were many other honours peculiar to the Apostles themselves not communicable to their successors You may read in Bilsons perp Govern chap. 9. pag. 106. But you say this is evident in S. James Bishop of Jerusalem Epaphroditus Bishop of Philippi and in Apollos Bishop of Corinth But for S. James that he was an Apostle Scriptures witness indeed Gal. 1.19 but that he was ordained of the Apostles in that Scriptures are silent nor hath Jerome any such words but that he was called an Apostle illud in causa est omnes qui dominum viderunt eum postea praedicassent suisse Apostolos nominatos He was therefore called an Apostle because all that had seen the Lord and afterwards preach't him were called Apostles Jerom. in Gal. 1.19 But to make a man truly and properly and Apostle was required somewhat more scilicet immediate inspiration and mission by Christ as may be gathered from S. Pauls proving his Apostleship from these Gal. 1.11 12 15 16 17. And James was an Apostle truly and properly yea a chief Apostle Gal. 2.2.9 And so he is mentioned in the Scripture as an Apostle in Jerusalem not a Bishop of Jerusalem See Act. 15.2 13 23. Here Iames is contained under the name Apostle with the rest without any hint of precedency there as Bishop And therefore whereas he is called Bishop of Ierusalem sometimes by the ancients that is to be taken but in an allusive not a proper sense because he exercised his Apostolical function there while others exercised theirs else where and some of the Apostolical power was emulated in the Fathers times by Bishops But a Bishop there properly he was not for that were to degrade him an Apostle being an office extraordinary and so higher then the ordinary office of Bishop And such degradation is not onely injurious But if the resolution of the Chalcedon Counsel be true cited by Bilson pag. 280. To bring back a Bishop to the degree of a Presbyter is sacriledg Then certain to bring down an Apostle to the degree of any ordinary Officer as a Bishop is cannot want guilt And for Apollos if he were Bishop of Corinth I pray you why did not Saint Paul write to him when he blames them for not excommunicating the incestuous person and blame him for that neglect of discipline and enjoyn him to see it done and not the Church Or why doth he say that the censure was inflicted by many 2 Cor. 2.6 if Apollos were their Bishop who alone had power of excommunication If he be contained under the title of Apostle 1 Cor. 4.9 which Calvin approves not yet is he called Apostle in a large not strict sense as contradistinct to other church-Church-officers Ephes 4.12 For Epaphroditus indeed he is called in the Epistle to the Phlliippians Your Apostle but that is most generally taken as Walo Messalinus confesseth by Greek and moderne Interpreters to hint not the name of a church-Church-officer but a messenger from the Church to Saint Paul as our last translation takes it and the words following imply part of his message he that ministred to my wants And though Walo Messalinus dissents yet he confesseth his exposition not to agree so well with propriety of speech But these you say are confessed to be Apostoli ab ipsis Apostolis ordinati First this is false for neither Calvin nor Messalinus speak of their Ordination And the very phrase an Apostle ordained of Apostles shews that the title Apostle is taken improperly But Parag. 5. you say Apostles they were at that time called but afterwards the name Bishop was setled on them For this you cite Theodoret. The same persons were sometimes called both Presbyters and Bishops but those who are now named Bishops were then called Apostles but in process of time the title of an Apostle was reserved to those that were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apostles properly and truly so called And the name of Bishop came appropriated to those who were lately called Apostles For answer to this First I observe you have given us a clear confession out of Theodoret that Bishops and Presbyters were all one divers names of the same office Secondly those that Theodoret affirms that being in his time called Bishops were formerly called Apostles were not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apostles truly but onely called so because they had preheminence over others in his times as the Apostles had over others in the first time of the Gospel Thirdly he gives us no proof that those that are now called Bishops were formerly called Apostles and his conjecture is not infallible Nay is it not apparently false that the name of Bishop came appropriated to those that were lately called Apostles but were not so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for was not the name of Bishop continued common to Iames Peter and others that were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apostles truly so called Continued I say by the Fathers calling them Bishops allusively But though the name of Bishop was given to Apostles by the Fathers It cannot be shewen where those that are now called Bishops were called Apostles as Apostle signifieth a Gospel officer by the Scripture If they were let the Doctor produce the place where in Scripture any ordinary officer was stiled an Apostle which if he cannot do Theodorets assertion in one part contrary to the plain expressions of the Fathers and in the other without ground of Scripture cannot have much force on any unprejudiced Reader The Doctors inference is observable Hence is it saith he that Timothy and Titus are called Bishops and Apostles Bishops in the post-scripts of the Epistles which were written to them by S. Paul but Apostles by Ignatius Theodoret and many others Whence plainly it appears that the post scripts of the Epistles were not Saint Pauls but some other later then Ignatius and Theodoret And so have no force to prove Timothy and Titus Bishops Parag. 6. You add Bishops then they were called c. That is They were so called by men that spake of officers in the Scriptures according to the stile of their own times but in Scripture-sence they were a degree above Bishops Apostles or Evangelists and in that sence speaks Walo Messalinus whose name you abuse Parag. 7. You argue They that have the same name and office with the true Apostles are of the same order with the true Apostles But Bishop Timothy and Bishop Titus and Bishop Epaphroditus have the same name and office with the true Apostles This argument you seem to glory in but with how little reason the Reader shall see For whereas you say Bishop Timothy and Bishop Titus and Bishop Epaphroditus had the same name and office with the Apostles This is manifestly false First for the name neither have Timothy nor Titus the name of Bishop or Apostle given them by Scripture and for other authors as Ignatius and Theodoret that call them Apostles you must remember Theodorets distinction of some that were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and others that were
he said of Bishops belongs also to Presbyters Bishops being only in ordination above them Thus Chrysostome Presbyters then were not excluded from governing So Theophylact gives the same reason why Presbyters are not mentioned Quia quae de c. Because what he spake of Bishops belongs to Presbyters for to them the office of teaching and government of the Church is committed being only inferior in regard of election And for what you object about Deacons that we allow them no rule in the Church It 's false they have rule in their sphear that is in disposing the treasury though not persons of the Church they being not over persons which the Presbyter is but the Treasurie The next proof is for the Doctor happily misprinted 1 Tim. 5.21 instead of verse 17. which I believe the Doctor could not but suspect but he was loth to meddle with it yet if he mean to replie I must now minde him of it 1 Tim. 5.17 It is thus written Doctor Let the Elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour especially they that labour in the word and doctrine These you will grant were Presbyter-Bishops for to allow any other at Ephesus would marr the market and see here is ruling distinct from teaching ascribed to Presbyterie Parag. 10. You come to the third Scripture Heb. 13.17 Obey them that have the rule over you and submit your selves for they watch for your souls c. Here rule is given to Presbyters Now here the Doctor is pitifully puzled and comes off poorly He asks who are these rulers here mentioned are they Presbyters only Again that he speaks of Presbyters I deny not but that he speaks of Presbyters onely that I deny Good Doctor am I to prove that Presbyters only are rulers or that Bishops are not the only rulers as they were with us If then Presbyters be here meant and they be rulers the Holy Ghost ascribes power of ruling to them which is the question so now I have confitentem reum And your simile Parag. 11. of commanders in an Army helps me not you for though Captains and Lievtenants be not sole rulers they are co-rulers in an Army you know both over their Companies and other Officers in a Counsel of war So if there be Bishops in the Church which you here beg yet they are not to be sole Governours as they stood with us What you have concerning Timothy Parag. 11.12 though I deny not the things it will not serve your turn sith Timothy was not a Bishop in your sense but an extraordinary Officer an Evangelist a distinct office Ephes 4.11 and ascribed to Timothy 2 Tim. 4.5 he had therefore an office and power above a Bishop of your fancle though afterwards from the custome in the Church and some acts that Bishops did like his but not solely he was allusively only if not abusively as Walo Messalinus hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 called a Bishop But this digression about Timothy was but to bafflle the Reader and to take him off the plain evidence of the former Scriptures for the close that such power was not in Presbyter-Bishops par enim in parem non habet potestatem Your rule holds while they are single but a company of one kinde is above one single one of the same rank a Presbytery is above any one Presbyter as well as a Synod of Bishops above one Bishop and so a Presbytery may exercise power over one of their Presbyters as well as a Synod of Bishops over one of their fellow Bishops You come to the fourth place 1 Thess 5.12 Parag. 13. We beseech you brethren that ye know them which labour among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you In answer to this if the Doctor go not against his own conscience he hath but little science First he saith that a great friend of Presbytery saith this place is paralel to that 1 Tim. 5.17 And so say I too And then if it be not cited as you know who cited Scripture with mutilation there will be ruledom for Elders The Elders that rule well But you leave out these words and onely take the latter That these Presbyters are worthy of double honour who labour in the word and doctrine Whence you gather ruling is nothing but labouring in the word and doctrine A collection just like that Matt. 4.6 of Christ casting himself off the pinnacle from Psalm 91.11 lamely quoted You add Theodoret Those that are over you in the Lord that is they that offer up prayers and supplications for you These words of Theodoret you bring cunningly as though they onely expounded the words that are over you Whereas it is all he saith to the expression of admonishing whereby its plain Theodoret by his exposition rather denotes the person intended there to be the Minister then describes his whole work I appeal to your own conscience whether you think the genuine meaning of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be to pray for people but in Calvin whom you cite afterwards how egregious is your fraud for though the words you cite are in him yet they are in opening that other part of the text for their works sake but when he comes to that wherein government is how plain is he to my purpose Qui praesunt in domino Hoc additum videtur ad notandum spirituale regimen Which are over you in the Lord. This seems to be added to note the spiritual government praeesse in Domino dicuntur qui Christi nomine mandato Ecclesiam gubernant They are said to be over them in the Lord who govern the Church in the name and in the command of Christ. You abuse Calvin as much in misciting his institutions lib. 4.2 3 5 15. where he speaks not of 1 Thess 4.12 but of Timothy and Titus to whom in the government of the Church he ascribed a Presidency not a Monarchy as his words shew Falluntur si putant c. They are deceived if they think that Timothy or Titus did usurp a kingdom in the Church to dispose of all things at their own arbitriment Praefuerunt enim tantùm ut bonis salutaribus consilijs populo praeirent non ut soli exclusis alijs omnibus agerent quod placeret They were over others onely that they might go before others with good and wholesom counsels Not that all other being excluded they alone might do what they pleased So that this is spoken of those that you call Apostles not Presbyter-Bishops Thus it is apparent how ungroundedly you confine the rule of Presbyters to prayer instruction admonition advise But you say this is all the rule that you can finde belonging to Presbyters All that you will finde you should have said for you might have found it in the name Bishop which is a name of authoritie and rule used by Heathens sometimes for the Rulers of Countries and Provinces who are called Episcopi And why else did that Presbyter that had the chief
a Presbyter The one a successor of the Apostles indued with power of ordination and other jurisdiction the other the Successor of the Presbyters ordained by Timothy and Titus endued with power of administring word and Sacraments Neg. FOr the sounder and clearer resolving of this question I shall proceed by way of Thesis fetching things from the first original barely proposing only what is confest by all but proving those things wherein there is any controversie or whereon the controversie hath dependance Thesis 1. first its agreed amongst all that all the teaching Officers that can challenge Livine institution are set down in an intire Catalogue Eph. 4.11 And gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers and therefore all that cannot derive their pedigree from one of these must be in the case of those Neh. 7.64 Thesis 2. That of these Officers some were extraordinary some ordinary Thesis 3. That Apostles Prophets Evangelists were extraordinary officers for the first planting of Churches and Pastors and Teachers ordinarie Thesis 4. That the extraordinary officers were temporary and the ordinary to be perpetual in the Church Bilson perp govern p. 300. The office of Evangelists was extraordinary and temporary Field of the Church lib. 5. c. 22. And indeed whatsoever is extraordinary is temporary Thesis 5. That Apostles were the highest of extraordinary officers and Pastors the highest of those that were ordinary Apostles are named first and all that are named before Pastors are acknowledged extraordinary Ephes 4.11 Thesis 6. That in the extraordinary Officers there were some gifts and acts peculiar to them as such as to the Apostles immediate calling divine inspiration infallibility in doctrine universal charge and in the Evangelist to be an assistant to an Apostle not to be perpetually fixt to any place but for the finishing some special work as Timothy at Ephesus 1 Tim. 1.3 Titus at Creet cap. 1.5 3.12 Secondly There were some qualities and actions which though required in and done by them as extraordinary officers in an extraordinary way yet are of necessitie and are in an ordinarie way perpetually to be continued in the Church of God as abilities to teach and rule the Church and the acts of teaching praying ordination of Ministers Church-censures c. See Bilson perp govern chap. 7. pag. 106 107. Thesis 7. That these Pastors Eph. 4.11 that are the highest ordinary Officers are Successors to the Apostles in all that power and authoritie and all those acts flowing from it which are necessary perpetual and ordinary in the Church of God This also is clear power and authoritie require a subject divine power and authoritie a subject of divine institution Now no other remains of those of Gods institution but Pastors and Teachers which if they be not the same Pastor is the chief The other as temporary are ceased therefore Pastors must be their successors in all this power and in them must the commands for execution be kept without spot or unrebukable untill the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Tim. 6.14 And to them must that Apostolical promise be performed Matth. 28.20 Behold I am with you to the end of the world Thesis 8. The Pastors and Teachers 1 Cor. 12.28 Eph. 4.11 are no other but Synonymaes with those Elders ordained in every Church Acts 14.23 and in every City Tit. 1.5 This is clear for those Elders that were here ordained were officers of Christs giving The Apostles would ordain no other it had been sacrilegious presumption but they were neither Apostles Prophets nor Evangelists Ergo if Christs they must be under either Pastors or Teachers Thesis 9. These Elders were by the Holy Ghost also stiled Bishops and were indeed Bishops aliud aetatis aliud officii nomen and of them it is that direction is given under the name of Bishops 1 Tim. 3. Herein Jerome is most plain seconded by Ambrose or Hilary an approved Author under his name who though they differ from other fathers who understand by Bishop Hieron in Ep. ad Titum 1 Tim. 3.2 Bishop distinct from a Presbyter such as was in their times Yet Jeromes reason preponderates all because drawn out of the bowels of the Text 1 Titus 1.5 6 7. Attend saith he the words of the Apostle who having discours'd of the qualities of a Presbyter after infers for a Bishop must be blameless c. Therefore a Bishop and a Presbyter are the same Again if any yet doubt saith he whether a Bishop and a Presbyter be not all one let him read the Apostle Phil. 1.1 Paul and Timotheus the servants of Jesus Christ to all the Saints which are in Philippi with the Bishops and Deacons Philippi saith he was a City of Macedonia and certainly in one City as now they are called more Bishops could not be But St. Paul thus wrote because at that time Presbyters and Bishops were all one If yet this seem ambiguous saith he that Presbyters and Bishops were all one it may be proved by another testimony It 's written in the Acts of the Apostles when St. Paul came to Miletum he sent to Ephesus and called to him thence the Elders of that Church to whom amongst other things he spake thus Take heed to your selves and to your flock over which the Holy Ghost hath placed you Bishops to feed the Church of God c. Observe this diligently saith he how calling the Presbyters of one City Ephesus he afterwards calls them Bishops he adds Heb. 13.17 1 Pet. 5.1 2. and concludes these things that we might shew that amongst the Ancients Presbyters and Bishops were the same Thesis 10. After the decease of the extraordinary Officers Apostles Prophets Evangelists and their Office with cause of it with them the Church acknowledgd no other Church-Officers as instituted of Christ but only the two mentioned 1 Tim. 3. Titus 1. 1 Bishops or Presbyters 2 Deacons Clemens mentioned Phil. 4.3 who is witnessed by Tertullian to be ordained of St. Peter himself de prescrip in an Epistle to the Corinthians writes thus The Apostles preaching through the Countries and Regions their first fruits whom they had tryed by the spirit they appointed for Bishops and Deacons to believers Here you see by the Apostles were constituted but these two Offices Bishops and Deacons of whom he afterwards saith that those that have humbly and unblameably ministred to the sheep-fold of Christ those we may not think may be justly thrown out of their Ministry whence he infers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. It 's a filthy thing beloved yea very filthy and unworthy that conversation which is in Christ Jesus to hear that the most strong and ancient Church of Corinth for one or two persons should make a faction against their Presbyters He concludes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 You therefore who have laid the foundation of sedition be instructed to repent and be subject to your Presbyters so whom he called Bishops he now calls
orbi commune saith Beza in respon ad Sarav de grad Minist pag. ult But who knows not the great defect amongst us of congruous maintenance for Parochiall Pastors by whom the work of the Ministrie is chiefly to be performed And if those large revenues of the Prelates were directed to supply with sufficient maintenance all the defective Parishes in England there would be no danger of sacriledg And this would not be to ruine but to rectifie the devotion of former ages and turn pomp into use and impediments into helps A work for which following generations should not need to pitie the king as put upon it by misfortune but rise up and call him blessed whose many other disasters ended in so good and usefull a work Had the motives of Henry the 8. been as honest to cast off Papall jurisdiction as the act was holy and the improvement of Abbey lands as conformable to divine law as the dissolution of Abbeys to the rules of Divine wisdom He might not only have been honourable in our Annals but if I may so speak a Saint in our Calender It was the circumstances of actions in themselves glorious which made them a dishonour to him though advantagious to the Church which circumstances being avoided in the thing in question God and good men will highly approve it which is the only reall and regardable honour Thus far my first opponent CHAP. IX Wherein is shewed that the converting of Bishops Lands to maintain preaching-Ministers would not be sacriledg but a good work in answer to Doctor Boughen's 15. Chapter I Come now to answer to your 15. Chapter wherein you dispute the Case whether it be lawfull to confer Bishops Lands on Presbyters and first you say the Church is like our Saviour Christ between two theeves Independents and Presbyterians but neither of them for our Saviour But the best of it is your tongue is no slander for if preaching Christ be being for Christ I dare boldly affirm that the most of either of those that dislike Episcopacie are far more for Christ then you and your Prelates a few only excepted and of them the more they be for Christ the less violent usually for Bishops especially for your Apostle-Bishops which they account a fancie After you say I like theft so I and my fellow Presbyterians may be gainers but your position is false I abhor theft as much as you do nor do I look at the gain of my self or Presbyterians but of the Church of God for I am no pluralist whatever D. B. is nor do I nor many other Presbyters expect any more means if this should be but that the Church may have more Presbyters apt to rule well and labour in the word and doctrine and be examples to the flock we having found in experience that scandalous livings occasion scandalous Ministers And this we think is in the power of king and Parliament to do without theft The revenues annext to Cathedrals being intended for the best good of the Church But Parag. 2. You acknowledg I am against sacrilegious alienation but I and Master Beza cannot prevent it Who can help it We have cleared our own souls yet if the Prelates would have consented to resignation when this case was first presented I verily believe that dishonourable alienation had been prevented Parag. 3. You confess I would fain set a fair gloss upon a detestable fact But every thing is not detestable which you call so that which would tend to have Christ more preacht would be profitable to the Church and acceptable to God For Ordination we have spoken before and shewed that Presbyters have as much power from God to ordain as your Prelates and are as good Bishops onely the other by custom gradatim have rob'd them We shall have a choyce peece when you come to examine Divine right I shall wish the Divines to be more careful to provide patience to bear your railings then perspicacity to discern your subtilties For you are not like to trouble their heads with much of the latter Parag. 4. You say If there be a diversion of the waintenance who shall make the conveyance and When it s made it s not valid without the proprietary and that is God c. and what is separated to holy use cannot return to common Good but what is given to God may be improved to the utmost for God and that 's the aim and would be the issue of the diversion â—poken of that Christ might more preach'd even to those that have long sate in darkness and in the shadow of death Nor is every diversion as you say Parag. 5. a turning â—out of the right channel But out of the former channel and the latter may be better and so righter in regard of the chief intentions of the Donor And this done by the unquestionable authority of the Land will I doubt not be approv'd by as wise and as honest men as you Do not you your self pag. 119. say concerning Abbies and Pryories That good and pious men have wisht that the abuses had been pruned off and that the land had been disposed of according to the Donors intentions What 's that but diversion from the corrupt way of Abbeys and Pryoryes to support other pious and charitable uses Parag. 6 7 8. You tell us a story of the antiquity of endowing Churches and the riches of them And that the use and Dominion of Church-goods belong'd to Bishops and this not onely by custom but by Canon But withal you say at his charge as it were the Presbyters and other Clerks of the Church Were fed Sure you have told a good tale for your self for by it it appears that the wealth wherewith the Church was endowed was not given to any persons but the Church in which the Bishop had no propriety but power of use for what he himself needed and of disposing the rest to Presbyters and other Clerks which now the Bishop neglecting and many Parishes in his Diocesses wanting preaching Presbyters for want of maintenance and many that preach'd wanting subsistance and the Bishop who you say should maintain them maintaining Princely * I my self once saw the Bishop of Yorke riding towards London with fourty five men in his Livery And I wondering at the number was told by one of them that there was above twenty left behinde that wore their Lords Livery State a number of Serving-men c. To divert a great deal of the maintenance to preaching Presbyters would be a returning of it into the old channel by your own confession But Parag. 9 The Bishops followed the steps of the Apostolick Church for Act. 4. we read that the well minded when they sold their lands laid the prices at the Apostles feet not the Presbyters How could they when there was as yet none ordained But after by the Apostles direction there were Deacons set over this business of Church-treasures Good and those Deacons continued and distributed Church-goods some to
speak of to make good his cause against them We may also infer if the difference be so little as he acknowledgeth as indeed it is not much then may we sure infer that if the Ordination of the one be compleat the Ordination of the other cannot be effentially defective Augustine is impertinently cited by you Sine nostro officio est plebi certa pernities Without our without the Episcopal office there is certain ruin to the people For though Augustine were a Bishop and wrote to a Bishop as you say yet by that without our office he plainly means the office of the Ministery in general not of Episcopacie For he makes it lawful to flee in that Epistle as Paul did when there be others to look to the Church Fugiant saith he ubi ab alijs qui non ita requiruntur non deseratur Ecclesia sed praebeant cibaria consenvis suis qui aliter vivere non possunt Let them flee where the Church is not forsaken of others that have not such an eye upon them but they will minister spiripual food to their fellow servants which otherwise cannot live Now what were those others not Bishops for there were not many of them in one City or Countrey but Presbyters But now you will prove it by the Protestation and Covenant First by the Protestation You have vowed in the presence of Almighty God to maintain the true reformed Protestant Religion expressed in Doctrine of the Church of England Add I pray you against all Poperie and Popish innovations And you must remember again presently upon the framing of the protestation there was an Explanation put forth before it was taken in the Countrey or Citie that under the Doctrine of the Church of England the Discipline then in the Church of Egland was not included So your Argument from the Protestation is of no value But yet let us see what you can say for this out of the Doctrine of the Church of England First the ordinary way to heaven is by the Word and Sacraments No man may preach and administer the Sacrament but he that is lawfully called and sent none are lawfully called and sent but they onely who are called and sent by those who have authority Bishops and onely Bishops have authority to send in this kinde Article 39. Here you play leger-demain for the Article holds forth the way of ordination by the Book of Consecration to be a lawful way but not the only lawful way For the Composers of those Articles knew very well that there was another way of ordination in other Churches whom they alwaies held as sisters which they did not with the Papists condemn though the Article approve the English way and that being held forth as a lawful not the onely lawful way it hinders not but others may be authorized to ordain as in other Reformed Churches and therefore if the Protestation for the maintenance of the Doctrine of the Church of England were without exception against the Discipline it will not prove your no Bishop no Priest The Book you say was composed in the dayes of King Edward the sixth by those holy men who after were blessed Martyrs But these men I must tell you were not of your minde that the distinction of Bishops from Presbyters was any other then what Jerome had taught them by humane custome * Dr Downam in answer to his reply is driven to this If the Bishops better informed concernning their functions had now reformed their judgements that is to hold their offices not by humane but Divine disposition In his answer to the Replyers Preface who had prest him with the judgement of Whitguift and Jewel nor held the power of the keyes belonged onely to them for in this Book of ordination they charge the Presbyter not only with care in Word and Sacraments but the Discipline of Christ too And whereas you add That the Articles were confirmed 13. Elizabeth and subscription enjoyned You should remember it was with limitation so far as they contained the Doctrine of the Church not the discipline You conclude thus far with the Protestation But yet a little further I pray you For the Protestation adds that the Doctrine of the Church of England is to be maintained against all Popery Now you may finde in Bellarmins lib. de Clericis your argument of no Bishop no Priest so no Sacrament so no Church wherein all Protestant-writers oppose him English and others and therefore surely the Doctrine of the Church of England rightly understood condemns your position which is a position in Popery to overthrow Protestant Churches CHAP. IV. PARAG. 2. Where in is shewed that the National Covenant doth not engage to uphold Episcopacy In Answer to Doctor Boughens fift Chapter IN your fift Chapter you attempt to prove that the solemn league covenant engageth to maintain Episcopacy I might tell you this is nothing to me nor to the matter for whatever you fancie of the Covenant they that framed it will follow it in their own sence and if any Covenanters be of that minde as you are that not your but moderated Episcopacie that is a Super-intendencie over a Presbyterie be neerest the word of God yet they were not so considerable as to be able to make peace without abrogation of Episcopacie nor without peace to preserve King and Kingdom If they could then my Treatise were answered by change of circumstances that argues the lawfulness of the Kings condescention chiefly in that circumstance But to the matter it self you have not nor do you here bring any thing to satisfie First Parag. 1 2 3. You come with your Crambe his coctâ That no salvation but by hearing and Sacraments nor these without mission The Apostles were sent of Christ and they sent others Titus and Timothie to ordain Ministers To all which I have answered before and in part cleared it That the Apostles and Timothy and Titus their assistansts as Evangelists were extraordinarie officers and ceased and that the onely ordinary officers now are Pastors and Teachers Ephes 4.11 Touching whom the Apostle gives direction 1 Tim. 5. Titus 1. under the name of Bishops and Elders and these are Successors of the Apostles to all that power that is ordinarie and neceslarie in the Church and among these ther 's by Gods law no prioritie but of gifts and order delegated by election But for any Bishops that are of the same order with the Apostles it s a strange and groundless notion Almost all Divines tell you that Apostleship was an extraordinarie office that ceased and though an Apostle may be said allusively to be a Bishop yet a Bishop may not be said to be an Apostle yet these things you over with again in this Chapter and tell us of two sorts of Apostles the Apostles of Christ and the Apostles of the Churches Philip. 2.25 2 Cor. 8.23 Whereas I have shewed you that for Epaphroditus he is said there either to be a messenger onely from
Philippi to Saint Paul which is more evident in the same phrase used of those 2 Cor. 8.23 expounded by Bilson himself of messengers from the Churches pag. 75. or else that notes them to be secundarii Apostoli that is as Salmasius takes it Evangelists and so extraordinary Officers but more of this in the next Section Next you proceed to the example of best reformed Churches wherein we agree with you to reform is in primaevam formam reducere but that form is in Scripture that 's our first Christian story and there we finde no Bishop but what is a Presbyter others that are abusively called so were not properly such but Officers of an higher kinde whose Office being extraordinary dyed with them For your particular quotations first that of Zanchi Exempla veteris Ecclesiae nobis debent esse instar praecepti the Examples of the ancient Church ought to be to us as a precept is to be understood of the Church under the Apostles registred in the Scriptures and so the Ministers of London whom you cite also speak expresly that Scripture-examples are obligatorie and that will not serve your turn But for the quotations out of Zanchy that in his conscience they were no better then Schismatiques that counted it a part of reformation to have no Bishop in degree of authority above their true fellow Presbyters I have sought it earnestly in the place cited but cannot finde any such thing de vera reformandae Ecclesiae ratione but in other places I finde the contrary In a short confession of his faith when he was seventie years of age cap. 25. de Eccles. Gubernatione he speaks to this effect He acknowledgeth only Pastors and Teachers to be left by the institution of Christ as ordinary Ministers The superintendency of one taken up by men as a remedy of Schism he dislikes not but from the tyrannie into which that presidencie degenerated he concludes Quo proprius acceditur in ordinibus Ministrorum ad simplicitatem Apostolicam eo magis etiam nobis probetur at que ut ubique accedatur dandam esse operam judicemus In the Orders of Ministers the neerer we come to Apostolicall simplicity the more is it to be approved and diligence should be used that every where such propinquity to the word should be attained Here you have Zanchy directly against what you would have him say as also on the fourth Commandement de diversis Ministrorâ—â—â— generibus he cleerly agreeth with me that Pastors mentioned Eph. 4.11 are the highest Officers now left in the Church and those the same mentioned 1 Tim. 3. Titus 1. Bishops or Presbyters which he proves to be all one and that superioritie that in process of time one had above another was but by humane grant For what you cite out of Melancthons Epistles touching Bishops It is but one mans private opinion and that when they were in that case that we a long time were and still in the greatest part are without any government setled and undoubtedly the Church had better be under a government that hath some rigour or tyranny in it then under no government so to shake off Bishops as to be under no government is as Melancthon truly saith inexpedient if it were lawful and such a liberty as Luther said is Libertas minimè utilis ad posteritatem a liberty no wayes profitable to posterity But what is this to the Covenant which resates not to persons but to Churches ' Now it is apparent that the Churches of Germany have reformed Episcopacie so that they have no such Apostle-Bishop as you dream of but Presbyterie at the most with the superintendency of one in their Presbyteries neither hath that any weight that you speak of the Convention at Auspurg for they were then but in a way of reformation it was but the dawning of the day with them and they could not see all things at the first but we see when they come to settle the order of their Churches they setled Presbyterie not Episcopacie And yet I deny not that if the Bishops would then have been reasonable they would have admitted their jurisdiction for peace-sake as Melancthon saith redimere pacem And truly Sir though I maintain that the King for peace may abolish Episcopacie Yet I am of that minde and wish others were so too redimere pacem duriori conditione as Melancthon said to redeem peace with an harder condition with Episcopacie so regulated as at first to preside and rule in his Presbyterie But onething I may not pass for whereas Melancthon saith that they did grant to Bishops potestatem ordinis jurisdictionis the power of order and jurisdiction you enquire What is this power of Order certainly a power that Presbyters had not that is a power at least to ordain Ministers But here Master Doctor you bewray too much ignorance for a D. D. for in power of order not only Protestants but most Papists make Bishops and Presbyters one for that is to perform as officers prayers consecrate sacraments c. and power of jurisdiction only they make a Bishops peculiar For what you prosecute touching power of Ordination to be only in their Bishops not Presbyters I will speak more fully to that in the following Section In the mean time I must tell you that in quoting Salmatius Parag. 15 Of this Chapter you shew egregious negligence in reading or which is worse deceit for the words you cite out of him touching Timothy and Titus that they were Bishops indeed of the same right and of the same Order whereof at this day they are accounted who govern the Churches and are over Presbyters This he brings only by way of explication of Theodorets opinion but when he comes to deliver his own He saith pag. 63. That Timothy was rather super-Episcopus above a Bishop an Apostle And again pag. 69. He saith of them per abusum igitur impropriè Episcopi appellabantur they were improperly and abusively called Bishops Thus also you use the London 1. D. who you say confess that their government is not above 80. years standing whereas they assert the institution of it by Christ and the restitution only for 80 years when they did likewise reform the corrupt doctrines in Poperie And do not you speak against your conscience when you say Calvin would have crusht that government in the bud that sometimes you make a Geneva invention Who would think a D. D. should be such a citer of authors But to conclude this Section if Bishops have no place in Scripture the best reformation must be to abolish Episcopacie though well limited they may be tolerated and that they have no place in Scripture is the work of the next Section CHAP. IV. PARAG. 3. Wherein for a fuller answer to what the Doctor hath said to prove Episcopacy Christs institution this Quession is resolved whether a Bishop now usually so called be by the ordinance of Christ a distinct Officer from him that is usually called
Presbyters and gives not so much as any hint of any singular Bishops but the company of Presbyters or Bishops over the Church of God vid. Blond Apol. pro sanct Hieron p. 11 12. Polycarpe in an Epistle to the Philippians Be ye subject to the Presbyters and Deacons as to God and Christ and here you see but two offices and therefore yet the Presbyters ruled the Church in Common Blond ubi supra p. 14 1â— where many more witnesses may be seen And in this the Master of the Sentences consents too lib. 4. Dist 24. de Presbyteris unde Apud veteres iidem Episcopi Presbyteri fuêre quia illud est nomen dignitatis non aetatis and a little after excellenter tamen canones duos tantùm sacros ordines appellari censent Diaconatus scilicet Presbyteratus quia hos solos primitiva ecclesia legitur habuisse de his solis praeceptum Apostoli habemus Thesis 11. Amongst these Bishops or Presbyters there was one who by the consent of the rest either by their free election or for his priority in conversion and ordination had a preheminence of honour above the rest for order-sake who had no new ordination or none for a great while but what he had from his fellow-Presbyters who chose him and exalted him without any further ado So Hierom ep 85. ad Evagrium which he confirms from Alexandria For saith he Alexandriae c. At Alexandria even to Heraclas and Dionysius Bishops The Elders did always name one Bishop chosen out of themselves and by them placed in excelsiori gradu in an higher degree of honour not office Now whether in their choice they did only look at merit or whether they did a good while till as * Ambrose or Hilary on the Ephesians Quia primâ—m Presbyteri Episcopi appellabantur c. For he calls Timothy who was created a Presbyter by him a Bishop because at first Presbyters were called Bishops that one with-drawing another did succeed but because the following Presbyters were found unworthy to hold that primacy the way was changed a Counsel providing that not order of time but merit should make the Bishop constituted by the judgement of many Presbyters lest an unworthy man should rashly usurp it and be a scandal to many Ambrose saith it proved inconvenient advance him that was the next senior it is argued both waies though in my opinion Blundel hath made it most probable that according to Ambrose his expression it went by senioritie for certain yeers in his preface to the fore-cited Book Some think it went by senioritie in some places and by election in others Thesis 11. This preheminency that one had above the rest was by Ecclesiastical custom not by Divine institution and advanc'd him onely to an higher degree or dignity not to another order distinct from his fellow-Presbyters so that still he must derive his succession from the Presbyters or Bishops that were to be ordained in every Church and is to finde his place in the divine Catalogue of officers Ephes 4.11 under astors and not Evangelists or Prophets That this preheminence was not from any divine institution but Ecclesiastical ordination Jerom is express The Bishops must know that they are greater then Presbyters rather by custome then Divine disposition Hieron in Tit. So Augustine ep 19. Although according to the words of honour which the Churches use hath obtained Episcopacy is greater then Presbytery c. Yet See bere the precedencie of Bishops is an honour of words and a fruit of use And this may be further cleared from what was first done in conferring this preheminence It was but a bare act of the rest of the Presbyters as appears by the example brought by Hierom in the Church of Alexandria They chose out of themselves and set him in an higher degree This they did of themselves and by themselves without any Divine command Let it be produced if there be any yea without any example in any of the Churches in the Scripture and they did it by themselves without the concurrence of other and they could not set him in an higher order Presbyters cannot make an Apostle Thirdly this may appear from that little difference that was between such a Bishop and a Presbyter in the fathers times Chrysost Theophylact Hilary on 1 Tim. 3. Inquiring the reason why the Apostle passeth from directions about Bishops to directions about Deacons no mention being made of a Presbyter Give answer First Hilary or Ambrose Quia Episcopi Presbyteri una ordinatio est uterque enim Sacerdos est sed Episcopus primus Because of an Elder and a Bishop there is but one ordination both are Presbyters but a Bishop is first And Chysostom Because a Presbyter doth so little differ from a Bishop to wit in nothing but ordination saith he In nothing but election saith Theophylact Now where the difference is so little that one direction for qualification will serve for both there is plainly acknowledged a difference in dignity or degree of excellencie onely not in order or office That conceit then of Theodorets that they that are now called Bishops were heretofore called Apostles and those that are now called Presbyters were then i. e. in the Apostles times called Bishops is it self too groundless a fancie for you Doctor Boughen to ground your distinction of Apostle-Bishops and Presbyter-Bishops as though our now Bishops were Apostle-Bishops and so of an higher Order and indued by that order from Jesus Christ to many peculiar acts which a Presbyter could not do And that they are not only an higher degree of Presbyter-Bishops indued with power by humane wisdome to proceed and order those actions which by divine right belong to all their fellow-Presbyters who are to joyn with them in these acts of jurisdictions This distinction I say of yours it hath no bottom to bear it up Vide Morton Appl. Cathol l. 1. c. 33. Crim. tertia For first you see its directly contrary to Hierome and Ambrose or Hilary and many others who make Bishops in their times to be the same with Presbyters or Presbyter-Bishops as you call them Nay it differs from other Fathers who though they acknowledg not an Identity of a Bishop and Presbyter yet they take that which you say is spoken of a Presbyter-Bishop 1 Tim. 3. Tit. 1. of such Bishops as were in their time which you would have to be Apostle-Bishops 3. It hath no ground in Scripture The Scriptures sets no other orders but Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastors Teachers which are those Presbyter-Bishops spoken of Acts 14.23 Acts 20.28 1 Tim. 3. Tit. 1. Now the three first are extraordinarie and ceas'd the latter only remain And therefore the Bishop for what of him is divine must be a Pastor and that 's the same with a Presbyter-Bishop else shew us some institution for him To talk of Timothy and Titus is vain being it is witnessed by Scripture confes'd by all that they were
Evangelists which is extraordinary Successors they may and must have in the work of ordination but in their office they have not but the same work is done by Pastors succeeding them in those acts of Discipline as well as in those of teaching and administring the Sacraments Neither need we be moved with the appellation which the Fathers bestow on them calling them Bishops of Ephesus and Crete and saying that St. Paul in them taught all Bishops For when Scripture calls them Evangelists and reckons Evangelists among extraordinarie offices that Christ hath given what authoritie is of force against this testimony Therefore we favourably interpret the saying of those Fathers that they call them Bishops with relation to the custome of their times who called them Bishops that did those acts that Timothy and Titus did not that they were properly so For they were of an higher order and did these acts as Evangelists which their successors are to do as ordinarie Pastors Neither will their being Evangelists hinder the use of their examples or the precepts given to them For the same acts done by whatsoever officer are to be done by the same rule and therefore as directions given to them for preaching so for acting in government are to be followed by other ordinary Officers upon whom by their decease the power and care of their acts are devolved though of an inferior order Timothy was to imitate Paul an Evangelist an Apostle and every Pastor is to imitate these Evangelists in such acts as are common to Evangelists with them Thesis 13. All Presbyters being of the same Order and that the highest of those that are now in the Church have by divine law equal power in places where the Holy Ghost hath set them Pastors and Bishops as to preach the word and administer Sacraments so to do all other acts of government when called requisite for the edification and perservation of the Church and the Bishop who is but primus Presbyter made by man for Orders sake can rightly challenge no Monopoly or sole interest but only a presidencie to guide rule and order that Presbyterie wherein acts of jurisdiction are exercised whether acts of ordination or deposition binding or loosing excommunicating or absolving This I prove by these reasons Argument 1. Those who are truly and equally the successors of the Apostles in ordinarie and necessary acts of the Ministry to those by their office belong all the acts of jurisdiction that are necessary and ordinary acts of jurisdiction But Presbyter-Bishops are such successors of the Apostles ergo The Major is clear of it self the Minor I prove thus Pastors are truly and equally successors of the Apostles in necessary and ordinarie duties of the Ministry as appears Ephes 4.11 Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastors The three former were extraordinarie temporary and ceas'd so the Pastor must be the successor if they have any But Presbyter-Bishops set over the flock by the Holy Chost to feed it are equally and truly Pastors ergo The minor is clear from the definition of a Pastor which is an officer set over the flock of God to feed it definitio competit omni essentia non variatur gradibus See Acts 20.28 Argument 2. Those that by divine law are equall in the power of order those are equal in the power of government or jurisdiction All Presbyters first and second are equall in power of order ergo For the Minor that all Presbyters are equal in the power of order it may appear by the definition of the power of order Lib. 5. of the Church cap. 27 the power of order saith Field is that whereby persons are sanctified and inabled to the performance of such sacred acts as other men neither may nor can do as is the preaching of the Word and administration of the Sacraments Now all Presbyters See Field of the Church lib. 3. c. 39. as Field confesseth are equal in the power of Order yea not only he with other Protestants but many School-men and other Papists also as he there shews For every Priest saith Durand in regard of his Priestly power may minister all Sacraments ea quae sunt ordinum saith Aureolus omnes recipiunt immediatè à Christo ita quòd in potestate nullius imò nec Papae est illa auferre in 4. sent Dist 24. Art 2. Sect. tertia ratio c. And this also appears because they must all sit under the same title of Pastors Ephes 4.11 For the Major I prove it thus Power of jurisdiction is indeed but a branch of the power of Order A man by the power of order is made a Minister of Christ and so consecrated to serve Christ in all ministerial services required of such a Minister of Christ Now these services are to edifie the Church either by food or physick to further their salvation by word or rod of Discipline Now both these being ministerial acts and orders making a man a Minister hence it follows that they that are equall in orders in actu primo in regard of power when they have a call are equally inabled to the exercise of discipline or jurisdiction as well as preaching and consecrating Sacraments both being acts of that office to which he is advanc'd by orders And thus much Field doth ina manner confess Three things saith he are implyed in the calling of Ecclesiasticall Ministers First An election choice or designment of persons fit for so high and excellent imployment Secondly the consecration of them and giving them power and authority to intermeddle with things that pertain to the service of God to perform eminent acts of gracious efficacy and admirable force tending to the procuring of the eternal good of the sons of men and yield unto them whom Christ hath redeemed with his most precious blood all the comfortable means assurances helps that may set forward their eternal salvation Thirdly the assigning and dividing out to each man thus sanctified to so excellent a work that portion of Gods people that he is to take care of c. Now here plainly under assurances means and helps to set forward salvation acts of Discipline must needs be contained 1 Cor. 5.5 6. and this flows from power of order as its habit is actus primus induing a man with power * There is indeed this difference between acts of jurisdiction other acts of order the one every Presbyter may do alone the other only in a Presbytery So imposition of hands 1 Tim. 4.14 was in and by the Presbytery so censures 2 Cor. 2.7 by many But a Minister may preach baptize administer the Lords Supper alone and this was the use of the ancient Churches who had their Presbyters mentroned both in Scriptures and Fathers Now to streighten the Presbyter in this act of his orders he hath recourse to that feeble shift That the Bishop only is Pastor and the other Presbyters are but as it were curates under him which if true it is enough to
make a Bishop despair as well as a Presbyter to be despised for how can he discharge the cure of souls in an hundred miles circuit But the contrary is evident in the Presbyters of Ephesus Acts â—0 28 the Holy Ghost had placed them Bishops to feed the stock of God Neither is his objection from the Angel of the Churches Rev. 2.3 weighty for if there be not a Syâ—echdoche in the word Angel which Rev. 2.10 Some of you c. seems plainly to manifest yet its clear he had only a priority of order not of charge And the prioritie of order was ground enough for directing to him what belonged to and was communicated to all as now it is to any temporary president of a Classis or as the things that concern the whole Houses are directed to the Speaker of either The same is plain of the Elders of Alexandria whose superintendent had no other charge from God but only a precedencie of honour and order from themselves Besides all Presbyter-Bishops set over charges by the Holy Ghost are of those Pastors Eph. 4.11 And I hope no modest learned man will think that any President or Bishop then was the sole Pastor or that these Presbyter-Bishops set over the flock by the Holy Ghost could not act in their Ministrâ— without leave of him and therefore those rules of restraint mentioned in Fathers and Counsels were but invasions on the liberties of Presbyters who had their cures not from the Bishop but from the Holy Ghost Argument 3. To whom the keys of the Kingdom of heaven are equally given they have equall power of jurisdiction but to all Presbyter-Bishops the keys of the Kingdom of heaven are given and equally given ergo The Major is clear for the keys of the Kingdom of heaven contain all jurisdiction that 's without all question and the Apostles are hereby usually proved to be equall in jurisdiction because the keys were equally given to them For the Minor the keys are appendants to the office of the Minister The Apostles with mission had the keys John 20. and so the confession of the Church of England agrees harmoniously with the rest in this that the power of the keys is equally in all Ministers Harmon of conf chap 18. p. 362. So at the ordination of a Presbyter the key of Discipline was given to the Presbyter as well as that of Doctrine in the Church of England And if there be an equalitie in that order whereof the keys are an appendix they must have the appendix following in equality likewise that are equal in that order Argument 4. That to which a man hath right and in acting is restrained only by custom novell constitutions or Ecclesiasticall Canons that by Gods law he hath equal right to with others But Presbyter-Bishops are restrained from or limited in acts of government to which they have right only by custome novell constitutions of Emperours or Ecclesiasticall Canons ergo Jure Divino power of government is in them equally with others For the Minor that they have power of government I have formerly proved because it is an act of their office for the exercise of it sometimes in ordination Paul witnesseth 1 Tim. 4.14 and for government Jerome gives clear testimonie Ecclesiae olim communi Pres by â—erorum regebantur consilio and they did consecrate their Bishop in Alexandria from St. Mark to Heraclas as he witnesseth So did they ordain with the Bishop and without the Bishop the Chorepiscopi the City Presbyters till inhibited by the Counsell of Ancyra held in the beginning of the fourth Centurie Panormitanus is express olim inquit Presbyteri in communi regebant Ecclesiam ordinabant sacerdotes pariter conferebant omnia Sacramenta in lib. 1. decret de consuet cap. quarto Here is the right and practise asserted Now for prohibitions if any out of the word shew them for the Fathers they declare what the custome was in their times Counsels and Emperors made laws only limiting power to prevent inconveniences and as Jerome saith contra Luciferianos many reservations were made potius ad honorem sacerdotii quà m ad legis necessitatem * Decreto Hisp. Synodi 2. Presbyteris quibus cum Episcopis plurima ministeriorum communis est Dispâ—nsatio edicitur ut quaedam novell is Ecclesiastiâ—is constitutionibus sibi prohibita noverint sicut Presbyterorum ac diaconorum virginum consecratio c. And therefore I conclude the power of government of binding and loosing and of ordination is by divine right an appendant to the office of a Presbyter-Bishop and as there is no proof for so no â—eed of your Apostle-Bishop And so the chief corner-stone of your whole Book which you relate to from chapter to chapter is found but untempered mortar that is crumbled away when it comes to hard canvassing and your building must down with it We are indeed much prest in this question with the authoritie of Fathers But I say first the most ancient as is to be seen in Blundell * Apol. pro sententia Hieron speak but of two orders of Gospel-Officers in their time which they sometimes call Bishops and Deacons sometimes Presbyters and Deacons Only Ignatius is urged as a great friend of Bishops but indeed he is too great a friend for he doth so far exceed in his expressions and so differ in that from other writers of his time that for that and many other things all or the greatest part of his Epiâ—â—les lie under great suspition of subornation or corruption vid. Blond Apol. pro sanct Hieron Cooks censura patrum Secondly the most rationall of the Fathers as Hierome and Augustine have witnessed not speaking obiter or popularly but purposely giving their judgment in the thing that the difference between Bishop and Presbyter is the issue of custome and use not divine institution Thirdly the Fathers generally give the Bishop but a Presidency not a Monarchy in jurisdiction They ascribe to him a Presbyterie in which and with which he was to ordain and censure and without which he was not to act in these things And this plainly enough shews that the Bishops Presidencie was but for order sake not that power rested only in him for that power that is restrained by Divine ordinance to one order may not be interposed in by another * See Forbesii Iren. p. 180. where he dispures against the Papists thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ministerium solis Episcopis à Christo tributum est id non potest Papa c. committere Presbyteris At ministerium conferendi ordines potest Papa c. committere Presbyteris Ergo c. the Levites might not joyn with the Priests in offering sacrifice because it was a particular above their sphear appropriated to the Priests which neither in the absence of the Priest nor by his leave or commission a Levite might do But we know at first ordination was in the City and Country Presbyters and forbidden
violation of his oath CHAP. X. PARAG. 1. Wherein is shewed what the true intention of the Kings oath is for maintenance of Episcopacie in answer to Doctor Boughen's 8. Chapter I Come now to answer the 8. Chapter wherein you were pleased to take in hand this passage beginning with my answer to my latter opponent first and yet you did not make an end with him before you undertook to reply to my answer to my first opponent which how judicious it is let the Reader judge for what advantage you did it you best know The question is you say Whether the King may desert Episcopacie without perjury a question too high for any subject but you are enforced to make that a question that is harsh to loyal ears lest you may seem to avoid my subtile and saucie cavils as unanswerable Good words Doctor If the question be too high for a subject have not I the same plea for medling with it that you have being led into it by my opponents but the truth is the question is fit enough for discussion so it be done with reverence whatever I am I know you will confess that both my former opponents knew as well their dutie to our Soveraign as you your self and were as observant of it when men are to act by counsel or prayer for kings unless they know in Cases proposed what is conscionable for him to do or not to do how can they rightly perform their duties To balk such questions therefore on just occasion is not dutie but flatterie and to leave kings and their Counsellors without needfull light But you have a quarrell to me for saying my second Antagonist affirms that the King cannot desert Episcopacie without flat perjury and say his words are far more mannerly why did you not then set down his more mannerly words but abuse your reader with a falsitie but you will prove the thing that Episcopacie may not be deserted without violation of oath and the Church left to swine No Sir we would purge it of swine and doggs too which they exposed its choicest outward priviledges to but how do you prove it First Parag. 2. You go a begging telling one of my confession when I do but take the words of the oath from my Antagonists mouth and dispute ex concesso that the oath is as he relates it To protect the Bishops c and then you bring your observations 1. Good Kings protect Bishops 2. They ought to do it 3. In right they ought to do it But when I confess that these words are in the oath must I therefore approve all that is in the oath yea and take them in your sense too I hope not Thus far I approve the kings protecting Bishops within the limits of their calling set them of God but our Prelates have excluded their fellow-Presbyters But thirdly as of right he ought to do I take to be a limitation how far he engageth himself that is so far as a good king in right ought to do and if he go no further he is injurious to none though he displeases many as you say Parag. 3. Parag. 4. You add the King hath sworn to be protector of the Church under his government but that cannot be unless he protect the Bishops who are the Ministerial spouse of the Church This is a false inference for though the Ministerie be necessarie to the Church yet not your Prelacie which is but an humane additament your proof is presumptuous to make any man a Ministeriall spouse of the Church as well as it is for the Pope to be made a Ministerial head of it Yet you repeat it Parag. 5. With our frequent dish of no ordination without them which hath been often enough answered You conclude if Bishops be of the same order with the Apostles you have Calvins acknowledgment that the Church cannot stand without them yea and mine too and yet never the nearer for Ante Leves ergo c. as soon shall you finde Harts feeding in the middle region of the air as your Bishops among the Apostles You add Parag. 6. that the Church cannot be without the Bishop if we believe Cyprian that the Bishop is in the Church and the Church in the Bishop you add that the Church is in the Bishop causally c. If you understand by the Bishop the Ministerie and by causally as an instrument of its preservation I grant it without any inconvenience otherwaies we can grant the Church to be causally in none other but Jesus Christ the true head of it nor is there any other that is fountain of it it s as flat Poperie to judg otherwaies as to make the Pope the head of the Church nay worse For Hart makes the Pope to be the head not as the fountain of life as your similitude imports but only in regard of directing the outward functions and yet for this that mirror of learning Doctor Reynolds doth implead Mr. Hart of high treason against Christ And I remember also there a witty and rationall answer that our learned Doctor makes to a place cited out of Leo. He grants Leo was an ancient learned holy and witty man yet a man and a Bishop of Rome c. and applies to him a saying of Tully to Hortensius when he immoderately praised eloquence that he would lift her up to heaven that himself might go up with her so did Leo lift up St. Peter c. So Cyprian was an holy man but a Bishop so he might extoll Bishops that he might lift up himself with them See confer between Reynolds and Hart. cap. 1. divis 2. therefore your premisses have not yet force to draw my consent to their conclusion Parag. 7. You grant that the oath is not obligatory beyond the intention that is say you according to the common plain and literall meaning of it good as the plain literall meaning is to be found out of the grammar of it and other circumstances that may convince Reason of the intention of it You add Parag. 8. That the oath is to the Clergie The King must have respect to them and their intention I answer not mentall but what the words of the oath import considered with its circumstances nor so much to the intention of the now giver as the first framer Now I beseech you if the King should have ask'd the Bishops at the giving whether if a Case should fall out that he must not only venture which he hath done but lose his Crown rather then fail to save them whether they would have said yea that is the meaning Truly I believe not and if they had the King and Peers and people would have hiss'd them out rather then the one would have perswaded or the other would have yielded to have taken it with that sense and intention Parag. 9. You enquire whether what hath been done hath not been a tyrannous invasion I answer there hath been too much tumult and Ministers have suffered too irregularly
argument runs not on the men but the office it self as it then stood excluding Presbyters from part in government which was not the act of any extravagant Bishop but the ordinarie custome of them all so not the men but the office it self was in an abusive posture in excluding Presbyterie from participation in government which is the thing to be proved Which thing you confess I endeavour to prove by Syllogism which you set down parag 3. That power which despoyls any of Christs officers of any priviledg or duty indulged or injoyned them by the word of God that power is an usurpation against the word But this Prelacy did as it stood in England ergo English Prelacy was an usurpation against the word of God Parag. 4. You think to retort this argument on the Parliament to prove them as well to be an usurpation because they have sequestred and dispoyled many of you Presbyters of preaching and ruling in their Congregations But herein I must tell you you bewray your own not the weakness of my argument for my argument runs not upon any particular officers whether justly or unjustly despoiled But of all the officers as they are officers of which Episcopacie was guiltie excluding all Presbyters from partnership in government And had you had your wits about you that can put the dul man upon others this you might easily have seen and that any in the Syllogism notes not particulars in any office but the kinds of officers prescribed by Christ But Parag. 5. You would teach me to speak had you said say you that power that wrongfully dispoyls any of Christs officers and then you tell me I have not learnt it seems to distinguish between justly and unjustly But it seems you though a D. D. have not learnt to understand plain sence For in that sence that my words should be taken can I pray you any kinde of officers be wholly dispoiled of a privileledg or abridged in a dutie lest on record by Christ justly Sure then there must be some power that can controul Christs institution without injustice or usurpation You add as wise an amplification that Gods word and mine are two Gods word saith Non est potestas nisi a Deo there is no power but of God Rom. 13.1 But you say say you of me that there is a power which is an usurpation against the word of God It seems then you think that there is no usurped power in the world or Church no not the Popes claim to both the swords Sure you are a learned interpreter of Scriptures whereas its plain the Apostle speaks onely of all kinds of lawful civil powers not denying but some may usurpe a power that belongs not to them as the Pope doth and it s in question between you and me whether Prelacie did or no. You add I cannot distinguish between the office and the abuse Will you then acknowledg it was an abuse in Episcopacie to ingross all government If you do you grant the question if not you trifle Do you not know Master Doctor that these be two things an usurp'd power and an usurpation in power If Episcopacie have no inflitution from Christ it s an usurp'd power an office without institution that question I wave If there be institution for Episcopacie yet if Presbyterie should govern with it and be excluded this is not an abuse of persons but an incroachment of one office upon another This I accuse prelacie of as it stood one would think this were plain enough to a vulgar capacitie yet you run on in your mistake And Parag. 6. Mention divers examples of particular officers and abusing their power in unjust censures or using it in a just way Which is meer trifling as I shall make it appear by your last instance about Bishops depriving Ministers For I question not now the Bishops or you for calling Truth Heresie nor for the abuse of power in suspending or depriving for unjust causes but for doing it solely without the counsel and consent of a Presbyterie wherein I shall hereafter clear to you they usurp more then the practise and counsels of former Bishops allowed them This is the plain state of the business and its ridiculous to undertake the answer of a Treatise and mistake the plain state of the question But Parag. 7. You come to the Minor and that 's trifling still on the same mistake but to seem to say something at last you say It is as false aspeech to say Prelacy dispoiles any as to say Judicatory wrongs any Where still you bewray your ignorance in comparing an act to an office but may not one Court dispoil another Did not you or some Prelates think these Courts did dispoyl them of their rights heretofore that granted Prohibitions in point of tythes c. and so the Civil power incroach on the Ecclesiastique Why else were some Judges so frown'd on by some Prelates for such prohibitions Parag. 8. You come to my proof which I set down Presbyters are by Christs warrant in Scripture indued with power to rule in their Congregations as well as preach you adde in your own character to as well as much why you know best others may guess For proof I bring four Scriptures the first from 1 Tim. 3.5 If any cannot rule his own house how shall he take care for the Church of God Here is care saith the Doctor to be taken for the Church but no rule given to the Presbyter in the Church unless you will allow as much power to rule in his Parish as he hath in his own house Is it so Doctor is there none given because none is exprest Is there not rule in the Church implyed Hear Theophilact a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theoph. in 1 Tim. 3.4 Again in ver 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the house is but as a little Church If therefore he know not how to rule a little and easily circumscribed and known Church how shall he govern so many souls whose mindes he cannot know To the same purpose Chrysostome b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. for the Church is a certain house but if the Rector of the Church have assistants in government so hath the husband the wife in his house Now what the Rectors fellows in government are whether lay-Elders or no let the Doctor inquire He concludes it is far more easie to govern an house then the Church therefore he that cannot govern an house c. So you see that place gives by implication government to a Presbyter If you object what Chrysostome after hinteth as though the things here spoken were meant of one of your Bishops first you your self judge the contrary next it will do you no good for he saith the Apostle passeth from Bishops to Deacons not mentioning the order of Presbyters because between a Bishop and a Presbyter there 's almost no difference for the care of the Church is committed to them to wit Presbyters and what