of his Majesties declaration concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs seeing it is demonstrable that wherein that modell varies from the former Vsages of Episcopacy in this Nation it comes nearer to the practice of Pure Antiquity For 1. That the antient Bishops were constant Preachers appears by their Homilies yet extant 2. That they had their Chorepiscopi which in his Majesties modell are Suffragan Bishops is evident by many Testimonies produced in this case and allowed by the highest Episcoparians 3. That they had a Colledge of Presbyters who joined with them in all acts of Ordination and Jurisdiction is clear by the mention of Ï€ÏεσβυτÎÏιον in the Apostle Paul 1 Tim. 4.14 in the work of imposition of hands and the frequent conjunction of the Bishop and his Ï€ÏεσβυτÎÏιον in Ignatius the great Patron of Episcopacy in those clauses where he requires subjection from the people to Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of which many instances besides these might be produced 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ad Ephes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ad Magnes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ad Philad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ad Trall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ad Smyrn c. 4. That they delegated their power to any other persons to act in their names seems most improbable Nay there is a passage in Ignatius which not obscurely intimates that even in the necessary abscence of the Bishop his seat was void or supplyed which is most probable by none or the Presbyterie alone For he sends commendations to his Church in Smyrna when he was upon his Journey to Rome with this clause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That he had left them under the only Episcopal inspection of Jesus Christ Ign. ep ad Romanos 5. That if such delegation be supposed agreeable to the Primitive pattern yet to be sure there is not one footstep of a Lay-Chancellor or Commissary exercising Ecclesiastical jurisdiction in all Antiquity 6. That confirmation admission to and suspention from the Lords Supper Catechising and composing of Parochial differences are works in which the Pastors of particular Churches are most directly concerned and therefore are most rationally to be joyned with the Bishop and Presbyterie in all such acts as concern them may be concluded not repugnant to best Antiquity till the person that questions it shew sufficient evidence from it for a Contrary practice then we have yet seen 7. And Lastly that Bishops did not in the Primitive times act arbitrarily but according to rule the acknowleged antient Canons among the Patrons of Episcopacy at least whom we have now to do withall evidence All which are the substance of the plat-form laid by his Majesty and much consonant to the model contrived by his Royal Father whose knowledge in the nature of Primitive Episcopacy no man can doubt who hath read his learned discourses upon that subject and those approved by most Episcopal men then in being so that I account my assertion firm thus farr at least But 2. The Episcopal party may salvâ conscientiâ condescend in these farther particulars upon their own Principles 1. To the reformation of Deans Chapters and Cathedral dependants in this manner or the like as shall seem most adviseable to his Majesty and the Parliament 1. By annexing to every Cathedral dignity a Cure of souls in or near the Metropolis of the Diocess where the Cathedral is especially where the Legal maintenance of a Church is most inconsiderable and most of all where it is impropriate to the Cathedral use and this Cure to be discharged by the Dignitary in person except in case of necessary hinderance It being apparent that whatever footsteps of such a Collegiate Society of Deans and Chapters are to be found in Antiquity inform us that the original of them was from the convenient situation of the Neighbouring Pastors to the Episcopal seat to assist the Bishop upon all occasions without damage to their flocks when those that lived at remoter distance could not be called in as often as he needed them without inconvenience 2. By erecting a standing Presbytery consisting of such Ministers having Cure of Souls within or near the place of the Bishops residence at the choice of the generality of the Ministry of the Diocess the Dignitaries of the Cathedral not being included in the number except so chosen for the Constant asistance of the Bishop in ordinary acts of jurisdiction which require not or in such extraordinary as will not permit the delay requisite to the orderly summoning of remoter Presbyters There being no clear footstep in Antiquity for the constitution of a select society of Presbyters to assist the Bishop exclusively to the rest of their brethen who are barely entituled to that Dignity by being entituled to a revenue annexed to the Mother Church a relation which till about Constantines time at least had no being 3. By levelling all such priviledges and immunities as hinder the reformation of Cathedral dependants and rendring them obnoxious to the same inspection with the officers and members of Parochial Churches 4. By taking away pluralities of such Ecclesiastical dignities which hinder the Dignitaries from attending the Services which their original foundation had respect unto 5. By reducing the vast revenues of some Bishopricks to a more moderate proportion and assigning the surplussage of them as an addition to the maintenance of Suffragan Bishops and for the bearing of the incidental charges of such as are fain to attend the affairs of the Church upon occasionall calls far from their homes to Synods or other Church Conventions and other such uses It being apparent that till Cathedral Churches were built they could not be endowed or priviledged and by consequence that in the three last particulars to plead Primitive Antiquity against what is propounded involves a self-contradiction 2. They may also upon their own Principles condescend to a Law for the ratifying of Ordination in these late years conferred by Presbyters without exacting a Submission to re-ordination in those who Scruple it For 1. That the Bishops hands are necessary to Ordination See Cades Justification of the Church of England p. 311. otherwise then upon the account of Ecclesiastical constitution for orders sake will be hard to evidence from Scripture or pure Antiquity 2. That Ordaining of Presbyters by Presbyters by the Bishops licence as in the case of the antient Chorepiscopi and in the necessary absence or want of Bishops as Augustine and Ambrose testifie concerning the practice in Egypt and particularly at Alexandria hath been of great Antiquity in the Church and certainly if leave or absence of the Bishop render it lawful for Presbyters alone to ordain it will follow that there is a radical and fundamental power of Ordination in Presbyters for else a Bishops leave or absence might as well impower a meer Laick to give orders which was only restrained for Orders sake as was said before 3. That Arch. B. Bancroft and the rest of his Brethren who admitted the
Scottish Bishops to consecration required not their re-ordination and surely they were not ignorant of what plea's lay against it from Antiquity 4. That in the Judgement of two or three late learned Prelates Pr. of Armagh Browning and it is said Morton the greatest if not only blame with which Presbyteriall Ordination can be charged in England is that it was done schismatically But it will be very hard to prove that according to the sense of Antiquity Ordination is eo nomine null because performed by persons under a Schisme Nay our own Mason de Minist Augl See validity of Ordination of the Ministers of the Reformed Churches by F. Mason proves that Schisme in the Consecrator doth not null the Consecration of Bishops out of Antiquity and though he be no friend to Ordination by meer Presbyters in England though he justifie it in forraign Churches yet there is par ratio in both as to this case I mean scismatical consecration of Bishops and ordination of Presbyters 3. They may also without wrong to their Principles give consent to a more regular election and equall constitution of Synods which with the impress of Soveraign Authority are the ordinary Legal original of Church-Constitutions and those in whom by representation as the whole body of the People in an House of Commons the whole body of the Clergy do choose the Laws they will be governed by And under this head it is supposed No cogent reason from Scripture or Antiquity can be given why they may not consent to these regulations following or the like 1. That all members of Convocation except the Bishop himself whose claime by vertue of his office is not denyed to be of great Antiquity if the authority of antient Councils be allowed being but Presbyters may submit to an equal election with the Clerks of Convocation except which I think cannot be proved there be any footsteps in pure Antiquity priviledging one Presbyter beyond another without election to sit in a Synod and make Laws for the Church 2. That if Cathedral members sit as representers of distinct Collegiate bodies they belong to either the number of them be lessened or the number of Clerks Elective be augmented to overballance them it seeming unequal that the Clerks who represent the whole Clergy should be lyable to be outvoted by the number of those who whatever burthens they lay upon their brethren and the Churches under them are by the priviledge of their society little concerned in them themselves 3. That seeing the late dissolution of Government hath exposed us to so many Schisms in the Church and factions in the State and the animosities occasioned by them are yet too flagrant among us so that it may rationally be supposed our mutual heats may hinder us from all reconciliation by the debates and conclusions of a Synod constituted of meer Natives there be some course taken as in the Synod of Dort to call in the assistance of some forraigne Reformed Divines by way of advice not jurisdiction who being uninterested in our quarrels may be able to suggest better expedients for our accommodation then our passion and prejudice will suffer us to light on our selves This proposal is bottomed upon the use the antients made of General Councils which seeing we cannot now have it seems but equal that when like causes call for forraigne advice the same course be followed as near as it may 4. That canvasing for voices by Apparitors c. be forbidden and the present way of summoning Ministers to such election by Apparitors which gives them advantage so to do and opportunity to leave those unsummoned whose votes they doubt of may be changed into a publike proclamation in all Market Towns or the like as shall seem best to Authority 5. That no Proxie votes be admitted except upon oath made that the persons deputing their Proxies are hindred from giving their attendance by some necessary impediment 6. That all elections be made upon such days as may not necessitate the Ministers that live at distance to an inconvenience in reference to their Lords day labours and in such places as are near the Center of every Diocess that Ministers from all parts may attend them with less inconvenience These last-mentioned particulars carry so much equity in the front of them that it is not to be supposed any one will think it needful to appeal to the practice of the antient Church concerning them or if they should it were no difficult matter to derive sufficient countenance for them from the records of antient Councills 4. Nor is there any thing to scruple their Conscience in the granting it from Scripture or pure Antiquity but rather much to induce them thereunto in case it be farther desired That an abstract be made of all Ecclesiastical Laws in force and published that all men may know when they are or are not obnoxious to Ecclesiastical Censures and those litigations occasioned by the dispersion of them in so many Books too many already but likely to be vastly multiplyed in case the conceit of some great Church-men now in being hold good that a great part of the Canon Laws is still in force no more turn Ecclesiastical Iudicatories into Courts of Common Pleas. And that visitation Articles upon which Church-wardens are sworn to present be confined both in number and quality to such a proportion and nature as they may safely swear to 5. Nor will it to any one that considereth how severe the antient discipline of the Church was in cases of Scandal and how indulgent in matters of Scruple be thought repugnant to their principles before mentioned if they be desired to make the yoke of Church censures heavier for Scandalous Non-conformists to the Laws of God then scrupulous Non-conformists to the Laws of the Church and take care that they be executed with a like difference 6. Nor will it be a matter of Conscience if upon the preceding Consideration it be desired that bare non-conformity in circumstantialls where it is not joyned with open contempt of authority or an evident fomenting of Schisme and Faction may not expose a Ministers station and Livelyhood to such hazards as formerly 7. But rather that the few Controverted Ceremonies be laid aside altogether that they may be no more a Shibboleth or note of distinction between Minister and Minister nor expose the most conscientious persons who are the only persons apt to scruple in such cases a prey to malicious prosecutors who are upon all occasions apt to make the neglect of them an occasion of disquieting those Ministers whose doctrine disquiets their lusts 8. And seeing the strict observation of the Lords day in the performance of publike and private duties of religion is found by experience to conduce very much to the promoting of knowledge and piety where it is so observed and ignorance and licentiousness where it is neglected it is supposed they need not scruple though possibly not upon the same ground which the
Presbyterians plead the morality of the day yet at least by an Ecclesiastical constitution to enjoin it To be sure if Scripture and Fathers as some think be not so severe as to require a totall abstinence from secular imployment and recreations on that day yet there is nothing in them against the practice of such an abstinence in order to religious ends 9. It is hardly to be imagined that conscience can find so much in Scripture or Antiquity for the Justification of the whole frame of the English Liturgy and the forms of Ordination c. as that they shoold rationally conclude it a Sin to make any alterations of mis-translations or inconvenient expressions the main body and bulke of them being preserved which few quarrel at 10. Lastly the multitude of holy-days as they are called yet remaining is under the same disputableness as to their foundation in pure Antiquity and so may even with safety to their principles be lessened I have not multiplyed all these heads as if I thought it unpossible to accommodate the Presbyterians upon any easier Terms or because I think it necessary they should insist upon every punctillio of these Proposals Nay some of them may possibly be already sufficiently secured in law for ought I know who confess my self not much versed in that kind of reading and so it may be superfluous to desire them However in case such provision be already made it were but meet for satisfaction of those who desire it that it be made appear where and how that provision is made and that assurance be given that such Laws shall be better executed for the future then heretofore And I have this charity for the Presbyterian Ministers that I am perswaded some very few additions to the model and concessions of the Kings Declaration and those barely usefull to render them practicable will reconcile the most of them to their Brethren and render them most entirely one with them And what pity would it be to cast off so considerable a number of learned orthodox peaceable and powerful Preachers from publike imployment in the Church for not complying in the utmost extremity to those things which may be more safely indulged by the professed principles of their Governors then they can be practised by theirs And let it be seriously considered whether if St. Peter and St. Paul and the rest of the Apostles who dealt so moderately in the first Synod at Jerusalem in a question of as great or greater importance then any before mentioned would if they were now in England not very much condemn the violent principles and actings of some persons who profess to succeed them Surely if to become all things lawfull to all men that we may win some be an Apostolical practice and commended in the Scripture to our imitation as it is that Principle that will not allow men to become any thing though never so lawful upon their own declared grounds to so considerable a number of their conscientious Brethren is neither commendable nor Apostolical But it may be the fault is on the other side It is not meet the Episcoparian should become all things to them and they comply in nothing with them again Very true it is not And therefore in the next place upon the former postulata as they refer to the Presbyterian party I proceed to Assert 2. Assertions relating to the Presbyterian Party Secondly That the Presbyterians may salvâ conscientiâ 1. In reference to Church-Government 1. Admit at least Jure humano as an Officer of Ecclesiastical constitution or as deputed by the Kings Majesty and by vertue of his acknowledged Supremacy a single Person to preside over the Presbyterie of such or such a convenient Precinct as a Master of a Colledge over his Fellows For though the Scripture do not according to their grounds appoint any such Officer yet it doth not forbid the Constitution of such an one by the Church or Magistrate for more regular managery of affairs and it is doubtfull at least whether such an one were not admitted into the Church for the remedy of Schisme as Jerome saith before the death of St. John 2. It need not scruple their Consciences by what name so it be a name of honour and reverence he be called whether Father or President or Moderator or Super-intendent or Bishop And if the Favour of Princes to this Ecclesiastical Title add another of Civil Dignity I know not but they may without scruple call him by that Name as when an Earldom as lately it fell out in England in a Noble Family devolves upon a Minister of the Gospel I think Right Honourable and Your Lordship doth nevertheless belong to him because he is a Minister It appears not to me but the lawfulness of the Titles of Master and Father given to Ministers is as disputable from the Scripture as that of My Lord. Though it little becomes Ministers to strive for them or be offended with those that scruple to give them 3. Nor need it be a scruple of Conscience that such a person is continued in his Chair for Term of life or quamdiu bene se gesserit and is not chose anew on every occasion of publick meeting For in this the Scripture I think as to any positive determination is deeply silent and Antiquity favours not the later constitution at all as far as I understand 4. If this Person have large and ample Revenues beyond his Brethren allowed him suitable to a Governor deputed by Authority and to maintain the dignity of his place c. though it be true that too large Incomes to Officers of the Church are but baits of Ambition and temptations to supercilious Lording and domineering over the Flock I think need not scare the Conscience of any man from accommodation seeing Scripture determines not the exact proportion of Maintenance which the Governors of the Church may require and no more and if a learned and leading man of that side which goes for Presbyterian M. B. on the Worcest Petition say true so large summs in Cyprians time and Farms and Lands were at the Bishops disposall that some of them complained of the burthen of managing them And how much they allowed themselves or the Church allowed them out of those vast summs who can tell 5. Nor doth the Constitution of Deans and Chapters nor their Revenues as they are a kind of Collegiate preferments for the encouragement of eminent Divines and in case they were so modelled as their influence might be less in Ecclesiastical affairs farther then they are elected by the Clergy ut suprà offer any violence to the forementioned Principles of a Presbyterian Conscience For neither Scripture Antiquity nor Covenant forbid or exclude such Societies or their Endowments under that notion Yea in the late times when some of those in power stiffly pleaded the Covenant for extirpation of them to justifie Sacriledge the Dean and Prebends of Christs Church in Oxford would not be perswaded