no wonder if Iure divino for the most part did carry the point especially before the Reformation This Error was the less Excusable because it was a departure from the great and in truth the only Example of a Holy Kingdom which such pious Politicians could propose to themselves I mean that of the Hebrews in which though matters that were purely mattes of Religion were distinguisht from matters purely Civil the matters of God from the matters of the King yet the Jurisdictions that related to them were not Divided the same Senate only in distinct Capacities as it was composed of Fathers as well as of Priests and Levites so it had the Cognizance of all matters nothing distinguished the Court in respect of the Two kinds of Causes Religious and Secular but that it had two Presidents which possibly were to take the Chair as the nature of the Cause required Amâ—ziah was over them in matters of the Lord and Zebadiah in matters of the King and all by an Authority and Power derived from the King as Sovereign and Supream in all Moreover in Ierusalem did Iehosaphat set c. In truth the Church having submitted to receive Incorporation into the Civil State or being favoured with it for you may take it either way it was no longer obliged to continue a Divided Separate Jurisdiction for the Reason of the Churches separate Jurisdiction now failing the Magistrate being become Christian and consequently Ayding the Jurisdiction that it had before must fail with it and so revert to the Magistrate And Reason good it should and that by a reason taken even from the nature of Government for there ought to be and indeed there can be but one Spring and Fountain of Jurisdiction in one Kingdom and Government Besides Ecclesiastical Government cannot reach but to the External Actions of Men and therefore is very improperly called Spiritual since it is not Internal and the External Actions of Men as such do properly come under the Cognisance of the Magistrate he being ordained to be the Avenger of all evil doing as well as for the praise of them that do well and then nothing can remain for the Church to do unless the same Actions must be subjected to the Cognisance of divided unsubordinate Jurisdictions which should they be would breed a great Confusion which I must insist upon and be a great Injustice Breed great Confusion for that a Person in the same Cause should be absolved by one Jurisdiction and be condemned by another and this without any means of Composure for Example that he should be acquitted at the Assizes by Twelve of the Neighbourhood and yet be Convicted in the Bishops Court which may well happen where the Jurisdictions are divided and then no means is left neither of any Composure if they are also unsubordinated this is Confusion As that he should be twice Condemned and punish'd twice for one Fact would be great Injustice As for single Congregations they are only as so many little Fraternities Gilds or Corporations and consequently may have Constitutions and By-Laws of their own as these have without the least danger or other prejudice that can be thought of to the States that permit or protect them Certainly the Kingdom of Christ the true Hierarchy is a Kingdom that is not Secular or of this World that is it is not an External but a Spiritual Kingdom a Power erected in the Hearts and Consciences of Men in which he Rules and Governs by his Word and Spirit and therefore it doth not it cannot as such pretend to any Jurisdiction properly so called there being no Jurisdiction properly so called without Coercion and Compulsion and Coercion and Compulsion is a way that is not used by Christ. All the Subjects of Christ are Volunteers and Freemen whom as he brings into his Kingdom so he keeps in it only by Perswasions Exhortations Counsels and such like Methods And this Tertullian believed who in L. ad Scap. says Humani Iuris naturalis est unicuique quod put averit colere nec aliis aut obest aut predest alterius religio sed nec religonis est cogere religionem quae Sponte suscipi debeat non vi c. It is the first and chief right of humane nature for every man to worship what he thinks he ought nor does the Religion of one either hurt or profit another nor can it be any Religion to Compel Religion Religion ought to be taken up of Choice and not by force or constraint c. So far gone was that Father for Liberty of Conscience However it must be confessed That if any Persons refuse to observe the Rules of Christian Society and particularly the Rules of that Society of which they are Members it is but reason that they should leave it and if otherwise they will not that they be constrained to leave it But this by the by To be sure the Essential Church hath no one Form of External Government assigned to it in the whole and it was as great wisdom not to settle any in particular for National Churches for seeing the Church must be Extended into all Nations the Government and Policy of it must be of a nature either Ambulatory so as to be accommodated upon Occasion or it must be such an one as without interfering with them can consist with all the several Forms of Civil and Secular Government In my Judgment the Lord Bacon speaks excellently well to this matter when he says I for my part do confess That in revolving the Scriptures I could never find any such thing as one Form of Discipline in all Churches and that imposed by necessity of a Commandment and Prescript out of the Word of God but that God had left the like liberty to the Church-Government as he had done to the Civil Government to be varied according to Time and Place and Accidents which nevertheless his high and Divine Providence doth order and dispose for all Civil Governments are restrained from God to the several Grounds of Justice and Manners but the Policies and Forms of them are left free so that Monarchies and Kingdoms Senates and Signories Popular States and Communalties are lawful and where they are planted ought to be maintained inviolate So likewise in Church matters the substance of Doctrin is immutable and so are the General Rules of Government but for Rites and Ceremonies and for the particular Hierarchies Policies and Discipline of Churches they be left at large and therefore it is good we return unto the Ancient bounds of Unity in the Church of God which was one Faith one Baptism and not one Hierarchy one Discipline and that we observe the League of Christians as it is penned by our Saviour which is in substance of Doctrin thus He that is not with us is against us but of things indifferent and of Circumstance he that is not against us is with us Bacon's Considerations touching Pacification in Resuscit fol. 237 238 This
was done by one was done by All All did censure if one did the Expulsion made by one Bishop out of any Church was in effect an Expulsion from all the Churches and so a cutting off entirely from Christianity and all Communion of Saints Thus they aimed in a General Bishoprick at what the Church of Rome doth in a personal in affirming which I do not impose upon you for S. Cyprian is plain Hoc â—rant utique says he in his Tractate de simplicitate Praelatorum caeteri Apostoli quid fuit Petrus pariconsoriio praediti honoris potestatis sed Exordium ab unitate proficiscitur ut Ecclesia una monstretur c. quam unitatem firmiter tenere vindicâ—re debemus maximè Episcopi qui in Ecclesia praesidemus ut Episcopatum quoque ipsum unum utque Indivisum probemus Thence also came the Rails about the Table I mean the Differences of Communions Clerical and Laical to wit to raise the Reputation and Credit of the Clergy and withal to make their Ceusures the more solemn and awful as also that the Clergy who were obliged to a stricter and more exemplary life if they did not live it might have a peculiar Punishment which was to be thrust from the Clerical Communion and be degraded to that of the Laity In fine hence Publick Confessions and rigorous shaming Penances in all the Decrees of them Fletus Auditio Substractio Consistentia had their beginning and also solemn Absolutions by the Imposition of the Hands of the Bishop and of the Presbyters Which things as being only Human and Politick tho' not unnecessary for the Time are all of them alterable and some actually altered Again as Controversies arose in the Churches either about Matters of Doctrin or of Discipline the Apostles while they lived and were in a Condition those especially which founded such particular Churches where they arose did take care to end such Differences and were accordingly repaired unto for that purpose Thus in the Business of Antioch Appeal is made unto all the Apostles and for the Corinthians Galatian c. S. Paul particularly cared But after the Decease of the Apostles or a Failure of the Apostolical Infallible Guidance by other means the Controversies that arose in any Church became determined by the Common Counsel and Advice of other Churches either by their Letters or by a solemn Discussion and Debate in an Assembly of Bishops and Elders in Provincial Councils We do not read indeed of any Rule for this Practice but the Light of Nature or Common Reason directed it and there was something too that did lead unto it in the first Assembly at Ierusalem For as the Apostles and Elders were appealed unto by them of Antioch so the whole Church was convented and the Business considered and debated by the whole and by the whole resolved In sum the Churches of Christ in this separate State subsisted by themselves like so many little Republicks as being only in the World but not of it and therefore concerned not themselves in any Business with the Secular Powers And yet seeing their Members were Men as well as others and in the World as well as others and consequently liable to Passions and Misgovernment to Common Accidents of Providence and to Differences too arising in Worldly Matters it was absolutely necessary that some Provision should be made in all these Respects in the Church it self by Officers on purpose or else since there was no other Remedy all would run to Confusion Hence as the Ancient Christians had Deacons for the Poor so they had Wisemen as the Apostle calls them or Elders who to prevent the Scandal of their going to Law before the Heathen determined Matters by way of Arbitration and likewise restrained and suppressed exorbitant and evil Manners by censuring them Out of the Church to provide for the Poor to end Controversies between Man and Man and to punish evil doing was the Business of the Magistrate And this reminds me of the Third State of the Church when Magistrates and Powers becoming Christians the Christian Religion was taken by them into Civil Protection and became incorporated into the Laws as that of Israel was into theirs so that now States became Churches a State professing Christianity being a National Church and a National Church nothing but a Christian Nation in a Word a Holy Commonwealth Great was the Alteration that was made in the Government and Face of the Church in this Condition from what it was before for after the time that Emperours became Christian and that they shewed Kindness to the Church the Hierarchy became a Secular thing it being in this State that That and the Power of Councils attained to their full Growth but yet in several Countries by several Steps and Occasions Lavius in his Commentary of the Roman Commonwealth lib. 1. fol. 22. tells us That the Episcopal Diocesses of the Christian Religion do by many very great Tokens represent the Roman Antiquity and well he might for it is plain the Form of Civil Administration after the Roman Empire became Christian and in some degrees before was imitated in the Church and that both in the Provinces and Bounds of the Empire and in the City it self For as the Roman Empire was divided into several Pretories which Pretories were called Pretorian Diocesses or Sees and these Pretories again were subdivided into Provinces and that in every Pretory there was a Prefect of the Pretory who resided in the Metropolis called Sedes prima to administer and rule the Diocess and under the Prefect in the several Provinces there were other Principal Officers called Presidents to rule and govern them So in the Church there were the Metropolitan Primates or Archbishops who were seated in the Metropolis or Capital Cities and answered to the Prefects of the Pretories and there were Bishops that resided in the Inferious Citie who were called Suffragan Bishops and those resembled the Presidents of the Provinces l and the Parallel holds out further since a Person as Ioseph Scaliger observes might be a Bishop with Archiepiscopal Ornaments and yet not be an Archbishop in like manner as one might be an Officer with Consular Ornaments and yet not be a Consul The same Scaliger in his Epistles hb. 2. ep 184. also acquaints us That in the Time of Constantine the Great there were four Prefects of pretories the Prefect of the Pretorium of Constantionople the Illirian Prefect the Prefect of the Pretorium of Rome and the Prefect of the Pretorium in the Gallia Adding that seeing the Prefect of the Pretorium was of the same Degree that at this Day a Vice-Roy is he had under him Vicars and the Vicar he saith was the Governour of a Diocess or one that had under him a whole Diocess and a Diocess was a Government that contained under it several Metropolies or Capital Cities as a Metropolis had under it several Cities He further adds That the
Ignatius which as I shall shew hereafter was Congregational but by the Express Testimony of Clement who blames the Church of Corinth for raising a Sedition and Stir against their Presbyters and therefore there were many in that Church only upon the Account of one or two Persons so that it is plain there was a College of Presbyters in the Ancient Apostolical Church of Corinth Again in the Presbytery or College which was ordained in every Church though all the Presbyters were equal the Institution making no Difference for Paul and Barnabas are said to Constitute Elders but not to Constitute Elders and a Bishop as a Superiour over them yet it being requisite for Order-sake that some one in every Assembly should have the Direction and that Honour naturally falling on the Eldest Presbyter unless some other Course be resolved it is most probable that at first the Eldest Presbyter as he had the first Place so he had the first Direction of Matters But afterwards it being found by Experience that the Eldest was not always the Worthiest and Fittest for that purpose it came to pass that the place devolved not any longer by Seniority but was conferred by Election And in this S. Ambrose if it be he and not rather Hillary in his Comment on the fourth to the Ephesians is plain Vid. Sixt. Senens Bibl. Sanct. l. 6. annot 324. And admitting that all the Presbyters were called Bishops as undoubtedly at first they were it is easie to conceive how the first Presbyter came to be called the Bishop and at last for Distinction-sake to have the Name of Bishop so appropriated to him that the rest retained only the Denomination of Presbyters But all this while the Bishop was but the first Presbyter and had no more Authority in the College of Presbyters than is allowed to S. Peter in the College of the Apostles by all Protestants Even Epiphanius himself if we may believe Danaeus was at last compelled to confess That in the Time and Age of the Apostles no such Distinction as that is which you contend for was to be found between the Bishops and Presbyters Again though all the Presbyters in every Church had like Authority to Preach and Rule both Functions being comprehended in the Episcopacy assigned to them 1 Pet. 5. 2 3. yet some of them being better qualifyed for the one and some for the other it is probable that they exercised their different Talents accordingly some of them more in the one and some more in the other This as strange as you may make it seems plainly intimated in that Injunction of the Apostles 1 Tim. 5. 17. Let the Elders that rule well be accounted worthy of double honour especially they who labour in the word and doctrin For here is a plain Distinction of Elders of which some being better at Ruling and some at preaching they exercised themselves according to the Talent they had those that were better at Ruling in Ruling and those that were better at Preaching in labouring in the Word and Doctrin And since Labouring in the Word and Doctrin had the special Honour no Question but the first Presbyter as most honourable was always of the number of those that laboured that way so that the Bishop was the Pastour also or Preaching Elder that is the Preaching Spiritual Work became appropriated to him at first Eminently but afterwards entirely and then nothing lay in Common between him and the Presbyters but only Rule And this is what I can gather from Scripture of the Apostolical Settlement Upon the whole it is evident That a Diocesan Bishop was unknown in the first Age of the Church and the only Bishop to be found then was the Presbyter which is further confirmâ—d in that the Scotâ— who received the Knowledg of Christianity very early even in that Age had not any Knowledge for many Ages after that appears oâ— any but Presbyterian Jurisdiction Even Bishop Spotiswood in his History of the Church of Scotland tells us out of Boethius and Boethius from Ancient Annals of the Culdees or Ancient Scottish Priests and Monks who he believes were called Culdees not because Culteres Dei as most think but because they lived in Cells their Names as he says being Kele-Dei and not Culdei in old Bulls and Rescripts He says of these Culdees That they were wont for their better Government to elect one of their Number by common Suffrage to be the Chief and Principâ—l among them without whose Knowledge and Consent nothing was done in any Matter of Importance and the Person so Elected was called Scotorum Episcopus a Scots Bishop and this was all the Bishop that he could find in the first Times But Bâ—chaâ—an is plainer who tells us That no Bishop to wit an Order superiour to that of the Presbyters ever presided in the Church of Scotland before Paliadius his Time the Church says he unto that Time was Governed by Monks without Bishops with less Pride and outward Pomp but greater Simplicity and Holiness Thus I have Eâ—idenced what the Sâ—aâ—e of Things was in the first Times of the Christian Churches to wit that those were governed by Presbyteries in which all the Presbyters were equal and all Bishops only for Order-sake there was a first Presbyter who having more Care and more Work had yet no more Authority and Power than any other but as the best Men are but Flesh and Blood and the best Institutions lyable to Rust and Canker so these were not exempted there was a Diotrephes in the Apostles own Times and those that followed him improved upon the Example The first Presbyter soon became advanced into another Order and from being First commenced Prince of the Presbyters We are told by Dâ—naeus who citeth Epiphanius and he might have cited others that this Departure from the Primitive Institution began in Alexandâ—ia and it is very probable That the Appointment of twelve Presbyters besides a President for so Eutichius assures us it was there did give occasion to the President who easily took the Hint to challenge to himself the Place and Authority of Christ when the very Number of Presbyters over whom he presided made it manifest that they were an Imitation of the Apostles But whether other Churches took their Pattern from that of Alexandria or no 't is easie to conceive in what manner and by what means the Mistake might gain upon them For after the first Presbyter became elected and consequently was separate by Prayer and Imposition of Hands no wonder he was â—oon taken for an Officer of another Order much Superiour unto that of the Presbyters who was distinguished from them by that Token of a new Ordination and was in place above them Ay it is highly probable That the first Recess from the Primitive Institution even in Alexandria began this way if that be true that Grotius hath observed That the Election of the President Presbyter came not in use there but after the Death