more For I am sure had he but read over those Canons which might be done in half an hour he had argued this point at another rate and had he seen the Edition of Dionysius Exiguus he had not accused the Conformist for citing that Canon as the fortieth since it is so in his division who was their first publisher in the Latine Church tho it be the thirty ninth in the Greek division But I will deal roundly in this matter and acknowledge that collection to be none of the Apostles nor Clement's since all that passed under Clement's name was accounted spurious except his first Epistle to the Corinthians Nor was this a production of the first two ages For the silence of the Writers of those Centuries gives clear evidence for their novelty They not being cited for the decision of things then in controversie wherein they are express as in the matter of Easter the rebaptizing Hereticks and divers other particulars Yet in the Fourth and Fifth Century reference is after made to some Elders rules of the Church which are to be found no where but in this Collection The Apostolical Canons are also sometimes expresly mentioned and this gives good ground to believe there were from the Third Century and forward some rules general received in the Church and held Apostolical as being at first introduced by Apostolical men This was at first learnedly made out by De Marca Concord lib. 3. c. 2. and of late more fully by that most ingenious and accurate searcher into Antiquity Beveregius in his Preface to his Annotations on these Canons Yet I am apt to think they were only preserv'd by an oral tradition and that no collection of them was agreed on and publish'd before the fifth Century It is certain the Latine Church in Pope Innocent 's days acknowledged no Canons but those of Nice And many of the Canons in this Collection we find among Canons of other Councils particularly in that of Antioch without any reference to a preceding authority that had enjoined them which we can hardly think they had omitted had they received the collection I speak of as Apostolical And that of the triple immersion in Baptism looks like a Rule no elder than the Arrian Controversie They began first to appear under the name of the Apostles Canons in the Fifth Century which made Pope Gelasius with a Synod of seventy Bishops condemn them as Apocryphal though I must add that the authority of that pretended Council and Decree though generally received be on many accounts justly questionable And yet by this we are only to understand that he rejected that pretended authority of the Apostles prefixed to these Canons In the beginning of the Sixth Century they were published by Dionysius Exiguus who prefixed fifty of them to his translation of the Greek Canons but he confesses they were much doubted by many At the same time they were published in the Greek Church with the addition of thirty five more Canons and were acknowledged generally Iustinian cites them often in the Novels and in the sixth Novel calls them the Canons of the holy Apostles kept and interpreted by the Fathers And the same authority was ascribed to them by the Council in Trullo These things had been pertinently alledged if you had known them but for your Friends niblings at them if you will but give your self the trouble of reading these Canons you will be ashamed of his weakness who manageth his advantage so ill And to instance this but in one particular had he read these Canons himself could he have cited the eighty which is among the latter additions and passed by the sixth which is full to the same purpose But for that impudent allegation as if a bare precedency had been only ascribed to Bishops by these Canons look but on the 14. the 30. 37. 40. 54. and 73. and then pass your verdict on your Friends ingenuity or his knowledg By the 14. No Churchman may pass from one Parish to another without his Bishop's sentence otherwise he is suspended from Ecclesiastical Functions and if he refuse to return when required by his Bishop he is to be accounted a Churchman no more By the 30. A Presbyter who in contempt of his Bishop gathers a Congregation apart having nothing to condemn his Bishop of either as being unholy or unjust he is to be deposed as one that is ambitious and tyrannous and such of the Clergy or Laity as join with them are likewise to be censured By the 37. The Bishop hath the care of all Church matters which he must administrate as in the sight of God By the 39. The Bishop hath power over all the goods of the Church and the reason given is that since the precious souls of men are committed to him it is much more just he have the charge of the goods of the Church By the 54. If a Clergy-man reproach their Bishop he is to be deposed for it is written Thou shalt not curse the Ruler of thy people And by the 73. A Bishop when accused is only to be judged of by other Bishops Now from these hints judg whether there be truth in that Assertion that only a precedency is asserted in these Canons and if all the power is now pleaded for be not there held out not to mention the Canon was cited by the Conformist that Presbyters or Deacons might finish nothing without the Bishop's Sentence since the Souls of the people are trusted to him As for the sole power of Ordination and Jurisdiction I am sure none among us do claim it but willingly allow the Presbyters a concurrence in both these And as to what your friend saith of Cyprian it is of a piece with the learning and ingenuity that runneth through the rest of his Discourse from page 150 to page 160. where for divers pages he belabours his Reader with brave shews of Learning and high invention so that no doubt he thinks he hath performed Wonders and fully satisfied every scruple concerning the rise and progress of Episcopacy Isot. I pray you do not fly too high and make not too much ado about any small advantages you conceive you have of my Friend but upon the whole matter I am willing to believe there was a precedency pretty early begun in the Church which I shall not deny was useful and innocent tho a deviation from the first pattern Neither shall I deny that holy men were of that Order but when it is considered what a step even that Precedency was to Lordly Prelacy and how from that the son of perdition rose up to his pretence of Supremacy we are taught how unsafe it is to change any thing in the Church from the first institution of its blessed Head who knew best what was fit for it according to whose will all things in it should be managed Poly. It hath been often repeated that nothing was ever so sacred as to escape that to which all things when they
imaginable and indeed ought to be always accompanied with the advice and concurrence of the worthiest persons among the inferior Clergy But till you secure my fears of the greater part in all Societies becoming corrupt I shall not say by the major part of them but by the better part Isot. I see you run a high strain and far different from what was the discourse of this Countrey a year ago of an accommodation was inâ—ended wherein large offers seemed to be made but I now see by your ingenuous freedom that though for a while you who were called a great friend to that design were willing to yield up some parts of the Episcopal Grandeur yet you retain the â—oot of that Lordly ambition still in your heart and so though for some particular ends either to deceive or divide the LORDS people you were willing to make an appearance of yielding yet it was with a resolution of returning with the first opportunity to the old practices and designs of the Prelats of enhansing the Ecclesiastical Power to themselves and a few of their associats And this lets me see what reason all honest people have to bless GOD that these arts and devices took not for an Ethiopian cannot change his skin Phil. I confess to you freely I was a little satisfied with these condescentions as any of you and though they gave up the Rights of the Church to a peevish and preverse party whom gentleness will never gain and therefore am no less satisfied than you are that they did not take and so much the more that their refusing to accept of so large offers gave a new and clear character to the World of their temper and that it is a faction and the servile courting of a party which they design and not a strict adherence to the rules of conscience otherwise they had been more tractable Eud. Let me crave pardon to curb your humor a little which seems too near a kin to Isotimus his temper though under a different character For my part I had then the same sense of Episcopacy which I have just now owned But whâ—n I considered the ruines of Religion which our divisions occasioned among us and when I read the large offers S. Augustin made on the like occasion to the Donatists I judged all possible attempts even with the largest condescentions for an accommodation a worthy and pious design well becoming the gravity and moderation of a Bishop to offer and the nobleness of these in authority to second with their warmest endeavors for if it was blessed with success the effect was great even the setling of a broken and divided corner of the Church if it took not as it fully exonered the Church of the evils of the Schism so it rendered the enemies of Peace and Unity the more unexcusable Only I must say this upon my knowledg that whatever designs men of various sentiments fastened upon that attempt it was managed with as much ingenuity and sincerity as mortals could carry along with them in any purpose I know it is expected and desired that a full account of all the steps of that affair be made publick which a friend of ours drew up all along with the progress of it But at present my concern in one whom a late Pamphlet as full of falshoods in matters of fact as of weakness in point of reason hath mirepresented the case of Accommodation Page 31 shall prevail with me to give an account of a particular pasâ—ed in a Conference which a Bishop and two Presbyters had with about thirty of the Nonconformists at Pasley on the 14th of December in the year 1670. When the Bishop had in a long Discourse recommended Unity and Peace to them on the terms were offered he withal said much to the advantage of Episcopacy as he stated it from the rules and practices of the ancient Church offering to turn their Proâ—elyte immediately if they should give him either clear Scripture good reason or warrant from the most Primitive Antiquity against such Episcopacy And with other things he desired to know whether they would have joined in Communion with the Church at the time of the Council of Nice to carry them no higher or not for if they refused that he added he would have less heartiness to desire communion with them since of these he might say Let my soul be with theirs But to that a general answer was made by one who said He hoped they were not looked upon as either so weak or so wilful as to determine in so great a matter but upon good grounds which were the same that the asserters of Presbyterian Government had built on which they judged to be conform both to Scripture and Primitive Antiquity But for Scripture neither he nor any of the meeting offered to bring a Title only he alledged some differences betwixt the anciâ—nt Presidents as he called them and our Bishops But this was more fully enlarged by one who is believed to be among the most learned of the Party whose words with the answer given them I shall read to you as I take both from a Journal was drawn of that affair by one whose exactness and fidelity in it can be attested by some worthy spectators who read what he wrote after the Meeting was ended and Judged it not only faithful but often verbal And that he was so careful to evite the appearances of partiality that he seemed rather studious to be more copious in proposing what was said by these who differed from his opinion whereas he contracted much of what was said by these he favored The account follows Mr. said That he offered to make appear the difference was betwixt the present Episcopacy and what was in the ancient Church in â—ive particulars The first was that they had nâ— Archbishops in the Primitive Church It is true they had Metropolitans but in a Council oâ— Caâ—thage it was decreed that no Bishop should be â—allâ—d â—ummus Sacerdos or Princeps Sacerdoâ—um sed primae sedis Episcopus 2. The Bishops in the ancient Church were Parochial and not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but in every Village 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for even in Bethany we find there was a Bishop 3. Two Bishops might be in one Church such was not to mention Alexander and Narcissus at Jerusalem Augustin who with Valerius was ordained Bishop of Hippo. 4. Bishops were elected by their Presbyters so Jerome tells us that in Alexandria the Presbyters choosed one of their number to be Bishop and finally the Bishops were countable to and censurable by their Presbyters for either this must have been otherwise they could not have been censured at all For though we meet with some Provincial Synods in Church History as that of Carthage in Cyprians time for the rebaptizing of hereticks and that at Antioch against Samoâ—atenus yet these instances were rare and recurred seldom therefore there must have been a power in Presbyters to have censured their
evident Reason for proving this to be unlawful or unexpedient you shall shake my kindness to this Constitution whose venerable Antiquity hath conciliated so much reverence from me to it that it will be a great attempt to change my value of it Isot. These are all brave Stories well contrived for triumphing among ignorants But these pretences fâ—om Antiquity have been so batâ—led by the learned Assertors of Preâ—byterial Government that I wonder how you can so confidently vouch them â—ince there is not a vestige of any dispaâ—ity before the 140th year after CHRIST And we know the Mystery of Iniquity wrought in the days of the Apostles and that then there was a Diotrophes who loved the preeminence and the darkness and obscurity of the rise and progress of Prelacy doth the more confirm me that it was the Mystery of Iniquity The pretence from Ignatius's Epistles hath been often overthrown and there are words in these Epistles which clearly prove them to be the contrivance of some Impostor they being so inconsistent with the strain of Religion and truth of the Gospel not to speak of the Orthodoxy and Piety of Ignatius and the simplicity of these times which demonstrate their interpolation evidently for all the pains Doctor Hamond hath been at to assert their faith and therefore these câ—n furnish you with no argument See pag. 145. and 151. Poly. I confess I can hear you tell over the arguments of these Pamphlets with some paâ—ience But truly in this instance I know â—ot how to treat you or rather him in whose name you speak who yet would earnestly perswade the World of the great skill he and his friends have in these things Surely they are the men of Wisdom And one may as securely pull the hairs out of a Lion's beard as twit them with the least degâ—ee of ignoâ—ance But pray tell your Learned Friend that in his next publick appearance he meddle no more with Antiquity before he know it better and discover not so much ignorance that one of a months standing in that study may laugh at him Pray Sir are you in earnest when you tell me that for 140 years after CHRIST there is no vestige of Prelacy on record Will you not believe Irenaeus who lived at that time though he wrote some years after and reckons the succession of the Bishops of Rome from the days of the Apostles Or if the Writings and Records of that time be lost will you give no credit in a Historical matter to those who followed that time and drew their accounts from Writings then extant though now lost such as Tertullian Cyprian but especially Eusebius who gives the succession of the Bishops in the several great Sees from the Apostles days Certainly he who was born but about an hundred years after the time you mark would have had some knowledge of so great a change But if there was no vestige of Prelacy before the year 140 in which it first appeared what time will you allow for its spreading through the World Or was it in an instant received every where Were all the pretenders so easily enâ—lamed to this Paroxism of Ambition And were all the other Presbyters so tame as to be so â—asily whedâ—ed out of their rights without one protestation on the contrary How came the Eclipse of the Church to a total Obscuration in one minute What charm was there in Prelacy at that time that the World was so inchanted with it and that so soon after S. Iohn's death when Polycarp and many more of the Apostolical men did yet survive And how came it that all the Churches did so unanimously concur in the defection and not so much as two witnesses appeared to fight against this Beast Let me tell you freely there is not a ravery in Don Quixot's Adventures or Amadis de Gaul but is liker to prevail on my belief than this Romance But for Ignatius's Epistles the hazard of the issue of the debate about them is very unequal for if these Epistles be his then he dying so near S. Iohn's days the Cause of Presbytery will be undone But though they be not his the Episcopal Party sustain small prejudice For from other traces of Antiquity it can be made as clear that Episcopacy was in the Church from the days of the Apostles as any historical thing which is at so great distance from our time But for your friends exceptions at these Epistles they betray his great skill and tell clearly that he understands not the question and that he hâ—th never read a Page of Doctor Hamond though with his usual arrogance he slights all he saith For had he read any paâ—t of his dissertation he would have made a difference betwixt the old vulgar Edition of these Epistles whose Interpolations that learned Doctor acknowledgeth and the late Edition of them by the learned Vossius according to the Medicean Codex whose authority he only voucheth Now had he known this would he have cited words out of them which are not of the true Edition asserted by Doctor Hamond but are of the old vulgar and rejected one Certainly had he read any thing of that debate which hath been truly managed with much subtil critical learning on both sides he could not have stumbled unto such a mistake But his reading it is like riseth not above Pamphlets and finding these words cited on the same design before the late Editions of Ignatius came out he without examining took them upon trust from second hand But I shall not run out farther upon Ignatius's Epistles than to recommend their perusal to you and then I am confident you will discern such a native simple and sincerely pious and devout strain in them so unlike the swelled Stile or purposes of interpolated Writings that they will be their own testimony for convincing you of their genuineness but the exceptions against them being so fully and so lately with an amazing diligence answered by Doctor Pearson I shall remit you to his Labors if you intend to examine this matter accurately Isot. Your Conformist did likewise alledge the 40 but he should have said the 38 Apostolical Canon with a hint as if fifty of these might have been the Apostles appointments though the heap of them is so full of novelties that their Antiquity cannot be pleaded by any who knows the state of the ancient Church as appears from the 3 17 and 25 Canons and were these Canons received they would prejudge more than advance the cause you maintain as will appear from the 4 33 36 and 80 Canons not to mention the 24 26 28 41 53 57 and 75. And in a word these Canons do only allow of a precedency of Order but not of your Prelatick power and superiority that claims the sole power of Ordination and Jurisdiction See pag. 148. Poly. Truly Sir if the former exceptions did prove your Author a second hand writer who voucheth Antiquity upon the testimony of others this doth it much
which provoked GOD's Jealousie so much against us that it was unlawful to unite with it or so far to comply with its adherents as to unite with them in Worship If these things be made clear to us we need not amuse our selves nor entertain one another with farther janglings and therefore may break off our Conference Isot. Since you will break off I shall not struggle about it for it is a confession of your weakness that you pass over so many things with this slight silence Basil. This is the genuine Spirit of the party which you now express to the life but when ever the Author of the Dialogues undergoes the penance of examining what you desire it will perhaps appear you have as little ground for this as for your other boasting But I am sure no scruple sticks with me about these great heads we have examined so that upon a narrow survey of these matters it appears he had more reason for what he asserted than he then vented And I have as little doubt of his being able to clear himself about other matters which are snarled at by these Pamphlets But one thing I have not forgot about which I am more sollicitous which was a promise Polyhistor made of sending when our Conference were ended an account of the model and forms of the ancient Government which I desire with such earnestness that I wish we weâ—e gone that he might be as good as his word Poly. I know not if it shall answer your hopes but your curiosity shall be quickly satisfied after I have given you some account of my design in it When I considered the ruines of Religion and the decays of Piety through the World I have often bent my thoughts to seek out the most proper remedies and means for the Churches recovery and that which seemed the most promising was to consider the constitution the rites and forms of the Châ—rch in her first and purest ages and to observe the steps of their decâ—ning from the primitive simplicity and purity which being once fully done great materials would be theâ—eby congested for many useâ—ul thoughts and overtures in order to a Reformation And this is a work which for all the accurate enquiries this age hath produced is not yet performed to any degree of perfection or ingenuity therefore I resolved to pursue this design as much as my leisure and other avocations could allow of But as I was doubtful what method to follow in digesting my observations the Canons vulgarly called Apostolical offered themselves to my thoughts I thereupon resolved to follow their tract and to compile such hints as I could gather on my way for giving a clear view of the state of the Church in the first ages As for the opinions of the ancient Fathers these have been so copiously examined by the Writers of Controversies that scarce any thing can be added to those who went before us bet few have been at such pains for searching into their practices and rules for Discipline and Worship wherein their excellency and strength lay In this inquiry I have now made good advances but at present I will only send you my Observations on the two first Canons and as you shall find this task hath sucâ—eeded with me I will be encouraged to break it off or to pursue it farther Only on the way let me tell you that I am so far from thinking these Canons Apostolical that nothing can be more evidâ—nt than that they were a collection made in the Third Century at soonest for the matter of almost every Canon discovers this when well examined and therefore that Epistle of Zephirâ—us the Pope who lived about the year 20 that mentions â—â—â—or as others cite it 70. of the Apostles sayings is not to be consider'd that Epistle with the other Decretals being so manifestly spurious that it cannot be doubted by any who reads them and the number sixty agrees with no Edition for they are either fifty or 85. Tertullian is also cited for them but the words cited as his are not in his Book contra Praxeam from which they are vouched Nor can they be called the work of Clemens Romanus though they were vented under his name For Athanasius in his Synopsis reckons the work of Clemens Apocryphal And Eusebius tells us that nothing ascribed to Clement was held genuine but his Epistle to the Corinthians But the first Publishers of these who lived it is like in the Third Century have called them Apostolical as containing the earliest rules which the Apostolical men had introduced in the Church And afterwards others to conciliate more veneration for them cal led them the Canons of the Apostles compiled by Clement And this drew Pope Gelasius's censure on them by which the Book of the Canons of the Apostles is declared Apocryphal which some who assert their authority and antiquity would foolishly evite by applying that censure only to the 35. added Canons whereas the censure is simply passed on the Book and not on any additions to it And this shall serve for an Introduction to the Papers I will send you how soon I get home Phil. I doubt not but all of us except Isotimus will be very desirous to understand the particular forms of the Primitive Church but he is so sure that they will conclude against him that I believe he is not very curious of any such discovery Isot. You are mistaken for I doubt not but much will be found among the Ancients for me but if otherwise I will lead you a step higher to let you see that from the beginning it was not so For Antiquity when against Scripture proves only the error ancient And if you quit the Scriptures to us we will yield those musty Records to you Eud. Pray speak not so confidently after all your pretences have been so baffled that we are ashamed of you for you are like the Spaniard who retained his supercilious Looks and Gate when he was set to beg But I will not be rude in a place which owns me for its Master though really your confidence extorts it Isot. You are a proud company and so elevated in your own eyes that you despise all who differ from you and think you censure them gently if you call them no worse than ignorants and fools Is there any arrogance in the World like this Phil. Pray let us not fall out now that we are to part but I confess it is no wonder the smart of all the foils you have got provoke some passion in you and so I pity you for I know none of your Party who would have carried so discreetly Therefore Adieu I must be gone and leave this good company Isot. You will have the last word of scolding but I perhaps will find out one that will be too hard for you all and will call you to account of all you have both argued and boasted Basil. I will break ofâ— next since the design of your meeting is finished only Polyhistor mind your promise Poly. I go about it and therefore Eudannon I beg your pardon to be gone Eud. Though Retirement and Solitude be ever acceptable to me yet it will not be without some pain that I return to it when I miss so much good company as have relieved me these four days but the truth is on the other hand I am glad to see an end put to this painful Engâ—gement of which I suppose we are all weary It remains only that I return you my sincere and hearty thanks for the favor you have done me which I wish I could do so warmly as might engage you frequently to oblige me with the like civilities Adieu my good friends FINIS
unity and peace but to assert a divine original for them methinks is a hard task and truly to assert the divine Authority of the major part which must be done according to the principles of Presbytery is a thing fuller of Tyranny over Consciences than any thing can be feared from Episcopacy since the greater part of mankind being evil which holds true of no sort of people more than of Church-men what mischief may be expected if the plurality must decide all matters And to speak plainly I look on a potion of Physick as the best cure for him who can think a National Synod according to the model of Glasgow is the Kingdom of Christ on Earth or that Court to which he hath committed his Authority for he seems beyond the power or conviction of Reason Crit. The Scripture clearly holds forth an authority among Church-men but visibly restricted to their Commission which truly is not properly a power residing among them for they only declare what the Rule of the Gospel is wherein if they keep close to it they are only Publishers of the Laws of CHRIST and if they err from it they are not to be regarded It is true the administration of Sacraments is appropriated to them yet he that will argue this to have proceeded more from the general rules of Order the constant practice of the Church and the fitness of the thing which is truly sutable to the dictates of Nature and the Laws of Nations than from an express positive Command needs much Logick to make good his attempt It is true the ordaining of Successors in their Office belongs undoubtedly to them and in trying them Rules are expresly given out in Scripture to which they ought to adhere and follow them but as for other things they are either decisions of opinions or rules for practice In the former their authority is purely to declare and in that they act but as Men and we find whole Schools of them have been abused and in the other they only give advices and directions but have no Jurisdiction It is true much noise is made about the Council of Ierusalem p. 106 as if that were a warrant for Synods to meet together But first it is clear no command is there given so at most that will prove Synods to be lawful but that gives them no authority except you produce a clear Command for them and obedience to them Next what strange wresting of Scripture is it from that place to prove the subordination of Church Judicatories for if that Council was not an OEcumenical Council nor a Provincial one which must be yielded since we see nothing like a Convocation then either Paul and Barnabas were sent from Antioch as from one sister Church to ask advice of another and if so it proves nothing for the authority of Synods since advices are not Laws or Antioch sent to Ierusalem as to a Superior Church by its constitution which cannot be imagined for what authority could the Church of Ierusalem pretend over Antioch And indeed had that been true some vestige of it had remained in History which is so far to the contrary that the Church of Ierusalem was subordinate to the Church of Cesarea which was Metropolitan in Palestine was subject to Antioch the third Patriarchal Sea It will therefore remain that this was only a reference to the other Apostles who besides their extraordinary endowments and inspiration were acknowledged by all to be men of great eminency and authority and therefore the authority of Paul and Barnabas not being at that time so universally acknowledged they were sent to Ierusalem where S. Iames was resident and S. Peter occasionally present Now the Authority of the Decree must be drawn from their infallible spirit otherwise it will prove too much that one Church may give out decrees to another But will the Apostles mutual consulting or conferring together prove the National constitution and authority of Synods or Assemblies Poly. All that hath been said illustrates clearly the practice of the Iews among whom as the High-Priest was possessed with a Prophetical Spirit which sometimes fell on him by illapses as apears from what is said of Caiaphas and sometimes from the shining of the Stones in the Pectoral called the Urim and Thummim so the Priests and Levites being the chief Trustees and Depositaries of the Law Their lips were to preserve knowledg and the Law was to be sought at their mouth yet they had no Legislative Authority they had indeed a Court among themselves called the Parhedrim made up of the heads of the Orders and of the Families but that Court did not pretend to Jurisdiction but only to explain things that concerned the Temple-worship nay the High-Priest was so restricted to the King and Sanbedrim that he might not consult the Oracle without he had been ordered to do it by them neither do we ever hear of any Laws given out all the Old Testament over in the name of the Priests And in the New Testament the Power it seems was to be managed by the body of the faithful as well as by Church-men It is true the Apostles were clothed with an extraordinary power of binding and loosing of sins but no proofs are brought to justifie the pretences to Jurisdiction that are found among their Successors For in the Epistle to Corinth the Rules there laid down are addressed to all the Saints that were called to be faithful so also is the Epistle to the Thessalonians where he tells them to note such as walked disorderly and have no fellowship with them which are shrewd grounds to believe that at first all things were managed Parochially where the faithful were also admitted to determine about what occurred but for Synods we find not the least vestige of them before the end of the second Century that Synods were gathered about the Controversie concerning the day of Easter and the following Associations of Churches shew clearly that they took their model from the division of the Roman Empire and so according as the Provinces were divided the Churches in them did associate to the Metropolitans and became subordinate to them and these were subordinate to the Patriarchs by which means it was that the Bishops of Rome had the precedency not from any imaginary derivation from St. Peter for had they gone on such Rules Ierusalem where our Lord himself was had undoubtedly carried it of all the World but Rome being the Imperial City it was the See of the greatest Authority And no sooner did Bizantium creep into the dignity of being the Imperial City but the Bishop of Constantinople was made second Patriarch and in all things equal to the Bishop of Rome the precedency only excepted Much might be here said for proving that these Synods did not pretend to a divine Original though afterwards they claimed a high Authority yet their appointments were never called Laws but only Canons and Rules which could not pretend to a Jurisdiction Basil.
But that I may not seem to rob the Church of all her Power I acknowledg that by the Laws of Nature it follows that these who unite in the service of GOD must be warranted to associate in Meetings to agree on generals Rules and to use means for preserving purity and order among themselves and that all Inferiours ought to subject themselves to their Rules But as for that brave distinction of the Churches Authority being derived from CHRIST as Mediator whereas the Regal Authority is from him as GOD well doth it become its inventors and much good may it do them For me I think that CHRIST's asserting that all power in heaven and in earth was given unto him and his being called The KING of Kings and LORD of Lords make it as clear as the Sun that the whole OEconomy of this World is committed to him as Mediator and as they who died before him were saved by him who was slam â—â—om the foundation of the world so all humane authority was given by vertue of the second Covenant by which mankind was preserved from infallible ruin which otherwise it had incurred by Adams fall But leaving any further enquiry after such a foolish nicety I go now to examine what the Magistrates Power is in matters of Religion And first I lay down for a Maxim That the externals of Worship or Government are not of such importance as are the Rules of Iustice and Peace wherein formally the Image of GOD consists For CHRIST came to bring us to GOD and the great end of his Gospel is the assimilation of us to GOD of which justice righteousness mercy and peace make a great part Now what sacredness shall be in the outwards of Worship and Government that these must not be medled with by his hands and what unhallowedness is in the other that they may fall within his Jurisdiction my weakness cannot reach As for instance when the Magistrate allows ten per cent of inâ—â—rest it is just to exact it and when he bringâ— iâ— down to six per cent it is oppression to demand ten per cent so that he can determine some matteâ—s to be just or unjust by his Laws now why he shall not have such a power about outward matters of Worship or of the Government of the Church judg you since the one both in it self and as it tends to commend us to God is much more important than the other It is true he cannot meddle with the holy things himself for the Scripture rule is express that men be separated for the work of the Ministery And without that separation he invades the Altar of GOD that taketh that honor upon him without he be called to it But as for giving Laws in the externals of Religion I see not why he may not do it as well as in matters Civil It is true if he contradict the divine Law by his commands GOD is to be obeyed rather than man But this holds in things Civil as well as Sacred For if he command murder or theft he is undoubtedly to be disobeyed as well as when he commands amiss in matters of Religion In a word all Subjects are bound to obey him in every lawful command Except therefore you prove that Church-men constituted in a Synod are not Subjects they are bound to obedience as well as others Neither doth this Authority of the Magistrate any way prejudge the power Christ hath committed to his Church For a Father hath power over his Children and that by a divine Precept tho the Supreme Authority have power over him and them both so the Churches authority is no way inconsistent with the Kings Supremacy As for their Declarative Power it is not at all subject to him only the exercise of it to this or that person may be suspended For since the Magistrate can banish his Subjects he may well silence them Yet I acknowledg if he do this out of a design to drive the Gospel out of his Dominions they ought to continue in their duty notwithstanding such prohibition for GOD must be obeyed rather than man And this was the case of the Primitive Bishops who rather than give over the feeding their Flocks laid themselves open to Martyrdom But this will not hold for warranting turbulent persons who notwithstanding the Magistrates continuing all encouragements for the publick Worship of GOD chuse rather than concur in it tho not one of an hundred of them hath the confidence to call that unlawful to gather separated Congregations whereby the flocks are scattered Phil. Nay since you are on that Subject let me freely lay open the mischief of it It is a direct breach of the Laws of the Gospel that requires our solemn assembling together which must ever bind all Christians till there be somewhat in the very constitutions of these Assemblies that renders our meeting in them unlawful which few pretend in our case Next the Magistrates commanding these publick Assemblies is certainly a clear and superadded obligation which must bind all under sin till they can prove these our Meetings for Worship unlawful And as these separated Conventicles are of their own nature evil so their effects are yet worse and such as indeed all the ignorance and profanity in the Land is to be charged on them for as they dissolve the union of the Church which must needs draw mischief after it so the vulgar are taught to despise their Ministers and the publick Worship and thus get loose from the yoak And their dependence on these separated Meetings being but precarious as they break away from the order of the Church so they are not tied to their own order and thus betwixt hands the vulgar lose all sense of Piety and of the Worship of GOD. Next in these separated Meetings nothing is to be had but a long preachment so that the knowledg and manners of the people not being look'd after and they taught to revolt from the setled Discipline and to disdain to be câ—techised by their Pastoâ—s ignorance and profanity must be the sure effect of these divided Meetings And in fine the disuse of the LORD's Supper is a guilt of a high nature for the vulgar are taught to loath the Sacrament from their Ministers hands as much as the Mass and preaching is all they get in their Meetings so that what in all Ages of the Church hath been looked on as the great cherishing of Devotion and true Piety and the chief preserver of Peace among Câ—â—â—tiâ—ns is wearing out of practice with our new modelled Christians These are the visible effects of separating practices But I shall not play the uncharitable Diviner to guess at the secret mischief such courses may be guilty of Basil. Truly what you have laid out is so well known to us all that I am confident Isotimus himself must with much sorrow acknowledg what wicked Arts these are that some use to dislocate the Body of Christ and to sacrifice the interests of Religion