had not thereby sinned and unjustly opposed themselves against God or that the Kingdom of Judah by God's Ordinance going by Succession when one King was dead his Heir was not in Right their King however by some Athaliah he might be hindred from enjoying it or that the people were not bound without any further circumstance upon sufficient notice of their former King's Death to have obey'd his Heir Apparent as their lawful King he doth greatly Erre Placet eis CAP. XVIII ALthough we doubt not but that the Priests and Levites in the Old Testament were reckon'd amongst the rest of such as were subject to their Princes Judges and Kings yet we have thought it fit to make the same more apparent by some particulars Aaron the chief Priest and the rest of the Levites after that Aaron was possest of the high Priesthood were at Moses's direction all the time that he lived and when he the said Aaron had in some sort forgotten his duty to Moses in joining with his Sister undutifully against him he found his offence therein and did humbly submit himself in this sort to him Alas my Lord I beseech thee lay not this sin upon us which we have foolishly committed It is likewise manifest in the Book of Joshua that Eleazer who succeeded Aaron with the rest of the Priests and Levites under him dispos'd of themselves and of their service as Joshua their Prince and Governour did command them And how obedient and humble both the Priests and the Levites and the Prophets themselves were to their Kings the Examples of Zadok Jehojadah Azariah Helchiah Nathan and divers others do declare they submitted themselves to their directions and when they came into their presence made Obeysance before them upon their Faces to the ground Likewise having Offices distributed and assigned severally unto them by sundry Kings they executed the same in the service of the Temple accordingly And as while they did their duties they were cherished so upon any notorious offence committed by them they were censur'd and punished Solomon deposed Abiathar from the High Priesthood and placed Zadok in his room And Josiah likewise thrust all the Priests from the Altar of the Lord in Hierusalem who had burnt Incense in the high places Placet eis CAN. XVIII IF any Man therefore shall affirm either that the Priests in the Old Testament were not as rightly and properly subjects to the civil Governours as the rest of the people or that when they any ways offended they might not be punished as lawfully by them as any others he doth greatly Erre Placet eis CAP. XIX AS we have said of the people that when the Kings of Judah were to succeed one another their Duty was to come together with joy and gladness to receive them for their Kings as sent unto them as from God himself and accordingly to submit themselves unto their Authority and Government so at such times the Priests for the most part besides their general duties as Subjects had some further service to be then by them perform'd the parts of which service are all of them manifest in the advancement of King Solomon to the Royal Throne of his Father King David where the Priests by King David's direction did give thanks to God and prayed for King Solomon they offered the peoples Sacrifices of Praise and Thanksgiving to God for their new King and Zadok the High Priest did himself anoint him Howbeit this their service thus by them perform'd did neither give to King Solomon any Right or Title to succeed his Father nor to themselves any priviledge or exemption from their subjection and Obedience unto him Abiathar the High Priest did anoint Adoniah to have succeeded King David and no Duty of likelyhood was omitted which was to be done in such a solemn action but thereby Adoniah received nothing but a badge of Treason against the King his Father which he carried with him to his Grave and Zadok the High Priest notwithstanding that he had anointed King Solomon was afterward as much subject and as dutiful unto him as he had been before unto his Father King David Nay the greater the services are of any persons to their Soveraigns the greater is and so ought to be their subjection and obedience unto them CAN. XIX IF any Man therefore shall affirm either that Adoniah was ever lawfully King of the Israelites because Abiathar the High Priest had anointed him or that King Solomon received from Zadok or from the holy Oyl which he poured upon his Head any Interest to his Fathers Kingly Seat which he had not before by the Ordinance of God and his Fathers appointment or that Abiathar might not justly have been condemn'd for a Traytor in that he anointed Adoniah as is aforesaid the Right of the Kingdom being then in King David and in him by God's appointment to be disposed of and bestow'd upon his younger Son Solomon or that it had not been a traiterous offence in Zadok if being commanded thereupon by King David to anoint King Solomon he should have refused so to have done or that either Zadok or any other Priest who afterward according to their duties anointed the Kings of Judah were thereby more exempted from their subjection and obedience unto them than were the rest of the people by their joy and applause when their Kings were newly advanced to their Kingdoms he doth greatly Erre Placet eis CAP. XX. AS it is apparent in the Scriptures that the Israelites generally as well the Priests as the People were equally bound as Subjects personally to honour reverence and obey their Kings So is it there also as manifest that the Authority of their Soveraigns over them did not only extend to civil Causes but in like manner to Causes Ecclesiastical For as it was then the duty of Parents so by the Law of Nature was it of good Kings and Civil Magistrates to bring up their Children and Subjects in the true service and worship of God as having a care committed unto them not only of their Bodies but likewise of their Souls In which respect the chief charge that all Subjects and inferiour Persons of what condition soever should diligently observe the said Law of Nature being the very same in substance that God writing with his own Finger gave unto Moses and stiled by the name of his Ten Commandments was principally imposed upon Kings and civil Rulers They were to provide that their Subjects had no other God but him who made Heaven and Earth that they made to themselves no graven Images nor bow'd down to them nor worship'd them that they did carefully meet at certain times to serve honour and magnifie the Name of God and that they might not be negligent in the observing of the rest of his Commandments And albeit through the sin of our first Parents both Kings and Subjects were become unable so to perform these their Duties of Piety
from them and is not God's Ordinance originally descending from him and depending upon him he doth greatly Erre Placet eis CAP. III. BY the sin of our first Parents Adam and Eve both they and in them all their Posterity being so fallen from God as that they were not able by any natural power or faculties in them to discharge their duties towards him or rightly in any sort to know him as they ought unto Salvation or duly serve his Divine Majesty it pleased Almighty God in mercy besides the Law of Nature left in them to propound unto them another kind of Doctrine than Nature could ever have taught them viz. the Mystery of Salvation through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ how the Son of God who created them when they were not should in fullness of time take upon him their Nature and reconcile to God again as many as should believe in him the ground of which Doctrine God himself did lay down as the foundation of the Church of Christ when he said that the seed of the Woman should break the Serpent's head CAN. III. IF any Man therefore shall affirm either that our first Parents after their Fall or consequently any of their Posterity could serve or please God truly by any natural Powers or Faculties that were left in them after the said Fall or that the Mystery of Salvation through Jesus Christ was not a secret whereunto our corrupt Nature could not attain or that our Saviour Christ is not the promised Seed that should break the Serpent's head or that any can possibly be partakers of Everlasting Life without Faith in him he doth greatly Erre Placet eis CAP. IV. AS the Son of God having created Mankind did ordain by the Law of Nature and Light of Reason that there should be some amongst them furnished with lawful Power and civil Authority to rule and govern the rest in things belonging to this natural Life and civil Society according to the true Rules both of Nature and Reason So did he also according to the supernatural Doctrine of the Gospel not only ordain that there should be some likewise in his Church to rule and govern it but also gave them another kind of Power Superiority and Authority which is termed Ecclesiastical both for the teaching and instructing of his People in the Mysteries hid from Nature concerning their Salvation through the Seed of the Woman and for the better direction and government of them in the Service of God touching their Duty towards God and their Neighbours The Institution of which Ecclesiastical Calling and Authority as also the Manner of the Worship of God through the blessed Seed from the Fall of our First Parents to the Flood although besides their Sacrifices Prayers and Preachings they be not expresly set down in the Scriptures yet it is not to be doubted but that first Adam for his time and afterward the Heads of every Family of the Faithful were not only civil Governours over their Kindred but likewise had the Power and Execution of the Priestly Office and that they were themselves instructed and taught from God as they afterward did instruct and teach such as were under them in the said Mysteries of Man's Restitution through the promised Seed by Faith and in the right Worship and Service of the true God CAN. IV. IF therefore any Man shall affirm that the Son of God having from the beginning a Church upon Earth did leave them till the Flood without Priests and Priestly Authority to govern and instruct them in those ways of their Salvation and in the right manner of the worship and service of God or that they might teach them any other Doctrine in that behalf than that which they had received from God himself he doth greatly Erre Placet eis CAP. V. AS all Mankind from the Creation of the World till the Flood descended from the Loins of Adam so after the Flood have they all descended from the three Sons of Noah Sem Cham and Japhet CAN. V. AND therefore if any Man shall affirm with any Pagan or profane Atheist either that there was not any such general deluge or that there is any Nation or people in the World that doth not descend from one of the said three Sons of Noah he doth greatly Erre Placet eis CAP. VI. NOAH lived after the Flood 350. Years and saw his Children's Children wonderfully multiplied during which term of Years he was the Patriarch or chief Governour over them ruling and ordering them by Virtue of that Superiority Power and Authority of the Sword of Justice which was given unto him by Almighty God and was also warranted by the Laws of Nature and Reason Touching this Patriarchal or in effect Regal Government of Noah there is more exprest in the Scriptures than there was before the Flood of the Power and Authority of Adam or of any of the chief Fathers and Rulers that were descended from him For now there is mention made by God himself of punishing Blood by Blood which was done by the Sword of Justice being the chief Ensign and Warrant of Supream and Regal Authority Also the Extent of this Right and Authority was so large as that he lawfully distributed the whole World unto his said three Sons and their Posterity So that his said three Sons after him were by the Ordinance of God the chief Authour of the said Distribution made three great Princes and also the Sons of those three great Princes of whom about Seventy are named were the Heads and Governours of the Families and Nations that descended from them according to their Tongues in their several Countries CAN. VI. IF any Man shall therefore affirm either that the civil Power and Authority which Noah had before the Flood was by the Deluge determined or that it was given unto him again by his Sons and Nephews or that he received from them the Sword of his Sovereignty or that the said distribution did depend upon their consents or received from them any such Authority as without the same it could not lawfully have been made or that this Power Superiority and Authority and all the Parts thereof which Noah's three Sons and their Children had as is before declared did not proceed originally from God or were not properly his Ordinances but that they had the same from the People their Off-spring He doth greatly Erre Placet eis CAP. VII IT is also certain that as the Civil Magistrates and their Authority continued after the Flood for the government of Mankind according to the Laws of God and Nature that thereby they might be kept in Order touching their Duties both toward God and their Neighbours agreeably to the said Laws written afterward more fully by God himself in two Tables so did the Priesthood and Authority Ecclesiastical also by the like Ordinance of God continue especially amongst the Off-spring of Sem both to govern them
either be kept from the Crown because their Fathers were Idolaters or being in possession of it should be deposed from it in that respect or in any other respect whatsoever he doth greatly Erre Placet eis CAP. XXIV ALmighty God foreseeing what Defects there would be sometimes in Kings and civil Magistrates and sometimes not only in the inferiour Priests but likewise in the High-Priests themselves did still as occasion required and for the benefit of his Church raise up and send unto them his Prophets Men indued by his holy Spirit with extraordinary Authority Knowledge Zeal and Courage who neither fear'd King nor Priest but told them plainly of their faults denounced the Judgments of God against them for their Sins and executed without respect of Persons such other parts of their duties as God himself immediately gave them in Charge Notwithstanding the Priests stood much upon their Authority and bragged that the Law should not perish from them flattering themselves and the people with lying words as appeareth by the peoples Speeches taught most likely by them The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord This is the Temple of the Lord yet the Prophets told them plainly That they erred that they were covetous receivers of Gifts and false Dealers that they had polluted the Temple of God that the Law should perish from them that God himself had found their wickedness in his own House that Hierusalem should be destroy'd and that they themselves should be carried into Captivity In respect of which their faithful bold and plain dealing according to God's Commandment and particular directions the Priests were for the most part greatly moved and incensed against them Pashur the High-Priest struck the Prophet Jeremy upon the Face and afterward cast him into Prison also his Death was conspir'd amongst the Priests and the rest from time to time were little better treated by them It is true that there were in those times very many false Prophets who pretending that they likewise were sent from God did greatly trouble that Church and State but their falshood and lewdness ought neither to have prejudiced the good Priests nor the true Prophets CAN. XXIV IF any Man therefore shall affirm either that the Priests in the Old Testament from the highest to the lowest were not bound to have obey'd the directions which God himself delivered unto them by his Prophets notwithstanding that now and then some of them were of the Tribe of Levi and consequently in other Causes were subject unto them or that the Examples of the true Prophets were any lawful Warrant either for any false Prophets or for any other person or persons whatsoever to have railed libelled threatned or denounc'd the Iudgments of God against any of the said Priests according to their own malicious humours God himself having never given them any such Warrant or foreknowledge to pronounce of such particular Iudgments to come or that because the High-Priest and the rest of the Priests did amiss in the malicious prosecution of God's true Prophets they might not therefore lawfully take order for the punishment of false Prophets he doth greatly Erre Placet eis CAP. XXV IT is apparent likewise in the Scriptures that as the godly Prophets in the Old Testament dealt with the Priests so did they in like manner deal with their Kings although otherwise they were their Subjects and owed them as much duty as any other Nathan the Prophet by God's particular direction spared not King David to tell him of his offences No more did Abijah Jeroboam nor Elias King Ahab they denounced God's Judgments boldly against them and accordingly they came to pass Also the Lord being not bound to those Laws which he prescribeth others to observe commanded Jehu a Subject to be anointed King over Israel of purpose to punish the sins of Ahab and Jezabel and accordingly Elizeus the Prophet caused Jehu to be anointed and God's Message to be delivered unto him who presently upon the knowledge of God's will and the submission of the Princes and Captains of Israel unto him as to their lawful King did put in execution the said Message by killing Joram before that time his Soveraign but then his Subject and by destroying and rooting out the whole Posterity Sons Familiars and Priests of Ahab In like manner Samuel a Prophet but the subject of King Saul did not refuse when God directly and in express terms bad him both to tell his Master the King That the Lord had rent the Kingdom of Israel from him and to anoint King David to succeed him We say to succeed him because we think that God's purpose only was to cut off Saul's Posterity from reigning after him and not actually while he lived to deprive him of his Kingdom but principally to provide that David might succeed him Certain it is that David lied not when notwithstanding that he himself was anointed to succeed King Saul yet he call'd him his Master and the Lord 's anointed also he prayed that God would keep him from laying his hands upon King Saul for that he was the Lords anointed Likewise when one of the Captains would have slain King Saul he said destroy him not for who can lay his hands upon the Lord 's anointed and be guiltless Furthermore when the Messenger brought him news of Saul's Death Was 't thou not afraid quoth he to put forth thy hand to destroy the anointed of the Lord and commanding the said Messenger to be kill'd for his offence therein Thy blood saith David be upon thine own head for thine own mouth hath witnessed against thee saying I have slain the Lord's anointed Besides it is manifest that the Tribes of Israel accounted Saul to be their lawful King during his life And also that they construed Samuel's words to be meant only of David's Interest to succeed him after his Death and Samuel himself notwithstanding all that he had done was by God's Commandment left the success thereof to the disposition of his Heavenly Providence and afterward both honoured Saul before the People as his King and likewise continued whilst he lived a dutiful Subject unto him CAN. XXV IF any Man therefore shall affirm either that the Prophets were to blame for dealing so sharply with Kings and Princes being their Soveraigns as though God's express Commandments had not been sufficient to have authorized them so to have dealt or that the Example of God's Prophets in this behalf were a sufficient Warrant for any false Prophets or other lewd Persons to have railed and libelled against their Kings or to have denounced such judgments against them as they in malice either desired or vainly imagined or that any Prophets Priests or other Persons having no direct and express Command from God might lawfully imitate the said facts either of Samuel or of Elizeus in anointing and designing Successors to Kings which otherwise had no
by the Maccabees themselves because he was a Priest of the Seed of Aaron did traiterously notwithstanding and treacherously Murder sundry of the Jews and held the Government of that Country till Judas Maccabaeus put him to flight Howbeit accusing the Maccabees again of wicked things he urged afterward the said King to send a new Army against them and was himself as it seemeth in the Host when Judas Maccabaeus was slain Besides it is also reported of him how he commanded that the Walls of the Inner-Court of the Sanctuary should be destroy'd and how he pulled down the Monuments of the Prophets and how in that his so wicked and profane an attempt he was stricken with the Palsey and died with great torment Now concerning Onias who if he had been of lawful Age and might have had his right ought to have been High-Priest before both his Uncles Jason and Menelaus when he perceiv'd that Alcimus had gotten that place and saw no probability how he might get it from him he fled into Egypt and there procured a Temple to be built like unto that in Hierusalem whereof he was made the principal Ruler So greedy was he of the High-Priesthood that seeing he might not be High-Priest in Hierusalem he would needs be a High-Priest in Egypt against God's Command But perhaps the High-Priesthood amongst the Jews was better bestow'd afterwards Indeed now it came into the hands of the Maccabees but how they used it there is little mention It is probable that being so distracted as they were and so continually in a manner vexed with Wars they had no time to execute that office in such sort as otherwise divers of them no doubt would have done But it cannot be denied that some of that rank were greatly puffed up with that Authority and did thereby much forget themselves and the holy Duties appertaining to the High-Priesthood Else would not Aristobulus have so unnaturally famished his own Mother nor have suffer'd the cruel Murther of his Innocent Brother Antigonus nor would Alexander succeeding Aristobulus have committed the like Murther upon his younger Brother nor would afterward the two Sons of the said Alexander viz. Hircanus and Aristobulus have grown through their ambitious desires to such mortal hatred For Aristobulus thrusting his eldest Brother Hircanus from the High Priesthood and he the said Hircanus continuing still his claim they never ceased their Hostility till Pompey having subdued them both brought both them and the whole Country under the subjection of the Romans We omit what great sums of money they bestowed on either side to procure Pompey's favour to whom they had committed the deciding of their Causes and also how Hircanus assisted Pompey in his attempt against Hierusalem partly in hope thereby to get the High Priesthood and partly in malice against his Brother who as long as he could defended that City the Issue of all which strife was this Pompey subdued the City slew twelve thousand Men Aristobulus is put from the High Priesthood the civil Government is separated again from the High-Priesthood the High Priesthood is bestowed upon Hircanus for his Service and the civil Government thenceforth translated to strangers the Temple was spoiled and Hierusalem was made Tributary to the People of Rome Of all which Calamities falling in this sort upon the Jews the dissention betwixt Hircanus and Aristobulus was held in those days to have been the cause to the great blemish of their credits professing themselves to be God's High-Priests Besides while Jason Menelaus Alcimus and the Maccabees were busied in their said Un-Priestly Contentions and Greekish profanations divers Sects of Religion arose and encreased among the Jews especially that of the Pharisees a crafty and an arrogant kind of Men seditiously bent against their Kings and impugners without fear of their Authority In which course they were the rather animated because they found through their Hypocrisy that Women were generally addicted to them and that the People did so admire them as they believed in effect whatsoever they told them against any although it were never so false or maliciously devised by them And thus Religion went in those days when the Priests had gotten the Reins into their own hands although we doubt not but that there were some few notwithstanding both of the Priests and of the People who disliking of all their said hypocritical ambitious profane and wicked Practices cover'd sometimes with a pretence of Zeal and sometimes with the glorious name of the High Priesthood did truly from their hearts both fear and serve the Lord. CAN. XXXII IF any Man therefore because in the Law of God there was great obedience to the High-Priest prescribed and required or that it is said by the Prophet That the Priests Lips should preserve knowledge and that the People should seek the law of his mouth whereas the meaning of the Holy Ghost in those and such like places only is that the High-Priests were to be obeyed when they commanded that which was not repugnant to the law of God and that the Lips of the Priests ought to preserve knowledge shall affirm either that it was not wickedly done by their Priests to thrust the People into many imminent dangers for the maintenance of their lewd quarrels and factions or that they did not grievously offend God when they forsook his true worship and brought heathenish and profane Sacrifices into his Temple or that the People were bound to obey when they requir'd them to conform themselves to the Idolatrous worship of the Heathen or that it was lawful for any of the said High-Priests by injury bribery or cruelty to seek the High Priesthood or that the Priests and People that joined with them did not wickedly who assisted Pompey to invade Hierusalem and to bring their own Countrey in Bondage to the Romans or that any such Pharisaical Sects never ordained by God were lawfully then permitted to seduce the simpler sort of the People leading them into Factions and Dislike of their Superiours He doth greatly Erre Placet eis CAP. XXXIII THE Jews being subdued by the Romans and brought under their subjection about sixty years before the coming of Christ were used by them very kindly and with great respect They had liberty granted them to live according to their own Laws so as they paid their Tributes and framed their Behaviour to Quietness and Obedience Hircanus the High-Priest placed by Pompey lived long after in great Authority But nothing would satisfie them till in the end it came to pass that as the Ambition and Strife betwixt Hircanus and Aristobulus brought Pompey upon them so now their own Wickedness and rebellious Hearts were the cause of their greater Servitude Afflictions and Miseries The remnant of the Maccabees Aristobulus and his two Sons Alexander and Antigonus would never desist from their rebellious Attempts until they were all cut off Antipater the first Governour or Procurator appointed
is but this Eternal and Divine Kingdom doth not abollish the Dominions of Men. Again I affirm not saith he that Christ as he was Man could not though he would and had thought it expedient for him have received Regal Authority but yet I say that he would not and therefore that he did not receive nor had not only the Execution of any Lordship or Regality but neither the Authority or Power of any Temporal Kingdom Again Christ as he was Man had no Temporal Kingdom neither by Inheritance nor by Election nor by Conquest nor by any special Gift of God and therefore he concludeth that Christ had no Temporal Kingdom at all because every such Kingdom is gotten by one of the said four means Again saith he Christ never used in this World any Regal Power He came to minister and not to be ministred unto to be judged and not to judge And again Regal Authority was neither necessary nor profitable to Christ but plainly idle and unprofitable For the End of his coming into the World was the Redemption of Mankind but to this end Temporal Power was not necessary but only Spiritual Lastly All the places of Scripture almost saith he where is a Treaty of the Kingdom of Christ ought necessarily to be understood of his Spiritual and Eternal Kingdom and therefore it cannot be deduced out of the Scriptures that Christ had any Temporal Kingdom So as in this Man's Judgment neither St. Peter for his time nor since any of his Successours did ever receive any Temporal Kingdoms from Christ he himself being never possest of any as he was Man either to retain in their own hands or to commit the Execution of them as in their Right to other Kings and Temporal Monarchs But to omit the further prosecution of this Loyolist's said Positions delivered truly in this point more at large and proved by sundry Arguments in his Book quoted by us because he is a Man though he be a Cardinal and of great Estimation with his own Society whose Credit seemeth to decay especially with the said Canonists and others of that like Crew For if the rest shall hereafter proceed with him as One of them hath already done by perverting the whole drift of his Disputation in that behalf very childishly and grosly he will be driven e'er it be long to range himself in the Troops of some who are falsly supposed Hereticks in that the said grave Canonist is so couragious as he dareth to adventure the pronouncing of a Curse of the greatest nature against him by name even Anathema sit and therefore We will clear our hands of him and drawing to an end in this matter leave the Conclusion of it unto Christ himself who knew his own Estate when he lived here in the World as well as any Canonist either by Birth of Padua Naples or Rome or of any other City or Countrey whatsoever It is true that our Saviour Christ as soon as he was born was a Spiritual King not only over the Jews but also over all Nations And therefore when at the time of his Arraignment before Pilate though in scorn the Jews termed him King and that indeed he could not truly have denied it yet he did not equivocate therein but confessed unto them what manner of King he was For Pilate saying unto him Art thou the King of the Jews and telling him that the Jews and High-Priests had delivered him into his hands Jesus answered thus My kingdom is not of this World if my kingdom were of this World my Servants would surely fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews but now is my kingdom not from hence As if he should have said I am no Temporal King nor have any Temporal Kingdom in this World for if I had my Subjects no doubt would never have suffered me to come to this distress or if it had been my hap so to have been dishonoured as now I am they would out of all doubt have fought on my behalf as all dutiful Subjects are bound to do when the Persons of their Sovereigns shall be in any danger But my Kingdom is of another Nature it is no Temporal Kingdom either of this World that is such a Kingdom as those who are Temporal Kings do possess or from hence that is my Kingdom requireth no worldly Assistance the World hath given me no Subjects neither have I any worldly Estate or Possessions so as it might be affirmed truly either of me or of my Kingdom that either for the Dignity of my Person or the strengthning of my Government I have any thing hence that is from the World CAN. II. AND therefore if any Man shall affirm under colour of any thing that is in the Scriptures either that the Jews did not erre in conceiving that their Messiah when He came into the World should as a Temporal Monarch reign amongst them or that the Apostles themselves were not somewhat tainted with such like imaginations or that Christ's Answers to his said Apostles did not sufficiently shew unto them that he came not into the World to erect for himself a temporal Kingdom and that therefore they were not to expect from him such worldly preferments as they had dreamed of or that the Son of God in that he was made Man did by his blessed Nativity deprive all the Civil Magistrates in the World of that power and Authority which he had formerly given unto them as he was God or that Christ as he was Man was by his birth made a Temporal King over all the World or that all Temporal Princes and Sovereign Kings were thenceforth bound to hold their several Countries aud Kingdoms no more under Christ as he was God but as being Man he was become a Temporal Monarch over all Nations or that the Emperour Tiberius who then reigned did govern the Empire for the space of above fifteen Years without any lawful Authority until our Saviour Christ willed the Jews to give unto Caesar those things that are Caesar's or that Christ having willingly undertaken for our sakes the fulfilling of all the Law and consequently of the Fifth Commandment did not hold it to be a part of his Office to obey the Emperour upon whom he had as he was God bestowed such lawful Authority as did appertain unto his Government or that either Christ's fact in paying of Tribute or his words in willing the Jews to give unto Caesar those things that were Caesar's did then import that neither Obedience Tribute Custom nor any other Duty of Subjection did until that time belong to the Emperour as being thitherto by Christ's Birth deprived of all his Regal Authority or that it is not a great Impiety in any Political Respect whatsoever for any Man to maintain when Christ saith his Kingdom is not of this World that it was a Worldly and Temporal Kingdom or when Christ saith his Kingdom was not from hence that it was notwithstanding as a Worldly Kingdom from
your selves unto all manner of Ordinance of Man for the Lord's sake whether it be unto the King as unto the Superiour or unto Governours as unto them that are sent of him for the punishment of evil doers and for the praise of them that do well For so is the will of God that by well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish Men as free and not as having the liberty for a Cloak of Maliciousness but as the Servants of God Honour all Men love Brotherly Fellowship Fear God Honour the King And the same Apostle describing the nature of false Teachers which in times to come would thrust themselves into the Church and by feigned words make a Merchandise of their Followers amongst other impieties he noteth them with these That commonly they are despisers of Government presumptuous Persons and such as stand in their own conceits Men that fear not to speak evil of them that are in dignity but as brute Beasts led with sensuality and made to be taken and destroyed speak evil of those things which they know not And with St. Peter in this point the Apostle St. Jude doth concur where speaking of those who in future times should be Makers of Sects He termeth them Mockers and Men that had not the Spirit of God And speaking also of such like wicked Persons as were crept into the Church in the Apostles days he saith they did despise Government and speak evil of them that were in Authority In all which places thus by us noted concerning as well the dignity and Authority of Sovereign Kings and Princes as the fear duty and obedience which all their Subjects were truly and sincerely without murmuring or repining to yield and perform unto them though they were then Ethnicks When we consider the manner of their delivery of that Evangelical Doctrine and their grounds thereof as also how vehemently they have written against all such Persons as either did then or should afterward oppose themselves unto it by despising of civil Magistrates speaking evil of them or in any other sort whatsoever We are fully perswaded that they neither commanded taught or writ any thing therein but what they knew to be the will of God and did accordingly believe to be true for we hold it resolutely That whatsoever the Apostles did either write teach or command they writ taught and commanded it as they were inspired and directed by the Holy Ghost because when our Saviour Christ was to leave the World he promised to send unto them the Holy Ghost the Comforter and spirit of truth which should lead them not into any By-ways or shifting conceits but into the direct and plain paths of all truths and did very shortly after perform that his Promise when upon the day of Pentecost they were all filled with the Holy Ghost as St. Luke witnesseth Besides the Apostle St. Paul himself doth profess both in his own name and in the behalf of the rest of the Apostles his Fellows that their Master being the truth it self after he had so mercifully and liberally perform'd his said Promise unto them they did not deal with the word of God as Vintners Regraters or Merchants do with their mixed Wines and adulterated Wares that is mingle it with any untruths or superstitious conceits or vent it out otherwise than the truth did therein warrant them or did apply it with fraud either to serve their own or any other mens designments or deliver'd it with any such inward Reservations and mental Evasions as when they did most seem to their hearers to speak one thing directly they had such another meaning as when time should serve they might make use of But whatsoever they said they spake it sincerely sicut ex Deo as God did guide them by the Holy Ghost coram Deo as in the sight of God unto whom one day they were to give an account of their said sincerity in Christo as their blessed Saviour himself had preached taught them and had commanded them CAN. IV. THerefore if any Man shall affirm under colour of any thing that is in the Scriptures either that the Deity of our Saviour Christ doth not since his Resurrection and Ascension otherwise execute the Majesty and Glory thereof in his Humanity than it did before his Passion or that Christ now in Glory is not actually the Heir of all things as he is Man so highly exalted and both King of kings and Lord of lords or that he now sitting at the right hand of God in Glory and Majesty as he is Man hath made an alteration in the manner of temporal Government ordain'd by himself long before as he is God or that now all the Kingdoms in the World being but one Kingdom in respect of himself he doth not allow the distributing of that his one Vniversal Kingdom into divers Principalities and Kingdoms to be ruled by so many Kings and absolute Princes under him or that such Kings and Sovereign Governours as were Ethnicks were deprived by Christ's Ascension into Heaven and most glorious Estate there from the true Interest and lawful Possession of the Kingdoms which before they enjoyed or that the ancient Fathers were deceived in holding and maintaining that all Christians in the Primitive Church were bound to obey such Kings and Princes as were then Pagans or that the Subjects of all the Temporal Princes in the World were not as much bound in St. Paul's time to be subject unto them as the Romans were to be subject to the Empire not only for Fear but even for Conscience Sake or that St. Paul's Commandment by virtue of his Apostleship and assistance of the Holy Ghost of Obedience to Princes then Ethnicks is not of as great force to bind the Conscience of all true Christians as if he had been then Summus Pontifex or that any Pope now hath power to dispense with the said Doctrine of St. Paul as the said Canonist by us quoted doth seem to affirm where after he hath said That the Apostle St. Paul commanding all Men to be obedient to superiour Powers was not the highest Bishop he addeth these words Papa major est administratione Paulo Papa dispensat contra Apostolum in his quae non concernunt Articulos fidei The Pope is greater in Authority than Paul the Pope doth dispense against the Apostle in those things that do not concern the Articles of Faith or that the Primitive Church was not as well restrain'd de jure by the Doctrine of Christ's Apostles as de facto from bearing Arms against such Princes as were then Ethnicks and transferring of their Kingdoms from them unto any others or that St. Peter himself who our Adversaries would make the World believe was then the highest Bishop concurring with the Apostle St. Paul when he commanded the Christians in those days to submit themselves unto the King as unto the Superiour they both of them were assured commanding therein as they
before his Ascension enlarging their Commission did commit unto his Apostles the Administration of the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and shortly after furnished not only them but the said Disciples also according to their several Functions most abundantly with all such Gifts and Heavenly Graces as were necessary for them in those great Affairs which were imposed upon them Whereby we find already two compleat Degrees of Ecclesiastical Ministers ordained by Christ himself immediately viz. His 12. Apostles and his 70. Disciples the one in Dignity and Authority above the other the Disciples in that respect being termed Secondary Apostles and were the same as 't is most probably held who were afterward called Evangelists We will not intermeddle with the Prophets in those times of whom the Scriptures make mention because divers of them were no Ministers of the Word and Sacraments of whom only we have here taken upon us to intreat leaving in like manner the said 70. Disciples or Evangelists as before they had been assistants unto Christ so now to be directed by his Apostles Touching whose blessed calling it is to be observed that the end of it was not that they should only for their own times by Preaching the Word Administring the Sacraments and likewise by their Authority of Ecclesiastical Regiment draw many to the embracing of the Gospel and afterward to rule and order them as that they might not easily be drawn again from it but were in like sort to provide for a Succession in their Ministry of fit Persons sufficiently Authorized by them to undertake that charge and as well to yield some further assistance unto them whilst they themselves lived as afterward also both to continue the same in their own Persons unto their lives end and in like manner to ordain by the Authority of the Apostles given unto them other Ministers to succeed themselves that so the said Apostolical Authority being derived in that sort from one to another there might never be any want of Pastors and Teachers for the work of the Ministry and for the Edification of the Body of Christ unto the end of the World This being the duty of the said Apostles and that it may be evident what it was which they did communicate unto the Ministry it is to be observed that some things in the Apostles were essential and perpetual and was the substance of their Ministry containing the three Essential Parts before mentioned of Preaching administring the Sacraments and of Ecclesiastical Government and that some were but personal and temporary granted unto them for the better strengthning and approving of the said Ministry with all the Parts of it there being then many Difficulties and Impediments which did many ways hinder the first Preaching and Plantation of the Gospel In the number of the said personal or temporary Gifts or Prerogatives these may be accounted the Chief 1. That they were called immediately by Chirst himself to lay the Foundation of Christian Faith among the Gentiles 2. That their Commission to that purpose was not limited to any Place or Country 3. That they had power through Imposition of their hands to give the Holy Ghost by visible Signs 4. That they were directed in the performance of their Office by the especial Inspiration of the Holy Ghost and lastly That their Doctrine which they deliver'd in Writing was to be a Canon and Rule to all Churches for ever All which personal Prerogatives although they did then appertain and were then adherent to the Essence of the Apostolick Function and were necessary at the first for the establishing of the Gospel yet it is plain that they did not contain in them any of the said Essential Parts of the Ministry and likewise that they could not be communicated by the Apostles unto any others So as either the Apostles for the Propagation and Continuance of the Eccelesiastical Ministry did communicate to others the said three Essential Parts of it viz. Power to Preach to Administer the Sacraments and Authority of Government wherein must be Degrees some to direct and some to be directed or else they died all with them which were a very wicked and an idle conceit the Apostles having Power to communicate them all alike as by their Proceedings it will appear At the first they themselves with the Evangelists and so many of the Prophets as were Ministers of the Word and Sacraments after they had converted many to the Faith did execute in their own Persons agreeably to their several Callings all those Ecclesiastical Functions as were afterward of necessity and in due time to be distinguished and setled in some others Whereby it came to pass that the Church in Jerusalem during that time had no other Deacons Priests nor Bishops but the Apostles the Evangelists and the said Prophets But afterwards the Harvest growing great as to disburthen themselves of some charge they Ordained Deacons So their own Company Apostles Disciples or Evangelists and Prophets coming short of that number of Labourers which the said Harvest required they did for their future aid chuse unto themselves by the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost certain other new Disciples and Scholars such as they found meet for that work and after some good experience had of them made them by the Imposition of their hands Priests and Ministers of the Gospel but did not for a time tie them to any particular places as having design'd them to be their Fellow-Labourers and Coadjutors These Men the Apostles had commonly in their Company and did not employ their Pains and diligent Preaching for the speedier Propagation of the Gospel which was their first and most Principal Care but likewise did use to send them hither and thither their Occasions so requiring to the Churches already planted as their Messengers and Legates sufficiently authorized for the dispatching of such Affairs as were committed unto them Of this number were Timothy Titus Marcus Epaphroditus Sylvanus Andronicus and divers others who in respect of such their Apostolical Employments and because also the Apostles did oftentimes commend them greatly and join'd their Names with their own in the beginnings of sundry their Epistles to divers Churches were Men of great Reputation and Authority amongst all Christians in those days and had the name it self of Apostles given unto them as formerly it hath been observ'd of the 70. Disciples And these were the Persons who were afterward when they were tied to the oversight of divers particular Churches or Congregations termed Bishops as it will afterward appear Now because these Apostolical Persons were still to attend upon the Apostles and their Designments as is above mentioned and for that the number of Christians every where did still encrease the Apostles held it necessary to ordain by imposition of their hands a second degree of Ministers who were thereupon still to remain in the particular Churches or Congregations that were already planted in divers Cities for in those
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
that was held necessary for the Apostles times or that Order so much commended amongst all Men and is most properly termed Parium dispariumque rerum sua cuique loca tribuens Dispositio should be necessary to build the Church but unfit to preserve it or that the same Artisans that are most meet to build this or that House are not the fittest both to keep the same in good Reparations and likewise to build other Houses when there is cause No Man can doubt who is of any reading but that when the Apostles died there were many defects in many Churches and that likewise there were a number of places in the World where the Apostles had never been and where there were no Churches planted or established Whereupon it followeth of necessity that if the said Form of Government in the Apostles days was then necessary for the planting and ordering of Churches that the same did continue to be as necessary afterward for the supplying of such defects as were left in some Churches and for the planting and ordering of other Churches in those places that had not received the Gospel whilst the Apostles lived And to this purpose it doth much avail that for ought we can find there can no one Nation or Country be named since the Apostles days neither in times of Persecution nor since but when it first received the Faith of Christ it had thereupon both Bishops and Archbishops placed in it for the Government of the Churches that were there planted imitating therein for their more certain direction the Government of the Churches that were erected by the Apostles and had been deduced from them agreeable in substance with the Form of Ecclesiastical Government that was once amongst God's own People the Jews Which was no new conceit amongst the ancient Fathers as it may appear by the words of one of them Who saith in effect that Bishops Priests and Deacons may challenge now that Authority in the Church which Aaron and his Sons and the Levites had in times past and that the Apostles in establishing of their Government in the New Testament had respect to that which was in the Old for as much as concern'd the Essential parts of that Priesthood Moreover the Primitive Churches presently after the Apostles times finding in the New Testament no one person to have been ordain'd a Priest or Minister of the Gospel mediately by Men but either by Imposition of the Apostles hands or of their hands to whom they gave Authority in that behalf as unto Timothy and Titus and such other Bishops as they were and knowing that the Church of Christ should never be left destitute of Priests and Bishops for the work of the Ministry they durst not presume upon their own heads to devise a new form of making of Ministers nor to commit that Authority unto any other after their own Fancies but held it their bounden duty to leave the same where they found it viz. in the hands of Timothy and Titus and consequently of other Bishops their Successors Whereupon it followeth very necessarily that none of the Primitive Churches or ancient Fathers did ever so much as once dream that the Authority given by St. Paul to Timothy and to Titus and to the rest who were then made Bishops as well for the ordering of Priests as for the further order and government of the Church did determine by the death of the Apostles Considering that presently after as long as they were in being and lived and ever since till very lately it was held by them altogether unlawful for any to ordain a Priest or Minister of the Word except he were himself a Bishop and no one approved Example for the space of above 1500. years can be shewed for ought we find to the contrary It is true that one Coluthus being himself but a Priest would needs take upon him to make Priests in spleen against his own Bishop the Bishop of Alexandria with whom he was then fallen at variance and that the like attempt was made by one Maximus supposing himself to have been a Bishop where he was indeed but a Priest as it was decided by the first Council of Constantinople Howbeit such their Ordinations were accounted void and utterly condemn'd as unlawful they themselves not escaping such just reproof as so great a Novelty and presumption did deserve We acknowledge that for the great dignity of the Action of Ordination it was decreed by another Council That Priests should lay their hands with the Bishop upon him that was to be made Priest but they had not thereby any Power of Ordination but only did it to testifie their consent thereunto and likewise to concur in the blessing of him neither might they ever in that sort impose their hands upon any without their Bishops Again the said Primitive Churches and ancient Fathers finding how the Apostles by the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost had ordained Bishops Timothy Titus and such like for the ordering and appeasing of such Quarrels and Contentions as arise amongst the Ministers and People for want of some amongst them of Authority to govern them they might thereby have been confirmed more and more in their Judgments if at any time they had doubted of it concerning the necessity of that Apostolical Form of Government that it was for ever to continue to the end the Schisms and contentious Persons might be still by the same means suppressed that they were whilst the Apostles lived For they ever observed what the want of Bishops would work in the Church and how the contempt of them and disobedience to their directions was always a chief cause of Sects and Schisms Which made them easily to discern that if the Apostles had not provided for the continuance of their Apostolical Authority in Bishops who were to succeed them in the Government of the Church but had left an equality in the Clergy that every one might have proceeded in his own particular Church after his own Fashion there would have been nothing in the Church but Disorder Scandals Sects Schisms and all manner of Confusion One of the ancient Fathers perceiving in his time what Pride and Contempt certain unstaid and contentious Persons shewed toward their Archbishops did lay it upon them as a property of Hereticks and feared not to compare them to the Devils These are his words Quilibet haereticus c. loquens cum Pontifice nec eum vocat Pontificem nec Archiepiscopum nec Religiosissimum nec Sanctum sed quid Reverentia tua nomina illi adducit communia ejus negans autoritatem Diabolus hoc tum fecit in Deo Ero similis Altissimo Non Deo sed Altissimo And another Father long before the days of the former did accordingly observe that Hereticks and Schismaticks did usually spring from no other Fountain but his Quod Sacerdoti Dei non obtemperatur nec unus in Ecclesia ad tempus Sacerdos ad tempus Judex vice Christi cogitatur
Universal Dominion over all the World temporaelitèr temporally and likewise sufficient Power to institute and appoint one Emperour under him as his Substitute to rule the whole World they use this Argument Summus Pontifex instituit ac confirmat Imperatorem sed Imperator habet Dominium universale temporaliter in toto Mundo Ergo Papa habet hoc idem Dominium temporaliter The Bishop of Rome doth ordain and confirm the Emperour but the Emperour hath universal Dominion temporally in the whole World therefore the Pope hath the very same temporal Dominion And about ten years since one Andrew Hoy the Greek Professor at Doway made an Oration De novae apud Europeos Monarchiae pro tempore utilitate taking upon him to prove that the King of Spain was the fittest Person of all the Kings and Princes in Europe to be advanced unto this great Monarchy But what should we trouble our selves with this point The King of Spain we suppose will greatly scorn to be the Pope's Vassal and the Emperour that now is or that shall succeed him hereafter as likewise all the Kings and Princes in the World may see most evidently how grosly and shamefully they are abused and how notably they neglect the greatness of their own Callings especially they who have been heretofore or shall be hereafter Emperours in that they do intermeddle any thing at all with the Pope or receive from him either their Confirmation or Coronation in that thereby he presumeth most ridiculously and without any shew of truth to challenge them for his Servants and Vassals It hath been before shewed by the Judgment of the Cardinalized Jesuit That the Bishops of Rome have no temporal Possessions at all but such as they have received from the Emperour and other Kings and Soveraign Princes In consideration whereof seeing that now they insult so notably over them all both Princes Kings and Emperours being so far from acknowledging themselves to be the Emperour's Subjects or to hold their said Possessions either of him or of any King that bestowed them upon them We do verily think that the said Princes Kings and Emperours who have been so beneficial to the said Bishops shall never shew themselves to be of that Princely Magnanimity and Prowess which their high places do require nor free their Sceptres from the thraldom and base subjection to their usurped Authority until either they take from them what before they gave them or bring them to a more dutiful acknowledgment of their Duties unto them And what we say of the Popes we likewise do hold concerning all the Clergy besides in Europe or elsewhere that if they shall either withdraw themselves from their subjection unto their temporal Soveraigns under whom they live or deny to hold the Possessions of their several Churches of their said Soveraigns or to do them Homage for the same they may lawfully in our Judgments not only resume the said Possessions into their own hands but likewise proceed against them as Rebels and Traytors according to the Form of their several Laws But this is a Digression For in the beginning of this Chapter we undertook to deal with those only who though they maintain the Popes general Supremacy over the Catholick Church yet they deny upon many weighty reasons that God did ever ordain any one Emperour to govern all the World But how long they will deny it we know not in that the principal Jesuit himself writeth thus Vtrum expediret omnes Provincias Mundi c. Whether it were expedient that all the Provinces in the World should be govern'd by one chief King in things Politick although the same be not necessary it may be a Question Mihi tamen omnino expedire videtur si possit eò perveniri sine injustitiâ bellicis cladibus Yet it seemeth to me expedient if such a Monarchical Government over all the World might be gotten without Injustice and such Calamities and Miseries as usually follow War What this Jesuit doth encline unto it is hereby evident But in that he confesseth that such a Monarchical civil Government is not necessary that is enough for our purpose because hereby it likewise followeth as before we have shewed that the Government of the Pope over the whole Church is in every respect as little necessary CAN. X. AND therefore if any Man shall affirm under colour of any thing that is in the Scriptures or that can be truly grounded upon natural Reason or Philosophy That our Saviour Christ should have shewed himself to have had no discretion except he had left one chief Bishop to have govern'd all the Churches in the World or that except he appointed one to the said end he should as a Person void of Providence have left his Faithful People in a miserable confusion and without any Government at all or that any of all the Arguments that may be deduced from Philosophy and natural Reason to prove that one Man ought to have the Government of the whole Catholick Church in spiritual Causes are not as forcible to prove that one King or Emperour ought to have the Rule and Government over the whole World in Causes temporal or that any of the Philosophers ever meant to have their reasons alledged by them to prove that in every particular Country the Monarchical Form of Temporal Government was the best to be extended to prove that there ought to be either one Bishop over all the Catholick Church whereof they had no knowledge or one Emperour over all the World or that because all Men have their beginning from Adam it doth not as well follow that there ought to be one Emperour to govern all the World as one Bishop over the whole Catholick Church or that Aaron was any more a Figure of St. Peter and his Successors that they severally in their times should govern the whole Church than King David was of Augustus the Emperour and his Successors that they severally in their times should have committed unto them the Government of the whole World or that the resemblances in the Scriptures of the Church unto an Host well order'd to a humane Body to a Kingdom to a Fold to an House to a Ship may not fitly be applied as well to the Vniversal Kingdom of Christ over all the World as unto the Church and so consequently as well to our Saviour Christ as he is the Governour of the whole World that he is the General of that Host the Head of that Body the King of that Kingdom the Shepherd of that Flock the Housholder of that Family and the Pilot of that Ship as may these Titles be ascribed unto him as he is the only Archbishop of the whole Church viz. That he is the only General of this Host the only Head of this Body the only King of this Kingdom the only Shepherd of this Flock the only Housholder of this Family and the only Pilot of this Ship or that the said Vnities concerning the