I demand what it is that shall make that lawfull and conuenient for Gods seruice Is it the signification of the words or the melodie of the tune and symphonie If the first then singing is not recommended as it is singing but rather as saying and then it were better such psalmes or hymnes were barely pronounced or read for so their sence and signification is best vnderstood If the second then instrumentall musique must likewise be admitted wherein the same sounds for tune and concord of parts are by the same rules of art practised and expressed But it may be oueradded that the musique of the voice is passable as hauing both these together and performing them with one breath Most true and therein is the chiefe excellency of that guift of God that in one and the same sound it edifieth both the vnderstanding and the affections Yet the other which cannot act but one of his properties is not therefore to bee condemned or contemned In physique some ingredients worke attrahende by their searching and vigorous quality of attraction others only adiuuando by diffusing the stronger simples and so helping the operation of them and without these the other would be lesse actiue and profitable Euen so in sacred musique the chiefe vigour of our praiers and adoration commeth from the ditty which worketh immediately vpon our vnderstanding but that is much helped and quickened by adding thereto a proportionable temper of artificiall harmony which shall make it penetrate the deeper into our affections As the Church militant in the three forenamd estates and seuerall times so and much more the Church triumphant in eternity doth out of the Scriptures supplie vs with proofe of the conueniency of setting foorth the praise of God with mellodious harmony For when in reading the Scriptures I view that little yet sufficient for our knowlepge which God hath reuealed concerning the state of the blessed Angels Saints in heauen mee thinkes it must needes bee great rashnesse to condemne that as superstitious or superfluous if imitated heere on earth which the spirit of God testifieth to bee the endlesse imployment of those that see God face to face in heauen Is not the Ierusalem which is aboue the mother of vs all into whose bosome we hope to be gathered Is it not that which wee hope and grone for in the vale of this flesh to become once 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like to the Angells Is it not that which we daily pray for that Gods will may be done on earth as it is in heauen why then may wee not why ought we not euen now to imitate the worke of the Angells in their adoring the most High and as farre as we can performe that in our Churches the type of the euerlasting Temple which we shall when we are hereafter cloathed with immortalitie intend in heauen perpetually If we will open the booke of God the very window of heauen wee shall there see heare the blessed Seraphins thus blessing and adoring him that sitteth on an high throne crying to one another saying Holy holy holy Lord of hosts The whole world is full of his glory If we looke in further we may see the foure Euangelists figured out by the foure beasts full of eyes encompassing the throne without ceasing day and night singing the like Antiphone Holy holy Lord God Almighty which was and which is and which is to come If wee will yet view to the vtmost end we may behold Gods champions after their conquest ouer the beast holding in their hand as banners of that victory displaied more audibly then visibly the harpes of God The melody of which instruments they doe animate by singing the song of Moses the seruant of God and the song of the Lambe saying Great and maruellous are thy workes Lord God Almighty c. Apo. 19. 6. The voyce of a great multitude as the voyce of manie waters and as the voice of strong thundrings saying Halleluiah verse 3. And againe they sayd Halleluiah Loe here we haue plainly represented vnto vs not only singing and that by repetition againe againe but interchangeable chaunting in the Seraphins in that they are sayd to cry one to another holy holy holy which three sacred words the embleme of the euer-blessed Trinitie when I heare in the Te Deum in the vulgar tongue with a point of maiesticall correspondence grauely and reuerently sung in the Cathedrall Churches of England how others are affected I know not but for my selfe me thinks the very Celestiall Temple of God is brought downe among vs or we in these bodies rapt vp among the Seraphims and bearing parts in the Quyre of heauenly souldiers More ouer vnto such vocall singing here is distinctly added the other helpe of adoring and adorning the heauenly Maiestie by instrumentall harmonie the harpes and they honoured with an attribute euen the Harpes of God so styled either in regard of the subiect to whose praise they are vsed or of the Author by whose gift that and the like blessings are afforded to the best of the creatures both wayes designing one and the same fountaine GOD. I will not heere lest I should lose my selfe intrude into the search of hidden secrets treasured vp in heauen how and in what sense Angels and blessed Saints in heauen are to be vnderstood to sing before the throne of the Almightie whether this be in the Scripture described in a sensible forme onely for our capacity but to bee interpreted in a spirituall and allegoricall allusion surely if the substance of Angels and soules of men be not meerely incorporall it is not absurd to maintaine that they may immediately ex iunatis principijs similitudine substantiae in the most pure body or space of the heauen of heauens the seat of the blessed both raise such reall and corporeall voyces also be affected with the sweet harmonie and proportions of such sounds And when after the resurrection the soules of the faithfull shall bee clothed againe with their bodies it is not amisse to thinke that the bodie shall partake with the soule as of fullnesse of ioy so of the act and exercise of perpetuall adoration And as our naturall eyes shall then really and corporally behold the most beautifull obiect of our Sauiours glorified humanitie oculis meis videbo Redemptorē meū saith Iob so it is not against the analogie of faith to thinke that our tongues and mouthes may then employ them selues in endlesse vocall hymnes and songs of thanksgiuing of glory and worship to him that sitteth vpon the throne and to the Lambe who by his bloud hath redeemed vs out of euery kindred and tongue people and nation and hath made vs Kings and Priests vnto God his Father And sithence I haue been comforted from probable sweet and reuerend contemplations of the more learned to thinke that some sympathie may be betwixt the musicall Harmonie and the Angelicall nature it maketh me to presume a
and to shew that all voycing musicke though hauing so noble a precentor and being celebrated by so full a Quire of all the people of Israel verse 1. yet is not sufficient to display the zeale and ioy of the Church of God there commeth in besides as in Medio Chori the noyse of Tymbrels in the hands of Miriam and of all the women that came out after her verse 20. not to yeeld any new instruction to their vnderstandings though she were a Prophetesse but which is the true vse of such musicke first to giue a greater downeweight to their affections and to make their spirituall ioy ouerflow the bankes of ordinary apprehension and to transport them into an higher degree of heauenly rauishment by those artificiall sounds added to the naturall and secondly to infixe deeper in their minds and memories those diuine straines by recording and repeating the same point in the same verses a thing in Church musicke not to be abandoned if tempered with grauity as here we may expresly gather For when Moses and the people had begun their song in this manner I will sing vnto the Lord for hee hath triumphed gloriously c. Miriam with her troupe and instruments and voyces answered the men Sing yee vnto the Lord for hee hath triumphed gloriously c. vers 21. This because it did precede the deliuery of the ceremoniall law by Moses I thinke I may safely referre either to the law of nature or to the inueterate practise of the most antient Church of God euen from the first Patriarkes and Fathers of mankind In time of the Law the very enditer himselfe Moses did by the immediate command of God when he was to die leaue as his last Testament of monition or cygnea cantiō a formall song which as God put into his mouth so he into the mouths of the children of Israel Exod. 31. 19. to be a perpetuall witnesse to and against them which beginneth with a most rhetoricall and Poeticall exclamation of adiuring the heauens and earth to bee witnesses This pithy abstract of the admonitions and doctrines of Moses conteyning Gods benefits towardes his Church the vpbrayding of their ingratitude Gods threats against them and mysterious predictions of the vocation of the Gentiles c. The spirit of GOD did chuse to set downe to his Church rather in forme of Song then of Sermon thereby insinuating that it would be with more facility receiued and with deeper impression retained which is implied by Moses himselfe in the following words of the beginning of that song ver 2. My doctrine shall drop as the raine and my speech shall distill as the deaw As if hee had said this last doctrine of mine which I deliuered to Gods people by way of song shall indeed by the diuine matter thereof instruct their vnderstandings but shall by the manner of musicall inditement and recording therof pierce with the greater sweetnesse and facility and by a secret vnseene influence feed and refresh your soules as the hearbs and plants are cherished by the deaw and fedde by the soft showers And afterward when the Temple was to succeed the Tabernacle Dauid did before hand prouide Leuites and singers his preparations of that kinde were first when the Arke had rest 1. Chron. 6. 31. 1. Chron. 15. And shortly after the Temple was to be builded by Salomon 1. Chron. 25. At both Dauid appointed Leuites and singers with instruments of musicke c. And added thereto the ditties which they were to sing being a set forme of inuocation and thanksgiuing 1. Chron. 16. 8. Prayse yee the Lord c. which also is repeated among the Psalmes Psal. 105. Moreouer in a manner the whole Booke of Psalmes were by the same Prophet penned in Meeter to be sung as they are since in all ages and places in the Church of God Amongst which some Psalm 33. and 150. make especiall reference vnto the instrumentall musicke If heereto it be replied that all this furniture of musicke was proper to the Temple and meerely typicall and part of the pedagogy of the old Testament I may answere that in regard of the number and distinct offices and certaine kindes of instruments those constitutions of Dauid might well bee ceremoniall but the vse of instrumentall musicke in generall in the publike praising of God was and is morall or naturall not indeed of absolute necessity as if there were no lawfull seruice in the Church without it but of conuenience and expediency for the naturall fitnesse and decent fruitfulnesse which they may haue Neither can it be denied but that where the same cause of constitution yet remaineth the practise may be well retained at least as times and circumstances shall require or permit Now those that are most seuerely affected against the Church musicke among Christians vse this as a chiefe reason why it was established in that Church because it was a fit Schoolemaster for that people And are there not and alwayes will bee among Christians some that neede to be fed with milke as well as others with strong meate Did not Saint Basil obserue this and in that regard commend the prouidence of the spirit of God who by the Prophet Dauid had prouided for his Church perpetually that heauenly mysteries might be mingled with sweet melody That two sort of learners might thus bee the better prouided for those that are either young in yeeres or greene in growth of vertue might while they thinke to delight themselues with the melody receiue some good impression of instruction But if this cause seeme vnsufficient or Saint Basils authority not strong enough wee may out of the text it selfe where this musicall furniture for the Temple is instituted 1. Chron. 16. deriue a more constant reason which must needes hold in both Testaments Leuites were appointed to sing with instruments c. that they might make a sound and lift vp their voyce with ioy whence I thinke I may thus inferre The end and reason of the institution of such musicke by Dauid is not for ought I can finde said to be for any prefiguration of action to be fulfilled by the Messias or for any cause or consequent proper to the people and Church of the Iewes which with the sacrifices and other ceremonies were to expire but the reason there added is from a naturall or rather spirituall affection common to all Churches whether vnder the Law of Moses or vnder the Gospell of grace especially in flourishing times namely a cleare and feruent confession and profession of the mercies and graces of our God with thanksgiuing and exultation which as it is in the congregation to be solemnly performed with the voyce and that lifted vp viz. with singing so that it may be aduanced to the highest streyne of ioy it must or at least with conueniency may haue the help of instrumentall musique which may make a sound and lift vp their voice with ioy So if in the Christian Church where the vaile is
which albeit they bee seuerally distinguished by nature yet can we make no vse of them but when they are conioyned The ciuill Magistrate among the Iewes certaine it is hee might not offer sacrifice or performe religious Ceremonies things proper vnto the Priest as againe militarie discipline matters of the fisk and such like went peculiarly vnder the name of the Prince but in points of pietie and iustice the rule of the people Iudicatura â—…orum their obedience to Gods Law they were not onely conioyned but in the hand of that gouernment the ciuill Magistrate had that place of the finger which is called the key of the hand Into Ierusalem there was two Sanedrim for so was their great Councell called one suâ—…reme in Ierusalem consisting of 70. together with the Prince and Priesthood another small Sanedrim in euery Citie of reasonable importance contayning 23. wise men together with a number of the Priesthood which was done by a generall ordinance of God himselfe Populo mandauit vt Iudices constitueret secundum tribus suas in omni Ciuitate That they should in euery Citie appoint Iudges according to their Tribes and againe in the next chapter he made a Law of Appellation commanding In omni re dâ—…fficili constituere Sacerdotes Leuitici generis Iudices To appoint ouer all difficile causes some of the Priests and some of the Iudges hee hath not saide onely the Priest nor onely the Iudge as neither did Moses when hee went into the Mountaine make any separation but left the spirituall and ciuill Magistrate coniunct Ecce Aaron Hur. That the ciuill Magistrate hath a diuine charge and was so counted among the Iewes there it is seent where after Iudges were constitute in euery towne the King saide to them Uidetâ—… quid agatis non enim pro Homine sed pro Deo iudicia 〈◊〉 Behold sayd Iosua what you doe because you doe not iudge for men but for God Againe to shew this coniunction he doth subioyne omnis causa qua venerit ad vâ—…s de fratribus Euerie cause which commeth from your brethren vnto you dwelling in the countrie where he maketh no separation of spirituall from ciuill causes euen as Moses hath done before where he or daines the people to goe to the Leuites and the Iudges si aliqua difficilis causa natafuerit if any difficile question 〈◊〉 in the gouernment of King Dauid those coniunctions are cleerelie expressed for he did absolutely distribute the peculiaâ—… charges of the Leuites Hebroniâ—…s vltra Iâ—…rdanem prâ—…cit in omni negâ—…tio diuino ministeriâ—… Râ—…gis he did promoue the Hebronites beyond lordeâ—… to all the functions appertayning to Gods house and to the seruice of the king and â—…ine in the laâ—…t verse of the same hâ—…s prefecit Dauid sâ—…per 〈◊〉 Gadâ—… in omni negâ—…tio Dei omni negotio Regis which power of constitution in Dauid is sufficient to prooue that the regall function is negotium diuinum chieflie where it is Christian and orthodoxall may not Moses and Dauid serue vs for matter of light in gouernment to qualifie this coniunction of religion and empire which made the Iudaicall law to be accounted a parte of Theologie So that we may with great reason conclude that he is not Orthodoâ—…s Theologus no right meaning Theologue who would refuse vnto christian Kings that authoritie in Ecclesiasticall affayres which was not onlie graunted but commanded vnto the Kings of Israel and which godlie Dauid vpon his death bed did render into the handes of Solomon from the warrant who made doubt of it of the holy Scripture saying Eccâ—… autem distributiones Leuitâ—…um ad vâ—… qâ—…odque ministeriuâ—…â—…omus Deipenes te sunt ad oâ—…ne opus voluntary denique omnes Principes totus populus parati ad verba tua Behold sayd he the distributions of all Leuiticall offices in the house of God is in thy power and they be ready to obey thee as also the princs and people where in that example wee see no exemption of the Leuite more then laitiefrom the kingly authoritie howsoeuer princes may not vse priestlie function yet are they bound to superintend Christes vineyard and to guard it not onelie from forraigne inuasions but from intestine perrill and corruption which is more frequent and more pernicious of the two to stop ambition auarice and dissention from comming among the prelates who were neuer in any time able to rule nor shal not be to theend without their Pallas be armed with authoritie of good and lawfull kings who doth not see that of diuine functions vpon earth the preistlie office is the contemplatiue part and the princelie office practicall acting the honour and worship of God by making people to obey his Lawe Who was the first instrument of God for redeeming the Church from persecution and the crosse to establish her prosperitie was it kings or priests was it not Constantine the great by what meanes againe was the Church redeemed from the flood of the Arrian heresie was it not by the seculararme of Carolus Magnus and his predecessors Pipino and Carolo Martello so that to goe about to separate things which God hath knit together as the soule and bodie it is to make a sacriledgious diuorcement and specially to take from the prince that which is his due to giue it vnto the priests it is iust as the serpent did in Paradizeto seduce the weaker partie of the two in that coniunction it is euen as if we would send Aaron vnto the mount of God to learne the wisedome of actiue gouernement and leaue Moses with the people to his returning And since such is the impudent and arrogant malignitie of the Iesuiticall ambition in their doctrine about this point what if to meete them in their owne language and pay them home with their owne Coyne I should goe yet one degree higher in that particular to say that appearantlie God himselfe doth prefer the regall function when by his Prophet setting aside all sacrifices and ceremonies which was the Priests part hee did require the Office of the ciuill MagistrateÌ„ Quid affertis tanta sacrificia discite vos reges Principes qui populum regit is benefacere quaerite iudicium dirigite oppressum What shall I doe with so many sacrifices would God say that is not the substance of my worship being but religious ceremonies learne yee Kings and Princes to doe well aske iudgement to gouerne the people and to relceue the oppressed which would the Lord say is the matter of my true worship to practise my law and make it to be obeyed The Deutr. doth shew that the office of a Prince was not to frame his owne life after the deuteronomicall but to prouide that both Priests and people should keepe the same inuiolable If Priests debord and transgresse Gods law must not the Prince corect them yea if they shuld sow haeretical doctrins who could stop the growth of them other
their faithfull obedience vnto all the Ostrogotti who did raigne in Italie among the which Theodoricke was so respected of the Sea of Rome chiefly of Pope S. Hormisda that they had almost canonized him as is written There was no seruice whereinto they did not obey those princes if they had any occasion to send any Embassadours they did vndergoe it as Pope Innocent the first tooke a legation from Alarico to the Emperour Honorius to negotiat his peace and to obtaine a dignitie to that Arrian King And further to declare how sacred they did hold their obedience to whatsoeuer King God did place ouer them they did vndertake Embassages from Arrian Princes in fauour of Artian Churches for conseruation of Arrians and in case of excommunication as Iean the second and Pope Agapet were imployed by Theodoric and Theodotus Now to him who will answere to this that these Princes were not excommunicate therefore the Church did serue them I replie that there was greater cause to excommunicate them then nor nowadayes is taken against Christian Princes and which is more we find the letters of Hormisda and others to Anastase as full of honor and respect as if he had beene free from the sentence of excommunication and of Gregorie the second to the Emperour Leon Iconomachus albeit he was excommunicate by that same Pope himselfe which things we must not imagine to haue bin done at randome or pro tempore but from good warrant appearantly since the iurisdiction spirituall is onely ouer the soules of men Church gouâ—…rnours ought not to transcend their ordinary bounds to meddle with the bodies or temporall states of Kings but their Fulmen Ecclesiasticum the thunder of excommunication should bee onely spirituall and like vnto the naturall thunder which can strike a man to the death without the meanest offence done vnto the apparell of his body For I would aske the Iesuite albeit the Church haue power ouer the Kings soule if it be so that they might rashly excommunicate him what right haue they for this ouer his kingdome and people If they haue why did Saint Paul in his time cry Querimus vos non vestra And why hath Saint Ambrose and Optatus Mileuitanus in his third booke Aduersus Parmenianum said That Emperours and Kings be within the Church but that the Empire is without it yea say they the Church is within the Empire in token that Antiquitie did exempt things temporall from the dint of excommunication when Pope Marcelline did sacrifice to Idols and Pope Honorio became a Monothelet Hereticke they were excommunicate but did not loose their Bishopprickes Pope Formose Bishop of Port was chosen successor to the same Pope who had excommunicate him And in the Counsell holden at Lions vnder Pope Gregorie the tenth it was concluded that Cardinals albeit excommunicate might assist the Pope his election by their vote and presence So modest were the Fathers in the point of Princely authoritie that Paulus Samosetanus against whom the Councell of Carthage was conuocate being deposed from Episcopall charge hee did yet possesse a certaine territory belonging to the Church but these Bishops demanded iustice thereof of the Emperour Aurelian albeit an Ethnicke because all that was ciuill and worldly did belong vnto the Empire The Church saith Augustine vpon Saint Iohn doth possesse no patrimonie nor goods but Iure humano Iure diuino she hath nothing This Iure humano is the Right Imperiall of Princes which being vsurped of any other it hath no more Title nor right vpon earth saith he So was it the constant meaning and doing of the ancient Fathers to thinke that they had nothing which they might refuse vnto the Emperours but the onely house of God Nor yet that saith Ambrose if I were assured that the Emperour speaking of Valens would not plant Arrians into it in which case onely I would presse to retaine it O what difference betwixt that and this blind ambitious and impudent age wherein Church rulers make open doctrine and profession to Master Princes lawfull and orthodoxall and to â—…reade vpon their neckes holie antiquitie would not aduenture to take from an excommunicate Bishop an house belonging to the Church but by the authoritie of the Emperour nor would not resiste the Emperoer by violence for the Temple of God to ane hereticke king although it were to giue it to heriticall pastoures whereas the plaine guyse of this time is to be Piscatores piscium non hominum and to abuse excommunication and the papall Thunder to spoyle a king of his cloathes to dethrone him of his kingdomes and to make him naked of his subiects Thirdlie we doe obserue of the primitiue Church that whensoeuer she did enioy good and godly Emperours they did not onelie not repute them as priuate members of the Church iudicable by the power Ecclesiasticall but contrarie they hold them chiefe members of their generall counsels vnder their misticall head Iesus Christ yeelding to them the authoritie of conuocation and whole exteriour Iurisdiction giuing them the tittle of common and externall Bishopes For we reade in Eusebius that Constantine the great was called so of the Church and said to bee brother vnto the fathers in which qualitie of a common Bishop he did exercise his power ouer the Church exteriorlie and ouer Bishops In like maner we find that in the Calcedonian councel the Emperour was called vniuersall Bishops yea Antiquitie did esteme no counsell supreame wherein an Emperour did not sit and praesidiat In all the appellationes of the primitiue Church which forme of Iudicatore is fittest to try where the maine sway of authoritie doth lie because it was absolute soueraigne and without declinatour hauing power against the Tyrannous gouernment of Popes against discords of other Prelats against vniust decrees of counsels themselues In all these appellations I say we finde that none was esteemed supreame but that wherein the Emperour did ouer rule as the only power vpon earth which is in dependant The first appellation we reade of in the Church was by Cyrillus Bishoppe of Ierusalem from the condemnatorie of one Counsel to another more general assisted sayth he with Seculare brachium with seculare power which he called a prouocation vnto a greater Iudgemement And so his cause was examined in the counsell of Seleucia As for the cause of Athanasius which did preceed that it was rather a remission of the processe to the counsell of Sardiâ—… then an appeale and went alwaies by the direction will of the Emperour Constantine to whom Saint Anthony write diuers letters directlie praying him for the restitution of Athanasius Saint Iohn Chrisost. in a second appellation did prouoke in the same tearmes with Cyrill to a higher iudge a more generall counsell assisted with imperiall authoritie as it cleare by a third appellation of Dioscorus Bishop of Alexandria the time of the counsell of Calcedon in which appeale he doth expresselie protest that the coniunction of the imperiall
of nationall Churches cannot bee lawfull Bishops vnlesse they bee vnited vnder one Hierarchie which cannot bee in any one person but in Iesus Christ the second person of the Trinity And as wee see in nature the more excellent creatures tied by a wonderfull simpathie to their inferiours that they are rather fathers to them then Dominatours ouer them as the supernall spheares make perpetuall influctions in the body of the Moone to maintaine her operation and as the Element of the fire doth purge the aire below it and nourish the earth with continuall heate So we see a vertuous Prince vnder the name of a Monarch he doth infuse his power into the chiefest of his members and maketh his Rule in effect Aristocraticke euen so in the Church vnder predominate names of Bishop Archbishop Metropolitane the gouernment is Monarchall in Christ the head Aristocraticke in the Bishops and Democraticke in the Presbyters and laye Elders by their mutuall harmonie as is hereafter more aâ—…ply declared Thus is nature the Fountaine of knowledge vnder God and the fittest schoole to rectifie our iudgements chiefly in matter of Policie because the Lord hath manifested himselfe in his workes letting vs see how one miraculous hand and not two hath framed them by one miraculous Artifice and not two to one end and not to two breathing motion in them from one spirit and not from two subiecting them to one law and not to two and to one sort of gouernment and not to two as he is God One and vnited in himselfe so hath he vnited them Symbolically among themselues all conioyned to be the Symbal of his glory power and wisedome So that what naturall instinction we find among brute beasts for order or for subiection and commandement it is a type to vs of that rule which is among the Elements the Elementall gouernement is a figure of that which is among the Celestiall Spheares and that againe doth represent the Angelicall policie and all those considered coniunctly are a shadow of that rule which God hath ouer the vniuerse Regis ad exemplum totus componitur orbis To proceed for the vertue of the Monarchie I found my first argument for it in this sort These Creatures which are neerest to God are of most noble and perfect of nature for example That Spheare which is next vnto the throne of God called by the Cabbalists the great Metatron which receiueth the tenne seuerall emanations of God to be distributed among the tenne Spheares called of them Decem Zephiroth to make from them seuerall influences into the inferiour world who doth doubt but that Spheare and the great Archangel who moueth it are more excellent creatures then the Spheare of the Moone or the manner thereof which is called of the Philosophers Coelum terrestre terra coelestis a heauenly earth and a terrestriall heauen because it is a mediate Creature betwixt coelestiall and Elementar things for as the fire is the Masculine Element or the Agent which giueth life to inferiour things and the earth Feminine or patient who doth receiue this life so the globe of the Moone is the Feminine of that high Spheare who receiueth in her bellie these celestiall influxions and as pregnant of them doth deliuer them monethly as wee see being in that sort farre inferiour to the excellence of the other and as it is in Creatures that the neerest to God is most excellent so it is in the order of Creatures that action which doth resemble the action of God is most perfect Now for the Hypothesis I subsume that there is not so noble a Creature of God as is the holy vniuerse and therefore no gouernment is more excellent then that whereby the world is gouerned which is the Monarchiall power of God himselfe who is Lord ouer all for to those who will hold that the rule of God is Aristocraticke by reason of the Trinitie I answere that the works of God which be Ad extra as the Theologes speake They proceede à Deo tanquam vno non tanquam Trino Vnder this supreme rule of God we do obserue Monarchiall gouernment both in the constitutions seuerall of the vniuerse and in the administrations seuerall of the vniuerse In the constitutions this way all the seuerall Creatures of the world are vnder the vnity and common instinction of generall nature one mother of all All the accidents of one subiect vnder one vnitie thereof things many in number be vnder the vnitie of vna species All men vnder the Species of mankind all horses vnder the Species of that kind and so foorth Things that bee many in kind againe bee all vnder one gender Man Beast and Plant are Animalia and feele a common instinct of that Genus In the seuerall administrations wee doe obserue it thus The seuerall persons of the glorious Trinitie be in one Godhead All these tenne Zephiroth receiue their vertues from the supreme Metatron and all the Spheares doe obey the motion of one Primum mobile so that we haue the supreme Archangel Michael ouer the powers and orders Angelicall who is Christ because he is called the Angell of the Great Counsell Et vocabitur mâ—…gni Consilij Angelus And he is called the Angell of the Testament Statim veniet ad Templum Angelus Testamenti quem vos vultis saith Malachie We haue the sunne among the Planets the fire among the Elements Man ouer liuing Creatures the Lyon ouer foure-footed beasts the Eagle ouer fowles the Whale ouer fishes the Diamond among the Iewels the Gold among the mettals the Balme among the Gummes the Cedar among the Plants the Rose among the flowers the Wheate among cornes the Bees haue their King the Cranes haue their leader the Herring of the sea and the creeping Ants haue the same among the Vines one is Masculine and one Feminine so it is among the Trees Herbes Iewels mettals one Archidiable is ouer vnclean spirits one head being the seat of all the senses ruleth all the members of the body one reason sitteth as a king ouer all the sensual affections In Sciences Ethicall Architectonica is aboue the rest in these which becoÌ„templatiue the metaphisicke hath the place of Mistresse and Theologie as Queene ruleth ouer all Reliquae tanquam ancillae famulantur the rest be as her seruing mayds There you see a short Anatomy of the vniuersall and particular rule of nature in all which we marke nothing but Monarcall and harmonicall soueraignity without any type or Symball of these Democraticall Consistorian Presbyterian or other sorts of popular and confused gouernments whatsoeuer which corruption of time and the ambition of men haue introduced in the world as all light is deriued from one Sunne all humours from one Moone all waters from one Ocean so doe all lawfull and solid gouernments flow from God in one Nature and in one Architype It rests to consider these gouernements which bee among men and they are either Spirituall or Temporall Temporall is either
haue done Of all the Doctours of Antiquity Ierome is most sought to by the Presbyterians The Councell of Sardica cap. 10. 13. hath decreed that if a rich man by meanes of Court come to bee a Bishop hee shall first performe the office of a Reader Deacon and Presbyter that by degrees hee may ascend to the height of a Bishopricke Nazianzene giueth testimony of Athanasius and Basil that they ascended into Episcopall dignity by the spiritual Law through all the degrees of Ecclesiasticall offices The Councell of Antioch that whatsoeuer things appertaine vnto the Church are to bee gouerned by the authority of the Bishop by whom say they people are instructed The Councell of Calcedon decreed that none should build a Cloyster or Monastery without the consent of the Bishop of the City and that all Monasticall persons should bee subiect to the Bishop And if we should search all the Doctours Fathers and Councells wee should finde that Episcopall policy accompanied with a cleere consent of all Catholike antiquitie to applaud it So farre that for the first thousand yeeres of the Church no man hath beene knowen to denie or decline it but onely Aereus who was therefore compted an Heretike by Augustine in his Catalogue of heresies and by Epiphanius also which hath not beene rashly nor with repentance affirmed by Augustine as some hold for it was written after his retractation and after his writing of 230 Bookes besides his Epistles and Homilies He saith in his preface that it is hard to giue an accurate definition of an Hereticke he reckoneth vp 53. heresies which after Christs ascenscion were contrary to his doctrine giuing the last place to that of Aereus And concluding in the end of all Omnis it aque Christianus Catholicus ista non debet credere Euery Christian Catholike ought not therfore to beleeue them The Coūcell of Nice hauing decreed that the Catharists or Nauatians or a sort of sublimitated Puritans of these daies returned to penitence vnto the Church those who had brooked any dignity of before should be repossessed of any office whatsoeuer in the Church except it were to displace a Bishop which should not bee lawfull to him who hath beene a Nouatian Bishop But hee should content himselfe to be a Priest vnlesse the Bishop would receiue him to be a Coadiutor or communicate to him the honour of the name or if hee like him not to finde him a Choro-Episcopat or Presbyterat To the end as Ruffinus sayes Ne in ◅na Ciuitate duo sint Episcopi that there should not be two Bishops in one City Augustine being ignorant of this when he was drawen from Nauationisme to bee Bishop of Hippona while yet Ualerius liued because of his great woorth when Augustine himselfe became old and nominated Euodius to be his Successour and had chosen him himselfe to be his Coadiutor yet hee held it vnlawfull during his owne life to ordinate him Bishop when Ualerius ordained me Bishop said he we were both ignorant of the decree of the Connsell of Nice but what was reprehended in me shall not be blamed in my Successour as Possidon hath it Quod sibi factum esse doluit alijs fieri noluit So did this holy man reuerence that ordinance of Nice in fauours of orthodoxall Bishops neither shall we find through all ancient Counsels or Fathers one who hath not done the like reposing still the glory of the Church vpon the authority of Bishops according to that which Dauid did foresee in his Propheticall spirit saying in his 45. Psalme Insteed of Fathers children shall be borne vnto thee whom thou shalt make Princes in all the earth which word Augustine doth interprete insteed of Apostolos who were thy fathers O Catholike Church sonnes who are Bishops are created vnto thee therefore thinke not thy selfe forsaken because thou seest not Peter nor Paul who begat thee Agnoscant quiprecisi sunt veniant ad vnitatem Let them saith hee who are Opiniators and Schismatiks acknowledge those sonnes who be borne to the Church to be her Princes ouer all the Earth The like exposition Ierom the pretended Patron of Presbyters maketh vpon the words of Esay in the 17. verse of the 60. chapter according to the Septuagint speaking to the future estate of the Church through a Reuelation I will giue thy Princes in peace and thy Bishops in righteousnesse whereon Ierome Heerein saith hee the Maiesty of the holy Scripture is to be admired who calleth futuros Ecclesia Episcopos The Princes and Rulers that were to be of the Church Bishops whose visitation is all in peace and the name of their dignity all in righteousnesse saith he So that we finde an excesse of honor and dignity which from Primitiue and ancient times hath beene yeelded to this vertuous Prelacie in the Church Doth not Tertullian who liued in the first 200 yeeres write this of Bishops not onely yeelding vnto them poynts of preeminence and iurisdiction but speaking of the celebration of the Sacrament The Bishop saith hee hath the right to minister Baptisme and then the Presbyters and Deacons but not without the authoritie of the Bishop for the honour of the Church which being safe peace is safe In regard of which Catholike and constant testimonies from time to time what shall wee say shall we not for once thinke it impossible that the successours of the Apostles all the holy Fathers so many Martyrs and Saints would haue abolished that gouernment whatsoeuer which Christ and his Apostles left vnto the Church for the next shall we not hold it impossible to fall out that any policie which was not receiued from the Apostles could be at one time embraced of the whole Christian world and approoued of all generall counsels in the Primitiue Church For the last shall we not thinke it a scorne beyond all scornes that all those antiquities and Apostolicall traditions witnessed by Apostolicall men generall counsels Fathers Doctours Catholike consent without interruption must bee condemned for follies schismes corruptions by some pure and Heteroclite braines who haue start vp more then 1500. yeeres after to impugne the credit of the Church Gouernment qualified by so many diuine men whose faith was tried in the fire of affliction and who sealed their profession with glorious Martyrdome Certainely if it must be so we may say that the true light hath endured a miraculous ecclipse and that great knowledge hath beene long reserued to bee at length vouchsafed to the Allobrogicall Doctours CHAP. XI The opinion of the Archi-Reformatours concerning Church-Policie FInally to conclude this point of the Church-Policy I come to shew what haue beene the opinions of Protoreformatours concerning the same In the Augustine confession which is the first publike Protestant act wherin wee can obserue it this Article is contained wee haue oft say they out of our great desires protested to obserue the Ecclesiasticall policie in all degrees as it is canonicall in the Chruch and to reuerence the authority of
that spirit of Christian loue which God willeth to rule vs I wish all men to dispose themselues to this happie Vnion and to reuerence this time wherein we are and whereof the chiefest mystery is not yet seene albeit the seale thereof be alreadie opened and we haue alreadie seene miraculous things If we doe Christianly simpathize with the time to honour these glorious preambles of a generall reformation which God doth set a worke by the erection of the Monarchie of great Britaine in the Royall Person of our most gracious Soueraigne and if we can turne the ambitious craft of the Iesuite into a Christian wisdom against himself that as he striueth to reduce the whole world vnder the Tyrannie of his High Priest So we may with the force of vnited mindes assist the rising and encrease of this great Kingdome in the hope of a generall restauration of Christs Church what know we what God intendeth yet to bring about by this mighty Prince whose exaltation in the prouidence of the Almightie hath already brought the whole world in admiration what know we what he who did so long Prophesie by the mouth of Ieremy the comming of Cyrus to restore Ierusalem he who made Cyrus at his comming to cry the Lord God of heauen hath giuen me the kingdomes of the earth that I should build a house to him in Ierusalem what know we what he hath propounded to doe by this vertuous Monarch whom he hath so extraordinarily raised and made him Master of puissant Kingdomes what can we iudge of those currant prophesies of our fore fathers for his being Emperour and for his ransacking of the wals of Rome doe not we see how he hath already begunne to shake those wals and to breake the hornes of that Beast Let no man be so simple as to doubt but one day God hath predestinate by some Christian Cyrus to reforme that city and to restore his people from that spirituall captiuity Yea let no man doubt but that the time of that great Iubile doth approach as I will shew heereafter If wee by our obstinate distractions and diuision doe not preuent it and therefore thou who abhorrest any law or ordinance which may tend to a firme coniunction of this Isle or who doest repine in any sort against that great instrument whom God hath sent to reforme his Church thou shalt be infinitely blessed of God if by thy conformity thou can once take away that greeuous imputation of the Papist who to the reproach of the Gospell doth affirme thus That after Luther who was that Nimrod as he saith that enterprized the tower of heresie against the Apostolicall seate of Rome all those who did concurre to that building were like vnto those sons of Adam who builded Babylon punished of God with confusion of tongues that one did not vnderstand another All the followers of Luther Lutherians Semi Luth. Contrr Luth. Hussists Zwinglians Semizwing Melancthonists Brownists Anabaptists Caluinists Bezaists many moe whom he doth numerate to all which saith he Dominus confudit labium the Lord hath confounded their language that of all the reformed Churches of Germany France Holland Geneua Britaine not one doth altogether agree with another and diuers of them disagreeing within themselues either in doctrine in ceremonies in gouernment or somewhat else of which fearefull and scandalous oblatration seeing you who are the Puritan cannot denie for your part to be Authour I thinke it should make the most impudent and affronted face among you to blush in case their rest in it any drops of good and ingenuous bloud Being in this contemplation of the meanes of Christian concord before I speake of the reformation of the Church of Rome I will discourse some what of the meanes of our domesticke coniunction with the Church of England because it is more neere vnto vs and bringeth vs also mor neere to the possibilities of vniuersall Reformation CHAP. IX A Triall of the best and surest Policies which bee in Nature in Ciuility in Oëconomy in Morality IN matter of Doctrine we make one ptofession with the Church of England founded vpon the purity of Gods word The oddes be either in the Church policie or in some indifferent ceremonies I speake of oddes in polilicie by reason of you who be opponents in your hearts to the State of Bishops So before I will touch the Ceremonies I will deale with you vpon that head As for the Theologicall and more subtile disputarion of the Theme of Episcopall Regiment it is so exactly done by diuers reuerend and learned Diuines that it hath not much neede of my contribution only I will select some cleere sincere and most disiestable arguments for your information and because many of you who bee thus distracted haue neuer tasted the pure fountaines of true and naturall knowledge which is not the least cause of your Errour therefore I will shew you into this chapter what is the gouernment which God did plant in the creation of nature and what affinity it hath with such policies as haue since followed and fallen out through the world in Church or in state whereinto if I doe a little insist to expresse the lawfulnes and vertue of the Monarchall Rule it is not to induce a Monarchall gouernement in the Church which is a Popish inuention and heere also sufficiently answered But first it is to poynt foorth the power of God in annointed Kings against the pernicious doctrine of those who teach the contempt and violation of Kingly authority And secondly it is to shew that as God did frame the gouernment of his first Church of the Iewes not much vnlike to that of nature euen so if we seeke the originall Idaea of true ecclesiasticall policy in the right Horoschope and if we pronounce it with a right aire we shall find and we may say it without offence that the first image of whatsoeuer gouernment agreeable to Gods will hath beene conceiued into nature in the order whereof God hath auoyded two things and hath reserued one peculiar to himselfe absolute soueraigntie or a power meerely vnicall and an Anarchie or popular confusion neither of these two hath he willed that as on the one part no creature should haue a Monarchall Supremacie exempted from necessarie correspondence and simpathie with dependent members so on the other side no indiuiduall parts of one kinde might subsist without a head through whom they must receiue the order and direction of their motions The vnity againe of absolute Supremacie in heauen and earth God hath concluded within the Center of his diuine throne proper to himselfe that no particular Creature in nature can be capable thereof so that it is equally ridiculous to say the Lyon cannot be cheife of beasts vnlesse the Indian Libian and Barbarian Lyons bee all subiect to one Monarchall Lyon The Kings of the earth cannot be lawfull Kings vnlesse there be one supreme Monarch ouer them all which cannot bee in any but in God the Primates