pain of Deprivation is more than I can prove neither will I judg conscientious Nonconformists who meekly dissent 8. Again the Nonconforming Brethren scruple Subscription to the 35th Article of the Church of England touching Homilies which Article stands upon two Points First that the two Books of Homilies contain a godly and wholsom and necessary Doctrine Secondly that therefore they judg them to be read in Churches by the Ministers diligently and distinctly The former Point I cannot think the Nonconforming Brethren who have read the Homilies will deny The Article doth not say that there is nothing in any of the Homilies savouring of humane Weakness and Imperfection for the main they may and do contain a godly wholsom and necessary Doctrine though there may perhaps be in them some tolerable Defects as is incident to most good Books not divinely inspired and even to the best Translation of the holy Scriptures Touching the latter Point the Nonconforming Brethren by their Subscription to the 6th Article must needs own and allow that the Apocrypha-Books as Hierom saith the Church doth read for Example of Life and Instruction of Manners but yet doth it not apply to stablish any Doctrine This plainly intimates that they are not against all reading of other Books than the Bible in the Church due distinction being put between the one and the other Neither will they condemn but rather approve the French Protestant Churches heretofore who in the want of daily Pastors did in many Places use to read both privately and publickly Mr. Calvin's Sermons upon Job as Mr. Beza in his Preface to them doth relate And we may well think that this and no other was the Intention of the Composers of this Article and of the Homilies as thinking it better in the want of Pastors qualified with ministerial Gifts and Ability to compose edifying Sermons-daily and continually of their own that the People have sound and godly Sermons of others composing read to them in publick than be without all publick Instruction This Sense will well stand with the Words of the Article and it is agreeable to the Opinion both of Conforming and Nonconforming Brethren And therefore as to this also I may well conclude that there is no difference between the two Parties 9. There is but one more Article unsubscribed by the Nonconforming Brethren and that is the 36th concerning the Book of Ordination Touching which if the Episcopal Brethren will own the Nonconforming Brethren ordained by Presbyters without a Bishop to be true Ministers of Christ and their Ordination to be valid and will cordially embrace them as Brethren and Fellow-Ministers as in Conscience they are bound all other Matters will either be accorded or what cannot be fully accorded may be tolerated with mutual Brotherly Love to each other according to that Apostolical Canon Let us therefore as many as be perfect be thus minded and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded God shall reveal even this unto you Nevertheless whereto we have already attained let us walk by the same Rule let us mind the same thing Phil. 3.15 16. But if the Episcopal Brethren shall judg the Nonconforming Ministers ordained by Presbyters without a Bishop to be no Ministers of Christ and their Ordination to be null and their Baptism Preaching dispensing the Lord's Supper and all other their Ministerial Acts to be meer Nullities then there is no hope of Accord nor of Toleration with mutual Brotherly Love a Schism there is and like to be Concerning which I will set down a Passage which I find related by Mr. Clark in the Life of that eminent Nonconforming Minister Mr. Greenham On a time the Bishop of Eli sent for him to appear about his Nonconformity at which time the Bishop told him that there was a great Schism in the Church asking him where the Blame was to be laid whether upon the Conformists or Nonconformists To which he readily answered that it might lie on either side or on neither side For said he if they loved one another as they ought and would do all good Offices each for other thereby maintaining Love and Concord it lay on neither side otherwise which Party soever makes the Rent the Schism lies upon their score The Bishop was so pleased with this Answer that he dismissed him in peace 10. They who repute Men ordained by Presbyters without a Bishop to be no Ministers and their Ministerial Acts to be Nullities are not regular Sons of God's Church in England but a Sect Combination and Party of Men in it who are tainted and defiled with an uncharitable Principle contrary to one Article of the Christian Faith The Holy Catholick Church the Communion of Saints For God's Church in England doth own and embrace the Protestant Ministers in Holland France Helvetia and Geneva ordained by Presbyters without a Bishop to be true Ministers of Christ and the Churches guided by them to be true Churches This hath been the constant Doctrine of God's Church in England all along from the beginning of the Reformation to this day And unless we so hold we yield the Cause to the Papists and overthrow the Protestant Cause The Papists ask Where was our Church before Luther To which the Answer hath been often made That wheresoever upon Earth God had a People believing in the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost retaining Baptism and the Lord's Supper for Substance sound and good and living righteously soberly and godly there was our Church We are sure from God's Word and the sound Belief of all Christian People that such a Church God had upon Earth before Luther and will have to the End of the World We do not derive our Church and our Ministry from Rome and the Roman Papacy but from Christ and the holy Scriptures and the Evangelical Covenant by the Tenour whereof upon our sincere Repentance and Incorporation into Christ by lively Faith all things become ours whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the World or Life or Death or things present or things to come all are ours 1 Cor. 3.21 22. And consequently whatsoever is true just good any way useful to God and Christ Jesus and the Souls of Men among Papists Jews Turks and Heathens that becomes ours for spiritual Uses to our Souls In leaving the Papacy we have not left Christ and his Church but we have left Idolatry false Worship Superstition and the Way of Damnation and are become a found part of and joined to that holy Catholick Church which is the Mystical Body of Christ the blessed Company of all faithful People built upon the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Jesus Christ himself being the chief Corner-Stone Upon this Divine Foundation all the Protestant Churches stand and they who deny Ordination by Presbyters without a Bishop to be valid must will they nill they fall in with the Principles of the Papists against the whole Reformation because the Cause is common 11. The Ministry of the Nonconforming
Church to himself For God being supposed graciously present with him all Wants are made up in God he is all not as exclusive of Instruments Means and second Causes where they may be had but where they cannot be had through no fault of ours but through God's most wise and holy over-ruling Providence and he be graciously with us and talk with us by the invisible Operation of his Word and Spirit and in the multitude of our sad Thoughts within us delight our Souls with his heavenly Comforts here is God's Church This is none other but the House of God and this is the Gate of Heaven Gen. 28.17 17. There are Multitudes of particular Churches upon Earth as the Churches in England in Scotland in Ireland in Holland in Germany and other Places which have particular Guides and Pastors set over them and are distinguished one from another by convenient local Bounds and Limits and Diversity in some external Modes and Customs and Rites tho they all agree in the Substance and Foundation of true Religion Hence according to Scripture we say The Church of God at Ephesus the Church of God at Corinth the Churches of Galatia meaning all the Christian People at Ephesus all the Christian People at Corinth and so forth But this is no proof that God's Church is two Universal and Particular like as it is no proof that the Body of a Man is two Bodies because it is one Body consisting of many Members and that England is two Kingdoms because it is one Kingdom consisting of many Counties Cities Towns and Villages 18. The Church of God is plain and visible to such as believe the Gospel as is the Sun at Noon-day to all that are not blind But who so blind as those that will not see If Men wilfully shut the Eyes of their Minds by Unbelief and call Darkness Light and Light Darkness the Church of God the Synagogue of Satan and the Synagogue of Satan the Church of God they may deceive themselves they cannot deceive him For the Foundation of the Lord standeth sure having this Seal The Lord knoweth them that are his And let every one that nameth the Name of Christ depart from Iniquity 2 Tim. 2.19 19. We see those Men and Women who are by Profession Christians and of the Church they are as visible as any other People upon Earth But that which makes them sincere Christians inwardly before God we see not but believe for Faith is the Evidence of things not seen Heb. 11.1 And it is only sincere Christians which are the Church of God so as to be in a State of Salvation Our own godly Sincerity we may be infallibly sure of the Spirit it self bearing witness with our Spirit that we are the Children of God Rom. 8.18 But we cannot be infallibly sure of the Sincerity of any other in particular neither is such Assurance necessary 20. Again those who deny Ordination by Presbyters without a Bishop to be valid suppose that God's Church doth not consist wholly and only by the Divine Laws but partly by the Divine Laws and partly by Humane Laws But this is a great Error repugnant to the Nature of God's Church for the Church is not partly the Church of God and partly the Church of Man but it is absolutely and entirely the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own Blood Act. 20.28 and therefore it consisteth by the Divine Laws only not as exclusive of wholsom and useful Humane Laws these are subservient but they add no Perfection to the Divine Laws they do not they cannot by themselves bind the Conscience for the Conscience of Man cannot be bound save by something superiour to it which no humane Law by it self can be Indeed we are bound to be subject to the higher Powers not only for Wrath but also for Conscience sake and peaceably to observe and conform to humane Laws not repugnant to God's Law But this Bond and Tie upon the Conscience doth not arise from Man's Law but from God's Law only this is superiour to the Conscience The Church is absolutely and entirely the Body of Christ his Wife and Spouse and not partly the Body of Christ his Wife and Spouse and partly the Body Wife and Spouse of this or that Man or number of Men. And therefore she is to be wholly governed by the Laws of Christ her only Head and Husband and by no other But then the more observant she is of Christ's Laws and obedient to his Divine Commands she will be the more observant of Second-Table-Duties and careful to render to all both Superiours Equals and Inferiours their just Dues and all that lies in her to live peaceably with all Men and to give no Offence to any because all these are Duties laid upon her by the Divine Laws 21. The Voice of God's Church and every part thereof is Psal 62.5 6. God only is my Rock and my Salvation Not partly God and partly Man Bishops Presbyters Princes Parliaments Convocations Synods an Arm of Flesh humane Laws Canons and Decrees But God only is my Rock and my Salvation he is alsufficient he is all in all while we cleave only and wholly to him and observe his Laws and keep in his good Way we are safe and happy no Evil can befal us because he is Almighty to protect and provide for us and give us every good thing and will not fail so to do But if we trust partly in God and partly in Man and ascribe any the least part of the Glory belonging to God and his Law to Man and his Law and contend that the Being and Well-being of the Church from first to last doth not consist by God's Law only but partly by his Law and partly by Man's Law then we are guilty of spiritual Idolatry and Adultery we debase God and deify Man we make God and Man coequal and coordinate Causes of the Churches Peace and Safety both temporal and eternal which is a transcendent Vice and plucks up all true Religion by the Roots and makes God's Church adulterous partly Christ's Wife and partly the Wife of the Pope of this or that humane Law-maker which Christian Ears cannot bear to hear 22. Again the same Adversaries of the Validity of Ordination by Presbyters without a Bishop are constrained to hold them by a Popish distinction between the Power of Order and the Power of Jurisdiction confessing that by God's Law the Bishop and the Presbyter have equal Authority as to the Power of Order but not as to the Power of Jurisdiction But this Doctrine and Distinction God's Law hath not and therefore it may not be received For the present Dispute doth nearly touch that great Article of our Faith The holy Catholick Church the Communion of Saints And it is a sure Rule consented to by all sound Divines that as to Articles of Faith no Doctrine or Distinction not contained in God's Word may be admitted But God's Word hath not this
Doctrine and Distinction but the contrary it fully assures us that the Power of Order is all the Power which Christ communicated to his Apostles and their Successors it being abundantly sufficient through his gracious Assistance and Concurrence for the ordering guiding governing and disciplining of the Church unto the end of the World And what Power of regular Jurisdiction is in Bishops distinct from the Power of Order is not Divine but Humane from Man's Law and not from God's Law And therefore if it should be supposed that Ordination by Presbyters without a Bishop is an Error as being against an innocent Law of Man yet is it not therefore null and invalid for though it ought not to be done yet being once done it is firm and valid because done by those who by God's Law are confessed to have Power to do it being equal with the Bishop as to the Power of Order it being very absurd and a Contradiction in adjecto that those should have Power to order who have no Power to ordain and that those should have equal Power to order who have not equal Power to ordain 23. True it is that besides that fixed Pastors of each particular Church there were in the primitive Times the Apostles as general Overseers who did use to visit the Churches and took care of them But this was no Act of external Jurisdiction distinct from the Power of Order but what may innocently and safely be done by an eminent Presbyter qualified with Gifts and Graces for the Work of his own free accord according to the general Rules of God's Word Mr. John Dury a Scotish Presbyter in the Reign of King Charles I. made it his business for thirty Years together purely upon a Christian Account and of his own free Heart without all colour of external Jurisdiction to visit the transmarine Churches Lutheran and Calvinistical and by writing personal Conserence and unwearied Travels to reconcile them touching Predestination Christ's Ubiquity and the Sacrament tho the Success was not answerable through the unreasonable Stiffness of the Lutheran Party And in the Reign of King Charles II. Mr. Thomas Gouge a Nonconforming Presbyter did for several Years together in Person use to visit all the Counties in Wales purely upon a Christian Account at his own Charge without all shew of external Jurisdiction having the Bible for his Warrant and the Glory of serving God and doing Good for his Reward making it his business to promote Religion and Learning An Apostolical and most blessed Work and not without great Success 24. True it is that the Distinction between Bishop and Presbyter is of great Antiquity and large Extent But that in the time of Cyprian it imported more than with us at this day doth the Distinction between the Dean and Chapter of each Cathedral Church between the Warden and Fellows of Manchester between the Parish-Minister and his Curate will not be easily proved Now all know that all these are but one Order in the Ministry and this Inequality is not at all inconsistent with the Principles and Practice of the Presbyterian Brethren 25. Finally the great Principle of those of the Church of England who hold Ordination by Presbyters without a Bishop to be invalid is this that to every Church there ought by God's Law to be a Bishop and no Bishop no Church ordinarily Now either they will stand to this their Principle or they will not If not then they undo their whole Cause and stultify themselves If yea then also their Cause cannot stand for they will not deny the Parish-Churches to be true Churches But these in England are more than nine thousand and the Diocesan Bishops are but some six and twenty Can six and twenty Men be Bishops to more than nine thousand Churches if to every Church there must be a Bishop Either then you must grant that the Parish-Churches are not true Churches and then Separation from them is a Duty and you yield the Cause to the Brownists Or if you admit them to be true Churches upon your own Grounds you must needs yield that the several Parish-Ministers who are but Presbyters are as true Bishops as they are Churches and then Ordination by them without a Diocesan must needs be valid and Diocesan Bishops are no Bishops of God's making This then is the Issue of the Matter that the Parish-Ministers who are but Presbyters are Bishops of God's making and Diocesan Prelates are Bishops of Man's making The Nullity of all external Jurisdiction in the Church not derived from and dependent on the State 1. THere cannot be external Jurisdiction without external Supremacy For all Jurisdiction doth necessarily import a Supream in whose Sentence and Decision all contending Parties are to acquiesce and from whom there can be no Appeal Therefore there cannot be external Jurisdiction without external Supremacy Now under God all external Supremacy is in the State Let every Soul be subject unto the higher Powers Rom. 13.1 that is those who bear the Sword as is afterward declared ver 4. and the Context plainly shews Submit your selves to every Ordinance of Man for the Lord's sake whether it be to the King as supreme or unto Governours as unto them that are sent by him for the Punishment of Evil-doers and for the Praise of them that do well 1 Pet. 2.13 14. Herewith agrees the old Oath of Supremacy and the 37th Article of the Church of England unanimously subscribed by the Episcopal and Presbyterial Clergy 2. To set up a contrary external Jurisdiction and Supremacy in the Church is to overthrow the Nature of the Church and to undermine the State and to act contrary to the Example of Christ and his Apostles and to imitate that Man of Sin the Son of Perdition who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped 2 Thess 2.3 4. 3. Christ himself considered as Man in the Days of his Flesh and State of Humiliation had no external Jurisdiction he exercised none he claimed none but disclaimed it saying My Kingdom is not of this World John 18.36 Man who made me a Judg or a Divider over you Luke 12.14 It belonged not to him to exercise external Jurisdiction but to be a Minister of the Circumcision for the Truth of God to confirm the Promises made unto the Fathers Rom. 15.8 He came not to be ministred unto but to minister and to give his Life a Ransom for many Mat. 20.28 And therefore in Obedience to God and out of Love to us he owned and submitted to the Jurisdiction of the Roman President in Judea He humbled himself and became obedient unto Death even the Death of the Cross for a Pattern to all his Followers and Disciples and to shew that his Kingdom was not of this World Phil. 2.8 John 19.11 1 Pet. 2.21 4. All external Jurisdiction is necessarily either supreme or subordinate But Christ considered as Man in his State of Humiliation had neither Not supreme for