defects mentioned by St. John from whence it follows that each of those Churches in St. John's days was Governed by Single Persons But tho' there be some who will have nothing esteemed of momen in this Concern but what is found in Scripture or in some System of Divinity yet I hope we may be allowed to make recourse to Ecclesiastical History For we are not to seek in the Scriptures for what was done after that they were written and the Fathers who were the Successors of the Apostles can best tell what they who were next before them did To shew the unreasonableness of the contrary Opinion I shall propose a like Case If a Question were now made how Alexander the Great his Empire was disposed of after his Death and any one would take upon him to dictate with great Confidence That we ought not to consult Diodorus Siculus Plutarch and others who wrote of those Transactions but to apply our selves wholly to Aristotles Politicks or which is indeed much nearer to the prudent Advice of some of our Anti-Episcopal writers to take the words of some now alive and to send for certain Sober Good Able Men to whom they can recommend us who perhaps have never much troubled themselves with that useless Study of History but yet having profoundly studied Politicks can from their own Models and Principles best inform us how those matters went then we should I presume beg their Pardon and upon the very same grounds we must so now and address our selves to Antiquity for a Resolution Now we cannot find one word in Ecclesiastical History of which it is not improbable that they are well aware that from the days of the very Apostles any Church was otherwise Governed than by a Single Person till after the beginning of the Sixteenth Century But it would not be proper here to prosecute this matter largely and therefore I shall only propose a few instances out of the most early Christian Writers The eldest of the Fathers we have is Clemens Romanus and he in his excellent Epistle to the Corinthians shews plainly that he was of Opinion that as it was actually in his Time the Apostles themselves did by Divine Inspiration continue a Government in which Bishops and Presbyters were no less distinguished than they are now I cannot stay to consider what is weakly Objected out of him but must refer to others particularly to the two Learned Annotators upon him and to the Worthy and Learned Defender (e) Dr. Beveridge Codex Can. Vindic. Cap. 11. of the Codex Canonum St. Ignatius the Martyr who Lived with the Apostles and was afterwards Bishop of Antioch himself in many places of his Epistles shews that the Church was Governed by Bishops and that he means by a Bishop (f) That St. Ignatius does not term the Order of Bishops 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Rivet and Salmasius will have it See Dr. Hammond's Dissert Pag. 77. the same that we do And indeed his Testimony in this Controversie is so full and positive that they who desire that what he Affirms should not be true and yet pretend some Respect for so Apostolick a man have no shift but to deny that these Epistles are Genuine But that they are has been as fully demonstrated as any thing of that nature can possibly be formerly by several other worthy Persons particularly by that Prodigie of Learning and Piety the most Excellent Primate Vsher a Person one would think sufficient to reconcile Men who were Lovers of either to that Order and since by a Reverend and Learned Prelate (g) The Reverend Bishop of Chester now Living in England That Bishops were above Presbyters in the Second Century is expresly Asserted by (h) Clemens Alexandr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib. 3. cap. 12. pag. 264. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 More clearly Stromat Lib. 6. Pag. 667. Clemens Alexandrinus by (i) Orig. in Hieremiam Homil. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for he was then himself a Presbyter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By whom undoubredly is meant the Bishop and it plainly shews That he was above the Presbyters Edit Huet Rothomag Anno 1668. Pag. 114. Huetius guesses that Origen understands either Theoctistus Bishop of Caesarea or Babylas Patriarch of Antioch Observat Pag. 14. Origen likewise on Mat. Ch. xix Pag. 363. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 On Cap. 21. pag. 442. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Origen and (k) Tertullian de Baptismo cap. 17. Dandi quidem habet jus Summus Sacerdos qui est Episcopus dehinc Presbyteri Diaconi non tamen sine Episcopi Auctoritate propter Ecclesiae Honorem quo salvo salva pax est Tertullian Of Heraclas who was afterwards Bishop of Alexandria Origen (l) Apud Euseb Hist Eccl. Lib. 6. Cap. 19. Pag. 180. Edit Paris Anno 1678. testifies That he was first a Presbyter of the same Church That Irenaeus was first a Presbyter afterwards Bishop of Lions appears from Eusebius (m) Euseb Hist Lib. 5. Cap. 4. 5. Hi ron in Catal. Scriptor Eccl. ad Script 64. speaking of Origen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and St. Hierom Dionysius Alexandrinus in an Epistle to Dionysius Romanus shews that he was then a Presbyter afterwards Eusebius and St. Hierom inform us (n) Euseb Lib. 7. Cap. 7. Hieron in Gatal Script 45. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That he was a Bishop Irenaeus and Eusebius Socrates and Theodoret do furnish us with Catalogues of the Bishops in their respective Sees from the very Time of the Apostles to their days And St. Hierom says (o) Hieron in Epist ad Evagrium quae incrpit Legimus in Isaiah 'T is his Eighty Fifth Epistle Nam Alexandriae à Marco Evangelistâ usque ad Heraclam Dionysium Episcopos Presbyteri semper unum ex se electum in excelsiori gradu collocatum Episcopum nominabant That from the time of St. Mark there was a Bishop always above Presbyters in the Church of Alexandria And all this is so very clear that none were they not most perversely biass'd by Prejudice or Interest if they be acquainted with Antiquity would question it The first Man that ever we can hear of

Brethren as to rob them of the Authority given them by their Master and yet if we hold either Presbytery or any other way than what they then used to be of Christ's Institution we must conclude these Martyrs these Holy Devout Self-denying Men to have been so Covetous so False so Ambitious such Tyrants such Usurpers One might tremble to think that to maintain a New Conceit and the Credit of some Popular Men among us in a wicked degenerate Age we should labour to prove those Worthies the Basest Falsest Villains that ever lived among Men. But if they were so could they have Agreed all the World over in this Knavery for it admits not of a softer expression were all the rest so tame as to submit to it And why did not the Presbyters then as some of ours did of late rise up against them and say they were Anti-Christian Upon the whole we see that for a Bishop to be above the Presbyters is not late Usurpation but Practis'd in the Purest in all the Ages of the Christian Church not invented by Antichrist nor part of the Mystery of Iniquity but an Apostolick Constitution conformable to our Saviour's own And who can shew a better Title to any Priviledges or Estates upon Earth than a Possession of above Sixteen Hundred Years without the least Fraud or Violence at the beginning This therefore being manifest that in the Ages immediately following the Apostles the Churches were Govern'd by Single Persons who pretended to derive their Authority from them and that we have all the reason imaginable to believe that they would not nay that they could not have pretended so had it been false we may safely conclude That they had and consequently that they who are their Legal Successors now have their Authority from the Apostles and so from Christ I shall just mention a few inferences which we may make from what hath been said and then proceed 1. Hence we see upon what Foundation that part of the Establish'd Doctrine of the Churches of England and Ireland is built which asserts that Episcopal Power in the Sense in which we understand it was exercised by the Apostles and by their Successors made by them by vertue of the Commission which they receiv'd from Christ This we find in the Book of Consecration which is Approv'd of by the Articles of our Churches Art 36. Confirm'd by Act of Parliament and Subscribed to by all who have taken Holy Orders 2. We see what reason the Reformed Churches abroad had to speak so honourably of our English Episcopacy as they have frequently done for which at large I may refer to Dr. Durell's View of the Government of those Churches and to his later Defence of the Church of England in Latin As to their own Practice To urge their having no Bishops which their Superiours who are of another persuasion will not allow of as an Argument against our Bishops is as unreasonable as it would be to perswade us now to Assemble for the Publick Worship of God in Caves and Dens because the good Old Christians being not permitted by their Persecutors to have Churches were forced to do so And we may say to them what a most Reverend Prelate of ours did write to one of their Ablest Divines Non culpa vestra sed injuria temporum abesse Episcopatum (y) Bishop Andrew's Letter to Du Moulin inter Opera Posth You have no Bishops not because you would not but because ye (z) When at the Synod of Dort the Bishop of Landaff had intimated That the want of Episcopacy had occasioned those divisions in the Netherlands Bogerman the President of the Synod stood up and in good allowance of what had been spoken said Domine nos non sumus adeo felices So Bishop Hall cannot have them 3. Hence we see how little foundation there is in Scripture or in Antiquity for any other Forms of Church-Government For to say that the Classical or that the Congregational way which some think Socinus invented was used by the Apostles and by their immediate Successors and yet not the least appearance of them in the Acts or Epistles and that they should never be heard of for Fifteen Hundred Years together is an Assertion so very strange that one might with as much modesty and reason go about to perswade us that the Caesars whom we have hitherto taken for other kind of Officers were but Masters of the Corporations of Rome or Chairmen of their Committees Fourthly and Lastly From hence we may conclude how highly insolent and presumptuous it would be in us to prefer any new fangled Scheme of Government before that which was founded by Christ and exercised by his Apostles and by the whole Church to our days And certainly Generations to come will look upon this last as a very wild Age in which so many People (a) The Solemn League and Covenant Art 2. That without Respect of Persons They would endeavour to Extirpate Papacy Prelacy that is the Government Ecclesiastical by Arch-Bishops Bishops c. bound themselves by an Oath to Extirpate such a Government But yet allowing a great part of what hath been discoursed Two things are supposed by some to make a great difference between ours and the Primitive Episcopacy Their Temporal Jurisdictions and their Titles and Estates To which I shall only say that our Bishops do Claim no Temporal Jurisdiction by an inherent Right as Bishops and Exercise it only by the Favour and Authority of the King And to suppose that a Princes giving great Titles and Honours and Estates to Bishops do's render them not Christian and Apostolical Bishops is very like supposing that the fairly Binding up and Guilding and Enamelling a Bible do's make it cease it to be the Word of God Having discoursed thus largely in order to a Resolution of the First Enquiry Time will not allow that I speak so fully to those that are behind and therefore I shall contract what I conceive necessary into as little compass as I can The Second Enquiry was concerning the Advantages of this sort of Government above others And here two very considerable Advantages are obvious to us both from Reason and Experience First In reference to the Peace of the Church St. Hierom of all the Fathers least favourable to Episcopacy having as he thought been unkindly dealt with by the Bishop of Hierusalem does plainly profess That the Peace of Particular Churches cannot be preserved without this Government His words are (b) In his Dialogue adversus Luciferianos Ecclesiae salus in summi Sacerdotis dignitate pendet cui si non exors quaedam ab omnibus eminens detur potestas tot in Ecclesiis efficientur schismata quot Sacerdotes Take away the Dignity of the Bishop and you ruin the Church and if you will not allow him a Power above all and in which they have no share you shall have as many Schisms made as there be Presbyters 'T is St.

Cyprian's Observation (c) Neque enim aliunde Haereses abortae sunt aut nata sunt Schismata quam inde quod Sacerdoti Dei non obtemperatur nec unus in Ecclesiâ ad tempus Sacerdos ad tempus Judex vice Christi cogitatur 'T is the 59th Epist in the New Edition Pag. 121. in his 55th Epistle That most of the Schisms which have harass'd and disgrac'd the Church have proceeded from disobedience to the Bishop And Epist 69. (d) Inde Schismata haereses obortae sunt oriuntur dum Episcopus qui unus est Ecclesiae praeest Superbâ quorundam praesumptione contemnitur homo dignatione Dei honoratus indignus ab Hominibus judicatur He says That the Contempt of the Bishop will naturally end in Schism and Heresy And Calvin (e) Calvin Inst Cap. 8. Sect. 53. as he supposes Episcopacy to be of human institution so he says it was Established Ne ex aequalitate ut fieri solet dissidia nascerentur To prevent those Contentions which are commonly occasion'd by Equality And our late Experience tells us how the Church was divided and subdivided among us in the Late Unhappy Times when the Bishops were by the prevailing Party by force driven from their Charges the evil effects of which we are yet too sensible of In short a Bishop cannot have any design in disturbing the Peace of the Church and in occasioning Separations he can have no Advantage by it and consequently no Temptation to it which I need not say Others may have Secondly In reference to the Civil Government happiness of the State and ease of the Subject When other Forms of Church Government were in the Ascendant in England it cannot yet be forgotten what Diminution and Prejudice to the Royal Honour and Prosperity attended them I need not put your in mind how Seditious Insolent Turbulent and Ungovernable (f) See the Character the King gives of them in his Basilicon Doron King James to his great Grief found the Presbyteries in Scotland for many Years together and what usage his Son since Martyr'd did many Years after receive from them It may be demonstrated that They who speak severely against the Bishops for being as they pretend Enemies to the Civil Magistrate in claiming their Authority from God do the same themselves only with far less reason and with much greater injury to their Prince Thus the Presbyterian Model and Discipline though never heard of the World till within these last Two Hundred Years is declared by them to be the very Scepter of Christ's Kingdom to which all must submit even Princes their Thrones and Scepters The Independents pretend the Holy Scripture for theirs that any Society of men Combining together by common consent in a Church-way and Membership is by Divine Right Free and Absolute within it self to Govern its self by such Rules as it shall judge agreeable to Gods Word without dependance or subjection in Spiritual Concerns to any Human Person or Society whatsoever 'T is notorious that the Presbyters do Claim to their Consistories Full and Absolute Spiritual Power and Jurisdiction over Princes themselves with Power to Excommunicate them when they see Cause And the Independents do exempt their Congregations from all Spiritual Subjection to the Civil Powers But our Bishops do neither pretend to Jurisdiction over our King nor do withdraw their due Subjection from him whom God has made Supream upon Earth over all Persons in all Causes Spiritual as well as Temporal within his Dominions And as to the good of the Subject 'T is not so long since Presbytery was Established and found Intolerable in England and we are not Ignorant how all Parties did contribute to throw it down 't was so very uneasie As for Independency few now know what it is (g) Dr. A. Stuart a Presbyterian sayd He verily believed that Independency cannot but prove the root of all Schisms and Heresies and by consequence much worse than Popery Duply to M. S. Pag. 53. See the Papers for Accommodation and fewer do desire it And as for other Sects they are not yet agreed what Government they would have nor is it likely that ever they will be Some indeed do fancy Independency to be a pretty easy sweet gentle thing But certainly for men to cry out against the Yoke of Bishops as intolerable and yet to make every Parish-Minister a Bishop an Absolute Sovereign Independent Bishop owning no Superiour under Heaven to whom Appeal may be made is as Ridiculous as 't would be to Cry out against Monarchy as unsupportable and to desire in lieu of it that every Constable be made a King To conclude this point Many and great Advantages hath the Church of God in all Ages enjoyed and we do now enjoy by this Government and of many of them like one of the greatest Blessings of this Life the Health of our Bodies whilst we are constantly well we are almost insensible But still they are not the less for it though we understand them more by their absence and can then put the truest value on them when we see others in Feavers and Frenzies and it may be for their Comfort in the hands of Empericks too And so I come to the Third Enquiry What may be reasonably expected from Persons intrusted with that Sacred Power and Authority It was not only St. Paul's Charge to Titus after he had made him a Bishop To shew himself in all things a Pattern of good works but he also makes it a necessary qualification to every Bishop that he be Blameless And with great reason For we know that for one in that Dignity to be wicked is the boldest Affront and Dishonour to God himself and one of the most fatal mischiefs to his Church imaginable so dreadful that a vicious Bishop would not be looked on so much as a Governour as a publick Judgment over our heads Besides Vice hath this property that it renders all men contemptible most of all Clergy-men because 't is their business and profession to make men good and among them They who are of the highest Rank shall be the more signally despised and thereby made clearly unserviceable It will therefore be justly expected that they do not contradict their Divine and Holy Doctrines and make useless their Authority by their loose and unsanctified Lives Farther 'T was St. Paul's Charge That they should speak the things that become sound Doctrine exhort and convince Gainsayers and rebuke with all Authority And indeed men will suppose that Power was committed to them to the intent that they should make some use of it and that we are made subject to them that they may compel us if there be occasion to do our duties And now that there is so miserable a decay of all Devotion and Piety that men are so loose in ther Principles and so corrupt in their Lives that the Church is so despised and Religion it self so commonly suppos'd a Cheat or

made one it may be humbly supposed that these Reverend Persons will labour to reduce Offenders by the Censures of the Church and make some use of Ecclesiastical Discipline so long by the misfortunes of the times disused that we are just upon the point of forgetting that ever there was such a thing and that they will do this with Vigour and Resolution though they know 't will prove as of necessity it must very ungrateful to many and though they thereby procure ever so much ill will and gain for it among us only Curses from the Prophane and graver Reproaches from the Hypocritical This is a Time to shew their Zeal for the House of God a Time to shew their Christian Fortitude and Constancy and seeing they are so well furnish'd with Power by their Lord and Master and so much Countenanced by an Excellent Prince we may expect that they will not like those Children of Ephraim (h) Psal lxxviii of whom King David tells us being harnassed and carrying Bows turn themselves back in the day of Battle And 't will be thought but reasonable that as they ingage themselves in it so they will protect those persons who are Active and Zealous in the Churches Service from the unworthy and vile entertainments of those who hate the Church All this men will make bold and think they may be justly allowed to expect from them In fine They stand in view of many critical and malicious Observers and therefore must Walk Circumspectly because the days are so very Evil. Above all considering that from them as St. Paul (i) Hebr. xiii 17. Canon Apost 40. C●●… Concil Antioch the Canons of the Apostles and of the Council of Antioch teach us God will exact an Account of all the Souls committed unto them And may they imitate the Holiness and Integrity the Justice Charity Temperance Humility and Zeal of their worthy Predecessors in the Primitive Times that so having been thus Wise (k) Dan. xii 3. and such Teachers they may hereafter shine as the brightness of the Firmament and having turned many unto Righteousness as the Stars for ever and ever And so I come in the Fourth and Last place briefly to consider What Honour and Respect is due to them from us As these Reverend Persons are of God's own Appointment so their Labours are for our great and unspeakable Advantage and therefore we cannot but believe that they ought to be Loved and Honour'd by us Nature dictates to us that God is to be Worshipped and therefore they who are immediately instrumental and assistant to us in holy Services are to have proportionable respect it being one of the principal ways we have of shewing how much we honour God Some call the universal Practice of mankind the Voice of Nature and therefore would time allow I might here take occasion to tell you out of Antient Historians (l) Strabo Geog. Lib. 2. Pag. 346. Pag. 384. Lib. 17. Pag. 566. That among the Albans the Priests had the Honour next to the King Of the great Dignity of the Priests among the Comani and in Meroe and of the Respect pay'd to the Druids That the King of Sparta was Priest of Jupiter That Plutarch tells us that among the Grecians the Priesthood was of equal Dignity with the Kingdom (m) Quaest Rom. 110. That Aristotle testifies the same in many places of his Politicks That the Roman Pontifex Maximus had his Sella Curulis and Lictors as the Consuls had and that the Emperous were often Ambitious of that Office To proceed That Melchisedec was a King and a Priest that the Princes of On and Midian were Priests that great was the Dignity of the High-Priest and of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Ruler of the Synagogue among the Jews That in the New Testament our Bishops are often peculiarly Entituled Gods Servants and therefore we must Acknowledge that 't will not be for his Honour that they who are his Domesticks and immediate Attendants be trampled on be in want in meanness and disgrace (n) St. Paul speaking of his own being Slandered useth the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in Scripture peculiarly signifies Speaking Vnworthily of God which we call Blasphemy as Observ'd by the Reverend Bishop Sanderson on Rom. iii. 8. They are represented to be God's Heralds Embassadors and as it were his Residents among men and such have ever been held honourable and their Persons inviolable among even the most Barbarous People That the good Old Christians (o) Vid. Pet. de Marc. Tom. 2. Pag. 53. Pag. 397. paid their Bishops the greatest Veneration even the Emperour (p) Lib. 3. de Vita Constantini Theod. Hist Eccl. Constantine himself so great honour that this Age will not bear the very mentioning of it That in the Fourth and Fifth Centuries the Learned Fathers both of the Greek and Latin Churches gave to the Bishops the Titles of Principes So St. Hilary in the beginning of his Eighth Book De Trinitate calls them Principes Ecclesiae And Gregory Nazianzen who was so Humble and Pious that rather than that the Peace of the Church should be disturbed he did in the first Constantinopolitan Council resign the great Patriarchate of that City and retire do's challenge these Titles That the good People (q) Greg. Nazianzen Orat. 17. To the Bishop are ascribed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gave the greatst Expressions of concern for St. Chrysostom when Banish'd for Nazianzen's Father when Sick (r) Chrysost Tom. 4. p. 763. Edit Paris and for Basil Bishop of Caesarea (s) Nazian Orat. 19. pag. 304. Edit Paris 1609. when he lay a Dying Instances of this sort are infinite I might shew at large how great Respect the Foreign Reformed Divines of most Note have payed to our Bishops particularly that Calvin Beza Sadeel nay the whole Consistory of Pastors at Geneva that Danaeus Peter Martyr Gualierus Spanhemius and others do in their Works call our Bishops Lords and Most Reverend Fathers in God enough one would think to secure the Title from being Antichristian and I might mention what ours and all the Wisest Princes of Europe have thought due to them In short we are not to learn our duties from the corrupt practice of a Profane Atheistical Generation nor of some men of late years famous only for being Ill-natur'd and Troublesome We know the evil Consequences of making the Clergy and way Contemptible and may believe King Solomon (t) Eccles ix 16. at least our own Experience that the Poor the despis'd Man's Wisdom is despised and his words are not heard We find that Moses knowing that he was soon to be gathered to his People besought God that he would please to Appoint one to succeed him and thereupon God commanded him to take Joshua and lay his hand upon him and to give him a Charge before all the Congregation and adds (u) Numbers xxvii 20. Insignia potestatis gester

frequenti famulitio cingatur So Tostat Tirin Bonfrer Serrar And thou shalt put some of thine Honour upon him that all the Congregation of the Children of Israel may he Obedient Some of thine Honour This many Learned Commentators suppose to be Ensigns of Authority Attendants extraordinary and other Circumstances that usually procure Respect which we see God himself thought necessary in order to gain their Obedience So that it cannot be Religion which labours to make those Persons Low and Sordid and Mean and Contemptible and Useless whose Contempt and Meanness renders Religion it self so Besides were not Religion were not the publick good so much concerned in their Usage to deal ingenuously and to speak it out plainly it cannot but be thought a hard Case that Men who came into the World with perhaps as good Parts and as fit for Honour and for great Actions as their Neighbours after they have had an Education Liberal and Ingenuous and all the Improvements of Wit and Judgment Reason and Eloquence after many Years exhausting their Spirits and wasting their Vigour in publick Services as our Blessed Saviour after going about and doing good was arrayed in Purple that he might be set nought by Herod and his Men of War should be condemned to a Sacred Station of pretended Dignity and Authority only that they may be the more exposed to Envy and Malice Hatred and Contempt be the more eminently despised and more augustly ridiculous And has this Order deserv'd such usages at our hands How many of it have we had even in this last Century in these Kingdoms who have been of Primitive Piety and True Learning an Honour to their Country and Examples for future Ages Able and Couragious Defenders of the Truth Zealous Opposers of Romish Superstition that I say not the very Bulwarks of Protestancie most admirable Writers and incomparable Preachers And by which one may judge of the unreasonableness of our present Clamours against them I may add That no Anti-Episcopal man of what denomination soever hath in the judgment of unprejudiced Persons written so Learnedly and Solidly against the Romanists though Aspers'd themselves with Popish Inclinations and Designs as the Late Murdered Primate of England in his Book against Fisher the Late Primate of Ireland in several of his Treatises and the Late Bishop of Durham concerning the Canon of the Scripture and Transubstantiation to name no others But we have a sort of men among us from whose Scorn and Reproaches no Innocence no Vertue no Learning no Prudence or Caution can Protect either the Fathers or the Sons of the Church Be they what they will they are all become abominable and gone out of the way there is none that does good no not one As if a man must of necessity be forsaken of God and of all Goodness as soon as he is ingaged in his more immediate Service and lose his Wits at least part with all sense of Piety and Religion as soon as he enters upon any Spiritual Office so it be by Law Established I wish there were no reason for this Complaint But the Injury extends farther than to the present Clergy A Leading-Man among the Dissenters has lately added to his great number of Books with which he had favoured the World One which he calls a Church-History or History of Bishops which the Learned Answerer justly Stiles An Account of all the faults which Bishops have committed in the several Ages of the Church and I may add a great many of their Vertues made Faults And what can be the design of such a Work as this but to supply what is wanting in the Prelates now Living to make the Order odious by relating all the defects of those in former Ages But alass this is a Melancholy Consideration and must needs make a sad impression on any Pious Soul For though we cannot think it strange that Men who are professed Enemies of God and of all Religion and would feign laugh them both out of the World do endeavour to expose and to make ridiculous and odious those persons whose work and study it is to keep up a sense of Religion upon mens hearts yet that men who pretend to be Piously disposed and heartily concerned for the Honour of God and of the Gospel should take much pains to disgrace and to render such vile and abominable this this is a lamentable indication of a degenerate Age of an Age ready to be over-run with Profaneness and Impiety and industrious to force God to take away the Light of the Gospel from among them It must be Acknowledged that the best of men are still but men and therefore liable to some mistakes and defects So that it does not appear fair and equitable that they who it may take no Notice of Great and Extravagant Faults among their own Party should most severely Censure and Aggravate the least Miscarriage in a Prelate as if they disliked the Cause and the Persons and not the Crimes or thought that they stricter Piety of the Bishops like the Offering of the High Priest among the Jews were to make Attonement for the Sins of the People I come not here to flatter any man or to make Apologies for their Vices and think I have not as far as became me spoken too favourably of Vicious Prelates if any happen to be so But 't is absolutely necessary though it will not please all that the People be told their duty plainly in this point and I know not a more proper occasion and therefore omitting to speak of the Zeal and Diligence of some and of the Hastiness Credulity and Uncharitableness of others I shall in a word or two shew how easie a thing it is to slur a false colour on then most innocent Actions of the best men and consequently how little Notice Sober Persons should take of the Invectives we daily hear against our Spiritual Governours How easie a thing is it if they will not by servile compliances Fawn upon and vilely Court those whom they should Command to call them Proud If they will not let their Honour lie in the dust and allow that their Office is as Contemptible as their Enemies would have it be to represent them as Ambitious and how natural is it for those who pretend that making them poor would make them humble to make them look as if they were proud that it may be thought necessary to humble them Be they ever so Charitable to the Poor ever so Just and Generous in their dealings if they will not part with the Churches Right to any litigious Person can they forbear calling them Covetous And which is a very fashionable Calumnie now and almost in the mouth of every one of one sort if they do but perswade the People to Obey Magistrates as Christianity obliges them and will not joyn with the discontented in their unreasonable jealousies of their Prince how easie is it to say that They are for Tyranny and Arbitrary Government As if they had not as true a Property in their Estates and as good a Title in Law as any Freeholder in the Kingdom which all must Acknowledge unless they will have Property so highly magnified to be a word that signifies nothing but in the concerns of a Lay-man and they who stand up for it so warmly mean only their own If they be for a grave and regular devotion is it difficult to say They are Popish and if they would have men reverent in Divine Offices to revile them as Superstitious and if any one venture to say these dealings are not fair and honest to vote him Ambitious and a Flatterer But if these be the Crimes of our Bishops may they ever be guilty of them and if they be under the most invidious Character and with ever so much dis-ingenuity represented to the World upon these Accounts and be ever so much hated and contemned for them They have this Comfort that God from whom they expect their Reward seeth not as man sees and that whilst we regard only the outward appearance he views the heart To make an End of all May I not be allowed to beseech you with some earnestness that if you have any Love for the Truth any Zeal for the Gospel and any Concern for the Peace and Prosperity of the Church That you will not suffer your selves to be prejudiced by the heat and importunities of none of the most knowing and peaceable men against a Government built upon a foundation of Christ's own Institution Exercised by the Holy Apostles and continued from them to us the only Government used in all Ages by the whole Christian Worlds honoured and reverenced by all and administred by many of the Holy Fathers Martyrs and Confessors acknowledged by all Councils honoured by all the worthy English and Learnedest nf the Forreign Reformers and highly Respected and Advanced by all Christian Kings and Princes and never opposed in the Antient Church by any but by one desperate man immediately branded for a Heretick upon that Attempt And let us not be drawn unaccountably into a Kindness for any Novel Uncertain and Arbitrary Form one thing to day and we know not what to morrow to the disturbance of our quiet and for ought as we can tell to the Ruin and Desolation of these three Flourishing Kingdoms to the Eternal Shame and Disgrace of the Protestant nay of the Christian Religion and the great Joy and Triumph of the Enemies of all Religion and of God himself Consider what hath been said and the Lord give You understanding in all things Amen THE END