Shadows Sacrifices and whatsoever else was typical in the true Worship of God and Priesthood of Aaron were truly fulfilled and had their several Accomplishments according to the Natures of them Yet we are further to understand that as from the beginning there was a Church so there was ever a Ministry the Essential parts of whose Office howsoever otherwise it was burdened with Ceremonies did consist in these three Duties viz. 1. Preaching of the Word 2. Administration of Sacraments and 3. Authority of Ecclesiastical Government and that none of all the said Figures Shadows and Sacrifices or any other Ceremony of the Levitical Law had any such relation to any of the said three Essential Parts of the Ministry as if either they the said three Essential Parts of the Ministry had only been ordain'd for their continuance until the coming of Christ or that the accomplishment or fulfilling of the said Ceremonies had in any sort prejudiced or impeached the Continuance of them or any of them So as the said three Essential Parts of the Ministry were in no sort abolished by the Death of Christ but only translated from the Priesthood under the Law to the Ministry of the New Testament Where in the judgment of all Learned Men opposite in divers points one to another they do or ought for ever to remain to the same End and Purpose for the which they were first ordain'd Now concerning the two first Essential Parts of this our Ministry or Priesthood of the New Testament there are no Difficulties worthy the insisting upon how they are to be used Only the third Essential Part of it as touching the Power of Ecclesiastical Regiment is very much controverted and diversly expounded extended and applied For some Men relying upon one Extremity do affirm That it was in the Apostles time radically inherent only in St. Peter and so by a certain consequence afterwards in his supposed Vicar the Bishop of Rome to be derived from St. Peter first to the rest of the Apostles and other Ministers while he lived and then after his Death in a fit proportion to all Bishops Pastors and Ministers to the end of the World from the Bishops of Rome and that St. Peter during his time and every one of his Vicars the Bishops of Rome successively then did and still do occupy and enjoy the like Power and Authority over all the Churches in the World that Aaron had in the Church established amongst the Jews There are also another sort of Persons that run as far to another extremity and do challenge the said Power and Authority of Ecclesiastical Regiment to appertain to a new Form of Church-Government by Presbyteries to be placed in every particular Parish Which Presbyteries as divers of them say are so many compleat and perfect Churches no one of them having any dependency upon any other Church So as the Pastor in every such Presbytery representing after a sort Aaron the High Priest there would be by this project if it were admitted as many Aarons in every Christian Kingdom as there are particular Parishes And the Authors of both these so different and extream conceits are all of them most resolute and peremptory that they are able to deduce and prove them out of the Form of Church-Government which was established by God himself in the Old Testament Howbeit notwithstanding all their vaunts and shews of Learning by perverting the Scriptures Councils and ancient Fathers the Mean betwixt both the said extreams is the truth and to be embraced viz. That the administration of the said Power of Ecclesiastical Regiment under Christian Kings and supream Magistrates doth especially belong by the Institution of Christ and of his Apostles unto Arch-Bishops and Bishops This Mean bearing the true Pourtraicture and infallible Lineaments of God's own Ordinance above-mentioned and containing in it divers Degrees of Priests agreeable to the very order and light of Nature some superiour to rule and some inferiour to be ruled as in all other Societies and civil States it hath been ever accustomed So as we are bold to say and are able to justify it That as our Saviour Christ as he is God had formerly ordain'd in his National Church amongst the Jews Priests and Levites of an inferiour Order to teach them in every City and Synagogue and over them Priests of a superiour degree termed Principes Sacerdotum and lastly above them all one Aaron with Moses to rule and direct them So he no ways purposing by his Passion more to abrogate or prejudice this Form of Church-Government ordain'd by himself than he did thereby the temporal Government of Kings and Sovereign Princes did by the direction of the Holy Ghost and Ministry of his Apostles ordain in the New Testament that there should be in every National Church some Ministers of an inferiour degree to instruct his People in every particular Parochial Church or Congregation and over them Bishops of a superiour degree to have a care and inspection over many such Parochial Churches or Congregations for the better ordering as well of the Ministers as of the People within the limits of their Jurisdiction And lastly above them all Archbishops and in some especial places Patriarchs who were first themselves with the advice of some other Bishops and when Kings and Sovereign Princes became Christians then with their especial aid and assistance to oversee and direct for the better Peace and Government of every such National Church all the Bishops and the rest of the particular Churches therein established And for some proof hereof We will conclude this Chapter with the testimony of one of no mean account and desert Who when Archbishops and Bishops did most obstinately oppose themselves as being the Pope's Vassals to the Reformation of the Church was the principal Deviser of the said Presbyteries though not in such a manner as some have since with too much bitterness urged whereof out of all Question he would never have dream'd if the said Bishops had not been so obstinate as they were for the maintenance of such Idolatry and Superstition as were no longer to be tolerated That every Province had amongst their Bishops one Archbishop that also in the Nicene Council Patriarchs were appointed who were in Order and Degree above Archbishops that did appertain to the preservation of Discipline And a little after speaking of the said Form of Government so framed although he shewed some dislike of the word Hierarchia yet saith he Si omisso Vocabulo rem intueamur reperiemus Veteres Episcopos non aliam regendae Ecclesiae formam voluisse fingere ab eâ quam Dominus verbo suo praescripsit CAN. V. AND therefore if any Man shall affirm under colour of any thing that is in the Scriptures either that our Saviour Christ was not the Head of the Church from the beginning of it or that all the particular Churches in the World are otherwise to be termed One Church than as he himself is the Head of
populous places Churches were first setled whilst the Apostles Evangelists and Prophets that were Ministers with their Coadjutors were travelling from place to place as the Holy Ghost did direct them to plant and order other Churches in other Cities elsewhere as God should bless their labours The office of this second degree of Ministers was by Preaching and Administring the Sacraments to confirm and encrease to their utmost ability the number of Christians in those Cities where they kept their residence and likewise in the absence of the Apostles by their common and joint counsel to advise and direct every particular Congregation and Member of it as well as they could when any difficulties did occur Besides it appertained unto them by Preaching of the Gospel and of the Law and upon Conference with such as were Penitent to bind and loose Mens Sins and to keep back from receiving the holy Communion such as were notorious and obstinate Offenders until either willingly by their perswasion or afterwards by the Apostles further Chastisements they were brought to Repentance Only they wanted Power and Authority of Ordination to make Ministers and of the Apostolical Keys to Excommunicate For the Apostles had reserv'd in their own hands those two Prerogatives and were themselves during those first times now spoken of by us not so far from the said Cities Churches and Ministers but that they well might and did throughly supply all their wants whatsoever and also set an order in all matters of difficulty when they fell out amongst them concerning either Doctrine or Discipline sometimes themselves in their own Persons and sometimes by their Letters or Messengers as the importance of those Causes did require In these times it may well be granted that there was no need of any other Bishops but the Apostles and likewise that then their Churches or particular Congregations in every City were advised and directed touching points of Religion in manner and form aforesaid by the common and joint advice of their Priests or Ministers In which respect the same Persons who then were named Priests or Ministers were also in a general sense called Bishops Howbeit this course dured not long either concerning their said common direction or their names of Bishops so attributed unto them but was shortly after order'd far otherwise by a common Decree of the Apostles to be observ'd in all such Cities where particular Churches were planted or as one speaketh in toto Orbe throughout the World For the number of Christians growing daily in every City throughout those Provinces and Countries where the Apostles Evangelists Prophets with their Coadjutors first travelled to plant the Christian Faith it was still more and more necessary that they should be distinguished into more Congregations than they were before and that also the number of their said Ministers that were to be resident amongst them should be accordingly encreased By reason of which encrease as well of Christians and particular Congregations as of their said Ministers as also for that now it began to come to pass that neither the Apostles nor the Evangelists nor their Coadjutors and Messengers could be always so ready and at hand or present with them as before they had been many Questions Dissentions and Quarrels fell out amongst them both Ministers and particular Congregations mentioned as by the places quoted in the Margent it is evident the People being as apt through affection and private respects to adhere to one Man more than to another as sundry of their Ministers then were prompt for their own glory to entertain all Comers and to embrace every occasion that might procure them many Followers not sparing to oppose themselves in their Pride against the very Apostles and to charge them with ambitious seeking of preheminence above their Brethren Ministers as if they had meant to tyrannize and domineer over all Churches Insomuch as St. John complain'd in his time of such Insolencies and St. Paul was driven to purge himself but yet in such sort as he stood upon the Justification of his Apostolical Authority I grant saith he That they are Ministers of Christ but withal he addeth these words I am more protesting that although he was more than they were yet he sought to have no Dominion over the Faith of any The places quoted in the Margent deserve due consideration and many other to the same purpose might be added unto them Now forasmuch as the Apostles did well understand the said Oppositions Dissentions and Emulations and that the People had as well Experience what Equality wrought amongst their Ministers in every place whilst each Man would be a Director as he list himself and accordingly broach his own Fancies without Controulment or sparing of any that stood in his way as also how themselves the people were distracted and led to the embracing of Divers Sects and Schisms they the said Apostles having now no such leisure and opportunity as that they could themselves every where appease these Quarrels did find it necessary to settle another Course for the redress of them by others For whereas before the Apostles held it convenient when they first planted Ministers in every City to detain still in their own hand the Power of Ordination and the authority of the Keys of Ecclesiastical Government because they themselves for that time with the Evangelists and others their Coadjutors were sufficient to oversee and rule them Now for the Reasons above-mentioned they did commit those their said two Prerogatives containing in them all Episcopal Power and Authority unto such of their said Coadjutors as upon sufficient tryal of their Abilities and Diligence they knew to be meet Men both whilst they themselves lived to be their Substitutes and after their deaths to be their Succcessors both for the Continuance of the work of Christ for the further building of his Church and likewise for the perpetual Government of it And in this manner the Ministers of the Word and Sacraments who had the charge but of one particular Church or Congregation and were of an inferiour Degree were distinguished from the first and superiour sort of Ministers termed most of them before The Apostles Coadjutors and now and from thenceforth called Bishops Unto which sort of worthy and selected Coadjutors and unto some others also of especial Desert so advanced to the Titles and Offices of Bishops the Apostles did commit the charge and oversight of all the particular Congregations Ministers and Christian people that dwelt in one City and in the Towns and Villages thereunto appertaining And such were the Angels of the seven Churches in Asia who were then the Bishops of those Cities with their several Territories and so in all times and ages that since have succeeded have ever been reputed And unto some others the most principal and chief men of the said Number the Apostles did likewise give Authority not only over the
particular Congregations Ministers and People in one City and in the Towns that did belong unto it but likewise over all the Churches in certain whole Provinces and Countries as unto Timothy all that were in Asia the less and unto Titus all that were planted throughout the Island of Crete And this sort of Bishops who had so large Jurisdictions over the Bishops themselves in particular Cities were afterward called Archbishops Over whom in like manner as likewise over all the rest Bishops and Ministers and particular Churches the Apostles themselves as the chief Fathers and Patriarchs of all Churches had whilst they lived the chief preheminence and oversight to direct and over-rule all as they knew it to be most convenient and behoofull for the Church communicating notwithstanding unto the said Bishops and Archbishops now their Substitutes but in time to be their Successors as full Authority in their absence with the limitations mention'd for the ordering of Ministers for the use of the Keys and for the further Government of all the Churches committed to their charges by the good advice and counsel of the inferiour sort of Priests or Ministers under them when Causes so required as if they the Apostles themselves had been present or could have always lived to have performed those duties in their own Persons their Patriarchal Authority for Government not ceasing or dying with them Of this Authority of Ordination and Government given to Bishops by the holy Apostle St. Paul he himself hath left to all Posterity most clear and evident Testimonies where writing to two of his said Bishops Timothy and Titus he describeth very particularly the Essential parts of their duties and Episcopal Office in manner and sort following For this cause I left thee at Crete that thou shouldst continue to redress the things that remain and shouldst Ordain Priests or Elders in every City as I appointed thee Lay hands hastily on no Man neither be Partaker of other Mens Sins Let them first be proved then let them minister if they be found blameless Against a Presbyter or Priest receive no accusation but under two or three Witnesses Them that sin rebuke openly that the rest may fear I pray thee to abide at Ephesus to command some that they teach no strange Doctrine neither that they give heed to Fables and Genealogies which are endless and do breed Questions rather than godly Edification which is by Faith They would be Doctors of the Law and yet understand not what they speak neither whereof they affirm There are many disobedient and vain Talkers and Deceivers of Minds whose Mouths must be stopped which subvert whole Houses teaching things which they ought not for filthy lucre's sake Stay foolish questions and contentions reject him that is an Heretick after one or two warnings These things speak and exhort and rebuke with all Authority See that no Man despise thee What things thou hast heard of me the same deliver to faithful Men which shall be able to teach others also Put them in remembrance and protest before the Lord that they strive not about words which is to no profit but to the perverting of the Hearers Stay profane and vain bablings for they shall encrease unto more ungodliness Put away all foolish and unlearned Questions knowing that they engender strife I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the Elect Angels that thou observe these things without preferring one to another and do nothing partially Divers other particulars might be hereunto added were it not that these are sufficient for our purpose to show as well what Power was given to the said Timothy and Titus two Apostolical Bishops newly designed unto their Episcopal Functions as also what Authority the Apostle himself had whilst he lived both of prescribing rules unto them and also of exacting the due observation of them He retaining still in his own hands as full power and ample Jurisdiction over them as they the said Bishops had received from him over the rest of the Ministry within their several charges And thus we see how by degrees the Apostles did settle the Government of the Church amongst the Gentiles converted to Christ most suitable and agreeing with the Platform ordain'd by God himself amongst the Jews Ministers are placed in particular Congregations as Priests or Levites were in their Synagogues Four and twenty Priests termed Principes Sacerdotum had in that Kingdom the charge over the rest of the Priests and amongst Christians one sort of Priests named Bishops or Arch-Bishops as their Jurisdictions were extended had the oversight of the rest of the Ministry or Priesthood Lastly as over all the Priests of what sort soever and over the rest of all the Jews Aaron had the chief preeminence so had the Apostles over all the Bishops and Priests and over the rest of all Christians There was only this want to the full accomplishment of such a Church-Government as was settled amongst the Jews that during the Apostles times and for a long season afterward it wanted Christian Magistrates to supply the rooms of Moses King David King Solomon and of the rest of their worthy Successors There is no mention in the Scriptures of the particular success that the rest of the Apostles had in planting of Churches throughout all Africa and Asia the great and a great part of Europe but we doubt not but that they followed that same course in those parts nearer or better known to us they proceeding within their limits as St. Paul did within his And moreover we have sufficient warrant by the said Practice of our Apostles to judge that if all the Kings and Soveraign Princes of the World would have received the Gospel whilst the Apostles lived they would have setled this Platform of Church-Government under them in every such Kingdom and Sovereign Principality that as the three Essential parts of the Priesthood under the Law were translated to the Ministry or Priesthood in the New Testament so the external shew or practice of them might have been in effect the same under Christian Princes that it was under the godly Kings and Princes of Judah Christians of particular Congregations to be directed by their immediate Pastors Pastors to be ruled by their Bishops Bishops to be advised by their Archbishops and the Archbishops with all the rest both of the Clergy and Laity to be ruled and governed by their godly Kings and Sovereign Princes CAN. VI. AND therefore if any Man shall affirm under colour of any thing that is in the Scriptures either that the Platform of Church-Government in the New Testament may not lawfully be deduced from that Form of Church-Government which was in the Old or that because the Apostles did not once for all and at one time but by degrees erect such a like form of Ecclesiastical Government as was amongst the Jews therefore it is not to be supposed that they
had been a lawful Form of Government whilst the Apostles lived but upon their Deaths it became presently to be unlawful It is very apparent and cannot be denied That in many Greek Copies of the New Testament Timothy and Titus are termed Bishops in the Directions or Subscriptions of two Epistles which St. Paul did write unto them These are the words of the said Directions The second Epistle written from Rome unto Timotheus the first Bishop elected of the Church of Ephesus And again To Titus elect the first Bishop of the Cretians written from Nicopolis in Macedonia Moreover agreeable to the said Subscriptions the ancient Fathers generally having no doubt upon their due searching the Scriptures fully considered of the Form of Ecclesiastical Government whilst the Apostles lived do with one consent whensoever they expound the Epistles of St. Paul to Timothy and Titus or have Occasion to speak of the Authority of those two Persons very resolutely affirm That they were by the Apostles made Bishops And the same also they do testifie of St. James the Apostle himself called the Lord's Brother that he was made by the rest of the Apostles his Colleagues Bishop of Hierusalem and so also of the Seven Angels of the Churches in Asia that they were so many Bishops of the Apostles Ordination Besides the said ancient Fathers did very well know that when St. Paul said to Timothy I charge thee in the sight of God and before Jesus Christ that thou keep this Commandment without spot and unrebukable until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ that it was impossible for Timothy to observe those things till the coming of Christ he being to die long before and that therefore the Precepts and Rules which St. Paul had given unto him to observe in his Episcopal Government did equally appertain as well to Bishops his Successors as to himself and were to be executed by them successively after his Death unto the Worlds End as carefully and diligently as he himself whilst he lived had put them in Practice One of the said Fathers doth write as followeth With great Vigilancy and Providence doth the Apostle give Precepts to the Ruler of the Church for in his Person doth the safety of the People consist He is not so circumspect as fearing Timothy's care but for his Successors that after Timothy's Example they should observe the Ordination of the Church and begin themselves to keep that Form which they were to deliver to those that came after them Again it is evident by the Ecclesiastical Histories that not only St. James Timothy and Titus were made Bishops by the Apostles but that likewise Peter himself was Bishop of Antioch so termed because of his long stay there and that the Apostles likewise made Evodius Bishop of Antioch after St. Peter and St. Mark Bishop of Alexandria and Polycarpus Bishop of Smyrna and that St. John returning from Patmos to Ephesus went to the Churches round about and made Bishops in those places where they were wanting and also that divers others of the Apostles Coadjutors besides Timothy and Titus were made by them Bishops and did govern the Cities and Provinces where they were placed according to the same rules that were prescribed to Timothy and Titus as Dionysius the Areopagite was the first Bishop of Athens Caius the first Bishop of Thessalonica Archippus the first Bishop of the Colossians and we doubt not but many more by diligent reading may be found that were in the Apostles times made Bishops Furthermore it is apparent by the testimonies of all Antiquity Fathers and Ecclesiastical Histories that all the Churches in Christendom that were planted and govern'd by the Apostles and by such their Coadjutors Apostolical Persons as unto whom the Apostles had to that end fully communicated their Apostolical Authority did think that after the Death either of any of the Apostles which ruled amongst them or of any other the said Bishops ordained by them it was the meaning of the Holy Ghost testified sufficiently by the practice of the Apostles that the same Order and Form of Ecclesiastical Government should continue in the Church for ever And therefore upon the death of any of them either Apostles or Bishops they the said Churches did always supply their places with others the most worthy and eminent Persons amongst them who with the like Power and Authority that their Predecessors had did ever succeed them Insomuch as in every City and Episcopal See where there were divers Priests and Ministers of the Word and Sacraments and but one Bishop only the Catalogues of the Names not of their Priests but of their Bishops were very carefully kept from time to time together with the Names of the Apostles or Apostolical Persons the Bishops their Predecessors from whom they derived their Succession Of which Succession of Bishops whilst the Succession of Truth continued with it the ancient Fathers made great account and use when any false Teachers did broach new Doctrine as if they had received the same from the Apostles choaking them with this that they were not able to shew any Apostolical Church that ever taught as they did Upon such an occasion Irenaeus Bishop of Lyons within 75. years or thereabout after St. John's Death doth write in this sort Habemus annumerare eos qui ab Apostolis instituti sunt Episcopi in Ecclesiis Successores eorum usque ad nos qui nihil tale docuerunt neque cognoverunt quale ab his deliratur And so likewise not long after him Tertullian to oppress some who as it seemeth drew Companies after them saith thus Edant Origines Ecclesiarum suarum Evolvant ordinem Episcoporum suorum ita per Successiones ab initio decurrentem ut primus ille Episcopus aliquem ex Apostolis aut Apostolicis viris qui tamen cum Apostolis perseveraverit habuerit autorem Antecessorem Hoc enim modo Ecclesiae Catholicae sensus suos deferunt And St. Augustin Radix Christianae Societatis per sedes Apostolorum Successores Episcoporum certâ per Orbem propagatione diffunditur Again forasmuch as it was thought by our Saviour Christ the best means for the building and continuing of his Church in the Apostles times to ordain sundry degrees of Ministers in Dignity and Authority one over another when such a kind of preheminence might have been thought not so necessary because the Apostles by working of Miracles might otherwise as it is probable have procured to themselves sufficient Authority How can it with any reason be imagined but that Christ much more did mean to have the same still to be continued after the Apostles days when the gifts of doing Miracles were to cease and when Mens Zeal was like to grow more cold than it was at the first It savoureth assuredly We know of what Faction Indiscretion or Affection for any Man either to think that Form of Church-Government to be unfit for our times