Scripture sustained the person of the Church Et cum ci dicitur ad omnes dicitur pasce oves meas And therefore when our Saviour said unto him feed my Sheep he said the same in him unto all the rest So then the rest of the Apostles have as much interest in this weighty charge as St. Pâ—ter had they being all equally invested pari consortio potestatis honoris with an equall measure both of power and honour as Cyprian and generally all the Fathers tell us The next enquiry will be this whether that all the Ministers of our Saviours Gospel be equally intrusted with a power of feeding and may all equally take upon themselves the name of Pastors Some would fain have it so indeed for seeing that the word of God is the food of the soul non video cur Pastor non dicatur qui pabulum hoc subministrat we see no cause say they that those who preach the Word of God should not be honoured also with the name of Pastors And Pastors let them be if the name will please them though ab initio non fuit sic it was not so from the beginning for anciently the Prelates only had the name of Pastors St. Austin knew no other Pastors in the Church of God then the Apostles and the Bishops in the 47. Tract on John Our learned Andrews is resolute upon the point neminem veterum sic locutum that the Antients never otherwise understood the word And Binius in his notes upon the Councils excepts against a fragment of the Council of Rhemes as being not of that Antiquity which is there pretended quod titulum Pastoris tribuat Parâ—cho because the name of Pastor is communicated to the Parishâ—Priest contrary to the usage of those elder times But Pastors let them be in Gods name if the name will please them so they usurp not on the power Pastors as Pasco is derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth to feed but not to govern For whereas there are divers acts of the Pastoral charge as viz. to beat down the body of sin to warn the unruly comfort the feeble-minded support the weak to infuse balm into the sick and wounded soul and with all care and industry to call the sinner to repentance all these do equally belong to those who are invested by the Church with holy Orders The parish-Parish-Presbyter would very ill be called a Rector did we not grant him this authority And for the power corrective let him take that too so farre as he may do it with the sword of the spirit Et virga oris sui and with the rod of his mouth as the Prophet calls it But for the power of correction by the Rod of Dâ—scipline or the staffe of punishment or by the censures of the Church that pertains only to the Prelate the superior Pastor and it concerneth him highly that he use it well For many times it hapneth that the stragling sheep will not be brought into the Fold by fair perswasions or by the Ministery of the Word What then Ad diligentiam Pastoralem pertinet it then belongs unto the Pastor Flagellorum terroribus vel etiam doloribus revocare to fetch him back again by the stripes of Dâ—scipline by the coercions of the Church Which power were it committed to the hands of each several Minister would doubtless prove the greatest tyranny that ever the poor Church of Christ did suffer under This is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and pertains solely to the Prelate as an act of Government Who therefore anciently was armed with his Crozier or Pastoral staffe and by the Law of England he may use it still that by the same he might reduce the stragler and correct the stubborn and rouze up the affections of the sluggish person According to the good old verse Attrahe per primum medio rege punge per imum A perfect Embleme of his duty for howsoever that of Nazianzen be exceeding true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the good Shepherd should oftner use his Pipe then his Shepherds-staffe yet the Sheep become unruly and will not hear the Shepherds-pipe pipe he never so sweetly he must needs take his staffe in hand there 's no other remedy But I touch onely on these Controversies and so passe them by The third and last duty which pertains unto the Shepherd is that he guard his sheep and keep them safe from the devouring malice of the enemy In which regard it is the Custom of those Countries which are plagued with Wolves to lodge their sheep at night in defossis specubus in some strong Caverns under ground and free from violence In which regard the Poet Virgil doth advise his shepherd to provide himself of some fierce Mastives acres molossos as he calls them by whom the flock may be defended during his own necessary absence And finally in this regard the faithful Shepherd doth expose his person unto much peril many inconveniences and several assaults of enemies Thus Jacob tells us of himself that when he kept the sheep of Laban the drought consumed him by day and the Frost by night and that sleep departed from his eyes And in the Story of Gods Book we are told of David that when he kept his Fathers sheep and that a Bear and a Lion had surprized a Lamb he set himself against the fury of those ravenous Beasts and delivered the poor Lamb out of their pawes and in a single combat slew them both So is it with our Saviour Christ in the protection of his Church in the defence of those who are the sheep of his Pasture It was his glory as it was his comfort that of all those whom God had given him he had lost not one And 't was his comfort as it was his care that he had lodged them in a place of such strength and safety even in his strongest hold his holy Tabernacle against the which the Gates of Hell shall never be able to prevail A place in which if we continue we need not fear the violence of Satan that roaring Lion who walks about the Fold continually seeking out whom he may devoure And it is well said that he walks about for get into the Fold he cannot and therefore doth he walk about it that so if any of the flock do forsake the Fold him he may make his prey and ravish him into his Den. T is true that Christ hath sent us out like sheep among the Wolves as himself hath told us But then it is as true withall that he hath furnished us with doggs and placed them round about his Church in each corner of it that by their fierceness and their watchfulness and continual barking they may keep farre aloof the common enemy by whom the straglers are endangered Vigilant enim latrant boni Canes pro Pastore pro Grege as St. Austin
affirming also that for the present distresse it were good for all men so to be that the unmarried cares more for the things belonging to the Lord how he may please the Lord then the married doth The Fathers many of them are exceeding copious if not hyperbolicall in commendation of Virginity especially after that Jovinian seemed to undervalue it fideliumque matrimoniorum meritis adaequabat and made it of no greater merit then a vertuous Wedlock Which general Rules of the Apostle became appropriated to the Clergy first by conforming thereunto of their own accord as a matter voluntary next by the Authority of the Fathers who recommended it unto them for a more perfect state of life then that of marriage but left it howsoever as a matter arbitrary But after-ages finding out further motives to endure the business as viz. that being freed from domestick cares they might more readily attend Gods service more constantly pursue their studies more bountifully cherish and relieve the poor but specially that they might more chearfully infeoffe the Church with their possessions it came at last insensibly and by degrees to be imposed upon them as a matter necessary By meanes whereof the single life being generally imbraced by Clergymen in these Western parts it grew in time to be disputed whether ever it had been otherwise in the Church of God And in conclusion it was determined that however in some cases the Clergy were permitted to retain those Wives which they had taken before Orders yet that the Examples of men married after Orders were exceeding few if at all any could be found Thus was it in the blade or stalk no fault found with it But when it came to bring forth fruit to fecissent sructum then the case was otherwise and it appeared that howsoever continency and virginity were the gifts of God yet the restraint of marriage was a tare of Satans for what did follow hereupon but that the Clergy grew infamous by their frequent lusts Panormitan complaining plerosque coitu illi cito commaculari Cassander publickly affirming ut vix centesimum invenias that hardly one amongst a hundred did contain himself within the limits of his Vow the Canonists withall maintaining that Clerks were not to be deprived for their incontinency cùm pauci sine illo vitio inveniantur the mischief being grown so universal that it was thought uncapable of any remedy I willingly passe by their unnatural lusts for which they stand accused in the Poet Mantuan venerabilis ara cynaedis servit and that which followeth after nor will I tell you of the Fish-pond in Pope Gregories time wherein were found the skulls of 6000 Infants ex occultis fornicationibus adulteriis sacerdotum conceived to be the tragical effects of their loose affections And notwithstanding that these things were known and bitterly complained of by such devout and consciencious men as observed the same yet to so high an impudencie did they come at last that John the Cardinal of Cova preaching at noon against the marriage of Priests was the night following taken in adultery and Cardinal Campegius in the Diet of Norimberg did not shame to say that it was more lawful for a Priest to have many Concubines quà m vel uxorem unam ducere then one lawful Wife And why was all this suffered think you upon grounds of piety no but in point of policy to uphold the Popedom For when this matter was debated in the Coâ—ncel of Trent and that the Prelates there did not seem unwilling to ease the Clergy of that heavy but more scandalous yoke the Pope returned his absolute Negative and was much offended that they had suffered it to come in question Why so because that Church-men having Wives and Children to be as Hostages or pledges for their good beheaviour would become more obnoxious to the secular powers and more obedient to the pleasure and Command of their natural Princes adeoque Pontificem redigere ad solius Romae Episcopatum which would in fine prove prejudicial to the Popes Supremacy and limit his Authority to the Walls of Rome The fruits thus palpably discovering the true condition of the Doctrine begat withall a shrewd suspicion that possibly the reasons commonly alledged in defence thereof might be weak and wrested And upon search it did appear that the directions of St. Paul were general and did no more concern the Clergy then all people else some of them being only fitted to the present time and therefore not to make a rule for all future Ages that though the Fathers magnified and extolled the single life they imposed it not or if they did it was not more upon the Clergy then upon the Laicks and finally that Pope Siricius who imposed it first could find no Text in Scripture whereupon to ground it and therefore most prophanely wrested and abused that place Qui in carne sunt non possunt placere Deo to make it serviceable to his wretched ends And it was also found on further search into antiquity that this restraint of marriage being proposed unto the Fathers of the Council of Nice was by Paphnutius and the sounder part of that great Synod openly rejected that it was neither new nor strange to marry after holy Orders Eupsychius a Bishop of the Cappadocians whom Althanasius highly praiseth taking a Wife after he was advanced unto a Bishoprick and of a Bridegroom instantly become a Martyr dum adhuc quasi sponsus esse videretur saith the Tripartite History The like as to the point of marrying after holy orders Vincentius tells us of one Phileus an Egyptian Prelate The same may also be made good not only in the Eastern Church where the Priests are not yet debarred from marriage after Orders taken as it is noted on the Glosse on Gratian but for 1000 years together in these Western parts So lately it was before the Clergy were generally minded to yield to that slavish tyranny nor was it manifest on more mature deliberation that marriage in and of it self did any way disable men from Gods publick service the studying of the holy Scriptures oâ— the works of charity Greg. Nazianzen affirming of some friends of his which lived in Wedlock 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. That they were every way as eminent in all acts of godliness as those that did professe virginity Which with the wretched consequents before remembred being taken into consideration by our first Reformers and being it was observed withall that the restraint depended upon positive Lawes no Divine Commandement the wisdom of this State thought fit to take away those positive lawes on the which it stood and leave it arbitrary as at first And this they were the rather induced to do by reason that the rigorous necessity of a single life had formerly affrighted many a man of parts and learning from entring into holy Orders and filled the Church with ignorant and infamous persons By meanes of which indulgence granted as before the
gift of continency is become more eminent in them that have it without reproch to them that want it The freedom which the Church hath given in the use of chastity makes the vertue greater no vertuous action being commendable if it be not voluntary And since the granting of this liberty in the point of marriage how many of each order hath this Church produced Bishops Priests and Deacons that have embraced the single life out of choyce not force with far more honour to themselves and greater lustre to the Church and a more gracious acceptance with Almighty God then if it were imposed upon them by a positive Law Of whom we may affirm with safety as did Minutius of some Christians in the primitive times perpetua virginitate fruuntur potiâ—s quà m gloriâ—ntur But of this â—are enough what is that comes next let it be the religious Worship ascribed unto the blessed Virgin which by a name distinct is in the Schools entituled hyperdulia being a kind of veneration inferior unto that of God but greater then may be communicated to the other Saints The Church in the beginning had been exercised with many Heresies touching the incarnation of our Lord and Saviour The Valentinians hold that he took not from her his humane nature but brought it with him from the Heavens with whom concurred Apollinaris and the Secundiani Nestorius on the other side affirmed that he who was born of her was the Sonne of Mary but by no meanes the Sonne of God and therefore he allowed not that she should be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Mother of God but only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Mother of Christ Helvidius and the Antidico-Maritan had a further reach and envied her the glorious title of the Virgin Mary affirming with like impudence and ignorance eam post Christum natum viro suo fuisse commixtam that after our Redeemers birth she was known by Joseph In which respects both to restore her to her rights and to depress those Hereticks that had so debased her the Fathers have conferred upon her many glorious attributes but yet no more then she deserved Hence is it that we finde the Titles of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mother of God perpetual Virgin Hence is it that St. Cyril a most zealous persecutor of the Nestorian faction calls her pretiosum totius orbis thesaurum c. the most rich Treasure of the World a Lamp that cannot be put out the Crown of Chastity and very Scepter of true Doctrine sceptrum rectae Doctrinae and not the Scepter of the Catholick Faith as our Rhemists render it Which honorarie attributes not being given nor possibly appliable to any of the other Saints in true antiquity as they proceeded then from a just necessity so were they afterwards continued without just offence For who could reasonably conceive but that a greater reverence must be due to her then any other of the Saints whom God had sanctified and set apart for so great a blessing as to be the Mother of her Saviour Hitherto omnia bene for what hurt in this what soul so dull in her devotions so cold in her affections to our Lord and Saviour as not to magnifie the Womb which bare him and blesse those papps that gave him suck Who could suspect that possibly there should be any tare in so fair a Field who could suppose that any warrantable honor done or tendred unto the Mother of our Lord as Elizabeth styled her did not redound unto the Sonne And certainly as long as those of Rome contained themselves within the limits of the ancient Fathers and that O quà m te memorem virgo their pious flourishes Rhetorical Apostrophes and devout Meditations went no higher then a Religious commemoration of her life and piety they did not more then what had warrant from the Scripture and the Angel Gabriel Benedicta tu mulieribus would have born all that nor had it done much hurt had they ventured further even to nec vox hominem sonat and made her somewhat more then mortal had they tarried there But when they could not stop in the full careire and would needs hold it out to the Dâ—a certè as Mantuan and Antonius in plain termes have done and to create her Queen of Heaven and call her by the name of Regina Coeli then drew they very neere to the old Idolaters mentioned in the Prophet Jeremy in case they did not go beyond them This that we may the better see and so discern withall what a tare it proved let us look next upon the fruits and we shall finde that there is nothing lesse in this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this Virgin-Worship if I may so call it then true Wheat indeed Let us but look upon the fruits and we shall see that Anselm gives this reason why Christ when he ascended into Heaven left his Mother here Ne curiae coelesti veniret in dubium c. for fear the Court of Heaven might have been distracted whom they should first go out to meet their Lord or their Lady that Bernardin Senensis one of her especial votaries doth not fear to say Mariam plura fecisse Deo quà m fecit Deus toti generi humano that she did more to Christ in being his Mother then Christ hath done to all Mankind in being their Saviour That Gabriel Biel a School-man of good note and credit hath shared the Government of the World betwixt God and her God keeping justice to himself miscricordia matri virgini concessa and left to her the free dispensing of his mercies That Petrus Damian tells us that when she mediates for any of her Supplicants with our Saviour Christ non rogat ut ancilla sed imperat ut domina she begs not of him as an Handmaid but commands as a Mistress that Bonaventure in composing of our Ladies Psalter hath applyed to her what ever was intended by the Holy Ghost for the advancement of the honour of our Lord and Saviour and finally that Bellarmine hath made no difference between the veneration due to her and that which doth of right belong unto Christ as man Add unto these their usage of the vulgar sort in point of practise saying so many Ave Maries for one single Pater Noster hearing so many Masses of our Lady and not one of Christs decking her Images with all cost and cunning that mans wit can reach when his poor Statues stand neglected as not worth the looking after These and the rest if we should add what could be imagined but that the Apostles were mistaken when they made the Creed and that it was not Jesus but the Virgin-Mother that suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried for the sin of man You see then what most monstrous tares have grown up in the Church of Rome under the new devise of Hyperdulia Let us next see what their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 carrieth
Christi impropriè per accidens posse honorari cultu latriae that by the help of a distinction our Saviours Images may be adored with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this I may account for another fruit of this Image-worship that it drawes down on them that use it that curse recited in the Psalms viz. That such as worship them are like unto them Add unto these the scandall which is hereby given unto Jewes and Turks and the great hindrance which it doth occasion unto their conversion who do abominate nothing more in all Christianity then this profane and impious adoration of Images In which respect we may affirm that of the present Romans which St. Paul tells us of the ancient nomen Dei per vos blasphematnr inter gentes that by their meanes God is blasphemed among the Gentiles Inâ—initum est ire per singula To run through all particulars in this manner were an infinite business Suffice it that there is no point in difference between them and us the falshood and absurdity whereof is not discovered in the fruits in fecisset fructum however it lay hid in crevisset herba The Doctrine of indulgences and merchantable pardons to be bought for money what fruit doth it produce but licentious living when for so small a trifle one might purchase pardon non solum pro praeteritis verùmetiam pro futuris not only for sins past but for those to come The holding back of Scripture from the common people and celebrating Gods divine service in an unknown Tongue what fruits do they afford but ignorance of Gods holy pleasure and blind obedience to the precepts of sinful men and coldness in the exercise of devotion and finally contempt of Gods word and whole Commandements The equalizing of their own Traditions with Gods holy word according to the Canon of the late Trent-Councel what fruits doth it afford but contempt of Scripture The Doctrine of that Church in the point of merit what fruits doth it produce but high presumption or that of transubstantiation but most grosse Idolatry or that of half Communion but most horrible Sacriledge Such fruits if all meanes else should fail us would serve sufficiently to manifest and declare their noxious nature and thereby make us able to determine of them though none at all observed them when they were in semine and few were able to distinguish them when they were in herba Nam quod latebat in herba manifestatur in spica quod celatur in germine aperitur in fructu as saith Paschasius on the Text. You see by this that hath been spoken that there are other meanes still left us by Gods infinite mercy to know Gods Seed from Satans the good Wheat from tares besides the observation of time place and persons Ex sructibus corum cognoscetis eos by their fruits ye shall know them saith our Saviour And yet the triall of these tares is not made only by the fruits the fruits first brought them to apparuerunt made them plain and visible and brought them to appear in the open Court But having entred their appearance they were to be examined tried and judged by the word of God The Lord hath given it for a Rule ad legem testimonium that in all doubtful controversies we should have recourse to the law and testimonies And Christ our Saviour being asked his judgement touching the business of Divorce refers himself to the first Institution saying Ab initio non fuit sic it was not so in the beginning So that whoever can demonstrate from the Book of God that either the Doctrine or the practice of the Church of Rome differeth from that which was first preached and published by our blessed Saviour and the holy Apostles doth manifestly prove a change therein nay prove as forcibly that they have departed from the rule of Faith which was once given to the Saints as if he could or did demonstrate all the circumstances when and by whom and in what Country every particular deviation and corruption did at first creep in Quid verba audiam cùm facta videam what need we search for circumstances when we have the substance or look into the root when we see the fruit But here may those of Rome reply and say Are there no â—ares at all in your reformation are all your Geese Swans and your Grain good Wheat Did Satan never take you sleeping Whence is it then we see amongst you such opposition to all publick Orders such a neglect of fasting such contempt of holy dayes though both of Apostolical institution such practises and attempts against Episcopacy though ordained by Christ such quarrelling against those sacred Ceremonies in Gods publick service which you pretend to be derived from most pure antiquity Whence is it that we have observed such Covenants and Combinations against lawful Government such obstinate and strong if not perverse resistance against just Authority of your supreme Lord as well in temporal matters as Ecclesiastical such common stocks and contributions to support your factions and relieve those that are condemned for their disobedience Whence is it that there are maintained amongst you such blasphemies in laying upon God the blame of sin such Stoicisme in necessitating all mens actions by the fatality of Gods Decrees such Donatisme in appropriating to some few amongst you the names of Saints and true Professors Qui alterum incusat probri c. you that have found so many tares in the Church of Rome had best be sure that your own floore be very throughly purged and your wheat well winnowed and that you search not our wounds with too sharp an hand till you have cleansed and cured your own This they object and what shall we return for answer We will be more ingenious then they are to us and confess the action and so not put them to the needless trouble of looking after the particulars of time place and persons Too true it is that some amongst us though not of us have set on foot those Doctrines and pursued those practises which are become a scandal to our Reformation and further will dishonour it and in time subvert it if care and order be not taken to prevent the mischief We see them in their fruits already and that hath brought them at the last to apparuerunt But what they are and whose and what fruits they bear and what is aimed at in those innovations which they have thrust upon this Church and yet cry out of innovations as if these were none I cannot shew you for the present The time is too far spent and the season past to venture on a new Discovery but what is wanting now shall be made good hereafter at next setting out when I shall come to the unde haec zizania in the following verse Have patience but till then I will pay you all which that I may the better look for I shall not tire your patience further at this present time
vizards even whilest he was about this deed of darkness By them a question is demanded of poor ignorant servants who either weary of their labour or inclined to ease or careless of their Masters business had been fast asleep and knew not what was done till they were well wakened If they must needs be further satisfied in these curious cavills let them repair to their own Master and enquire of him who being conscious to himself of his own lewd acts can give them a more punctuall answer We are no servants of the enemy nor ever were imployed in sins dark designs and therefore unacquainted with his plots and counsels To us according to this Parable the asking of the question appertains not to the answer of it But put the case the worst that may be and let it passe for granted that our adversaries may pervert and change the question as they list themselves yet why should we return them any other Answer then the Lord made unto his servants Why may not we make this reply to all their Queries inimicus homo hoc fecit that the enemy did it The Lord out of his infinite wisdom thought it not improper to give a general answer to a particular demand And why should we be wiser then our Master The servants ask in special unde haec zizania the Lord returns in generall inimicus fecit But as for the particulars of time place and persons wherewith our Adversaries presse and charge us against right and reason those he reserves unto himself and conceales from us And 't is a learned ignorance not to know those things which God endeavours to keep secret Ea nescire quae magister optimus non vult docere erudita est inscitia as mine Authour hath it Some things the Lord reserves to the day of judgement when all hearts shall be open all desires made known and no secrets hid And then we shall be sure to know what times the enemy made choyce of to sowe his tares what instruments he used in the doing of it what place or Country he selected for their first appearance with all the other curious circumstances which are so much insisted on by the common Adversary If this suffice not we must finally return that Answer which once Arnobius made to some foolish questions propounded by the enemies of the Christian faith Nec si nequivero causas vobis exponere cur aliquid fiat illo vel illo modo sequitur ut infecta sint quae jam facta sunt In case we are not able to declare unto them when by what persons in what Countries the Doctrines by us questioned were first set on foot it followeth not that therefore none of them are tares of the enemies sowing I have no more to say for the Explication most of the points having bin treated of before in our former discourses on this Argument And for the Application I must give you notice that it relates not to the matter only at this time delivered but to the whole intent and purpose of the present Parable I have already layed before you those tares and errors which have been noted and observed in the Church of Rome Our own turn is next and it comes in agreeably to the Text it self in which it is supposed as granted that there was good feed sowen by the Heavenly Husbandman however afterwards the field became full of tares According unto which Proposall I shall first shew you in the Thesis what speciall care was taken in our Reformation that all things might be fitted to the word of God and the best ages of the Church Next I shall make a true discovery of those several tares wherewith this Field is over-grown and Gods seed indangered So doing I am sure I shall not be accused of partiality or respect of persons And therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 encouraged by your Christian patience let us on in Gods name Si de interpretatione legis quaeritur inspiciendum est inprimis quo jure civitas retro in ejusmodi casibus usa suit It is a Maxime in the Lawes that if a question do arise about the sense and meaning of some Law or Statute the best way is to have recourse to the decisions of the State in the self-same case An Axiome no lesse profitable in Divinity then it is in Law The State Ecclesiastical hath her doubts and changes as great and frequent as the civill the body mystical as subject to corruptions as the body politick In which condition either of distractions or of distempers no better way to set her right to bring her to her perfect constitution then to look back upon her primitive and ancient principles Ad legem testimonium was the rule of old And this the Church of Christ hath thought fit to follow when she hath found her self diseased with plain and manifest corruptions or otherwise distracted with debates and doubtful disputations as St. Paul calls them The Law of God the Gospel of our Saviour Christ for points of Doctrine the usage and testimony of the primitive Church for points of practice hath alwayes been her rule and Canon in such desperate plunges In the observance of which rule as generally the Church of God hath discharged her duty as may appear by the inspection of her ancient Coâ—ncels and other Monuments and Records of her acts and doings so aut me amor suscepti negotii fallit either I erre through too much filiall piety to the Church my Mother or else there never was a National Church in what Age soever that hath more punctually observed this rule then this Church of England For in that great business of the Reformation those Worthies here whom God had raised and fitted for the undertaking were not possessed for ought we finde with any spirit of contradiction or humour of affecting contrarieties That which they found before established which either was agreeable to the word of God in point of Doctrine or to the usage of the primitive Church in point of order and devotion they retained as formerly so farre endeavouring a conformity with the Church of Rome that where she left not Christ and the Primitive Church there they left not her Luther and Calvin however honoured and admired in the World abroad were here no otherwise considered then as learned men whose works and writings possibly might be counted useful but not thought Authentick Our Prelates here that were engaged in this great business Cranmer and Ridley and the rest of these brave Heroes were of as able parts as they but more moderate spirits They knew the Church had first been founded upon the Prophets and Apostles our Saviour Christ being the Corner-stone and therefore would not build their reformation on the names of men Christianus mihi nomen est Catholicus cognomen was Pacianus's Speech of old but they made it theirs and still we keep it as our own But what need more The fair succession of the
Bishops and the vocation of the Ministry according to the ancient Canons the dignity of the Clergy in some sort preserved the honour and solemnity of Gods publick worship restored unto its original lustre the Doctrines of Religion vindicated to their primitive purity shew manifestly that they kept themselves to that sacred rule Ad legem testimonium to the Law and Testimony Two things there are especially considerable in the Church of Christ matters of Doctrine and of worship The first of these we find comprized in the Book of Articles the other in the Book of Common Prayer and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England In both of which the Fathers of this Church proceeded with a temperate hand having one eye upon the Scriptures the other on the practice of the Church of God in her purest Ages but none at all either on Saxonie or Geneva It s true indeed that Calvin offered his assistance to Archbishop Cranmer for the composing of our Articles si quis mei usus fore videbitur if his assistance were thought necessary and would have crossed the Seas about it But the Archbishop knew the man and how he had been practising with the Duke of Somerset ut Hoppero manum porrigeret to countenance Bishop Hooper in his opposition to the Churches Ordinances and thereupon refused the offer Latimer also tells us in a Sermon preached before King Edward Anno 1549. That there was a Speech touching Melanchthons comming over but it went no further then the Speech And he himself Melancthon writes to Camerarius Regiis literis in Angliam vocor that he was sent for into England but this was not till 53. as his Letters testifie the Articles of this Church being passed the year before in Convocation and the Doctrine setled God certainly had so disposed it in his heavenly wisdom that so this Church depending upon neither party might in succeeding times be a judge between them as more inclinable to compose then espouse their quarrells And for this Doctrine what it is how correspondent to the word of God and to the ancient tendries of the Catholick Church the Challenge and Apology of Bishop Jewel never yet throughly answered by the adverse party may be proof sufficient But we have further proof then that for the Archbishop of Spalato at his going hence professed openly that he would justifie and defend the Church of England for an Orthodox Church in all the essentiall points of Christianity and that he held the Articles thereof to be true and profitable and none of them at all heretical And he that calls himself Franciscus à Sâ— Clara in his Examen of those Articles denies not but that being rightly understood they do contain sound Catholick Doctrine Adeò veriâ—as ab invitis etiam pectoribus erumpet said Lactantius truly Now as the Church of England did not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as once the Orator affirmed of the Grecian Oracles in the points of Doctrine so neither did it Calvinize in matter of exterior order and Gods publick Worship The Liturgy of this Church was so framed and fitted out of those common principles of Religion wherein all parties did agree that it was generally applauded and approved by those who since have laboured to oppose it Alexander Alesius a learned Scot did first translate it into Latine and that as he himself affirms both for the comfort and example of all other Churches which did endeavour Reformation and increase of piety The Scots in their first Reformation divers years together used the English Liturgy the fancy of extemporary prayers not being then took up not cherished as Knox himself confesseth in his own dear History And howsoever now of late they have divulged a factious and prohibited Pamphlet against the English Popish Ceremonies as they please to call them yet in the structure of their Reformation they bound themselves by Oath and by Covenant too to adhere only to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England Religionis cultui ritibus cum Anglis communibus subscripserunt as it is in Buchannan So for the other opposite party those of Rome they made at first no doubt nor scruple of coming to our publick Service or joyning with us in the worship of one common Saviour Sir Edward Coke a man who both for age and observation was very well able to avow it both in his pleadings against Garnet and his Charge given at the Assizes held in Norwich and the sixth part of his Reports in Cawdries case doth affirm expresly that for the ten first years of Queen Elizabeths Reign there was no Recusant known in England whose testimony lest it should stand single and so become obnoxious to those scorns and cavils which Parsons in his Answer unto that Report hath bestowed upon it Sanders himself in his seditious Book de Schismate shall come in for second Frequentabant haereticorum Synagogas intererant eorum concionibus ad easque audiendas filios familiam suam compellebant So he but not to stand upon his testimony or build so great an edifice on so weak a ground as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the suffrage and consent of the vulgar Meinie the Pope himself as Cambden doth relate the Story made offer to confirm our Liturgie the better to make up the breaches of the House of God which since the Priests and Jesuites have disswaded from out of a wretched policy to make them wider A point which verily that Pope had not yielded to being a very stiffe and rigorous Prelate but that he found the Liturgie to be so composed as it could no wayes be offensive unto Catholick eares Either the Pope must lose his infallibility and become subject unto error like to other men or else there is no error to be found in the English Liturgie Thus have we seen a Church reformed according to the prescript of the Word of God by the Law and Testimony A Church that seemes to have been cultivated by the Lords own hand planted by Paul and watred by Apollos God himself giving the increase A Church that grew up in the middle of two contrary factions as did the Primitive Church between Jew and Gentile and was the better strengthened and consolidated by the opposition Gods Field was no where better husbanded the good seed no where sowen with a clearer hand then it was in this O faciles dare summa Deos But as it fared at first with the Primitive Church so it hapned here We must not so far flatter and abuse our selves as to conceive there are no tares at all in our Reformation because it was first sowen with the Lords good Seed The Devil as he stayed his time donec dormirent homines till the servants slept so he made use of such a grain and used such subtile instruments to effect his purpose that many will not think them to be tares of the enemies sowing now
they are awake But being they are come at lest to fecissent fructum unto the bringing forth of fruit we must needs challenge them for tares and so pronounce them And first it was accounted in Aerius for a capitall Heresie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Priests and Bishops were all one no difference at all between them This Epiphanius who records it calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a frantick dotage and such as could not then obtain belief or credit Nor did it otherwise succeed in the world abroad Aerius and all his followers being exiled from the society of mankind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 flying to Woods and Precipices and to desolate places I hope it cannot be denied but that this tare hath taken a deep root amongst us The Bishop is not only in these dayes put below the Priest but thought to be at all no Order in the Church of God Aerius was too gentle to ascribe them any thing nor was he so well studied in the controversie as we have been since And here methinks we may resume as well the wonder as the words of Lyrinensis Here we have miram rerum conversionem a strange turn indeed The world is finely brought about It is the Bishop in our times and not the Heretick that is turned out of House and home pronounced to be an Alien to the Tribes of Israel and cursed are they that give them room or entertainment It was so ordered in Geneva when in their Reformation if I so may call it they expelled their Bishop and they that since that time have imbraced their principles have ever since pursued their practises Nor is this Doctrine thus disseminated a deviation only from Antiquity no hereticall Tenet or made to be an Heresie by the Bishops only ab episcopis as Danaeus hath it such as were Epiphanius and St. Austin who do so define it The learned Cracanthorp who if he did decline in any thing from the Church of England it was in favour of that party calls it in plain termes Puritanorum haeresin or the Puritan Heresie in his defence against Spalato But yet Aerius stayed not here He had before blown down the Bishops as he thought himself and must now have a blow at the civil State He could by no meanes like of fasting especially of fasting on set dayes and times but would by all meanes have it left to mens Christian liberty to be omitted or performed as men list themselves Non celebranda esse statura jejunia sed cùm quisque voluerit jejunandum saith St. Austin of him Where we may see what kind of fastings they were that the man disliked viz. Statuta jejunia fastings ordained by Law and imposed by Statute An arbitrary fast of his own appointment no man liked better then himself Nay he was so averse from all publick order that whereas antiently those Eastern Churches did use to fast the Wednesday and the Friday and feast it alwayes on the Sunday this man and his Disciples must needs fast the Sunday 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and revel it whosoever said nay upon the Wednesday and the Friday I must needs follow this fine fellow a little further in his courses The Church in those most blessed times did use to spend the week which preceded Easter the holy week as pure antiquity did call it in watching fasting prayer and other exercises of humiliation on no day more then on good Fryday Aerius on the contrary and his Disciples used not alone to pamper and inflame the flesh in that holy time but to deride all those that carefully and religiously observed the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Father I put it to the Consciences of those who this day hear me whether they have not eaten of this tare too liberally Certain I am that many a pious man amongst us may complain with David I humbled my self with fasting and that was turned to my reproof Arius comes somewhat neer in sound unto Aerius and they agreed in other matters of their Heresie though not in these What Arius and Aerius taught in derogation of the honour of our Lord and Saviour we all know sufficiently And though I will not say with some Lutheran Doctors Calvini anam religionem ejusmodi principia continere ex quibus facilis est prolapsus ad Arianismum yet one might say I doubt too justly that some amongst us of that party come too neer the Arians in their expressions and behaviour In their expressions making Christ our Saviour no better then an elder Brother the first begotten of the Saints and no more then so So that in case these men should hold in Heaven by Burgh English as doubtless wheresoever they come they will start new tenures their share in the eternal glories for ought I conceive may be the greater of the two for their behaviour that is fitted unto their expressions For if our Saviour be but in the state of an elder Brother why may they not be honoured when they stand before him talk with him as familiarly as with one another and sit down with him at his Table A gesture at the holy Supper however much desired both here and else-where which in three severall Synods of the Polish Churches stands condemn'd of Arianism◠Ritum sedendi ad mensam dominicam profectum esse ab Arianis tran fugis It came say they expresly from the Arian Hereticks and to them I leave it I only note it as a tare of the Enemies sowing you may discern it by the fruits And now I am fallen upon the point of gesture in the holy Sacrament I must needs speak a little of the point of gesture in the act of prayer Pious and pure Antiquity used in the time and act of prayer ad orientis regionem precari in Tertullians Language to turn their faces towards the East A Custom of such universal latitude that Epiphanius reckoneth it amongst the Heresies or follies rather of the Osseni a sort of Hereticks mixt of Jew Christian that they prohibited their followers to observe the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Father hath it How much we have of these Osseni and how this Church hath been traduced in these latter dayes need not now be said Or were it needfull I should say no more then this that Cartwright first began the cry in the late Queens Reign Burton with his Associates have since took it up the Authour of the Holy Table opening as wide as any of the rest to make up the Consort But to proceed Optatus tells us of the Donatists that they confined the Church to their private Conventicles making that part of Africk wherein they resided to be the Catholick Church of Christ the residue of all the world being quite excluded And this they did saith he quia specialem sanctitatem sibi vendicabant because they challenged to themselves a peculiar sanctity not incident to other people In
that is grown amongst us to the very height and in the points and parts thereof in which the life and essence of Popedom doth consist especially The time was when as Kings and Emperors had the sole power of calling Councils of moderating or presiding in them by themselves or Deputies and finally of confirming their Acts and Canons This power the Popes have long usurped and think it a great favour unto secular Princes if they vouchsafe to give them notice of their purposes or trust them with the execution of their Lawes and Ordinances The time was too when Princes thought themselves supreme in their own Dominions accomptable to none but God But now the Popes have challenged a disposing power both of their Persons and Estates as being the Vice-gerents of Almighty God the Vicars general of Christ our Saviour To produce Authors for the proof of such evident truths especially in such a knowing and discerning audience were a foul impertinency and indeed sensibile super sensorium ponere to light a Candle to the Sun In these two points which are the very life and essence of the Popedom as before I said the Puritan is no lesse Popish then the Pope himself The power of calling the Assembly that appertains no longer unto Kings and Princes it belongs only to the Church that is themselves God was mistaken sure when he said to Moses Fac tibi duas tubas argenteas that he should make to or for himself two silver Trumpets t is well if Dathan Corah and Abiram will allow him one And for the civill power to command that one according to the Doctrine now it is originally in the people too and in the King by way of derivation only and that too cumulativè not privativè as they please to word it the people having still a liberty inherent in them to reassume the Government as they see occasion There is much talk indeed of Solomon and all his wisdom think we he was not out when he broached this Doctrine per me Reges regnant by me Kings reign or speaking as he did in Parables and Proverbs which are hard to construe his words may brook some other meaning then they seem to signifie Buchanan was a learned man too but speaks plainer farre Populo jus est imperum cui velit deferat The people have a power saith he to dispose of Kingdoms from man to man and line to line as they list themselves Nor stood he single in it neither Goodman and Knox the two Apostles of the Sect led the way to him and they first brought it to Geneva The Kings and Princes of the Earth must change their styles and tenures if this Doctrine hold It is no longer Dei Gratia that they hold their Scepters but Populi clementia by the peoples courtesie And Tenant at the will of another man is the worst tenure or estate in all my Littleton The greatest Kings and Princes by their opinion are but as Bayliffs and sworn Officers of the Common-wealth and therefore to be called to a publick reckoning either upon pretence of mal-administration or any popular dislike or disgust whatsoever nor will there want some Tribunitial Spirit when occasion serves to take them by the throat and say unto them Redde rationem villicationis tace that is to say as our last Translations read Give an account of thy Stewardship for thou shalt be no longer Steward This is indeed the Doctrine proper to the Sect for which they have no precedent nor pattern in the former times and is withall the true foundation of that disobedience and desire of liberty which is become so Epidemical amongst us There are none so blind but may discern this for a tare of the enemies sowing It is already come to fecissent fructum I could now to these points of Popery add a point of Judaisme in the imposing of a Sabbath on the Church of Christ and that to be observed with so great severity that they have gone beyond the Jewes and shewed themselves more Pharisaical then the very Pharisees But hereof I have spoken more at large elsewhere and cannot now contract it in a narrower compasse I could say somewhat also of those Pharisees both for their Doctrine and their practise their Doctrine in maintaining Fate and Destiny as the Stoicks did and setting up their own traditions above the word of God and the Churches Ordinances their practises in the compassing of Sea and Land to increase their Proselytes the ostentation of their zeal and piety to the publick view the absolute command they attained unto both on the purses and the consciences of the common people and on the strength thereof their disobedience and contempt of all Authority but these I only glance at and so passe them over Nor shall I now insist on the Nazaraei excluding the necessity of good works out of the Covenant of grace nor on the Heresie of the Anomaei or Eunomians who for themselves and their Disciples had cancelled the Obligation of the morall Law nor of the Apostolici who had all things common or rather common stocks and contributions for the promoting of the Sect. I should be endless in this tedious and ungrateful search should I present you all those tares which have been scattered in Gods Field since the Reformation Tares then there are we see in our Churches too not only in the Church of Rome those I discovered to you at my last being here these I reserved untill this present with promise then that if you would have patience I would pay you all and now I hope I have discharged my self of that Obligation And in this way I went the rather for the performance of my duty to Almighty God and to your sacred Majesty as Gods Vice-gerent in these Kingdoms and unto those who under God and you have the chief ordering of this Church These tares I saw not in the Sevit I was then unborn nor in crevisset herba when the blade sprung up for if born then I was then too young But being now a servant though the meanest of the heavenly Husbandman and having noted and observed them in fecissent fructum I have made bold to come before you as did the servants of my Text saying Sirs There was good seed sowâ—n in the Field of God but unde haec zizania but behold these Tares And having said this I have done my duty God so direct your royall Counsels and the aviso's of your Pâ—elates for the Churches peace for the averting of those mischiefs which these tares do threaten that so not any of them no nor all together may either prove infectious to the Wheat the Lords own good Seed or any way destructive to the Field it self And let all good Christians say Amen SERMON VI. At WHITE-HALL Jan. 21. 1639. MATTH 13. v. 28. Et ait illis Inimicus homo hoc fecit He said unto them An enemy hath done this FAcilius est in contubernalibus disputare
their Master liked it and to apply themselves to his resolution 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is in Chrysostom They durst not trust saith he to their own opinion in a matter of so great concernment but referred all unto their Master Courage and zeal do never shew more amiably then when they are subordinate to good directions especially when they take direction from the right hand from their Master only not from the interest and passion of their fellow-servants Though it be imus colligimus in the plural number yet t is vis only in the singular One to command and many to obey makes the sweetest government 'T was prayse and commendation enough for them that they came fitted and prepared to pursue the action It was the Masters office to direct and theirs to execute Vobis arma animus mihi consilium virtutis vestrae regimen relinquite as he in Tacitus Nor were the two Brethren those Sonnes of Thunder which I spake of to be taught this lesson however they may seem transported with zeal or passion Though the Samaritans had incensed them in an high degree and that they long'd for nothing more then to inflict some grievous punishment upon them yet they submitted their affections to their Masters judgement They fell not presently on the affront to their imprecations nor called for fire from Heaven to consume them utterly as on the blasting of the breath of their displeasure As vehement as their zeal and displeasure was yet they proposed the business to their Master first It is not dicimus ut descendat ignis it is our pleasure to command that fire come down from Heaven to destroy these wretches but it is vis dicimus is it your pleasure that we shall Vis imus colligimus here vis dicimus there In both the Masters leave and liking is the thing most sought for And 't was no newes this in the Church of God that they who were in any publick place or Ministry should fit their zeal and courage to the will of God and to the guidance of such persons who under him and by his appointment had the chief ordering of the Church Isaâ—ah though both bold and zealous in the cause of God and that his lips were touched with a Coal from the Altar yet durst not meddle in Gods matters before he had both Mission and Commission too God had first said Vade dices huic populo Go and tell this people before he undertook the business or put himself upon the work of reformation And which is there of all the Prophets that went upon Gods errands without his consent and stood not more on dixit Dominus then on dicam populo I trow the times were then corrupt and the people sinful The whole contexture of their several Prophecies make that plain enough yet finde we none of them so hasty in rebuking either as not to take a speciall Warrant and Commission from the hand of God No imus colligimus in the dayes of old in point of extraordinary mission and employment but still there was a vis expressed some warrant looked for from the Lord to make way unto it So for the way of ordinary Reformation when the fabrick of the Church was out of order the whole worship of the Lord either defiled with superstitions or intermingled with Idolatries as it was too often did not Gods servants tarry and await his leisure till those who were supreme both in place and power were by him prompted and inflamed to a Reformation How many years had that whole people made an Idol of the Brazen Serpent and burnt incense to it before it was defaced by King Hezekiah How many more might it have longer stood undefaced untouched by any of the common people had not the King given order to demolish it How many Ages had the seduced Israelites adored before the Altar of Bethel before it was hewen down and cut in pieces by the good King Josiah Where can we finde that any of Gods faithful Servants any of those 7000 souls which had not bowed the knee to Baal did ever go about to destroy the same or that Elijah or Elisha two men as extraordinary for their Calling as their zeal and courage did excite them to it or told them it was lawful for them so to do without the Fiat of Authority to make good the work Where shall we read in the whole course and current of the Book of God that the common people in and by their own authority removed the high places or destroyed the Images or cut down the Groves those excellent Instruments of superstition and Idolatry that they appointed Fasts and ordained Festivals or that they did so much as attempt such matters without this vis the power and approbation of the supreme Magistrate This was the Doctrine and practise both of the former times so far forth as Gods Book directs us in the search thereof nor ever was it preached or printed till now of late that it should be otherwise or that the work of Reformation belonged unto the common people in what capacity soever they were clothed and vested Of late indeed I finde it to be so determined it being affirmed by Glesselius one of the Contra-Remonstrants of Roterdam that if the Prince and Clergy did neglect their duties in the reforming of the Church necesse esse tum id facere plebeios Israelitas that then it did belong to the common people And t is with a necesse if you mark it well they might not only do it but they must be doing Do it but how what in the way of treaty by mediation and petition and such humble meanes by which the dignity of the supreme Magistrate may be kept indemnified not so but even by force and violence licèt ad sanguinem usque pro eo pugnent even to the shedding of their own and their Brethrens blood In which it is most strange to see how soon this desperate Doctrine found as lewd an use how soon the people put in practise what the Preacher taught them but farre more strange to see and who can chuse but see it if he be not blinde how infinitely their Scholars in this Island both for the theory and the practise have out-gone their Masters And wonder t is in all this time they made it not an Article of their Christian Faith and put it not into the place of some one or other of the twelve which they think lesse necessary Here is a vis indeed they say true in that but no such vis as is intended in the Text. The servants of my Parable knew no other vis then that of Proposition only it being not their intent nor custom either to run before or against Authority And having made the Proposition they did with patience and humility attend the Answer of their Master which they were faithfully resolved to conform unto however it might crosse their own dear
sunt ad nihilum as the Latine hath it And when we once come to annihilation there 's no resurrection You see here 's ground enough for a Vigilate and that as well à parte ante to prevent these risings as afterwards à parte post to quiet and appease them when they once are up Both necessary though the first more safe as commonly preventing Physick stirs the humors lesse then when the sickness is confirmed by some long delay And yet though this be ground enough for a vigilate the duty is farre more necessary in reference to the unde whence the danger riseth which is ex vobis ipsis from amongst your selve As long as Christ our Saviour did foretell his followers Exurget gens contra gentem That Nation should rise up against Nation and Kingdom against Kingdom in the latter dayes the matter seemed not very great the World had long been used to the like hostilities and therefore it is said of those warres and troubles that they were initium dolorum the beginnings of sorrows But when it came to this exurgent filii in parentes that Children should rise up against their Parents and Brother should betray his Brother then could not any thing be added to the Churches miseries but the abomination of desolation spoken of by the Prophet Daniel It was not bella per Emathios that made Rome complain she had before advanced her Standards in the field of Macedon with success and honour plus quâ—m civilia was the thing which did all the mischief the cruelty and the unnaturalness of the civill Warres which consumed her forces and at last brought her unto bondage The damage which the Church hath sustained by Wolves hath indeed been great yet not to be compared unto those calamities which she hath drawn upon her self by her own dissentions And this St. Chrystome confesseth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the danger here is greater then it was before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in that it was a civill Warre which is here forespoke of Ex vobis ipsis from your selves from men of holy Church that do partake with you in the same profession and have given up their names to Christ and do wear his Livery Were it not for ex vobis ipsis the danger were not great from exurgent viri The time was when the Kings of the Earth rose up and the Rulers took counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed But what became of them and their machinations He that dwelleth on high laughed them to scorn and the Lord had them in derision bruïsing them with a rod of iron and breaking them in pieces like a Potters Vessel Non posse Romanos nisi suis armis vinci The Church was never overcome but by the Church nor Christ betrayed by any but his own Disciples Our Saviour read his own and the Churches destiny in that general speech inimici hominis sunt domestici ejus that a mans enemies are those of his own house That this hath alwayes been the destiny of the Church of God is St. Cyprians note Inter initia mundi Abel justum non nisi frater occidit c. Abel saith he had none to kill him Jacob none to persecute him nor Joseph any to make sale of him but their Fathers Children Which said he adds how Christ foretold us in that generall Maxime before delivered ipsâ—s qui sacramento unitatis copulati fuerint se ipsos invicem tradituros that those who had been joyned together in the holy Sacraments should betray each other So that as well in this regard as in that of sin we may take up the saying and complaint of the Prophet Esay Perditio tua ex te est Thy destruction is from thy self O House of Israel Ex vobis ipsis from your selves What from the Elders of the Church the Overseers of the flock should men arise from them to pervert the people No question but it was so meant by the Apostle For to the Elders to the Overseers did St. Paul give this charge and direct this Caveat Attendite vobis ipsis universo gregi Take heed unto your selves and to all the flock There have we vobis ipsis vobis ipsis here which makes it manifest and apparent that even from them should men arise speaking perverse things to draw away much people after them The Elders here were Priests there 's no doubt of that Pastors and Teachers of the people Nor is it any miracle that such men as those should have their hands or heads in those publick quarrels wherewith the Church hath been distracted The first disturbance which befel the Church was by certain men which came down from Judaea and taught the people And what did sollow thereupon but disputations and dissentions as the Text informs us and those so great and followed with such heat and violence that the Apostles had no small adoe to compose the business Our Saviour Christ foresaw this mischief and therefore hath repeated no one caution more then Cavete à Pseudoprophetis Beware of false Prophets and of false Apostles For they and such as they as they teach false Doctrines so are they too indulgent to their own affections too easily inclined to foment a party and contribute their utmost to those frequent quarrels which have afflicted and disquieted the Church of God Examples of which I could shew you many both in our dayes and in the dayes which were before us did I conceive the Elders mentioned here were but simply Priests But sure as I shall shew anon the Elders which assembled here were of an higher rank a superior order Bishops or Overseers call them which you will And shall we think that any of the holy Hierarchy could take so little heed unto themselves and to the flock as either openly or covertly to foment a faction and to hunt counter to the Church and her publick Ordinances I would be very loth they should And yet I cannot chuse but tell you that I have met in my small reading with some of them Meletius had his name from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Greek word signifying care but he was not Episcopus sui nominis not a true Meletius for he shewed little care of the Churches peace but his whole designes were to increase his party to draw Disciples after him as dangerous for the time but not of such a long continuance as that of the Novatians before remembred Novatus had no sooner received the Episcopal Order but presently he set himself upon Cornelius his chief Bishop the Patriarch at the least of the Roman prefecture professing a more rigid kind of piety then the Church allowed of making himself the head of a Schismatical faction and drawing many Disciples after him not only in Italy it self but in Greece and Asia But as Novatus was his name so Innovation was to be his business and he plyed it well being the founder of the Cathari as they in some