well as in a triumphant Chariot Ambitious vanities are never seasonable or comely for any humble Christians and least for the Ministers of Christ who ought to be crucified to the world and the world to them Gal. 6.14 especially at my years and in my condition 'T is honour and grandeur enough for Me if I may next the advance of Gods glory promote Your and my Countries common good which I must tell you doth not a little depend upon the good order unity and government the honour peace and safety of the Reformed Religion duly established in this Church and Nation of England Of whose festred scratches and deep wounds since I cannot but have a great sense both of Grief and Shame and toward whose healing since I am indeed very ambitious to drop one drop of soveraigne balsome before I die I have here endeavoured to seek Your face and to recommend Her distress to Your compassions It is for Her sake and for Yours in Her that I again adventure for truly it is an adventure and no small one in this age thus to appeare in publique possibly with more forwardnesse and zeale than prudence and discretion in some mens censure Who it may be have not so much charity or courage in them as to own an afflicted friend an impoverished father or a distressed mother Yet to justifie my discretion this may be said That nothing seems to me in Policy as well as Piety more rationally and religiously necessary than a publique tender regard to the state of the Reformed Religion in this Church and Nation To me Noblemen and Gentlemen Citizens and Yeomen all sorts in their private and publique capacity seem if not to want yet to expect something in this kind from some of us Ministers of the Church of England which might handsomely excite to honest industry those sparks of piety and generosity which heretofore flamed in their Fore-fathers liberall breasts toward this Church of England as Christian and as Reformed Nor are they I presume quite extinct in yours who now succeed them whom I doe not arrogantly instruct as if I thought you ignorant but humbly provoke to doe what you know when opportunity shall answer your abilities and good will Not but that I have also pleasing speculations many times of that silent safetie and secure latencie in which I see others my betters or equals hug themselves I know there are men otherwayes of good worth and parts who dare not speak one good word either of or for the best Bishops the best Presbyters or the best Nationall Church in the world as this of England was These over-bred and too much Gentlemen may consider That a good man may be more wary than wise more fearfull than faithfull more cautious than consciencious The Prophet Jeremie resolved by reason of the danger and ingratitude of the Jewes to speak no more to them in the name of the Lord but the word of God was as fire in his breast he could not hold his peace and keep peace in his soule I could as easily wrap my self up in silence and privacie as some others doe if I did not feare sins of omission as well as commission which was the jealousie a most learned and godly person had of himself lately dying who yet had been an earnest intercessor for the relief of many distressed Ministers in England I would also covet the reputation of a wise man by keeping silence in an evill time if I had not many and great stimulations while my life is declining and my death approching to give what further constant and comely proofs I may to this and after-ages of my zeal for God of my love to my Saviour of my communion with his Catholick Church of my particular respect to this noble part of it The Church of England and in this of my due observance to my Reverend Fathers and beloved brethren the godly Bishops and orderly Presbyters of this Church yea and lastly of my charitable ambition to heap coals of fire not scorching and consuming but melting and refining even upon the heads of those who still professe to be remorslesse enemies to my calling and to the whole Church of England who seem to me as if they sought totally to debase the Clergie of England yea utterly to destroy the ancient Catholique order and government succession and authority of the Evangelicall Ministery in this Reformed Church while they endeavour to remove able ordained and autoritative Teachers into corners and to obtrude I know not what volâ—ntiers new and exotick intruders into that holy function These will certainly in a few years make the Sun goe down upon England at noon-day bringing upon this Nation the shadows of the night Superstition ignorance profanenesse irreligion and confusion leading Posterity to Popery by the way of popularity poverty parity despiciency and Anarchy falling upon the Ministery and the Reformed Religion of this Church In which blacknesse of darknesse debasings and disorders the Seers of this people will in time grow blind the guides unguided the teachers will be untaught the Pastors unbred the flock unfed by a mushrome and novell Ministery multiforme miserable mechanick Grows-up neither duly ordained nor decently maintained nor much deserving either of them being crest-faln in themselves and contemptible to others I cannot be satisfied in Reason or Religion in honour or conscience in policy or piety how it can be happy for You your Posterity and this whole Nation to live after a vagrant loose and indifferent way of Christian administrations and profession according to every mans private fancy choice and humour without any such Nationall setling and combination such publique Ecclesiasticall union as hath in all Ages and Nations best edified and fortified counselled and corrected excited and increased both gifts and graces in a most comely and most Christian order with such harmony unity majesty and authority as best becomes the Disciples and Churches of Christ I confesse I am ashamed to see and heare any Gentlemen of honour or other persons of commendable qualities of good estates of ingenuous parts and breeding poorly and meanly to forsake the waters of Siloah and to follow the brooks of Teman to discountenance at least if not quite discard their learned grave godly and experienced Ministers who are of the true metall and stamp too which a Minister of the Gospel ought to be that is really enabled and duly ordained or authorized to that great work And this most what not out of any serious advice and consciencious choise becoming Christians in so great a concernment but rather out of easinesse levity curiosity popularity or some pittifull complyances with novell upstarts and rude intruders into that Sacred office Among whom if they doe save their purses which is by some deserters of their lawfull Ministers much looked after yet I am afraid they too much venture their souls I am sure they lose much of their credit both in present and after-ages
of England O venerable censors O severe Aristarchusses of a more than Catonian gravity to whose ploughs and looms and distaffs and clubs and hammers 't is meet as to so many sacred scepters this later English and Christian world should no lesse submit their souls than the Jews and Gentiles Greeks and Barbarians Romans and Scythians did to the nets and fish-hooks of the Apostles who were authorized with miraculous gifts and assisted by the speciall power of the holy Spirit of Christ to plant settle and reform and purge Christian Churches To whose holy Doctrine and Divine Institutions delivered in the Old and New Testament and followed by all the Primitive Catholick Churches notwithstanding that the Church of England did in its first Reformation diligently and exactly conform it self if we may believe the integrity of those Reformers who had the courage and constancy to be Martyrs whose learning worth piety hath been confirm'd by the testimony of so many wise religious Princes by the approbation sanction of so many honourable and unanimous Houses of Parliament by the suffrages of so many learned and reverend Convocations by the applauses of so many Sister-reformed Churches if we may believe the preaching living and dying of so many hundred excellent Bishops and Presbyters or the prayers praises and proficiencies of so many thousands of other good Christians or lastly if we may believe the wonderful blessings and speciall graces of a merciful God attesting to the verity sanctity and integrity of this Church-Reformation and Christian Constitution for many happy years Yet against all these some peevish Momusses some spitefull Caco-zelots some evil-ey'd Zoilusses some insolent and causelesse Enemies of the Church of England have not so much modesty as to conceale their malice or to smother their insolent folly and intolerable arrogancy which dares to put the ignorance giddinesse emptinesse vulgarity rashnesse precipitancy and sinisternesse of their silly censures into the balance of Religion contrary to the renowned learning piety gravity grace and majesty of all those who have had so great favour love respect and honour for the Church of England Whom her spitefull and envious adversaries now presume to follow with nothing but Contumelies and Anathema's with pillagings and spoylings with railings and revilings with waste and ruine to the excessive joy of Her Papall enemies whose deeply-designed policies have a long time desired and hoped to see that wofull day befall the Church of England in which her Bishops might beg her Presbyters be starved her Ministry contemned her Liturgie ejected her Unity dissolved and broken her Ancient and Primitive Government abolished her undoubted ordination and succession of Ministers interrupted her whole Christian Frame and Nationall Constitution which was for the main truly Catholick Primitive and Apostolick destroyed dissipated desolated What invincible Armadoes could not atchieve what monstrous Powder-plots could not accomplish what wily Jesuits and other subtile Sophisters despaired to attain having been oft defeated and repelled by the learned care and vigilant puissance of wise Princes sober Parlaments reverend Bishops and other able Ministers of the Church of England that the weaknesse wantonnesse and wickednesse of some of our own petty Sectaries Schismatick Agitators superâ—reforming Reformers is likely to bring to passe whom the most admired and devout Lord Primate of Armagh a great Prophet of God and Pillar of the Reformed Religion sometime told me he esteemed no other than Factors for Popery and Engines for Roman designs by divisions and domestick confusions of Religion to bring in Popish Superstition and Tyranny Indeed a prudent Conjecturer may in this case easily make a true Prophet For the Roman Eagle a watchfull powerfull and voracious bird can never fail at last to seise on these parts of Christendome for her prey where she shall see Ignorance prevail against Knowledge Barbarity against Learning Division against Unity Confusion against Order People against their Priests Novelty against Antiquity Anarchy against Catholick Authority and infinite deformities ushered in under the title of speciall Reformations That cunning Conclave which overlooks the Christian world as the greatest constellation of policy in the West knows full well that such feaverish distempers in any Church or Christian State as now afflict the Church of England will not faile if they long continue to bring it to such an hectick consumption as will quite destroy its former healthfull constitution and prepare it for those Italian Empiricks who will come then to be in request with common people when they find no good to be got by the best-reputed Physicians the most specious Reformers when these are at their wits ends so differing in their judgements and practise that they know not what to do by reason of the madnesse impatiency and petulancy of people those foraign Mountebanks will alwayes promise men help and cure at an easie rate for they require no more of the most desperate patients than to credit their receipts to be confident of and reconciled to the skill and artifice of the Church of Rome their Mother and the Pope their Father CHAP. VI. I Cannot believe that any of you who are persons of Learning Honour and Integrity lovers of your Countrey and the Reformed Religion can be wholly strangers to the sad and dangerous condition of the Church of England Nor can you if rightly set forth to you be unaffected with it unlesse your designs and fortunes are to be advanced by the rents and ruines of this Church of England In which as the Lord liveth before whom we all stand distempers are risen not onely to Divisions but Distractions not onely to Injuries but Insolencies not only to Obloquies but Oppressions not onely to Schismes but Abscissions not onely to Factions but Confusions not onely to Lapses but Apostacies not onely to rude Deformities but they tend to absolute Nullities as to any Christian Harmony Fraternity Order Beauty Unity Strength Safety and publick setling of that Reformed Religion which was once professed in the Church of England And this by reason of the Envies Despites Rudenesses Animosities Seditions Strifes Separations Raylings Reproches Contumelies Blasphemies and prophane Novelties every where pregnant and predominant among vulgar spirits and odiously cast upon all things that you and your forefathers esteemed as religious and sacred in this Church of England The torrent of rebukes and troubles like Ezekiels waters is now risen not onely to the ankles and knees but to the loyns and neck growing too rapid and deep for the common people to wade over or venture into nor are they safe for any to engage upon but those who as S. Christopher is represented in the Legendary Emblem are heightned by their own integrity and supported by Gods heroick Spirit for it is a black and dangerous a red and dead Sea upon which he adventures who will now seriously assert the Church of England whose troubled state is more stormy than those waters were on which S. Peter ventured to walk or
to destroy that holy order and Evangelicall function from whose declared rules and injunctions in the Church they had degenerated for neither the infirmities nor the presumptions of men ought to annull that office or abolish that authority which is Divine Christs commission which is given to the Church must not be voyded or cancelled by reason of any Ministers omissions Sacred institutions such as the Ministry and government of Christs Church are ought to continue notwithstanding the intervening of mans ignorance errour profaneness or Idolatry The plagues and leprosies arising from mens persons and adhering to them are not imputable to that place power station and authority which they have in the Church Men may be unworthy of their holy function but the function it self is not made unworthy no more than Aarons joyning with the people in making the golden calf did disparage the sacred dignity of that Priestly office to which he was by the Lord designed The enormous folly of Eli's sons did not make the sacrifices they offered of none effect nor yet nullifie the honour and office of that Priesthood wherewith they were duly invested Judas his being an Hypocrite a Thief a Traitour and a Devil yet did not abrogate that Apostolical office and Episcopall authority which he had received from Christ equally with the other Apostles untill by open Apostasy he fell into open rebellion desperation and perdition Which gross and open Apostasy either from Christ or his Gospel from the Christian faith or their Ministeriall office and ordination cannot with any truth or fore-head be charged upon the Clergie or Ch. of England who for the main both in the consecration of Bishops and ordination of Presbyters in the administration of holy duties execution of their offices generally and for the main kept to the Ancient Primitive and Apostolick customes of all the Churches of Christ since the Apostles dayes so that whatever blame charge or reproch is cast upon the Clergie or Church of England must equally lie upon all Christian Churches since the first complete and setled constitution of any Church I know the mouths of some men like moths and their tongues like worms are prone to corrode by infinite scruples scandalls and reproches all the beauty of the Church of England with all the merit and honour of its Clergie but blessed be God we stand or fall with the Catholick Church of Christ with the whole order race and Apostolick succession of Christian Bishops and Presbyters we more fear the rudeness and heaviness of mens hands than the sharpness of their wits or weight of their arguments which are as spiteful and yet as vain as the vipers biting of the file when from some Ministers personall failings they fasten their venomous teeth upon the whole state and constitution of the Church of England In whose behalf I am neither afraid nor ashamed to appeal to you my most honoured countrey-men as the nearest and best Judges in the world of this matter First as to the Church of England in its godly care and Christian constitution whether you do believe or really find that in any thing it hath been wanting which is necessary for the good of your souls Next as to the Bishops and Ministers of England whether abating personall infirmities they have not generally been ever since the Reformation both able and faithfull in the work of the Lord whether as Mr. Peter du Moulin confesseth you and your fore-fathers do not chiefly owe to them both the beginning and continuance of the Reformed as well as Christian Religion next under the mercy of God and the care of your pious Princes whether the tenuity or weakness of some Ministers who had less abilities and perhaps too little incouragements were not abundantly supplied by the eminent sufficiencies of many others and if every Diocese had not an excellent Bishop at all times or every Parish enjoyed not a very able Preacher yet I am sure neither of the two Provinces in England nor any one County ever wanted since the Reformation either excellent Bishops or excellent Preachers in them to a far greater store than was to be enjoyed in Primitive times when Dioceses were larger and petty Parishes not at all in the Church of Christ So then I may justly quere whether one odious century of Ministers branded some of them for scandalous because they were more exactly conform to the Laws and Customes established in the Church of England were a just ground to reproch the whole Clergie or to abolish the order function and succession both of Bishops and Presbyters which some men aim at officious compilers of that uncomely Centâ— Whether they might not with as much truth and more reason have enumerated the scandalous livings of England as so many not convicted but supposed scandalous Ministers many of whose maintenance was worse than their manners and more unworthy of their profession Whether any thing truly objectable against any Bishop or Minister of England as scandalously weak wicked and unworthy may not with as much more truth be objected against their severest enemies No man in England not grosly ignorant or passionately impotent can deny what I here affirm and proclaim to all the world That the Clergie of England both Governours and governed taking them in their integrality or unity as they were esteemed a third estate in the Body politick or as an Ecclesiasticall fraternity and corporation have been not onely tolerable but commendable yea admirable instruments of Gods glory and the good of mens souls in this Church and Nation That as they did at first in the morning of the Reformation so ever since during the heat and burthen of the day they have with great learning and godly zeal with Christian courage constancy integrity and wisdome every way asserted vindicated and maintained the truth purity and power also the peace order and honour of Christian and Reformed Religion against Atheists and Infidels against the superstitions of the Romanists on one side and the factions of the Schismaticks on the other Nor have they onely built with the trowel but fought also with the sword of the Word What Giantly error what Papal Goliah hath ever appeared defying this Reformed Church whom some excellent Bishops and other learned Divines who were Episcopal have not encountred prostrated confounded and beheaded the spoiles and trophies of them are still extant in their works as eternall monuments of the incomparable prowess worth and merit of the English Clergy What wholsom saving and necessary truth did they ever wilfully deprive You of In what holy institution and ordinance of Jesus Christ have they ever conspired to defraud or diminish you In what holy work or duty have they come short of any In what excellent doctrine gift grace or vertue have they been so defective as not to give your forefathers your selves and all the world most illustrious proofs and generous examples To which testimony no ingenuous knowing and conscientious
enemies rivals and extirpaters of the ancient Clergie and Ecclesiastick order in England can pretend the true Ministers Bishops and Presbyters of this Christian and Reformed Church doe challenge use and maintaine no other power priviledge or authority Ecclesiasticall than what they have duly and constantly received in the way of holy orders from their predecessors hands who have descended from the very Apostles dayes Nor are they such Monopolizers or appropriators of this power and office ministeriall to their own persons or to such onely as are formall Academicks professed Scholars and University Graduates as not willingly to admit into that holy Order and Fraternity by the right and Catholick way of due ordination not onely any worthy Gentlemen of competent parts pious affections and orderly lives whose hearts God shall move to so holy an ambition to desire so good a work but even those that are of plebeian proportions of meaner parts and less improved erudition provided they be found upon due trial to have acquired such competent abilities by Gods blessing upon their private industry and studious piety as may render them meet for any place or work in Christs husbandry where one may sow another may water a third may weed a fourth may fense the Church and Vineyard according to the severall gifts and dispensations ministred by the same Spirit and power of Christ which ought to be dispensed and carried on not in an arbitrary rude and precarious usurpation and intrusion but in an authoritative orderly and decent derivation succession for the honor profit peace of the Church of Christ Certainly no worthy Minister or sober Christian can so undervalue and debase those Evangelicall offices of Christ which are exercised by his ordained Ministers as to think that every self-flatterer and obtruder is presently to officiate without any due examination approbation and ordination from those with whom that commission and power hath been ever deposited in a regular and visible succession from Christ the great exemplar or Original which visible order mission and delegation is as necessary for the outward unity authority solemnity and majesty of Christs militant Church and Ministry upon earth as the workings of his blessed Spirit are for the inward operation and efficacie of true grace in mens hearts So that as no private and good Christian hath any cause to complain in this part of the Bishops and Ministers of the Church of England who in dispensing of holy orders or ministeriall power acted after the Catholick pattern of Primitive Churches no less than the particular constitutions of this Church allowed by all estates and degrees of men no more have any secular Powers or civil Magisrates who are or shall be professors of true Christian Religion any cause to be jealous of the ancient Bishops and Ministers of the Church nor shall they need either out of conscience or reasons of state to pervert and innovate that pristine course and regular succession of ministeriall authority yea as worthy Christians and wise Governours they ought both in piety and policy in honour and conscience to be no less exact in preserving this sacred order and divine authority from alteration invasion and usurpation than they are for their own civil power and secular jurisdiction which the renowned patterns of Christian Potentates Constantine Theodosius and other great and godly Princes were so far from arrogating to their imperiall power that they humbly submitted themselves to the order and power Ecclesiasticall in the things of Christ highly esteeming and venerating that Apostolick race of Bishops and Presbyters in the Church as the great Luminaries of the world the constant witnesses of Christs life and death the celebraters of his mysterious sufferings grace and glory the ministerial Fathers and confirmers of Christians faith as terrestiall Angels as Gods gracious Ambassadors for pardon and peace as Christs speciall commissioners appointed for to carry on the great work of saving mens souls Just and generous Princes if they be truly Christian cannot be so partial as to forbid any man under the highâ—st pain and penalty of high treason and death it self to challenge to himself any part of their civil or military power without a due commission derived either from themselves immediately or from those to whom they have deputed power for such ends and purposes which order they permit no man to violate or usurp however conceitedly or really able he may seem to be to himself or others for the managing of such power and yet permit such persons as are for the most part heady and high-minded insolent and disorderly to intrude themselves by a meer usurpation upon that sacred office authority and Ministry which is Christs without any due and solemn derivation of this power in such a way as hath ever been Apostolick Primitive Catholick and onely authentick in the Churches of Christ Certainly the rude innovation and usurpation upon this office and honour merits above any boldness as Nilus in Balsamon expresseth it that black brand of the last and perillous times when men shall be emphatically Traytors not onely to men but to Christ not onely to Common-weals but to Churches disobedient to parents not onely naturall and politick but also spirituall and ecclesiastick violating and betraying not onely the visible peace order uniformity and successive authority of the Church but the invisible comforts quiet and grace of poor peoples souls who must needs be at a great loss in a very sad and shamefull case as to their Religion where their spirituall leaders and shepherds are usurpers intruders clamberers not coming into the sheep-fold by the door of right ordination but climbing some other way as thieves and robbers when their titular and intruding Pastors prove either grievous wolves or miserable asses as they commonly are found to be who are not admitted by due ordination but crowd into the Ministry by rude and novell obtrusions so domineering over the flock of Christ over whom not the holy Ghost by an ordinary derived power and authority but their own unruly spirits have made them not so much over-seers of others as either stark blind or grosly over-seen in themselves CHAP. X. THe sense of this High Treason against Christ and of those sinfull disorders which men bring on themselves the Church of Christ by their intrusion usurpation upon this ministeriall power and office makes me here seriously suggest to You my honoured and beloved Country-men this religious caution That it very much concerns you for your own and your posterities souls good to be very wary not to be imposed upon and abused by vulgar pretensions of zeal and Christian liberty in this point of the Ministry but to be vigilant with whom you intrust as Ministers your own your childrens or any other peoples souls where you are Patrons of Livings And since your own prudent abilities for learning piety and experience are so modest as not rashly to adventure upon this
which I am sure give all the seeing world in this point so clear so perfect so full a light and so uniform a testimony that no learned impartiall and conscientious Christian can desire more nor can they but acquiesce in these unless they dare to doubt and deny the veracity and fidelity of all authors that have given us account of any Ecclesiasticall Catholick affairs and customes since the Apostles times in all which no one point or practise hath less doubt or dispute less variation or diversity than this of Ecclesiasticall order both as to the Ministry and government of the Church What the ignorant vulgar who are the bran and courser sort of people may endlesly fancy and affect or what others of better parts but as base passions may cunningly pretend I know not the better to bring in their new modelings of Ministers and Churches but I am sure it will very ill become you O noble Gentlemen who are the best and finest flower the beauty and honour the strength and stability of this English Nation who are the choice and chiefest sons of the Church of England it ill becomes you to suspect all those burning and shining lights both Bishops and Presbyters Fathers and Historians single and sociall in their Closets and in their Councils even in the first innocent ages when the Church was most pure and persecuted as if they had all been either grosly ignorant of or supinely negligent in following the mind of Christ and methods of the blessed Apostles as to these great affairs of the Church which were openly uniformly universally both preached and practised by the Apostles also delivered to and received by their successors as in other things so most indisputably in this which so much concerned not onely the right ordering and well-being and polity of the estate of the Church militant but it s very being and Essence in Doctrine Ministry Duties Discipline and Government Can it I beseech you without great uncharitableness and pervicacy unworthy of any ingenuous soul be imagined that from the beginning during the life of some Apostles and their scholars the whole Church and the most eminent persons in it Ministers Martyrs and Confessors did all conspire to delude themselves and to deceive all posterity in so clear great and sacred concernments as those of the Churches Ministry and Polity were ever esteemed The incomparable and unanswerable Mr. Rich Hooker who is not to be read without admiration nor named without veneration long ago urged this Absurdity against the then more modest Sticklers for their Disciplinarian Innovations in the Ministry and Polity of the Church of England Sure saith he it were a very strange thing that such a Discipline meaning the Presbyterian as ye speak of should be taught by Christ and his Apostles in the Word of God and no Church hath ever found it out nor received it till this present time or contrariwise that the Government of the Church against which you bend your selves should be observed every where through all generations and ages of the Christian world and no Church ever perceive it to be against the word of God We require you to find out but one Church upon the face of the earth that hath been ordered by your Discipline or that hath not been ordered by ours that is Episcopall government for ordination and jurisdiction since the times that the blessed Apostles were conversant upon earth This unanswered challenge did that excellent person heretofore make in order to prevent if possible these innovations and mischiefs which are now grassant in England to the hazard of quite overthrowing all that ancient Order Ministry succession and Government which had been conserved in this Church conform to all parts of the Catholick Church If your other employments and studies have hindred you from being so well acquainted with the authentick works and authoritative testimonies of the ancientest writers of Church-affairs as those grand Authors deserve and your ingenuity cannot but desire yet far be it from your prudence piety and charity to derogate from the honour and credit of your own Countrey-men who have in the Histories of England both Civil and Ecclesiasticall to which you cannot well be strangers sufficiently shewed from the originall of these British Churches what Ministry and Orders they had If you are yet strangers to those eldest ages times and authors of your own and so cannot maturely ground your judgements upon their testimony yet what think you of the learning piety honesty and courage of those later and reall and renowned Reformers of this Church whether Clergie or Lay-men who lived in your fathers memories whose blood and ashes as Martyrs and Confessors against Papall innovations and corruptions is still warm and precious These did not lay new foundations of a Christian Church a true Religion or an authentick Ministry here in England but they onely repaired the decayes of the old and lightned them of those either erroneous or dangerous superstructures with which long ignorance and superstition had over-laded them and not so much built upon them as almost quite buried them These Heroes these worthy men I say who were worthy of the name of Christians English-men and Reformers did not ever design or go about to broach new fountains nor to cut new channels nor to lay new pipes by which to convey the Ecclesiasticall order and Ministeriall authority here in England but they cleansed the foulness they removed the obstructions they sodered the ruptures of the former Catholick way which was very good as well as very old yet not the antiquity but the veracity and divinity of it attested both by Scriptures and by the Catholick usage of all Churches made those blessed Reformers now an hundred years ago cheerfully subscribe to that polity Ministry and authority Ecclesiasticall which they mended but changed not these they recommended to all estates in this nation by whose Parlamentary votes and sanction they were established as the best means to preserve this Church both Christian and Reformed After these famous Fathers of England's happy Reformation whose judgement is manifest in the point of ministeriall power and holy order to be carried on by Bishops and Presbyters can you suspect that their later successors in office and judgement I mean all those learned grave and godly Ministers of England whom your eyes have seen and your ears have heard heretofore with great respect love and admiration dispensing the word of God and holy mysteries to you who till the divisions and deformities of these last and worst dayes have baptized instructed and guided both you and your hopefull posterity in the way to heaven and happiness in truth and peace in faith and repentance in humility and holiness in all graces vertues and good works powerfully set forth to you by their excellent Sermons and fervent Prayers by the blessed Sacraments and worthy Examples they have communicated to you can you I say suspect that all these together with the
Bishops and Presbyters of the Catholick Church the East and West the old and new the Greeks and Latines the Roman and Reformed that all these have conspired to erre so great so universall so constant an errour themselves and to mis-guide you me and all the Christian world in such wayes of receiving and conferring Ecclesiastick order Evangelicall Ministry Church-government as were unchristian yea Antichristian diverse from Christs mind yea contrary to it offensive to the godly odious to God himself as some men have lewdly declamed whose tongues I judge to be no slander since they appear persons of so little conscience and less forehead either grosly ignorant of the practise and platform of Antiquity or most uncharitably impudent in branding so many thousands of godly Bishops and other gracious Ministers both in England and all other places who were justly famous in their generations for their learning and piety as if they were either so many blind guides or so many bold intruders meer usurpers juglers impostors hypocrites as if to gratifie their own private ambitions they had from the very beginning in the sight and in despite of S. John and other Apostolick Pastors perverted the way of Christ as to that Ministeriall power Church-order which he had appointed setting up of their own heads a paternall presidency or Episcopall eminency instead of these newly discovered wayes of either a Presbyterian parity or a popular Independency by which Presbyters and people in common challenge to themselves the sole possession dispensation and managery of all Ecclesiasticall office power and authority inventions so pragmatick so turbulent so contrariant to one another as well as to the ancient orders of the Church that we in England were happily unacquainted with them till of late years as were all other Churches in the world till this last century who cannot be thought in all former ages to have wanted such Pastors and Teachers such Rulers and Governours as were after Gods own heart to carry on his great work of saving souls in the preserving and propagating of his Church by the Ministers of it If the great cloud of ancient and Catholick witnesses who ever owned all Ecclesiastick power to be magisterially indeed and primarily in Christ but ministerially and secondarily in the Apostles and their successors as to all Church-ministration ordination and jurisdiction which power resided chiefly in Bishops and from them was regularly derived to Presbyters if these I say can fall under your hard censure as either deceived or deceivers yet truly their errour in this point may be the more veniall because the case was not so much as once doubted or disputed for three hundred years in those best and first ages of the Church It will be more charity in their censurers to suspect they wanted ability to see the light of Christs mind and the Apostles examples than honesty to follow them But for my self and other Ministers my Fathers and Brethren of the Church of England who after so high contests about the Ministry of the Church both as to ordination and jurisdiction in which we have examined all Scriptures and rifled all Antiquity if we do still bona fide humbly honestly and conscientiously chuse to follow what seems to us Christian Catholick and uniform antiquity rather than any partiall and divided wayes of novelty I hope we are excusable to you if not commendable how ignorant or obstinate soever we seem to others who think we ought to be confounded if we will not be converted or rather perverted by them But if you do indeed judge that after so clear demonstrations and potent convictions from Scripture and Antiquity which either Geneva or Edenburgh or Amsterdam or New-England have alledged we do still persist in our Primitive opinions and Catholick Errours touching the office power and derivation of the Evangelicall Ministry and Authority such as was established in this Church of England meerly out of either passion pertinacy and obstinacy or for private interests sinister ends and secular policies if you can think us so base and false such sots and beasts so unworthy of the names of Ministers Christians Englishmen or men if this be your sense of us truly you and the whole State shall do but an act of high Justice speedily to cast us all out as well Presbyters as Bishops for unsavoury salt to expose us yet more upon the dunghill of vulgar contempt and worldly poverty which some Satyrick tongues and pens have earnestly importuned and petulantly endeavoured against all the ancient Ministers and orderly Clergie of England under the name of Prelaticks and Episcopall If the bitter and bold invectives of spitefull Papists and fierce Separatists of rash Presbyterians and rude Independents of Erastians and Anabaptists if these have been or can be made good to you against the Ministry and ordination of the Church of England against all its Bishops and Presbyters both in office and exercise as if we had not either before or since the Reformation any due ministeriall office or authority no true ordination or succession little of ministeriall gifts and less of graces no sound doctrine faithfully preached no Sacraments rightly consecrated no holy mysteries lawfully celebrated no Church-discipline dispensed no right government constituted no true Ministry or authoritative Ministers any way deserving either love or honour from you and your posterity If all your and our faith repentance charity and other graces be in vain if your Christian peace and hopes be all but imaginary if neither we are made true Ministers of Christ nor you true Members or Disciples of Christ if all your and your fore-fathers piety devotion charity Christianity hath been onely a fantastick pageantry a mummery and mockery of Religion Christianity and Reformation if hitherto you have onely been deluded and abused in so high concernments of your consciences and souls to eternity truly 't is but high time for you and your new Common-weale to offer up the wretched remnant of those Bishops and Presbyters who have yet survived the calamities and contempts of these times and who yet retain their former judgement ministeriall office and holy orders conformably to the Church of England to be an acceptable Sacrifice a welcome Holocaust or much longed-for Burnt-offering to the malice of their adversaries and persecutors both Gog and Magog first to the more secret but implacable despite of Papists who have infinitely longed and no less rejoyce to see poverty obscurity silence scorn division confusion extirpation to be the portion of the English Clergie whom they heretofore either envied or dreaded beyond the Ministry of any Christian or Reformed Church in all the world next you shall in so doing highly gratifie the bitter and bolder enmity the fouler-mouth'd fury of all other sharp-tongu'd brazen-fac'd and heavy-handed Schismaticks who have a long time grudged at the Clergie of England envying both Bishops and Presbyters their honours liberties livelihoods and lives prompted hereto partly by their own
till of later years CHAP. XIII THe late licentious Invasions made upon this Church of England the Reformed Religion the Ministerial Order Office and Succession established in it through all ages since the Nation was Christian were yet something tolerable justifiable if those Ministers who profess to be of the ordination and communion of the Ch. of Engl. either wanted ability or industry skill or will to serve God and to deserve well of you O worthy Gentlemen and all their Countrey-men or if you and the rest of the nation were already better provided in order to your souls good by any new generation of Preachers better learned more rarely gifted more spiritually extracted or more regularly consecrated and duly ordained if these new-minted Ministers these self-intruding Teachers did afford you weightier Sermons warmer Prayers more solemn Sacraments more sacred Examples more usefull writings if they brought you with all this bustling and parado a better God a better Saviour a better Gospel better Scriptures or a better Spirit than those were which the excellent Bishops and other Ministers of the Church of England set before you and this nation many wayes for many years with mighty successes while they were countenanced encouraged and ingenuously treated if the advantages of Religion as Christian and Reformed or of your and your posterities souls were either reall or probable by these new intruders we might well bear with your and the common peoples pious inconstancy when it should tend to the improvement and happinesse of your souls But these great and good interests of your souls for my part as I have not yet found any where in any new wayes so I do not think that any wise and honest-hearted Christian can by any one instance prove that those Libertines who are Levellers of the Ministeriall duty and dignity either have been hitherto able or will ever be probable to advance them in the least kind or degree beyond or equall or any way comparable to what the former Clergy of England have done and are still both able and willing to do As for these new Rabbies you shall have commonly their best at first by soft and as they think saintly insinuations they first creep into houses next into bosoms at last into pulpits The small and light bundle of the gifts they have picked up are soon set on fire by the least sparks of popular desire and applause then as squibs or granadoes they flie off amain with more extravagant motion panick terrour thick smoke foul stench and vapour than with any great or good execution done against Sin or Satan or the World After a few godly prefacings about the Spirit Grace Christ and the new Covenant together with some gallantries or light skirmishings with some starveling errors and useless sins you shall know the utmost of their sufficiencies which is with egregious impudence to scorn what they cannot attain that is all good learning and the manners of their betters When they have loudly ratled at more than confuted any thing which they list to call an Error when they have huddled together wrested distorted a great many places of Scripture without any regard to the Grammaticall and genuine sense of the words or to the propriety of phrases or to the main scope of the place or to the clear Analogie of faith after all these flourishings you shall see the bottom and dregs of their hearts poured forth in vile and uncomely railings scurrilous and odious rantings against all Bishops and Ministers against the whole Hierarchie Ministry and Church of England At last with equall vociferation and emptinesse without any principles of reason or grounds of Religion without proof or plausibility with more lungs than brains they cry up their own new lights their rare discoveries their excellent Reformations and pure Ordinances of Jesus Christ all which are as much beyond all former dispensations and ministrations in this or any Church as the deceits of Mountebanks excell all that Fernelius Galen or Hippocrates could ever use or invent especially when these are in a new Paracelsian way applied and dispensed not by the old Empiricks the Papall and Episcopall Clergy but by new-called and ordained Preachers by specially-inspired Prophets by precious men extraordinarily qualified and sent either by the inward and unknown impulses of Gods Spirit or by the call and election of some godly select people who casting off all ancient Christian Communion with this Nationall or the Catholick Church do first body themselves to a new way of Church-fellowship then they assume to themselves some Brother and Member as they can agree to be their spirituall Pastor him they invest by their bare suffrages with all ministerial power and authority as from Jesus Christ himself Such a kind of confused noise doe these land-floods these popular torrents these turbulent Teachers make where once they have found a vent and course for their liberty to break through all bounds of law and order being indeed very muddy shallow fatuous and feeble in all things divine and humane for the most part onely they have a strong high conceit of themselves and a perfect Antipathy against those Ministers in the Church of England to whom they owe all they have of Knowledge and Religion which is worth owning Do but look near to their new doctrines and opinions and you will easily see how loose how false how futile how fanatick they are look to their speech and writing how rude how improper how incoherent how insignificant how full of barbarismes soloecismes and absurdities mark their whole form of preaching how raw how rambling how immethodicall how incongruous how obscure impertinent consider their Prayers how are they farced with odde expressions with forced affected confused dull dead and insipid repetitions weigh their lives and actions how pragmatick licentious injurious sacrilegious spitefull uncharitable pernicious scandalous are they to many sober and quiet men and specially to such as they have most cause to suspect to be much their betters and their most accurate censurers Last of all look to all their novell principles and you shall see how various versatile ambiguous temporizing and dangerous they are while much of their Divinity depends upon Diurnalls their Religion is most-what calculated by the Almanack or Ephemeris of their hopes and feares their interests and lusts their prevalences and advantages measured not by Scriptures but by Providences These distempers evidently appearing as they daily do in your new Teachers must not you and all sober Christians confess that these Comets these blazing and wandring stars mostly made up of gross vulgar and earthy exhalations full of portentous malignity to this Reformed Church are infinitely short of that benign light and that divine sweet and heavenly influence which heretofore shined from the fixed starrs of this Church which were in the right hand of Christ the godly Bishops and other Ministers to the great honour and unspeakable happiness of this
who have brought forth as good Scribes instructed for the Kingdom of Heaven out of the good treasuries of their hearts things both new old the Learning of the ancient Fathers Councills and Historians set off with later Experiments and Improvements of all spirituall operations and gracious comforts the forgetting I say of these Ministers cannot be worthy of that pious gratitude which becomes noble-minded Christian How meane uncomely and much below you must it needs appeare to all wise and sober Christians in the present age and all posterity if you suffer their holy orders to be despised their spirituall offices to be neglected their divine authority to be usurped their primitive orders and constant succession to be interrupted their persons to be abused and shamefully treated their support as to double honour to be so abuted that their maintetenance shall be very small sharking and uncertaine also their respect and esteem none at all especially among the common people whose civil and religious regards are much measured either by the bag and bushell or by the examples of their betters their Landlords and Governours The wilfull dividing debasing discrediting disordering and discarding of the ancient Clergy as to their Ordination Government Ministry Authority and succession in England which was most Christian Catholick and reformed must needs be as the sin and shame so the great injury and misery of you and your posterity being the ready way to bring in First a scrupulous unsatisfiednesse and unsetlednesse as to our former Religion as if either not true or not reformed Secondly next it raiseth a jealousie and suspicion of any Religion under the name of Reformation as if it would not long hold and had no bottom or bounds Thirdly after this followes a lukewarmenesse coldnesse and indifferency as to all Religion whatsoever as Reformed and as Christian Fourthly then will there creep in by secret steps a generall Apostasie at least from our pristine wise Reformation and happy constitution of Religion to the Roman errors superstitions and usurpations which wait for such a time and temper in England whereby to make their advance upon peoples mindes wildred and confounded when they shall see the shamefull retreates recoilings and variations made in England by the Reformed Religion upon it self whose disorders disgraces and deformities necessarily following the contempt of their Ministers or the change and rupture of their Ministeriall descent and succession will make most if not all men in time to recede from it and rather adhere to its grand Roman rival its implacable enemie Popery whose policies will bring you and your posterity by the contempt and want of true Bishops to have no Pastors or Ministers of any uniforme validity of Catholick complete and most undoubted authority If any man may be a preacher that listeth to pirk up into a Pulpit certainly in a few yeares you shall have no Preachers worth your hearing no Ministers of any reputation and authority either among the Idiots and vulgar or among the more ingenious and wiser sort of people who are not naturally either very solicitous or industrious in the concernments of Religion or the choise of their Ministers If neither God nor good men have any further pleasure in their servants the ancient Clergy of England if they really are as uselesse and worthlesse as they have been made vile and reproched by some mens tongues and pens if they have deserved to be thus tossed in an eternall tempest of factious divisions vulgar depressions and endlesse confusions beyond any other order or rank of men if this be their evill fate and merit after all their studies and paines after all their Praying Preaching Writing and Living to the honor of this Nation and the great advantages of the Reformed Religion if to have equalled at least if not exceeded the Clergy of any Church in any age since the Apostles departure be the unpardonable fault of the Reformed Bishops and their Clergy in England if their very sufferings as the vipers seizing on St. Pauls hand make them appear to barbarous and vulgar minds as sinners therefore despicable because they are so much despised and so thought fit to be destroyed if this lingring and shamefull death of being thus Crucified is that by which the Clergy of England must glorifie God if this bitter cup must not passe from them truly it will be a mercifull severity to hold them no longer in ambiguous calamities but rather wholly to expose them to the last outrages of Fanatick Popular and Schismatick fury the Lions that hunger and roare to have these Daniels wholly cast into their dens and jawes that so your eyes may no longer see your poor despised distressed and miserable Clergy many of whom both Bishops and Presbyters are forced as you know to embrace the dunghil being destitute of order honour and estate some of them having neither food convenient nor any abiding place nor any fitting employment that so that Episcopall Clergy now rendred so odious who under God formerly redeemed you and your fore-fathers out of the bondage and darknesse of Egyptian superstition may by an Egyptian Magick and fate be drowned in the Red-Sea of vulgar contempt popular confusion and inordinate oppressions that thus the new Jannes and Jambres may not onely resist but wholly prevaile by their inchantments against your Moses and Aarons But if your Consciences O worthy Gentlemen who are the Beauty Strength and Honour of this Nation do on the other side tell you not with faint and dubious whispers but by loud and manifest experiences proclaiming to all the world that the ancient Clergy of England have generally deserved better of you by their Learning Preaching Praying Writing and Living what I beseech you can be more worthy of the Wisdome Justice Piety Honour and Gratitude of this Nation than to assert with their publick love and favour the dignity of their worthy Divines the honour of their Clergy the Sanctity of their Religion and Reformation against that plebeian petulancy and insolency which hath so pressed upon them and daily depresseth all their Authority not onely by reason of some Lay-mens folly and insolency but even by their variations and inconstancy who presumed to be Preachers and challenge upon what score they please a share or lot in the Evangelicall Ministry Truly it is high time to redeeme the Sacred Orders the Divine Authority the Catholick succession the ancient and authentick dignity of the Evangelicall Ministry in the Church of England from the obloquies contempts and oppressions of ignorant and unreasonable men who are great enemies to the piety and prosperity of this Nation and but back friends to the Reformed Religion being at so deadly a fewd against the ancient Clergy and Catholick Ministry of this Church whose totall extirpation both root and branch Bishops and Presbyters they have so resolutely designed and restlessely endeavoured that they long for nothing more than the natural death of all the reverend Bishops and all Episcopall
the necessity and use of Bishops yea they deny any flaw or defect to be in their new Presbyterian and popular ordinations for want of any other Bishops but themselves who are as pert in their novelty as ever any Prelates were in their antiquity That these Heteroclite or equivocall ordinations have of late been acted in England with much self applause and popular parade by meer Presbyters I well understand but quo jure by what right from God or man by what authority civill or Ecclesiasticall I could never yet see yea I am sure no law of God or men heretofore ever was thought to give any such power to meer Presbyters without yea against their lawfull Bishops insomuch that many learned and sober men have much blamed at least suspected these Presbyterian transactions for Schismaticall presumptions these ordinations for disorderly usurpations at least in such a Church as England was where there were and still are venerable Bishops of the orthodox faith reformed profession and ancient constitution willing and able to do their duty in the point of ordination Which in all ordinary cases appeares to have ever been their peculiar right specially derived to them as Bishops from the Apostles through all successions of times and Churches without any interruption except when some factious and insolent Presbyters ventured to be extravagant and usurpant whom all the learned Fathers venerable Councils and good Christians in the Church every where condemned as most injurious because usurping that Authority which no Apostle no Councill no Bishop ever gave to any that were meer Presbyters in their Ordination and Commission no more than the Lawes or Canons of this Church and State Nor is there as far as I can perceive any one place in Scripture that by any precept or example invests either one or more simple Presbyters with the power of trying and examining of laying on of hands of giving holy orders as from themselves alone of committing or transmitting what they had received to other faithfull men that should be able to teach All which were given to Timothy and Titus as chief Bishops The Pope of Rome indeed animated by those flatterers which would make him the sole Bishop by Divine right and all other Bishops as surrogates to him dependants upon him and derived from him as if there had not been 12 or 13 but onely one â—â—sion â—lick Chaire or prime seat of Episcopacy hath some â—eath given power of ordination to such as were but Presbyters as â—nd read of some Abbots and Priors but it was alwaies to the great scandall of the best Bishops and Presbyters of the Church as contrary to all ancient Orders Canons and Customes of the Church unlesse he first made them as Chorepiscopi or suffragane Bishops But in earnest it is hard to judge whether Popes or Presbyters be most enemies to Catholick Bishops As for the pious pomp and the specious apparences the formall dressings and verball adornings which they say are used by Presbyters in their late Ordinations in England though I never saw any of them yet I have heard and read so much of them as gives me to judge far less to be in them of authority true complete and valid than ought to be For besides the persons not impowered or commissionated to that office there is as I heare no transmitting and so no receiving of the holy Spirit as to that Ministeriall Order and Power which is thereby derived to Ministers as from Christ whatever there may be of godly solemnity and plausible formalities which are usually more studied and affected to please the people there where men are most conscious to the defect of authentick reall and righteous power But all these saintly shewes to wise men signifie nothing no nor the personal abilities either of the ordainers or ordained who cannot by their personall power knowledg virtues graces or private gifts make any Officer in State or in Armies in War or in Peace much lesse in the Church and Ministry of Jesus Christ Alas no private capacity in any man can make the least petty Constable or Bailiffe or Corporall or Serjeant without they first have a publick and lawfull Commission from the fountains of Authority to give them an Authority far beyond any private arrogancy and presumed sufficiency of their own Possibly extraordinary cases may in time be their own excuses in such Churches where Bishops may be all dead or banished or where such as are Orthodox cannot be had and they that are will not ordain any Presbyters without imposing upon them such things as are erroneous and unlawfull but nothing can be pleaded that I yet see no nor doth the candor and charity of Bishop Usher know how to excuse such Presbyters from being Schismaticks factious presumptuous and disorderly who first cast off and forsake such Bishops as are of the same faith and reformed profession worthy and willing able and ready every way authorized by Church and State to do their duty The contempt and rejecting of such Bishops is I fear a great sin before God I am sure a great grievance to such Churches as first suffer those distractions And no doubt it is as a great so a needlesse scandall to most Churches and the best Christians in all the world nor can it be other then a foule reproach and scorn cast on all pious antiquity nor will it prove other than a lasting misery to any Church and Nation that wilfully continues that guilt and defect upon themselves and their posterity especially when God â—s them sufficient meanes to remedy that mischief to supply thâ—â—fects and to compose those differences which are ever followâ—â—he waâ— much more the needlesse expulsion of Primitive Episcopacy For whose power and authority while either Presbyters or people are scrambling they do but make Religion a May-game bring as we see both themselves and their Ministry into contempt for no Presbyters or people can while the world stands ever stamp such an honor and Authority Ecclesiasticall upon themselves as was in all ages and by all Churches consent besides the Scripture-Character and Apostolick signature set upon Primitive and Catholick Episcopacy which ever united centred and confirmed power in one man not over all which the Pope affects but over their Dioceses or Provinces A 4 th Objection much flourished by some popular Preachers against Bishops and all Episcopacy in any Authority and eminency above Presbyters is that Episcopacy is the root of Popery that Prelates were the parents of Antichrist that every Bishop hath a Pope in his belly and that the Pope is no other than an overgrown Bishop that to rout all Popery and raze the foundations of Romes pride all Prelacy or Episcopacy must be stubbed up My answer to this is that this objection sounds as little of truth as it savours much of malice especially in any Presbyters of any learning and ingenuity who well know the abasing of Bishops is the design and hath
and defiance of all that went before who I beseech you of most ordinary Christians who are yet agitated by their youthfull lusts and unbridled passions will be so constant as to hold fast that profession which formerly they had taken up Who will continue to venerate that Church and Clergy whose heads they see crowned with thornes and their faces besmeared with blood and dirt whose comelinesse is deformed with the spittings buffetings and scornes of those that seek to expose them to open shame and to fasten them to the Crosse of death and infamy Alas they will not at all regard in a short time any orders of the Church or any ordination of Ministers or any sacred ordinances and mysteries dispensed by them since no pleas never so pregnant and unanswerable for the Antiquity Uniformity and Constancy of that way and method which was used in all ages and places of the Church of Christ since no gracious and glorious successes attending such ordaining Bishops and such ordained Presbyters since nothing prevailes against vulgar prejudices and extravagancies provoked by that impatient itch they alwaies have after novelties Many we see will have no Ordination no Ministers no Sacraments rather than Bishops should have any hand in ordaining The honor of that Ordination which was in all ancient Churches must be cruelly sacrificed with all ancient and Catholick Episcopacy rather then some mens passions for a parity or popularity or an Anarchy in the Church be not gratified All Bishops as such and all Presbyters and all Christians and all Churches and all holy duties performed by them in that station and communion must be cryed down yea thrown down as the adulteratings and prostitutions of the Churches Liberty and of the purity of Christs Ordinances The hands of Bishops and Presbyters too though joyned and imposed in Ordination must be declared as impure vile and invalid yea a flat novel and impertinent distinction must be found out to vacate the Bishops eminency and yet to assert the Presbyters parity and sole power as resting in any three two or one of them though never so petty poor and pittifull men in all respects naturall and civill sacred and morall Yet these forsooth some fancy as Presbyters may still ordain because a Bishop say they did so meerly as a Presbyter of the same degree and order not as having any eminency of office degree authority or jurisdiction above the meanest Minister which St. Jerom and all antiquity acknowledged as a branch of Apostolicall dignity and eminency peculiar to a Bishop above any one or more Presbyters Which reproches against the persons power and practise of Bishops in England as usurpers and monopolizers in this point of ordination which they ever challenged and exercised as their peculiar honor office and dignity in this as all Churches if they could by any Reason or Scripture by Law of God or Man by any judgement or practise of any one Church or of any one godly and renowned Christian in any age or History of the Church be verified so as to make their power of ordination to be but a subtile or forcible usurpation in Bishops it would have been not onely an act of high Justice to have abrogated all the pretensions of Bishops to that or any power in the Church but it will be a work of admiration yea of astonishment to the worlds end in all after-ages and successions of Christian Religion which will hardly last another 1500 yeares to consider the long and strong delusion which possessed the Christian world in this point of Ordination as onely regular and complete by Bishops where their presence and power might be enjoyed Nor will it be more matter of everlasting wonder to ponder not onely Gods long permission of such a strong delusion but his prospering it so much and so long as a principall meanes to preserve and propagate the Ministry Order Government Peace and Power of true Religion and the true Churches of Christ which were never without Bishops as Spirituall Fathers begetting as Epiphanius speakes both Presbyters and people to the Church Nor will it be the work of an ordinary wit whether Presbyterian or Independent to salve all those aspersions and diminutions of either ignorance and blindness or fatuity and credulity or weaknesse and impotency which must necessarily fall from this account not onely upon the wisest and best Church-men but upon the most Christian and wise Princes the most zealous and reformed Parlaments of England who in the grand Reformation of this Church and ever since for neer an 100. yeares have after grave counsell and mature debate approved and appointed countenanced by a law and incouraged by their actuall submission the ordination of Ministers chiefly by the authority of Bishops never without them And this they did certainly not out of policy but piety not in prudence onely but in conscience convinced not only of the lawfulnesse of Bishops but of the necessity of them where Providence doth not absolutely hinder or deny them as it never did in England or elsewhere by the example of the Apostles by the ancient constant and uniform practise of this and all Churches by the suffrages of all Learned and Godly men of any account in all ages To all which were added as great preponderatings in behalfe of Episcopacy the many and most incomparable Bishops that have been in all successions of the Church the many Martyrs Confessors excellent Preachers Writers and Governours of that order lastly the unspeakable blessings which by their Ordination Consultation and Jurisdiction have been derived to the Church of Christ If all Estates in the Reformed Church of England have been hitherto deceived as to this point of Episcopall Ordination by Bishops sure they are the more excusable because they have erred with all the Christian world Nor could they be justly blamed if when they reformed superfluous Superstition they yet abhorred in this point so great and dangerous an innovation which must needs shake and overthrow the faith of many if the peculiar office and power of Bishops to ordaine Ministers and governe the Church were either onely usurped or wholly invalid as some of late have pretended not with more clamor than falsity But if all these jealousies and reproches cast upon Bishops and their Authoritative Ordination as a peculiar office and exercise of power eminently residing in them be most false and by some mens calumnies heightned to such impudent lies that no eructations of Hell or belchings of Beelzebub had ever more blackness of darknesse in them or more affrontive to the glory God and the Honor of the Catholick Church whence I beseech you O my Noble and worthy Countrymen is that dulness stupor and indifferency come upon us in England so far as not onely connives at the arrogancy of some Presbyters who without Scripture-precept or Catholick-patterne challenge this ordaining and Governing power as onely and wholly due to themselves discarding all Episcopall Eminency and Authority above them but
not many good Bishops then when worse and harder measure befell them and their Order than since England was Christian Indeed many yea most of our Bishops were as Noahs Sems and Japhets yet have all these been drowned in the Presbyterian Deluge Even these made up the so odious so unpopular so decryed Bishops in England The pest and contagion of whose fate as it came first from Scotland where no doubt there were many Bishops of equal vertues though inferiour revenues to the worthy and well-known Dr. Spotswood Archbishop of St. Andrews and Lord Chancellour of Scotland so it reached to Ireland where there wanted not Bishops worthy of the fraternity of Bishop Usher Bishop Bedel and Bishop Bramhal all cruelly persecuted first by Papists and after by Antipapists though persons of the highest form for all excellencies yet must all these be destroyed their whole Order with the destruction of Sodom Although more than ten righteous Bishops I am sure were to be found in each of these British Churches yet all must be routed all rooted up as guilty of the unpardonable sin of Prelacy a new sin and unheard of in the Church of Christ but now to be put into the black Catalogue of scandalous sins when Heresie Schism Sacriledge and Sedition must be left out These these and such like Bishops are the men whose fate I passionately pitty men famous in their generation either for solid Preaching or weighty writing or grave counselling or holy living or prudent governing or charitable giving all of them for some and some of them for all these excellencies These are made the most unsound the most infamous and superfluous parts of this body politick and Ecclesiastick these must be one and all represented to vulgar simplicity and scurrility as the Popes the Antichrists the Bite-sheeps the Oppressors the Tyrants the Greedy and dumb dogs the Cretians the Slow-bellies the Devourers the Destroyers of all godliness and true Religion These foule glosses first made by Martin Mar-prelate of old against Episcopacy and the Bishops of England are now set forth in a new and second edition with larger notes and exquisite Commentaries upon them intimating that these are the men who have by their Learned Grave and Godly Misdemeanours as Bishops forfeited not by any Law but by absolute will and pleasure meerly as Bishops all their Houses and Revenues all their Honors and Preferments yea their good Name and Reputation which by Law and desert they had obtained and enjoyed yea all the Ancient Dignity Apostolick Authority and Constant Succession of their Place and Function in the Church which had not more of eminency than of necessity nor more of necessity than of Primitive and Catholick Antiquity For the reall faults of some and the imaginary of other Bishops whose name was their onely crime must all Ages after them be for ever punished with the want of such Grave Learned Godly and Venerable Bishops as have been destroyed for better cannot be had or desired and posterity must be ever exposed in these British Churches to all those Factions Fedities Divisions Disorders and Confusions which follow the want of due Episcopal order and Government in the Church But Bishops qua tales were enemies to the power of Godlinesse the worst of them and the best of them were men too much devoted to empty formes of Religion they urged Ceremonies so far as to neglect substances straining at gnats and swallowing Camels they justled out preaching by Catechizing and over-layed Ministers private prayers by their long Liturgies they did not kindle but quench damp and resist that spirit of Zeal and Reformation which for many years hath burned in the breasts of many godly Christians by whose flamings and refinings at last all Bishops as drosse with all their ornaments and adherents have been justly consumed I confesse I cannot tell how to answer for all the actions and expressions of every Bishop they were of age and able to have answered for themselves if any of them as offendors of our Lawes had been brought to plead for themselves which not one of them was as to Ecclesiasticall matters that I ever heard of for the weight of the Archbishops charge was chiefly upon civil or secular affaires Who knowes not that Bishops were but men that if left to their private spirits and single Counsels they might as easily over or under-do as their Adversaries have done beyond or short of what becomes wise and good men The greatest blame that I perceive among any of them was that they would injoyne or exact or remit any thing as to publick Order Discipline and Government of the Church without a joynt agreement and uniformity among themselves according to what the Law allowed or commanded This fraternall concurrence and mutuall correspondence had been worthy of Grave Wise and Learned men for all private fancies obtruded by any one or two Bishops in so tender a case as Religion is and upon so touchy a people as the English now are do but breed variety this differences these disputes these dissentions these despites these oppositions these breed confusions All the actions and injunctions all the Articles and disquisitions of Bishops as such should have been as exactly consonant and uniforme as possibly could be But as to the crimination That Bishops like Hernshaws abounded in the wing and feather of Ceremony but had little substance or body as to the power of Godlinesse First Scripture and Christs example teach us that decent and apt Ceremonies publick or private are not in their nature enemies but helps to the power of Godlinesse as putting off all Ornaments eating the bread of Sorrow putting on Sackcloth and Ashes Fasting Weeping Smiting the breast Bowing Kneeling Prostrating to the ground being all night in Solitude and Darkness lying in the Dust c. all these were and are helps to an humble broken contrite penitent and devout temper of Soul Contrary Company Wine and Oyle Singing and Musick Dancing Discourse and Laughter were and are helps to holy joy and thankful jubilations so are lifting up the eyes and hands to Heaven Sighing and Groning to fervency of Prayer and Praises It is but a rude affected and fanatick imagination of clownish Christians that decent Ceremonies of Religion wisely appointed in any Church or fitly applied by any private Christian in his private devotions these cannot stand but the substance and sincerity of Godliness must fall that there can be no forms of Godlinesse but the power of it must vanish or be banished They may as well imagine that they cannot put on their clothes or dresse themselves handsomly but they must presently cease to be wise men or honest men and good women but must turn either spectres or dishonest Do we not find that many such Christians who have of later years cast off all the former decent and wholesome formes of Godliness either by Profaneness or Preciseness or Peevishness or Faction or Atheism or Superstition are most apparently now
Ovens and to Privies no pen I say that hath any genius of Learning Life and Honor in it will blot its paper or blunt it self with the names of those that have been or are the unjust malicious and implacable enemies the insolent despisers and injurious destroyers of such Primitive Bishops and such Primitive Episcopacy as these British Churches plentifully afforded But every worthy Author will be ambitious to adorne his works and enamel his Historie with the illustrious names of such meritorious Bishops who have not onely been worthy doers but unworthily yet worthy sufferers very patiently though very undeservedly knowing with Paulinus Bishop of Nola how to lose all things but God and a good Conscience which are the true Honor and Eternal Treasures of good Christians If the most of or all our Bishops had been vile men and fit to be destroyed why was not their wickedness and unworthiness publickly and personally charged Why were they not legally Summoned Accused Tried Witnessed against Convinced Condemned Might not many yea most of our Bishops have said in their proportion as our Blessed Saviour Who is it that can accuse me of sin what evill have I done for which of my good works in Preaching Praying Writing Giving Living do you stone me or seek to destroy me and my function They were neither evil men nor evil Christians nor evil Preachers nor evil Bishops yet nothing must be left them but the grace and opportunity to suffer not as evil doers but as became Learned Grave and Good men Which Episcopall glory and Christian grace they have in an high degree attained many of them saying with more truth than the Stoicks were wont 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have lost nothing that was mine yet I have all that is worth having notwithstanding that they were deprived of all their Ecclesiasticall Estates not allowed according to the mercy of Henry the eighth to Monks and Friers to Nuns and Votaries which were grown the superfluous Leeches and Wens of the Nation any pension during their lives Some Bishops could never get the Arreares due to them before the dreadfull Act of dissolution many of them were spoyled as of other goods so of their good Libraries where their best company faithfullest friends and surest comforters were to be found amidst those afflictions desertions and solitudes which they were sure to meet with both from foes and friends most men being friends to mens fortunes not to their persons or vertues With these dark foiles and deep shadowes hath the brightnesse of our best Bishops been set off to after-Ages O what admiration what astonishment what horror will there be when impartiall Posterity shall read together with their excellent writings the plentifull poverties the illustrious obscurities the honorable contempts with which the excellent Bishops of these British Churches have been at last rewarded even then when indefatigable studies incomparable endowments and holy improvements had both fitted them for and preferred them to those honorable imployments rewards and encouragements which they lawfully obtained and worthily enjoyed being persons for their Graces and Gifts for their Learning and Judgement for their Gravity and Prudence much more worthy if God had seen fit to have been continued in their Golden Candlesticks and to have shined to their last in this Church than to have been so shut up in dark lanternes or to be put under such bushels as not onely hide but quite extinguish their personall and publick lustre so burying as much as may be while they are yet alive their excellent abilities which did not consist onely in good preaching but also wise Governing their Churches in keeping both Ministers and people in good Order and Unity in being not onely Monitors and Fatherly Correctors but Refuges and Defences to their Clergy and others as Fathers to Sons in ordaining and incouraging able Ministers in continuing a Catholick succession of a complete and Apostolick Ministry to this as all other Ancient and Renowned Churches in preventing that great Scandall and Schisme to the Papists now most desired and welcome which is and will ever hereafter be imputed to us with unanswerable reproches while by Apostatizing from Primitive Episcopacy we do not so much forsake the Romane party which in this point as in many others is Orthodox and sound as the Catholick Church and that Authoritative order which began with Christianity and ought as much as may be in providence for ever to continue with it An ordained Ministry a right Government and good Order in the Church being as I have demonstrated no lesse necessary for the Churches well-being than the Word and Sacraments are for the being or beginning of it Religion and Christian Churches soon moulder to nothing where there is not an indisputable Authoritative and complete Ministry Nor is this to be ordinarily had without Episcopacy least of all with the violent and undeserved extirpation of Episcopacy if we will follow the judgement custome and practise of all Christian Churches from the beginning rather than modern novellers who will never be able to make up the breaches or to patch up the Rents which they have either rashly or unnecessarily made in this particular not from the Roman onely but indeed from the Christian and Catholick patterne to which the Reformation of the Church of England studied exactly to conforme as in other things so in the point of Episcopacy untill the fatall fury of these later times which is the more unexcusable because no Church in the world had lesse cause either to complaine of or to reject its Bishops or Episcopacy for certainly no Church since the Apostles daies was ever more flourishing under Episcopacy for other Government was not known till of late nor had any Reformed Church either more worthy Bishops for the most part of them or more able Ministers even at that time when all Bishops with their Order and Succession were devoted to utter destruction Not that I here forget how some Bishops in England were under very great Jealousies as if they were Popishly affected and inclined as if they were under-hand Factors for Rome and secret Traitors to the Reformed Religion Thus most if not all of them were censured by some men of very sharp noses and severe tongues yea and condemned before they were tryed for superstitious and Super-ceremonious Prelates Hence that popular Odium and Indignity of joyning Prelacy and Popery together which Sarcasm and reproch I confess ought by all wise Bishops and other Ministers to have been seriously avoided so as no way justly to deserve any such suspicion taunt or proverb there being nothing less advancing or more diminishing the true respect and honour of Christian Ministers and Reformed Bishops than unworthily to comply with or conform to the Bishop and Church of Rome in those things where the distance is as just and necessary as it is great and grounded on Gods Word being founded upon that eternal distance which is and ever will be between Light and
which he had by any outward token never appearing of later yeares in any other than a plain Gown and Cassock as an ordinary Presbyter A person so rich in all excellencies and yet so poor even to an annihilation in his own Spirit partakes no doubt of that first great Beatitude The Kingdom of Heaven But as if all that burthen while this blessed Bishop lived had no been sufficient to depress this Atlas this Job this Elias there wan-tted not some men who go for Ministers who to shew their despite and insolency against all Bishops and Episcopacy durst own and declare their scorn and disdain against this excellent Lord Bishop and Primate while he lived by not vouchsafing to own or call him by any of these most deserved Titles nor enduring the style of Armachanus to be added to his name O pitiful Parasites most obsequiously courting other men with the nauseous and repeated Crambes of Your Honour Your Lordship My good Lord c. whos 's neither place nor personal worth and merit in Church or State is or ever can be without a miracle comparable to this renowned Lord and Bishop if pious Impartiality and not secular Flattery might be judge Ask all the Christian and learned World what man of any Learning Honor and Ingenuity from home or abroad ever wrote to him or made mention of his name without exquisite Prefaces and studied Epithets of signal honor and respect which attributes of Lordship and Grace given to Bishops are no news nor any way offensive save onely to Mechanick Ignorance or Envy there being nothing in all Antiquity more frequent on all hands than the honourable compellations and additions of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Domine and Multùm venerande of Dominatio Dignitas and Paternitas of Honourable Lord and Venerable Father ascribed to worthy Bishops Among whom none was more worthy of all Attributes fit to be given to a mortal man than this Bishop whose greatest diminutions like the seeming Eclipses of the Sun did not lessen his light but onely hide him more from the World He was as truely worthy to be Honoured Emulated Admired Magnified and Imitated of all good men in all Ages as any one person that ever I knew in all my life which as Plato said of Socrates I think much the more blessed of God because I lived in those dayes which gave me the opportunity honor and happinesse both to know and be known to this great Exemplar of all learned worth this grand pattern of Bishops Preachers Scholars and Christians Nor was it the least cordial I had in the difficulties and horrors of later years to remember that I was not far from such an open Sanctuary that I might have frequent recourse to such a full and free Magazin of all Christian Graces and Gifts nor did I think we could be completely miserable and utterly desolated as to the Church while this great Genius was yet alive and in England in whom by a rare and wonderful conjunction such high abilities were mixed with unparallell'd humility such Candor and Gentleness did temper his Gravity and such Serenity did sweeten the severer Sanctity of his life that he seemed to me not so much a man as a kind of miracle or prodigy of humane perfections especially when I remember not long before his death those unfeigned tears which I saw and those humble complaints which I heard not for his losses but for his sins and omissions earnestly deprecating Gods displeasure and dreading his exact Tribunal Who will not fear and tremble who will not wax wan and discoloured when he sees a Rubie of so great price and orient lustre contract pallor and amazement As for the many sufferings or indignities he had sustained I never perceived the least regret or sigh much lesse any bitter and revengfull replies A very great sense indeed he expressed and very often with sadness and compassion for the distractions of this Church the deformities of our Religion and the feared future desolations which he oft and earnestly seemed to presage as neer at hand alwaies jealous that our Religious feuds and factions would at last end in Papall Superstition and mutuall oppressions Against both which this good Bishop and so many yea most of his Brethren were I believe as much enemies and as far removed both in their judgements and endeavours as the most Antiepiscopall Presbyter or Independent in the world being much better able to give a reason of his distance from them than they can for their defiance of him and all Bishops Against the deluge of whose partiality and passion I have thus opposed the Barricado or Peire this one great instance of a most unblameable Bishop purposely to vindicate against all mens impudence ignorance or malice the consistence of Episcopacy with Piety and the vast distance between Primitive Prelacy and after-Popery Truâ—y in my judgement this one Bishop out-weighs all that ever was or can be alledged against Episcopacy who not onely while he lived mightily justified the function but before he died his earnest desire was that such a due succession of Episcopall Authority might be regularly preserved in England as might keep up the completenesse and validity of Ecclesiasticall and Catholick Ordination first against the Calumnies of Papists who infinitely joy in the advantages they have got of such a Schismatick reproch upon us next against the rage and impertinencies of other factions who will in time bring all Reformed and Christian Religion to a consumption if they either quite obstruct or utterly destroy Primitive and Apostolick Episcopacy which that great Bishop esteemed as vena porta the great veine which hath from the Apostles conveyed in all Ages all Ecclesiasticall Order Power Authority and Jurisdiction Which undoubtedly was the judgement of all Antiquity otherwise all Churches would not have been so impatient of being without their Bishops at any time nor would Bishops have been so carefull in the times of persecution to propagate an holy succession of Bishops without any remarkable or long interruption never failing in any Church till this last Age nor in England till of late yeares Primitive Bishops not considering the pleasures or displeasures of men great or small in so grand a concern as what they believed was pleasing to God profitable for the Church and necessary for Ecclesiasticall Authority which they thought could no more stand without Episcopacy than a body can without its leggs Nor did Antiquity either use or know or want the late Crutches of Presbytery or the stilts of Independency which to make themselves seem usefull have sought to cut off the native pillars and proper supports of this Church to the very stumps not without infinite paine to some parts and those principal ones too of the Body besides constant diminution and deformity to the whole Which will in my judgement which willingly followes so great a guide as the Lord Primate never in England be well at its ease or
Irreconcilable differences between Reformed Truths and Romish Errors which are manifest and obstinate p. 308 CHAP. XVII Necessary separation and distance from Rome without uncharitableness p. 313 XVIII Two grand Obstructions of all Christian accommodation in these Western Churches p. 317 XIX The equity and charity of severe and sacrilegious Reformings p. 322 XX. The excuses and pleas for sacrilegious excesses answered p. 325 XXI Sacrilege a great pest to Religion and stop to Reformation p. 327 XXII The insatiableness of sacrilegious spirits unrepressed p. 335 XXIII Pleas for sacrilege answered p. 338 XXIV The Romanists discouragements as to the Reformed Religion by Sacrilege p. 343 XXV A plea for Paul's and other Churches in England p. 348 XXVI Of pious munificence becoming Christians p. 353 XXVII The main hinderances and unlikelihood of a conjunction between Protestants and Romanists p. 355 XXVIII Roman interests advanced by the petty factions of super-Reformers of Religion p. 362 XXIX The danger of divided parties in Religion as to the civil interests of England p. 370 BOOK IV. Setting forth the Sighs Prayers of the Church of England in order to its Healing and Recovery CHAP. I. THE design method of this fourth Book p. 389 II. The difficultie of repairing a decayed Church p. 393 III. Grand motives to a publick restitution and fixation of the Reformed Religion p. 400 IV. Sense of true Honour calls for the establishment of Religion p. 411 V. The hopeful possibility of restoring true Religion to unity and setledness in England p. 422 VI. Of means to recompose the differences of Religion in England p. 427 VII Of the late Associations projected by some Ministers p. 436 VIII Of civil Assistance from Lay-men to restore this Church Religion p. 442 IX A scrutiny of what is good or bad in all parties p. 447 X. The reconciling of the real interests of Episcopacy Presbytery and Independency p. 452 XI True Episcopacy stated and represented to its Antagonists p. 458 CHAP. XII Objections against Episcopacy discussed p. 468 XIII Earnestly exhorting Ministers of all sides to an happy composure and union p. 479. XIV Humbly exhorting Magistrates to assist in so good a work p. 485 XV. Councils or Synods the proper means to restore lapsed Religion p. 492 XVI The method of restoring a setled Church and united Ministry p. 502 XVII Of the well-being of the Clergy or Ministry 1. In point of maintenance and support p. 518 XVIII Of meet order Government and subordination among the Clergy p. 527 XIX Several Pleas in behalf of Episcopacy p. 539 A first Plea from the Catholick Antiquity of Episcopacy p. 540 XX. A second Plea for Episcopacy from its Evangelical temper as to civil subjection p. 556 CHAP. XXI A third Episcopacy most suitable to the genius temper of the English p. 581 XXII A fourth plea for Episcopacy from their true piety and orderly policy p. 600 XXIII A Review of our late English Bishops p. 616 XXIV Bishop Usher Primate of Armagh an unanswerable vindication of Prelacy not Popish but pious p. 639 XXV Commending this Church of England with the Reformed Religion to the piety and wisdome of all persons of honour and honesty p. 651 XXVI A further Caution against Sacrilege upon the occasion of D. B his case lately published about purchasing of Bishops lands p. 665 XXVII Further commending the unity honor and support of the Religion and Ministry of this Church p. 685 The Catalogue of the Bishops in England and Wales 693 The Embleme of the Trees explained in which is briefly set forth the History and Chronology of Episcopacy Presbytery and Independency as pretenders to Church-government their first planting growing and spreading in the Christian world p. 22. Revel 3.2 Be watchful and strengthen the things that remain which are ready to die Lam. 1.22 My sighs are many and my heart is faint Synes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ferreus est non fidelis non Christianus sed crudelis quem MATRIS Lacrymae non molliunt Suspiria non movent Planctus non mordent Preces non vincunt Vulnera non cruciant J. G. Ecclesiae Anglicanae Suspiria THE SIGHS OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND Humbly presented to my Honoured and Beloved Countrymen Persons of true Honour Piety and Prudence Who have a just Gratitude Love and Pity for HER. I Am not so ignorant of YOU Honoured and worthy Gentlemen or of my Selfe as to think That you need be put in mind by Me or any private Monitor of that Justice Moderation and Prudence which you owe to your Countrey in reference to those Civill Interests of Peace Plenty Safety Honour Liberty Settlement and the like Which I know doe usually fall under the first cares and counsels of men Momentary concernments giving us poore Mortals quicker summons and resentments than those that are eternall These being the objects of our Faith afar off Those of our senses neerer hand For the just establishing and prudent managing of which if Gods Providence either hath or ever shall give YOU any opportunity worthy of YOUR abilities and integrity I have no more to doe or say as to any of these secular accounts save onely to crave in all humility of the Supreme Wisdome and Mighty Counsellour That he would make you Repairers of those Breaches relievers of those burdens and dispellers of those feares which we owe not so much to the impotence or violence of other mens passions as each of us to our own sins and personall impieties Those importune soliciters of Gods Judgments which by a strange vicissitude and unexpected retaliation of vengeance doe testifie to our faces against the crying iniquities of all estates in these British Nations Which have provoked the just Judge of Heaven and Earth to punish some of us by sore adversities others by severe impunities justly letting us alone and smiting us no more Our Sins then becoming Gods greatest grievances when they are lesse ours as to Contrition Confession and Reformation than they should be And possibly would be if we felt their burdens in our afflictions Hence they also grow at last our greatest penalties and infelicities even then when Prosperity betrayes us most to Impenitency setting us farthest from Amendment and Remorse our earthy hearts usually most hardning when we enjoy the warmest beams of that Sun which Providence makes to shine upon good and bad the just and unjust As for those pecuniary and politick pressures which most men fancy to be their greatest grievances having a quicker sense of what pincheth their purses than what wounds or pierceth their consciences I have learned aâ—ter twice seven yeares experience to be a Christian Stoick Not utterly stupid and improvident but yet not so impertinent as to complain of any common charge or burthen which seems necessary to the present Polity under which I may have leave to live a godly and peaceable life much lesse so discontent as not to be thankfull to God and man for any moderate
I have had of Gods gracious providence and mans generous indulgence Notwithstanding that I have freely declared my dissent in some things wherein I thought my self in a high nature concerned Hence I esteem it both just and comely for Me to use the like candour equanimity and moderation to all others who fairly differ from me in things Civil or Sacred Against whose persons estates places and preferments I professe to you I have no private piâ—que no envy no malice no animosity Nor am I much moved by the various opinions and different perswasions of any person or party in matters of Religion if their opinions have any thing in them that seems so dark and dubious as makes their dissentings veniall or if the persons be so modestly scrupulous as they appear both consciencious and charitable if they be not grosly blasphemous manifestly erroneous rudely immorall palpably injurious or impudently foolish and fanatick if they be not of a deep and scarlet die as to evill speaking and evill doing Of which tincture I confesse some mens spirits opinions principles and practices seem to be who have and still doe very inordinately endeavour to divide and destroy to condemne and contemne to dishonour and impoverish to dissipate and desolate this Reformed Church of England which was in all wise and sober mens judgements too precious too polished and too ponderous or burthensome a stone for any private hands to take up and cast as the Angel did that mil-stone which was the embleme of Babylons fall into such a sea of blood such an abysse of confusion as some men seem to aim at Who think that Christ cannot sit on his Throne nor they on his right and left hand judging the tribes of England while any learned ordained orderly Clergie or any orthodox uniform united Reformed and National Church remains in England I confesse I admire that providence of God and prudence of man which keeps these mad men in any Bedlam which is able to put some chains upon their furie and restraints upon their folly To whose persons though I am generally a stranger yet so far a Christian friend that I wish them the blessings of heaven and earth of this moment and of eternity such graces as may prepare them for glory That doing justice shewing mercie and walking humbly they may rest with God at last Although they have a long time breathed out threatnings against and sought to make havock of the whole Church of England and the Majesty of it yet as the Father of the Prodigall I rather pity than despise them in the rags and husks which they have chosen I should be glad to be any means to bring them home to their Fathers house and their Mothers bosome I should joy to see them in their right minds and clothed with modesty and meeknesse with shamefastnesse and sobriety notwithstanding some of them may feed on the Churches ancient patrimony and clothe themselves with the pieces they have torn from their Mothers garments My aim is not at any mans being sequestred proscribed undone imprisoned persecuted starved or oppressed I design no benefit by any Birds feathers and therefore desire not they should be pluckt so bare as some Eagles and Doves excellent Bishops and Presbyters too have been in England with whose spoils some have well feathered their heretofore hard and uneasie nests while those poore but precious men have some of them scarce wherewithall to cover their nakednesse or where to hide their heads But if such robbers and destroyers of this Church and its Clergie be the onely true Israelites and people of God and if We the sons and servants of the Church of England be the onely Egyptians which is a point I desire to search we may with the more patience beare their spoiling us of our jewels our honours estates and liberties especially if they have an extraordinarie mandate and call from God to strip us and destroy this whole Reformed Church which some doe strongly pretend and fancie Nor is this pretence more than needs For I am sure they have no ordinary call or command so to doe either from the word of God or the good Lawes of this or any ancient Christian Church or Nation But by way of reprisall I desire not to take from them a shoe latchet Though some of them aime to make all the Bishops and true Ministers of this Reformed Church to goe bare-footed with their families and would fain sell many an excellent Preacher for a paire of shoes As for any publique and popular advantages to be obtained by my thus scribling I am not so fatuous as to fancie That the Name of the Church of England which is alwayes inscribed on my papers as well as on my heart is in so much favour either in City or Countrey what ever it may be in Court I know that Religious unity and national harmony in England as a Church may seem uselesse if not dangerous in point of policy untill there be a greater firmnesse and stability in civill affairs All Ladders must have two sides besides severall staves and scaffolds must have many stayes while they are used in the building though they be all afterward removed when the Palace of Power and Temple of Peace are finished As for lesser projects and those opiniasters which make up plebeian parties I know my lines to be diametrall against them It were a blind and impotent ambition in Me or any man of my Coat to seek great things for themselves when they cannot but see how great a gulfe there now is between any professed Minister of the Church of England and Abrahams bosome The favours to be expected either from the Populacy or the Powers Alas we poore and despised Clergie must not now aime at any earthly heaven or return to that terrestriall Paradise which our fore-fathers enjoyed out of which the Angels with flaming swords have driven us It is well if we escape hell and Purgatory or keep our selves in Limbo Patrum Primitive Poverty with Liberty The pulse of the times beats very weakly as to any double honour of profit or preferment for men of my profession and perswasion Indeed it is no time as Elisha told Gehazi for the ruinous and divided Clergie of the Church of England to seek or receive vineyards and olive-yards talents of silver and changes of raiment 'T is a very great mercy that we have our lives for a prey as Jeremie told Baruch That any of us may sit still under those poore vines and small fig-trees which the storm and hail of the times have shrewdly battered 'T is well if we can get any decent imployment or any competent maintenance for we have enemies that grudge us both these Though I trust the all-sufficient God through the favour of good men will ever give us competencie and contentednesse A Skuller will carry one to heaven as well as a Barge And one may ride on an Asse to Jerusalem as
among learned godly and wise men Nor doe I beleeve that in point of conscience they have hitherto found any great improvement of piety in themselves their families children and servants Yea I cannot but think they must be very sensible of those many breaches flawes and leakings which daily grow as upon their Country so upon their Parishes and Families by the extravagancies of their children strangenesse of their acquaintance and irreligiousnesse of their servants besides the factiousnesse of their neighbours and coldnesse of their very kindred who all affect according as they are cunning proud or simple the name of LIBERTY in Religion that is in some mens sense neither much to feare God nor to reverence Man However I wonder that any persons of great worth and prudence can with indifferency see the publique Nationall interests of Religion sinking which are the greatest jewels ornaments and honour of any Nation so as themselves may but have liberty to swim or paddle in what new pond puddle or plash of Religion they list to fancie 'T is strange to me that any persons of steady and sober brains should not easily foresee that these strange vertigo's these tempests and continuall tossings of Religion will in a short time if they have not already make the whole Nation quite giddie and as it were sea-sick even to a vomiting up of its Reformation But if there be indeed a Libertie indulged to every one for the picking and choosing what way of worship Religion Church and Ministery best likes them sure it will be the greatest honour and noblest freedome of all true English Christians to own and adhere to that solidly soberly Reformed Religion which was duly setled in this Church of England by better heads and I think as honest hearts as any either brochers or abetters of novelties can justly pretend to who as I conceive come vastly short in all their variations and new inventions of that Scripturall verity Catholick antiquity yea and of that Parlamentary authority and majesty which had once happily reformed and established Religion in this Church of England by the full counsell and free consent of all Estates Princes and People Clergy and Laity What is of late by Novellers pretended of an Apostolique rudenesse plainnesse illiteratenesse and simplicity which ought to be in Ministers of the Gospel is ridiculous unlesse these new Teachers could shew us their speciall gifts and extraordinary inspirations better than yet they have done which were indeed miraculously bestowed upon the Primitive Planters and Preachers but very superfluous in a Church so full and blest with the ordinary endowments of pious literature and all good learning both Humane and Divine as England was How childish an affectation were it in the Gentrie of England to forbeare to ride on good horses because Christ once rode upon an asse shewing that the greatest triumph of all Christians is humility lowlinesse and meeknesse How silly were it in them to expect that Asses should alwayes be able to instruct them because Balaams asse did once with great justice and a prodigious gravity rebuke his masters madnesse Much lesse should Gentlemen of worth and breeding be such silly sots and children as to fancie that every jingling hobby-horse will be sufficient to carry them to heaven No the ministery of your souls is a far greater work requiring greater ability and better authority to convince men of their sins to encounter their lusts to moderate their passions to purge out their corruptions to break and soften their hearts to terrifie and appease their consciences to prepare them for God to graft them by true faith into a crucified God and Saviour to wean them from the world to win them to goodnesse to pull them out of hell and the devils snares to bring them to heaven and into the arms of Christ All which are the great works of true able and authoritative Ministers requiring other-gates workmen than are now in many places much in fashion among common people though not so in favour with the wiser and better sort of Christians in England as to prefer these mens new and various fancies before the wise constitutions the ancient customes the Catholick and Religious Orders of the Church of England established by their pious and prosperous Progenitors All the world at home and abroad sees that after all the many changes and troublesome essayes of new-modelling the civill state of this Nation yet true reason of State and publique peace doe command yea inforce us to justifie the wisdome of our Fore-fathers by bringing back matters of Soveraigntie power and government to the former plat-form and polity as to reality onely changing a few formalities Truly this makes me not despaire but when all new fangles of Religion and popular models of Churches have been tryed in vain and are found as they will be both impertinent and incompetent for the happy state of Reformed Religion in this Church and Nation we may by Gods blessing return to those pristine and primitive forms of sound doctrine uniform order and government which were never taken up by any private inventions here or elsewhere but were of Catholick observation and so no doubt of Apostolique direction and divine institution Which if all men should silently forsake and in so doing reproch not onely the Church of England but the very first Catholique and Apostolique Churches yet let me cease to live when I cease to sympathize with them in their unjust reproches and with Her in her great distresses and 't is fit my tongue should cleave to my mouth when I forbear or am afraid to pray for the peace and happy restitution of our Jerusalem I who have seen Her in such order beauty peace plenty honour prosperity and piety I who have received in her bosome and tuition so many and great mercies not onely temporall but I hope spirituall and eternall I who desire my posterity kindred friends and countrey may never have other God or Saviour than what was owned and worshipped in the Church of England no other Scriptures and Gospel than what have here been excellently preached and comfortably believed no other Sacraments than such as were here duly administred and devoutly received no other Liturgie or prayers and holy offices than such as were here both publiquely proposed and privately used no better Bishops Presbyters pastors and guides of their souls both for learned abilities exemplary life than such as I have known frequent and flourishing in the Church of England I pray God they may but have as good for better Ministers and better means of salvation as they shall not need them so they cannot have them without miracles of which God is no prodigall I should greatly sin if I should not daily sigh and weep over the Church of England if I should not poure our my soule to the God and Father of Mercies for Her since she is now counted by many as Jeremie complains an out-cast and forsaken whom no
man in comparison seeketh after her bruise is almost incurable and her wound is very grievous There are few to plead her cause she hath no healing medicines her lovers have forgotten her since God hath wounded her with the wounds of enemies and with the chastisements of cruell ones who in her dust and captivity require of her to sing the songs of Sion commanding her to call her ruines Reformations and to account their persecutions her perfections It is time then for all that have any regard to the Church of England to cry mightily both to God and man to give them no rest till they return to be gracious to this much afflicted impoverished despised divided disordered Church It is high time for all honest English Christians to pitty her ruines to favour her dust to speak comfortably to her to put an end to her warfare to bind up her wounds to make up her breaches to repaire her losses as Jobs friends did his with their kind and munificent compassions that Posterity may not read in the sad ruines divisions and desolations of this famous and reformed Church of England pristine liberality and modern sordidnesse the bounty beauty and order of former times the deformity sacriledge and confusion of these later Who can consider without shame and regret how much more generous and large-hearted even those Ages were which had some rust and dimnesse of superstition growing upon their Religion then these are in which the English world is filled and confounded with the noise and shews of brightnings and reformations in which by new most preposterous methods some of our late unlucky Architects or Antivitruvian Builders have endeavoured with their axes and hammers to break down more good Church-vvork in twice seven years than the best master-builders can hope to repair in seventy seven I doe not mean onely as to the materiall and mechanick fabricks of goodly Churches which in many places lie sordidly wasted shamefully desolated but as to that which was the rationall politicall morall the prudentiall and truly pious structure of this well-reformed Church of England of whose ruines I shall give you afterward a more particular account But it is now time for me in order to work upon your affections to give over such tedious Prefacings and to present You with as true and lively a prospect as I can of Her sad posture There being more pathetick power in your hearing or seeing one of her own sighs and tears O what is there in her wounds than in the greatest seas of any mans oratory to stir up in You those filiall compassions which most become You to so deserving and now so distressed a Mother as is this Church of England The goodly CEDAR of Apostolick Catholick EPISCOPACY coâ—â—… with the moderne Shoots Slips of divided NOVELTIES in the Church ΔΕÎΔΡΟΛΟΓΙΑ The Embleme of the Trees explained In which is briefly set forth the History and Chronology of Episcopacy Presbytery and Independency as pretenders to Church-government their first planting growing and spreading in the Christian World THe design of this Figure or Embleme is to instruct Christians of the meanest capacities who have less abilities or leisure to read large Discourses touching the due Order Way and Method of Church-union and Communion which Subject is now multiplyed to so many parties and opinions that ordinary people as in a Wood or Maze and Labyrinth are unable to disentangle themselves of those perplexed contentions and confusions which have of late so miserably divided and almost destroyed the Harmony and Happiness of the Church of England upon the disputes not so much about saving Faith and holy Life as those of a Churches right constitution in its Divine Original Apostolick Derivation Catholick Succession Regular Subordination and Brotherly Communion First most people learned and unlearned were heretofore prepossessed with the Catholick use and approbation of Episcopacy as ubique semper ab omnibus ever and onely used in this and all other Churches from the first planting of Christianity After this many weaker Christians came to be dispossessed of their former perswasions by the violent obtrusions of such a Presbytery as challengeth Church-government not in common with Bishops but wholy without them This forreign plant not taking any deep root in this English soyle was soon starved and much supplanted by the Insinuations of a newer way called Independency At last many heretofore well-meaning Christians finding such great Authorities even from Christ pretended on all sides for these diversities of Bishops Presbyters and People each challenging the right of Church-government Rule and Jurisdiction as principally due to them and from Christ immediately committed to them have by long perplexed and sharp disputes been brought to such doubtings as have betrayed them to strange indifferencies as to all Ecclesiastical Society and Order which is the very band of Christian Religion so far that they care for no Church no Christian Communion no setled Government no sober Religion By this Figure Type or Scheme every one may easily see in one view their rise growth and proportions what in the beginning was what ever since for above 1500. years hath been and what in right reason ought to be the authoritative and constant Order Polity and Government of every particular Church as a part of the universal if we regard either Scripture-direction or Christs institution or Apostolical prescription or universal practise of all Churches in all Ages and places till of later dayes wherein the factious Ambitions of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abortive and divided Novelties have either in too indulgent or in troublesome times strangely warped from or contested against uniform Antiquity either usurping upon or denying those just Interests which ought to be preserved joyntly in every well-ordered Church to Bishops to Presbyters and to faithful people who as Members of one Body and Branches of one Tree or Root ought to be but one in an Ecclesiastical harmony though they have different uses and offices for the common good The Catholick Church of Christ which all true Christians believe to be Sponsa unica dilecta the Spouse and Body of Christ one and intire as united to him the Head of all by one Faith so to one another as Members by one Spirit one Baptism one Bread and one Cup which are visible symbols or signs of that invisible Communion in Truth in Love Charity which every true Christian hath with Jesus Christ and all true Believers in all the world This Catholick one and uniform Ch. is here set forth under the similitude of one fair straight well-grown fruitful flourishing uniform Tree as the Cedar of the Lord full of sap rooted in Christ from whom it derives the spirit life and radical moisture of Grace by such outward means and Ministers as the Lord hath appointed to be workers together with him as some Apostles some Prophets some Evangelists some Pastors and Teachers for planting propagating watering
by learned and godly men Bishops and other Ministers were notably discovered and by some Christian Princes or States happily amended with great order and by due authority as in other places so no where with more Wisdom Justice and Moderation than in England Where as in most of the Churches protesting against the Roman deformities especially those of the Lutheran denomination the ancient Orders and Authority both of Bishops and Presbyters were preserved as is evident in the Augustane confession which finds no fault with but highly approves the Government of the Church by Bishops under Episcopacy provided Bishops would joyn in a just Reformation of those gross abuses which were the Churches intolerable grievances as well as the dishonour of Christian Religion and Christian Bishops whose deserved Honours Estates and Eminencies in Authority they saw no cause to envie grudge or diminish So far were these first Reformers from hewing down Episcopacy as if it cumbred the ground that they onely digged about it and mended it that it might bring forth good fruit as it did in England and elsewhere While the Western Churches Reformation was yet but crude and in motion by Luthers means there arose Mr. John Calvin about the Year 1541. a man of good Learning acute Wit copious Eloquence great Industry quick Passions sharp Pen of reputed Piety and of no less Policy Him the people of Geneva thought the fittest man in the world to settle their distracted Church and State after they had with the wonted arts of tumultuating and discontented people forced Eustace their Bishop and Prince to flye from his Palace and City his Bishoprick and his Seigniorie because he would not presently gratifie them with such a Reformation as they imperiously demanded rather than modestly desired Mr. Calvin as Mr. R. Hooker hath excellently set it forth undertook with much difficulty and after many indignities worthy of popular levity fury and petulancy put upon him to settle their Church-affairs together with the civil State in such order as he thought not most Scriptural primitive and Catholick but most prudential plausible and probable in humane reason and honest policy to take and hold the tumultuating inconstancy of that people so to bring them to something of civil and religious order acting herein not upon any Wiclefian or the after Presbyterian and Antiepiscopal Principles as imagining either Episcopacy to be unlawful or sole Presbytery to be necessary as of Divine Institution neither of which were his judgement as is sufficiently and vehemently declared by his passionate approbation of reformed Bishops and his esteeming so honourably of regular Episcopacy that he passeth all Anathemas or curses on those that are against them so far was Calvin from laying the Axe to the root of this Tree which with Christianity had ever as he confessed born Episcopacy But he rather went upon Erastian principles and politick grounds looking it seems upon the Government of the Church as he did upon the Lords-day which is not elder nor more authentick or Catholick as to the Churches use and observation than Episcopacy to be in their nature mutable as of Ecclesiastick yet Divine prescription according as Times Occasions and Minds of men might fall out He well knew being a learned man and oft confesseth in his Writings the primitive blessing and universal authority of presidential Episcopacy in all Churches yet he neither thought it nor any forme of Government any more than clothes to be essential to the substance and body or any Church or of the Christian Religion but variable to several forms and polities as prudence might invite or necessity require so that he never set up any soveraign and unepiscopal Presbytery as an Idol or Moloch to which not onely the children but the Fathers of the Churches even very godly and reformed Bishops were all sacrificed He thought it did not misbecome his policy and prudence to serve the times and humors of the Citizens so far as to seem to vary the outward mode of their and all other Churches ancient government provided he served the Lord and that people in setling such a government as might preserve the Christian Reformed Religion among them in true Doctrine and good Manners which was the main work which Calvin seemed to mind most To have reconciled the City and their former Bishop was a matter impossible unless he or they had changed their minds in Religion to have perswaded them to elect a new Prince and Bishop of their own profession and opinion had been very imprudent considering either the fair offers they made to himself of being not titularly indeed but virtually and really both the Prince and Prelate or remembring that strong fancy of Liberty which had now so filled and intoxicated all sorts of Citizens In the last place to have set up himself in the pomp and formalities of a Bishop and a Prince had been an act of too much Impudence and Envy for a person of his Ingenuity Policy and Dexterity in publick managements it sufficed his design so far to gratifie both the Populacy with seeming Liberty and the Optimacy with some civil and Magistratick Authority all of them with such reformed purity in Religion as most pleased them and yet to keep up himself and his collegues of the Ministry to such an height of Ecclesiastical Influence and Church-power as made them far from being either slaves to the Vulgar or cyphers to the Government for all cases civil and criminal as well as religious were one way or other reducible and so responsible either by way of comprimising or upon scandal or repentance or satisfaction to the cognizance and consistory of him and his collegues himself being as the Caesar they as his Bibuli In effect his Wisdom Reputation Eloquence and Courage set him up in Geneva and other places to so high an eminency of respect and authority as he equalled yea exceeded most Bishops however his pomp train and pension were but small after the usual bounty expectable from any State or City that list to make their Reformations of Religion compleat by robbing the Church and Clergy of their ancient Lands and Revenues which doubtless in that City had been so great and princely as upon the confiscation of them to their Town-box or Exchequer they might well have allowed Mr. Calvin their great Reformer and chief Pastor and his Associates a Salary much beyond an hundred pounds per ann with a little provision of Corn. But he wisely dissembled this Indignity finding that as Riches Pomp and Luxury had undone former Bishops so a voluntary kind of Poverty and Austerity would now best conciliate to him and his collegues a greater Reverence and Authority nor was it considerable to have a gay or rich scabbard provided they had sharp and well metall'd swords their Ambition was rather to intend Gods work in reforming Religion of its Leprosie with Elisha than in taking mans rewards with Gehazi In this Presbyterian Prelacy or Prelatick Presbytery
which seemed to bow Church-government to the ground and make it like a Bramble take root at the neather end Mr. Calvin lived and died at Geneva never either rigid for a parity of Presbytery as of any Divine Institution nor against a comely eminency of Episcopacy which he owned as a very commendable useful venerable ancient and universal Order of Church polity and Government where it was paternal not imperious as an elder Brother among brethren not as a Master among servants Such Bishops presiding as Fathers among Presbyters yet gravely and kindly advising with them and assisted by them in all the grand and joynt concernments of the Churches wellfare these he never wrote nor said nor thought nor dreamed to have any thing in them Papal Antichristian Intolerable or Abominable to God or good men as some hotter and weaker spirits afterward declaimed Episcopacy and so Presbytery had indeed as other holy Mysteries Orders and Customes of the Church suffered very much smut soyle darkness and dishonour by the Tyrannies Fedities Luxuries Sotteries and Insolencies of some Bishops and other Church-men under the Papal prevalency but Reformed Episcopacy which in many Churches continued with reformed Doctrine never received the least blame or blemish from Mr. Calvins Tongue Pen or Judgement no nor from any of his collegues and successors in Geneva who were learned men and of sober minds But from the reputation of Mr. Calvins name this new and rather necessitated than elected project of Church-government and Discipline under the name of a Presbyterian parity or Consistorian conclave grew to be looked upon with very favourable eyes by other free Cities petty States and Princes as their Interest lead them each crying it up together with the reformed Doctrine to such an height as if the new paper and packthred in which Mr. Calv. had wrapped those old yet good spices were of equal value with them Several Interests advanced the businesse shews of Liberty with the people parity of Empire and power with the ordinary Preachers and hope of gain by confiscation of Church-lands and Bishops Revenues with some States and Princes as in the Palatinate Hassia and other parts of Germany so in Scotland with some Suitzer Cantons and Hans-towns the zeal for Reformation which was very plausible the zeal for Imitation after the copie of so renowned a person which was very popular and the zeal of Confiscation where so opulent and profitable a booty would fall into some mens purses and Coffers all these together carried many men with ful sails to Presbytery and with a strong tyde against Episcopacy by whose spoiles many hoping to be enriched they rather chose to ruine than reform it that extirpating might justifie their stripping of it which had more Revenues but not more deformities than Presbytery had under Episcopacy To make this Transport of some men good which not onely deserted but defamed despised and in some places destroyed the Ancient Catholick and Apostolick state of the Churches polity of old by Episcopacy hereby varying even from the Lutheran Moderators and Superintendents which were reformed and qualified Bishops as well as from all the present Roman Greek Armenian Abyssine and all other ancient Churches in the world to their great and insuperable scandal yea and from some eminently reformed Churches as England and Ireland were in which Episcopacy was still continued as the Honour Centre and Fixation of all Ecclesiastical Order Unity and Authority to avoid the odium and envy of this scandal all plausible wayes were taken by the great Admirers and Adorers of the new Geneva-platform to set further glosses and titles upon this new Presbyterian-government and discipline finding that the water-colours of Prudence Necessity Policy and Conveniency which Mr. Calvin had used would not hold long especially where Episcopacy now kept its pristine power and possession in so many famous reformed Churches and States as Denmark Sweden Saxony Brandenburg and others besides England which outshined them all All these so asserted the honour of true and reformed Episcopacy that all sober men saw Prelacy was no more of kin to Popery than Regality is to Tyranny or Magistracy to Oppression or Presbytery to Popularity or natural Heat to a Fever or Wine to Drunkenness or Good cheer to Gluttony or Good order to Insolency or due Subordination to Slavery 'T is true great Indulgencies and soft Censures were carried by those Churches which were Episcopal toward such of their reformed Brethren who were not opinionatively but practically Presbyterial pleading for themselves not choice so much as force and urgency of their present Affairs and Condition considering either the pressures even to Persecution which some were under or peoples impatiencies or Princes sacrilegious aimes all which made their deviation from the confessed Catholick and primitive pattern of Episcopacy so long venial as their Judgements were right and their Charity candid toward Episcopacy either approving of it or deploring their want of it or wishing for it as the best Government where it might be enjoyed with the Reformed Religion While Presbytery continued thus humble and poor in spirit it was esteemed honest and excusable upon Christian charity pleading not pervicacy but necessity not a schismatick Faction or Usurpation against Episcopacy but an humble submission to a condition which as Peter Moulin owns was far short of the happinesse they desired under good Bishops But this equable and charitable temper was too lukewarm and cold for some hotter Zelots for the Presbyterian way they did not like that their new platform which they called the pattern in the Mount should thus take any quarter from Bishops any where but rather be in a capacity to give no quarter to any Bishops or any presidential Episcopacy From private and amicable contests which began at Franckfort and so by degrees were fomented in other Cities between some reformed Divines it grew to higher flames of contention than those between Paul and Silas at length it rose to a Rivalry to Reproches Menacings Fewds Despites and bitter Animosities between such as adhered to ancient Episcopacy and those that admired the new-sprung plant of Presbytery To dig about to muck and mend this last the Learning Wit and Credit of Mr. Beza contributed not a little who first of any man openly inscribed Presbytery with a Title looking very like to Divine as Christs true and onely Discipline in which yet he was not so punctual and peremptory as many that followed him in his supposed Opinion but came far short of his real Learning which still forbad him to deny primitive paternal and reformed Episcopacy its due Honour Use and Place in the Church of Christ or to demand the extirpation of it where it was setled and reformed which he deprecates as an intolerable arrogancy in him or any man To which moderation if his Judgement and Conscience had not led him yet he was shrewdly driven by the notable charges of learned Saravia a man of veterane courage of
violence wrested the staffe out of its hands Presbytery seeming like the plant called Touch me not which flies in the face and breaks in the fingers of those that presse it but Independency as the sensible plant rather yielding to then resisting any hand that is applyed to it This later and softer plant no sooner almost began to be set on foot in England about the year 1650. but it soon gained much ground of Presbytery which had been an old bitten shrub ill rooted and never very florishing or fruitfull and lesse apt to be now at last transplanted But Independency as a new slip or full-shoot springs up apace spreads its roots and branches without any noise erects its Churches as fast as Presbytery could its Consistories out of the ruines of Presbyterians Parishes as well as of Bishops Dioceses Independency hath no great line or out-work to maintain and so can do it with fewer numbers and lesse noise it desired onely in Peace to enjoy it self affecting no forced ambition or unvoluntary Rule over others as did Presbytery it professeth to aime at nothing but a nearer and greater strictnesse of Sanctity Unity and Charity among Christians in their Church-way than it thought could well be had among the larger combinations of Presbyterian or Episcopall Churches which they think are not easily managed without much labour and toile besides offence and complaint because they urge many things as of duty and by constraint when this is onely by every ones free will and consent Nothing is more soft and supple than Independency in its first render branches and blossomes nor is it other than a little Embryo of Episcopacy in a little Parish or Diocese For Bishops Presbyters and People did of old and at first so neerly correspond as Fathers Brethren and Sons of a Family when they were but few and scarce made up one great Congregation in a City where one Minister at first was both Pastor and Teacher Bishop and Presbyter who as Christians increased ordained them Presbyters to carry on the work and yet to keep a filial Correspondency with him and respect to him as became them The pomp and solemnity of Independent Episcopacy is lesse but the Power and Authority Ecclesiasticall is though broken and abrupt yet full as great and absolute as to all Church-uses and intents as ever Bishops challenged How far this willow will grow an oake more rough and robust as it growes Elder Bigger Higher and Stronger no man knowes I presume it cannot have better beginnings of Order Unity Purity Piety Charity Meekness and Wisdom than Episcopacy had in its first Institution which is owned by all learned men to be at least Apostolicall both as to the enlarged Churches made up of many Congregations and the enlarged Authority of one Bishop placed by the Apostles over many Presbyters and Congregations so gathered by them into one Ecclesiastick Society or Combination as those Primitive Churches were in the Scripture Nor can it have more specious and modest beginnings for Purity and Sanctity than some former sects have professed such as were the Novatians and Donatists of which St. Cyprian and Optatus with St. Austin and others give us liberall accounts whose procedings did not answer their beginnings either in Modesty Charity or Equity but from rending from they fell to reviling and ruining all Churches but their own From the rise and advantages which these two new and now almost parallel plants in England Presbytery and Independency neither of which are yet any way grown up comparable to the Procerity Height and Goodliness which Episcopacy had and yet hath as in many Churches of Christ so in many English mens minds notwithstanding that both of them as notable suckers strive all they can to draw away all sap and succour from the old root of Episcopacy that it may quite wither and be extirpated every where as it hath been lately with Swords and Pickaxes terribly lopped and almost quite stubbed up in England From these two I say which have so much pleased either some Ministers or People with shewes of Novelty Liberty and share of Authority other Parties Sects and Factions have began to set up their scaling ladders and for a time staying one of their feet either on the standards of Presbytery or Independency they fall amaine with their hatchets to hack and hew down the remaines of all Episcopal order and Communion in Churches to cut off the battered stript and bare branches of that Ancient and goodly Tree which contained once the Catholick Church under its boughs and shade Thus these petty planters begin their new plantations that every one set up new Churches and Pastors after their own Hearts Opinions and Fancies making use of what seare barren and Schismatick slips or abscissions they are able to break or cut off aiming still to plant as they say further off from the root and bulk of Episcopacy as a notable character of more perfect Reformation than either Presbytery or Independency seem to have done who sometime professe they can comply with something in Episcopacy Hence first Erastians or Polititians begin to resolve all Churches into States all Ministry into Magistracy making no other origine of Church-power than that of the Common-wealth nor of any Ministers Bishops or Presbyters Authority than of a Justice or a Captaine or a Constable After this Anabaptists Quakers Enthusiasts Seekers Ranters all sorts of Fanatick Errors and lazy Libertines pursue their severall designes and interests under the notions of some new-found Church Sprigs and better plantations filling all places in England like a wood or thicket with Bushes and Briers and Thornes of Separations Abscissions Raptures Ruptures Novelties Varieties Contentions Contradictions Inordinations Reordinations Deordinations and Inordinations no Ordinations scarce owning any Church or Christians which are not just of their way and form as Optatus tells us the Donatist Bishop Parmenian and his party did All of them agreeing with Presbytery and Independency in this one thing however differing in others as in the matter of Tithes which these are reconciled to that they are enemies against all Diocesan Ruling Episcopacy quarrelling even the Honesty and Credit of Primitive Churches on that account despising all the Fathers and all the Councils and Canons of all Churches as levened with Episcopacy The reason in all of them is one and the same because true Episcopacy was a notable curb and restraint and remedy equally against all Schisms and Innovations in the Church of Christ as St. Hierom tells us And further by its venerable Authority so Famous so Ancient so Universal so Primitive so truely Apostolick it infinitely and intolerably upbraids all their Novelties and Extravagancies besides they are conscious that they shall hardly ever one for a hundred either equallize or exceed in many Ages the useful and excellent Abilities Gifts Graces and Miracles or the Benefits and Blessings which by and under regular and holy Episcopacy the Lord was pleased to bestow if ever any were
and Reformation Notwithstanding the shew of all these I abhorred Her as a Synagogue of Satan a den of Thieves a cage of unclean birds a very Babylon worse than that Church was from which Peter wrote his first Epistle I called Her sacred things execrable I counted her Ministers no better than the Magicians of Egypt and Baals Priests Her ministrations as Magick enchantments Her Sacraments insignificant neither sanctified nor sanctifying So far am I from being a poor and sneaking Schismatick which like a viper secretly gnawes the bowels where it is bred and lodged That out of an higher spirit of Zeal and Reformation I have like Saturn or Time quite devoured the old and wholly begat a new Church notwithstanding that I saw heretofore many seeming notes of a true and reformed Church in England many specious fruits of Christs holy Spirit in many formall good words and works of his seemingly gracious servants in Doctrine Faith and Manners by which temptations I sometimes had been a great Zelot and eager Professor having an high esteem both of the Ministers and Ministrations of the Church of England But afterward a new light breaking in upon me I first began to scruple some things in the Church of England after to suspect more at last I was jealous of all things but my own heart From jealousie I soon fell to enmity from enmity to a divorce from being divorced to prostitute the name honour peace and patrimony of that Church to the most insolent spoilers profaners and persecutors from cavilling I fell to calumniating then to condemning at last to contemning all its professed Christianity and noised Reformation as meer nullities uncapable to invest any man in the priviledges honour and happinesse of a true Christian Church or holy Society Thus bogling cruelly at the too great authority and revenues of Bishops scared also with some ceremoniall shadows and no lesse frighted with the late Presbyterian rigour and severity I was so driven by I know not what impulse but I am prone to believe well of it because I have got well by it that I at last fled from the very substance shew and name of the Church of England chusing rather to be a rank Separate a meer Quaker an arrant Seeker or nothing at all of an old-fashioned Christian than to continue in any visible communion with so corrupt so false so lewd so no Church by which high-flown resolution all this while I thank God I am become no Schismatick because neither being nor owning and therefore not being because not owning my self as any member of that Church from which I rather chose boldly to separate than poorly to schismatise in it Having a while wandered alone as Lot when he fled out of Sodom and standing by my self as holier than others finding none meet to joyn with me in Church-fellowship but growing weary and a little ashamed of my solitude neither hearing nor praying nor receiving with any Christians for many moneths nay yeares at last I had an impulse to preach and prophecy that so I might erect and create a pure and perfect Church after my own heart and call it after my own name In which though I began but with a little handful whom I gleaned most-what out of the Presbyterian late harvest which proved too big for their barns and so was never yet well inned yet we two or three met together in Christs name though upon our own heads and by our own authority expecting yea challenging his promise to be in the midst of us with all that plenitude of his spirit with those clear illuminations and assurances with that divine power and supreme Church-authority which next and immediately under Christ we judge to be in and among us as the first subject capable of it and is by us to be dispensed to what Pastors Members and Officers we list to chuse Being thus happily agreed as men we further covenanted as Saints to live together in this Church-fellowship we organized our body with all Church-Officers some of us ordained our selves to be Ministers of the Gospel others of us begat our Fathers and formed our Pastors we equally exercised Church-discipline upon one another so long as we could hold together some indeed went out from us because they were not of us the remaining faithfull Members of Christs little flock still cemented themselves and kept together as a Church where was prophecying and dipping and breaking of bread and excommunicating and all manner of censuring and discipline to far better uses and effects than ever were in that spurious as well as spacious and over-grown Church of England All this I have ordered and done by a power of Christian liberty with my Church or Body without any check or controll from any above us in a way indeed new and strange to the world but more pure free and perfect than ever was used or known in this of England or any other pretended Reformed Church which were all grosly deformed yea we are gone beyond any of those famous Primitive Churches which were by some called pure but I find them leavened with the mysterie of iniquity universally governed by Bishops our bitter enemies and Presbyters our not very fast friends The Lands of Bishops are now happily sold and some of us have bought a good part of them the Livings Tithes and Places of Presbyters we now gape for and crowd into yet are we neither guilty of sacriledge nor schisme the two Prelatick scare-crows or Episcopall bug-beares because nothing could be sacred which was never consecrated or devoted to the true God in a right way as nothing could be which was given to maintain Episcopacy with and Presbytery a meer Idol which we and so God no doubt perfectly abhors however it got footing so early in all Churches and immediately perked up in the place of the Apostles This seems to be the summarie sense of that pious Apology lately offered in behalf of all through-pac'd Separates and perfect Apostates from the order and constitution of the Church of England where either these men extremely dissemble or they first learned Christ and became Christians at least in profession many yeares being baptized and instructed confirmed and communicated in this Church from which being now totally divided they thus most ingeniously seek to wipe off the shame ingratitude levity sin suspicion of Schism by their owning no true Church at all in England and declaring plenary Separation or Independency fancying that he is lesse blameable who quite burns up his neighbours coat than he that onely singeth it and he that flayeth off ones skin is lesse insolent and injurious than he that onely scratcheth it as if every Schisme were not a partiall Separation and every Separation a plenary Schisme How justifiable the ground of such a plea is I leave to wiser men to their own more coole and impartiall spirits and to the great judge of all hearts whose Word hath much deceived his Church in
reformed profession which is truly Christian ancient and Catholick thereby justifying that mercy and truth that grace and peace of God which was plentifully manifested and faithfully dispensed to the people of this land by the piety and wisdome of the Church of England notwithstanding that the Lord seems now to hide his face from Her the want of whose favour which her great and sore afflictions have seemed to cloud is far beyond the triumphs of her enemies or the coldnesse of her friends the oppositions of many the withdrawings of some and the indifferencies of others who have all contributed to her miseries but none of them have yet convinced her that ever I could see of any sin or errour as to ignorance or iniquity superstition or irreligion dangerous defect or excesse If the Church of England had as many Mouths as she hath Wounds as many Tongues as Maims as many hearty Mourners as she hath cruel Destroyers if there were as many that durst pity and relieve her as there are that dare spoile and ruine her these would fill not England onely but all the Christian world with the bitternesse of her Complaints as a learned and pious Minister for his part hath lately done If the Church of England had many such pious Orators whose potent and pathetick eloquence were more proportionable to her calamities than the narrownesse of my heart and tenuity of my pen are like to be certainly heaven and earth would be moved with compassion flints would melt and rocks be mollified with commiseration the upper and the nether milstones partiall Presbytery and popular Independency between whom she hath been so ground to powder that Papists and Anabaptists and Familists and Quakers and Seekers and Ranters with all the rabble of her proud and spitefull enemies hope to fill their sacks with her grist those I say might possibly repent if they have not much mended their fortunes by this Churches ruines of their occasioning her so long and sharp a warfare so many and sad Tragedies while by infinite jealousies grievous reproches and unjust scandals cast upon their and your Mother this Reformed Church of England they have made her implacable enemies the Papists and others to blaspheme her for a meer Adulteresse all this while to condemn all her Children as a Bastard brood of illegitimate Christians from the first Reformation to this day Her most desperate deserters of late in order to take away their own reproch to expiate as they imagine the sin and shame of their former profession have laboured first to destroy the eldest brethren and chiefest sons in this Church next to cast out and exautorate the principall Stewards and dispensers of holy things after this they have endeavoured to rob her both of her dower and patrimony hoping at last to famish the whole Family when there shall be neither nursing fathers nor nursing mothers in this Church neither milk left for Babes nor stronger meat for the elder ones neither plain catechising nor profitable preaching neither ordaining Bishops nor ordained Presbyters CHAP. IV. SUch as have eares to heare and charity to lay to heart may with me hear the Church of England thus lamenting and bemoning Her self while she sits upon the ground covered with ashes clothed with sackcloth besmeared with blood drowned in teares and almost buried with her owne ruines O all you that pass by me stand and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow if it hath been done to any Christian Reformed Church under Heaven as it hath to me in the day wherein the Lord hath afflicted me with his fierce anger My Wounds my Wasts my Ruines my Deformities my Desolations are not by the barbarous inundations of Goths and Vandals not by the rude invasions of Saracens and Turks not by the severe Inquisitions and cruel persecutions of Papists I do not ow my miseries to the incursions of Forrainers to a nation of a strange Language of professed Enmity of different Interests and Religion They are not professed Neroes Domitians Diocletians and Julians Heathen Princes and Persecutors that have done me this despight for then perhaps I and my children could have born it with a like heroick patience and Christian courage as those did their Primitive Persecutions the splendour and constancy of whose Martyrdomes contributed more than all their preaching to the honour advantage and propagation of the Christian Religion when Churches and Christians being happily united in love and onely persecuted by professed enemies they knew in what posture of defence to cast themselves so as to suffer and die becoming Christians But I alas am ambiguously wounded by those that are of my own house family and profession Such as have been washed at my baptismall fountain of living water such as have freely and fully tasted of my Sacramentall Bread and Wine feasting at my Table which is the Lords these these have lifted up the heel against me Such as have been bred and born by me taught and brought up in the same true Christian Faith and reformed Profession by these am I hated and despised by these am I stripped and wounded by these am I torn and mangled by these am I impoverished and debased below any Church Christian or Reformed by these am I scorned and abhorred by these am I made an hissing and astonishment to all that see me by these am I made a derision and mocking-stock to my enemies round about me by these am I in danger to be quite devoured and destroyed who envy me so much breath and life as serves me to complain of my calamities Hear O heavens and give ear O earth be not ye also cruel or uncompassionate since one of you cannot but behold the deformity of my Sufferings the other cannot but feel the burthen of my complaints one of you is blasted with my Sighs the other is bedewed with my Tears Be not ye also accessory to my injuries by concealing them or guilty of my Blood by covering it which cries aloud against my ungratefull my unnaturall my rebellious children Those that came forth of my own bowels these have risen up against me to whom I liberally afforded milk when they were babes and stronger meat as they were able to bear it for whom I provided the sacred Oracles of God in a language they best understood I furnished them with such formes of wholsome devotion agreeable to the mind and Word of God as might best suit the common necessities of all and the capacities of the meanest I concealed no part of Gods sacred Counsel from them nor detained any necessary saving Truth out of any principle of unrighteous policy I neither denied nor diminished nor deformed any Ordinance of Christ to them I coloured no errours with shews of truth nor disguised any Truth with fallacious sophistries I set forth to them with all plainnesse and freedome the blessed fulnesse and excellencies of my Lord Jesus Christ in such a manner
exercised to each other their numerous conventions their fervent devotions their reverent attentions their unanimous communions their cheerfull Amens those blessed hopes and unspeakable comforts which thousands enjoyed both living and dying in the obedience to and communion with the Church of England All these holy fruits and blessed effects as most certain seals and letters testimoniall were I conceive most pregnant evidences and valid demonstrations of true Religion and of a true Church so happily setled by the joynt consent and publick piety of this Nation that it was not in reason or conscience in modesty or ingenuity to be suddenly changed much lesse rashly deserted and rudely abandoned chiefly upon the giddinesse of common people or by the boysterousnesse of common souldiers whose buff-coats and armour cannot be thought by any wise and worthy Souldiers to be like Aarons breast-plate the place from which Priests and people are to expect the constant oracles of Urim and Thummim Light and Reformation Such of that profession as are truly Militant Christians that is humbly wise and justly valiant as I hope many Souldiers may be will think it enough for them modestly to learn and generously to defend as Constantine the Great said to the Nicene Bishops not imperiously to dictate or boldly to innovate matters of Religion in such a Church and Nation as England which was I am sure and I think still is furnished with many able Divines many Evangelicall Priests and Ministers of the Lord whose lips preserve saving knowledge who have many a one of them more learning and well-studied Divinity in them than a whole Regiment nay than an whole Army of ordinary Souldiers whose weapons are not proper for a spirituall warfare nor apt as Davids hands either to build or repair a Church otherwaies than as Labourers who may possibly assist the true Ministers who are and ought to be the Master-builders of Gods house whose skill is not to destroy mens bodies but to save their souls not to kill but to make alive It must ever be affirmed to Gods glory because without any vanity or flattery that the Church of England for this last golden century came not behind the very best Reformed Churches nor any other that profess Christianity in any part of the world which is not my particular testimony who may seem partiall because I unfeignedly professe my self a son and servant of it but it is and hath been the joynt suffrage of all eminent Divines in all forraign Reformed Churches who have written and spoken of the Church of England ever since its setled Reformation not with commendation onely but admiration especially those who coveting to partake of the gifts and labours of English Divines have taken the pains to learn our hard and untoward language Yea I may farther with truth and modesty affirm that saving the extraordinary gifts of Tongues Miracles and Martyrdomes the Church of England since its setled Reformation under Queen Elizabeth of blessed memory came not much short of the Primitive Churches in the first and second Centuries Which had at least some of them as I shall after shew rather more than fewer ceremonies partly Judaick partly Christian yea far greater errors and abuses were found among some of them than were generally among any professors in communion with the Church of England witnesse those touching the Resurrection of the body and in the celebrating of the Lords Supper among the Corinthians The first some denied the other many received covetously uncharitably drunkenly disorderly undecently in the Church of Corinth Besides the scandalous fact of the incestuous person with which they were not so offended as became Christians they were also full of factions and carnall divisions going to law one with another before Infidels undervaluing the blessed Apostle S. Paul and other faithfull labourers preferring false Apostles and deceitfull workers with no lesse folly than ingratitude challenging in many things disorderly and uncomely liberties which amounted to clokes of malice and a licentiousnesse tending to confusion These and other corruptions were among Christians of an Apostolicall Church newly planted carefully watred and excellently constituted Nor are there lesse remarkable faults found by the Spirit of God in six of the seven Asian Churches mentioned in the second and third Chapters of the Revelation while yet they were under Apostolicall inspection For the Devil who is a great rambler but no loyterer began betimes to sow his tares in Gods field by false Apostles unruly walkers deceitfull workers meer hucksters of Religion schismatick Spirits proud Impostors sensuall Separatists wanton Jezebels curious and cowardly Gnosticks with all the evil brood of Nicolaitans Simonians Cerinthians and other crafty Hypocrites brochers of lies patrons of lewdnesse extremely earthly and sensuall yet vaunters in proud swelling words of spirituall and heavenly gifts but more covetous of filthy lucre and sedulous to serve their own bellies than zealous to serve the Lord or to save souls In all which instances of diseases growing even upon any of those Primitive Churches however Christians are commanded to repent and do their first works to keep themselves pure from contagion private or epidemick yet are they no where put upon the pernicious methods of reproching rending and separating from the very frame and constitution of their respective Churches as they were holy Polities Constitutions or Communions setled by the Apostles in decent subordinations and convenient limits of Ecclesiasticall order government authority and jurisdiction without which all humane societies civil or sacred run to meer Chaosses and heaps of confusion Which as the God of order and peace perfectly abhors so he no where by any Divine precept or approved example recommends any such practises to Christians under the name notion or intention of reforming abuses crept into any Churches presently to rend revile contemn divide destroy and make desolate the whole order polity frame and constitution of them which is very Christian and very commendable If the grand example of Divine Mercy was ready to spare Sodom upon Abrahams charitable intercession in case ten righteous persons had been found in that city and Jerusalem in case one man could have been found there who executed judgement and sought the truth how little are those men imitators of Gods clemency or Abrahams pity who have studied and still endeavour by all acts of power and policy utterly to destroy such a Church as England was in which many thousands of good Christians may undoubtedly be found who are constant adherers to the Faith gratefull lovers of the Piety and most pathetick deplorers of the miseries of the Church of England Whose excellent Christian state and Reformed constitution deserved much better treatment from those at least who were her children carefully bred born and brought up by her however now they appear many of them better fed than taught more puffed up with the surfeits of undigested Knowledge than increased in humble
both their cure and the preservation of the whole which may be still sound and entire as to the vitall more noble and principall parts I well know that it is not meet for the Church of England or the most deserving Member of it to dispute with Divine Justice nor is it either safe or wise to contest with his Omniscient and Almighty power but rather to lay our hands upon our hearts to put our mouths in the dust and to abhor our very righteousnesse than to quarrel with Gods judgements which are alwayes just though they are deep and dark past our finding out I think it an high presumption in the sawcy Criticks of these times who pretend to read the hand-writing upon the wall and to have such skill in sacred Palmestry as to know the mind of God by the operation of his hands conceiting both vainly and wickedly That God is such an one as themselves delighted with the spoiles and deformities the plunder and confusion of Churches they boldly interpret the meaning of all the troubles in England to be no other than this Gods anger against Bishops and Ceremonies against Steeple-houses and Common Prayer against Ordination and Ministry against the whole Polity and Constitution of the Church of England which they believe were so offensive and nauseous to God that he was forced to spue them out of his mouth justifying by this great argument of Gods providence as their chief shield and defence all their Schisms and Separations their Rapines and Sacriledges their Reproches and Blasphemies their Insolencies and Injuries committed and intended both against this Church in generall and against many most worthy and eminent Church-men in it I do not I dare not vindicate the Church of England before the most holy God whose pure eyes behold folly in his Saints and darknesse in his Angels as to the people in it either Preachers or Professors the Governours or governed the Shepherds or the Flock This is sure that where God had planted this Church as a pleasant Vine on a fruitfull hill where he had watered it with his Word as with the dew of Heaven fenced it by his speciall power and providence as with a wall expecting it should bring forth good grapes and good store there his contrary dealing with this his Vineyard taking away the hedge breaking down the wall thereof suffering it to be eaten up and trodden down to lie thus faâ— wast without its just pruning weeding and digging to be overgrown with briars and thornes commanding the clouds that they rain little or nothing upon it c. These sad dispensations and desolating experiments sufficiently proclaim Gods controversie with the Land and complaint against this Church that when he looked his vineyard should bring forth good grapes behold it brought forth wild grapes in so great a proportion that there was no remedy but God must be avenged on so unfruitfull so ungratefull a Nation which was second to none in temporall and spirituall mercies which are now become the aggravations of its sins and miseries it being condemned to punish it self by its own hands not for that it wanted the means of true Religion for what could the Lord have done more for his vineyard but for not using them yea for wantonly abusing those liberall advantages it enjoyed equall to if not beyond any Church or Nation under heaven Thus before the Bar and Tribunall of Divine Justice it is meet that we all as men and Christians confess our personall prevarications and cry out bitterly Wo unto us for we have sinned against the Lord. Yet as to mans judgement looking upon the Church of England not in the concrete or subject matter as consisting of many Preachers and Professors in many things possibly much depraved and deformed but considering it in the abstract in the reformed form and state of it in its former pious and prudent Constitution I must profess to You my honoured countrey-men and to all the World that in the greatest maturity of my judgement and integrity of my conscience as most redeemed now from juvenile fervours popular fallacies vulgar partialities and secular flatteries yea apart from the sense of my private obligations to the Church of England which are great and many I owing to it my Baptisme and Education as a Christian my office and ordination as a Minister all these laid aside and looking onely upon the consideration of its Religion as grounded upon Scriptures in the main and guided by the prudence of Primitive Antiquity I must profess that I cannot understand how the Church of England hath deserved to fall under those great reproches oppressions and miseries which the weakness wantonness and wickedness of some men hath sought to heap upon Her whose causeless malice and excessive passions against the Church of England are I think by a fatall blindness and most heavy judgement of God upon some men made the sorest punishers of their own and other mens sins their former unprofitableness ingratitude despite disorderliness and undutifulness against so venerable a Matron so good a Mother as the Church of England was at least it desired and offered it self to be so even to Her most ungracious and unthrifty children whom neither piping nor weeping prosperity or adversity she could ever move or affect with such conformities to Her or compassions for Her as she deserved of them I do here declare to the present age and to all posterity if any thing of my writing be worthy to survive me that since I was capable to move in so serious a search and weighty a disquisition as that of Religion is as my greatest design hath been and still is through Gods grace to find out and to persevere in such a profession of the Christian Religion as hath most of Truth and Order of Power and Peace of Sanctity and Solemnity of Divine Verity and Catholick Antiquity of true Charity and Martyr-like Constancy in it being farthest from Ignorance Errour Superstition Partiality Vulgarity Faction Confusion Injustice Immorality Hypocrisie Sacriledge Cruelty Inconstancy so I cannot apart from all prejudices and prepossessions find in any other Church or Church-way ancient or modern either more of the good I desire or less of the evil I endeavour to avoid than I have a long time discerned and daily do more and more since the contentions and winnowings of these times have put it and me upon a stricter scrutiny in the frame and form the constitution and setled dispensations of the Church of England No where diviner Mysteries or abler Ministers no where sounder Doctrinalls holier Morals warmer Devotionals apter Rituals comelier Ceremonials all which together by a meet and happy concurrence of piety and prudence brought forth such Spirituals and Graces both in their habits exercises and comforts as are the quintessence and life the soul and seal of true Religion those more immediate and special influxes of Gods holy Spirit upon the soul those joynt operations of the blessed
Trinity for the justification sanctification and salvation of Sinners in all these I never found by my reading and experience nor do I know where to seek for any thing beyond or every way equall to what was graciously dispensed in the Church of England Upon which grounds appearing to me and all the unpassionate Christian World most certain no man can wonder if I so much magnifie and prefer the Church of England that in the communion of its Doctrine Worship Ministry and Order I chuse to live in the communion of its Faith Hope and Charity I desire to die Let my soul be numbred among those Martyrs and Confessors those renowned Bishops and orderly Presbyters those holy Preachers and humble Professors whose labours lives and deaths whose words works and sufferings helped to plant and propagate to reform settle and preserve to so great a conspicuity of piety grace and glory the Catholick Church of Christ in all ages and places and particularly this part of it which we call the Church of England I am so far from envying or admiring any novel pretenders who boast of their folly and glory in their shame in their endeavours to destroy and devour this Church that I rather pity their childish fondnesses their plebeian petulancies their insolent activities their unlearned levities their ingratefull vanities who have demolished much and edified nothing either better or any way so good as what they have sought to pull down as to the order honour tranquillity beauty and integrality of a Christian Church So little am I shaken or removed from my esteem love and honour to the Church of England that I am mightily confirmed in them by all the poor objections made against it by the unreasonable indignities cast upon it which are as dirt to a Diamond but the further test and triall of its reall worth and splendor nor do I conceive that by those afflictions which are come upon us God pleads against the Church of Engl. but rather for Her against the lewd manners of her ungracious and ungratefull children for whose wickednesse He makes so fruitfull a Mother to grow barren so fair an House to become desolate so flourishing a Church to decay and wither It is no news where the lives and manners of Christians are much depraved from the holy rule of Christ evidently set forth among them to see famous Churches like the Moon in the wane or eclipse clothed with sackcloth and turned into blood to see Order subverted Unity dissolved Peace perverted Beauty deformed Holy things profaned It is no news to read of holy Prophets blessed Apostles orthodox Bishops and godly Presbyters ill treated and despitefully used by Heathens Hereticks Schismaticks No men but ignorant and unlettered can wonder at Bibles and other holy Books burned at Church-lands alienated the houses demolished and the Preachers silenced banished destroyed All Church-histories tell us it was many times so even among the Primitive Churches even then when their pious and Apostolick constitution was no doubt at best it was most violently and desperately so just before the Churches enjoyed the greatest prosperity longest tranquillity the blackest darkness usually going immediately before the welcomest break of day as was remarkable in the serenity of Constantine the Great 's time succeeding the dreadfull storm of Diocletians persecution which was looked upon and intended as an utter extirpation of Christian Religion Which distressed estate of the Primitive Churches of Christ in all the Roman world Eusebius Bishop of Caesaria who lived in those worst dayes describes with so much pious oratory and so parallel in many things to the temper of our times that I cannot but present you my honoured countrey-men with the prospect of them because the fury and darknesse of that tempest reached even to the then British Churches in England under which many Bishops and Presbyters Noblemen and Gentlemen perished and among others that famous Martyr S. Alban who as Bede tells us in his History l. 1. rather then he would deliver or discover a pious Presbyter whom he had hid in his house by whom he was either converted or much confirmed in the Christian Faith chose to offer himself in the Priests habit to the Inquisitors and owning himself for a Christian though yet unbaptized he died for that profession Hereby the world may see how much poor mortalls are prone to mistake in their calculations of Gods judgements upon any Church both as to their own sins and other mens sufferings where the greatest sufferers are commonly the least sinners and the greatest inflicters are the least Saints Having in the former seven Books sayes Eusebius set forth that holy succession of Bishops which followed the Apostles in all the famous Primitive Churches in their several limits and proportions under the various seasons and storms of times the Churches had now in the Roman Empire so great liberty serenity and quiet that Bishops in many places were much honoured even by the civil Magistrates the Temples and Oratories of Christians were every where full and frequented new Churches were every day erected more goodly costly and capacious nor could the malice of men or Devils hinder the growing prosperity of the Churches every where while God was pleased to shine upon them with his favour Afterward too great liberty and ease degenerated to luxury and idlenesse these betrayed Christian Bishops Presbyters and people to mutuall emulations and contentions these sowred to hatred and malice these brake out to fury and faction Christians persecuting each other with words and reproches as with armes and weapons murmurings and seditions of governed and governours justling against each other grew frequent arising from desperate hypocrisies and dissemblings At last being generally less sensible of their sins than their sides and factions and less intent to the honour of the Church and its holy Canons than to their private passions and ambitions the wrath of God overtook them all Then saith that Historian as Jeremy complains did the Lord bring darknesse upon the beauty of the daughter of Sion then did He cast down to the ground the glory of Israel He remembred no more the place of his footstool in the day of his wrath then did he profane the habitation of his honour in the dust and made Her a reproch to all her enemies c. then were Churches commanded to be pull'd down to the ground holy Books and Bibles to be burnt the Bishops and Pastors some banished others imprisoned tortured and killed all silenced impoverished disgraced abhorred by the Emperour with his followers and flatterers Christians were forbidden all holy meetings and duties commanded and forced to sacrifice to popular Idols and plebeian Gods upon pain of death and torture seventeen thousand Christians slain in one month an utter extirpation of Bishops Presbyters Professors Churches and Christianity it self designed enjoyned and publickly solemnized by a triumphant pillar erected in Spain with this Inscription An Imperial monument of
varying in this as in other things from the whole ancient Churches constitution no less than from this of England are likely to differ among themselves even till Doomesday unless they return under some new name and disguised notion of moderators and superintendents to what they have rashly deserted the true pattern in the Mount that paternall Primitive and Catholick Episcopacy which was the centre and crown of the Churches unity peace order and honour which imports no more after all this clamour and terrour than one grave and worthy Presbyter duly chosen in the severall Dioceses limits to be the chief Ecclesiastick Overseer and Governour succeeding in the managing of that Ecclesiasticall power and authority which without an Apostolick President or Bishop properly so called Presbyters alone in parity or equality never did enjoy and so never ought to exercise in the Churches of Christ as to ordination and jurisdiction no more than Bishops regularly may without the counsel and assistance of Presbyters Which ancient Order eminent Authority of Primitive Episcopacy if neither right Reason nor the Word of God either in the Old or New Testament did clearly set forth to us as best if neither Apostles at first nor the Primitive Fathers after them if neither Church-history nor Catholick custome nor Primitive Antiquity nor the approbation of the best Reformed Churches and Divines if all these did not commend it as they evidently do to my best understanding yet the late mad and sad extravagancies in Religion do highly recommend it yea the great want of it in England shews the great use necessity and excellency of it especially if advanced to its greatest improvement of counsel order and authority I may adde the votes of all sober and impartiall Christians even now in England who are grown so wise by their woes as generally to wish for such Episcopacy whose restitution would be more welcome to the wiser and better sort of Christians in this nation than ever the removall of it was or the medlies of Presbytery and Independency is like to be Nor do I believe that the restauration of a right Episcopacy would be unacceptable to many of the soberest men even of those two parties if any expedient could be found to salve and redeem the reputations of some lay-leaders and popular Primates of those sides whose credits lie much at pawn with the people upon this very score as having been by them rashly biassed against all Episcopacy the abusing of which Apostolick order on one side and the abolishing of it on the other side were I think two of the greatest Engines the Devil used to batter the Church of Christ withall pride and parity insolency and Anarchy being equally pernicious to Church-polity and Christian piety The overboylings of some mens passions which the Scotch Thistles being set on fire under them chiefly occasioned having now almost quenched themselves by bringing infinite fedities and deformities upon the whole face of the Christian Reformed Religion in this Church as well as otherwhere these sad events may save me the labour of further asserting in this place the use and honour of Catholick Episcopacy in the Churches of Christ which is already done as by my owne so many abler pens as it was also done by Mr. Hooker sufficiently proving that the Church of England deserved not upon the account of its retaining the Catholick and Apostolick order of Episcopacy to have suffered these many calamities which have ensued since the Schismes and Apostasy of many from this Church and from that Primitive Government other than which was not so much as known or thought of in the Catholick Church of Christ for 1500 years nor then when the Church of England began its wise and happy Reformation which did not indeed abolish but reform and continue as became its wisdom that Ancient and Apostolick government of the Church which was primitively planted in these British Churches as in all others throughout the world long before the Bishop of Rome had any influence or authority among them being highly blessed of God and honoured of all good men nor hath yet any cause appeared why it should be blasted or accursed or scared by Smectymnuan terrors CHAP. XI AS for the Doctrinals of Christian Religion this Church of England ever had so high an approbation from the best Reformed Churches and so harmonious a consent with the most Orthodox and Primitive Churches that it must be extreme ignorance or impudence on this part to esteem the present miseries of this Church as merited by Her wherein it was indeed most exact and compleat as wholly consonant to the Word of God so nothing dissonant from the sense and practise of the ancient and purest Churches Yea I find that the bitterest enemies of the Church of England do in This least shew their teeth or clawes except onely in the point of Infant-Baptism not for want of ill will for nothing more pincheth them then the Doctrine of the Church of England which was according to godliness teaching all men that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts they should live righteously soberly and godlily in this present world but for want as of just cause so of skill and abilitie most of them being such as have no great stock of knowledge learning or judgement nor very capable on this side to assault the Church of England whose strength and shield is the invincible Word of God rightly understood Therefore the cunning Adversaries and Vastators of the Church of England drive a lesser trade of small cavellings and bitings rather as the serpent at the heel than head not much engaging themselves in any grand controversies of Divinity which are generally above the reach of their capacities whose feeble assaults the Church of England hath no cause to fear against the Doctrine set forth in Her 39. Articles Her Catechisme Her Liturgy and Her Homilies since She hath so many years mightily maintained this post of her Doctrine against the Learning Power and Policy of the Roman party who are veterane Souldiers and mighty Troopers weightily armed in comparison of whose puissance these light-armed Schismaticks and small Skirmishers are like Pot-guns to Canons or Pigmies to Giants seeking to deface the Pinnacles and Ornamentalls of Religion but not capable to shake the foundations of it as it was happily established and duly professed in the Church of England CHAP. XII NOr have they had either more cause for or better successe in their disputings against the Devotionals of the Church of England in its publick worshipping of God by Confessions Prayers Praises Psalmodies and other holy Oblations of rationall and Evangelicall Services offered up to God by the joynt devotion of this Church the subject and holy matter of which ever was is too hard for their biting therefore most of them contented themselves to bark at the manner of performing them chiefly quarrelling at that prescript form or Liturgie used in this Church under the title
conscientiously scrupulous nor yet am I so against these or any other innocent Ceremonies recommended in any Church by the joynt consent of all parties and by due authority as for their sakes to withdraw my humble subjection to and charitable communion with this or any other Christian Church in the world that is otherwise sound in the Faith I do not so affect embroyderies in Religion as to have its garments too gay and heavy with the Church of Rome nor yet do I so affect a plainness as to abhorre all decency least of all am I of that curiosity or coynesse in Religion as I will rather rend my garments in pieces and go stark naked than weare such an one as may have possibly some spots or patches which might be spared if they could handsomly be removed but are better suffered than to have rude hands teare and cut them out as they list to the perturbation and injury of the whole Church As to the generall nature of Ceremonies used in the Church of England it may suffice at present in order to vindicate this Church to declare in its behalf First that the Ceremonies enjoyned and used in the Church of England were esteemed and oft so declared to be in the sense of the Church and its chief Governours not at all of the essence or necessary substance of any religious duty no more than the clothes of their opposers were of their constitution or their hair was of their heads yet both clothes and hair are very comely and convenient in the sociall living both of men and Christians together where neither nakednesse I think nor baldnesse would become them Secondly It doth no where appear that our blessed God is so Anti-ceremoniall a God as some men have vehemently fancied and clamoured rather than proved This I am sure the God of heaven whom we worshipped in England did institute many Ceremonies in the ancient religious services required of the Jewish Church which certainly God would not have done if all Ceremonies had been so utterly Anti-patheticall against the Divine nature or contrary to that spirituall sincere worship which he anciently required beyond all doubt of the Jew as well as the Christian as all the Prophets witnesse Nor do we find that God hath any where forbidden any decent Rites holy Customes or convenient Ceremonies to any Christians in order to advance the decency and order of his service or Christians mutuall edification and joynt devotion under the Gospel except onely such as were like the shadows of the night or morning which went before the rising of Jesus Christ the Sun of Righteousnesse importing Christs not being yet come in the flesh or implying the mystery of mans Redemption not yet completed by the Messias such as were Circumcision which was to last no longer in force than the promised seed of Abraham came in whom all nations should be blessed and the Covenant of God should be declared to the Gentiles as well as Jews under another sign or seal which is Baptisme The Mosaick Rites and Ceremonies as the Sacrifices the Passeover the High Priest and other legall Types as fore-going shadows justly vanished when the substance came but those subsequent shadowes Evangelicall Ceremonies and Signs which follow attend upon and betoken the Suns being now risen and present with his Church these in point of outward order and decency also of inward significancy and edification may well consist with the Evangelicall worship of God in Spirit and Truth however it be not founded on them or confined to them as to the inward judgement and conscience of the worshippers We see our blessed Saviour as he conformed to the Judaick Ceremonies both of Divine and Ecclesiastick Institution as in his sitting at the Passeover and celebrating the Encaenia or Feasts of Dedication till his work was finished so He from the Jewish use adopted or instituted some new Evangelicall Ceremonies to be used in a most solemn manner as Sacraments or holy Mysteries in his Church under the Gospel for visible Signs Memorials and Seals of his Love and Grace to us by which his Christian people may be instructed comforted and confirmed in Faith and Charity both to God and to one another Yea our blessed Saviour hath by his Spirit guiding the pens and practises of the Apostles sufficiently manifested as S. Austin observes that grand Charter and Commission of Liberty and Authority given to his Church and the governours of it for the choyce and use of such decent Customes Rites and Ceremonies as may agree with godly manners and the truth of the Gospel best serving for the order decency peace and edification of his Church in its severall states parts and dispersions not as annexing Ceremonies to the nature of the duties or humane inventions to the Essence of Divine Institutions which the Church of England never did but oft declared the contrary nor yet binding the judgement and consciences of those that used them to any such perswasion nor yet invading hereby or prejudicing the liberties of other Churches or any Christians in their respective subordinations but allowing other Churches the like liberty and investing its own members in the use and enjoyment of that Christian liberty as to those particulars which the Church hath chosen and appointed in the name of all its parts and adherents for their sociall order for the solemnity decency and mutuall edification of Christians Which was all that the Church of England intended in its Ceremonies agreeable to that indulgence and authority given by Christ to It as well as to any Church Nor have these enemies to the Church of England upon this account of its Ceremonies ever proved that Christ hath repealed this grant or denied it to this Church more than any others or that this Church hath yet abused its liberty or that themselves have any speciall warrant given them to enter their private dissent and put in a publick prohibition against the whole Church as if it might do nothing in the externalls ornamentalls and circumstantialls of Religion without asking leave of such supercilious censors and imperious dictators who scorn to make the consent of the Church in things of an indifferent and undefined nature to be their rule and law as to outward observance unity and conformity yet arrogate so much to themselves as they would make their private opinion and dissent to be a bar and negative to the whole Church For as the Liturgie so the Ceremonies used and enjoyned in the Church of England were not the private and novell inventions of any late Bishops or other Members of the Church of England much less of any Popes or Papists as some have imagined but they were of very ancient choice and primitive use in the Church of Christ whose judgement and example the Church of England alwayes followed by the consent of all estates in this Nation and Church represented in lawfull Parlaments and Convocations and this they did
then when with a Martyr-like zeal and courage they put themselves into the happy state of a well-reformed Church paring off many superfluities or noveller fancies and onely retaining a few such ceremonies as they saw had upon them the noblest marks of best Antiquity Decency Nor may any man without discovering great folly and injustice find fault with those members of the Church of England who used those retained and enjoyned Ceremonies agreable to their judgements and in obedience to a publick lawfull command in which their own vote and consent was personally or virtually included so that He must by condemning such as were conformable either condemn himself and all others who were authors of this publick appointment or else he must prefer his own private judgement before them all The first is fatuous Levity the second is immodest Arrogancy I allow as much as these men demand and so oft impertinently decantate against the Ceremonies of the Church of England as to that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that spirituall and inward worship of God in the rationall faculties of mens souls which the Church of England chiefly intended and vehemently required beyond any outward Ceremonies of all true and sincere worshippers of God but withall It judged and so do I that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the outward man which ought to be conform to the heart and being most conspicuous to others ought also to be most exemplary and significant in those visible acts which necessarily accompany the religious visible and sociall service of God that this ought not to be rude slovenly negligent confused irreverent or uncomely by affecting various singularities and inconformities to others which occasion scandalls strifes factions divisions animosities disorders and confusions in particular Churches or Congregations for avoiding of which every private Christians spirit ought in Reason and Religion to be subject to the publick prophetick Spirit of the Church in its joynt counsels consents and determinations against which a man cannot bring any pregnant demonstration of right reason and morality or of Faith and Scripture-revelation as S. Austin in his Epistle to Januarius observes having learned as he tells us that principle of calmness moderation humility and Charity from S. Ambrose as an oracle from Heaven These considerations moved the Primitive Churches of the first and second Centuries in their severall grand combinations and ampler distributions even amidst their Martyrdomes and sharp persecutions while they had no leisure to be superstitious or superfluous in things of Religion but onely were intent to Piety Devotion and Charity these moved them to use and retain as they had received them from the Apostles and their successors some Ceremonies yea many more than were used in the Reformed Church of England which appears in Justin Martyr Irenaeus Tertullian Clem. Alexandrinus and others Who tell us of the holy kiss and love-feasts of Water added to the Wine in the Lords Supper of Oyl Milk Honey a white garment used in Baptisme of Christians not washing a week after they were baptized of constant fasts on Wednesdayes and Fridayes of frequent signations with the Crosse both in religious and civil motions as Indications of their courage and constancy in professing Christ crucified I might adde their solemn stations and vigils their adorations and prostrations toward the East besides their strict zeal in observing Easter or the time of Christs Resurrection also their Quadragesimal or Lemen fast preparatory to it their not kneeling between Easter and Whitsuntide nor upon any Lords day on which they were forbidden to fast before and at the Nicene Council besides their severe forms of exercising Discipline and enjoyning Penances to such as were scandalous offenders the great respect observance which Christian people payed to their Bishops and Presbyters yea to their Deacons in many things who all joyned in an high reverence and submission to their Bishops or chief governours in the Church in order to which duties concerning the Churches order and peace most Councils of the Church spent much of their time care and pains next to the keeping of Faith entire and sound If the Ceremonies of the Church of England had been many more in that kind than they were yet since they were in their generall nature allowed by God and left by him to the prudent choice and use of this as other particular Churches certainly as learned Zanchy and other reformed Divines observe they ought not by sober Christians to have been put into the balance of their Religion so far as for their sakes to overthrow the peace and whole state of such an happy and reformed Church as this was bringing infinite greater mischiefs upon Religion the whole Church by violently removing such ceremonies as neither empaired the faith nor depraved the manners of good Christians than ever could be feared by the sober use of them which did not so much as occasion any scandall or inconvenience to those that had knowing humble meek and quiet spirits rightly discerning the nature of such things and that liberty granted to themselves of submitting in them to the determination of the Church nor can it be other than weaknesse of judgement or want of charity or a signe of schismaticall and unquiet spirits that list to be contentious rising either from ignorance or superstition or pride and petulancy for private persons in such cases peevishly to sacrifice to their private passions and perswasions the publick peace and prosperity of the Church which ought to be so sacred as the learned and pious Bishop of Alexandria Dionysius wrote to the zealous and factious Presbyter Novatus that it is not to be violated upon less accounts than those for which one would chuse to suffer Martyrdome there may be as Saint Paul confesseth a zeal in them and yet they persecute the Church of Christ After that Divine justice hath further punished and manifested the supercilious folly and inquietude of some men Times may come in which sober Christians would be glad to enjoy such a state of reformed Religion in England as they sometimes happily enjoyed and despised under these so tedious and terrible burdens of ceremonies as some complained who are greatly wronged if they have not since charged their consciences with far greater pressures than any Ceremonies can be imagined the least wilfull and presumptuous immorality being heavier than a thousand such formalities as much as milstones are beyond feathers and talents of lead more ponderous than the largest shadows Experience hath already taught us that the authentick ceremonies of the Church of England were either up hinderances at all or far lesse as to the advance of piety holiness and charity than the taking away of them and the consequences have been especially in such a fashion as instead of ripping off the lace hath torn the whole garment into rags and pretending to shave the superfluous hair hath almost cut the throat of the
reformed Religion as to its unity order stability and constancy either in doctrine or duty Sure it was far better to have the holy complete and reverent Sacrament of the Lords Supper administred and received by humble devout and prepared Christians meekly kneeling upon their knees than to have none at all celebrated for twice seven yeares both Ministers and people willingly excommunicating themselves and starving one another as to that holy refection It was much better and more Christian-like to have infants baptized with the ancient signe of the crosse as a token of their constant profession of the Faith of Christ crucified than to have them left wholly unbaptized and so betrayed to the Anabaptistick agitators who boldly nullifie that Sacrament when they see others either vilifie and wholly reject it as to infants or dispense with so great partiality as if every petty Preacher were a Lord and Judge not a Servant and Minister of the Church of Christ It was better to have some things lesse necessary yea inconvenient that looked like order decency and harmony in the Church than daily to run thus to endlesse faction ataxie confusion and irreligion Better that Bishops and Presbyters and Deacons officiate after the ancient manner in Eastern and Western Churches in white garments under which form Angels who are ministring spirits are represented to us and Christ himself in his transfiguration duly administring holy things to the people of God than to have no true Ministers no divine or due ministrations at all as is now in many places of England and Wales where either Churches and people are desolatâ— or pitifull intruders neither truly able nor duly ordained dare to officiate in their motley and py-bald habits as they list superciliously affecting such odde and antick fashions as they most fancy to please themselves or amuse the people with over whom they seek to have an absolute dominion If those few ceremonies appointed and accustomed to be used in the Church of England were not herbs of grace or of the most fragrant and cordiall sorts of flowers yet certainly they were never found to be so noxious and unsavoury weeds as some pretend the squeamishnesse of some people was no argument of any thing pestilent or banefull in them There are noses that have Antipathies against Roses and some will faint at any sweet smell If a few modest Christistians could lesse bear the sent or sight of them for my part I could willingly indulge them such a connivence and toleration as might consist with the publick peace order and rules of charity but I can never approve the counterscuffle of those who for their private disgusting of one sawce or dish rudely overthrow an orderly feast and well-furnished table who upon the suspicion of weeds root up all the good plants in a garden who jealous of briars and thorns destroy the vines and fig-trees Ceremonies if they bear no great or fair fruit yet they may as hedges be both a fence and ornament to Religion which truly for my part I esteemed them and so used them nor did they grow so offensive as now they have proved untill over-valuing on the one side and under-valuing on the other side pertinacy and obstinacy as S. Austin expresseth his sense and sorrow like a pair of alternative bellows kindled such flames of animosity as instead of bearing and forbearing one another in love sought to consume each other in those heats and flames which would not have risen had both sides more intended the substance and lesse the ceremonies of Religion There were infinite more obligations to Christian union by the true faith they joyntly professed than there were occasions of dividing by the ceremonies about which they differed But one sharp knife will easily cut in sunder many strong cords if it be in a mad or indiscreet mans hand Although Ceremonies of mans invention be no more to be made rivals to Religion than Hagar was to Sarah or Ismael to Isaac yet it is hard to cast them out having been sons or servants to the Churches family with scorn unlesse they be found to grow too petulant either jeering or justling pure Religion of whose genuine substance indeed they are not yet they may as hair is to women and men too be given It for an ornament nor do they deserve to be suspected for superstitious much lesse irreligious untill Christians make more of them then they deserve or the Church intended either so much contending for them or against them as takes them off from intending those main things wherein the grace and kingdome of God doth consist It doth not become the children of God either so to please themselves with toyes and bagatelloes as to neglect their meat or so to wrangle about them as to forget either the mutuall love they owe as brethren or the duty they owe to their parents But those little scratches which some Anticeremoniall mens itching fingers heretofore made upon the England's beautifull face would never I believe have so far festred and deformed all things of Religion in this Church if some men had not mixed of late some things of a more venomous nature and malignant design in order to gratify the despite of those rude Demagorasses of Rome who have most ill will and evil eyes against the beauty of this Parthenia the Church of England I know the common refuge of many who eagerly opposed the Church of England in this point of its Ceremonies was when they could not answer those arguments which learned and godly men brought to justifie the lawfull nature of the things in themselves also for the Churches undoubted liberty and power in chusing and using them lawfully they then flew to that popular and plausible argument which is in it self very fallacious arguing a mind rather servile to mens persons and enslaved to their opinions than enjoying the freedome of its own reason and judgement Namely that some learned and many godly men did greatly scruple those ceremonies being so scandalized with them that they either never used them or with very great regret others bitterly inveighed against them petitioning God and man for the removall of them Thus do most men plead who were but coppy-holders under the chief Lords of this Faction against the Ceremonies of the Church of England Ans I do not unwillingly grant as having been no stranger to some of them that many of those who were no great friends to the Ceremonies were yet learned grave and godly men such as they are reputed to be by those who pretend to be their followers and have rather out-gone them in the rigour of non-conformity than kept pace with them in that moderation gravity and charity which those men seemed to have who were not therefore sworn enemies against the Church of England because they were no great friends to Ceremonies yea I am perswaded there were few of them who truly deserved in former ages the names of godly and wise
These good and warm men to whose martyrly courage much might be indulged while yet Reformation was an Embryo in the formation and birth were in time much worn out men afterward began more coolely to consider the nature of the things no less than their own fears or other mens prejudices especially after they saw those things three times solemnly determined and setled by the publick wisdome and authority both of this Church and State The few remains of the old stock of pious dissenters which in my time I have known were grown so calm and moderate as to the Ceremonies of the Church of England that I never found they perswaded others against them As for Liturgie and Episcopacy I am sure they justly asserted them as to the main as wishing onely some small sweetning of the first as to a few darker expressions and the softening of the other as to some more equable regulations which were as far from extirpation of either of them as wiping the eyes is from pulling them out and washing the hands from cutting them off Yea I know by long experience that when the graver and more learned sort of Non-conformists perceived how mightily the Reformed Religion grew and prospered in England amidst the Liturgie Bishops and Ceremonies against which some fiercer spirits had so excessively inveighed when they saw what buds and leaves blossoms and ripe fruit Aarons rod brought forth what eminent gifts and graces God was pleased to dispense by Bishops and Presbyters that were piously conformable to the Church of England they wholly laid aside their former heats and youthfull eagernesses which sometimes fed high and were kept warm by the hopes and flatteries of those who expected that party should long agone have prevailed yea many of them now aged both repented of and recanted their more juvenile and indiscreet fervours advising others now beginners to conform to the good orders and to study the peace of the Church of England which they saw so blessed of God as none in the world exceeded Her Nor did I ever hear of any sober Christian or truly godly Minister who being in other things prudent unblameable and sincere did ever suffer any penitentiall strokes or checks of conscience either upon his death-bed or before meerly upon the account of their having been conformable to and keeping communion with the Church of England nor did they ever find or complain of Ceremonies Liturgie or Episcopacy as any damps to their reall graces or to their holy communion with Gods blessed Spirit At last both good Ministers and people generally submitted themselves in all peaceableness for many years to the order and uniformity of the Church of England untill the late Northern Earth-quake scared many by a Panick fear from their former stedfastness in practises and judgements which had been taken up by many Ministers not suddenly and easily but after serious and mature deliberations against which nothing new hath as yet been alledged to alter their minds onely old rusty arguments have been wrapped up in new furbished arms the strongest sword it seems makes the best proofs and impressions on some mens consciences even in matters of Religion Which vertigo excusable giddiness in the vulgar but shamefull inconstancy in some men of parts and learning is no news to wise men since as the most renowned Isaac Casaubon observes the native mutability of mens minds is such That they precipitantly run by sholes and troops upon changes which are for the worst but scarce one man of a thousand is to be won by the sense of his own and other mens miseries or by the most importune and strongest reasons in the world to retract his popular transports or to revert to the better by holy and happy Apostasies Changes to the worse like sicknesses are easie and sudden recoveries to the better like health are slow and difficult Irregular zeal and popular tumults like storms and tempests easily drive men from their anchors into dangerous seas but they seldom bring them back into safe harbors The first is the work of the many but not the wise the second of the wise who are but few and who during the paroxysme or first impression of vulgar violence must a little yield themselves either to be carried away or oppressed by the rage and precipitancy of such mutations which divers sober men no doubt have rather suffered of late years than approved here in England who humbly pray to recover that happy port or station wherein the Reformed Religion was once like a well-built well-ballasted and richly laden ship safely anchored in the Church of England where the ceremonies were but as the wast clothes flags and streamers no part indeed of its precious lading but yet not uncomely ornaments much less such dangerous burthens or blemishes as merited the utter sinking and over-setting of so fair a vessel which seems to have been the delight of some men though I do not think it was or is according to the desire of the most sober modest Non-conformists no more than it was or is agreeable to the mind of the chief Magistrate nor of the best Nobility the wisest Gentry the learnedst Clergie or the better sort of Commons if they were left to their free votes and untumultuated suffrages Certainly all pious and prudent persons who ever owned the Church of England having now more leisure and clearer light to discern things than when the clouds and storms first began cannot but continually deplore their own credulity some mens cruelty and most mens inconstancy in religion which have left this Church in so broken and calamitous a condition while some oppose Her many forsake Her and few assert Her Especially when they finde as they do every where by experience that those eager agitators against the Church of England upon the old account of Ceremonies Liturgie and Episcopacy doe yet as grand Masters and most authentick Dictators take to themselves and their respective parties a most plenipotentiary power to teach ordain rule over-see guide correct and excommunicate such as they can get into their severalls divided or new-erected Churches whose divine authority power and jurisdiction in things Ecclesiastick they cry up for absolute Supreme Divine Thus they make or at least fancy themselves mutually Kings and Priests in the majesty and soveraignty of all Ecclesiastick jurisdiction amidst their small conventicles who wholly deny any such authority to the Grandeur number magnificence of the Church of England that is the joynt consent united influence and combined interest of all good Christians in this Nation who publickly agreed with one mind and in one manner to serve the Lord. Yet in the manner of their Communion ministrations or worship who sees not that every one of these new Masters affects to be author of his own Liturgie perswading people to pray to and praise God to consecrate and celebrate holy mysteries rather after such a form as they shall either suddenly conceive or more soberly provide
think their own refractoriness to be Religion and other mens honest devotion to be but superstition of which I confess I never thought either this Church or any other to be in the least degree guilty while they did observe such holy memorials with publick celebrity as were appointed to the honour of God and to the imitation of those graces which were remarkable in the eminentest servants of God renowned in the Gospel such as are the blessed Virgin and Mother of our Lord as also his prime Apostles by whose means the light of the Gospel shone through all the world Nor do we find our Saviour himself withdrawing in such cases his conformity to the Churches practise in those Encaenia or Feasts of dedication which were thankfull and joyfull memorials of the restauration of that material Temple which was to be demolished whereas these holiday-celebrations used in this Church have respect to such things as are never to be forgotten abolished or changed while the world continues and Christ hath any Church upon earth which I believe he will have to the end of the world according to his promised assistance to all his faithfull Ministers who continue in the fellowship and succession both for doctrine and authority of the blessed Apostles But I have done with these long and unhappy debates about the sacred Festivalls and other Ceremonies authorized by the Church of England on which some flesh-flies mistaking them for galls and sores when they were but decent variations of beautifull colours in its garment have so importunely fastened especially in the hotter season of these late dog-dayes that they have very much flye-blown the reformed Religion and endangered not onely the putrefaction but the utter corruption of the whole state of this Church of England whose quarrel and right in these things I should not have thus far revived or vindicated if I had not thought it necessary by this salt of sound speech to represse those further putrifying principles which upon this account are daily suggested to simple and well-meaning people against the whole frame and constitution of the Church of England Whose publick commands and setled constitutions as I alwayes approved and obeyed but most readily since I best understood them in their late fiery triall because I have found them in great and weighty matters serious solid scripturall in lesser things moderate discreet and charitable so I never had either heart or hand tongue or pen to assert any thing that was by private or particular mens fancies brought in either to a peevish non-conformity or to a pragmatick super-conformity Though I willingly allow many of my calling to be much wiser and better than my self yet I cannot look upon them as wiser than the whole Church of England which saw with many more eyes both forward and backward than any one Bishop or Presbyter can do whose reall Innovations in later times beyond what either the letter or usage of this Church which best interprets Its meaning did enjoyn and authorize I am no way concerned to maintain nor was I ever discontent to have them both gainsaid and removed as insolencies mis-becoming any Church-man never so wise or great to impose upon the Majesty of so famous a Church as England was which never needed any other additions innovations or decorations either in Doctrine or Discipline or Worship than those which It self had soberly chosen as a wise Mother and grave Matron which justly disdains to be made gayer or finer by such ribbands feathers and toyes as any of her Children shall list to pin upon her It had better become in my judgement the learning gravity and discretion of those men who most admired and obtruded their own supernumerary and unwonted ceremonies to have confined themselves to the Churches known Injunctions and Customes for it were endless if every man never so good should be gratified in his Church-projects and religious inventions which became the great pest and oppression of the Western Churches when the Bishops of Rome by their own incroachments and other Bishops connivence undertook to innovate or regulate all things in all Churches which should have been ordered either by generall Councils or by the Synods of particular Churches as was most convenient for them Nor in England could ever prudent men with reason have doâ—ed on any of their novelties when they plainly saw that even those few sparks of ancient Ceremonies with which the Church of England contented her self and which neither made nor marr'd Religion being rather spangles than spots on the Churches garments even these I say have a long time been made beyond their merit not onely occasions for some to rail others to scorn a third sort to blaspheme the purity and honour of the Church of England but also to schismatize in Her and separate wholy from Her Yea from the later obtrusions of some mens either renovations of things antiquated or innovations of Ceremonies never enjoyned by the Church those dreadful conflagrations have grown which have almost quite consumed Her the quenching of which deserves as it needs not onely these drops of my pen but of all your tears and prayers most worthy Gentlemen who find your selves as I am very much concerned for the honour and happiness of this Church which was in all points prudently reformed and excellently constituted CHAP. XIV A Second grand Objection very popular and plausible which the enemies of the Church of England have made great use of to decry and destroy if possible the whole frame constitution of It is taken from the private infirmities personall failings male-administrations which some men have either suspected or really observed in some of the Clergie either Arch-bishops Bishops or Presbyters of the Church of England against whom it is objected that either they were not so warm and voluble Preachers as those men do most fancy or possibly less learned and industrious then was fit for Ministers or not so prudent it may be and compassionate toward weaker Christians as became those that were stronger in the faith or lastly not so morally strict unblamable in their lives as indeed all Ministers of the Gospel ought to be at all times Hence the Adversaries of the Church of England do conclude that both head and heart were sick that there was no sound part that all was full of bruises and putrified sores that in the Church of England nothing could be found worthy of a true Church a true Minister or a true Christian My answer is That all the modest Clergie in England desire to be so humble so ingenuous so impartial as not to forget their own infirmities while they coÌ„plain of others injuries For my self being conscious how little removed I am from fallings as a mâ—n and Minister I shall willingly confess and strive to amend what any mans charity shall with truth convince me of and for others my Fathers and Brethren I presume I have because I humbly crave their leaves to
give God the glory of his own justice of other mens malice and of our own failings My design is not to reproch any man in particular but to excite my self with all other Ministers to such repentance amendment as God requires the better world expects the malice of our enemies exacts our own safety and this Churches distresses command of us The Clergie of England of all degrees have endured too many sufferings beyond any other rank or order of men to fancy they have not had many sins Not to own our distempers after the long application of so rough physick were indeed to tax the wisest and gentlest Physician not of severity but cruelty and superfluity whereas the father of our souls never chastiseth his children so much for his own pleasure as indeed for their profit Gods judgements are in this very mercifull and his severities the fruits of his loving kindness that he chuseth rather to punish us than forsake us and to afflict us by his own justice than to betray us to the cruel flatteries of our own lusts which would prove ours and his greatest enemies too if we were left to our selves The smart eye-salve which the Clergy of England have endured of late years may well cleare our sight so farre at least as to discern and confess those faults which heretofore it may be we over-looked or slighted or excused upon the common score of humane infirmity which indulgence may better be allowed to any men than to Ministers of the Gospel especially if persons of eminency and conspicuity Of all Clergie-men beyond all other men the world justly expects and so doth God sobriety gravity exactness even in their younger years as S. Paul doth of Timothy how much more in their maturity and age Little sins in them if publicated grow great by their scandall and contagion O how ponderous how immense how flagitious are the presumptions the vicious habits the wilfull open obstinate and constant deformities of Ministers In all which if the just God should be extreme to mark what hath been amisse among us both young and old great and small who is able to abide it Before the Lord who hath done it we must with old Eli and holy Job put our mouths in the dust and smother our sense in silence Nevertheless we are and ever must be pertinacious even to the death with holy and afflicted Job to maintain not onely the innocency but also the merit of the Clergie or Ministry of England as to the greater and better part of them in respect of the people of this Nation in all degrees Although as David did when Shimei reproched and cursed him bitterly disdainfully and injustly we cannot but be sensible complain of some mens excessive malice immoderation against us yeâ— we cannot but make an humble submission to with an agnition and justification of that divine wrath justice which seems to be gone out against us before the Almighty we desire to be either silent or confitent or suppliant as becomes those that are justly ashamed and truly penitent T is fit we hide and abhor our selves in dust and ashes before his presence who onely can pity and repair us by turning the causeless curses of men into a blessing making the sacrilegious impoverishings and indignities the ingratefull abasings and insoleâ—â—ies of some unreasonable and violent men an occasion of his gracious favour and all good mens compassions toward the afflicted Clergie and Church of England for where Church-men are miserable the Church cannot be happy where the Clergie are distressed the Laity cannot be prosperous We are so far willing to gratifie the malice of our bitter adversaries to whom no musick is so pleasing as any evil report brought upon the Ministers of England as with S. Austin to make our confession to God that we may be more vile in our own eyes before the Lord and cover our selves with that cloke of confusion which God hath suffered some men to cast upon us after they have stripped us of those ancient Honours and Ornaments with which we were by the piety gratitude and munificence of former times happily invested not more to our own than the whole nations great renown in all the world Without all peradventure the most holy and all-seeing God who walketh in the midst of the golden Candlesticks whose pure eyes are most intent upon the Ministers of his Church hath found out the iniquity of his servants the Bishops and other Ministers of the Church of England not onely in our persons but in our professions not onely in our morals but in our ministrations Who being solemnly consecrated and duly set apart to the service of God his Church in the name place power and authority of Jesus Christ and drawing neer to his speciall presence with Moses in the Mount with Aaron in the Holy of Holies in those glorious manifestations of God in Christ to his Church by publick ordinances and spirituall influences yet have not so sanctified the name of the Lord our God by our hearts and lives by our doctrine and duties as we ought to have done Many of us doing the work of God which is a great work of eternal concernment to our own and other mens souls either so unpreparedly negligently and irreverently or so partially popularly and passionatly or so formally pompously and superciliously that our very officiatings have been offences to God and man our oblations vain our prayers the sacrifices of fooles our pains in preaching how much more our idleness hath been no better than the foolishnesse of preaching in good earnest Some of us have been prone to place the highest pitch of our Ministeriall care exactness and duty in ceremonious conformities which alone are meer chaffe miserable empty formalities neglecting the substance life and soul of Christian Religion which consists in righteousness and true holiness while we too much intended the meer shadow shell and out-side of it others have so eagerly doted upon their sticklings against what was duly and decently established in this Church as to the outward circumstances and ceremonies the decent manner and form of sociall Religion that they feared not as far as in them lay to make havock of the power of Religion together with the peace unity order and very being of this famous Church Many of us so over-preached our peoples capacities that the generality of our auditors after many years preaching were very little edified nothing amended being kept at too high a rack both of affected Oratory and abstruse Divinity for want of plain catechising and charitable condescending to them others in a supine and slovenly negligence have sunk so much below the just gravity solidity and majesty of true preaching that the meanest sort of illiterate people have undertook to vie with them and to match them infinite swarms of mechanick rivals rose up into desks and pulpits when once they saw such pitiful preaching
serve the turn which consisted not in study meditation and reading but in a bold look a confident spirit and a voluble tongue so that neither such preaching nor praying seemed many degrees removed from meer vulgar prating from triviall extemporary chat 'T is true few Bishops few Presbyters among us but may confess that either in our accesses to that great and terrible work unfitted and unfurnished in great part or in our converse and exercises in it with less mortified affections and less exemplary actions either by our ambitions or our envies or our covetousness or our impatience by our looseness or luxury or laziness or vulgarity we have too much abased the dignity of our calling and the honour of our profession whence justly and necessarily follows the darkning and eclipse of our credit esteem and reputation among the people when they see their Physitians themselves infected their Surgeons ulcerous their Antidotes poysonous their Ministers helping to fill up the measure of the sins of the people doing wickedly in a land of uprightnesse while justice was done to them while all favor shewed them in plenty peace dignities honours while the fruits of Gods and mans indulgence were bestowed upon them and continued to them then for Clergie-men and Pastors to wax wanton to feed themselves and to neglect the flock which was purchased with the precious blood of Christ Who can wonder if the wrath of God break out against us when as the sons of Aaron and Eli the Priests of the Lord adventure to approch the glory of God with strange fire with dead and unreasonable instead of living and acceptable sacrifices Who of us can doubt or complain that we bear the iniquity of our holy things while the anger of the Lord is thus gone out against us and presseth sore upon us in the saddest wayes of temporall calamities loading us at once with poverty reproch and contempt cast upon us by popular fury and plebeian despite which knows no bounds of justice moderation pity or charity much less of any reparation and restitution which possibly might have been hoped from the magnificence of Princes and great men when once their anger had been asswaged and their displeasure pacified against the distressed and despised Clergie But vulgar fury like the fire of hell is consumptive and unquenchable when once it hath leave to rebell and rage against their betters especially such as have been their Governours and Teachers the reprovers or restrainers of their ruder lusts and follies nothing is more insolent precipitant boysterous brutish implacable inexorable irreparable 'T is like that divine vengeance which was executed by the earths opening its mouth as it did upon Korah and his complices scaring all and threatning to swallow up the whole Congregation of the Lord as it doth at this day still gaping upon the whole Clergy and the remnant of this Church of England which yet hath escaped the bayardly blindness of common people being such that they are neither able nor willing to discern between what is precious and what is vile to distinguish between the use and abuse of things between persons and their functions between divine Authority and humane Infirmity between the essentiall constitution of things and their accidentall corruptions The headiness of such Reformers would seek to put out the seeing eyes of all Bishops and Ministers because of the weaknesse or wantonnesse of some Nor do these popular flames know at length how to spare their own Idols and Teraphims their Lares and Penates those Houshold and familiar Gods whom they formerly most dearly embraced adored and doted upon but now they have cast them to the Moles and Bats For it is very observable in these times that the plebeian rudenesse coldnesse mutability licentiousnesse petulancy and ingratitude of some men hath vented it self against no sort of Ministers more spitefully and insolently than those who heretofore were their great favourites and darlings because they soothed them up many times contrary to their own private judgements and the Churches publick appointments either in a weak and wavering non-conformity or in a wilfull and wanton refractorinesse even to a despising calumniating and separating humour against the whole Church of England 'T is evident many Ministers have found those their keenest persecutours of whom themselves were sometimes the greatest flatterers and compliers slightly healing or lightly skinning over those raw sores of non-conformity even to a greater pain and festring as now it hath proved which they should have seriously searched throughly healed by sound demonstrations asserting at once both their own judgments and the Churches wisdome in the pious use of its power and liberty All which Ministers did then shamefully betray when they daubed with untempered mortar complying for their private interests and advantages both with this Churches injunctions and Its enemies oppositions which shuffling at last put the common people into such a confusion and uncertainty of mind that they knew not what to chuse or refuse whom to believe or follow what to preserve or what not to destroy severely punishing even the authors occasioners and abettors of their irresolutions resolving at last to be destructive of all things that had any mark of the Church of Englands wisdome and authority upon them not content to prune off superfluous suckers they concluded to lay their rude axes to the root as well as branches of this Church Yea while the Clergie or Ministers of England do justly and humbly in the freedome and integrity of their souls thus make their penitent agnitions to the Divine Justice every one seeing his own sins in his and the Churches sufferings and best knowing the plague of his own heart while they are with Daniel humbly prostrate before the majesty of God and the throne of his grace some people are of such impotent malice that they make them the more the foot-stool for their pride and insolency thereby to exalt themselves the more against us I would have such monsters of cruelty and uncharitablenesse to know that however the Clergie of England do shrink to nothing before God condemning all their own righteousnesse and themselves as unprofitable servants that they may be found clothed with the righteousnesse of Christ yet as to the exorbitancies of some mens malice revenge passion covetousness cruelty and ingratitude which hath vented it self beyond all bounds of Christian charity modesty and equity against the whole frame of the Church of England against all its Ministry and Ministers as well Presbyters as Bishops great and small good and bad one and all no man can hinder me or them from this just plea for our selves in the words of sobernesse and truth First whatsoever the Clergie of England either as Bishops or inferiour Ministers did enjoy and act according to the lawes established and agreeable to their own consciences they are in those things not to be blamed in the least kind by any sober and
any justice or reason to be odiously charged upon the whole Church or their profession no more than the fall of some Angels is imputable to the whole Angelick nature Nor do I see any reason why the infirmities or deformities of some Clergie-men and those not many in comparison should be more a stain and reproch to their calling than other mens misdemeanours are to their either civil or military professions in which though there ever will be some Cheats and Pettifoggers others Quacks and Mountebanks a third cowards and traitors yet these do not diminish the just honour and use of learned Lawyers discreet Physicians or gallant Souldiers whose imployments are then liberall and ingenuous when they are honest and usefull to the Common-wealth It were a madness to quarrel with all Candles and put them out because some are small others want snuffing a third sort burn dimly and have as we say Thieves in them the foggs and vapours rising from the earth and oft darkening the Suns light are no diminution to its native lustre which is the greatest visible blessing in the world as a good Bishop and Ministry is in the Church nor may the miscarriages of some Bishops and Presbyters in the Church of England be cast as reproches or made disparagements to their holy orders much less to the whole Church especially when we consider that the defects and faults of some Clergie-men in England were mightily recompensed yea and over-balanced by that learning piety industry and virtue which was generally competent and in many of them so eminent that I believe the whole world did not exceed them and few in any Church did match them yea many both Bishops and other Ministers who seemed less plausible or popular in their preaching were yet not less sound in their doctrine potent in their writing prudent in their governing and exemplary in their godly lives having that in height and depth which others had in breadth and length Who but persons of egregious ignorance or profligate impudence without wit modesty or conscience can or dare deny what blessed be God is and ever will be most evident to all the world that ever since the happy Reformation of the Church of England there have been and still are though their number seems now much diminished by death and other disorders without any due recruiting such Clergie-men both Bishops and Presbyters who for all worth divine and humane will be had as they deserve in everlasting and honourable remembrance After-ages more remote from partiality passion and faction will better know how to value them by the want of them than this Age hath done which did sometime enjoy them and still might if having had so liberall experience of their other Christian vertues and Ministeriall abilities in preaching praying writing and living it had not sought further to satisfie its curiosity by trying the patience and perseverance of many grave and good Ministers to which purpose the most heavy log-end of Christs Cross is laid upon many of them not onely supplicia but ludibria silence prisons and poverty which have befaln some of them but undeserved shame with popular contempt and this from their own countrey-men and from many of their own converts these now press upon their persons and profession too threatning an utter extinction of their ancient order authority and succession in this Church and Nation if their enemies might have their wills upon them which God be thanked they have not yet obtained to the latitude of their malice though it hath reached very far God help us I know that the present sufferings of Bishops and other Ministers as chief members of the Church of England have been and still are in many mens eyes the greatest signs and indications of their sins vulgar justice ever judging those men criminous whom they see calamitous like dogs in a countrey village which are ready to flie upon any strange one not for any offence he gives them but because they see some currs have begun not onely to bark at him but to bite and worry him The plebs or common people are first injurious and then censorious Prosperity and Power are their great Idols they easily trample upon those Gods whose hands and feet are off they conclude them unworthy of any Resurrection who are once cast down and buried by them Nothing is more common with the community of people than to condemn the generation of Gods children who have generally been rather passive than pragmatical Holy Polycarp is called for as an Atheist to be sacrificed in the fire of vulgar zeale S. Paul not fit to live Christ himself worthy to be crucified if the rabble may have their vote the chief part of whose innocency consists in finding fault with others that are vastly better than themselves I believe that if the Bishops and Ministers of this Church had been stoned by none but such as had not faults and infirmities equall to nay exceeding theirs they had to this day been untouched To whose score and account this now is added that they must needs be great sinners since they are so great sufferers they cannot but be murtherers on whose hands people see such vipers hanging Thus carnall and sensuall Christians are prone to judge who are strangers to the crosse of Christ not understanding that the afflictions of Christians are mysterious as well as then faith and their Sufferings as well as their Sacraments that God doth as our heavenly Father many times love most where he most rebukes that they have oft most of his heart from whom he most hides his face as to temporal prosperity and on whom his hand lies heaviest as to visible chastisements which if they mend us they argue not enmity but love It is no token that because he punisheth our faults therefore he hates our persons much less our calling and profession the rod and staff of God lying upon us or lifted up against us is not to drive us from him but as a Shepherds crook to draw us neerer to him nor is it with any design to scare us from our duties or to make us desert our station or to force us to renounce our Ordination to his holy service as some have shamefully done but as with goads to excite us the more to persist in our office stedfastly and to discharge our Ministry the more diligently so that it is but a plebeian and fanatick fancy from hence to imagine that the God of order is now after 1600. years grown out of love with Primitive and Apostolick Episcopacy or with regular and orderly Presbytery in his Church because he afflicts both Bishops and Presbyters or that Jesus Christ the Ancient of dayes the Alpha and Omega of immutable wisdome now designs to set up a meer novelty of parity and popularity in his Church which tend experimentally and so most apparently to the fedity nullity and Anarchy of Religion in this and all other Churches
whose constitution may be commendable although the execution of things may be blameable and punishable upon the merit of personall defaults not Ecclesiasticall defects No Chaldean no Magician no Soothsayer no Astrologer no Enchanter can spell any such meaning as to Gods displeasure against the frame and constitution of the Church of England out of that hand-writing which seems to be directed against the Clergie and Ministers of England 'T is true every one ventures to read and interpret it as they list to flatter their own parties opinions passions and interests so did the Philosophers the Heathens the Atheists the Idolaters the Scoffers the Julians the Apostates the Hereticks the Schismaticks of old grosly mistake the meaning of those hot and sharp persecutions which oft befell the Primitive Christians and Orthodox professors of faith in Christ crucified concluding they deserved true Crosses who so much gloried in the Cross of Christ not knowing what Theriak God makes out of those Serpents that sting us nor what Antidotes he extracts out of those deadly poysons which destroy us The royal Title over Christs head was never more deserved than when he was hanging upon the Crosse for on that as a King on his Throne he most conquered and after triumphed over both his and his Churches greatest enemies nor were his sufferings the least of his solemnities and glories his Father being never better pleased with him than when he cryed out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me I am perswaded in like sort that the great afflictions now incumbent upon the Clergie and Church of Engl. do no way signifie that It or they are forsaken of God any more then Christ then was nor do they import any dislike that the God of peace and order hath against the respective office and subordination of Presbytery or the ordination and eminent gubernation of Bishops as they were designed and established in the Church of England according to the Primitive and Catholick pattern for both these God hath heretofore highly and signally approved if imploying blessing and prospering of them in his Church if accepting so many holy sacrifices and services from them be as much a sign of Gods approving their function as his now afflicting them is a sign of his reproving their faults But the plain sense of our sufferings is as S. Cyprian observes The Lord punisheth us that he may bring us to repentance for our sins both personall and professionall for those disorders by which we blemished or prophaned our holy orders 'T is not the government in it self but our own mis-governments that have offended God he aims not to consume that primitive and pure gold that is in this Church but to refine us from that dross we had as men contracted Nor do I doubt but God intends to improve us to his service in better times of which we may not despair if we find our selves amended by those bitter potions which in bad times and by evil men a good God administers to us for our health How glorious will both godly Bishops and orderly Presbyters in England appear to this Church and to all the world when coming out of this fiery furnace they shall shine brighter than ever they did with the love of Christ and of his Church both as to the care of those private charges and publick inspections committed to them in excellent order and administred by due authority when neither pride nor envy pomp nor popularity neither the upper nor the lower springs of ambition rising from Prince or people shall distract the counsels or divide the hearts or cross the endeavours of venerable Bishops and worthy Presbyters and pious people from that Christian subordination unanimity and conjunction which best becomes them as men and Christians which Ignatius so highly commends and which is so necessary both as to counsel and order government and proficiency for the good of all sorts of Christians in any Church Mean time it is no small mercy that exacts from some Ministers and enables them to give publick experiments of true Christian courage patience magnanimity and constancy which are our highest conformity to Christ by which the world may see that the honour of true Christian Bishops and Ministers doth consist as much or more in their sufferings as in their speaking and doing well in their losses as well as in their injoyments of all things Then will Princes Parlaments and People think us most worthy to enjoy the ancient estates honours liberties priviledges and immunities which the pristine piety charity munificence and gratitude of your and their fore-fathers bestowed upon the Clergie and devoted to God when they shall see that without these we are not onely willing but zealous to serve God and solicitous to save their souls as the greatest reward and wages of our work nor will the incumbent distresses upon the worthy Clergie of England much abate the love and value of them with those that are worthy of them certainly as mens sins should be esteemed their greatest afflictions so no mens sufferings are to be counted their sins If any Ministers have justly suffered as unable and so intruders as incorrigible and so unworthy having had the justice of being accused by two or three witnesses and the charity of receiving two or three admonitions before they were suspended silenced sequestred and ejected giving no hopes of their being amended yet even the grossest defects and immoralities of such Clergie-men who are indeed the shame and reproch of their profession may not be imputed to or revenged upon the whole calling and Church considering that the Church of England by her good Lawes wholsome Canons and wise Constitutions did strictly require not onely the best minds and abilities but the best manners and examples both from Bishops and Presbyters agreeable to those respective duties and instructions set before and charged upon them at their ordination which they were not onely to know but to do not onely to believe but to live that so the Ministers of this Church might appear not only the best of civil men but the best of Christians who ought to be holy men and the holiest of holy men as specially consecrated to the service of Christ and his Church It was by the Church intended that Church-men should be the most savoury salt in themselves and carefull seasoners of others if some proved unsavoury yet I am sure it is most unseasonable and unseasoned rashness to cast all Bishops and Presbyters yea the whole order and oeconomy of the Ministry and Church of England upon the dunghill of vulgar contempt among whom beyond all dispute were so many most accomplished Preachers and excellent Practisers of true Christianity whose breath was so good that their lungs could not be bad But if there had been a visible and generall Apostasy in many or the most part yea in all the Bishops and Ministers of England from their duty yet I conceive this is no argument
for which no Apology but made and affected necessity is alledged which none but God Almighty can convince confute and revenge hence those convulsions faintings swoonings and dyings which are befaln the Church of England and its holy profession the Reformed Religion which heretofore was a pure and unspotted Virgin free from the great offence constant to her principles and duties both to God and man alwayes victorious by her patience This seems now besmeared all over with blood this is sick deformed and ashamed of her self so many sanguinary and sacrilegious spirits pretend to court and engross her such foul spots are found upon Her which are not the spots of Gods children which no nitre no sope no fullers earth no palliations or pretensions of humane wit policy or necessity can wash away or make clean til He plead Her cause take away Her reproch whose love induced him to shed his own precious blood for his Church a noble eminent uniform and beautifull part of which I must ever own the Church of England to have been Of whose former holy and healthfull constitution I am daily the more assured by those modern eruptions and corruptions defections and infections errours and extravagancies blasphemies and impudicities which have so fiercely assaulted and grievously wasted the Truths the Morals the Sanctities the Solemnities the Mysteries and Ministrations the Government and Authority the whole Order and Constitution of the Church of England clearly evincing to me that this Church was heretofore not onely tolerably but most commendably reformed and happily established upon the pillars of piety and prudence verity and unity purity and charity Nor do I doubt but the blessed Apostle S. Paul with all those Primitive planters and Reformers of Churches would have given the right hand of fellowship to the Christian Bishops Presbyters and people of this Church of England cheerfully communicating with us in all holy things blessing God and greatly rejoycing to have beheld that power and peace that stedfastness and proficiency that beauty order and unity which was so admirably setled and happily preserved many years in this Church by the joynt consent and suffrage of the Nation Princes Parlaments and People cheerfully giving up their names to Christ and willingly yielding themselves to the Lord and to his Ministers Nor do I believe those Primitive and large-hearted Christians who brought the price of their estates and laid it down at the Apostles feet testifying their esteem of all things but as loss and dung in comparison of the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ that these would have ever repined or envied at the riches plenty civil honours peace and prosperity wherewith the Governours and Ministers of Christs Church were here endowed No those first-fruits of the Gospel had too good hearts to have evil eyes because the eyes of Princes Peers and people had been good to the Clergie investing them with that double honour which the Spirit of God thinks them worthy of while they rule well and labour in the Word and Doctrine so as the godly Bishops and Presbyters of the Church of England did abundantly since the Reformation nor was their labour of love in vain in the Lord. What was really amisse or remisse in any Ministers as to their minds or manners as some Errata's we find even in those Pastors and Churches which were of the Apostolicall print the very first best Edition certainly there wanted not sufficient authority and wisdom skill or will in the Governours of Church and State to have reformed all things in such a way of Christian moderation as should have gratified no mens envies revenges ambitions covetousness and the like inordinate passions but have kept all within those bounds of piety justice charity and discretion which would have satisfied all wise and honest mens desires and consciences Such an Apostolical spirit and method of Reformation as would have cleared the rust and not consumed the metall sodered up the flaws but not battered down the whole frame of so goodly a Church this spirit might have mended all things really amiss in England at a far easier and cheaper rate than either calling for fire from heaven or calling in the Scots to quench our intestine flames with oyl To purge the English floor from all chaff there was no need to raise up such fierce winds as the Devil did when he overthrew the whole house and oppressed all Jobs children with the rubbish and ruine both of superstructures and foundations No work requires more wary wise and tender hearts and hands too than Church-work or that which men call Reformation of Religion which easily degenerates to high deformities if bunglers that are rash rude deformed and unskilfull undertake it Nothing is more obvious than for Empiricks to bring down high and plethorick constitutions to convulsions and consumptions by too much letting blood and other excessive evacuations those are sad purgations of Churches which with threatning some malignant humours do carry away the very life spirit and soul of Religion the whole order beauty unity and being of a Church especially so large so famous so reformed so flourishing an one as the Ch. of Engl. was which some mens ignorance malice and excess hath a long time aimed at impatient not to forsake yea and quite destroy both It and all its true Ministers to whose learning and labours they owe whatever spiritual gifts Christian graces priviledges or comforts they can with truth pretend to All which I believe they have not much bettered or increased since their rude Separations and violent Apostasies by which they have shewed themselves so excessively and unthankfully exasperated against the Fathers that begat them and the Mother that bare them more like a generation of vipers full of poysonous passions which swell the soul to proud and factious distempers than like truly humble meek and regenerate Christians who cannot be either so unholy or so unthankfull as to requite with shame despite and wounds the womb that bare them and the breasts that gave them suck not feeding them with fabulous Legends superstitious inventions or meer humane Traditions but with the sincere milk of Gods word as it was contained in the holy Scriptures which were the onely constant fountain from whence the Church of England drew and derived both its Doctrinals and its Devotionals its Ministry and Ministrations Of which truth having such a cloud of witnesses so many pregnant and undeniable demonstrations before God and the world before good Angels and Devils before mens own consciences in this Church and before all other reformed Churches round about I suppose these are sufficient Testimonies in the judgement of You O my worthy Countrey-men and of all other sober Christians to vindicate the Church of England that it never deserved either of Princes Parlaments or People so great exhaustings and abasings as some men have sought to inflict upon Her Over which no tongue is
piety than in the barren heights of uselesse sublimities Then was it that the sweet and fruitfull dews of heaven crowned those true Ministers labours with all spiritual proficiencies and heavenly blessings then was the Church of England and thousands of pious souls in it like Gideons fleece full of holy distillations or like the garden of Eden liberally watered with the rivers of God I mean the faithful endeavours of able honest and Orthodox Ministers both Bishops and Presbyters duly ordained and divinely authorized for that service then was the time common people had less of curiosity and liberty but more of piety and charity they were more kept to their bounds and inclosures but enjoyed far better pastures than they now find in the ramblings and extravagances of those commons where they have chosen to enjoy their Pastors and Preachers after their own heart Nor is this insolency of people any wonder though it be a great grief to sober Christians when they consider how far this gangrene of abused liberty hath spread among men and women too the meanest and most mechanick He or She as Tertullian observes of some bolder Hereticks and Schismaticks in his dayes dare contrary to all Primitive pattern and Scriptural precept to preach to baptize to consecrate to censure to excommunicate scorning and opposing all things that are not branded with their schismaticall marks their novell badges and factious discriminations Wherewith so soon as any silly men or women come once to be dubbed and signalized their first vow and adventure is against the whole frame and constitution of the Church of England but specially against the orderly ancient and Catholick Ministry of it which is the rind or bark of Religion by which the sap life and nourishment of it is preserved and conveyed from the root Christ Jesus to the severall branches of his Church in every place This this must by all means be peeled round stripped off and cast away under pretence of Christian liberty and a better because freer course of deriving Chirstian Religion to peoples eares and hearts by another Ministry than that Ancient Apostolick Catholick and Primitive way of an orderly ordained Ministry which consisted of Bishops Presbyters Deacons be brought in Against the constitution succession of all these as corrupt adulterous Popish Babylonish spurious and superstitious in England whole troops of plebeian spirits have been and still are engaged whose fierce onsets and encounters were at first begun and are still carried on with as great resolution and errour as his that assaulted a Windmill instead of a Giant The great alarm given by their chief leaders is First to rail bitterly against the whole Clergie and all sacred orders used in the Church of England thence they proceed to wipe off their Baptisme as vain and invalid to vomit up their Lords Supper as nauseous and superstitious to read their Creeds backward to an unbelief of all things have been preached next they cancell the Decalogue as a Judaick phylactery a legall prescription lastly they learn to account and call the Lords Prayer a kind of spell and conjuration being perfect enemies to any thing that looks like a Liturgy or set form of prayer and devotion After this with stiff necks and haughty looks they scornfully defie all ancient ordination all Catholick succession all Apostolick commission derived to any Bishops and Presbyters as Ministers of Christ altering and annulling as much as in them lies all the order descent and power of the Evangelicall Ministry both in this and all other Christian Churches since the Apostles dayes the right of resumption and redemption of which they challenge to themselves according as their severall fancies list to make themselves or others Ministers or to have none at all which is the highest pitch of their Christian liberty counting all Ministers to be but their curbs and manacles Having thus commenced Masters of mis-rule their next work is to tuâ—n the garden of God any setled Church as this of Engl. was into ruinous heaps or a very dunghil to expel the Priests of the Lord out of his Temple to make Churches of Stables and Stables of Churches to bring in the lips of bleating calves there where the calves of learned devout and eloquent lips were wont to be offered It is not liberty enough for them to separate from the Church of England and apostatize from those Ministers that baptized them unless they utterly destroy them both setting up instead of one National and renowned one uniform and flourishing Church in which were truth and order unity and beauty strength and safety all Christian gifts and graces every good word and work to admiration innumerable little swarms in severall Conventicles with Ministers strangely multiform mutable and mis-shapen in which novell confederacies both Preachers and people rather catch and hang together by chance like burres in confused knots than grow like Olive-branches or the kernels of Pomgranates with order and comeliness from the same root Christ Jesus after the methods of those ancient Churches which were the prime and exemplary branches whereto after-successions should conform themselves As these factious people are so must their new Priests and Ministers be Grave and godly Bishops with their learned Presbyters must be set aside as broken vessels that they may set up by popular and plebeian suffrages some miserable mechanicks some antick engines some pittifull praters and parasites of the vulgar who have had no higher breeding or degree in Church or State than that of poore tradesmen for the better bred and more ingenuous sort of men abhor such impudence and usurpation their shop hath been their school their hammers or shuttles or needles have been their books At last coachmen footmen ostlers and grooms despair not to become Preachers by a rare and sudden metamorphosis coming from the office of rubbing horses heeles to take care of mens souls as some Farriers in time turn Physicians It matters not how sordid how silly how slovenly how mercenary how illiterate they are provided they have cunning enough to pretend a call impudence enough to display their ignorance and hypocrisie enough by much talk of Gods grace in them to supply the reall wants of all competent ability as well as authority to be Ministers of the Gospel Yet these these O my noble Countrey-men are in many places rude intruders insolent usurpers doughty undertakers to discharge the duty of Evangelicall Ministers in any one of these you must seek and may find as they pretend a Bishop a Presbyter and a Deacon all Evangelicall power Ecclesiasticall offices and Ministeriall authority these are the new-invented Machines or Engines which the Church of England and all others since the Apostles times were not so happy as to know or use which must set up the decayed Kingdome of Jesus Christ these must propagate the glorious Gospel these must exalt Christ crucified these must consecrate for you holy Elements these must administer to you the blessed Sacraments
Ravens must not be hoped for to feed us where Providence gives us opportunity to get our bread by honest industry Where then there are so many intruders and deceivers gone out as Ministers of the Gospel it is a matter of conscience as well as necessary prudence in all good Christians to be cautious and inquisitive whom they allow and follow as Ministers to be first satisfied in that question which the Jews rationally asked of Christ By what power or authority dost thou these things No discreet person in civil affairs will obey any warrant or order which hath no other authority than a private and pragmatick activity and can it be piety or prudence in Christians to be deluded by any pretenders in the great concernments of their souls to have no more of Sacraments or any other holy duties than the meer sensible shell and husk of them for the spiritual life and power of them is no where to be had but from such dispensers of them as have the authority and power the mission and commission of Christ rightly derived to them which was evident first in Christ after in his holy Apostles and their lawfull successors Certainly the cheat and falsity of such mock-Ministers and Pseudo-pastors is of far greater danger and detriment than those of spurious and supposititious children or of embased coin and counterfeit money Some people have been so wicked as to change their own children steal others from their parents but it was never heard that children of any discretion were so foolish and unnaturall as to abdicate their true Fathers and genuine mothers that they might adopt false parents and superinduce upon themselves the Empire of bastardly progenitors The mischief abuse is not less in Churches than in Common-weales in Christian Congregations than in families Due respect of paternall care and filiall love such as ought to be between Pastor and People can never be mutually expected where the relation is either supposititious or presumptuous or meerly imaginary or at best but arbitrary which is inconsistent with humane much more with divine Authority the measure of which is not the pleasure of man but the will of God whose will is asserted by his power For my part I firmly conclude that as no true Christians may admit of any Gospel or Sacraments or holy Institutions other than such as have been already once delivered to the Catholick Church and preserved by her fidelity against which the preaching of an Angel from heaven is not to be received or believed but accursed so nor may any Church or good Christians either broach invent or admit any new ministeriall power order mission or authority beside or beyond that which the Church of England and the Catholick Church of Christ hath received and transmitted in a constant succession That sacred ordination which began in Christ and flowed from him as the effect of his Melchisedechian Evangelicall and eternall Priesthood must never be interrupted innovated or essentially altered no not under any pretense or removing or reforming what corrupions may possibly be contracted by time and humane infirmities which are but accidentall as diseases to the body to Catholick prescriptions founded upon divine institutions Fields once sown with good corn must not be rooted up or fired because tares may be sown by the enemy while men slept Trees that are full of moss missletow through age yet bearing good fruit ought not to be cut down but pruned and cleared The decayes or dilapidations of the Temple before Hezekiah and Josiah repaired it were no excuse for peoples neglect to frequent it much less were they justified and to sacrifice other where than there onely as the place which the Lord had chosen to put his name there nor did those pious Princes set that house of God on fire because it was decayed but duly repaired it with great cost and care And such indeed was the excellent piety and prudence of the Church of England such wisdome and moderation it observed as in all other things so in this of the ministeriall order and office What injuries it as other holy things had suffered in the darkness of times by the dulness of Presbyters the negligence of Bishops or insolence of Popes it wisely reformed not abrogating the authority or breaking the Catholick succession of Bishops and Presbyters in this as in all Churches not broaching a new fountain not obstructing as Philistins the wells their fathers had digged not diverting the ancient course and conduits of the waters of life but cleansing the fountains and continuing the streams of primitive holy orders in the constant descents degrees and offices of Bishops Presbyters and Deacons They did not raise up new Ministers like Mushromes out of every mole-hill noâ— force them like Musk-melons out of the hot beds of popular zeal and novellizing faction without any regard to the ancient stock and root of Ecclesiasticall power and Ministeriall authority from which as Irenaeus Tertullian S. Cyprian and all the ancients clearly tell us Bishops and Presbyters were ever derived as slips and off-sets of the twelve Apostles and seventy Disciples No time ever did or ever shall render that Primitive plant and root of Evangelicall Ministry so dry dead and barren that they may or ought to be quite stubbed up or new ones set in their room No they are only to be pruned and trimmed that so they may be worthy of that honor which indeed they have to be by an uninterrupted succession derived and descended from the blessed Apostles whom Christ first planted by his own hands nor may any mans presumption undertake to pul up that holy plantation as those design to do who endeavour to destroy the derivation and succession of the power Ministeriall The truth sanctity and validity of which as to the Ministry of the Church of England by its Bishops and Presbyters hath been fully and clearly asserted by able pens against both Papists on the one side and Novellists on the other The one confining all Episcopal and Ministeriall power to one head and origin the Bishop of Rome as if there had not been twelve fountains and foundations of prime Apostles but onely one S. Peter appointed by our Lord Jesus Christ the other lewdly scattering that sacred office and divine authority even among vulgar and plebeian hands that every man may scramble for it as he list according as he fancies that his abilities and liberty in these times may extend The putid and pernicious effects of which in their present usurpations divisions confusions debasements discouragements upon the Clergie and Church of England as I shall afterward in the third Book more fully set them forth so I cannot here but justly condemn those partiall unreasonable and irreligious principles from whence so pragmatick an itch or thirst of novelty in so grand a concernment of Religion must needs arise that fond men should be so eager to stop up the ancient fountains
of living waters which they digged not that they might dig to themselves broken Cisterns which can hold little or no water And this they delight to do not onely against those daily instances which miserable and manifest experience gives them of the sad and decayed condition of the Christian and Reformed Religion in this Ch. of Engl. since these new Ministers have intruded and divided but contrary also to all those pregnant testimonies undeniable demonstrations which both our pious fore-fathers in Engl. and all other Christian Churches in all ages have afforded us in the practises and writings of the Fathers testimonies of all Church-historians who with one mouth every where unanimously tell us what was the Apostolick ancient true and onely beginning of the Ministeriall order what the holy and happy way of its descent derivation and succession by duly consecrated Bishops and ordained Presbyters Contrary to all which plain and perpetual remonstrances for nothing is in them dubious or dark I am amazed I confess to see not the giddy and heady vulgar ungratefully engaged who are alwaies like tinder ready to take fire at any sparks of innovations diminutions and extirpations especially of their laws and governours but I find some men of worth yea and Ministers of good learning and seeming ingenuity either so over-awed by the vulgar or over-biassed by their own private interests inclinations and passions that after so much light of Scripture and antiquity shining both in the divine Originals and the Ecclesiastick copies of Ministeriall order and succession after their own former solemn approbations and subscriptions after their late experience of the sad consequences already too much felt in this Church as fruits of those innovations and usurpations made upon that unity power and authority of the Evangelicall Ministry yet I grieve and am ashamed to see that such men should still pitifully comply with consent to yea and promote those dangerous alterations and desperate extirpations which are designed by the enemies of this Church whose aim is to baffle and deprive this Reformed Church in so main a point and hinge of Religion as the ancient sacred orders the constant Ecclesiasticall methods of the Evangelicall Ministry must needs be which what they ever have been in this and all Catholick Churches no man of moderate learning humble piety and honest principles can be ignorant of CHAP. XI THose new unwonted and exotick fashions which some men have studied of late to introduce or incourage in England as to this point of Ministeriall office and power besides that they are all of them new some of them monstrous to this and all ancient Churches they plainly savour more of humane faction than of Christian faith else they would not they could not in any conscience or charity be so mischievously bent and malapertly spitefull against those worthy Bishops and other excellent Ministers who still adhere to the Ancient and Catholick order of the Church of England nor yet could they be so mis-shapen multiform and many-headed in themselves changing every day almost as Proteus by an innate principle of mutability which follows the fancies and interests of new and present projectors but not the judgement and grave example of our ancient and impartial predecessors And however some of these new ways not of successive procreating but new creating Ministers may seem first brewed by domestick discontents next broached by a forreign sword at length fostered by a partiall and over-awed Assembly at last fomented for a season by scattered and divided houses Parlaments in very broken touchy and bloody times when every new thing was made triall of which might as toyes and bables best please the peevish and petulant parties of people in England however others have further challenged to themselves a particular liberty and arbitrary authority such as best likes them in this point of the Ministry which no man of any wisdome piety or gravity can allow under any pretensions of gifts or graces ministeriall in any man Yet all these novell inventions whatever title they pretend from God or man from policy or necessity may not in any reason or Religion in any honour or conscience in any piety or prudence be put into the balance with much less be thought fit to out-vie that clear primitive pattern that Catholick constant succession that Apostolick and divine prescription which do all preponderate for the Ministry of the Church of England in the true scale of regular and authentick ordination of Ministers who are never so completely and indisputably invested with that power as when by the imposition of hands solemnly done by Episcopall Presidents and Presbyterian Assistants who after due examination and serious monition and fervent supplication do in prescript words commit that ministeriall power spirit and authority of Christ which ought to be rightly imparted to those that undertake Evangelical ministrations in Christs name to any part of his Church if they desire to avoid the sin and scandall of being intruders traitours usurpers and counterfeiters of Christs ministeriall dignity and authority Secular or civil powers which are but the products of the sword and managed chiefly by the policy and arm of flesh may indeed confer what honour office and authority they please on any man in civil things yea they may and ought in conscience to take care of and regulate the exercise of Ecclesiastical power in reference to Gods glory and the publick good both of Church and State but they cannot as from themselves by any naturall morall or civil capacity confer holy orders or bestow Ministerial authority on any man much less may they or as Christian Magistrates will they make a new broad Seal of Christianity or commence any new way of ministeriall authority nor may they in conscience cancel or abrogate the good old way no nor yet alter in any materiall part the Catholick way of its right derivation and succession which was by the hands of those who had first received that holy deposition which certainly is of as much higher nature orb and sphere beyond any naturall moral or secular power as the celestial light of sun and stars is above that which is from candles or that holy fire on Gods altar was above that which is but culinary All good Christians agree that its originall is in Christ its commission from Christ its first delegation to the twelve Apostles and the seventy Disciples from the Apostles we read its transmission to others in the Apostolicall Acts and Epistles How it was afterward continued and by what means derived to an uninterrupted Catholick succession in all Churches for 1500 years is not indeed to be learned so not decided by Scripture whose records except the Apocalyps extend not above 28 or 30 years after Christs ascension but being a thing now of late so hotly disputed in this and some other Churches there is no rationall satisfaction to be had as to matter of fact but by the after-histories of the Church
pride covetousness and other discontented lusts and partly by Jesuitick arts and Papall policies whose joynt aims are at this day to extirpate the whole race root and branch of the Reformed Catholick Christian Church and Ministry in England They conspire nothing more than that they may serve both the Bishops and Presbyters of England as Elias and Jehu did Baals Priests for this is the sense some men have of us and this is the sentence they have passed and seek to execute upon us as upon so many Cretians not Christians as if we were onely liars evil beasts and slow-bellies either imperious masters or unprofitable servants to the Church that so these new Masters may on all sides freely enjoy those superstitious and fanatick liberties which they have designed for their divided parties who despaired to prevail in England untill they had brought the English Clergie to undergo all manner of indignities and injuries CHAP. XII ALl which Tragedies that the people of England might behold and bear with the greater patience and stupidity they must by popular orators be perswaded 1. That all Bishops or presidentiall Fathers and Over-seers among the Clergie such as the Apostles and their immediate Successors first were are Antichristian truly so are Fathers in families Magistrates in cities and Chieftains in armies 2. That the ordaining of Presbyters by Bishops is meerly Popish so is the celebrating of Baptisme or the Lords Supper or the Lords day 3. That Christs Ministry appropriated to one order of men is a monopoly or a taking too much upon mens selves when others of the congregation may be as holy and able so is all order office and authority civil and military a meer monopoly when others may be as able and wise as the best Magistrates and Commanders 4. That all humane Learning is not onely superfluous but pernicious in the Ministers of the Gospel so is all skill industry and ability in all other workmen 5. That Ministers maintenance by Tithes Glebe-lands and other oblations is Jewish so is all justice and gratitude in paying labourers their wages 6. That the distinction of Clergie and Laity is arrogant and supercilious so are the titles of Master and Scholar Teacher and Disciple Priest and People Minister and ministred 7. That it was proud and insolent for any Clergie-men to be invested with honour to be stiled and respected as Lords Truly if it be no dishonour to any temporall Lord to become a Minister or Christs glorious Gospel nor doth he thereby lose his civil Lordship and dignity no more is it misbecoming learned grave and venerable Ministers of the Gospel the chief Fathers and governours of the Church to be adorned with honours and to enjoy as the favours of Christian Princes and States both the Titles and Revenues of their temporall Baronies and Lordships which they might for ought I could ever see as well deserve and use as any other Lords who had their Lordships by birth by purchase or by favour nor did Honour less become Ecclesiastick Rulers than it doth those military Commanders who I see can endure themselves to be called treated as Lords I confess under favour I do not understand how Church-government should be less capable of degrees and distinction in Governours than those which are civil or military since order and subordination must be in them all nor do I more understand how such chief Governours of the Church-militant as Bishops were and ought to be might not as well both merit and manage such honours and estates as any men who by far less abilities or pains do get to be Major-generals or Colonels and chief Commanders in an Army over poor Souldiers Sure the saving of souls is every way as hard and honourable a work as the killing of mens bodies which is the worst of a souldiers work or as the saving of mens temporall lives and estates which is the best of that employment nor is it less of true valour vigilance and resolution in learned and good Scholars to fight with and overcome the ignorance errours and barbarity of mankind than it is fortitude in good souldiers to suppress the rapines and injustice of mens extravagant actions But these and such like are the envious cobwebs the thin and ridiculous sophistries formerly used by some men of evil eyes and worse hearts out of principles full of ignorance or envy or covetousness or licentiousness or Atheism whereby to perswade silly people to follow these novell easie and more thrifty methods of saving souls which some swelling Libertines propound who have the confidence earnestly to invite this noble Nation to commit the whole managery of Christian Religion and of their souls eternall salvation to such new cheap and bold undertakers who adventure to minister in Christs name without any such character commission or conscience of divine authority which as Irenaeus and all the Ancients tell us were ever in a solemn visible and orderly manner derived by the hands of Bishops to the Presbyters or lawful Ministers of the Church as from Christ and the Apostles in an undoubted and uninterrupted succession of which Tertullian gives so excellent an account in his Book of prescription against Hereticks Their ostentations of naturall liberty of civil indulgence of rationall abilities of speciall gifts and undiscernable graces or which is most incredible of extraordinary calls from God All or any of these if they were really true yet will not be allowed as a justifiable ground for any mans usurpation or intrusion into any office military or civil without a visible commission derived from the supreme power in both much less are they sufficient pleas for any man to officiate in the Ministry Ecclesiasticall whose Supreme Authority is confessedly in Christ and the derivation or deduction of it in all ages is so visible constant and uniform that no man honestly learned can be ignorant where it resided or how it was derived Certainly it never was dispensed by the hands or power of Emperours Kings Protectors Princes or any civil Magistrates whose duty I conceive if they will act as Christians is not to alter or innovate this sacred authority and method used by Christ the Apostles and the Catholick Church but to preserve it as sacred and inviolable much less was it left to the spontaneous confidence the passionate suffrages and confused petulancies of common people who are the great and infallible prostrators of all Religion vertue honour order peace civility and humanity if left to themselves but it was divinely setled by Christ in the Apostles and by the Apostles in their successors the ordained Bishops and Presbyters of the Catholick Church in its severall branches and combinations who ever have been and ought to be under Christ the great Conservators the onely complete and regular Distributers of this holy ministeriall power as they have been to this day in this and all other orderly Churches of Christ without any controversie or contradiction without dispute or doubt
Nation to the flourishing of the Christian and Reformed Religion when men knew what it was to have and to honour Gods Ministers and to be good Christians that is judicious humble honest charitable orderly and constant in the true Religion CHAP. XIV BUt suppose in very deed it were true that you the Nobility Gentry and Commons of England did find an irreparable decay and dotage now grown upon the ancient Clergie and that you might now be cheaper and better served by these new-sprung Gourds which are but of yesterday like Mushromes the sons of a night yet since the ancient race and stock of Apostolick Bishops and Presbyters is not onely of so venerable an age as 1600 years in the Catholick and this Church of Christ which is a great plea of priority honour and prepossession against any novell intruders and pretenders since they and their predecessors both before and since the Reformation even from the first plantation of Christianity in this Island have done their best to deserve well of you and your fore-fathers who this last century especially in your own memory greatly rejoyced in the lustre of these burning and shining lights justly and gratefully esteeming the learned ability industry and piety of the English Clergie a great crown honour and rejoycing to this Nation since they have thus far premerited of you in their former age strength and vigour truly it must needs be not more their grief and misery than your shame and eternall dishonour if you should use your ancient Clergie and Ministers as you would your old dogs and harrased horses casting them off to seek new masters or turning them into the high wayes to graze upon what alms they can pick up among their timorous and ungratefull friends or their supercilious and disdainfull enemies Surely it were but charity and humanity in you to provide rather some Almes-houses and Hospitalls for your cast and decayed Ministers as well as you do for your veterane and unserviceable Souldiers who have in their time and station been valiant faithfull and orderly that at least the prouder Jesuits and the less charitable Papists besides other pestilent enemies of the peace and piety of England may not too much triumph to see so many so venerable Bishops and other worthy Ministers of this Reformed and sometimes flourishing Church of England either begging or starving which if it be not as I fear it is I am sure it would be the sad fate of many of them if God did not stir up some mercifull Obadiahs to relieve them not that they want ability or industry but either such liberty or such opportunity as their adversaries presume to enjoy But against all this that I plead of Justice and Mercy for the English Clergie some mealy-mouth'd and hen-hearted men are prone secretly to object Alas there is now no hope to recover the pristine honour either as to reputation reverence or revenue of the Ministry of England neither to Bishops nor Presbyters Alas they have been and still are so vulgarly slighted and abased We see these new Teachers have most-what got the upper hand they are brisk and bold young men who have disgraced displaced and baffled many of the old stock they have decried affronted and over-awed in a manner all of them the new-fashioned Ministers ride on the fore-horse and are fancied by many wary and wise men to be most useful advantageous and conform to the present state of civil interests and affairs so that men are prone to think they had better rest satisfied with these new Preachers upon any account if they be but tolerable speakers and livers rather than go about to restore much less to prefer the former Ministers and Ministry which grow daily more antiquated and exautorated both as to their persons and pretensions among the common sort of people besides many others who are their friends yet look upon the very names of Bishop and Presbyter of ordination and succession as terms extremely unpopular unpleasing and growing out of fashion in England Well much good may these new Ministers do to these new-fashioned Christians these wary men and their posterity 'T is well however if Christ be preached whether of envy or good will whether in truth or in pretence onely Yet I cannot forbear in an honest and Christian freedome to offer this to the judgement of you and other Gentlemen who are of more noble minds and more prudent spirits Do but foresee and consider I beseech you what pitifull Ministellos what pigmy Presbyters what plebeian Preachers this Nation in after-ages is like to have if the Ministers of the glorious Gospel of J. Christ your Saviour must ever grow up live under such vulgar scamblings contempts insolencies obloquies molestations intrusions confusions which are and ever will be as so many nipping frosts and horrid discouragements to all able ingenious grave and godly men when they shall see under the pretence of Novelty and Christian liberty not only themselves very much impoverished curbed despised and depressed as to that order dignity office and authority which they claim and exercise upon grounds Divine Catholick and Ecclesiasticall but they shall further behold all sacred solemn and venerable mysteries as well as offices of the Evangelicall Ministry and Christian Religion exposed to such plebeian insolencies such petulant extravagancies such fanatick fancies such fulsome affectations such empty pretensions such uncharitable janglings such miserable manglings and such proud usurpations under any notions and pretensions which common people please to call their Christian Liberties CHAP. XV. WHich are indeed little else than novell vanities opposing pious Antiquity weaknesse vaunting it self against strength ignorance darkness and confusion boasting against sound knowledge true light and holy order folly crying it self up for wisdome the rapes and stuprations of Religion styling themselves rare Reformations melancholy ravings are cried up for divine Revelations schismatick conventicles voted for the onely pure and organized Churches of Christ being bodies as Tertullian accurately observes so homogeneous similary and inorganick that it is hard to discern which is the head or tail hand or foot Pastor or people like earth-worms they crawl with either end forward all are Prophets inspired all grow Seers Teachers Elders and Rulers of the Church If they can but light on some new notions some strange fancies some odde and unwonted expressions they are presently set forth for rare and spiritfull discoveries when indeed they are but old and rotten errours protrite and putid opinions of the ancient Gnosticks or Valentinians or Manichees or Montanists or Circumcellians or Donatists who affected either to invent poetick fancies or to darken and bury plain and wholsome Truths by words without understanding And such are for ought that ever I could discern those Seraphick Anabaptistick Familistick Hyperboles those proud swelling words of vanity and novelty with which those men use to deceive the simple and credulous sort of people
who are set up by them as the great rivals and Antagonists of the Ancient Catholick and Apostolick Ministers of Christ and Vastators of the whole frame of the Church of England Can you O worthy Gentlemen or any sober Christians who are not strangers to the prayings preachings and writings heretofore brought forth by the worthy Ministers Bishops and Presbyters of the Church of England can you think that either the godly Ministers or the Christian people in England were ignorant of or strangers to those spirituall influences those inward powers and secret experiences of Religion till these new Pedlers of piety began to open their packs or till these rare Rabbies turned their shops into Synagogues and their Conventicles into the onely true spiritualized Churches of Christ Did we never know before these new Illuminates and Spiritaties rose up what belonged to the humble seeking the happy finding and holy acquaintance with God by the union and communion of Gods Spirit working and witnessing with ours Had we neither the root nor the fruit of true Religion till these new planters sprung up Were we utterly strangers to Faith Repentance Charity and good works or to that joy love peace blessed hopes sweet satisfactions evident sealings sincere sanctifyings and undoubted assurings of the holy Ghost which are wrought by and conform to the Word of God first casting the Christian into that holy mould and then filling him with such comforts as are unspeakable and glorious whose nature is rather to be humbly enjoyed modestly owned and tenderly treated in a gracious soul than vulgarly discovered and vapouringly ostentated in a rude and vain-glorious fashion The brightest lustre of Gods Jewels is rarely shewn and hardly seen being most glorious within the richest wares are least set upon the stalls or shop-boords These Arcana magnalia sublimia Dei secrets of the Lord these whisperings of the blessed Spirit these oscula Christi kisses of Christ as S. Bernard calls them these aromata gratiae perfumes of his soft breath these glowings of grace in the heart these holy fervours and heavenly raptures of humble devout meditative fervent souls who the more they believe the more they love and the more they love the better they live more humanely and more divinely more justly more charitably and more orderly these real pregustations of glory and anticipations of heaven blessed be God were long ago known and experimentally set forth in the Prayers Sermons writings and actions of thousands of good Christians both Ministers and others long before these novell and exotick masters began to lisp out the Soboloths of fine phrases before they dared to assault and not onely cry but beat down this and all National Churches all Clergie of the ancient and right order all Universities and Nurseries of good learning together all Tithes all Liturgies all studied Sermons and premeditated prayers all wholsome forms and sober compendiums of religious duties and devotion as if all these were meerly carnall literall formall and superficiall naturall and papall meer husks and shells the rind and out-side of Religion Yea we had the comfort and God the glory of his grace in the Ch. of Eng. long before either Anabaptists or Familists or Seekers or Quakers or Ranters or any other spawn of Libertinism and Independency of Schism and Separation had amused the silly vulgar as S. Austin tells us by his own experience the subtill but sordid Manichees were wont to do with their new motions and strange expressions of being Godded with God Christed with Christ Spirited with the Spirit and the like affectations which are either barbarities and simplicities or blasphemies insolencies and impossibilities of speaking for no sober Christian ever did or in Religion ought or in true reasoning can understand that by a believers being partaker of a diviner nature through Christ he is presently Deified that is personally invested and plenarily possessed with all the infinite Attributes essence and glory of God which are incomprehensible by any finite understanding and personally incommunicable to any creature excepting Christ Jesus the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Immanuel God Incarnate who onely may without robbery be equall with God esteemed called and adored as God So that they can religiously mean no more by all this pomp of their words than what was long ago far better understood and expressed in more humble wholsom and intelligible words also better enjoyed by sober meek just and quiet-spirited Christians who well knew the glorious priviledges of every gracious and sincere Christian which is to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ to whom being related by faith they are in some sense united to God As the eye that sees the suns light and glory by its beams is in some sense truly enlightened by it united to it partaker of it not as to the vastnesse of its Globe essentiall glory which is far too big and too bright for the eyes small capacity but as to its pleasing influences in like manner the Christian that is illuminate and regenerate by Baptism instructed by the Word of God and sanctified by the Spirit of God is so drawn to Christ by the sweet attractions of the cords of his love and engraffed in him that he is not now his own but Christs not enslaved to his own sinfull and depraved nature but endued with the new powers and principles of an holy and heavenly nature which is truly and soberly that divine nature of which S. Peter speaks which while we behold by true faith and obedience we are changed into the same image from Glory to Glory CHAP. XVI IF then a wise and serious Christian who is not so idle or impudent as to play with Religion to trifle in holy things or to mock with God if such an one will lose so much time as to sift all that these new masters vent that these vapouring Prophets say or write as rare and precious spirituall and heavenly beyond all the fleshly forms learned ignorance and litterall darknesse under which they say we other Christians and Ministers in England have lain long and laboured all night in vain if he will do himself and them so much right as to winnow away the chaff of their affected language their bumbast tearms their insolent expressions drive them from the refuge and confidence they have in the sillinesse of their Auditors the easinesse of their Disciples and the sequaciousnesse of their followers who most admire when they least understand this done he shall find that either nothing remains that is wholsome and good in their swoln heaps of new notions and expressions which are many times the gildings of some of their pills the palliations of their poysonous opinions the daring-glasses or decoyes to bring men into the snares of their dangerous or damnable doctrines or at best all this froth and swelling this noise and ratling of their Novellizings is reducible into a few drops a
the firm ground less indeed to vulgar admiration but more to their own safety and others benefit S. Paul seriously represseth the vanity of knowledge falsly so called when men intrude themselves into things they understand not being puffed up as those primitive Gnosticks in their fleshly minds not holding the Truths as they are in Jesus nor content with the simplicity of the Gospel as it hath been delivered received understood believed and practised by the Catholick Church of Christ this check the Apostle gave to humane curiosities and Satanick subtilties even then when speciall gifts and revelations were at the highest tide CHAP. XVII THe better learned and more humble Ministers of the Church of England both Bishops and Presbyters ever professed with S. Austin and the renowned Ancients an holy nescience or modest ignorance in many things no less becoming the best Christians the acutest Scholars and profoundest Divines than their otherwayes vast knowledge and accurate diligence to search the Scriptures and find out things revealed by God which belong to the Church The modesty and gravity of their learning commends the vastness and variety of it as dark shadowes and deep grounds set off the lustre of fair pictures to the greater height They were not ashamed to subscribe to Saint Paul's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unfathomable depth the divine Abyss of unsearchable wisdome and knowledge they were not curious to pry into things above them or to stretch their wits and fancies beyond that line and measure of truth which God had set forth to his Church in his written Word and in those Catholick summaries thence extracted as the rule of Christian Faith Manners and Devotion whereto the spirits of all good Christians great and small learned and idiots were willingly confined of old as Irenaeus tells us they never boasted of raptures revelations new lights visions inspirations special missions and secret impulses from Gods Spirit beyond or contrary to Gods Word and the good order of his Church thereby to exercise their supposed liberties and presumptuous abilities that is indeed to satisfie their lusts disorders and extravagances in things civil and sacred to discover their immodesties and impudicities like the Cainites Ophites Judaites and Adamites to gratifie their luxuries and injuries their sacriledges and oppressions their cruelties against man and blasphemies against God their separations divisions and desolations intended against this Church The godly Pastors and people of Christs flock never professed any such impudent piety or pious impudence because they were evidently contrary to sound Doctrine and holy Discipline beyond and against the sacred precepts and excellent patterns of true Ministers sincere Saints and upright Christians whose everlasting limits are the holy Scriptures sufficient to make the man of God and Minister of Christ perfect to salvation They were not like children taken with any of these odde maskings and mummeries of the Devil who is an old master of these arts in false Prophets and false Apostles with their followers whose craft ever sought to advance their credits against the Orthodox Bishops Presbyters and professors of true Religion by such ostentations of novelties and unheard of curiosities in Religion which never of old or late made any man more honest holy humble or heavenly they never advanced Christians comforts solitary or sociall living or dying but kept both their Masters and Disciples in perpetual inquietudes perplexities and presumptions which usually ended in villanies outrages and despairs Nor will these new Masters late discoveries prove much better whereof they boast with so insolent and loud an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for all their rarities are but dead carkases which are become mummy by being long dried in the sands or wrapped up in searcloths they are not less dead though they seem less putrified to those whose simplicity or curiosity tempts them thus to rake into the skulls and sepulchres of old Hereticks idle Ecstaticks such as the very primitive times were infinitely pestred withal but blessed be God they were all long ago either extinct of themselves and gone down to the pit or crucified dead buried and descended into hell by the just censures Anathemaes and condemnations passed against them by the godly Bishops and Ministers of the Church in those ages Nor have these Spectres ever much appeared in this Church of England till these later years in which by the ruines and rendings of this Church they have gained a rotten kind of resurrection not to their glory but to their renewed shame and eternall infamy I trust in Gods due time when once the honour of the true Christian and Reformed Religion once happily setled and professed in the Church of England shall be again worthily asserted and re-established by your piety and prudence my noble and religious Countrey-men who have been and I hope ever will be the chief professors and constant Patrons of it under your God and your pious Governours Your prudence and piety your justice and generosity is best able to see through all those transports which are so transparent those specious pretences those artificiall mists and vapours which are used by some novel Teachers to abuse the common people that engaging them into eternall parties animosities and factions they may more easily by many mouths and hands not onely cry but utterly pull down this Reformed Church of England in its sound Doctrine wholsome Discipline Catholick Ministry sacred Order solemn Worship and Apostolick Government All which must now be represented to the world by these new Remonstrants as poor and pittifull carnall and common meer empty forms and beggarly elements fit to be cast out with scorn as reaching no further than Christ in the letter Jesus in the flesh Truth in the outward court Religion in the story or legend but they say the Ministers and other Christians of Old England are not come within the vaile to the Spirit and Mystery they have not that light within which far out-shines the paper-lanthern of Gods word without them CHAP. XVIII THese and such like are the uncouth expressions used to usher in under the names of liberty curiosity sublimity nothing but ignorance idlenesse Atheisme barbarity irreligion and utter confusion in this Church or at best as I shall afterward more fully demonstrate they are but van-courriers or agitators for Romish superstitions and Papall usurpations the end of all this gibberish is Venient Romani Put all these fine fancies and affected phrases together with all those strange phantasms in Religion which of late have haunted this Church like so many unquiet vermin or unclean spirits truly they spell nothing but first popular extravagances which are the embasings and embroylings of all true and Reformed Religion next they portend Popish interests and policies prevailing against this Church and State whose future advantages are cunningly but notably wrapt up in these plebeian furies and fondnesses as grocery wares are in brown paper Be confident the spirit of Rome which is
zelotries Anarchicall furies deformed reformings and desperate hypocrisies by which some men have like very foul chimneys not onely taken fire themselves according as their own lusts kindled them but they have sought to set this whole house of God the Reformed Church of England on fire under pretence forsooth of cleansing the soile and soot of it which appear now to have been more in their own hearts than any where else Have we not had enough of insolent railings bitter calumnies odious indignities and endless divisions brought upon this Reformed Church of England upon its Apostolick Ministry and all its Evangelical Ministrations as invalid superstitious Popish Antichristian abominable Besides the tragick depressions and undoings of many sober Ministers in their persons credits and estates who were justly esteemed by good Christians for very pious painfull and peaceable men yet have the storms of times not onely faln heavily upon them during the paroxysme of our civil wars but even since that tempest hath been allayed many poor Ministers beyond all other men have been afflicted with the strifes of tongues with schismatical despites with opinionative and disputative besides operative persecutions so far that many a grave and godly Minister hath not known whither to flie not so much for employment as for his safety or quiet that he might in any corner or cottage of the land be free from the molestations of those importune wasps those ill-natur'd Factionists who are his eternall Antagonists who first separating from him at length they preach or prate against him against his office orders and function counting themselves as a new swarm of Teachers sent of God to be to the former stock of Preachers like the hornets sent against the Canaanites that driving all the ancient orthodox duly ordained and well-learned Ministers out of the employment and communion of the Church this Canaan of England this good land this famous Church may wholly be in their possession Have we not had enough and too much of petulant practises scurrilous expressions and blasphemous insolencies cast even upon that God that Saviour that holy Spirit that blessed Trinity whom we adore and admire besides the neglects contempts and profanations cast upon our Sacraments our Sermons our Prayers I need not to adde and repeat the diminutions and indignities under which many worthy Ministers both Bishops and Presbyters do lie together with that whole Evangelical order and office which planted preserved and reformed this Church of England How many have questioned others derided a third sort divided from and not a few have utterly denied and as much as in them lies destroyed them all Hence many are grown to esteem all our Religion all our Reformation all Christian duties all Worship and Devotion no better than meer politick frauds specious fables popular fallacies cunning captivities witty mockeries and delusions of the people Yea that nothing might be wanting which malice can invent or act there are some so fierce and cunning enemies of the Church of England that to bring our Reformation into further defiance and disgrace among Papists Atheists and profane livers they dare to impute even their most putid errours their most extravagant fancies their most factious and flagitious practises either to reforming principles or to Gods Spirit and divine impulses O what astonishment what stupor what a lethargie what a dumbnesse what searednesse what deadnesse must needs possess the spirit of any Nation so Christian so Reformed so knowing and enlightened as the people of England sometime was to hear with patience yea with silence yea with connivence yea with smiles and seeming approbation such insolencies such extravagancies imputed to their Religion yea to their Reformation nay to the Spirit of their God and Saviour horrid and black enormities which deserve to be expiated with teares of blood as Gregory Nazianzen speaks of some abuses of Religion in his times O blessed God stir up such a pious shame sorrow and abhorrence in the generality of the people that these fedities may not become the sins of the nation Have we not had enough and too much of scepticall disputes and unedifying contests of unhealing questions and uncharitable quarrellings of bitter strifes and bloody contradictions of evil eyes and envious emulations prevailing like gangrenes or cancerous distempers even among those that profess to be godly and contend for the superiority of Sanctity By all which as S. Hilary passionately complains after the Arian fury had poysoned the Church in his times not onely unkind distances but mutuall defyances and damnings the Christian Reformed Religion sometime setled uniform and flourishing with verity charity decency divine authority and publick majesty in the Church of England is now made an annual menstruall and diurnall Faith or Religion as S. Hilary aptly deplores All things are either so snarled and intangled by infinite doubts and scruples or so wire-drawn by popular and petty disputes or so broken in sunder by factious divisions or so horrid by reciprocall Anathemaes like thunder-bolts cast on all sides in each others faces that the common sort of people know not what to make of Christian or Reformed Religion nor to what Ministers or Ministry to apply themselves with comfort and conscience The solid masse of pure gold which was the highest riches and honour of this nation the true and invaluable treasure of your souls while Religion as Christian and Reformed was carefully preserved as a precious and holy depositum this well-refined gold is now so dim and embased with dross or so malleated and beaten thin by perverse disputations that most men use Religion onely as leaf-gold to tip their tongues or gild over the superficies of their conversation withall or to set off as S. Austin observed of old in the crafty Manichees and others both Hereticks and Schismaticks of his time with the shew and lustre of Christian Religion all the new fancies projects policies and opinions of severall parties which are presently by their authors and abettors cryed up as the pure Ordinances of Jesus Christ the perfect mind of the Spirit the true meaning of the Scripture Gospel-truths hidden treasures Evangelick rarities yea that nothing might be thought to have been Christian Catholick clear and constant setled and indisputable as to Religion in this or any other Church of any other frame and fashion some men have sought not onely to shake and batter but to demolish and utterly overthrow the whole house of wisdome beating down all the grand and goodly pillars on the one side of faith repentance charity good works on the other side of Scriptures Ministry Worship and Sacramentall Mysteries as to the validity authority majesty sanctity solemnity and saving efficacy of them all Upon which the Catholick Church was every where anciently built even then when it was by the hands of the Apostles their successors the Primitive Bishops Presbyters Martyrs Confessors hewn out of the rock of heathenish barbarity idolatry polished by
grave godly and industrious men fit to govern and apt to teach the Church of Christ are still maintained and repeated daily yea raked up and increased by the popular oratory of some novel Ministers so far as to raise eternall prejudices and antipathies even against all those Presbyters which were or are of Episcopall ordination And the better to justifie these Novelties and Schisms in the Church of England which some were so eager and easie to begin so loth and unwilling to retract they still entertain their nauseous credulous and itching Disciples with all those odious stale and envious Crambes which are most welcome to vulgar ears and sacrilegious aims as how unfit it was for the Ministers of Jesus Christ who was the great pattern of piety and poverty to have great revenues stately Palaces and noble Lordships which more godly men do want for Preachers to have any titles of honour and respect as Lords to have any part of civil power or indeed of Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction All which honest employments and enjoyments I conceive under favour the excellent Bishops and other deserving Clergie-men in England were as worthy to enjoy and as able to use with honour conscience and charity as any of those men either military or civil who were most zealous to deprive to debase and to destroy the Hierarchy or just honour of the Ecclesiastick state in England Nor do I think it was any way displeasing to God or in the least kind unbecoming the name of Christ for Bishops and other Ministers of his Church to have such ample estates and honourable preferments for their double honour in so plentifull a land as England was this I am sure it was far less beseeming any good Christian to repine at them and unjustly to deprive them of them If this envious vein of popular oratory grow at length fulsome vile and ridiculous as it is now to all sober and judicious auditors then the Anti-episcopall parties of Ministers devoutly rip up and sadly repeat whatever they have heard or others invented of any Bishops faults or the Episcopall Clergies past infirmities whatever they can they rake up though long ago buried as it ought to be in the charitable forgetfulness of all good men who either consider their own frailties or remember how many holy Bishops were Martyrs and Confessors in all ages of persecution how learned how diligent how commendable how admirable how useful they were to this Church for their preaching writing and living in times of persecution as well as peace even here in England All good Bishops and other Clergie as I have formerly expressed confess themselves as men to be subject to infirmities and temptations the best Bishops and Ministers least deny this truth being every day most vigilant to resist the one and amend the other These allegations then like the Devils quoting of Scripture though they may have some squint-ey'd truth in them yet they are spitefully partially and most impertinently alledged against all Bishops especially by those fierce Presbyterians or other implacable Preachers who have now liberally taught the English world that however the riches pomp and honours of Presbyterian or Independent or other Preachers are much against their wills far less than those which God and man reason and Religion order and polity devotion and gratitude Law and Gospel allowed to Bishops and Presbyters heretofore that the eminency of their office and place in the Church might have something of honourable splendour and hospitable magnificence proportionable to its venerable authority and great antiquity yet men are not so blinded by that popular dust stirred up against the faults and names of Bishops as not to see that the pride covetousness and imperiousness of the most furious and factious Anti-episcopall Ministers come not one jot behind any of those Bishops whom they look upon and represent with the most malignant aspect O how magisteriall are many new masters in their opinions how authoritative in their decisions how supercilious in their conversations how severe in their censures how inexorable in their passions how implacable in their wrath how inflexible in their factions how irrevocable in their transports though never so rash heady plebeian and unsuccessfull by which they at once forsook their duties to others and their own mercies And this many of them did to please others or themselves contrary to their former judgements their sworn and avowed subjection to Bishops for many years when they paid that respect to those Fathers and Governours of this Church which the laws of God and man required long before either Presbytery was hatched or Independency gendered in England The sharp severities and early rigours of both which parties and their Consectaries grew quickly both remarkable and intolerable to sober Christians for as they were bred and born like Pallas armed full of anger revenge and ambitious fierceness so they have acted even in their infancy and minority far beyond what regular sober and true Episcopacy ever did in its greatest age and procerity here in England yea its greatest passion and transports did not exceed the aims of these new masters both Ecclesiastical civil which was either to rule all or to ruine all Bishops commonly justified their reall or seeming severities by those lawes either civil or Ecclesiasticall which were in force against all such as did not conform to them Hence were occasioned much I am confident to the grief and against the desire of the most grave and godly Bishops sometimes those so oft declaimed against and aggravated persecutions of some unconformable yet otherwayes godly Ministers by silencings suspensions deprivations c. which sometimes were but just and necessary exercises of Discipline as I conceive if men will maintain any order and government in any Church or State sometimes it may be some Bishops pressed too much upon the strictness and rigour of law aggravated by their private passions beyond what might with charity and moderation safely have been indulged to some able and peaceable Ministers though in some things dissenters yet as to the main good and usefull to the Church Yet all these old Almanacks these stale and posthumous calculations of Episcopall severities did not upon true account no not in one hundred years equal the number and measure of those pressures and miseries which have been acted or designed in one fifteen years by such as now profess Presbyterian and Independent principles against all Bishops and all those Ministers which are of the Episcopal perswasion I think it may without any stroke of Rhetorick or Hyperbole be said with sober truth that the little finger of Presbytery and Independency with the warts and wens of other factions growing upon them hath been heavier upon the Episcopal which was the onely legal Clergie of England of late years than the loins of any sober and godly Bishops ever were for any one century yea and equal to the burdens of the most passionate and immoderate Bishops whatsoever in any age
least offence No touch-wood or dry gun-powder sooner kindles to flames of wrath indignation and disdain than some ordinary and mean men dare yea delight now to do against their Ministers I have seen both by their pasquils and practises some instances of their ingenuous manners of their great respects love and gratitude all which in good earnest I might I think without any vanity have challenged and expected from all men especially from my own Parishioners and auditors whom for many years I have endeavoured to entertain with so much industry civility candour charity and hospitality as is not inferiour to most if any Ministers in the countrey and in some things as to publick charges and burthens I believe I have exceeded any man of my estate and calling in England As for private charities to the poorer and richer to the well and the sick for food physick clothing c. it is fitter others assert me than I should vindicate my self against the petulant ingratitudes of some men among whom one had his tongue so much at liberty that uninjured unprovoked yea almost unknown to me yet one of my many hearers he doubted not openly to joyn me with my man and put upon us both the title of a couple of proud Jack anapeses when he was but after two or three years forbearance demanded to pay what was due professing he would not maintain any proud Parson Such spirits as these I must leave to be punished with their own manners I must pardon them as David did Shimei and pray for them as Samuel did for the ingrateful Israelites the rather because I thank God I meet with few of them in a very numerous people who for the greater and better part of them do indeed deserve all that care love labour kindness and constancy which I have shewed to them for 15 years together Onely by these experiments both my self and others may easily conjecture how the pulse of people beats in most if not all places toward their Ministers whatever they be if they be men of any worth spirits and parts above them 'T is sure enough that even the best of them in the best places they meet with are brought to a low ebb in comparison of what respect they formerly enjoyed in England Indeed some Ministers perhaps have some little sleights and popular artifices to win and please the vulgar whom rather than offend they will do or say or omit or silence any thing not grosly a sin and shame and rather than not please they will rub ever and anon some salt upon the Bishops the ancient Clergy upon the Liturgy and the former constitution of the Church of England for this gall is honey to the palates of some plebeian spirits And rather than displease some people there are Ministers that will never use the Creed Decalogue or Lords prayer in twice seven years Nay some people so rule the tender mouths and ride the galled backs of their Preachers with so sharp a snaffle and hard a saddle that they are afraid to offend these their great Censors rather than good Masters and Dames by putting the title of Saint to any holy Evangelist or Apostotick writer no not when they name their Text or cite any place out of their holy writings but those holy and reverend men are named with as little respect or honor to their memory and merit in the Church as if they spake to Matthew and James and Peter and John in their kitchin as their servants or fellowes and familiars Yea so spongily soft timorous and sequacious some Ministers are that what they own as their judgement among men of learning parts and courage this they smother with great wariness and cowardise among those plainer Hees and Shee s by whom they are over-awed as it were by a kind of necessary sportulary dependence CHAP. XXXI WHat the sufferings dejections dâ—basements indignities are which many Ministers have and do endure no man can imagine who doth not see and feel the weight of high shoes or the ponderousness of Weavers beams when they dare to tread on Ministers toes If as I have experimentally instanced it be thus done to a green tree to one that hath been not barren or unfruitfull among them whom God of his mercy and bounty hath planted in an upper ground and in many degrees of eminency above the vulgar how think you will rustick spirits lift up their flailes and sithes their hooks and bills their shuttles and shovels against those of my brethren whom they look upon as much their underlings and shrubs by reason of the tenuity of their condition though they be never so tall Cedars in learning piety and all true worth How do they threaten and scorn and molest them if they do not suffer them to enjoy those shaking and sacrilegious compositions which they will make or none at all for their Tithes else Articles and Committees sequestrations and suits are loudly threatned at best parties factions schisms and separations are presently hatched and nourished against him if the Minister do not sacrifice with great tameness a great part of his small means as a peace-offering or atonement to these turbulent spirits who if they may not be his Masters and Commanders resolve to be his oppressors and undoers if they can however they take the freedome to be his declared deserters and enemies discouraging and disparaging him what they can by separating from him and from the Congregation or Parish to some private and spitefull Conventicle Which reserve of malice never fails to follow there where any Minister hath the courage and confidence so far to own himself as not to submit either to the injuries or insolencies of some proud and pragmatick spirits If the conscience of his own integrity sets him immovably as a sluce against the tide of their folly and petulancy O how excessively will their spleen swell against the good man Rather than fail of having some revenge upon him they will take this most severe revenge against themselves as malice is oft its own mischief wholly to deprive themselves of all the benefit to be enjoyed by his learned judicious and devout Ministry which they labour to cry down as that by which they cannot profit that to refresh their souls they are forced to seek out some more warm complying creeping and inspired Preacher such an one though a meer rhapsodist and rambler must presently be cryed up as a rare soul-saving Preacher And indeed it may justly be feared that most Separates of later years have taken the rise and occasion of their schismes and separations from their lawfull Ministers and from the Church of Engl. not so much upon any scruple of conscience as upon pride covetousness ambition revenge and other inordinate lusts with which their Ministers would not comply from which centre of order union and consistence in the Church when countrey people are once removed no wonder if like their cart-wheels they run round in a vertigo of Religions
son Henry the eighth into Gods vineyard for the work office and honour of a Church-man Now a Gentleman of the first head disdaines it a Yeoman disputes it If the Fathers piety can digest to make the meanest of his sons a Minister the Mothers tenderness dreads it if the good Mothers zeal devotes the poor youth to that perpetuall servitude yet the Fathers prudence and policy rather chuseth for him a life of more activity ease peace pleasure and honour if it be but to make him as the last refuge a common trouper or a foot-souldier who may in time over-awe the best Bishop and Minister in a County yea a whole Diocese and association of them if Ministers shrink the next ten years as they have done of late Nor may any wise men that wish well to their Countrey and the Church of England ever flatter themselves that one man of a thousand who hath good abilities of mind or any competent estate sufficient to redeem himself from the servilities of poverty and popularity will ever condemne himself in a monastick or melancholy humour to be a Minister The old stocks already are dwarft in great part or hewn down and generally they will be but shrubs on which the Ministry hereafter will be grafted in a foile and age that growes so barren stingy ungenerous unbenigne to them Possibly there may be now and then an heroick resolution in a Gentleman of worth for family parts and estate to assert the honour of his Saviour and the declining dignity of his blessed Ministry by undertaking holy orders but these are rare birds and will be Phoenixes in after-ages not more admirable than commendable indeed when they come in at the right doore of Catholick ordination and Apostolick succession which are the visible seales of Divine Authority and Commission conferred of old even from the first age by none that ever I read without Episcopall power and precedency which immediately succeeded the Apostles in that ordinative and gubernative eminency which I believe was to be ordinary and constant in the Churches Oeconomy both to preserve an orderly polity and to confer holy orders with due that is Divine authority in an uninterrupted succession But where a childs portion must be wholly raised by a mans own industry and Gods blessing upon his employment in the Ministry O how cruell will those parents seem to their sons at years of discretion when once they come to tast and drink deep of that cup of gall and vinegar tenuity and contempt which some mens charity designes to mix for Ministers How will such poor and despised Preachers all their tedious and necessitous lives condemn and in the bitterness of their souls sometime be ready to curse as Job and Jeremiah did the dayes of their birth that preposterous zeal and pitiless piety which bred them up with no small care cost and pains onely to condemn them to the pulpits as to the gallies of plebeian slavery and necessity when they shall by wofull experience find that all their costly learning and education their ingenious parts and excellent abilities have made them like the sacrifices of old adorned with ribbands and garlands that they may with the greater pomp and solemnity be slain by popular insolency when parents devoting their hopefull sons to the service of the Church is to prefer them to labour and sorrow to pains and poverty to scorn and shame to vulgar contempt and contradiction Which very unpleasing and horrid apparitions of all manner of discouragements have of later years so evidently damped and discouraged many worthy men that not onely very hopefull scholars have diverted their studies to any other design than that of Divinity and the Ministry but few parents who can find any other way to dispose of their sons are so unnaturall as to expose them to that sad fate which they see attends every Minister that dares own the right way of acquiring and exercising the sacred authority of that function Certainly Origens juvenile impatience not to be a Martyr was not many degrees above the resolution of those young men who will now adventure to be Ministers in England upon a good and Catholick account which equally abhors plebeian petulancy popular dependency and uncatholick novelty And to hope that common people will in time grow better-natur'd toward Ministers by enjoying whatever liberties they list to arrogate or indulge to themselves in Religion is so high a presumption as is next door to despair unless it can be imagined that mankind naturally enemies to God and all grace will of themselves learn to value their souls and their eternall interests which are so remote from their senses as much as they do their bodies and estates or that they will look upon Divines and Ministers as no less necessary for their good than Lawyers and Physicians are whose fees and entertainments tell the world that men willingly or necessarily bestow many pounds in order to secure their bodily health and wealth when they miserably and basely grudge at three half-pence spent upon their Ministers and their souls on which to bring men to set a due value hath been in all ages the chief end of true Religion the great work of all the Prophets Apostles holy Bishops and godly Ministers yea the main design next the divine glory of God himself and our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ. Men are miserably betrayed to themselves when they are suffered to live at that liberty or looseness which will certainly debase despise and damn their souls Which sad events being chiefly imputable to common peoples own folly and madness yet will those men be highly responsible for them in whose power it was either to teach them better or to restrain them from those profligate humours by which prodigal and poor wretches are prone to destroy as well as to despise both their Ministers and themselves whom to perswade to a true value and reverence of themselves is an high point of Philanthropy and Theologie of charity and piety of humanity and Divinity which foundation once well laid would soon recover the decayed and desolating condition of Ministers who will never be valued loved or rewarded proportionably to their worth labours and dignity untill men think they have infinite need of them yea more need than of the most learned and honest Lawyers or the most faithfull Physicians who have so great an influence yea empire upon mankind because men sensibly feel and find the want of them which they do not of their able Ministers every prating intruder being enough to serve their turn But I have done with the causes and occasions the instances and evidences of the decayes and deformities of Religion in the Church of England which chiefly rising from the licentiousness of people and the inordinateness of Ministers have been the main subject of this second Book BOOK III. SETTING FORTH THE EVIL CONSEQUENCES Felt or feared from the Distractions of RELIGION in ENGLAND CHAP. I. HAving in the FIRST BOOK
superstitious Duties as seem at best impertinent to true Piety but some of them are erroneous sacrilegious pernicious In some things they are boldly adding to or detracting from the Doctrine and Institutions of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ in other things they impose for sacred and necessary such opinions and customes which are but the rust and drosse the disease and deformity of Christian Religion contracted in the long ignorance darknesse and almost barbarity of times which God winked at but now they appear highly and justly scandalous yea intolerable to more judicious and lesse credulous Christians who are very sensible not onely of that offence which many Papal Injunctions and Observations give to themselves as Christians but also to the very Heathens to Jewes and to Mahometans who cannot reconcile in any Reason or Religion the Idolatrous use of Images and Hoasts among Papists to which they must submit if they will be in communion with them or converted to be Christians nor yet those Tridentine Terrours and Anathema's of eternall damnation which are thundered by them against all those who will not against Christs expresse Word own as Truth and submit to as necessary those opinions and practises among Papists which seem either impious or impertinent as to true Faith and a good Conscience Against all which burthens too heavy for any wise and generous Christians to bear when once duly informed of the weight danger of them and duly reformed from them as the great Wisdom Piety and Order of the Ch. of Engl. in its sacred Ministry and holy Ministrations was heretofore the greatest barre and bulwark in all the Christian world so the disadvantages of the Reformed Religion are now so palpable and the danger of the people of this Nation as so obvious in their returning to that Egypt and Babylon again which is not the Church of Rome but its disease and oppression that I know not in ordinary providence any means can be used or is left to stop the daily prevalencies of Popery and the great Apostasie of England to the Romish superstition and subjection in after-times unlesse God stir up such Wisdome Zeal and Care in those that have honest hearts joyned with publick power and influence not so much to fleece and depress Popish Recusants by pecuniary exactions which is to set Religion to sale and to make merchandize of mens errours rather than fairly to perswade and win them by the proper and perswasive engines of true Religion but rather duly to restore and speedily assert the Honor Order Succession Unity Authority and Majesty of this Reformed Church and its Catholick Ministry from which when the Papists see our selves to be such profound Revolters with what face can we expect they should ever come in to our Reformation which they now behold with joyfull and disdainfull eyes so mangled so deformed so massacred by our own hands How can we with Justice Honour or Humanity inflict severe penalties upon Papists as refusing to conform to our Church and Religion when they protest with so much truth to our faces they cannot see any Church any Religion among us as uniform publick authentick constant What they say formerly had the goodliest figure and fairest presence of a Christian Church and the best Reformed of any is now deformed ruined demolished nothing but scattered rafters and pieces of that ship-wreckt vessel now appear floating up and down in a restless and foming sea of faction opposition and confusion between Bishops Ministers and People some are Episcopal others Presbyterian a third sort Independent all are disparate or opposite in Discipline some are Heterodox in Doctrine the Anabaptists rise against all and the Quakers soare above all To which of all these with many other Sects shall an honest-hearted Papist apply himself to be safe and setled in Religion If to the poor and depressed remaines of Bishops and the Episcopall Clergie who yet adhere to the Church of England alas they are weak and exhausted contemned by many pitied by some but asserted by few or none according to their true merit in former ages or their present Worth Courage Constancy and Patience in this If the Romanists go to the Presbyterian party which like small shoots sprang out so thick in England upon the cutting down of Episcopacy to which they all formerly submitted these besides their Levity Parity and Inconstancy as to their former Stations Opinions and Oaths seem so unseasonably insolent and magisterially domineering before they had got a full and just dominion that all sober men think them rather popular plebeian impertinent in their heats transports passions than so modest wise and grave as becomes those who will undertake to wrest Government out of the hands of their superiours and betters every way and to impose a novelty of untried and undesired Discipline upon such a great and stout Nation as England is which disdaining the insolency of Popes and offended at the indiscretion of some Bishops will hardly ever bear the pertnesse of petty Presbyters who cannot want Vanity Impudence and Arrogancy when they fancy themselves in a supremacy of Power above People Parlaments and Princes for they affect no lesse as Christs due and theirs too If the tossed Romanists run to the spruce and self-conceited Independents for shelter because these fine new Masters seem to have patents for Christian Liberty and urge a Magna Charta from Christ to be accountable to none in matters of Religion but their own little Congregation Church or Body in which as in an Ecclesiastick Corporation or free Burrough of Religion they may hang and draw exercise high and low Justice upon mens souls as they list in their little Conventicles yet here the poor Papist finds so much of a rude and exotick novelty such a grosse shew of Schisme such variety such an inconsistency such a plebeian petulancy such pitiful and ridiculous affectations and arrogating of Church-power in some of the plebs and such contempt of it in others that he cannot think it is other than some pieces of Josephs bloody coat or some torn limbs of his body compared to what Splendour Order Strength Beauty Unity Decency and Majesty in Doctrine and Discipline in Faith and holy Duties was formerly to be observed even to the envy admiration of sober Papists in the Church of England how much more in the Ancient and Catholick Churches grand Combinations from which these petty fractions and crumblings of Christians seem most abhorrent and dissonant This goodly Cedar then of the Church of England being thus broken and hewn down and nothing like it or comparable to it planted in its room but such Shrubs and Mushromes as grow of themselves out of the ranknesse of the earth vulgar humours and passions under whose shade any Egyptian Vermine Frogs or unclean Birds may hide themselves no wonder if the Papists triumph in their sufferings and constancies if they despise all our Presbyterian Independent Anabaptistick and fanatick Novelties if they
lesse safe in some respects for the Lay-people to receive the Cup or Wine and Blood of Christ apart as he instituted and the Church of old even the Roman constantly practised as do the Greeks at this day according to what Christ commanded and in what sense he gave it and called it reall Bread and Wine for such he took such he brake such he blessed such he gave to the Disciples when he said that is this Bread is my Body this cup is my Blood such S. Paul understood them to be and so declares this the mind of Christ as he had received it immediately from Christ The Bread which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ For we are all partakers of that one Bread So whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup unworthily Let a man examine himself before he eat of that bread Certainly either the Apostles expressions must be affectedly very dark and his meaning different from his words or he was quite of another mind than the Papists are at this day who durst in the all-daring Council of Trent damn all those who follow Christs example use his words and are of the Apostles judgement expressing their sense of the blessed Sacrament in his words which we think much safer to follow both in the use of Sacramentall Bread and Wine communicated to all Receivers and in the perswasion we have of our receiving true Bread and Wine yet duly consecrated and so Sacramentally united to the reall Body and Blood of Christ which we faithfully behold thankfully receive and reverently adore in that blessed Mysterie according to the ancient Faith Judgement Reverence and Devotion of the Church of Christ void of sacrilegious novelties and incredible superstitious vanities If we Christians of the reformed Church of England had no other wall of separation to keep us from the Papall communion than these two so palpable and gross opinions with their consequences so rigidly enjoyned upon all Christians under pain of Gods eternall curse yet both so dissonant from and opposite to the example of Christ and the words of the Apostle these were sufficient to keep sober Christians at an eternall distance from them lest knowingly partaking of their sins and abetting their wilfull and obstinate sacriledge we also partake of their punishment who in vain serve God after the commandments and traditions of men contrary to the Divine Word and Prescription Nor will the silly shifts and pitifull salvoes serve here which are used by some Romanists whose Learning Wit and Sophistry are all set on work to take off the aspersion odium and envy of these grosse and rude Innovations How childish ridiculous is it to talk of the Popes imaginary infallibility or the Roman Churches usurped Supreme Authority in cases expresly contrary to the Institution of Christ and the Apostles explication from whom the Church of Rome professe to derive their Religion Nor may they with any foreheads or modesty becoming good Christians so rudely vary from them if they desire to have the name and merit of faithfull and good Christians whose greatest Liberty Duty and Honour is if they love Christ to keep his commandements and neither for pride nor policy to warp from them and after clear remonstrances to refuse to return in case of straying to a conformity with them which obstinacy makes little for the Pope's infallibility or Rome's supreme Authority never challenged by Popes or owned by any other Bishops in the Church for 600 yeares after Christ nor by Pope Gregory the Great who as an holy and humble Bishop abhorred the title and pride of that name Universal Bishop as appears in his works and others of the Ancients of whom I gave a particular account in my Hieraspistes p. 249. Yet these two are the main hinges on which the unhappy disputes of Christendome do turn and the chief anvils on which the animosities between Protestants and Papists are now hammered as otherwhere so here in England The ruine of which famous Church is the greatest prize which the Romish party hath gotten since Luther's dayes who began not without his passions and infirmities that pious Apostasie which being found just and holy moved as other Churches so this of England not to forsake the communion of the Church of Rome so far as it was or is a Church of Christ but onely so far as it seemed to have been oppressed with a Synagogue of Satan deformed with such sinfull deformities and sottish fedities besides their Court-tyrannies as became no Christians to endure who were either not in the dark and so could see the need they had to get out of such a dungeon full of mire and darknesse or were at their own dispose as was the state of the Nation and Church of England depending on none nor subject to any but God alone These so oft recocted Crambes of Popish controversies as I delight not to aggravate so I am forced here to touch some of them to shew you my honoured Countrey-men as what cause the Church of England had to reform her self with what prudence she did it so how inconsistent it must be with good conscience for us in Engl. to revert to the Popish Communion being of so different perswasions from them which wretched Apostasie being the grand design and agitation of Roman Counsels will in time draw this Nation away from Gods rectitudes to mans obliquities if the Roman furnace and bellows be so plied and advanced for them by these operators of severall sects and factions whose end will be whatever their aime is quite to melt down the former fashion of the Church of England and its well-reformed state of Religion that it may by degrees run into the Roman mould and form CHAP. XVII NOt that I repeat these differences in order to encrease or continue uncharitable bitternesses among any good Christians whose hearts are honest though their judgements may be erroneous the blessed God who is both light and love knoweth that I have not any design to widen the sad breaches of Christendom or to hinder the charitable closings of them so far as may stand with good conscience and Catholick truth whose rule and ground ought to be the Word of God rightly understood which is its own best interpreter and plain in those things of Duty and Perswasion of Faith and Devotion which are most necessary to salvation I confesse I cannot but vehemently approve being now past juvenile heats and popular fervours in Religion the pious and learned endeavours of those excellent men who after Melanchthon Cassander Saravia Wicelius Thuanus Grotius Casaubon and others have not onely seriously deplored the sad rents and wounds of Christian Churches but sought to pour in Wine and Oyle of wholsome and unpassionate counsels not palliating apparent errours yet not aggravating needlesse jealousies nor inflaming mutuall angers in order to gratifie either the sacrilegious policies of Princes or the pride of Popes or the
Religion as consisted with Piety Equity and Charity with the Glory of God the good of mens Souls also with the Dignity of Church-men and the Honour of this Nation Contrary to and destructive of all which many men as in other places so of late in this Ch. of Engl. which was the most complete pattern of excellent Reformation keeping a mean between doting antiquity and affected Novelty between Papall Superstition and popular Immoderation have discovered such ill will and envious eyes not onely against the Clergy and Church of England which was heretofore honourably and handsomely reformed but against all National Churches and orderly Ecclesiasticks in such Churches that they do not think it enough as Calvin Beza and the Augustan Confessors at first did for Bishops and Church-men to forsake their convicted Errours and amend their scandalous Manners where they are really amisse but these severe Super-reformers expect yea forcibly require that all Clergy-men should be so sordidly tame and plebeianly patient as not onely with silence to permit but with a Scotizing zeal humbly to invite to the utter ruine as of their Order and Function so of their Honours and Enjoyments those Lay-ravens Cormorants and Harpies who can not onely devour and digest the Libraries and Houshold-stuffe the Livings and Estates the Flesh and Blood of Bishops and other Church-men but like Ostriches they can greedily devour and wonderfully digest the Timber Lead Stones Iron and Glasse of all materiall Churches There are many throats so wide and gules so gluttonous in England that they can swallow down goodly Cathedrals Bishops large Houses whole Colledges and Chapters with many large Manours as easily as gilded pills in syrup Thus reforming Churches and Church-men by rifling them of all their publick Patrimony and Endowments till Churches and Church-men are left like the poor man in the Gospel naked and wounded exposed to the transient extemporary and arbitrary Charities of such as shall passe by who like the Priest and Pharisee may be great professors but little relievers of Religion or religious men who owe their Wounds and Necessities to such rude unjust and cruell reformers who loudly command all Romish Churches and Church-men to abhor such Reformation as their ruine and utter undoing For these wild and vile methods of reforming will do as much good in order to win upon the Papists or to stop the prevailing and spreading of Popery as the Popes exactions are wont to do upon the Jewes in order to their conversion who as Sir Edwin Sands tells us must forgoe all their Estates when they turn Christian to shew the sincerity of their conversion that so his Holiness may have the happiness of the Confiscation as they will have of their poor Conversion a threshold certainly so high at the very Church-porch or entrance to Christianity and so to any wise mans reformation that few will ever desire to go over it into any Church or Reformed Profession of Religion Therefore I judge it a most cruel principle and scandalous practise taken up by some sharp Anabaptists and other hungry Factionists here in England fomented by some subtill Jesuits in order to make the Reformed Religion odious and ridiculous to all the world which seeks to treat all worthy Bishops true Ministers and deserving Church-men after such a base penurious rate that tells the world they cannot be worthy Preachers in their esteem till they be not worth a groat never sufficiently reformed till they be quite ruined never truly holy till they are deadly hungry then onely throughly reformed and purged of all their drosse when they may truly and sadly say with S. Peter Silver and Gold have we none either for Charity Hospitality Civility or Necessity Which Apostolick poverty and Primitive beggery hath been of late years and still is the state of many venerable Bishops and other worthy Clergy-men in England and is threatned to all in order to make good that Canon of the Apostle which requires double honour to those that rule well and labour in the Word and Doctrine How much it hath been will be or is ever like to be to the further advance of any true Reformation here or elsewhere how worthy measure it is to be meted to reverend Bishops and other grave Ministers that had not criminally offended any Law of God or Man how worthy it is of the Honor and Magnificence of this Church and Nation I leave to God to all good men and specially to your selves O my nobler-minded countrey-men to consider of and judge who are witnesses with me how many grave Bishops and other both great and good Divines have lived many moneths nay many years as they do to this day meerly upon extraordinary providences or small pittances attending many times Elias his merciful Ravens miraculously to feed their famished Souls and distressed Families Noble and potent encouragements no doubt to invite the Romanists at home or abroad or any other prudent persons that have either wit or sense to embrace such a reformed Profession of Religion which besides other Novelties and Scandals not easily washed away or excused hath that brand of Sacriledge upon its hands and forehead spoiling its chief Professors and Preachers of that double Honour Maintenance and Reverence which in persecuting times were zealously paid to the Pastors and Bishops of the Church who after the new modes of some mens covetous and cruel reformings must be stripped of all those Honours and Enjoyments which pristine Piety and Bounty consecrated to Gods Glory his Churches Service and the encouragement of his Ministers who having difficulties enough in other respects to contend withall ought in all Reason and Conscience to be redeemed from the intolerable pressures of poverty and contempt especially in an age which is wantonly wicked and impiously petulant against all Governours especially those that are spiritual CHAP. XX. NOr is this sin of sacrilegious severity to be palliated as some Polititians and Parasites endeavour by pleading 1. That the Estates of Bishops and Cathedrals were in few mens hands 2. That the generality of the Clergy was untouched and unconcerned in them 3. That what they had was too much for them 4. That Religion had no advantage by them 5. That the Publick needed those Revenues for other uses 6. That some amends hath been made to the Church by many Augmentations given to small Livings and godly Ministers All these are Fig-leaves which cannot cover the shame of that Sin nor absolve the consciences of the Doers and Approvers To each of them it may be replied 1. Though they were in the hands of few men yet these had a just and personall right to those Estates no way forfeited by their misdemeanours no one honest man to gratifie a multitude may be injured or deprived of what is his own by all Laws of God and Man 2. Bishops Deans and Prebends though they were few men comparatively yet influentially they were many by the eminency of their Places
time prove extreamly pernicious to the peace piety honour and welfare of this Nation not onely in respect of the Reformed Religion whose authoritative Ministry and maintenance they will ever seek to devour and utterly destroy but even in respect of secular interests and civill peace For the first The integrity and true interests of the Reformed Religion who that hath read what I have already not more passionately then impartially written can be so blind as not to see That the pride petulancy and despite the ignorance licentiousnesse and covetousness of some of these men hath been and still is such that they have not onely sought to wast and deforme to reproach and defame all that outward order visible beauty polity support and unity which became so famous a Church and Nation but they have further studied to weaken and destroy the most solid and essentiall parts of Religion by many grosse errours damnable Doctrines bold blasphemies high Atheismes and rude immoralities all which do naturally boile up in the corrupt hearts and violent lusts of mankinde when they have any fire of temptation or encouragement What is then so immodest so impudent against the glory of God against the honour of our Lord Jesus Christ against the written word of God against the reputation of the Catholick or any well-reformed Church against the Lawes of nature civill societies and common justice against the good of men and Christians their temporall and eternall welfare which some of these Abaddons these Apollyons will not adventure to broach and abet to act own and applaud when they see their raveries are apt not onely to amuse the vulgar people but to mend their own fortunes which are the first and neerest designes they aime at as the chief ends of the agents But the end or effect following their actions though possibly not some of their intentions will be this to prepare by these various windings confused circulations and distorted wrestings of the Reformed Religion the way for Roman factors Papall interests and Jesuitick designes whose learned abilities orderly industry and indefatigable activity is such that by that time the old stock of Reverend orderly and authoritative Bishops and Presbyters the truest and most unquestionable Ministers of the Church of Christ are worn out in England and the reformed Religion is reduced with its titular and extenuated Ministers to a meer medly or popular Chaos of confusions the most of sober people being either sick or ashamed or weary of their home-bred disorders and unremedied diseases in Religion by this time I say the Romish agitators will not onely devoure all these petty parties and feeble factions of Reformers with as much ease as the Stork did the Froggs but they will in time utterly destroy the remaines of the defamed Doctrine and deformed Religion which your fore-fathers owned and to the death professed as most true and well reformed with great Honour Holinesse and Happiness which yet the ignorance and insolence the Illiterateness and Rusticity the Barrennesse and Barbarity of novel Sects have already rendred poor and despicable much to be pitied and deplored both at home and abroad I must ever so far own my reason as to professe that I look upon the Defamers Dividers and Destroyers of the Church of England whatever they are or seem to be no other than the perdues or forelorn hope of Popery which by lighter skirmishes open advantages to the Popes maine Battaglio the Vancourriers or Harbingers sent and excited in great part from the Pragmatick Policies of Rome whose grand interest since the Reformation hath been not more to advance the House of Austria and preserve the Papacy than to regain the Church of England to the Romish slavery In whose present calamities may easily be discerned a far greater reach and deeper Spirit than is usuall to be found in ordinary Sectaries and Schismaticks who are commonly of low and mean parts short-sighted and short-spirited of very shallow wits and extemporary designes rarely aiming at any thing that is of a publick concern of a grand notable and durable proportion but rather gratifying their sudden passions and occasionall fancies or correptions which are pitifully poor and plebeian seldome reaching higher than the pleasure of scratching their own or other mens itching ears with some novel fancies and opinions or setting up themselves by a sorry ambition to be Heads and Leaders the Pastors and Teachers of some credulous company which makes it self into some new mode and very superciliously calls it self The Church not in charity and communion with but in contempt and defiance of all other Churches Parochiall Provinciall Nationall or Catholick owning none of the Primitive Grand and Apostolicall Combinations or their Successions to be truly constituted Churches By such little arts some of them feed their bellies and cloth their backs better than heretofore when they made no such cakes for their Queens of Heaven nor Shrines for their severall Diana's but were confined to their lesse gainfull trades some of them feed meerly upon popular breath which as the wind will never last long in one point or corner lastly some of them keep up their vulgar Pride and sad Ambitions by nothing else but by the fame of their Antagonists the glory they have to contest with the Church of England and her ablest Ministers who are in earnest so much superiour to these sorry Rivals and Ruiners of them in all Learning Religion Vertue Wisdome Honesty and Modesty as the Stars in the firmament are beyond the glittering of rotten chips in the dark or the shining of Glow-wormes in a ditch Certainly these petty parties who scarce know what they drive at and are full of varieties in their Fancies Forms and Factions these cannot produce so constant a current and so strong a tide as is alwaies urging against the Church of Engl. and the honour of the Reformed Religion but they are driven on by a subtill and secret yet potent impulse as waves of the sea not onely dashing and breaking upon each other but all of them battering the Honour and Stability of the Church of England as the great rampart or bank which stands in the way of the Sea of Rome mightily opposing and hindering heretofore both fanatick Confusions Papal Usurpations and Romish Superstitions whose advantages now are evidently prepared and carried on by those that under the name of Reformation will most effectually at last overthrow it For after these petty spirits who have been and are the great Dividers Despisers and Destroyers of the reformed Church of England have a few years longer played their mad pranks in this sometime so flourishing and fruitfull vineyard of the Lord pulling up the hedge of Ecclesiasticall Canons and Civil Sanctions throwing down the wall of Ancient Discipline and Catholick Government breaking in pieces the wine-press of holy Ordination and Ministeriall Authority and Succession pulling up both root and branch of holy Plants and regular Planters what I beseech you can hinder these subtill
Divisions and intestine Quarrels in others being like the Birds called Ruffs ever brusling and pecking against each other may make them seem at present not so dangerous or pernicious in regard of civil Troubles and Seditions as they have been to the Ecclesiasticall Uniformity Beauty and Honour yet later as well as former experiences may not onely admonish but assure you that besides the Roman advantages which are greatest and last the private Passions and various Interests even of these lesser Factionists and Sticklers will not seldome nor a little hazard your civil peace when once their severall parties and opinions can get numbers capable to set up their pretensions under any specious name either of Anabaptistick Repentance or special Calls and Inspirations or a Fifth Monarchy or Christs Kingdome in this world or any Saints reigning upon earth for a thousand years more or lesse according as they can get and hold power over mens bodies and souls and be supreme to all intents and purposes both civil and religious I make no great doubt but these men will be found as rigid cruell and implacable in their heights and soveraignties as ever those bloody Papists were whose principle was to destroy all they count Hereticks and the others to destroy all they count not godly Saints because forsooth not of their respective parties either Papists or Schismaticks England at severall times beside other Countreys hath had terrible Essayes what such spirits aim to doe and they will out-doe their own aimes when their rude hands should be able to keep pace with their giddy heads malicious hearts and extravagant tongues How have they sometime threatned to destroy not onely Church-men and Ministers but all Gown-men and Lawyers yea all others in any power or capacity above them if incompliant with them You cannot be ignorant how the pulse of such people beates when they have tasted of severall Religions and sipped of many Reformations which like variety of Wine so strangely intoxicate common men and women that of friends they grow most insolent enemies against those Churches and Christians which they first despise then forsake at length divide and at last destroy as farre as lies in their power Thus desperately disdainfull unaffable and intractable grew the Donatists Novatians Arians and others in St. Austins time superciliously refusing all offers of Christian conference and charitable accommodation with him and other holy men of the Catholick Communion yea some of them unprovoked as St Austin tells us put Catholick Christians and Ministers to exquisite tortures casting unslaked lime with vinegar into their eyes to burn them out that they might be as blind in their bodies as their persecuters were in their soules railing most bitterly as Rossidius in the life of S. Austin tels us against that holy man and his fraternity of Bishops and Presbyters because he did mightily discover and render detestable their hypocriticall madness for which these impudent wretches and impious pretenders to religion called him a carnall man a formall Professor a rotten Christian an execrable person not fit to live thus for the comfort of many unjustly despised and untruly reproched Bishops and Presbyters of the Church of England was he treated by these fanatick Factionists who was one of the most excellent lights for learned humility charitable industry and modest constancy that ever God raised up to his Church since the Apostles dayes I will not odiously repeat to you the well known yet infamous seditions and rustick tumults raised in Germany by the Anabaptistick and other Spirits to the destruction of above an hundred thousand poor people Other attempts were made by such Zelots upon other Provinces and Cities sufficient to tell the world what good stomachs some men have to devour all things civill and sacred when once they can be Masters of mis-rule Their despite is not onely against the learning livelyhood and lives of Bishops and true Ministers of Churches either Reformed or Roman that stand in their way but all is fuell that comes under their flaming Fingers They long to be sharers and Masters of the Estates Lands Places Profits Honours Powers and Wives of Magistrates Noblemen Gentlemen Merchants Citizens Yeomen and Tradesmen whose barnes or shops or houses are better furnished than these Reformers yet are Whosoever they or their Prophets Parasites should decree as John of Leiden did to be Reprobates because not complying with their wild opinions and holy ravings presently they were branded for ungodly next they were voted as enemies to Jesus Christ at last they were devoted to Poverty Prisons Banishments and Deaths unlesse they chose a voluntary Confiscation and banishment to escape other mens inordinate fury Who can marvaile that these abominable desolaters in their Principles and Practises should not be very sparing of those Supports which men have for their bodily lives and temporall welfare where they see them to be such prodigall and pittilesse wasters of all those Ministers and meanes which might most contribute to make mens soules eternally happy in Piety and Charity of which the Devil never makes greater havock than when he obtrudes excessive needlesse and endlesse Reformations as his grand Impostures which like violent torrents not fill but trouble and confound all those purer streames and fountains of Religion which had much more of Christian purity and constancy in them though not so much of the overflowing fury and muddy inundation How can you O worthy Gentlemen or your posterity expect other effects in the sacred or civill concernments of this Nation when inordinate liberty naturally begets licentiousnesse in Religion licentiousnesse variety variety animosity animosity fury and fury force the usuall Climax or gradation of all popular and irregular motions in Religion In which common reason and naturall Divinity much more Christianity possessing men that there can be for the main but one true Religion as there is but one true God and his holy will but one every man is prone first to presume that he is in the right next he growes so partiall to his own perswasions as to imagine this above all others best and onely pleasing to God then he concludes all other wayes of Religion are as displeasing and offensive to God as to himself Hence he kindles to a zeal in Gods behalf both to decry all other and to cry up his own Religion after this he hath potent impulses to propagate his own and extirpate all others as an acceptable service and sacrifice to God This he first doth by words disputing writing rayling reviling If these methods of converting and reforming the wicked world will not serve he concludes them as his and Gods opposers to be obstinate then he flies to the sword first in vote then in use so soon as he and his party can get number and power sufficient to act with probable safety such an opportunity he counts a call of God an hand of providence inviting and directing what to do in order to
plat-forme of so-disciplined Churches but not therefore any way the more or better reformed For these are rather as Cyphers adding some number traine and company to the Ministers than signifying ought of themselves further than prudence policy may make use of them But certainly no Religious necessity commands them as a duty and of divine Institution there being an impossibility to find them in every parochial congregation where there is seldome any one man of the Laity who is meet in any kind to be joyned with the Minister in any such authority which claimes to be Sacred and Divine for which God ever provides fitting instruments where he commands to have any use of them God gave the word and great was the company of Preaching Elders Bishops and Presbyters in all ages but of Lay-Elders and Ruling onely we read so little so no use in any Church or age that we may conclude God gave no such word for them The wise God abhors unequall mixtures such as the plowing with an Ox and an Asse and such seems the joyning of Preachers with these Lay-Elders in the discipline and government of the Church the Asse both disgracing and overtoyling the laborious and more ponderous Ox who hath more hindrance than help from so silly and sluggish an assistant Motly and unsociable conjunctions in sowing mislane or wearing linsy-wolsy garments are also forbidden by the Lord as emblems of his abhoring all things that make any uncomely and unsociable confusion which ought chiefly to be avoided in Church-affaires that order solemnity ability and prudence might keep up the Majesty of Religion the Churches venerable discipline and the Ministeriall divine autority even there where no civill Magistrate would own it Yet if any Presbyter be so wedded to these Lay-Elders that he will never be reconciled to Primitive Episcopacy if he be wholly divorced from his dear Elders for my part he shall have my consent to enjoy them upon a politick and prudent account where he may conveniently have use of them For I do not think the outward Government of the Church to be made of such stuffe or fashion which will not in any case either stretch or shrink as those garments might do on the Jewes bodies when they ware them forty yeares in the wildernesse provided all things be done decently and in order with due regard to the maine end and the best examples But if any contend for these Elders upon a divine and strict account of Religion my answer is with St. Paul we had no such custome in England nor the other Churches of Christ in the world for 1400. yeares who were fed and ruled by Bishops and Presbyters as the onely Elders Pastors and Presidents in Ecclesiasticall Government This is sure Presbytery was at first so confident of its sure standing in England where it never yet had any footing since Christianity was planted that it doubted not to make use of such a wooden leg or crutch as Lay-Elders are to support its new Government and discipline which was hereby rendred very popular and specious to many Ministers and other men of vulgar Spirits who were more ambitious of any small pittance of Church-Government to passe through their fingers than judicious to measure and design the true proportions of it or themselves which certainly ought to be most remote from a Democratick temper Church-Government depending not upon many strong rash and rude hands but upon wise heads and holy hearts of which no great store is ordinarily to be found among common and Country-people upon which crab-stocks neverthelesse this graft of Presbyterian government was to be every where grafted on the one side not without mighty applause and great expectation from the meaner-spirited people of England in every parish some of which were to be found not onely among the very Mechanick and Rustick Plebs onely but among some Citizens Gentlemen and Noblemen too who began to have very warme and devout ambitions to enjoy the title of a ruling Elder as a divine honour added to their other civill honours gently submitting their and their posterities tamer necks to such a yoke as neither they nor their fore-fathers ever knew by which one little Minister with two or three of his Elders might be impowered to excommunicate a King and all his Councell as King James expresseth in his sense of their arrogancy But while the common people of Engl. were every where preparing themselves to admire adore or dread yea to entertain and feed with double honour which was required for its due this new and strange beast of Presbytery which rose out of the sea of Scotish broyles and English troubles being as was thought adorned with seven Heads and ten Horns coming forth conquering and to conquer in the midst of so great glory swelling confidences and superfluity of successes behold a little stone of Independency cut out by no hand of Authority riseth up against the great mountain of Presbytery as its Emulator and Rivall This in a short time hath so cloven it in sunder that it hath quite broken its hoped Monopoly of Church-government and Independency having never had any Patent from any Christian King or people heretofore pleads a Patent as doth Presbytery from Christ Jesus which hath been it seems dormant and unexecuted these 1640 years This some more grosse and credulous spirits do easily believe though they never saw the Commission Only as the more acute and nimble Independents besides the more profound and solid Episcopalians eagerly dispute against the usurped Authority of Presbytery alledging that Classicall Provinciall and Nationall Presbyteries are to them much more Apocryphall than Deanes and Chapters Bishops and Arch-bishops so do both of them no lesse urge a pure Novelty besides the fractions and parcellings of Government against Independency tokens of weaknesse imprudence and inconsistency in Government Yet amidst all this stickling the puny of Independency which enjoyed at first the smiles and cajolings of Presbytery counting it an harmless and innocent Novelty because yet unarmed grew up by strange successes and unexpected favours of power to such a stature procerity and pertness that it not onely now justles with Presbytery but it makes it in many places glad to comply yea to curry favour with and to truckle under Independency which challengeth Seniority before Presbytery with much more probability than Presbytery can alledge any authority for its rejecting Catholick Episcopacy it being more evident that particular Congregations were first governed by one sole Apostle Pastor Teacher Bishop or Presbyter present among them than that many Presbyters ever governed the large and united Combinations of Christian Congregations and Churches without some one Apostle or eminent Bishop as chief President among them to which all Church-history consents without any one exception in all the world Thus hath Independency as a little but tite Pinnace in a short time got the wind of and given a broad-side to Presbytery which soon grew a slug when
once the North-wind ceased to fill its sailes Besides this Independency confining all its authority to a little body and narrow compasse of one Congregation hath a stroke or knack in it of greater popularity than Presbytery it self which having many heads and hands soon grew terrible to great men as well as common people threatning them not onely with one sword or scepter but with the combined force of many Presbyters and Presbyteries with appeales from one Consistory to another which looked like dew-rakes and harrowes armed with so many teeth that none great or small should escape them but he must needs fall under the first second third or fourth Consistorian Power either Parochiall or Classicall or Provinciall or Nationall new names and great words which common people would hardly learn in one yeare nor understand in seven Furthermore the Magistratick genius and Emperiall spirits of this Nation intending intirely to govern it both in Civil and Ecclesiasticall respects began in time to be better advised and so to be aware how they or the Nation fell under the Discipline of any Populacy or Presbytery whose Rods nay Scorpions castigated King James during his pupillage or minority in Scotland so severely that he could never forgive or forget their insolency to his dying day as he bitterly complains in his Basilicon Doron every petty Presbyter that had twenty Marks a year salary to live upon fancying himself a Peer not onely to the Lords but to the Prince himself This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many-headed Hydra of Government King James did and so might all wise men see cause enough perfectly to abhorre both in Church and State that it was not onely folly but madnesse to buy the experience of it in England at the charge of our own miseries when we had our neighbours late examples so near us that they were enough to have scared any wise men from such an hare-brain'd and plebeian Presbytery as King James and others describe specially the Learned Reverend and Impartiall Arch-bishop of S. Andrews who modestly sets it forth in his late excellent History of the Church of Scotland in its rise progresse activity and recesse which was a Government popularly at first extorted from Bishops Peers and Princes by a company of minute Ministers or petty Preachers whose extravancies the wisdome of King James after reduced to a well-regulated Episcopacy under which Scotland as well as England enjoyed I believe its best dayes Thus when Presbytery had lopped Episcopacy to the stumps in Engl. yea and thought it had grubbed it up by the Mattock and Pickax of the Covenant when it self from a small Shrub had set it self up began to take root and to fill the land against the will of the chief Cedar in the Forrest fancying it was now full of sap both of Divine and Humane Right as if it were in high favour both with God and man yet then it suddenly dwindled and looked so withered as if it had been Planet-struck or smitten with a sharp East-wind when indeed it was nothing else but the spirit of Independency and other Novelties which like Palmer-worms or Caterpillers secretly bred in every corner of the land and which have now also made their way even into Scotland it self sometime the great Scene and Throne of Presbytery now very tottering and much weakned as to that part of affected soveraignty in Church-affairs Nor is this young tall and seemingly so thrifty shoot of Independency which is yet but slender and more run up in height than spread in bulk this is not so firmly fixed that it cannot be removed having little root in Scripture or in the true reason of Government and Polity nor more in any Church-patterns or practise of Antiquity being like Jonah's gourd the child of a night of yesterday in comparison of Primitive and Catholick Episcopacy yea and a younger brother to Presbytery which was but a modern shift used among some Reformed Churches when they could not have as they desired Reforming and Reformed Bishops to rule them for else they had never God knows dreamed any thing of such a Presbytery as should tend to the extirpation of Apostolick Episcopacy Nor is Independency with all its easie rootings and windings in our loose and broken soyle of England as yet far spread in the judgements of the most learned grave and sober persons of England looking upon it as incongruous in its Novelty Feebleness Factiousness and popular temper to the Genius and interest of the English people who are never to be long or well ruled by those whom they think their equals or inferiours Even Independency it self which hath a pretty soft phrase and easier cords to bind people together in small bodies will in time find its weaknesse in it self and betray it to others whence will follow other variations from it oppositions against it and contempts of it Who knows what way fierce Anabaptists ambitious Millenaries Seraphick Familists rude Ranters and silly Quakers wil affect for their Church-government or any other new and yet namelesse Faction which may hereafter be spawned more agreeable to the vulgar humour which loves greater Latitudes Indifferencies Loosenesses and Cheapnesses of Religion both in Opinon and Practise than learned and modest Independents will allow Who sees not how much the uncivil confidence and childish clownery of Quakers takes with the vulgar beyond any thing while to set off their Enthusiasmes with a greater emphasis they affect a rude and levelling Conversation with a familiarity of Thouing their betters and superiours at every word fancying great holinesse in their simple and superstitious Yea and Nay which are not the sole and confined but onely the shortest expressions of true and honest meanings disdaining to use any signs of Duty common Courtesie or Respect which by the Laws of God and man are due to Parents Equals or Superiours according to the gentle courteous and humble behaviour of all Christians in all Countreys and Ages yet do these sort of new leaders pretend they come nearer to Jesus Christ and to God because they have no respect of any persons but themselves and no doubt in order further to relieve their Necessities and Obscurities these men would be content to have all things common after the fashion of primitive Charity when the Churches necessities had an empire of love not force over particular Christians proprieties These and the like discriminations of parties in Religion which are but lately grown out of the distempers of the Church of England as wormes out of Job's sores or dunghill have already not onely their Founders and Patrons which must be almost deified by their respective Disciples but they have also their grand Masters Abettors Propagators Followers and Champions each challengeth to themselves the titles of Christians Saints godly people the Church c. not as good fellowes in a charitable community and Catholick correspondency but in a supercilious reserve almost excluding all others and unchurching them who are not just of their
peevish and jealous against those that have more if we have much we easily grow proud high-conceited dictatorian Some of us are very rusticall morose and refractory others of us very imperious supercilious and magisteriall few of us of so wise calme and safe tempers as to be left to our selves in things of publick Office and Order lest we grow heady and extravagant Nor are we of so humble and meek Spirits as to be willingly led by others If left free we grow insolent popular and factious if under any Government or restraint we grow touchy refractory and petulant not easily kept within our own or others bounds untill by pregnant reason and prevalent power meeting together in wise and resolute magistrates we are at once convinced and commanded perswaded and over-awed to keep those honest bounds of order and subjection which do not onely best become us but ought to be least arbitrary because most necessary both for our own and the publick good most of us will be good subjects even to Church-Government as well as State when we see we must be so and few of us will be either quiet or content when we find that we may be what we or the vulgar will by loose Tolerations and indiscreet indulgences which betray Ministers no lesse than other men to many dangerous extravagancies To cure therefore the distempers of Religion and to restore some Health Beauty Order and Unity to this sick deformed disordered and divided Church of England the first applications as I humbly conceive must by wisdome and power be made to those that professe to be Ministers of the Gospel who must have as broken or started and dislocated bones whose flesh and muscles are highly swoln and enflamed not onely wholesome diet and Physick given them but such splinters and ligatures as may be at once gentle yet strong not bound so hard as may occasion paine or mortifying nor yet so loose as may suffer any constant dislocation or new flying out To such ruptures and inordinacies the many notions and raptures that Scholars and Preachers get by reading and conversing besides the pregnancy of their wits and ambition of their own Spirits are prone to tempt them no preacher is so meane but he would faine appeare some body if he despaire of his own merits as to publick notice and preferment then he applies to popular arts and lesser engines Discontent and ambition are observed both in old times and of later to have been the great perturbers of the Churches peace which some have written even of Mr. Cartwright himself a man of excellent Learning yet unsatisfied when he had not the good fortune to be so much favoured and preferred by Queen Elizabeth as others were who bare a part with him in publick Acts at Cambridge before that popular yet politick Princesse Who had no greater art in her Government than this to give not onely shrewd guesses at mens tempers and geniusses but exactly to calculate the proportions of their spirits and parts and accordingly either to refuse them or imploy them in Church or State Nor could she easily have kept this Church of England from flying in pieces in her dayes when many notable Ministers wits did work like new beere or bottled Ale to blow up the Government of the Church unlesse she had besides the Canons agreed in Synods and the good Lawes passed in Parliament applyed such wise able and resolute Governours to the Helme of the Church as were Parker Grindall Whitgift Sands Matthewes and others whom the stormes yet safety of the Church in those times shewed to be excellent Pilots and excellent Prelates no lesse than excellent Preachers Whose names and autority had then been made as odious and unpopular as now all Bishops and Episcopall Clergy have been if under God the resolute power and ponderous authority of the Princesse had not preserved them besides the Gravity Piety and prudence of their own carriage which abundantly stopped the mouthes of their clamorous enemies then and further justified them to all posterity to have been as the true Sons of wisdome so deservedly the venerable Bishops and Fathers of this then famous and flourishing Church I well know that Ministers in England above all sorts of men do stand bound in conscience and prudence to use all faire meanes for the speedy setling and happy restitution of the State of Religion in this Church because however many of them professe to be great patrons of piety and sticklers for Reformations either old or new yet most if not all our Church-deformities and miseries have been and still are imputed chiefly to their immoderations passions or indiscretions when too much left to themselves Some driving so furiously to conformity that they went beyond it not onely over-shooting themselves but the good Lawes Canons and Customes of this Church hereby putting the common people into high jealousies of superstition by their too great heats and surfeits of ceremonious innovations and affected formalities Other Ministers were so jealous and impatient of what they fancied rather than felt to be burthens in Religion that they not onely cast off some superfluous loades of new ceremonies but the very comely Garment Girdle and Government of this Church yea some of them at last flung off all their clothes and tare off as Hercules in his fiery shirt much of their own skins by a frantick kind of excesse severely revenging even other mens reall or imputed faults upon themselves and upon the whole Church committing greater injuries than ever they did or indeed could suffer while they possessed their soules in patience and peace whereas now they have left themselves and this whole Church as the Tortoise did that was weary of its shell and put it off almost nothing for safety comelinesse or honour but are nakedly exposed to all those dangers and deformities which attend any Church Religion and Ministry which being once ungirt as to order unity and Government will soon be unblest as to all holy improvements either in Piety Verity or Charity Hence hence it is that such a crowd of importune and insolent mischiefes have as the Sodomites upon the Angels and Lot at his doore not onely rudely pressed but notoriously prevailed too farre upon all Ministers and the State of the Reformed Religion chiefly the jealousies feuds factions animosities immoderations indiscretions divisions and dissociations among Ministers who can never expect to see common people return from their madnesse and giddinesse to sober senses untill they see their Preachers to recover their wits and their pastors to become patternes as of piety and zeal so of humility and order of charity and unity of gravity and constancy of meeknesse and wisdome and not to be like mad dogs so daily snarling and snapping at one another so biting and infecting their own and others flocks with their poysonous foam and teeth that at last they disorder the whole frame of the Church and endanger the civil peace of the Nation whence some
the Master of the harvest the blessed God tolerates as to mans Discipline those to grow in the same field of his visible Church in this world who differ as much in point of true grace as wheat and tares do in their nature and worth So that as the curiosity and confidence of Episcopall Divines is far lesse than that of those other preachers so their candor modesty and charity is much more becoming wise grave and sober Ministers whose care must be humbly to do that work which God hath required of them and to leave his own operations discoveries and judgements to his all-seeing eye and Almighty power as St. Cyprian expresseth the sense and practise of Christian Bishops and Presbyters in his time as to Church-scrutiny and examination The strictnesse of worthy Episcopall Divines is such in things that are rationall grave wise and truly religious that no man exceeds their desires designes endeavours and principles in soundnesse and diligence of preaching in the warmth and discretion of praying in the sanctity and solemnity of celebrating Christian mysteries in the serious dispensation of Ministeriall power and the usefull execution of Church-censures or Discipline even to fasting prayers teares penitentiall mortifications in themselves and due restitutions to others in cases of injury so for reconciliation and some speciall works of bounty and charity which may testifie a self-revenge and most satisfaction to others They are ambitious to excell in nothing more than in well-doing and patient suffering in all the waies and offices of Piety Humility Obedience Peace and Charity yea such is their moderation concession and recession from their wonted practise and indulged priviledges or power by mans law that they not onely approve but desire the joynt counsell and concurrence of grave and worthy Presbyters in all things of Ecclesiastick Ministry and publick concernment yea they allow Christian people their sober Liberty as of presence and conscience so of objection and approbation in all proceedings where they are interessed that they may either fairely testifie their full satisfaction or else produce the grounds of their dissatisfaction in all things that concern their advantages in Religion All which the glorious Primate of Armagh testifies in his late printed Treatise of reconciling Episcopall and Synodicall power in the Church-Government If the earnest pleaders for Presbytery and the sticklers for Independency which are the professed extirpators of Episcopacy had the same equanimity and calmnesse in them as the moderate Episcopall men have I do not see what could hinder them from giving the right hand of fellowship to each other certainly it cannot be the reall concernments of Christs glory and the good of Christian soules but particular factions oblique biasses and some partiall popular respects which continue such mis-understandings distances and animosities between the Episcopall Divines the Presbyterian Preachers and the Independent Teachers who thus severed from each other lose all the great advantages and blessings which they and the whole Church might enjoy if they could wisely humbly and meekly close in one subordination and harmonious order as did all Christian Bishops Presbyters Deacons and People in Primitive times of which St. Ignatius Irenaeus Tertullian St. Cyprian St. Ambrose St. Austin St. Jerom with many other writers give us a thousand clear instances and happy experiences The inordinate heates of the chief patrons and ring-leaders as to any of these new waies and parties would soon allay and coole if their petty policies secular interests self-seekings and popular complacencies were wholly laid aside if these wedges were once pulled out of mens hearts their hands would soon close together Momentary advantages would soon give way and vanish if all Ministers were possessed with that great and good Spirit which directs all believers to things that are eternall chiefly looking at Gods glory Christs honor the Churches peace and the salvation of all mens souls Petty spirits opinions and projects are the pests of the Church and of Christian Religion these betray it to the enemies of it such as seek to abase it to divide it and to destroy it CHAP. XI And here because I suspect and see that the designe of the new Associating parties seems chiefly to unite Presbyterian and Independent principles and interests together that Presbyters and people as Teaching and Ruling Elders might fully possesse themselves of all Church-Power though to their own confusion and this Churches desolation excluding all Ministers of Episcopall principles pleas and perswasions further than they list humbly to submit to truckle under and comply with those Ministers who resolve to ordain to censure and suspend to excommunicate and anathematize to dictate and regulate all things in Religion without owning any authority in or making any ingenuous offer or addresse to the venerable Bishops yet surviving in Engl. or to those Divines who are still conform to the Church of England but all the claimes and interests of Episcopacy must be either smothered or slubbered over or shuffled into the meteor of a moderator and the phantasme of a Prolocutor as if there never had been nor yet were any thing considerable either in the persons of these Bishops and Ministers or in those many strong pleas and cleare allegations of Scripture-pattern and divine prescription of Apostolick practise and imjunction of Catholick imitation and perswasion in all the consent of ancient Councils Fathers and Historians yea in the judgment of all the best Christians Presbyters and people of old nay nor in the confessions votes and desires of the most learned pious Reformers both at home and abroad that either enjoy Episcopacy or feel their want of it and heartily wish for it but all must be slighted as childish or popish as obsolete or ridiculous which is brought and believed by so many excellent persons in behalf of Episcopall eminency and authority Yea as if all the losses sorrowes and sufferings of so many pious learned reverend and most excellent Bishops in England together with the miseryes of many orderly and worthy Clergy men that were subject to them and the laws were so just that they were never to be pittied nor any way relieved as if all the insolencies of many Presbyters and the petulancies of many people were highly to be commended as great helps and furtherances to a new Reformation of Religion as if there were nothing of uncharitableness oppression revenge sacriledg and exorbitancy so much as to be thought on or repented by any one of them no lesse than complained of by their Episcopal brethren who are become their enemies because they have told them the truth and charge them with inconstancy immoderation popularity schisme faction sedition and the like so stiffe and unrelenting are some Antiepiscopall men to this day who after all these representations of truth wipe their mouthes and harden their hearts as if there were no error evill or transport in their hands or hearts alwaies aggravating by a vile and vulgar oratory the rigors
and tyrannies of some Bishops as if all were to be blamed none to be commended and highly magnifying the zeal themselves have for a through Reformation that is that they might freely and fully gratifie their own and peoples ambitions by setting Episcopacy and all Bishops quite beside the saddle on purpose to make way for themselves who are for the most part as fit to governe Churches alone as apes are to build houses I crave leave in order to promote a faire and firme accommodation with all ingenuous freedom and candor to make some more particular application of my desire and designs to those Ministers of the Presbyterian and Independent waies who have opposed their faces sharpned their tongues or pens and hardened their hearts most against all Episcopacy even in the most innocent usefull regular and moderate constitution of it I meane that Primitive order and paternall residency which was universally acknowledged to be eminently in one President as Bishop or chief Pastor over many Presbyters in his Diocese after the pattern of the 12. Apostles who were by Christs appointment above the 70. and so their declared successors as Timothy Titus Archippus those others who are called the Angels of the 7. Asian Churches with many others to whom they derived not onely their example and practical constitution but their Authority and Power Ecclesiastical as is evident by the Canons and Rules set forth not onely in ancient Councils but in the Epistles to Timothy and Titus for the setling and managing of Church-order Discipline and Government in such a way as clearly gives not to any consistory or company of Presbyters and people but to one man a Paramount Authority as Bishop or Superiour both in Ordination and Jurisdiction above others as his inferiours and so subordinate to his spirituall power so far as to reprove examine censure reject c. All which being to me immoveable and immutable foundations for the establishing of Episcopall presidency as the onely succession of that ordinary Apostolick power and authority which is necessary to be alwaies in the Church of Christ they do make me dayly by these considerations more restive and lesse compliant to any new waies or Associatings than perhaps otherwise I should be both by the sociablenesse of my temper and my earnest desire for another way of happy union among Ministers of worth and moderation This uncorrespondency to which I am upon those grounds compelled is with the greater regret to me because I know the learning the industry the zeal the piety the ingenuity the potency of some of those my dissenting brethren in their preaching writing praying and living I am charitably perswaded of many of their sincerity in aiming at Gods Glory and at the purity of holy Ministrations I do not see wherein many of them differ from the best Episcopall Divines ancient or modern as to any main matter of Religion in doctrine or duty Nor can I find any reason yet alledged by any of them sufficient to justifie that pertinacious distance and defiance which of later yeares onely they have taken up against Episcopacy meerly upon the account of jealousie and impatiency to choose and admit a learned grave and worthy Bishop as a fixed Father or constant Governour and Grave Moderator authoritatively to preside among them in their severall grand distributions or Dioceses after that order and eminency which were most comely for them and most unquestionable as to the fixing and completing of Church-order and Government to all sober Christians satisfaction I will not tax or suspect the soberest of my Presbyterian or Independent brethren of such pride and arrogancy as can endure no superiour or chief among them I rather conceive it was a Sympathethick impulse at first from those Scotish motions and pretentions which swerved them not onely from the former good constitution of the Church of England to which they heretofore very orderly and happily submitted but also from their conformity to the Catholick Church in that point to which I believe their judgement heretofore ahd inclination now may incline and lead them as apparently best for their publick and private interests Some are prone to suspect that the best of them did not heretofore submit so humbly and heartily to their Lawfull Superiours and Governours in the Church as in duty and conscience by the lawes of God and man they ought to have done others challenge them for want as of piety and honesty so of Christian charity yea and of common humanity or compasâ—ion for their forwardnesse and fiercenesse to undoe all Bishops and all dignified Clergy-men at least for their ready consent to their utter ruine holding the garments of those that stoned them to death never so much as praying heartily for them while they were in power nor yet pittying them in their miscarriages or calamities no nor so far interceding for or listning to any just moderation which was oft proposed and offered as might have been not more happy for the Bishops than for themselves as Presbyters yea for this whole Church and all Christian people in England I am willing to hope that many Ministers mutations began with good affections and were carried on at first with principles of sincerity and zeal though not with that knowledge meekness and wisdome which was requisite But to many of them that are now the most haughty stiffe and obstinaâ—e against all accommodating with Episcopacy I cannot but still appeale whether they do not in their consiences find that either at first or afterward some secular advantages and private hopes did not a little warp and sway their inclinations to novelties whether they felt not the secret but dissembled strokes of discontent anger envy revenge popularity ambition feigned jealousies inordinate affectations of liberty exciting and animating them to the utter extirpation of Episcopacy whether they did not by a self-conceit generally imagin themselves not onely jointly but severally as fit and able to govern the Church in the whole or in parcels as any yea all the Bishops in England whether any of them do believe the case of Episcopacy to have ever been fully heard freely discussed and impartially stated by the peaceable wisdom and piety of this nation whether many of these Ministers as Politicians and Statesmen did not rather comply with the streame and vogue of times running fiercely against Episcopacy than with their own clear convictions in reason law scripture antiquity conscience whether they kept that equanimity and moderation in all things of this nature which became wise and good men of an Evangelicall Spirit and temper or were not biassed yea transported by something that was popular and sinister whether they do not think that the violence and precipitancy of some of their examples was beyond all solid arguments to drive many well-meaning Ministers and People to such heady and hot petitionings against Episcopacy and to such pittilesse Antipathies against all the most excellent Bishops which were then and still are England
would be established and the tranquillity of the Nation highly setled and confirmed upon the best foundation of peace that can be among mankind In all which things we have and do on all sides so far extremely suffer as we differ by such unreasonable distances and uncharitable defiances first among Ministers which are presently followed with all disorder lukewarmenesse irreligion profaneness arrogancy Atheism Affectation and Faction among the people in England chiefly as I conceive upon this account The needlesse variating shifting and changing of that Primitive plat-forme that Apostolick and Catholick order and succession of Ecclesiasticall Authority and Ministeriall power in this Church which hath ever been owned with religious reverence and conscience in Engl. ever since it was Christian preserved as sacred by the most pious Princes honored as Divine by the most Religious and reformed Parlaments prospered by the speciall benignity and grace of God peaceably enjoyed by all devout judicious and humble Christians to the unspeakable comfort of their souls living and dying when they knew who were their Bishops Pastors and spirituall Fathers owning them with all due respect and love as in Christs stead submitting to them for conscience sake as to the Lord and receiving from them good instructions just reproofes holy comforts and heavenly Mysteries not as from man but God after the rule of the Scriptures and the example of the best Christians in all ages who looked upon Episcopacy or the Government of the Church as fixed completed and exercised chiefly by Bishops assisted with worthy Presbyters not onely as a book of a larger volume greater print and fairer binding than Presbytery or Independency that is the sole power of Presbyters or people by themselves but they looked upon the Episcopall eminency as having more in it of Apostolick power and Ecclesiasticall Authority both in point of ordination and jurisdiction than is either in Presbyters or people by themselves Bishops and Presbyters being as the eyes and hands which are not more members of the body than the leggs and feet yet they are the more noble parts and have more of publick use and virtue as to inspection direction and operation for the common good of all parts in the body No wonder then if the honor of all Religion be much abated if the renown of this Reformed Church be thus abased no wonder that Presbytery it self is so baffled and Independency despised no wonder that all the Office Power and Authority of Ministers together with their persons be reduced to such a low ebb and almost quite exhausted when Bishops the grand Cisternes and chief Conduites of all Ecclesiasticall Orders and Ministeriall Authority as derived from Christ and his Apostles are not onely bruised and crackt but utterly broken cut off and cast away whom yet no Presbyter or Independent of any learning or forehead can deny actually to have been in all ages used and esteemed as the constant successors and immediate substitutes of the Apostles first invested with that power by the Apostles themselves after their decease chosen by the Presbyters and after consecrated by other Bishops to be as the prime receptacles conservators and conveyers of all Ecclesiasticall Power and Ministeriall Authority not onely as Teachers of Divine truths preachers of the Gospell and dispensers of holy Mysteries in common with Presbyters but as chief Fathers Pastors and Rulers of those larger flocks which constituted those famous ancient Churches which were not limited to the bounds of one family or one congregation or one little parish in which one Preacher or Presbyter may in ordinary duties suffice but they extended to such ample combinations as contained large Cities and their Territories in which were many thousands of Christians many congregations and many Presbyters who all made but one Church or polity Ecclesiasticall under one chief Pastor or Bishop residing with the Presbyters at first in the chief City afterward these were fixed to particular parishes or villages by the care of the Bishops Without whose authority and consent nothing of consequence was done by any in the publick managing of Religion without the just brand and censure of Schismaticall arrogancy it being ever judged that Bishops had derived to them an higher degree of Apostolick power and Church jurisdiction than ever was or could be in any one or many Presbyters or people without them who could not regularly nor never did unblamably ordaine of themselves or by their own sole Authority any Ministers or exercise the censures of the Church in a plenary and absolute jurisdiction without deriving their power from their respective Bishops without whom and against whom few ever acted in any age of the Church and never any good Christian refused subjection to and communion with their lawfull and orthodox Bishops no nor did ever any Hereticks or Schismaticks proceed to such extravagancy as to reject and disclaime all Episcopall order till of later yeares whose example hath little in it to make it compared with much lesse preferred before Catholick customes and Primitive patternes of all ancient Churches what ever glosses the wit of men or their craft or their successes or their Godly and necessary pretences may put upon their variations and schismes CHAP. XII IT is not now my design either to spin out or to wind and summe up that long and tedious thread of dispute which hath been so much snarled and entangled of late yeares in England by popular pens or cleared and unfolded by more able learned and impartiall Writers Who is not weary now and ashamed of those thread-bare allegations drawn from the samenesse or promiscuous use of Names which we know vary with time and must yield to use and custome as if Apostle Evangelist Bishop Presbyter Pastor Preacher Teacher and Ruler they may adde Deacon and Servant and Minister were all one in the equivalency of their power order and authority in the Church For any one nay all these names are in the latitude of their sense given to some one man or officer in the Church yet in the more strict precise and Emphatick sense they denote different gifts orders authorities dispensations and functions as well as degrees in the Church of Christ which did never confound Deacons with Presbyters nor Presbyters with Bishops nor all with the Apostles because the chief Apostles who contained in their ample authority and commission all Ecclesiasticall powers eminently under Christ are sometimes called Presbyters Compresbyters and also Deacons or Ministers of Jesus Christ and servants of the Church deriving all these powers in their severall degrees and orders to Bishops Presbyters and Deacons after them To the first as to a lesser sort of Apostles but chief Rulers or Overseers in the Church they gave the eminent and peculiar power of ordaining Presbyters and exercising spirituall jurisdiction over them as is evident in the power that Timothy and Titus had given them by Commission from the great Apostle St. Paul who certainly in this was conforme to
not but be an excellent meanes to advance the Majesty Purity Power and Profession of Christian and Reformed Religion as otherwhere so chiefly in England whose happinesse and honor in this point might as I humbly conceive be easily recovered by some such expediency in Church-Government whose excellent temper should answer all the honest desires and reall interests of all Godly people of modest Presbyters of wise Bishops and of just Princes whose wisdom and authority might easily by the advise of all Estates both Civill and Ecclesiastick so restore Unity Tranquillity and Authority to the Church of England that no worthy Christians of any perswasion Episcopall Presbyterian or Independent should have any cause to complain of either neglect or oppression which cannot befall any party in respect of their just pretensions and equable desires if regard be had to the Primitive pattern of Episcopacy which included the priviledges and satisfactions of all degrees both of Ministers and people The complaints of oppression arise from the later innovations or invasions made by one party against the reall or pretended rights and immunities of the other which my designe is on all hands to unite and mutually preserve by a regular prudent complete moderate and yet authoritative way of Church-Government which is no where to be found but in a well-constituted Episcopacy In a designe wholly for reconciliation and atonement between moderate and pious men of all sides I know the way is not partially to over-value or passionately to undervalue any thing that is alledged by sober men on any side conducing to the common good Therefore I do not I cannot in prudence or conscience so prefer the eminency of Episcopacy as to neglect or oppresse the just rights of worthy Presbyters or the ingenuous satisfactions of Christian people neither of which are to be despised or rejected but cherished and preserved no lesse than the Authority of Bishops which at the highest must be as of one that serveth the Lord Christ and the Church not insulteth against either the Grave and Elder sort of Ministers ought to be treated by the Bishop as brethren the younger sort as Sons The reall interests of all are in my judgement best preserved when they are least scattered or divided but bound up in the same peaceable Polity or holy Harmony which I call the Primitive and complete Episcopacy ever esteemed by the Catholick Church for its excellent wisdom order and usefulness to have been at least of Apostolicall Edition both preceptive and exemplary in its Primitive impression the errata's which by long decurrence of time through many mens hands have befaln it are easily corrected and amended by men of Apostolick Spirits and Primitive tempers For my part I heartily desire humby endeavour and unfeinedly advise for such a blessed accommodation as may satisfie the just designes and honest interests of all good men I am infinitely grieved to see them threaten one another with eternall distances and this Church with everlasting differences and distractions of which I am the more jealous and sensible by what I observe either of rigor or reservednesse in some men of Episcopall Presbyterian and Independent principles who had rather lose the whole game of the Reformed Religion and this Churches Recovery than abate one ace of their high fancies and demands Where Episcopall Divines do remit much of modern advantages and condescend to the most innocent models of Primitive Episcopacy yet still they find many Presbyterians and Independents so died in graine as to their particular parties principles and adherencies that they will not yet endure any thing that hath the least colour or tincture name or title of Episcopacy Some viler sort of men study nothing more than to render the venerable Names of Bishops and Episcopacy odious and the more there is pleaded for their innocency or excellency as Pilate did for Jesus when he found no fault in him the more they clamor with the Jewes Crucifie crucifie And all this lest forsooth some Godly Ministers of the new stamps and models should lose any thing of that popular glosse and lustre whereby they fancy themselves to shine and glister like money new-minted among some people in their private spheares hence some of them grow so cruelly cunning that neither in Charity nor Policy they will endure any closure or treaty with Episcopacy under any notion notwithstanding that they pretend to twist their Associations with the three-fold cords of all moderate men differing still in some principles yet concurring in one grand end for the publick peace as they tell us when yet nothing can intreate them to wish to speak or think well of Episcopacy in any state or constitution Some fervent or fierce men profess such a jealousy of Antichrist in Episcopasy that they cast away all that is of Christ in it They fear an Apostacy if they should returne to the Apostolick Polity which is Episcopacy There are that urge it best for the Piety Peace and Honor of this Nation to have no united Church no Ecclesiasticall Unity which should be Nationall no uniforme or setled Religion but to let every one invent adhere to and advance that party and opinion which they like best so immoveable are they by any experiences of our mischiefes or any remonstrances of Piety Prudence and Charity for a publick composure in Religion From the restive temper of these men I can expect nothing more than that equanimity which will bear at least with Episcopacy in such as can bear with Presbytery or Independency in them If they find it so blessed a Liberty to serve the Lord as they list in those new Church-waies whereof they so much boast and glory why should they envy or how can they in conscience grudge to allow the Godly and honest Episcopall Clergy and other Christians who are in no virtue grace or gift inferior to them to partake of and use the like freedom as is either granted to or used and presumed by Presbytery and Independency Why should they so spitefully obstruct and hinder that concession to Episcopacy which is indulged or challenged to all sorts of novelties and varieties Possibly God in time would decide which is the best way if Episcopacy as Eliah might bring its offering to the Altar as well as others do It may be in a few yeares Providence would shew which way pleaseth him most by his enclining the hearts of good Christians to embrace and follow what hath most of Gods Order and Wisdome of Christs Institution of Apostolick imitation of Catholick Tradition or Custome and of the Churches union all which meet onely in Primitive Episcopacy But this way as it may be dilatory and tedious so it may be dangerous and pernicious as to the welfare of both Church and State for there can be no division in Religion without emulation no emulation without opposition no opposition without ambition no ambition without animosity no animosity without offence no offence without anger and studies
degenerous persons as deserved not to bear the name or knew not how to use the Office of a Bishop Doubtless their Enemies being Judges no place no Age no one Nation or Church in the world since the Apostles ever exceeded the Bishops of England for piety and learning for useful and exemplary vertues of which I shall afterward give more exact account no Church ever more happy flourishing or prosperous then the reformed Church of England was under such worthy Bishops as some men so despitefully used Could Bishops in this and all Churches be so blessed of God and yet Episcopacy deserve to be so abhorred of men Were the Evangelical labours of godly Bishops so plentifully watered with the Dew of Heaven and yet doth their function deserve to be rooted out of the Earth If Episcopacy in its secular riches and honours must needs be destroyed in order to confiscate the Churches Lands yet at least primitive though poor Episcopacy might have been preserved whose ancient eminency would have been both authoritative and conspicuous among good Christians through the Clouds of such undeserved poverty Though some men might presume to deprive Bishops of their deserved and lawful Estates yet sure they were too bold to rob the Church of all excellent and deserving Bishops such as England ever afforded both before and since the Reformation which the Romish and Jesuitick policies never hoped more effectually to deforme and destroy than by helping to carry on the routing of Episcopacy Certainly the excellent Bishops of England were the greatest Eye-sore of the Pope and his Conclave nor did they care to fight by their secret and open Engines against small or great Presbyters so much as against these Prelates who had so long stood in their way They knew when these chief Shepherds were smitten the Sheep would soon be scattered nor were Papists ever more gratified than when Episcopacy was extirpated out of England What if the God the Lord of his Church the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath laid the Government of it on the Shoulders of Christ Jesus and he derived the external administration or dispensation of it to the Apostles and they to succeeding Bishops as spiritual Pastors and venerable Fathers of his Church what if he should thus plead the cause of Episcopacy in the eminency of its Apostolical order and primitive authority against all those that have spoken acted and written so many peevish spiteful popular partial and perverse things against it What if he should lay to their Consciences what is visible to their and all mens eyes the sad divisions miserable confusions and horrid vastations of this Church and the Reformed Religion which have followed the destroying of harmlesse honourable ancient venerable useful and necessary Episcopacy Would they not be infinitely ashamed and mightily confounded for the new Modes which they have taken up for the Oakes which they have chosen to over-shadow themselves yea for the Briars and Brambles which they fancy as fittest to rule themselves and the Church of Christ in this Land either by way of parity or popularity which are not fit methods to rule their own families withall Will a few arbitrary precarious Presbyters and unautoritative Preachers or their new Associations serve their turn Or will a few petty Congregations or Schismatizing Conventicles here and there scattered and scrambled together in Cities and Countries be able to countervail the damage or to recompence the unspeakable defects and detriments which this Church and Nation which all estates and degrees of Christian people have sustained by the totall loss and overthrow of primitive Episcopacy which was as it were smothered to death in a crowd and huddle never legally examined or fairly condemned by the free and full suffrages of all estates so as its Antiquity worth and honour did deserve What learned prudent and conscientious Ministers or other Christians can be fully satisfied with those new-fashioned ordinations and ministrations of holy things which neither they nor their Fore-fathers nor any ancient Churches ever knew and wherein that Divine Authority which they challenge is so justly doubted or disputed as by no Catholick hand or regular course committed to them If that Ministeriall power which is challenged and exercised upon such new accounts of humane policies and later inventions if it should really be none at all or as weak and defective as it is dubious for Ordination as it is for Jurisdiction which is very much feared and suspected by very wise and good men especially where not want and necessity deny but wantonnesse and wilfulnesse seek to deprive Christians of their true Bishop O how vain how invalid how arrogant how insignificant must those Ministers and all their holy Ministrations appear to many Christians who have of later years set themselves up by a Presbyterian Commission or Popular Election not onely without but against their lawful Superiours who were every way so able so worthy and so lawfully authorized for that office and eminency not onely as they were ordained Presbyters but as they were further consecrated Bishops that is placed by Christ and appointed by the Church in an higher degree capacity use and exercise of Ecclesiastical power and jurisdiction then ever was in any Presbyters Of which eminency Episcopal as that famous Council of Nice took such care to have it continued after the cient mode and patern of publick Election and solemn Consecration or the Churches Benediction so all this formality must have been very superstitious and ridiculous if it added nothing of authority and power peculiar to them as Bishops but onely what they formerly had received in common as Presbyters Doubtless reordination as rebaptization to the same office and degree in the Church was ever condemned in the Church of Christ as impious because superfluous a meer mockery of Religion a taking the name of God in vaine forbidden by the African Canons and many Councils never practised by any but such as St. Basil the Great reports one Eustathius of Sebastia to have been whom he calls an infamous Heretick a notorious deserter of the Churches Catholick Communion If St. Chrysostome in the fourth Century had judged it enough to complete him in his Episcopall power and Authority to have been once ordained a Presbyter as he was in Antioch where he so lived twelve yeares sure he would not have troubled himself to have been after ordained or consecrated a Bishop by Theophilus Bishop of Alexandria and others of that order when he was chosen to be Bishop of Constantinople Nor would St. Austin a person no lesse pious and learned who had been ordained Presbyter by Valerius Bishop of Hippo been ordained anew by Megalius Patriarch of Numidia when he was chosen to be Bishop of Hippo. In like sort was one Alexander a Presbyter ordained by St. Chrysostome to be Bishop of Bassinopolis according to the uniforme method of Antiquity which judged that the Presbyters chusing the peoples approving and the
fancy but in the publick counsels and constitutions of every Kingdome State and Polity Nor was this more true piety and charity than prudence and policy in the Bishops and other Ministers of the Church to whom as to gowned and bookish men and not as to armed souldiers doth all the Christian world owe under God the planting propagating and preserving yea and the due reforming of true Christian Religion For the armes of flesh or any carnal weapons going along with the Gospel which is a spirituall warfare as so many Pioneers with pick-axes and spades to demolish and overthrow civil powers must needs have alarmed and armed all States and Princes all honest and just all wise and morall men against it when they looked upon Christianity as coming not to preach and save but to plunder and spoile for all wise Magistrates know that there was no trusting to the moderation and justice no nor to the mercy of any men who came with force against them Though they professe as Andronicus did and Absalom before him never so much to mend and reform things yet they will at last rob kill and destroy and as the Sons of Jacob dealt with the Sichemites they at first onely pretend to circumcise men yet at last they will not onely geld but kill them Armed Religion like Eagles and Hawkes is alwaies terrible Which considerations do justly harden all mens hearts that have any thing to lose or to keep in this world against all forcible and riotous entries of any Religion or Reformation whatsoever which seldome failes to be sacrilegious as well as rebellious Hence the present feares jealousies and abhorrencies which many Princes and States as well as Bishops and Church-men that are of the Romish Communion have taken up against any Reformation of Religion by such popular methods and principles which they see are seldome begun and never ended without infinite trouble confusion and ruine of all things both sacred and civil every wise man rightly judging that when God is pleased to bring in the beauty and blessing of true Religion or due Reformation to any Church or Nation he will as he did in England most eminently so stir up the spirits of Soveraigne powers the method he anciently used in purging and reforming the Temple and Church of the Jewes by Hezekiah Josiah and others that the work shall go on as without noyse like the building of the Temple so with Order and Honor to the glory of God the safety of Princes the honor of the Clergy and the peace of the people as well as the purity of the Church and true Religion Till this may be done a thousand civil burthens and oppressions yea persecutions are easier than any sinful presumptions yea true Religion will be beautifull when it is black with persecution if then it be comely with patience Scorching Reformations so burn the face of Religion that they leave not onely sad scarres but shamefull Stigmas or brands upon it which look very like rebellion and barbarity engaging men and Christians into mutuall hatred blood-shedding deaths and destruction Let men pretend never so much to be Saints godly yea and inspired too yet as the purest water and the wholsomest flesh when once they come to feel the heat of factions and begin to boyle up to civil perturbations they will soon discover a very black fome and foule scum to rise in their hearts and actions which as Hazael they hardly thought could have been in them carrying them to injustice immoderation uncharitablenesse presumption rebellion sacriledge and cruelty and all unwarrantable actions before they are aware of the folly falsity or foulenesse of their own as indeed all mens hearts at whose bottom lies all manner of filth and villany which is then easily and constantly discovered when they are passionately and inordinately stirred Nor is it at all to be considered how pure men appeare as to that which is upward or outward in their Religious protestations and professions when once they come to that Romantick and Errant spirit which thinks it as much gallantry to fight for their Religion as some do for their Mistresses beauties which exceeds quarrelling and killing each other by civil and heroick murthers for no other offence but the glory of their opinion and the preferring of their fancy What did ever seem more holy than the Euchites and Circumcellions of old what more precise and godly than John of Leiden and his crew what more inspired than our Hacket and Coppinger what less covetous and impartiall than Massaniello All of them were not very warme but very scalding Reformers yet came to nought Adde to all these what was or is more titularly holy than some later Popes of Rome who ever seemed more solicitous to advance Religion Yet by their usurping both St. Peters swords by interpreting Arise Peter kill and eate in a sanguinary sense by making the Bishop of Rome the greater light to rule the day and Emperours or Kings in their dominions to be as the Moon and lesser lights by challenging a power unchristian and inordinate to depose lawfull Princes to absolve Subjects from â—â—eir oathes to expose their lives to their Subjects or any other mens swords to dispose of their Thrones and Kingdomes as they please in order to the Romish Churches or Courts interests they have made all the world now very wary of them Even those Princes that are of the Papall Communion are grown very reserved and vigilant as to their civil power now their eyes are so opened that many moderate men have highly suspected as Padre Paulo the Author of the History of the Councel of Trent and others this Papall arrogancy to be one of the shrewdest markes of the Papall Antichristianism a Bishop thus enormously exalting himself by fraud and force by blood and violence in the Church or Temple of God above all that is called God in civil Magistracy directly contrary both to Christs pattern and the two great Apostles precepts as well as practises who though they laid with the other eleven Apostles the foundations of an Episcopal Hierarchy by the parity or Aristocracy as of the chief Apostles so of Bishops yet they never either exercised or enjoyed or dreamed of a Monarchy in which one Apostle or Bishop should have dominion over all others and over the whole Church Episcopacy as it is Primitive and Apostolicall exactly and conscientiously preserves to all Princes and Soveraigne Magistrates whatsoever their civil peace and safety of their persons their lawes and powers with their just prerogatives as well as it doth the Evangelicall and ingenuous Liberties of all Christian Subjects which are alwaies and onely to do well either in active or passive obedience But as the Papll claimes and flatteries of former Ages did with full mouth and open forehead invade yea and by force insult over the just powers of Soveraigne Princes however of late they have been more cunning modest and tender so other spirits which from Pygmies have
fancied themselves to be swoln to Giants are charged of old by many grave learned and honest men as very much treading in the Popes steps that is either upon the toes or heeles or hands or necks or heads of Kings and Soveraigne Magistrates The experience of which gave it seemes to King James such dreadfull apprehensions of that way that he equally feared Presbytery and Popery when they thundered with Excommunication and great guns too which had so filled Scotland many yeares with great inquietudes in his Mothers reigne and in his Minority that he thought them no better than godly rebellions in order to promote private and partiall factious and deformed Reformations Nor was Queen Elizabeth without her feares on this side when she not onely heard the Tragedies of Scotland but saw and felt the menacings and agitations in England even upon this account which the event hath taught us and all the world were no childish terriculaments nor brutish thunderbolts So that both high Presbytery and low Independency are by many wise men judged inconsistent with a just and complete Monarchy no lesse than with a right Episcopacy standing in the same posture of enmity against these as they pretend to do against the Papacy or Popery It will be very well if Reformed Presbytery can wipe off those staines and suspicious as easily and truly as Primitive Episcopacy did avoid them and our late Reformed and Reforming Bishops in England who alwaies joyned together fear God and honor the King without any Ifs or And 's without any reserves or salvo's save onely those which betray men to serve sin and Satan rather than to suffer with and for a good conscience in the service of God And however some Christian Bishops as St. Ambrose St. Chrysostome St. Athanasius St. Gregory Nazianzen St. Basil and others did sometime in weighty and exemplary cases vindicate the honor of Christian Religion and the Authority of Ecclesiasticall Discipline before and against some Christian Princes whose errors or passions had either swerved them from or transported them beyond that Orthodoxy Charity Justice and Moderation which became Christians as in the revenge taken by Theodosius upon the Citizens of Thessalonica and in other passages of State which tended to the publick scandall of Religion then countenanced by the Lawes and professed by the Princes yet still those great and good Bishops both preached and practised all civill respect and loyall subjection to them as their Soveraignes they never divided what God had joyned together they followed Christs Oracle to give to Caesar the things that are Caesars and to God the things that are Gods the first were set out by the Imperiall Constitutions the second by the cleare Canons of Gods word interpreted not by every private mans new imagination but by the Catholick judgement and practise of the chief Fathers of the Church All Orthodox Bishops Presbyters and people ever held it to be a Vile Unchristian Antichristian Diabolick petulancy to speak evil of dignities either Civil or Ecclesiastick to curse the Gods or Rulers of Church and Common-weale to use railing accusations against their Superiours The rough garb of Satyrs was never thought comely for the Pens Pulpits or hands of Church-men it was a Solecisme in Christian Religion to have Ministers tongues sharp swords their mouths open sepulchers their sermons sarcasmes their prayers pasquils their invocations of God invectives against their Governours whose Authority was still sacred though their exorbitancies might be blameable What good Bishops and Presbyters eares would not have tingled then to have heard those filthy and dirty ditties which were tuned in England to the pipe of Martin Mar-prelate and Penry's Supplication to the Devil to which some men danced who were then thought zealous for Presbytery making sport at such lewd and infamous scurrilities against their Governours in Church and State as were fitter to have fetched teares from their eyes when they saw not onely worthy and Reformed Bishops but the whole Reformed Church of England and the Majesty of the Prince so torne and bespattered by those Borborites those uncleane Spirits The grave and modest sort of Bishops Presbyters and People who otherwaies much desired a just and orderly Reformation of Religion yea and valued the notable parts and zealous industry of Luther yet they extremely blushed at and disliked that outragious reply which his over-boyling heat made against our King Henry the Eighth when he wrote for the defence of that which he thought true Religion whose error in Luthers judgment did in no sort deserve so rude so scornfull so scurrilous and uncomely a reply in which sober men pittied Luthers native passion and rusticity which were more like an unbred and unbridled Monk than a meek Disciple of Christ or a zealous Preacher of his Gospel or an exact follower of St. Paul who publickly checked himself for the reproch and disdainfull speech he used ignorantly against the High Priest Ananias who probably had attained that dignity as then the fashion was among the Jewes by very sinister meanes yea and had upon the place done St. Paul a palpable injury commanding him to be smitten on the mouth when he should have heard his defence T is true Luther afterward used some soft recantations to the King but in vain it being looked upon as his Policy more than his Piety or Humility hoping thereby to advance his party to which he saw the King in some points was now driven more than enclined by the breach he had made with the Pope But it is hard to wash the hands of any person or party cleane whose insolency hath once cast dirt in the face of Soveraigne Princes or chief Magistrates who are the brightest visible image and glory of God among mankind being the Lords annointed as David called Saul now forsaken of God for his forsaking God first Although the actions or opinions of our Superiours in some things be lesse commendable as were those of Constantius and other Arrian Emperours yet are they not to be reviled in any case by those that will not deserve the name and fate of Shimei whom Abisha's loyall zeal cals a dead dog for his barking against his Lord the King now in his Eclipse and distresse whose cursing insolency that valiant Commander would presently have revenged with the lesse of his head and however Davids humility and clemency did pardon him at present yet afterward vengeance pursued him while he foolishly following his fugitive servants beyond his bounds and teddar forfeited his word and life to King Solomons just and wise severity the royall pardon not availing to protect so petulant and insolent a disloyalty which God would have punished though it were by man pardoned Yea some grave men have thought that those two learned and eloquent Bishops St. Chrysostom and St. Gregory of Nazianzum the one in his resolute but rough carriage to the Empresse Eudoxia the other in his sharp Steleticks against Julian
and concluding a match with our King Henry the Sevenths daughter and James the Fourth King of Scotland a foundation certainly of very great honour and happiness to both Nations if wise and religious superstructures had been built upon it Now by a strange revolution of Divine Justice that holy Thistle which lately vied for an Equality with if not a Superiority above the Roses is become not so much united in a Parity as subdued to an Inferiority Nor were the English Bishops less loyal to true Religion as Christian yea and to the true Reformation of it then to their King and Country How notably did that renowned Lincolniensis Grostest Bishop of Lincoln assert the freedom of his Conscience against the Popes unworthy commands How many other Bishops in the contests between the Popes and our Princes about Investitures asserted the rights of their Soveraigns After the Roman darkness and Tyranny vanished and the light of an orderly and loyal Reformation appeared how many godly Bishops then did abide the fiery Tryal of Martyrdom How many of them and their Clergy were banished and imprisoned as Confessors How many of them as Jewel Abbot Andrews Davenant White Morton and others have wrote with incomparable study and unanswerable strength against the Papal Usurpations Errors and Superstitions and none beyond the last Archbishop of Canterbury for clearness and exactness of the Controversies stated With how great a resolution and loyal freedom did George Abbot his immediate Predecessor write a notable letter to King James against all toleration of Popery when the Spanish match was hot in treaty At which time with what thunder and lightning did Dr. Senhowes afterward B. of Carlile preach the two famous Sermons against the great Diana of Rome as well as of Ephesus to such a degree of eloquent zeal and becoming courage that he pleased even those whom he offended In the very last Convocation in England anno 1640. which gave occasion to so great flames in this Church meeting with times and minds which had both wood and fire ready and onely wanted a Sacrifice even this so decryed Synod which had in it as learned honest and venerable Church-men Bishops and others as ever were in England had among other things concluded a full and firme defiance against Popery for ever as well as an establishment for Episcopacy which they then found tottering and shaken but had not the happiness to use the right means of establishing it which was not by building it a story higher but by taking it rather a story lower at least abating its Pinnacles Turrets and Battlements what it wanted in ornament and height it might have enjoyed in strength and setledness Yet their design and endeavour was very prudent foreseeing as was easie that the overthrow of Episcopacy in the Reformed Church of England would be the greatest gratification to Rome that could be at present expected by the Papists And certainly the Romish party were never more pleased then with those Convulsion-fits which so tortured first and afterward destroyed not onely that Convocation but all the former Stability Honour Peace Plenty Order and Government of this Church and its Clergy which alwayes feared and foretold no less danger from Scylla then Charybdis I might adde further the humble yet resolute Remonstrance made by the Bishops of Ireland to the Governours and Councel of that Kingdom in the Lord of Straffords time fully and freely declaring the inconsistency of any open and avowed toleration of Popery with the honour of God with the power and purity of the Reformed Religion and with the peace of the Kingdoms Thus when the Bishops of England were Capital or Dominical letters both in the Church and State their Piety Loyalty Courage Zeal and Constancy made I think as fair and as goodly ashew as any of their enemies have done they were legible afar off at home and abroad and will be so to present and after-Ages many an one of them signified more as to exemplary Piety and useful Vertues then one hundred of petty Presbyters or puny Preachers either then did or now do or ever will be able to do who were indeed never so considerable or commendable so useful to the Church or serviceable to the State as when they kept to an humble subordination and wise communion with their Bishops whose honour and peace was the Presbyters honour as the honour of the head is the honour of every member of that Body Doubtless their temporal happiness was bound up together neither could Bishops be happy without the assistance of venerable Presbyters nor Presbyters without the governance of reverend Bishops neither should be without other in the Lords Church I might here further adde to the consideration of the obedientiall and peaceable principles and practises of true Episcopacy its Charitable Hospitable and Generous disposition which are best expressed in times of peace and a state of plenty As Bishops had a firm loyalty to their Princes and obedience for conscience sake to their superiours not examining their morall vertues but their civil Rights which are the onely measures of duty in like manner Bishops had generally great charity to their equals and benignity to ther inferiours which is a great fruit of a subjects loyalty to his Prince and love to his Country relieving many poor people in their pressures and thereby keeping them from those discontents which usually attend the distresses of mens conditions the afflictions of Princes oft rising from the dust the meaner sort of people when necessities animate them to animosities and such insolencies as turne dust into lice as Moses did to the plaguing of Pharaoh and all Egypt None but evil eyes and worse hearts could with unthankfullnesse and uncharitablenesse grudge the excellent Bishops of England those Honors and Revenues which they highly deserved while they worthily employed them rather for others good than their own private enjoyments in any way of luxury or gallantry or debauchery the frequent gulfs of many other mens great Estates and Honors when they are enjoyed and abused by very small and sensuall minds Generally Bishops neglected their own private interests and gaine to advance the publick How few of them in many yeares of peace and plenty raised any considerable fortunes to their particular families or posterities I am sure not comparable to what Judges and Lawyers in all Ages yea and Military men have done in a few yeares whose thrifty swords have gathered better Estates in one seven yeare than any Bishops or other Church-mens liberall words and works ever did or aimed at in twenty yeares though their yearly Revenues were as good or better I think than most Commanders pay and I conceive as much deserved by them in order to the publick good and service which they might do and really did in all Ages both as to Church and State to Superiours Equals and Inferiours For Bishops beyond all men in their times were guilty of building repairing and endowing many Churches which other men
Custom and Canons of this as of all Churches also by the ancient Lawes of this Nation thus splitting even their dear Presbytery in pieces which was best embarqued with Episcopacy while they ran this on ground upon the Rocks Quick-sands the oppositions of power and the despiciencies of people between which all Church-government and publick respect is now removed from both Bishops and Presbyters Alas how pitiful a part of any Government have any of these Ministers now to act and please themselves with who affected to play a new game at Chesse in this Church onely with pawns and rooks without Kings or Bishops whose unseparable fate at least as to the Genius of England King James very wisely foresaw would stand and fall together if he had as wisely prevented the danger and damage of both it being very hard for any Soveraign Prince to govern such an head-strong people unless he have power over their minds as well as their bodies This a Prince cannot have but by Preachers who as the weekly Musterers Orators and Commanders of the populacy do exercise by the Scepter of their tongues a secret and swasive yet potent Empire over most peoples soules These preachers he knew were not easily kept either in good order or in just honor being men of quick fancies of daring and active confidences great valuers of themselves and ambitious to be many Masters yea popular and petty Monarchs in the Thrones of their Pulpits and Territories of their Parishes unlesse there were some men over them who are fittest to be above them as being too hard for them in their own sphere and mystery best able to judge of Ministers Learning Opinions Preaching Praying and Living men for yeares of Gravity and Prudence rewarded with Estates and Honors And such were Bishops without whom Christian Monarchs are like those Kings who had their thumbs and great toes cut off it being not possible for a Prince immediately to correspond with every petty Presbyter nor is it comely to contest with them nor can he be quiet from their pragmatick janglings unlesse they be curbed by some such Learned Authoritative and Venerable Superiours as are properest for them who were the fittest mediums between the King and his other Clergy both to perswade Princes to favour the Church and to perswade Church-men to preach and practise loyalty toward their Princes which tends to the honor of both Magistracy and Ministry So that it was no other then an obvious conjecture to foretel No Bishop no King since the same Scriptures and Principles of both reason and religion piety and policy lead men to obey both as rulers over them in the Lord or to reject both by affecting popular parities and communities as in Church so in State Which abatement of Kingly or Soveraign power in one person as to its civil Magistratick and Monarchical eminency hath by late experience been found so inconsistent with the Genius of this English Nation that the Representatives of the People have not onely importunely petitioned the restitution of Monarchical yea Kingly government but they have actually setled the main authority in one person under an other Name and Title justly fearing lest the dividing and diminishing of Soveraignty Majesty and Authority as to the chief Governour should in time make a dissolution of the civil Government by frequent emulations and ambitions incident to any such Nation as England is which hath so many great and rival Spirits in it prone to contemn or contest with any thing that looks like their Equal Nor do I doubt but Time will further shew us if it hath not done it already sufficiently that no less inconveniences and mischiefs both as to Church and State may follow the debasing and destroying of Ecclesiastical power and authority in England dividing and mincing it so diverting the ample and fair the ancient and potent stream of Episcopacy which flowed from the Throne of Christ and of Christian Kings into the new rivulets small channels and weak currents either of Presbytery or Independency The Scepter of Government in Church or State like the staff or rod of Moses when it is cast out of his hand on the Earth or populacy turns to a serpent Democracy being a very terrible Daemogorgon untill it be resumed into Moses his hand as King in Iesurun it doth not return to its former beauty strength and use which that did after it had justly devoured the rods and serpents of the Magicians as in time Monarchical Government will do all other kinds or essayes in Engl. which are but the effects of popular passions and encroachments carried on more by some Preachers Inchantments then by Lay-mens Ambitions Strabo and others tell us that the people of Cappadocia when the Romanes had conquered their Kings and offered them their Liberty as a Province or free State under them they refused the favour affirming the temper of their Country was such that the people in it could not live if they were not governed by a King So pertinacious were they as indeed most people in the world have been and are at this day to retaine the sacred Tradition of Kingly or Monarchicall Government which being parentall and Patriarchall is most naturall and divine derived to us by nature and confirmed by good experience ever since Noah and Adam who had their just Soveraignty as Fathers and Kings over all mankind derived to them from God the Great Father and Eternall King over all from whom Monarchy and so Episcopacy derive their Majesty and Authority Primogeniture carrying with it as Princely so Priestly power which made the same name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 41.45 Exod. 3.1 to signifie both Prince and Priest The want of either of which and the swerving from either of them commonly occasioneth infinite distractions in any Nation and Church especially if they have been in all times wonted to be governed by them To avoid which miseries among Mankind the Wisdom of God hath guided as most Nations to Monarchy so this and all primitive Churches to the royall Priesthood of Episcopacy from the very cradle or beginning of Christianity At which time S. Jerom to Euagrius confesseth it was toto orbe decretum a Catholick Decree and Order through all the Christian world which could be no other then Apostolical at least And however other Reformed Churches may make a shift to live and some of them thrive without the formal name and title of Bishops though most of them have the efficacy of the power and the reality of the authority in their Superintendents yet I am confident till English Spirits are wholly cow'd and depressed with war and such exhaustings as utterly dis-spirit and embase the Nobility Gentry and Communalty nothing will be more inconsistent with them than what savours of parity and popularity in Church-Government They will rather affect to have every one what they list which in effect will be no Government properly Ecclesiastick further then they may be commanded
not worthy to be their Rulers in the least kind This submission cannot be expected unless Englishmen are now to be subdued by fine words and made obedient by the formal and supercilious looks of some men who affect in their Churches and Parishes to govern all and are not fit alone to govern any unless they had been more able and willing to govern themselves and to have kept within that compasse of Ecclesiastical Order and subjection to their Bishops and betters which the example of all Churches and all worthy Presbyters and true Christians in all Ages commended to them besides the particular Laws and constitutions of this Church and State These considerations of the unproportionableness of any other Church-government than a right Episcopacy to the temper of England moved the supercilious yet very learned Salmasius in his advice to the Prince Elector then in England and to some other of the long Parlament and of the Scotized Assembly who desired his judgement upon the then hot and perboyling yea passionate and over-boyling debates touching Episcopacy to tell them That as the Episcopal Government rightly constituted and executed is very agreeable to the Word of God and most conform to all Antiquity so it was of all other most suitable to the English spirit and constitution The want of which he already foresaw was and would ever be the cause of much disorder and distraction of infinite Factions Heresies Schismes and Confusions Thus the great Dictator of Learning as he esteemed himself was pleased in this passage and other-where graciously to express his judgement and pleasure according to the humour he was in or to the Interest which he was pleased to adopt Sometimes he is Walo Messalinus and ashamed to own his Name against Episcopacy he was in that disguise to gratifie the pretentions of Presbytery and the adherence or dependence which he had to the French and Dutch Churches otherwhile he puts off the vizard and with open face owns the eminency authority antiquity and universality of Episcopacy yea the incomparable utility of it when joyned with a grave and orderly Presbytery besides a particular aptitude in it to the English Genius For he well saw that all Government and Church-Government as much as any is a beame of Divine Majesty and requires not onely something of a Diviner sufficiency as to inward abilities and endowments but also of a Diviner conspicuity and lustre for Authority civil eminency and ornament We read that God besides his choice of Aaron and his Sons to be complete persons to make them chief Priests according to his Command and Commission gave also strict order for their garments to have them made with such comelinesse cost and curiosity as should be for glory and beauty even before the eyes of the people over whom they were placed And we further read that God forbad to his people the Jewes all birds that did creep and yet fly they were uncleane and abominable to be eaten An Emblem that nothing is lesse comely in Gods Church than to see those men ambitiously affect to fly high in governing others whose condition is low and creeping on the ground Indeed no Government can be carried on in Church or State especially in Engl. but either by the absolute terror of the sword and secular power commanding or by such legal injunctions and religious perswasions as bind good men in conscience to submit first to God and for his sake to those whom he as Lord of all is pleased to set over us Then is government in Church or State most complete and constant when it hath first that rational Empire and religious prevalency over mens hearts which ariseth from the perswasion that people have of the worth abilities right and authority which Governours have by their laws as from God in the State so from Christ in the Church Which perswasion as it brought all Christian people Presbyters and Bishops to be so wholy subject to their civil Magistrates and Soveraigns so it made all Christian Presbyters and Professors to be filially submiss to their Bishops as to Fathers given them by Christ even then when Bishops were rich in graces and gifts of the Spirit but low as to worldly greatness and under much persecution yet then did the Majesty of Episcopal authority prevail on which the lively Characters and pregnant Memorials of the Apostolical pattern designation and succession were still fresh and most remarkable then did it draw all true Believers and good Christians to venerate their Bishops or chief Pastors for Conscience sake by so much the more by how much Presbyters and People had more of the power of Godlinesse in them whereas now it is made a new mark of Godliness and Saintship with many to cast off to hate abhor despise and destroy all Bishops and all eminent Episcopacy Sure either primitive purity or modern dreggs must be very much out of the right way and which of them erres I leave to all sober men to judge As for other Christians of looser Consciences and Conversation which were prone in all Ages to be as weeds in the garden of the Church especially in times of Peace Plenty and Prosperity the piety and wisdom of Christian Princes and other godly people ever took care to keep them in the more awe and reverence toward their Bishops and Ecclesiastical Governours by investing these in such outward and visible enjoyments for estate and honour which might adde some outward respect and authority to them and that no small one before those that had most need to be so restrained overawed and dazled Hence the piety and policy of Constantine the Great not onely gave liberal supports to the Bishops of the Church but gave them places and honors equal to the Patricii the Senators in order and degree which were the Roman chief Nobility It is not onely an imprudent but an impious presumption and a tempting of God to needless miracles for any people to invest those men in any Government as in State so in Church who are as St. Paul saith little esteemed because deserving little who have neither personal abilities for the Office nor any clear and undoubted commission to authorize them in it from God or Man from Christ and his Church which I conceive can hardly if ever be found in any wayes of Church-government which are suspected for Novelty or tainted with Parity and Popularity contemners of Catholick Custom Primitive Antiquity and Apostolical Succession in an holy Uniformity From all which depravations as venerable Episcopacy is sufficiently known to be farthest removed of any so it cannot but seem to all impartial Christians to be as every way best in it self so fittest for the native temper of England where mens spirits are more accurate and acute more inquisitive and searching into the rights foundations and grounds of all authority over them then in other Countries where meannesse and easinesse servility and credulity of common people makes them venerate
for their Gods any Calf or Idol which their Superiours please to set up in the Church to serve or secure the civil Interests But in England where people have much light and dare to use it such policies and projects would now be not onely preposterous but vaine and ridiculous There is no putting among us Eagles wings or Feathers upon the bodies of Jack-dawes Rookes or Crowes which rather incumber them than inable them for any orderly motion much lesse do they make them Imperiall birds fit to rule or over-aw the other winged inhabitants of the world which will be ready to scorne and despise them And what indeed for instance hath more abased the condition and abated the common honor of Ministers in England of later yeares than some of their unseasonable and unreasonable affectations to govern in common as beyond their due proportion for Age Gifts Parts Ornaments so before they had complete Commission to empower them either from God or any man in Soveraign power Even such Presbyters as most affected like Icarus to fly above their Fathers my self and the English world have seen to have so melted their own artificiall wings that they have miserably faln into a Sea a black and a red Sea of confusion contempt and contention both among their own people and all the Nation Out of which Abysse they will never be able to wade or swim in my judgement unlesse they can with such Unity Humility and Charity as St. Austin adviseth some Donatists revoke their exotick errors retract their Schismes and transports returning from their pertinacious novelties to the true proportions of Ancient Church-Government which I think are in no degree to be found either in Presbytery Independency or any way apart from Episcopacy both which new waies have so grievously blasted and singed themselves by the exorbitancy of those terrible flames which they kindled utterly to consume Episcopacy that there is little likelihood either of these novelties should ever appeare to be entertained with any publick beauty honor esteem or approbation in England where nothing is lesse tolerable than Governours that are contemptible for want of Ability Authority and Dignity as to Estate and Honor. Amidst all which immoderate and mercilesse fires destinated to consume all the pristine beauty and honor of Catholick Episcopacy both root and branch in one day yet to shew not more the wonder of Gods mercy than the true temper of the English people behold not onely Primitive Episcopacy but Primitive Bishops that is persons of Learning Piety and Vertue becoming that sacred Office Dignity have retained all this while and will do while they live yea and when they are dead so much of reall honor and true respect due to their worth that no Assemblies no Armies no Votes no Ordinances no Terrors no Calumnies of inordinate Presbyters no insolencies of licentious people nothing can ever deprive them of or degrade them from an high respect and esteem in the hearts and desires in the loves and compassions of all unbiassed learned sober and wise men throughout the Nation Who are not yet grown so dull and degenerous as not to preferre the Primitive Catholick and Venerable Authority of Episcopacy as to order and Ordination so to Government and jurisdiction as much before the novel inventions and ostentations of any Presbyterian and Independent models as one would value the English Roses before the Scotch Thistles freely to handle or feed upon which is no such precious Christian Liberty as any wise men Ministers or others have either cause to envy in others or to congratulate in themselves since their former subjection to Episcopacy was far more to their Safety Order Plenty and Honor than what they now enjoy in their petty Signiories The lowest parts of that Mountaine of God Episcopacy on which the Church of Christ for many Ages stood and flourished were higher than the top of these new mole-hils the skirts of Bishops clothing were more venerable than the very Crownes of these Ministers heads the unanointed corners of whose haire and beards are now so deformedly shorne or shaven by a sharp and popular rasor The renowne and value of Episcopacy is much risen since English-men have seen added to the other excellencies of our English Bishops the miracle and magnanimity of their Christian patience who after their hard and long studies attended with many meritorious and usefull vertues after they had lawfully obtained and many yeares peaceably enjoyed such Honors and Estates as adorned Episcopacy in England after they had no way and by no law forfeited these or misused them yet in the decline of their lifes in the colder and darker winter of their Age these grave and gallant men can beare with Christian patience and heroick composednesse of mind the losse of all and that from their own Country-men Professors of the same Christian yea and Reformed Religion and this without any respect had either to their present and future support or their pristine dignity A fate so sad and Tragicall as is scarce to be parallell'd in any Age or History yet have none of them been heard to charge God foolishly They say and write either nothing or onely the words of Sobernesse Truth and Charity they still possesse their soules in silence and patience when dispossessed of all things whereever they live their lustre shines through their greatest obscurity and tenuity as the bright Sun through small crevises far beyond the most sparkling Presbyters or glittering Independents whose new popular projects for Church-Government compared to Primitive and old Episcopacy are like Comets or blazing Starres compared to the Sun and Moon The Gravity the Constancy the Contentednesse the Meekness the Humility of these Venerable yet afflicted Bishops now reduced God knowes to a great paucity as well as tenuity yet still keeps up their price and commands from all wise and worthy men a veneration both of their persons and of that comely Authority which they heretofore enjoyed and worthily exercised in this Church Who almost of any considerable people in England that are not either ignorant fanatick or sacrilegious but either openly or secretly wish the happy restauration of Venerable Episcopacy to this Church and Nation who that hath sense of honor justice or ingenuity doth not deplore and is not discountenanced to consider the Crowds and Loades of indignities cast upon such excellent persons as for the most part the Bishops of England were even then when they were to be sacrificed by I know not what strange fire as a peace-offering to the discontented Presbyters of Scotland and their ambitious Symbolizers in England I know some of those Lords and Commons who in the huddle helped to destroy Bishops and their Order now not onely pitty the undeserved sufferings of such brave men but repent of their own compliance and so do many Ministers The usefulness worth and necessity of excellent Bishops and of true Episcopacy were never so well understood in England as since the
in storms and in calms ever since they have been beaten from and denyed Anchorage in the fair Haven of Episcopacy which ever was and ever will be the safest and best harbour both for Religion this Church and its Clergy For no men will regard those Ministers who help to make themselves undervalued Who will care to provide for or protect them that cast off so fair a portion of Estate and noble a proportion of honour as the Laws of this Land had given them under the Episcopal covering Whither now shall poor Ministers fly unless they fly from their despised and distressed calling to some more easie quiet and beneficial Mechanick profession unless they renounce their former Orders and take up a new standing either upon their own tip-toes or some Mole-hill which the Ants of the people have cast up neither of which stations is either firm or comely The vulgar favour is too flat dull and shallow for any man of Learning Worth and Wisdom to lanch into he will presently be a-ground for popular respect riseth to no higher a pitch than they see men have some publick influence of favour estate or power Go to the Palaces of such as are Princes and think themselves great persons their Courts and Families are commonly full of deep and rough rapid and dangerous motions the courtesie of country-Justices and true Committee-men is very various much as the Wind and Tide are either with or against the poor Clergy Where are there then any proper Advocates and Judges or any competent Censors and Supports of the Clergy becoming men of Learning and Worth beyond the ordinary rate of most men Whom have they of their cloth and calling that is in any eminency of Place Power or Honour who might by their favour defend a poor Minister as with a shield so as worthy Bishops did without whom the Ministry in England may I think despair of ever recovering themselves to any great value or regard while they are looked upon even one and all under a meer plebeian notion and proletary proportion permitted indeed to marry and beget children but to servility poverty and beggery Few persons of any Worth or Estate will now either make their sons Ministers or match their daughters to them or contract any alliance or friendship with them since no Clergy-men can be great they will not be much valued for being good Thus hath the fall of Episcopacy like a great and goodly Oake crushed all the Under-wood of the Clergy which was safe while those defensatives stood in our Druina nor have those escaped the brush and crush who were most industrious to fell it On all hands the honour of the Clergy is never like to revive in this Nation till something like primitive and authoritative Episcopacy be either replanted or restored the spirit of the Nation being such that it cannot be governed but by those that have some publick eminency and real lustre upon them either as to military power or civil honour or religious presidency set off with the ampleness of some estate and the authority of some fitting jurisdiction As Augustus said to the Egyptians when they desired him to visit their God Apis I worship Gods not Oxen so do the most people of Engl. in their hearts reply to all Presbyterian Independent Ministers who seek to winne them to worship their ways We were wonted to venerate grave and honourable Bishops not every petty Presbyter or Preacher as our chief Church-governours according to the custom and manner of all good Christians in all ancient Churches and in this of England ever since Joseph of Arimathaea or Simon Zelotes converted us ever since K. Lucius was baptized and the British Church had the honour of Primogeniture to any National Church in the World ever since either Palladius in Scotland or Patricius in Ireland or the latter Austin in England by the mission and commission of the devout Gregory the Great either restored or planted Christian Religion and Bishops in England the shortest of which Terms or Epoches is now above a thousand years In all which time England hath been famous for nothing so much as for the great regard this Nation had til of late years both to Christian Religion and to the Clergy which never til now were made to live without the crowns and coronets of their worthy Bishops in every Diocess which were the coverings of power and honour upon the heads of all the Clergy to whom the access of a poor Minister was short and easie his hearing speedy his tryal legal and rational his dispatch without delayes his dismission fatherly and his submission filial and comely insomuch that peaceable and good Ministers were never more blest than when they had the sight of their worthy Bishop or Diocesan who did not onely as a good Shepherd oversee and rule them but tooke care to feed and defend them with Order Plenty Peace and publick Honour blessings of so great price in our mortal pilgrimage that they had need be very pretious Liberties indeed that are to be purchased by parting with them or exchanging them for the dry Martyrdoms of Poverty Contempt and daily Confusion CHAP. XXII IN the last place I do with the more courage and confidence recommend the cause of Venerable Episcopacy to my honored Countrymen because no Nation or Church under heaven ever had more ample and constant experiences of that excellent worth which hath been in their Bishops or of that excellent use which hath ever been made of a regular Episcopacy both in respect of true Piety and Orderly Policy I know it will at first dash with full mouth be here replyed how many Bishops have been superstitious sottish luxurious tyrannous persecutors and what not especially before the Reformation till their wings were so clipped that they could not be so bad as they would yet some of them were bad enough My answer is I do not undertake to justifie every thing that every Bishop hath done in any Age late or long since though I am charitably modest to palliate the shame or uncomliness of my Fathers yet I am no Mercenary Orator or veneall Advocate to plead for their enormities which are in no men lesse tolerable or expiable There were no doubt among Bishops as well as other men of all sorts some weak some wicked as Ezekiels figs some very good some very bad yet take them in the generall view and aspect even in the darkest times I am sure they were in England ever esteemed and employed both in Church and State as Primores Regni men of the greatest abilities and best repute for Learning Wisdome Counsel Piety Charity and Hospitality in all the Nation nor were many of them in those times inferiour by birth and breeding to the greatest Noblemen in the Land I do not censoriously rifle mens personall or private actions but I consider their publick influence and aspect It sufficeth to my designe if I demonstrate by induction
of many particulars that Episcopacy is no enemy to Piety no way prejudiciall to Church or State yea a maine pillar to support the welfare of both Many Bishops may have been bad yet is Episcopacy good as many Priests of old were like Elies Sons vile men yet was the Priesthood Honorable and Sacred many Judges and Justices may be base and corrupt yet is Judicature good many Magistrates unworthy yet is Magistracy an excellent and necessary Ordinance of God He that should sift all the Presbyters or Ministers of any sort that have been or now are even the greatest zealots against Bishops and Episcopacy I believe he would find among them drosse enough yet must not the Office of Presbytery or the Function of the Ministry be cast off or abhorred He that shall examine by right Reason Religion Conscience and Honor what some Princes yea some Parlaments have been and done as to the persons of men will find they have been neither Gods nor Angels nor Saints nor Saviours alwaies but poor sinfull men of common passions and infirmities yet is the honor and use of Soveraigne power in Princes and supreme Counsel in full and free Parlaments of admirable concern to the publick good So is it in point of Episcopacy notwithstanding that many Bishops were but men yet some yea many nay I hope the most of them especially since the Reformation were as Mortall Angels Faithfull Pastors and Venerable Fathers There are upon account reckoned up by Bishop Godwin and others 1479. Bishops in England and Wales for above 1100. yeares of which time some Histories remaine though Bishops were long before but of these there are some Records both before and since the Reformation Who will wonder that in so great an harvest in so large a field there be found some light some empty some blasted eares This is certaine that till these last tempestuous times Bishops in England had given so ample and constant experiments of their Prudence Piety Worth and Usefulness in all Ages and States for Ecclesiasticall and Civil Affaires that they did abundantly conciliate and conserve those great measures of Love Respect Honour and Estate both publick and private which their Persons and Function by Law enjoyed Insomuch that as there were no where to be found better Bishops so no where had they better entertainment before and since the Reformation while they enjoyed the favour of Princes and the love of Parlaments who never heretofore listned to the plebeian envy or petulancy of those who sometime petitioned and prated against Bishops and Episcopacy as Diotrephes did against St. John The Wisdome Gravity Piety and Honor of this Nation never thought it worthy of them to overthrow so Venerable so Usefull so Ancient so Catholick so Honorable an Order meerly to gratifie the peevishnesse or passion or revenge or discontent or ambition or envy of inferiour people or inferiour Presbyters who were at their best every way when kept in compasse by wise Bishops No men heretofore never so much fly-blown with faction could so far prevaile by their insinuations and agitations as to have any Vote passed in England against Episcopacy all men of Learning Gravity and Prudence for these thousand yeares and more in England as in all Christian States owned and highly reverenced as Episcopacy in generall so good Bishops as the chief Conduits that had conveyed to them their Fore-father and their Children all Christian Ministry and Ministrations all Christian Mysteries and Comforts yea Christianity and Christ himself Which Spirituall Divine Eternall and Inestimable blessings this as other Nations and Churches ever owed as chiefly to Gods mercy so instrumentally to the hands of Bishops by whose Ministry they were taught by whose Authority they had many other Ministers duly ordained and sent into the harvest when it was great and required many Labourers These in their order assisted as Presbyters their respective Bishops in Teaching and Governing the Church but without or against their Bishops they never acted upon any account of Parochiall or Congregationall pretentions of Ministers Equality or peoples Immunity and Liberty Alas what ground was there for either of these pretenders in England when there were no Parishes divided as now they are till the yeare of Christ 634. when Honorius an Archbishop of Canterbury began that way for the more easie and orderly carrying on of Religion among the Country-people who had now generally received the Christian faith and Baptisme Till then the Pagani or Country-people either repaired to their Bishops and his Clergy in the Cities and chief Townes where they resided or they occasionally attended their Bishops in their visitations of them or such Presbyters as were sent out by the Bishops to officiate among them There was then no fancy nor many hundred yeares after of any petty Churches either of Associated Presbyters or Independent people without yea against the Episcopall Ordination Inspection and Jurisdiction still Bishops and Episcopacy were preserved and honored in England And this not onely by private persons of all ranks and qualities who were considerable for their honesty or Devotion but by our most admired Princes our noblest Peers our wisest Parlaments who did ever keep up the use and honor of Episcopacy in England nor did they ever disdaine to have Bishops their Assessors and Assistants in Parlaments esteeming it a rustick and plebeian temper to admit men to publick Counsel and Honors for their Valour and Estates and not for their Learning and Religion by which all worthy Bishops did as much ennoble themselves in all wise mens esteem if they wanted that of blood and descent which many of them had as those who most swelled in the conceit of their great Ancestors who left them great noble Estates but many times ignoble minds little wits and lesse honesty or vertue which hath been the fate of some who have most puffed against Episcopacy and despised those Bishops who were in all Morall Rationall Religious and reall Excellencies not their equalls but far their betters What Prince was ever more sage in her Counsel or more solemn in her Government more advised in her favours and frownes than our Augusta Queen Elizabeth what Soveraigne ever more reconciled Empire and Liberty or held the balances of Justice more impartially and more prosperously between all interests and degrees of men both in Church and State between Clergy and Laity Nobility and Communalty for neer half an hundred yeares In all which time she had no greater blemish than her yielding sometime too much to the sacrilegious importunities of begging Courtiers who terribly fleeced and sometimes flayed the Estates of some Bishopricks in England and Wales not so much out of her malice or covetousness as out of her mistaken munificence For never any Prince did more really religiously and constantly honor her Bishops as Fathers in God one of whom She had for her God-Father namely Archbishop Cranmer another I think it was Archbishop Whitgift she called her black Husband most-what
preferring such men to be Bishops as were worthiest of her favour fittest for Gods the Churches and her Majesties service Did this wise Princesse ever listen to the insinuations pretentions petitions and charmes of those men in her daies who so much importuned and molested the publick peace and patience by their despite against Episcopacy and their scurrility against Bishops Some of them possibly might be well-meaning men but I take the best of them to have been popular and superstitious in this point others very pragmatick and juvenile none of them were any great Polititians while they would either have no Church-Government with any Eminency or wholly reduce it to such a parity as they designed for their ambitions which would have made themselves and all the Clergy as at this day more divided and despicable than ever they could have been under Bishops though Bishops had had no more power than an High-Constable or a Country-Justice Besides this the simplicity of those zealous men in those daies who most maligned Episcopacy and disparaged the Church of England having been terribly scared by some Popish Bishops in Queen Maries daies whose sad pictures still frighted them in the Book of Martyrs did then by their needless Divisions Distractions Oppositions and Separations greatly advance the Papall interests as learned Mr. Cambden wisely observes writing of the contests between Archbishop Whitgift and Mr. Cartwright with his Associates whose unhappy Successors could we see never carry on their designes now at last but with the infinite troubles miseries of this Church and State by which they have advanced their Presbytery in England so little so not at all that never any men got so little or lost so much by so dear a bargaine which cost not onely much money but much blood many lives many soules and many sins After this renowned Queen had left Episcopacy not onely standing but fixed and flourishing in England to the content and happiness of the most and best of her Subjects in Court and Country in Parlaments and out of them King James succeeded as supreme Governour in Church and State What Christian King was ever crowned with more learning and a larger heart in all Knowledge Divine and Humane Ecclesiastical and Civil This Prince had been nursed with the milk of Presbytery he had been long dipped and dyed in Presbytery if any sure this King might have seen at least fancied the beauty that Presbytery added either to the Reformed Religion or the Imperial purple His education by Buchanan and his castigations by Mr. Knox and others might in all probability have much devoted him to Presbytery and prejudiced him against Episcopacy of which I believe he seldomer heard one good word than he did Faction Treason and Rebellion from those warmer Presbyters who as his swadling-clouts so straitly wrapped him up in his minority that he could hardly fetch his breath with freedom yea and in his majority too when they made themselves as his chains and fetters to bind Princes as all men to their good behaviour Yet notwithstanding these Presbyterian Prepossessions for so many years did not this great Monarch heartily rejoyce when he came to a Church handsomly and honourably governed by learned grave orderly and venerable Bishops the onely Catholick Government of all Churches of which he had read so much and so much good in the Ecclesiastical Histories and nothing of any other Was it not an infinite content to him to see himself freed from the vexatious Thistles and provoking Thornes of some Presbyterians in Scotland for others were grave and modest men that he might enjoy the fair and sweet Roses of Sharon such Bishops as had ever been the chiefest flowers in the Garden of Christs Church Was he ever satisfied untill he had reduced the Kirk of Scotland from some Presbyterian extravagancies to such Episcopal Order and Constancy as was indeed very excellent and neerest to the primitive pattern of paternall Presidency fraternal Assistance and filial Submission But few people are ever so happy as to know and value their own happiness When this great work was done of restoring Episcopacy to so ancient a Church as Scotland was and confirming it in England contrary to the vain hopes childish presumptions and self flatteries of some popular men who could never with reason expect that so learned and wise a Prince as K. James would exchange the Ark of God for Dagon Episcopacy for Presbytery did he not as seriously triumph in the blessed alteration of his Ecclesiastical Station as he did to remove his habitation from and extend his dominion beyond that Hyperborean horrour of Scotland to this Southern sweetnesse and amaenity of England These things thus well setled as to the Order and Honour of the Church of Christ in his Dominions although this King were a Prince of most profuse and indeed prodigious munificence thinking no Epithet became a King lesse as Tully sayes of Deiotarus than that of homo frugi thrifty or illiberall yet did he never incline to devour the Churches patrimony to keep the Episcopall Seates vacant that he might enjoy the Revenues He once refused the offer of Cathedral Lands which some had projected as very feisable because as a grave Bishop then suggested to him God was twice every day publickly and solemnly worshipped in every Cathedrall and his Majesty there publickly prayed for in his greatest necessities whatever hunger seised his royall appetite in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sharpest famine of his Exchequer yet he never waking or sleeping thought of Confiscating Church-Lands or making Bishops to be superstitious or superfluous in the Church because his condition was necessitious No whatever failings as a man that Prince had yet as a King and a Christian he had this justice and generosity to preserve the honor of Bishops and the Rights of the Clergy Indeed as he was the greatest Scholar of a King in all the world so he was as great a patron of good Scholars as the world had Nor will those that have most quarrelled the Memory and Reigne of King James easily mend the condition of Church or State which he left in Peace Plenty and Safety Nor was it so much policy or reason of State as strength of true Reason and the prevalencies of true Religion which so counterbiassed that Kings judgement against Presbytery as a partial popular novelty or confirmed him in Episcopacy as an Apostolick and Catholick Antiquity between which he thought there was no more compare as to Church-Government than there is between the Majesty of goodly Lions and the subtilty of little Foxes After this great pattern of King James whose learned arguments were more prevalent than his arms in Religion followed his unfortunate Son the last King who amidst all his reproches and improsperities cannot be denyed this Honour than he seemed not inferiour to any King that ever lived in his regard to the Churches ancient Order Estate and Honour although few Princes ever sustained
upon this Church for want of that vigor and authority of Episcopacy which had been the great defense under God the King and the Laws against those foul and filthy inundations A state of Church-religion and Reformation which his Majesty saw was at present and was ever likely to be far distant from that which was enjoyed in England under his Princely Predecessors and in some part of his own reign when England was filled and overflowed with good Christians good Scholars good Presbyters and good Bishops of which order England ever afforded and specially since the Reformation so many learned and commendable yea some rare and admirable instances Insomuch that this Church had cause to envie none in the World ancient or modern as for other things so for this the blessing of excellent Bishops as well as orderly Presbyters and sincere Christians Indeed no Nation for many Ages if we may feel the temper of any people by the pulse of their Parlaments either had more cause or seemed to have more disposition to value and actually did venerate its excellent Bishops than England did yea I have known those Noblemen Gentlemen Ministers and other people who were as to some Ceremonies less satisfied or more scrupulous than the Church and State was yet these men how have they commended how courted how almost adored such Bishops as they thought godly and grave good Preachers and good Livers as well as good Governours But as to the general sense and vote of the Nation which was audible and legible in its Laws and Constitutions for above a thousand years it ever did it self this honour and its Clergy this justice that no where in any Christian or Reformed Church Bishops were more ample more remarkable more reverenced more honoured even to the highest honour of Peerage yea the Archbishop of Canterbury had place next the Royal Blood never diminished or degraded by any Prince or by any Parlament in any Age. Nor is it the least of the Riddles of Providence how Bishops and Episcopacy having so resolute a Prince and so great a King to be their patron and protector should now in England fall under so great diminution dejection yea utter destruction considering that there never had been worthier Bishops in any time of the Church than have been in England this last Century nor in any part of that Century were there more excellent Bishops than were to be found among them at that very time when all their Palaces with Episcopacy were pull'd down about their ears and the best of them buried in the dust and rubbidge by which some men hope that the Names Merits and Memories of all Bishops and the ancient honour of Episcopacy shall be for ever smothered in obscurity or obloquie in scorn or oblivion whose Resurrection Reputation and Eternity as to their deserved honour and to the publick honour of this Church and Nation ever since it was Christian and ceased to be either barbarous or unbelieving I do here endeavour which if I cannot recover to life â—et I have brought these pounds of Spice and sweet Odours for the Enterrement and leave a fair Inscription or Epitaph upon the Grave-stone or Monument of Episcopacy if it must be ever buried in England an Office of Piety in a Son to his Fathers being my self a Person every way as free from suspicion of flattery or partiality as can well be found never either injured or obliged by any Bishop as to any publick advantages further than my Ordination as a Minister which I count a great and holy Obligation because by no other hands I conceive I could have lawfully received Holy Orders in the Church of England Free therefore from all biassings either for against the Episcopal Order which hath now no sinister temptations attending it I do affirm that Episcopacy could never have fallen into its terrible Fits and Convulsions into such excessive and mortal Agonies in a worse time as to the undeserved ruine of so many worthy men nor yet in a better time as to the eminent worth of those Bishops and other Church-men of their subordination who might well have born up the Cause and Honour as well as the weight of the Contest and Ruine of Episcopacy A wise man would wonder how in a full free and fair hearing before competent complete and impartial Judges it was possible for Episcopacy which was founded and supported by so strong foundations and supports to which all Churches all People all Presbyters all Princes all right Reason all due Order all politick Honour all Scriptural Patterns and Divine Precedents gave concurrent ayds besides the Laws and ancient Customs of this Church and State how it should suffer such a rout and reprobation instead of due Reformation where ought was amiss when it was able to bring forth such Armies at that time in England of learned grave godly venerable and incomparable Clergy-men Bishops and others of their perswasion which like so many Heroes and Atlasses were capable to have born up the falling Skie if it had not been over-charged with the Sins of the Nation Doubtless the whole world did not afford in any National Church more excellent Bishops or more able Divines for any Ecclesiastical Convocation Synod or Council singly they were mighty men both of Stature Vertue and Valour higher by head and shoulders than most of the Presbyterian Champions but socially they had been invincible if they had not been encountred with the sword which regarded not the greatness of their Learning or the soundness of their Judgements or the gravity of their Ages or the sanctity of their Lives but jealous of their firmness to Episcopacy presently set up a new Assembly no way representing because not chosen by the Clergy of England according to the wonted custom in which the Clergy of England had their priviledges as well as the Commons of England to chuse their Deputies according to Law and the Kings Commission yet these were to do the Journey-work of Presbytery as well as they could in broken times undertaking to Directorize to Unliturgize to Catechize and to Disciplinize their Brethren their Fathers their Countrymen and their Soveraign without any contradiction there being none among them that either would or could or dared to plead the cause of primitive Episcopacy which had so resolute a patron and so many able defenders at that time in England as among the inferiour Clergy so among those of the Episcopal Degree Among whom we have onely to excuse the indiscretions frailties defects or excesses of two or three later Bishops who possibly forgat the Counsel of Phoebus to use lesse stimulations and more restrictions Do but consider with compassion the great temptations of these Bishops by that favour place and power they had besides their native tempers which might be too quick and passionate also the Scholastick privacy and bluntness of their education not having taught them so well to dissemble at least not to moderate their passions take all together
be destroyed by vermine as that brave man Simon of Sudbury Archbishop of Canterbury was whom the rabble at seven or eight blowes hacked in pieces A valiant man will not cry out for assistance when he is to encounter with his match but if many beasts of the people unprovoked run upon him he may without cowardise call for succour where he thinks it may be had Such was the case of those Bishops at that time when they not onely fancied but actually found promiscuous and rude heapes of people not onely threatning but offering indignities to their persons as well as to their place and function through whose sides they saw the malice and insolency of such Riotous Reformers sought to strike at the whole frame and constitution of the Church of England which they as all good men had great cause to value more than their lives if they might lay them down in an orderly deliberate way not in a tumultuary and confused fashion Whatever miscarriage those Bishops were guilty of in that particular yet I am sure it was somewhat excusable by the greater Misdemeanor of those who gave them occasion so to complaine Nor doth it any way blemish that excellency which in their more calme and composed actions they did discover worthy of themselves and their Predecessors to whom Erasmus long agoe in Archbishop Warhams daies gave this commendation that England of all Churches had learned Bishops I will not go beyond the Reformation of Religion to find worthy Bishops in England it may suffice here to register some of the well-known names of them which possibly the vulgar never heard of though men of reading and breeding cannot be ignorant of them What was more gentle ingenuous and honest-hearted than Archbishop Cranmer whose native facility made him in rough times lesse fixed till he came to be tyed to the stake of Martyrdome where he took a severe revenge on his inconstancy by burning his right hand first but his sincere though fraile heart was unburned amidst his ashes What was more down-right good than Bishop Latimer who joyed to sacrifice his now decrepit body upon so holy an account as the Truth of Christ What was more holy than Bishop Hooper or more resolute than Bishop Ridley What more severely yea morosely good than Bishop Farrar All of them Martyrs for true Religion by whose fires it was fully refined from the Romane Idolatry drosse and superstition This foundation laid by such gracious and glorious Martyr Bishops in England God was pleased to build a superstructure worthy of it in other most worthy Bishops even to our daies Time would faile me to give every one of them their just Character It may suffice to place an Asterisk of honor to some of their names What man had more Christian gravity than Archbishop Parker who had more humble piety than Archbishop Grindall who more Christian Candor Courage and Charity than Archbishop Whitgift who overcame his enemies by wel-doing and patience deservedly using that triumphant Christian Motto Vincit qui patitur Who had more of pious prudence and commendable policy than Archbishop Bancroft who did many Ministers good that never thanked him for it Who had more of an honorable gravity and all vertues than Archbishop Abbot to whom I may joyne his brother Bishop of Salisbury All these were as chief of the Fathers Metropolitanes of Canterbury Primates of all England as to Ecclesiasticall Order and Jurisdiction according to the ancient pattern of the Church of Christ in all Ages and places Nor were the Archbishops of York inferiour to them such as Sandes Hutton Matthewes and others men of great and good spirits Learned Industrious Hospitable Charitable good Preachers good Livers and good Governours After these came those other Bishops who were equal to them in Gifts Graces and Episcopal Power but so far inferior to them in Precedency and some Jurisdiction as the good Order and Polity of the Church required No Age or History of the Church can shew in any one Century a more goodly company of Bishops than here I could reckon up To omit many that were worthy of honourable remembrance who had been some of them Confessors and Sufferers others constant professors of the true reformed Religion these I may not smother in silence without sacriledge robbing God of his glory this Church of its honour and these Bishops of their deserved praises most of whose works do yet speak for them and loudly upbraid the ingratitude of those that cast dead flies of indignities upon such Bishops whose names are as a pretious Oyntment poured out What was ever more pretious more resplendent in any Church than Bishop Jewel for Learning for Judgement for Modesty for Humility for all Christian Gifts and Graces What one or many Presbyters ever deserved so well of this Church and the Reformed Religion as this one Bishop did whom God used as a chosen arrow against the face of the enemies of this Church and the Reformed Religion What man had more of the Majesty of goodnesse and Beauty of holinesse than Bishop King Who was more venerable than Bishop Cooper though much molested by factious and unquiet spirits Who had more ampleness and compleateness for a good Man a good Christian a good Scholar a good Preacher a good Bishop than Bishop Andrews a man of an astonishing excellency both at home and abroad How shall I sufficiently express the learned and holy Elegancie of Bishop Lake whose Sermons are so many rare Gems or the holy Industry and modest Piety of Bishop Babington Or the Nobleness by Grace by Gifts by Birth and by Life of Bishop Montacute How acutely profound are the Disputes and Decisions of Bishop White How full of equanimity moderation was Bishop Overall How clear compendious and exact was Bishop Davenant How fragrant and florid are the Writings as â—â—s the Life of Bishop Field whose Labours God did bless with the Dew of Heaven he long agoe asserting the honour of this Church by an unanswerable Vindication What can be more beautiful for Learning Judgement and Integrity than Bishop Bilson whose excellent works if some in England had more studied they had not so easily opposed the perpetual Government of the Church which he proves to be Episcopacy Was there any man more Saintly than Bishop Felton who had been a good Patron to some Ministers that since have helped to destroy his Order What could be more devout and thankful to God than Bishop Carleton who hath erected a fair pillar of Gratitude for the remembrance of Gods mercies to this Church and State How commendable for ever will the learned Industry of Bishop Godwin appear to impartial Posterity who hath with equal fidelity diligence and eloquence preserved the History of our English Bishops for above a thousand yeares from oblivion Nothing was beyond the couragious and consciencious freedom of Bishop Sinhouse whose eloquent tongue and honest heart were capable to over-awe a Court and to make Courtiers modest
Adde to all these the famous Bishop Hall who had in him all that was desirable in an excellent Bishop for Learning Meekness Patience Peaceableness his eloquence both in speaking and writing was transcendent yet the least of his excellencies Lest any rust or soyl should grow upon so great graces and abilities he was among other Bishops polished by the Grindstones and roughnesse of these times yea there wanted not to his dying day some men who gave him a greater lustre by their insolencies Who had ever more of the Dove and lesse of the Serpent then Bishop Potter a man severely good and conscienciously not factiously scrupulous in some things but not as to Episcopacy What shall I speak of the Meekness and Tender-heartedness of Bishop West field who frequently softned his auditors hearts not onely with his excellent Sermons but his unaffected tears yet was he forc'd among other Bishops to lye down in sorrow though no doubt he now reaps in joy Nothing was more mild modest and humble yet learned eloquent and honest than Bishop Winniffe I conclude this goodly Regiment of Church-colonels of Ecclesiastical Rulers of venerable Bishops with Bishop Prideaux who was a Miscellany or Encyclopaedy of all Learning after he had by many years diligence honoured the Divinity-professors Chair and the University of Oxford together with the Nation by his vast pains and was deservedly made a Bishop though somewhat too late he was at last so squeezed to nothing by the iron hand of our times that he had nothing left to maintain himself and his children but dying bequeathed them Piety and Poverty as their Legacy May we not cry out as he did of old Bone Deus c. Blessed God to what times hast thou reserved us what terrors hast thou shewed us If it be thus done in the fruitful sound and green trees what will be done with those that are hollow barren and rotten dry twice dead and pulled up by the rootes All these Heroes of Learning and Religion these renowned Bishops the honor of Episcopacy the glory of this Church the just boasting of this Nation together with many others have some long since some of late dyed in the Lord and are at rest from the sore Labour and travells they in the evening of their lives met with under the Sun Many of them were exhausted distressed despised destroyed as to all worldly enjoyments yet not miserable not so afflicted as to be forsaken of God or despairing of Gods mercies though they found little from man Nor is the English world heretofore so full so famous so flourishing with rare Bishops as yet so drained but there are some such left as are worthy to bring on the Reare and close up this gallant Troop of gowned Generals and mitred Commanders If I might without offence to the Modesty and Gravity of such Bishops as are yet living and best known to me I would tell the erring and ingratefull Age that as it was said of Gonsalvo whom Guicciardine calls the great Captaine an Age is scarce able to breed or match such a Scholar such a Writer such a Bishop as Bishop Morton is A most illustrious and invaluable Jewell yet shut up now in a little box a great and rich Vessel driven in his old Age to a small harbour where his safety is tenuity and obscurity Nor may I give a lesse tender touch of Dr. Juxon whose modesty fidelity and exactness was such that when he bare the great envy of being at once a Lord Bishop of London and Lord Treasurer of England yet he never had blame for either of them his Government as a Bishop was gentle benigne paternal his managing of the Treasury was such that he served his Prince faithfully satisfied all his friends and silenced all his enemies of which he had enough as a Bishop though as a man he was so meek and inoffensive that I think he could contract no enmities with any Some men wished they might have oftner heard him preach and truly I was one of those not onely because preaching was so much in fashion at London but because that City needed good preaching and was to be much taken by it Nor could any preacher in my judgement exceed the Bishop of London I confesse I never heard any man with more pleasure and profit so much he had of Paul and Apollos of a Learned plainenesse and a usefull elaboratenesse when he preached of Mortification of Repentance and other Christian practicks he did it with such a stroke of unaffected eloquence of potent demonstration and irresistible conviction that few Agrippa's or Festus's or Felixe's that heard but must needs for the time and fit be almost perswaded to be penitent and mortified Christians I will yet be so modestly and honestly impudent as to mention two or three Bishops yet living not because I know them but because they are worthy to be known loved and honored by all good men Such as Dr. Duppa the Bishop of Salisbury a person of singular Prudence and Piety equally Grave and Good Learned and Religious so eminent in many things that he is worthy to be not onely a Tutor to a Prince but a Counsellour to a King and no lesse to be a Bishop in the Church of Christ. Next I crave leave to mention Bishop King of whom I need say no more but that I think him a Son worthy of such a Father I cannot forbeare to conclude all with a mighty man Dr. Brownrig Bishop of Excester whose name and presence was once very Venerable to many Ministers while they were orderly Presbyters now he is a dread and terror to them since they are become Presbyterians or Independents such Grassehoppers they seem in their own eyes in comparison of his puissance who so filled the Doctors Chaire in Cambridge and the Pulpit in place where he lived and had filled his Diocese had he been permitted to do the office of a Bishop that it would have been hard to have routed Episcopacy if he had sooner stood in the gap being justly esteemed among the Giantly or Chiefest Worthies of this Age for a Scholar an Orator a Preacher a Divine and a prudent Governour so much mildnesse there is mixed with Majesty and so much generosity with gentleness But I earnestly beg his Lordships and the others pardon since the iniquity of the times have compelled me thus far to transgresse as to commend such persons yet living who though most commendable yet are in nothing more than this that they are more pleased to deserve than to heare their just commendation the best consciences being alwaies attended with the most tender modest and blushing foreheads But I will trespasse no further CHAP. XXIII BUt thus far I have set forth the worth of some I am sure of our English Bishops even in those dayes which damned them all that the world may see upon what mens heads the total ruine of Episcopacy and all Cathedral Churches have faln how there wanted
fatter than Presbytery or had a better fleece and therefore was fitter for a sacrifice O no but Presbytery they say is a plant of Jesus Christs which Episcopacy is not and therefore to be weeded out Truly it may as well be said by the partiall Presbyterian that the seventy Disciples were of Jesus Christs appointment but the twelve Apostles were not that God created the lesser Stars and Planets but not the Sun and Moon that God made people but not Princes that he formed the feet and hands but not the eyes and heads of naturall bodies This is the great question which is not to be thus begged or supposed but should have been solidly proved before judgement had been so severely passed against Episcopacy we should have seen the time and place when and where Episcopacy usurped when and where Presbyters ruled in this or any Church by way of parity without any Bishop President or Apostle above them The constant streame of this Jordan which hath flowed from the first springs and fountaines of Christianity ever flowing and over-flowing in the Catholick Church this should have been miraculously divided before that Presbytery should have boasted of its passing over dry-shod and of its drowning all Bishops and all Episcopacy as the Egyptians in a Red Sea between the returnings and closings of the waters of Independency and Presbytery Whenas it is well known even by their own confessions that have any graines of Learning in them that Presbyters were ever as Cyphers in all Churches insignificant as to Church-Government without Bishops being set over them and before them as Capitall Figures Bishops were ever esteemed as the chief Captaines of the Lords host in this Militant State principall Stewards of Christs House-hold head-shepherds of his flock the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 first-ordained and first-ordainers of the Evangelicall Ministry the first consecrators and distributers of all sacred mysteries the prime Conservators and Actors of all Ecclesiasticall Authority These were in all Ages next the Scriptures the Churches chiefest-Oracles and Interpreters these were the grand Divines in all Times and Places not superficially armed with light armour onely for the preaching or Homilisticall flourishes of a Pulpit but with the weighty and complete armour of veterane and valiant souldiers who were to stand in the fore-front of the Lords Battailes to receive the first charge and impressions from the Churches enemies of their force cunning and malice these were the fairest transcripts or Copies of Apostolicall Mission and Evangelicall Commission these were the great Magazins of sound and vast Learning these the Centers Refuges Sanctuaries Succour of both Ministers and people in all Churches these gave as holy Orders to Presbyters and Deacons so decent Ceremonies to all the Church also fatherly Counsels and friendly incouragements to all worthy Ministers when young and novices weak and defective when fearfull and dejected these gave Vigour and Authority to that Discipline which was necessary to punish and repress scandalous livers these these worthy Bishops such as we had good store in England even now at the last cast were the Chariots and horse-men of Israel these alwaies by the help of God recovered the Ark of God after the Philistines had taken it these recollected the flocks of Christ after they had been worried and scattered by grievous wolves and foxes being persons of more publick influence of more eminent example of larger hearts and greater spirits commonly than most or any private Ministers most mens spirits shrinking with the tenuity of their place and condition and enlarging with the ampleness of them God usually giving of that spirit of Government and Authority to those that are placed justly in it as he did to Moses Aaron Joshua Saul David Samuel and others both Princes and Prelates Judges and Magistrates who but equal it may be to inferiour persons in sanctifying Gifts and Graces as the Bishops of England might be to the many godly Presbyters yet in this they exceeded them not because placed above them in worldly Place and secular Honour but because they from the Apostles pattern were particularly appointed and commissioned by the Church of Christ and so fitted to execute those eminent Offices of Church-government in Ordination and Jurisdiction beyond what was ever given to any Presbyters without their Bishops Having then such a cloud of Witnesses both at home and abroad of former and latter times by which to justifie the deserved eminency of Episcopacy and to condemn the insolency of Presbytery I cannot forbear with St. Paul to demand in the behalf of our worthy English Bishops who have been so distrusted so discountenanced so dejected so despised so desolated so depressed Wherein did they come short of the very best of those Presbyters who were known sufficiently to my self who hâ—â—e so studiously sought their ruine and so ambitiously usurped against them Were Presbyters good Preachers so were Bishops Were Presbyters able Writers Bishops were more Were Presbyters zealous Opposers of Popery so were Bishops Were Presbyters devout Men so were Bishops Were Presbyters unblameable Livers so were Bishops Were Presbyters Martyrs and Confessors so were Bishops Were Presbyters Instruments for a just and orderly Reformation of Religion Bishops were more Were Presbyters useful to Church and State by word and example in their petty Parishes Bishops were more in their primitive Parishes or larger Dioceses which were long known and of force in the Church of Christ before lesser Parishes were in use or in being Were Presbyters hospitable and charitable without which all Religion Faith and Fervency is nothing Bishops were more equal in their Affections beyond them in their Liberalities as much as their Revenues Are Presbyters that were able faithful humble and orderly gone to Heaven so no doubt through Gods mercy are those holy Bishops who have been cast upon Dunghills as Lazarus and Job by the cacozelotry of some men in our times who have so much houted and outed despised and destroyed them Many Presbyters have done well and learnedly but many Bishops have exceeded them all who were so far from losing or abating the Gifts and Graces they had when but Presbyters that they increased them and improved them when made Bishops above other Presbyters who were then at their best when they most kept within that place and station in which God and the Church and the Laws and their own proportions had set them in an holy and humble a rational and religious a pious and prudent subordination to their respective Bishops as their lawful Superiours and reverend Fathers whose names are and ever will be pretious to all those that understand what belongs to excellent Learning to eminent Vertue to Christian Courage to admirable Patience to what is Primitive Catholick and complete in the Order Honour Polity Government and Happiness of the Church of Christ No Learned or Worthy Writer Forreign or Domestick who can fly above the Parasitisme of popular Pamphlets which will soon be condemned to Chandlers shops to
Darknesse Truth and Falshood Error and sound Doctrine between the Institutions of Christ and the sacrilegious Inventions of Men between the infallible Rule and Oracles of Gods Word in the Scripture and the variable Canons of poor men between the Catholick Custom of pure and Primitive Churches and the particular practises of later Usurpations brought in in the twilight of dark and depraved times These diametral distances ought ever to be preserved by all godly Bishops who may not come neerer to Popery than Popery is neer to Christianity or then Antichristian policies may correspond in some things with Christian piety Which just bounds as far as ever I could understand our pious Bishops in England from the first Reformation till now have religiously observed not one of them much less all deliberately or openly owning any communion with the Church of Rome where they saw the Church of England had made a just clear and necessary separation yea the learned Bishops of England have generally so fully confuted the Falsity Injury and Indignity of that calumny both by their Preaching Writing Living and Dying that men must be blind with despite mad with malice or drunk with passion when they vomit out so foul calumnies against all Bishops and Episcopacy in England as if they were Pandars for Popery and Pimps to the Whore of Babylon for this is the language of some mens oratorious Zeal against our Bishops and all Episcopacy which will in time much more agree with Presbytery and Independency I fear than ever it did with Episcopacy But it wil be demanded of me whence then arose this smoke of Jealousie which was so popular and spread abroad that it made so many pure Eyes to ake and smart yea to grow watry and blood-shotten not onely among the vulgar but even among our greatest Seers and Overseers Was there no fire where there was so great a smoke My Answer is these jealousies of some Bishops and other Ministers who most imitated them being Popishly inclined never had so far as ever I could discern any farther ground than this Some Bishops pleased themselves beyond what was generally practised in England with a more ceremonious conformity than others observed first to the Canons and Injunctions which they thought were yet in force in the Church of England being not repealed but onely antiquated through a general disuse next being aged and learned men and more conversant in the Antiquities of the Church than younger Ministers they found that such ceremonious Solemnities in Religion were then very much used without any sin or scandal no godly Bishop Presbyter or other good Christian ever making scruple of using the sign of the Cross in Baptism and at other times of Bowing Kneeling Prostrating himself or of putting his mouth to the ground and kissing the Pavement when he came to worship God or to celebrate holy Mysteries expressing thereby that Humility Faith Fervency sense of his own sinful Unworthiness and that unfeigned Reverence which he bare in his heart toward God and his Service This I suppose made some of our Bishops hope that they might with the like inoffensivenesse add such Solemnity to Sanctity and such outward Veneration to inward Devotion and yet be as far from Popery or Superstition as the ancient Christians were yea as those Ministers and others now pretend to be who make so much of lifting up their eyes and hands in Prayer or who are pleased to be uncovered in Praying Preaching Singing or Celebrating the Sacraments Besides this many Bishops found a secret genius of Rusticity and Rudenesse of Familiarity and Irreverence strangely prevailing among Country-Preachers and People so far that they saw many of them placed much of their Religion in affecting a slovenly rudenesse and irreverence in all publick and holy Duties loth to kneel not onely at the Sacrament but at any Prayers or to be uncovered at any Duty enemies to any man and prejudiced against all he did if he shewed any ceremonious respect in his serving God They saw some were grown so spiritual that they forgot they had bodies and pretending to approve themselves to God onely as to the inward man they cared not for any thing that was regular exemplary orderly comely or reverent as to the outward celebration in the judgement and appointment of the Church of England Hence some men grew to such great applaudings of themselves as if this were the onely simplicity of the Gospel that they thought every man went about to cut the throat of Reformed Religion who applied any Scissers or Razor to pare off rudeness and rusticity or to trim it to any decency in the outward Ministrations according to what seemed best to the Church of England Many Bishops thought that Religion would grow strangely wild hirsute horrid and incult like Nebuchadnezzars hair and nails if it were left to the boysterous Clowneries and unmannerly Liberties which every one would affect contrary to the publick appointment of the Church If some Bishops pleased themselves in using such outward and enjoyned Ceremonies beyond what was ordinary to some men yet certainly a thousand decent and innocent Ceremonies such as those enjoyned by the Church of England were declared to be do not amount to one Popish Opinion nor are they so heavy as one popular erroneous Principle which tends to Faction Licentiousnesse and Profanenesse Ceremonies may possibly be thought superfluous because not of the substance of the Duty but they are not to be charged as superstitious where the Devotion of the heart is holy and the Duty is sincerely performed for the Essentials of it as it is instituted by Christ enjoyned by the Word of God who hath left the ceremonious part of Religion more or less very much to the prudence of his Church according to the several forms and customs of civil respect and decency used in the world which St. Austin and St. Ambrose with all the Ancients declare placing no further Religion in any Ceremony of humane invention and use than it served aptly to excite or express inward sincerity of Devotion and an outward conformity to the decent customs of any Church Which keeping to the Truth Faith and holy Institutions of Christ for the main were not blameable for that variety of Ceremony which was and might be observed without any damage to Truth or breach of Charity As to the maine charge then that Bishops in England were Popish that is warping from the Reformed Doctrine of the Church of England as it was and is stated opposite to the Romish errors and corruptions I do believe that the Bishops of England were in all Ages since the Reformation and in this last as much removed and as free from Popery as the most rigid censors of them who dare accuse every man for Popish who is not boyled up to the same superstitious height and Ceremonious Antipathy with themselves or who do not presently adopt every mans new fancy opinion and form of Religion though private
forraine and impertinent to us rather than the publick Authority and wisdome of the Church of England in its religious determinations and injunctions which were not more Moderate than Orthodox Orderly and Comely not partaking of the Romish contagion though it did not abhor the Romane or any Christians Communion so far as Rome kept any Communion with Jerusalem I meane with the Primitive Catholick and true Church of Christ I do not pretend to search the hearts of any Bishops nor it may be should I have approved some things which some of them said or did as to the unseasonablenesse rigor and excesse yet this I affirm that those men must have foreheads of flint hearts of brasse and pens of Iron who dare to charge with Popery any one of those excellent Bishops whom I have mentioned with honor besides many more whom I have omitted who better knew the true Medium of Religion and Measures of Reformation between Superstition and Profanenesse Affectation and Irreverence Indevoutnesse and Rudenesse than any of their fiercest opposers and unjust destroyers And since I have thus far undertaken not the Patrociny which is a work far above me but such a parentation at the Funerall of my Fathers as may I hope not misbecome me I shall further adventure to do so much right to some Bishops to whom I was most a stranger as to this foule suspicion of Popery which being first fixed upon them was easily diffused to all the Bishops of England by the wonted spreading of all envious and evil reports which easier find entertainment in mens hearts and tongues than any that are good For these seem to men to lessen themselves by commending others the others help either to cover or excuse mens own faults or to set off their seeming zeal and vertues The first and greatest was the last Archbishop of Canterbury who was by many suspected and charged not onely as Popishly affected himself but as a poysoner of the whole streame and current of the Reformed Religion in England at last he was treated either as a Heretick or a Traitor or both to Church and State It becomes not me to sentence either the sentenced or sentencers that adjudged him to death his and their judgement is with the Lord onely as to the aspersion of his being Popish in his judgement which reflected in the repute and event upon all the Bishops of England truly his own Book may best of any and sufficiently vindicate him to be a very great Antipapist great I say because it seemes by that Learned dispute that he dissented from Popery not upon popular surmises and easie prejudices but very learned and solid grounds which true Reason and Religion make good agreeable to the judgement of the Catholick Church in the purest and best times And in this the Archbishop doth to my judgement so very impartially weigh the state and weight of all the considerable differences between the Papists and the English Protestants not such as are simple futile and fanatick but learned serious and sober that he neither gratifies the Romanist nor exasperates him beyond what is just neither warping to a novel and needless super-reformation which is a deformity on the right hand nor to a sub-reformation which is a deformity on the left but keeping that golden Meane which was held by the Church of England and the greatest defenders of it As to his secret designe of working up this Church by little and little to a Romish conformity and captivity I do not believe he had any such purpose or approved thought because besides his declared judgement and conscience I find no secular policy or interest which he could thereby gaine either private or publick but rather lose much of the greatnesse and freedome which he and other Bishops with the whole Church had without which temptation no man in charity may be suspected to act contrary to so cleare convictions so deliberate and declared determinations of his conscience and judgement in Religion as the Archbishop expresses in that very excellent Book I am indeed prone to think that possibly He wished there could have been any faire close or accommodation between all Christian Churches the same which many grave and learned men have much desired And it may be his Lordship thought himself no unfit instrument to make way for so great and good a work considering the eminencies of parts power and favour which he had Haply he judged as many learned and moderate men have that in some things between Papists and Protestants differences are made wider and kept more open raw and sore than need be by the private pens and passions of some men and the interests of some little parties whose partial policies really neglect the publick and true interest of the Catholick Church and Christian Religion which consists much in peace as well as in purity in charity as in verity he found that where Papists were silenced and convinced in the more grand and pregnant disputes that they are novel partial and unconforme to the Catholick Church in ancient times as in the Cup withdrawing in the peremptory defining of Transubstantiation in publick Latine prayers such as common people understand not what is prayed or said in praying to Angels and Saints in worshipping Reliques and Images with divine worship in challenging of a Primacy of Divine Power and Jurisdiction to the Bishop of Rome over all in their adding Apocryphall Bookes to the proper and ancient Canon of the Scripture in their forbidding marriage to the Clergy and the like when in these points the Romanists were tired discountenanced and convinced then he found they recovered spirits and contested afresh against the unreasonable transports violences and immoderations of some professing to be Protestants who to avoid Idolatry and Superstition run to sacriledge and rudeness in Religion denying many things that are just honest safe true and reasonable meerly out of an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 excessive Antipathy to Papists Hence some are run so far that they will have as no materiall Churches built or used or consecrated so no Liturgy never so sound solemn and easie to be understood so as no Bishops never so holy and Orthodox so no Ministers rightly ordained by them no orderly Ceremonies or decent Rites whatsoever used by the Papists though they first had these from those Churches which were yet beautifull and pure in their Primitive health and integrity The truth is it would make a wise man mad to fall under the sinister censures and oppressions of all vulgar opinions who still urge in things indifferent that unsociableness which is between light and darkness truth and error Reformation and Superstition never suspecting themselves for superstitious in being so Anticeremonious Antiliturgicall and Antiepiscopall nor are they jealous lest any thing that hath the heat of their zeal might want the light of true judgement and be like a Taylors goose or pressing iron hot and heavy enough but neither bright nor light neither seeing nor
shining Truly I find the calmeness and gravity of sober mens judgements is prone to improve much by Age Experience Reading of the Ancients hereby working out that juvenile leaven and lee which is prone to puffe up and work over younger spirits and lesse decocted tempers in their first fervors and agitations Possibly the Archbishop and some other Bishops of his mind did rightly judge that the giving an enemy faire play by just safe and honorable concessions was not to yield the cause or conquest to him but the more to convince him of his weakness when no honest yieldings could help him any more than they did indamage the true cause or courage of his Antagonist For my part I think the Archbishop of Canterbury was neither Calvinist nor Lutheran nor Papist as to any side and partie but all so far as he saw they agreed with the Reformed Church of England either in fundamentalls or innocent and decent superstructures yet I believe he was so far a Protestant and of the Reformed Religion as he saw the Church of England did protest against the Errors Corruptions Usurpations and Superstitions of the Church of Rome or against the novel opinions and practises of any party whatsoever And certainly he did with as much Honor as Justice so far own the Authentick Authority Liberty and Majesty of the Church of England in its Reforming and Setling of its Religion that he did not think fit any private new Masters whatever should obtrude any Forraine or Domestick Dictates to her or force her to take her Copy of Religion from so petty a place as Geneva was or Francfort or Amsterdam or Wittenberg or Edenborough no nor from Augsburg or Arnheim nor any Forraine City or Town any more than from Trent or Rome none of which had any Dictatorian Authority over this great and famous Nation or Church of England further than they offered sober Counsels or suggested good Reasons or cleared true Religion by Scripture and confirmed it by good Antiquity as the best interpreter and decider of obscure places and dubious cases Nor did his Lordship esteem any thing as the voice of the Church of England which was not publickly agreed to and declared by King and Parlament according to the advice and determinate judgement of a Nationall Synod and lawfull Convocation convened and approved by the chief Magistrate which together made up the complete Representative the full sense and suffrage of the Church of England His Lordship no doubt thought it as indeed it is a most pedling partiall and mechanick way of Religion for any Church or Nation once well setled to be swayed and tossed to and fro by the private opinions of any men whatsoever never so godly contrary to Publick Nationall and Ecclesiasticall Constitutions which carried with them as infinitely more Authority so far more maturity prudence and impartiality of Counsel than was to be found or expected by any wise men in any single person or in any little juncto's of Assemblies or select Committees of Lay-men whatsoever And truly in this I am so wholly of his Lordships opinion that I think we haâ—e in nothing weakned and disparaged more our Religion as Reformed in England than by listning too much to and crying up beyond measure private Preachers or Professors be they what they will for their grace gifts or zeal who by popular insinuations here and there aime to set up with great confidence their own or other mens pious it may be I am sure presumptuous novelties against the solemn and publick Constitutions or determinations of such a Church as England was These these agitations and adherencies have undermined our Firmeness and Unity by insensible degrees What was Luther or Calvin or Zuinglius or Knox or Beza or Cartwright or Baines or Sparkes or Brightman not to disparage the worth which I believe was really in any of them or their Disciples to be put into the balance against the whole Church of England when it had once Reformed and setled it self to its content by joynt Counsel publick consent and supreme Authority Which hath had in all Ages and eminently since the Reformation both Bishops and other Ministers of its Communion no way singly inferiour to the best of those men and joyntly far beyond them all whose concurrent judgment and determination I would an hundred times sooner follow than all much more any one of those men yea possibly I could name some one man whom I might without injury prefer to any one of those fore-named persons such was Melanchthon abroad and such was our Bishop Jewel at home And indeed the Church of England had blessed be God so many such Jewels of her own that she needed not to borrow any little gems from any forreigners nor might any of them without very great Arrogancy Vanity and Imodesty as I conceive seek to strip her of her own Ornaments and impose theirs upon her or her Clergy Which high value it is probable as to his Mother the Church of England and her Constitutions was so potent in the Archbishop of Canterbury that as he thought it not fit to subject her to the insolency of the Church of Rome so nor to the impertinencies of any other Church or Doctor of far less name and repute in the Christian world No doubt his Lordship thought it not handsome in Mr. Calvin to be so far 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rather than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 censorious of the Church of England as to brand its devotion or Liturgy with his tolerabiles ineptiae who knew not the temper of the Nation requiring then not what was absolutely best but most conveniently good and such not onely the Liturgy was but those things which he calls tolerable toyes This charitable sense I suppose I may justly have of this very active and very unfortunate Prelate as he stood at a great distance from me and eminence above me against whom I confess I was prone in my greener years to receive many popular prejudices upon the common report and interpretation of his publick actions In one of which I was never satisfied as to the Piety or Policy of it that when his Lordship endeavoured to commend the Liturgy of England to the Church of Scotland which was a worthy design as to the uniformity of Devotion yet he should affect some such alterations as he might be sure like Coloquintida would make all distastful Such was that in the Prayer of Consecration and Distribution at the Lords Supper which was after the old form of Sarum and expunged by our Reformers as too much favouring Transubstantiation besides some other changes in that and other things of which possibly his Lordship could give a better reason than I can imagine or have yet heard Toward his decline I had occasion to come a little neerer to his Lordship where I wel remember that a few daies after his first confinement when he seemed not at all to despaire of his innocency or safety having
or a vindication from any such aspersion of being either a practical or dogmatical Papist wherewith many have more pleased themselves than proved it against that Bishop But no Net playes with wider wings or larger bosom than that popular Drag which sweeps as it listeth into its bosom all men for Papists Pelagians or Arminians who are not just of some mens private opinions in all things taking what freedomes and latitudes they please themselves in their opinions and actions but allowing none to other men no not in points that admit of dispute without scratching the Conscience violating the true Faith or breaking Christian Charity It is a wonder of wise and just men how this Bishop if he were so evil a doer as was voiced hath not been long agoe publickly heard and sentenced according to his deeds but is punished beforehand by a long imprisonment when as he was committed to prison not as his sentence I think but as his security to be forth-coming at his lawful tryal to which in eighteen years he hath not been brought If then neither of these two Prelates whose eminency and activity drew so many eyes of envy upon them were really popish which was not very probable when they knew the Prince whose favour they injoyed to be so stedfast and able in his judgement against Popery as I have oft heard the Earl of Holland and others affirm I presume the other late Bishops of Engl. upon whom the Tower of Siloam fell may find so much justice and charity as to be freed from that suspicion and not to be thought greater sinners as to that particular than many Presbyterians who joyed most in their destruction Never any of them that ever I heard gave any occasion to be thought a Papist except onely the last Bishop of Glocester Dr. Goodman Vir sui nominis as some report a man of good learning and good life who having suffered in his old age almost to a distraction by the storme and distresses of times which wet many other men to the skin but it stripped off the clothes flayed off the very skins of many Clergymen and all Bishops especially was driven it seems beyond his pace something beyond his patience for thus provoked beyond all measure and merit as he thought by those who much professed Reformation and yet so much in his sense and experience did deform and destroy the Church of England it is no wonder if dying and dejected he chose rather to depart in communion with the Church of Rome than to adhere to the Church of England which as Eliah he thought now decayed and dissolved at least as to its visible Order and Polity if not quite destroyed Not that he owned I hope a communion or Conciliation with the Romane Church as Popish but as far as it was Christian not as erroneous in some things but as Orthodox in many others from which as Bishop Bedel saith no good Christian doth or ought to separate And since we hold Baptism among the Papists to be valid which is the sign of a Christians new birth and first admittance to the Churches Catholick Communion he might hope that dying in that Communion so far as it was Catholick would be no hindrance to his admission to the Church in Heaven At worst it seems his discontent and despair drove him rather to think of returning to the Confines of Egypt where he believed there might be found some Bread of life in an orderly way of House-keeping than to dye in the Wildernesse of a Church which was now howling and starving and self-desolating in his apprehension that as Lots Daughters were so far excusable for their incests with their Father as they believed all men were destroyed besides so may this poor Bishop now made poor when he had been very rich have this to plead for his resting at last in the bosom of the Church of Rome that he knew not any other so visible and conspicuous a Church either fit or worthy or willing to receive one that had so long lived a Protestant and a Bishop in the Church of Engl. and was now no longer permitted either to live or dye either a Protestant or a Bishop according to the constitution of the Church of England from which at its best many of those have more separated themselves living and dying who are the sharpest Censurers of this Bishop for dying a Papist which is but a greater kind of Separatist from the Church of England and the Church Catholick in some Opinions and Practises But I have done with this Bishop who was dying most declared and with the other two who living were most dubious and ambiguous in the censures of the world as to their Religion What their Morals Prudentials or Devotionals were who had so long and so great an influence of power and favour I must leave to the Supreme Judicature of God above them and that subordinate or lower Bench of their Consciences within them If we should take their dimensions by the successes and events truly they have been very unhappy after-Counsels are prone to think it had been easie to have prevented such calamities but the race is not to the swift nor the battail to the strong Though true Piety is alwayes the best Policy yet it is not alwayes attended with Prosperity No doubt the sins of all sorts were ripe for wrath and in common calamities the best may suffer as well as the worst the afflictions of the first being their tryals of the second their punishment My concern is onely to examine the ground of that Charge cast upon them and for their sakes upon all our Reformed Bishops as if ranckly popish as if Prelacy and Popery were no more separable then Gehezies Bribery and his Leprosie which I justifie to be as false a calumny as it is foul and no way becoming the mouths or thoughts of those who aim to judge righteous judgement or consider the account they must give to God of what they say and do in truth or falsity in justice or iniquity This I am sure if our Bishops and many other grave Divines had no inclination to Popery in their Prosperity their Adversity might have been a great temptation to them less to approve that Reformed Religion not for which but from which they have suffered so hard measure as untried and unconvicted to be condemned punished destroyed beyond any men that lived orderly and peaceably CHAP. XXIV THat I may for ever silence the harsh braying and tedious barkings of all Antiepiscopal Pens and Tongues against our Godly Bishops and Venerable Episcopacy which is as much or more an enemie to Popery than either Presbytery or Independency I crave leave to insist a little more largely upon the name worth and memory of one of our Bishops very well known not onely to the British Churches but to all the Christian world that hath any correspondency or commerce with Learned men It is Dr. James Usher
England which pretend to seek a greater light by putting out of Princes Courts and Counsels the chiefest Lamps and Stars of Learning Religion Counsell and Wisdom To returne then to this excellent Bishop and able Counsellour the Primate of Armagh as to his personall policy domestick subtilty or private cautiousness truly he had little enough of the Serpent but as to his harmelesse innocency he had very much of the Dove ever esteeming Piety the best Policy and Sanctity the safest Sanctuary If any thing might seem to have been as a veniall allay in him it was a kind of charitable easieness and credulity which made him prone to hope good of all and loth to believe evil of any especially if they made any Profession or shews of Piety he did not think there could have been so much gall and vinegar mixed with the shewes or realities of some mens graces untill he found by sad experience some Godly people and Presbyters professing much Godliness who formerly were prone to adore him as a God or an Oracle were now ready to stone and destroy him with all his brethren the British Bishops He was most prone to erre on the right hand of charity and to incline to those opinions in things disputable which seemed to set men furthest off from Pride Licenciousness and Profaneness of which he was better able to judge than of Hypocrisie being more jealous of Irreligion than Superstition which is the right hand and more venial extreme of Religion He had not til of late yeares felt the scalding effects of some mens over-boyling zeal or the dreadfull terrors of their righteousness who affected to be over-righteous who despised his Learned Wise and Moderate Counsels touching the setling of Peace Order and Government in the Church The rare endowments of this pattern of a perfect Bishop were both wrapped up and set forth as occasion required with such Tender Piety such Child-like Humility such a Saintly Simplicity such an Harmeless Activity such an Indefatigable Industry such Unfeigned Sanctity such Unaffected Gravity such an Angelick Serenity and such an Heavenly Sweetness as made all his Writings perspicuous though profound his Preaching plaine yet most prevalent He had an Eloquent kind of Thunder of Reason mixed with Scripture-Lightning which together had a pleasing potent terror his praying was fervent and pathetick without affecting either too diffused a variety or too circumscribed an Identity his fervency discretion and sincerity alwaies set his prayers far from any thing either of a verball and vaine repetition or a flat and barren invention he ever highly esteemed and devoutly used the Liturgy of the Church Indeed he Prayed or Preached or Practised continually the Scholar the Christian and the Divine his whole life as to the conversable part of it was so Civil so Sacred so Affable so Amiable so Usefull so Exemplary to all persons of any Worth Ingenuity and Honesty that came to him that in earnest nothing Ancient or Moderne that ever I knew or read of in these British Churches or any forreigne Nation was more August Venerable Imitable and Admirable than this blessed Bishop such Candor yet Power such Largenesse yet singleness of heart such Majesty with meekness appeared in all that he seriously said or did I never saw him either morose or reserved much less sowre or supercilious If he were sad it made him not silent but onely more solemn as night-pieces which have admirable work of perspective in them though not so much light with them if he were chereful he abhorred not such facetious and ingenious elegancies of discourse as shewed that Risiblity was as proper to Religion as Reason that Holiness was no enemy to Cheerfulness but great graces might safely smile and innocent vertues sometimes laugh without offence He was indeed as the Church of Smyrna testifies of holy Polycarp their first Bishop there placed by St. John the Apostle a most Apostolick person a true Divine a most exemplary Christian and a most Venerable Bishop equalizing without doubt if not exceeding any one of the ancient famous Bishops and chief Fathers of the Church not onely in his Primitive Piety but in his great literature for he was joyntly excelling in all those things wherein they were severally most commendable he was as our Saviour saith of John Baptist a Prophet yea greater than an ordinary Prophet for among the children of men or children of God and of the true Church there hath not since the Apostles dayes been born a greater than He. If I or any man were able to reach the Height Length Depth and Breadth of his Gifts and Graces his acquired and infused endowments some taste or essay of which his faithfull friend and servant Dr. Bernard as Timothy to this St. Paul hath given and is daily further imparting to the world yet no Epitomes or little Volumes are able to containe so ample a subject nor give that satisfaction to Learned men at home and abroad as is justly exspectable from so copious and complete a theme Whose humble and holy industry was such that besides his vast designes for Writing and Printing he never failed since he was Presbyter Prelate or Primate to preach once every week if health permitted him besides many times on the week-day upon occasion which was so far from being his reproch as if he made himself too cheap as some men of more pompous than pious spirits have calumniated that like Davids dancing before the Lord it turned not to his diminution but to his great honor among all People Presbyters Prelates Peeres and Princes that had any knowledge what was the true dignity of a Divine and the commendation of a Christian Bishop nor was it any great paines to a person of his fulnesse who did not pump for but poure out his Sermons like a pregnant spring with a strange Plenty Clarity and Vivacity Certainly if all our Bishops had so honored God according to their Places Parts and Strength by imitating the best of their Predecessors yea the Apostles and our Lord Jesus Christ the greatest Bishop and greatest Preacher it is very probable not onely Bishops but Episcopacy had at this day suffered lesse diminution and dishonor if all Bishops hearts and mouths had been as open as his sure they had stopped the mouths and silenced the tongues of all their adversaries But by this and other either real failings or supposed defects of some few Bishops as in Sea-banks where low and weak the horrid inundation hath broke in upon Episcopacy and all Bishops with such a torrent of violence that we see the best of them could not keep out nor stand before the impetuosity of the times which if any Bishops in any Age or Church might have merited and hoped to have done this excellent Primate and other Bishops then in England and Ireland might have done it who were persons of so great Learning Piety Moderation Humility For besides the many other most accomplished Bishops then in England
these Uses and to invest in Gods name his Church or Ministers as a holy Corporation in such a right as is hard to imagine how it can be ever justly alienated till the free consent of all parties concerned be had and declared First the present possessors they must freely resign their personal and temporary Right which they had no way forfeited Secondly next the whole Nation as Church and State in Parlament and Convocation Prince Peers Clergy and Commons for themselves their Heirs and Successors must fully and freely remit their publick Interest Thirdly and lastly Gods Mind must be known that he is willing to be deprived either of that Service and Honor he and his Son Jesus Christ had or of those means for the Maintenance of it which were devoted to him Nor can any power that I know but onely Gods Omnipotence absolve the living and survivors from that right which the Donors had when yet living and that Bond which from them though dead yet still lies on the Consciences of those survivors who for ever stand bound to discharge their trust by observing as sacred the Will of the Dead which if once lawful is not to be made void wilfully and presumptuously If at any time publick necessities do drive men to some temporary dispensations and seisures yet these must be so recompensed afterward in quiet times as may keep them from being made beyond inconveniences intentional and eternal Injuries to God and his Church that it may be but a Borrowing and not a Robbing of God or his Church If neither the Ministers of Christ nor his Church nor the State nor God nor the Dead nor the Living have any right claim or Interest in such things whose they either once were or at present are as to the Possession Property Use and Enjoyment which way can any men that are meer strangers to them and had no special right in them make such claim and power to them as to dispose of them unless they were things so relinquished as none owned them or had never been in any mans rightful possession and so fell to those jure occupantis who first could seize on them without dispossessing any of them who had a right to them and challenged that right in Gods the Churches and their own name as by legal possession which under favour is not the case whence this great pleader either draws his Title or their supreme and superdivine right who undertook to alienate Bishops and other Church-lands which were neither relinquished nor resigned nor forfeited by God or Man Doubtless those supreme Disposers of that part of the publick Patrimony had either some other principles or higher dictates and dispensations than this Advocate either understands or can bring forth or else they will have much adoe to answer the Dead or the Living the Church or the State God or their own Consciences the present Age or Posterity For to pretend that Bishops and Episcopacy were but a superfluous and superstitious superstructure added to the government of Christs Church raised by Ambition and Superstition is not onely very untrue but very immodest considering the purity and sanctity of those primitive and catholick Churches which he knows had Bishops even from the Apostles dayes for the well being of all Churches To alledge that their Estates and Lordships were superfluous ill bestowed and ill used is to calumniate or envy so many worthy persons every way his equals at least that were Bishops Deans and Prebends in England who without peradventure were every way as Learned as Liberal as Unspotted as Useful as Beloved of God and man as Deserving their Estates and Preâ—erments as ever this pleader without disparagement was or is by any men on any side thought to deserve his Doctorship or Waâ—ford or St. Magnus or Pauls Lecture or any part and portion of Bishops Lands or Deans and Prebends Houses If this complaining Champion bring not forth greater speares and shields to defend that from Sacriledg which some men have not only suspected in all Ages but shrewdly charged actum est this Goliah will be overthrown by every little David that can but distinguish his right hand from his lâ—ft or knowes what belongs to meum and tuum to the doing to others as you would have done to your self agreeable to Lawes in force and principles of common justice If his weak and impotent allegations may go for current contrary to the sense of Jew and Gentile of Law and Gospel of the greatest Divines and ablest Lawyers of the wisest Princes and soberest Parlaments that ever were besides all Synods and Councills of the Church which he may suspect as partiall to their own interest if the little wax and small shot which this pleader claps to the bowl may over-bias the case against all those so many ponderous prejudices which have on all sides been alledged to secure Gods right and Religions interests actum est de Ecclesia such popular that I say not parasitick Pleas will in time so spread among the heady easie and greedy sort of common people that we may bid farewell to all things given for publick encouragement and reward to Learning and Religion to Preaching or Ruling Ministers yea to relieve the poor and Aged all these things will seem loose and free hereafter whenever any men that have a mind to it shall have it in their power or pleasure to take away all as superstitious or superfluous and to apply them to civil or secular uses A work to speak freely fitter for Mahometans than any Christians for the Ruiners rather than Reformers of Religion I wonder that this Pleader who is thought so great a Polititian doth not see that his Estate as a Presbyter is no lesse maligned and quarrelled at by many than the Bishops were and are by him Such as have seen the Masters Cabin made prize will they spare the Masters mate A small Prophet may without any great inspiration foresee and foretell that if some mens Spirits were left to their own sway they would not onely buy and sell or pull down Bishops Palaces Deanes and Prebends Houses and Cathedrall Churches but all Chancels and Churches and Steeples all Parsonage and Vicariage-Houses in fine all setled maintenance would be stripped and Religion with its Ministry exposed to its Primitive nakednesse which were no shame if it were attended with the Primitive innocency liberality gratitude love and chariâ—y which were in the first Christians who differed as much from the modern temper as giving all to and taking all from the Apostles the Governours and Ministers of Christs Church If the Plea be good in conscience before God and good men that whatever any men shall think given superfluously or superstitiously to any pious or publick use may be honestly alienated farewell all when every party in England hath acted its part according to its principles whereto the stimulations of this Pleader may contribute much with vulgar and Mammonitish minds nothing will be left in
the Bishops hands and Authority as holy and valid else the Tithes and Glebes and Spirituall Livings cannot be so sacred and inviolable in his use and possession as he affirmes them to be I say it had become such an one at least to have been silent who is too rich and knowing to be a Liveller or an Anabaptist or a Quaker or a disowner of all Order and Office Ministeriall He should not have cast oyle by his eminent example and eloquent plea on that fire which he sees is ready to consume even all Presbyters as well as Bishops setled maintenance However if he could not avoid this rock of purchasing Bishops Lands his modesty had been some expiation and his silence a great abatement of the scandall he might have swallowed those holy but now desecrated morsells in secret and not have proclaimed on the house-top to all the world the rost-meat he hath gotten the Venison or part at least which he hath taken together with his great appetite and good digestion The world is not much concerned to know all these things nor much pleased at his swallowing down without chewing any bit of Bishops Lands or Deanes Houses or a whole Colledg or a Cathedrall Church if he can compasse them by his purse or policy for where a crum of this kind goes easily down in time a loaden cart with six horses may follow Were there not others States-men Lay-men and Military-men enough to have bought those Bishops and Church-lands if they must needs have been sold They might possibly have some Reasons of State and solutions of deeply Learned Lawyers which such an one as I and other simple Divines know not of and therefore may not censure But as to the principles of Schollars and the conscience of all Church-men generally we resolve that if it be but a disputable case where sin lies at the door if there be but any notable appearance of evil we are above all men to abstaine from it If it may be veniall in others pleading their ignorance or urgent occasions yet it must needs seem a most uncircumcized act for a grave Minister and of the Church of England a great Doctor and a Reverend Divine Church-men ought in any things of pregnant scandall to be most circumspect and cautious because their example is most contagious allowing as it were of course many graines of further liberty to Lay-men who never think that their girdles ought to be so strait as Ministers if ours be loose theirs will be unbuckled and at last quite thrown off Hence many of our Domestick and new started Presbyterians whom I well knew Mr. C. Mr. W. Mr. S. and others with all the Smectymnuan Legion who were earnest enough at first for the pruning of the over-grown or seare or too much over dropping boughs of Episcopacy and afterward they so far served the times and their Lords as to conspire to the felling down of those ancient and stately Standards in the Church yet I well know they never intended that Lay-men should have gone away with the Bark Tops Timber Bodies Chips and all no they good men intended very honestly and zealously that these superfluities of Bishops and Deanes Estates c. should have been applyed to buy in all Impropriations to augment poor Livings to put Presbyters generally into so good a plight and habit for back and belly that they might be fit to rule in common and have some Majesty as Aldermen of Cities and Burgesses of Townes usually have in their Cheeks and on their Backs for starveling and thred bare Governours like Consumptionary Physitians discredit their profession and deprecate their dignity We other poor Ministers who follow the sense of all the ancient Fathers and Councills of the Canon and Civil Lawes of School-men and Casuists of Reformed and not Reformed Churches both Greek and Latine we wonder what Angel from Heaven hath whispered to this purchaser and pleader to tell him of Gods non acceptance of Bishops lands Persons or Profession of which he was pleased to make so much and so good use to his glory and his Churches good both in England and all the Christian world for a thousand yeares yet now he is content it seemes they should all be Alienated Extirpated Destroyed Possessions Persons and Function of Bishops as unnecessary yea pernicious to the Church and Ministry in Honour Order Government Charity and Hospitality all which are better Reformed to Parity Popularity and Poverty This he reports as from the Cabinet-Counsell or Committee of Heaven where it seemes he hath been since he purchased Bishops lands Truly if an Angel from Heaven had told some Divines and other Gentlemen thus much they would not have believed him because they are perswaded so much of the Evangelicall Order the Apostolick Authority and the Catholick Succession the prudent necessity the honorable decency of Bishops in the Church of Christ upon which presumptions if not sure perswasions they conceive it had been a modesty in all Learned and weighty Ministers who had received their Ordination from Godly Orthodox and Reformed Bishops such as Calvin and Beza and Vedelius would have honored and submitted unto without any envy or diminishing of their Estates and Honors not to have touched so much as a shooe-latchet of what by Right Law and Merit had been theirs that it might at least have been upon Record to after-Ages for the Honour of the English Reformed Clergy in their lowest ebb and depression Ecclesiae Episcoporum bona inter Presbyteros Ecclesiasticos non invenerunt emptorem There is no doubt there would have been buyers enough beside men of larger Estates yet not of stricter consciences even this great and glorious purchaser who though he hath paid his mony yet hath not so put off his Armour hitherto as to have any great cause to boast seemed not at first so satisfied as to be forward not coming at the beginning of the Faire when sure the best peny-worths for example sake would have been sold to so eminent a D. the better to decoy on other purchasers but alas he seems obtorto collo renitente Minerva against his genius to be drawn in driven and necessitated at the fag end of the Market to take such eggs for his money as had been sate upon by a Bishop so many hundred of yeares and may as it seems be either addle or eggs of contention to this purchaser now so resolved and triumphing in his conscientious freedom to buy and sell in the Temple when other poor Scholars are still wind bound and narrow-soled as imagining that Christ long agoe drove all such kind of Merchandize out of the Church as ill becoming Christians as it did the Jewes yea and St. Paul teacheth Believers equally to abhorre Sacriledg as Idols To conclude this long digression whose scandalous occasion lay so high in my way that I could not avoid it this one great instance telling to all the world what this purchaser hath swallowed and how
Religion For I have found by experience that no men have proved move factious affected and fanatick than those men and women who have been most conscious to their youthful Enormities They presently apply to the gentlest Confessors and easiest Repentance which is rather to quarrel with and forsake the Religion they have most violated than seriously to repent and amend without which severities Papists and Separatists think their Converts sufficient if they do but turn to their side and party The second Novellers will be content with any meer fancies or factions in Religion The third the Jesuited Papists with no pure united and well-reformed Religion among us And the fourth the Devil will be content with any Religion that is called Catholick Reformed and Christian so it be not true or not pure or not well-reformed or not orderly setled and uniform or not charitably united or not authoritatively managed and governed Any of which will in time very much unchristen any Christians and unchurch any Church by deforming and dividing them from the Beauty and Communion of the Church Catholick Take heed of betraying your selves and your posterity to Atheisticall licentious immorall and irreligious courses by your Apostasies from and despiciencies of the Learning and Piety Gifts and Graces Ministry and Ministrations Order and Government which were happily setled in the Church of England Go over all the world search all successions of the Church from the Apostles to our daies you shall not find any thing more worthy your Love and Esteem your Veneration and addiction Have you found any thing comparable to it in all the new vapours and florishes of Reformations in any new Inventions Conventions Associations Separations Distractions Distortions Confusions Which may make you giddy by turning you round but they will never make you any progresse in Wisdome or Piety or Charity The Church of England was a most rare and Paragon Jewel shining with admirable lustre on all sides First in its Doctrine or Articles of Religion which were few cleare and sound Secondly in its Sermons or Homilies which were learnedly plain pious and practicall Thirdly in its Liturgy or Devotions which were easie to be understood very apt pathetick and complete Fourthly in its paucity and decency of ceremonies which adorned not incumbred Religion or over-laid the Modesty and Majesty of a comely Reformation Fifthly in the Sanctity and Solemnity of its publick duties which were neither excessive nor defective Sixthly in its Ministry which had good Abilities due Ordination and divine Authority Seventhly it its good Government and Ecclesiasticall Discipline where good Presbyters and good Bishops had leave and courage to do their duties and discharge their consciences whose Fatherly Inspection Catholick Ordination and Ecclesiastick Jurisdiction being wisely managed by worthy men in their severall stations did justly deserve the name of an Hierarchy an holy Regiment or happy Government when it was exercised with that Authority yet Charity and discretion which were ever intended by the Church for the common good of all those Christians that were within her bosome and kept her Communion If others do forget her through fatuity or faction covetousnesse or ambition pride or petulancy as undutifull and ungratefull children yet you may not you will not you cannot so far neglect your own and your posterities happinesse or forfeit your own honor or violate your consciences as to neglect the relief and recovery of your Spirituall Mother But if you of the better sort of men and Christians from whom all good men expect all good things should slight and neglect Her after the vulgar rate which God forbid yet must I never so far comply with you or all the world as to call her former light darknesse or her present darknesse light Pretious with me must the name of the Church of England ever be whose record is in Heaven and in all gracious hearts who were Born and Baptized Instructed Sanctified and Saved in her To this Church of England as I owe with many thousands so I returne with some few the Charity of a Christian as to all Christian Churches the duty of a Son as to a deserving parent the order of a part or member as united and devoted to the whole the obedience of an Inferiour as to a Superiour the gratitude of acknowledging Her Worth and Merit the love of adhering to her unity the candor of approving and conforming to her decent ceremonies the modesty of preferring her Wisdome before my own or any other mens understanding the Humility of submitting to her Spirituall Authority and Governours the Piety and Prudence of relieving and restoring as much as lies in me Her Catholick Order Polity Peace and Government all which I believe were allowed of God and I am sure have been approved by as Learned Wise and Holy men as the world affords I am deeply sensible of the many and great obligations which I have to this Nationall Church and to its Ministers and Bishops for my Baptisme Instruction Confirmation Communion and Ordination not onely as a Member but as a Minister which I account my greatest Honour notwithstanding the great depression of the times in which I have late ward lived I am ambitious to do not onely what becomes my private station but to preserve and expresse the publick respects which are due to this Church whose Despisers and Destroyers have never appeared to me with any Remarques of Beauty or Honour for Learning or Grace for Modesty or Charity for Prudence or Policy comparable to those that were the first Founders Reformers Defenders and Preservers of this Church I must ever professe that I find nothing like her Adversaries nor any thing exceeding her friends in all that was commendable in Catholick and true Antiquity In behalf of this Church having offered many things to the consideration of all good Christians which are my worthy Countrymen I hope as my infirmities may exercise their Charity so my integrity may expiate my infirmities if I have in any thing expressed my self lesse becoming the honest and holy designe which I undertook and have now by Gods help finished which was to set forth First the Teares and Sighâ— of the Church of England Secondly the originall of her Disorders and Distractions Thirdly the dangers and distresses if not remedied Fourthly the probable waies of cure and recovery by Gods blessing to such Order Honour Unity Purity and Peace as becomes so famous a Church and so renowned a Nation whose greatest Crown was Christianity I know there will be many who cannot well beare that freedom of sobernesse and Truth which either my self or others may use in speaking or writing for the Church of England and its pristine Honour Order and Government although themselves use never so great Liberties Reproches and Injuries in Speaking Writing and Acting against them For my part I appeare in this onely as wrapt my self in my Scholastick and Ecclesiastick Gown I meddle not with any civil affaires or Military transactions properly
Priviledges both of Presbyters and People I neither dispute nor deny any mens Morals Intellectuals Devotionals or Spirituals further than they seem much warped and eclipsed by their over-eager Heats and injurious Prosecutions against their Antagonists the Episcopal Clergy and Church of England but I absolutely blame those Ministers want of politicks and prudentials who by their Antiepiscopal transports have so far diminished not onely themselves and their Order as Ministers but the whole state of this Church as to its Harmony and Honour its Peace and Plenty its Unity and Authority In whose behalf since all wise and worthy men are highly concerned I cannot conclude with words of greater warmth and weight than those of the blessed Apostle St. Paul who was not more sollicitous to plant Churches in truth and purity than to settle and preserve them in Order and Unity If there be therefore any consolation in Christ if any comfort of Love if any fellowship of the Spirit if any bowels of Mercy Let us all fulfill the Apostles joy this Churches joy the Angels joy yea Christs joy in being like-minded and of one accord in having the same Love in doing nothing through strife or vain-glory but in Lowliness and Meekness looking every man not onely to his own things but also to the things of others that the same mind may be in us which was also in our Lord Jesus Christ. That in the expectation and experience of holy wise and united hearts and hands on all sides the Church of England from whose head the Crown is faln from whose eyes Rivers of teares do flow while she lies weeping under the Crosse may take up the words of Zion in the Prophet Therefore will I look to the Lord I will wait for the God of my salvation my God will hear me Rejoyce not against me O mine Enemie when I fall I shall rise when I sit in darknesse the Lord shall be a light unto me I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him untill he pleas my cause and execute judgement for me he will bring forth my light and I shall behold his righteousnesse To the King Immortal the onely wise and blessed God Father Son and Holy Ghost be all Glory for ever Amen In Oratione Constantini Magni ad Concilium Nicenum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mihi quidem omni bello pugnave gravior atque acerbior videtur intestina in Dei Ecclesiâ seditio quae plus doloris quà m externa omnia mala secum affert THE END The Names of Books written by Dr. Gauden and printed for Andrew Crook at the Green Dragon in St. Pauls Church-yard HIERASPISTES 1. A Defence of the Ministry and Ministers of the Church of England in Quarto 2. The Case of the Ministers maintenance by Tithes in Quarto 3. Three Sermons preached on publick occasions in Quarto 4. Funeralls made Cordialls in a Sermon prepared and in part Preached at the solemn interment of the Right Honorable Robert Rich heire apparent to the Earldom of Warwick in Quarto new A CATALOGUE OF THE NAMES Of all the arch-ARCH-BISHOPS and BISHOPS of England and Wales ever since the first planting of Christian Religion in this Nation unto these later Times With the year of our Lord in which the several Bishops of each Diocese were Consecrated CANTERBURY Arch-Bishops 1 AUGUSTINE the Monk A. D. 596 2 Laurence A. D. 611 3 Melitus A. D. 619 4 Justus A. D. 624 5 Honorius A. D. 634 6 Adeodatus or Deus dedit A. D. 655 The Sea vacant 4. yeares 7 Theodor. A. D. 668 8 Brithwald A. D. 692 9 Tatwin A. D. 731 10 Nothelm A. D. 736 11 Cuthbert A. D. 742 12 Bregwin A. D. 759 13 Lambert A. D. 764 14 Athelward A. D. 793 15 Walfred A. D. 807 16 Theogild A. D. 832 17 Celnoth 18 Atheldred A. D. 871 19 Plegmund A. D. 889 20 Athelm A. D. 915 21 Wulfelm A. D. 924 22 St. Odo Severus A. D. 934 23 St. Dunstan A. D. 961 24 Ethelgar A. D. 988 25 Siricius A. D. 989 26 Alfric or Aluric A. D. 993 27 St. Elphage A. D. 1006 28 Living or Leoving A. D. 1013 29 Agelnoth alias Aethelnot A. D. 1020 30 St. Eadlin A. D. 1038 31 Robert Gemeticensis A. D. 1050 32 Stigand A. D. 1052 33 St. Lanfranck A. D. 1070 The Sea vacant 4. yeares 34 St. Anselm A. D. 1093 35 Rodolph A. D. 1114 36 William Corbell al. Corbois A. D. 1122 37 Theobald A. D. 1138 38 St. Tho. Becket A. D. 1162 39 Richard the Monke A. D. 1171 40 Baldwin A. D. 1184 41 Reginald Fitz-Jocelin A. D. 1191 42 Hubert Walter A. D. 1193 33 Steph Langton Card. A. D. 1206 44 Ri Wethershed A. D. 1229 45 St. Edmond A. D. 1234 46 Boniface of Savoy A. D. 1244 47 Robert Kilwarby Ca. A. D. 1272 48 John Peckham A. D. 1278 49 Ro Winchelsey A. D. 1294 50 Walt. Reynolds A. D. 1313 51 Simon Mepham A. D. 1327 52 John Stratford A. D. 1333 53 Th Bradwardin A. D. 1348 54 Simon Islip A. D. 1349 55 Si Langham C. A. D. 1366 56 Will Wittlesey A. D. 1367 57 Simon Sudbury A. D. 1379 58 Will Courtney A. D. 1381 59 Tho. Arundell A. D. 1396 60 Hen Chicheley Car. A. D. 1414 61 Jo Stafford Car. A. D. 1443 62 Joh Kemp Car. A. D. 1452 63 Tho Bourcheir A. D. 1454 64 John Moorton Card. A. D. 1486 65 Henry Deane A. D. 1502 66 Will Warham A. D. 1504 67 Tho Cranmer A. D. 1533 68 Reginald Poole Car. A. D. 1555 69 Matth Parker A. D. 1559 70 Edm Gryndall A. D. 1575 71 John Whitgift A. D. 1583 72 Rich Bancroft A. D. 1604 73 George Abbot A. D. 1610 74 William Laud. A. D. 1633 Beheaded on Tower-hill Jan 10. 1644. S. ASAPH 1 Kentigern A. D. 560 2 Saint Asaph and after him many hundred yeares 3 Geffrey of Monmouth A. D. 1151 4 Adam a Welshman 5 Reiner A. D. 1186 6 Abraham A. D. 1220 7 Howel ap Edneuet A. D. 1235 8 Anâ—anus I. A. D. 1248 The see vacant 2. yeares 9 Anianus II. of Schonaw A. D. 1268 10 Lewellin of Bromfeild A. D. 1293 11 David ap Blethin A. D. 1319 12 Ephraim 13 Henry 14 John Trevaur I. 15 Lewellin ap Madoc ap Elis. A. D. 1357 16 Will. of Spridlington A. D. 1373 17 Laurence Child A. D. 1382 18 Alexander Bach. A. D. 1390 19 John Trevaur II. A. D. 1395 20 Robert A. D. 1411 21 John Low A. D. 1493 22 Regin Peacock A. D. 1444 23 Thomas A. D. 1450 24 Rich Redman A. D. 1484 25 Dav ap Owen A. D. 1503 26 Edm Birkhead A. D. 1513 27 Henry Standish A. D. 1519 28 Will Barlow A. D. 1535 29 Robert Parfew alias Warton A. D. 1536 30 Tho Goldwell A. D. 1555 31 Richard Davies A. D. 1559 32 Thom Davies A. D. 1561 33 Will Hughes A. D. 1573 34 Will Morgan A. D. 1601 35 Richard Parry A. D. 1604 36 John Hanmer A. D.
Primitive Piety and Prudence utterly against Schismatick dividing or mincing of Churches into small bodies or parcels a Age jam qui voles exercere curiositatem in negotio salutis tuae percurre ecclesias Apostolicas apud quas ipsae adhuc Cathedrae Apostolorum suis locis praesidentur apud quas ipsae Authenticâ— literae recitantur Tert. de praes c. 30. Ecclesia ab ipso Christo inchoata per Apostolos provecta certâ successionum serie usque ad haec tempora toto terrarum orbe dilatata Aug. l. 28. cont Faust b Act. 1.17 20 c Episcopi per omnes provincias singulas urbes ordinati sunt in aetate antiqui in fide integri in pressurâ probati in persecutione proscripti c. Cypr. ep 52. d Hoc negotium est illis non ethnicos convertendi sed nostros evertendi Ita fit ut ruinas facilius operentur stantium aedificiorum quam extructiones jacentium ruinarum Tert. de praes ad Hae. Eph. 4.3 Acts 20.28 29 30. Rom. 16.17 1 Cor. 1.10.3.3 a 1 Cor. 3.3 b Sophistae magis verborum quà m discipuli veritatis Irenaeus c Qui à principali absistunt successione quocunque loco colliguntur suspectos habere oportet ut vel haereticos malae sententiae vel scindentes elatos sibi placentes omnes isti decidunt à veritate sophistae magis verborum esse volentes quà m discipuli veritatis Irenae l. 4. c. 43. lib. 3. c. 40. Jampridem per omnes provincias per singulas urbes ordinati sunt Episcopi in aetate antiqui in fide integri â—n pressura probati in persecutione proscripti Cypr. ep 52. d Iren. l. 5. c. 33. Irenaeus vir Apostolicorum temporum Papiae discipulus Polycarpi amicus Episcopus ecclesiae Lugdun Hieron Catalog 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 3.1 Jude 3. Eph. 4.4 Corpus sumus de conscientia religionis disciplinae unitate spei foedere Tert. Apol. c. 39. a Eph. 4.4 5 6. Heb. 13.17 Col. 2.1 Acts 20.38 Sicut Smyrnaeorum ecclesia habens Polycarpum à Johanne constitutum refert sicut Romamanorum Clementem à Petro ordinatum edit perinde utique caeterae exhibent ecclesiae quos ab Apostolis in Episcopatu constitutos Apostolici seminis traduces habent Tert. de Praes c. 32. b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. ep ad Corinth 1. p. 53. Gal. 5.20 1 Cor. 12.25 Phil. 3.2 Heb. 10.25 1 Cor. 12.15 Magnum gloriosum Christi corpus conscindunt dividunt quantum in ipsis est interficiunt Irenae l. 4. c. 62. 1 Pet. 5.13 Isa 65 5. Mat. 18.20 a So Tertul. of the Marcionite Churches Habent ecclesias sed suas tam praeposteras quà m adulteras Quarum si censum requiras sacilius ApostaticuÌ„ invenias quà m Apostolicum Marcione scilicet conditore vel aliquo de Marcionis examinâ— faciunt favos vespae faciunt ecclesias Marcionitae Li. 4. c. 5. adv Marcion Judicabit Dominus eos qui schismata operantur non habentes dilectionem suamque utilitatem potius considerantes quà m unitatem ecclesiae Iren. l. 4. c. 62. a 1 Cor. 3.3 b Jude 19. Psal 133.1 Ignat ep ad Romanos The Urbicarian Region in which the Praesectus urbis did exercise his jurisdiction extended to 100. miles about the city in which there were 69 Bishops under the Bishop of Rome Vid. Prim. of Arm. the orig of Metropolitans Acts 21.18 Act. 1.20 1 Pet. 2.9 The present afflictions of the Church of England no argument against Her Nationall and well-Reformed Constitution a Jer. 1.14 Ab aquilone exardescent mala super omnes habitatores terrae Septentrionalis regio officina hominum Gentibus Australibus infesta unde in proverbium exiit Omne malum ab Aquilone Hiero. b Isa 49.23 1 Sam. 30.13 Luke 10.33 Psal 74.4 Gal. 4.26 Psal 35.16 Zach. 1.15 Psal 137.7 Isa 34.4 * See Mr. Râ—y his Gemitus plebis or Mournful complaint in behalf of the poor people of England printed 1656. The Church of England's Complaint Lam. 1. â—2 Psal 55.12 Erat ante in operibus fratrum candida ecclesia nunc facta est in cruore Martyrum purpurea Floribus ejus nec rosae desunt nec lilia Certant nunc singuli ad utriusque honoris amplissimam dignitatem ut accipiant coronas vel de opere candidas vel de passione purpureas Cyp. ep 9. Isa 1.2 Isa 1.2 2 Tim. 2.15 Heb. 5.10 1 Pet. 2.25 Luke 6.13 Luke 10.1 Act. 1.21.2.1 Numb 11.20 Deut. 4 21. Rev. 22.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 15.18 1 Cor. 6.19 Jer. 22.19 See B. Ushers answer to the Jâ—suits praying for the dead Psal 153.1 1 Cor. 14.40 1 Cor. 14.33 Rev. 2.14 Gen. 9.22 Mat. 13.25 Epist to Coâ— Galat. Rev. 2. 3. ch Psal 44.19 Micah 7.8 Psal 136. Job 13.15 Jer. 17.14 17. The cruel and unjust enmity of some against the Church of England a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Suet. in vita Tib. Neronis Erat ei in oblectamentis serpens Draco quem quum consumptum à formicis invenisset monitus est ut vim multitudinis caveret Pruritus disputandi scabies Ecclesiae Mat. 15.14 Job 30.8 Isa 1.5 The causeless malice and ingratitude of the Church of Englands enemies Ezek. 47.4 Mat. 8.25 a Ubi ecclesia ibi Spiritus ubi Spiritus Dei illic ecclesia omnis gratia Iren. l. 3. c. 40. b Judicabit eos Deus qui schismata operantur qui sunt immanes suam utilitatem potiùs considerantes quâ—m unitatem ecclesiae propter modicas causas magnum gloriosum Christi corpus conscindunt dividunt quantum in ipsis est interficiunt Irenae l. 4. c. 62. c 1 Tim. 1.13 Job 2.13 Lam. 1. Jer. 9.1 Of the excellent constitution of the Ch. of Engl. and her undeserved calamities * Jer. 2.11 Ad injuriam Deorum spectat rerum sacrarum irreverentia Isid è Varrone Deos peregrinos ne colunto Lex 12. Tab. a Non tam Atheus est qui Deos non agnoscit quà m qui agnitos contemnit Sen. * Spiritus Sanctus Arrha incorruptelae confirmatio fidei nostrae scala ascensionis ad Deum ubi enim Spiritus Dei illic ecclesia c. Iren. l. 3. c. 40. 1 Cor. 9.2 2 Cor. 3.2 Exod. 28.30 Mal. 2.7 1 Cor. 15 1 Cor. 11. 1 Cor. 5. a 1 Cor. 1.11.3.3 b 1 Cor. 6.1 c 2 Cor. 10.11 12. ch Jude 18 19. Rev. 2.20 2 Pet. 2.19 Tit. 1.10 11. 1 Cor. 14.33 Gen 18.32 Jer. 5.4 Pag. 16. Dii aut non habentor aut rite colantuâ— A further scrutiny and discovery of the Church of Englands miseries and enemies Zach. 11.10 2 Cor. 5.20 1 Cor. 12.18 Rev. 15.6 James 3.14 1 Tim. 4.2 1 John 3.12 A generall Vindication of the Church of England's former excellent Constitution although it be now afflicted * Jude 9. Rom. 11.33 Flagellat nos Deus erudit nos Dolor
Christian Emperors the Churches Polity and Government being carried on by the same Apostolical power and Episcopal spirit was highly promoted even to secular Dignities and Estates Bishops being not onely every where unfeignedly venerated by all sorts of Christians as chief Pastors and spiritual Fathers succeeding to the chief Apostles by an uninterrupted and undoubted succession of which every Church had pregnant Records and Memorials but they were invested in such civil honors as make them Peers to the Senators Nobles or Patricians of the Empire which was more to their pomp and lustre but not more to their Episcopal authority and that filial respect which was paid to Bishops by all good Christians even then when they and their Clergy had nothing to live upon but the dona Matronarum oblationes Communicantium the contributions and offerings of devout people In this fair and sun-shine-weather as secular Peace and Plenty increased to the Church so Christianity spread very far as to the Fashion Profession and Form of it in branches and leaves but grew among many less fruitful in the real effects of Piety and Charity many now thronged into Christs Church but fewer touched him with the hand of Faith so as to heal their infirmities Yea as in the very first times under the Apostolical Episcopacy the Simonians Nicolaitans Gnosticks Corinthians and others afterward during the still-persecuting Ages the Marcionites Carpocratians Valentinians Montanists and others so in the most prosperous times the Manichees Novatians Donatists Arrians and Pelagians with diverse others became as branches either miserably split and slivered by their own schismatick and separate humors or quite wholy broken off by blasphemous Apostasies and the just sentences of Excommunication from that one Catholick Church and the unanimous Bishops of its communion for whom one Bishop did rightly excommunicate by the lesser or greater câ—nsure all Bishops Presbyters and Christians in all the world did the same virtually Hence many lesser and greater branches even some Bishops with their whole Presbyters and Churches grew sometimes scare and withered twice dead and pulled up by the roots by Error and Obstinacy by voluntary Desertion and Ecclesiastick Abdication as many Arrian and Donatist Bishopâ— Yet still by the correspondence and care of the excellently learned resolute and unanimous Bishops of the fourth fifth and sixth Centuries with their orderly Presbyters and faithful Flocks the Church ceased not to flourish for the most part in Verity and Unity in Piety and Charity as well as in civil Peace Plenty and Honour the holy and good Bishops every where still clearing the mosse and cankers which grew upon this fair Tree they pruned the Excrescencies and superfluities both of Jewish presumptions and Heathenish superstitions all and every one being prudently intent as far as times and the manners of men would bear to preserve his lot part or Diocese committed to him by consent of the people by the choice of his Presbyters and by the comprecation or consecration of his collegues the Neighbour-bishops so as became the relation they had to the whole Church after the grand patterns and models received from the blessed Apostles who first as Bishops of equal size and authority yet as men using an orderly precedency sprang from that one Root Christ Jesus and by their united Ministry spread abroad the Church far and neer 'T is true the primitive severity and rigour of Christian discipline much abated in times of greater peace and plenty many primitive signs of Christian love and communion as the Holy Kisse their Love-feasts their Oblations their Hospitality to all Christian strangers and the like were crowded out by the Wantonness Factiousness Hypocrisie Luxury and Avarice of some Christians besides Church-mens Ambition and Hereticall Furie none of whom would indure the sharp yoke of primitive Pennances Abstentions Castigations and many wayes of Mortification by Watching Sackcloth Fasting Prostrating Weeping Confessing c. At length Mahometan poyson and power cruelly pressed upon the divided and debauched Eastern Churches after this the Papal policy and power by insensible degrees in ignorant and turbulent Ages so prevailed upon the blindness and credulity of these Western Churches who were much wasted also with wars in Spain Italy Franee and here in Britanny by domestick Rebellions and barbarous Invasions that the face of this goodly Tree was much battered and altered from the primitive floridnesse and fruitfulnesse the Roman Church and its Bishop or Patriarch being like an Hydropick body swoln by secular Pride and Usurpation so much beyond its pristine comelinesse and honor that in stead of an holy and humble Apostolick Bishop of the same Order and Authority with his other brethren he must be owned in a superecclesiastical and a superepiscopal and a superimperial height as Lord and Soveraign and Prince above that is called God in Church and State Yet still while this Papal branch presumed thus to grow beyond its proportions to the over-dropping and dwindling of all other parts of the Church its form or fashion as a Tree in its winter or less-thrifty state remained even under those sad seasons of Papal perturbations and presumptions God never suffering the Church to be quite deformed much less hewen down because it was never so barren even in those dayes but it brought forth some tolerable Bishops Presbyters and other Christians yea many of them very commendable ones Neither Papal Foxes nor Mahometane Wild Bores had ever power to lay it quite wast or overthrow it both root and branch as to its saving foundations or its orderly constitutions or its authoritative successions in Bishops Presbyters and Deacons still holy Mysterys and holy Orders the holy Ministry and holy Scriptures holy Examples holy Doctrines holy Duties and holy Lives were continued in such order and by such conduct as easily represented the primitive pattern and Apostolick figure of this Tree though with many accressions and some deformities which time and ignorance and superstition or humane policy and secular pride had affixed to some main Branches of it in these Western parts of the Church yet the ancient Lineaments and true Model were very visible in Christian People Christian Deacons Christian Presbyters and Christian Bishops directed into several stations as Helps for the more orderly carrying on of the Churches Government in grand and national combinations In this posture stood the state of the Catholick Church as in all other places where the Vastations of Saracens and Turks had left any miserable Remnants of Christian Churches so most eminently in this Western world which the Providence of God had not yet wholly delivered over to Gog or Magog none of these Churches were without their Deacons Presbyters and Bishops untill that great Reparation rather than Alteration of Christian Religion began in these Western Churches about the Year 1520. which was justly called a blessed Reformation in many respects as to clearing the corruptions of Doctrine and Manners which had been contracted every where which
a steddy judgement and unpopular spirit who pressed upon his Unepiscopal much more against his Antiepiscopal Presbytery so strongly that he forced his Antagonist to stoop and subscribe to Primitive and Catholick Episcopacy yea and to acknowledge Bishops even from the Apostles dayes to have been the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ◠Presidents or chief Rulers among Presbyters in all Churches Mr. Beza's Essayes not so much to have undermined Episcopacy as to have fixed or earthed his Presbytery better being thus notably countermined yet upon his very breaking the earth and promising at least pretending to spring some rich Mine of Scripture and Antiquity to prove if not the sole yet at least the concurrent Divine right of Presbytery on both sides of it both as to its preaching ruling Elders as stamped with the mark of Christ and his Apostles besides his and others terrifying the world as if Popery had begun with Prelacy and Antichrist had sucked the breasts of Episcopacy it is not imaginable what industrious Pioneers and Souldiers followed these charms this alarme for Presbytery against Episcopacy who sifting every name of Bishop Presbyter Elder Evangelist Messenger Apostle Prophet Pastor Teacher Ruler Governments Helps c. in Scripture and Antiquity found or fancied upon all of them something that made very much if not onely for Presbytery and very much if not wholly against Episcopacy so far that they would not allow so much as the twelve or thirteen prime Apostles any Episcopal Presidency Eminency or Authority above the seventy Disciples or any Presbyters whom they ordained much less any Bishop after them above the youngest meanest and pettiest Presbyter rather suspecting yea aspersing all Antiquity even in the primitive and purest times for Ignorance and Error or Falsity and Ambition in following the Catholick custom of Episcopacy after the great Apostolical pattern which was in them given to all Churches by the Spirit of Christ and after continued by the Apostles own appointment than any way admitting any Innovation Flaw or Defect to be in their new-formed Presbytery Heats unhappily growing great and Eruptions many from the Etna or Vesuvius of mens passions the sulphur and ashes at last came from Geneva Franckfort and Edenborough over to England where at first they onley fell upon the square Caps and Rochets of our excellent reformed and reforming Bishops but at last they flew in their very Faces and Eyes without any respect to their Age Learning Piety Sanctity and Martyrly Constancy besides the honourable places they still held both in Church and State according to our Laws For the Undertakers for the Cause as they called it of Jesus Christ first picking at the outworks of Ceremonies next at the spiriritual Courts or Jurisdictions of Bishops after that at the excellent Liturgy at last they laid amain at the whole Body as well as the Branches of Episcopacy going much further than ever their first Founders of Presbytery abroad or the modester Non-conformists at home ever designed or desired Thus a bolder Generation of men stopping their ears against all the charms of Scripture Antiquity Universality Prudence personal Merits publick Blessings and all proportions of Government and Polity only urging a peremptory necessity and a self-inforcing novelty perfected that in a dreadful War which was neither begun nor promoted nor desired by the chief Magistrate nor by his chief Council in its pristine fulness and freedom nor ever before was acted in any reformed Church whatsoever against their reformed Bishops After much bustling and blood-shed in perilous times this crooked and low shrub of Presbytery which having never much thriven or grown handsomly in Scotland or in any other Kingdom where it had been happily and handsomly grafted by King James with a renewed and well-reformed Episcopacy this bitten mangled and mis-shapen was brought over on the swords point and wrapped up in the cover of a Covenant as Plants in Mats to be set in this good soyl of England after sweating Smectymnuus and the industrious Assembly with many Heads Hands Tongues and Pens had digged and prepared the ground for it by gaining the minds of some wel-affected Members in the two Houses and others in other places About the Year 1649. the Fasces Imperiales and the Sacrae Secures the Holy Rods and Imperial Axes of Presbytery were displayed to England in their Ruling and Teaching Elders in their High and Mighty Consistories Parochial Classical Provincial National Oecumenical for the Presbyterian power was in all the world to prevail against Episcopacy as Daniels He-goat did against the Ram casting him to the ground and stamping upon him Every Presbyter young and old ripe and raw was to have not onely a sword in his mouth but a switch of correption in his hand which lest he should use too rashly and sharply he was to be pinioned and surrounded with certain Lay-Elders each of them furnished also with a Rod of Disciplinarian or ruling power equal to the Minister All this dreadful dispensation of Presbyterian discipline was pontifically and punctually set out by many discourses to the no small wonder of all wise men who knew the disproportions to all Government generally which were both in younger Ministers and in most Lay-men of plain parts and plebeian breeding such as in most places these herds of ruling Elders must be into whom the spirit of Government must presently enter And no less terrible was this paradox and parado of Presbyterian Discipline and Severity even to Common-people yea and to the most of the ablest Gentry and Nobility except some few whose itch and ambition of a Lay-elderships place had possibly biassed them to smile upon their persons and their now Presbytery to which they were invited solemnly to be Gossips Thus armed and marshalled in its Ranks and Regiments Presbytery began to hasten its March in its might furiously enough setting up its Conventions Ordinations Jurisdictions trying the metal and temper of its Censures by Ebaptizations Correptions Abstentions Excommunications and new Examinations even of ancient Christians old and eminent Disciples to whom they had formerly given the Sacrament twenty times some of which they sought to win by fair speeches some people they perswaded others they menaced and scared to submit to their new Scepter Daily Intelligences and brotherly Correspondencies were zealously kept every where very quick and warm among the Presbyterian Fraternity Bishops never so aged learned unblameable venerable and meritorious for their Labours and good Examples were as Underlings and conquered Vassals not so much as pittied but despised and trampled under foot exautorated and vilified by every young stripling that had got the switch of Presbytery in his hand which he saw now was beyond the Bishops Keyes or Crosier Presbytery thus driving at Jehu's rate for some time some of its wheels or pins like Pharaohs began to drop off which forced it to drive more heavily than its natural genius can well bear being spirited like Ezekiel's wheels with so
so eloquent no pen so pathetick as to be able sufficiently to express eye no so melting as to weep enough no heart so soft and diffusive of its sorrows as worthily to lament when they consider that wantonness of wickedness that petulant importunity that superfluity of malice that unsatisfied cruelty of some men who have endeavoured to cast whole cart-loads of injust reproches vulgar injuries and shameful indignities upon the whole Church of England seeking to bury with the burial of an Asse either in the dunghill of Papall pride and tyranny or popular contempt and Anarchy all its former renown and glory its very name and being together with the office order authority distinction and succession of its Ancient Apostolick and Evangelical ministery which hath been the savour of life unto life the mighty power of God to the conversion and salvation of many thousand souls in the Church of England Whose sore Calamities and just Complaints having thus far presented to Your consideration and compassion it is now time for me to enquire after the causes and occasions of its troubles miseries confusions and feared vastations in order to find out the best methods and medicines for Her timely cure and happy recovery if God and man have yet any favour or compassion for Her The end of the first Book BOOK II. SEARCHING THE CAUSES AND OCCASIONS OF THE Church of England's decayes CHAP. I. BUt it is now time most honoured and worthy Countrey-men after so large and just so sore and true a complaint in behalf of the Church of England and the Reformed Religion heretofore wisely established unanimously professed in this Nation to look after the rise and originall the Causes and Occasions of our Decayes and Distempers of our Maladies and Miseries which by way of prevention or negation I have in the former Book demonstrated to be no way imputable to the former frame state or constitution of the Church of England but they must receive their source from some other fountain The search and discovery of which is necessary in order to a serious cure for rash and conjecturall applications to sick patients are prone as learned Physitians observe to commute their maladies or to run them out of one disease into another but not to cure any turning Dropsies into Jaundise and Feavers into Consumptions The greatest commendation of Physitians next their skill to discerne is to use such freedome in their discoveries and such fidelity in their applyings as may least flatter or conceal the disease In this disquisition or inquiry after the Causes and Occasions of our Ecclesiastick distempers I will not by an unwelcome scrutiny or uncharitable curiosity search into those more secret springs and hidden impulsives which proceed as our Blessed Saviour tells us out of mens hearts into their lives and actions such as are wrathfull revenges unchristian envies sacrilegious covetings impotent ambitions hypocriticall policies censorious vanities pragmatick impatiencies an itch after novelties mens over-valuing of themselves and undervaluing of others a secret delight in mean and vulgar spirits to see their betters levelled exauctorated impoverished abased contemned a general want of wisdome meekness humility and charity a plebeian petulancy and wanton satiety even as to holy things arising from peace plenty and constancy of enjoying them These spiritual wickednesses which are usually predominant in the high places of mens souls being Arcana Diaboli the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stratagemata Satanae the secret engines depths and stratagems used by the Devil to undermine the hearts of Christians to loosen the foundations of Churches and to overthrow the best setled Religion being least visible and discoverable for they are commonly covered as mines with the smooth surfaces and turfs of zeale sanctity reformation scrupulosity conscience c. these I must leave to that great day which will try mens works and hearts too when men shall be approved and rewarded not according to their Pharisaick boastings popular complyings and specious pretensions but according to their righteous actions and honest intentions Onely this I may without presumption or uncharitableness judge as to the distempers of our times and the ruinous state of the Church of England that many men who have been very busie in new brewing and embroyling all things of Religion would never have so bestirred themselves to divide dissipate and destroy the peace and polity of this Church if they had not been formerly offended and exasperated either by want of their desired preferment which S. Austin observes of Aerius the great and onely stickler of old against Bishops or by some Animadversion which they called persecution although it were no more than an exacting of legal conformity and either sworn or promised subjection as to Canonicall obedience Many men would have been quiet if they had not hoped to gain by rifling their Mother and robbing their Fathers Some at the first motions might perhaps have good meanings and desires as Eve had to grow wiser but they were soon corrupted by eating the forbidden fruit by the unlawfulness of those means and extravagancy of those methods they used to accomplish them But God and mens own consciences will in due time judge between these men and the Church of England whether they did either intend or act wisely or worthily justly or charitably gratefully or ingenuously This I am sure if they have the comfort of sincerity as to their intent they have the horrour of unsuccessfulness to humble them as to the sad events which have followed preposterous piety CHAP. II. THe chiefest apparent cause and most pregnant outward occasion of our Ecclesiastick mischiefs and miseries as I humbly conceive ariseth from that inordinate liberty and immodest freedome which of later years all sorts of people have challenged to themselves in matters of Religion presuming on such a Toleration and Indulgence as incourageth them to chuse and adhere to what doctrine opinion party perswasion fancy or faction they list under the name of their Religion their Church fellowship and communion nor are people to be blanked or scared from any thing which they list to call their Religion unless it have upon it the mark of Popery Prelacy or Blasphemy of which terrible names I think the common people are very incompetent judges nor do they well know what is meant by them as the onely forbidden fruit every party in England being prone to charge each other with something which they call Blasphemy and to suspect mutually either the affecting of Prelacy or the inclining to Popery in wayes that seem arrogant and imperious in themselves also insolent and injurious to others each aspiring so to set up their particular way as to give law to others not onely proposing but prescribing such Doctrine Discipline Worship Government and Ministry as they list to set up according to what they gather or guess out of Scripture whereof every private man and woman too as S. Jerom tells of the
like Monsters having neither matter nor form proportionate to Ministers Against whose petulant and too prevalent poyson I have formerly sought to apply some Antidote not more smart and severe than charitable and conscientious aiming as now I do neither to flatter nor exasperate any but in all Christian integrity and sincerity to discharge my duty to God and my neighbour to this Church and to my Countrey Nor was it indeed then or is it now other than high time to answer that folly to repell and obstruct if possible that Epidemick mischief which on this side greatly threatens both Church State Faith and good manners all things civil as well as sacred What wise and honest-hearted Christian that hath any care of posterity or prospect for the future doth not daily find as an holy impatience so an infinite despondency rising in his soul while he sees so many weak shoulders such unwashen hands such unprepared feet such rash heads and such divided hearts not onely disown cast off contemn and abhor all Ministry and Ministers in the Church of England but they are publickly intruding themselves upon all holy duties all sacred Offices all solemn Mysteries all divine Ministrations after what fashion they list both in their admission and execution In many places either pittifull silly wretches or more subtill and crafty fellows have become the mighty Rivals the supercilious Censors yea the open menacers opposers no less than secret underminers of the most learned and renowned the most reverend able and faithful both Bishops and Presbyters in England All that ever these Worthies have done in former ages or still do never so commendably in their religious services of God and this Church is superciliously and scurrilously cried down by some men under the presumption and protection of their ignorant and impudent Liberties as no better than formall and superficiall carnall and unspirituall as unchristian yea Antichristian All their and our catechisings preachings prayings baptisings consecratings their instructing of babes their confirming of the weak their resolvings of the dubious their terrifying and binding over to judgement unbelieving and impenitent sinners their censuring and admonishing of the scandalous their excommunicating the contumacious their loosing the penitent their comforting the afflicted their binding up the broken-hearted all the exercise and operations of their spirituall power yea their very ordination and holy orders their gifts and graces their abilities and authority either from God or this Church all these are either baffled and disparaged or invaded usurped by some rude Novellers with equall insolency and insufficiency being for the most part by so much the more impudent by how much they are grosly ignorant Yea some of them the better to colour over their lazy and illiterate licentiousnesse to which they are now degenerated have such audacious brows and seared consciences as after they have pretended to have tasted how gracious the Lord was in the orderly and holy dispensations of heavenly gifts by the Ministry of the Church of Engl. yet they now glory to cast off all her ministrations to separate from her communion and all due subjection to any of her Ministers vapouring much of their own and other mens gifts of extraordinary callings of odde ravings and rantings of new seekings and quakings of rare dippings and dreamings of their extemporary prophecyings and inspired yet confused prayings of extraordinary unctions and inward illuminations the grounds and fruits of which strange pretensions I have been a long time diligently curious to observe in the speech writings and actions of these pretenders And I must profess that either I am wholly a stranger to right reason as well as true Religion to the Word and Spirit of God principles and practises of all godly men and women in former ages or I am utterly uncapable to discern any of these either rationall or religious orderly or honest expressions in any instances or degrees proportionable or indeed comparable to much less beyond what was most clearly observable as the Suns light at noon-day in the Sermons Prayers Writings Lives and Actions of those Ministers and other excellent Christians who heretofore held and still do an holy communion with the Clergie and Church of England Beyond whose sober light and solid discoveries of true Religion these new Masters who will needs be Ministers have yet offered to me no other but such strange stuffe such rambling rhapsodies such crude incoherences such chymicall chimaeras such Chaos-like confusions such Seraphick whimsies such Socinian subtilties such Behmemick bumbast such profound non-sense such blasphemous raptures big as Behemoth and disdainfull as Leviathan proud swelling words of vanity as no sober Christian hath leisure to intend or need to understand if he had capacity which he is not likely to have since I am confident they pass their authors own understanding not that there is any thing in them that flows from the higher springs of grace or the profounder depths of divine mysteries but they are meer puffings up of proud and fleshly minds intruding themselves into things they have not seen who delight in this froth of idleness these lyings and vapourings of hypocrisie which never did of old in the Gnosticks Montanists Manichees or others of the like bran with these men in the least degree advance the majesty or authority of Christian Religion or the credit and comfort of Christian Preachers or Professors however they served for a time the bellies and interests of such popular Parasites more than Preachers of the Gospel or Ministers of Jesus Christ Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father was of old still is and ever will be in the minds and mouthes of true Ministers when these Hucksters and Mountebanks these deceitfull workers are buried in infamy and obscurity with those their rotten predecessors a rich magazine of heavenly wisdome a Treasury of sound knowledge a store-house of pregnant and ponderous Truths bringing men to a good understanding of God themselves and their neighbours free from the rust and scurf of childish easiness and popular petulancy planted by holy and humble industry watered by prayers and patience beautified with all manner of usefull vertues and moralities dispensed to others with authority industry and perspicuity entertained in mens own hearts with honesty and charity not studying to be admired of men but approved of God not affecting to stupifie auditors with strange difficulties and curiosities but to edifie them with saving Truths and sound Doctrine in words easie to be understood five of which S. Paul preferred before ten thousand in an unknown tongue or unintelligible gibberish so much affected by these new-minted Ministers That primitive plain and profitable way of preaching praying and writing was the commendable method of those excellent ordained and orderly Ministers of the Church of England who were furnished both with ability and authority for so great and sacred a work whose notions were more in the fruitfull valleys of practicall
very vigilant and active doth then move most potently upon the face of our English waters when there is to be seen nothing but a sea of confusion a meer Chaos of the Christian and Reformed Religion Which feared deluge and by wise men foreseen devastation of the Reformed Religion once wisely established honourably maintained and mightily prospered in the Church of England is already much spread and prevalent among many people under the plea and colour of I know not what liberty to own any or no Minister any or no Religion any none or many Churches in England The visible decayes and debasings of the true and Reformed Religion in England as to piety equity unity and charity as to the authority of its Ministry and solemnity of its Ministrations are so palpable both in the outward peace and profession also in the inward warmth and perswasion that it is high time for all sober and wise men that love God Religion and their Countrey mightily to importune the mercies of God that breathing upon us with a spirit of meeknesse and wisdome truth and love humility and honesty he would at length asswage that deluge of contempt and confusion the troubled and bitter waters of wrath and contention which have over-whelmed the highest mountains of this Church over-topping by their salt waves and aspersions the gravest wisest most learned and religious both Preachers and professors of the Reformed Religion in this Church and Nation Which licentious insolencies have made all sober Christians so sick weary and ashamed of them that they cannot but be infinitely grieved to see and foresee the low ebbe to which the Reformed Religion in its purity and power must in time fall in England while the pristine dignity and authority of the Evangelicall Ministry is so invaded baffled and despised while the authentick derivation and Catholick succession of that holy power is so interrupted innovated divided destroyed while the reverence of primitive customes and examples is so slighted abated by fanatick innovators while the cords of Christian harmony and Church-polity are so loosened and ravelled on every side while the just honour and encouragements of learning and learned men are so much damped and exhausted while the Ecclesiastick Glory of this Nation which was its chiefest in being and owning it self as a true and Reformed Church of Christ is so much eclipsed to the great reproch of this present age and the infinite hazard of posterity which will hardly ever recover the honour order beauty and unity of Christian and Reformed Religion formerly enjoyed in this Church and Nation when once the Jewels of it the learned ordained orderly and authoritative Ministers of the Gospel with all their Ministry and Ministrations come to be either trampled under feet by Schismaticall fury or invaded and usurped by vulgar insolency which in time will rake them all up and bury them in the dunghill of Romish superstitions and Papal usurpations CHAP. XIX HOw far in humane policy or reason of State this popular liberty or rather insolency usurpation and anarchy in Religion is to be indulged I know not as not pretending to any of those depths of secular wisdome which will be found shallow at last if Gods glory and the good of mens souls be not in the bottom of them But thus far I conceive I may after so many years sad experience which all sober Christians have had of the retrogradations of the Reformed Religion in England appeal as to you who are the most generous and judicious persons in this Nation so to all prudent and well-advised persons of all sizes and conditions who are capable to weigh the true interests and future concernments of their Countrey and Posterity both as to Piety and Peace Honour and Happiness by way of an humble and earnest expostulation Hath not I beseech you this English world Prince and peasant Pastors and people great and small had enough both in cities and in villages of these late Hashshes Olives and Queckshoes of Religion in the mixture and dressing of which every foul hand must have a finger Do you not perceive a different face of Christian and Reformed Religion from what was heretofore in England when it had less experience of vulgar licentiousness but more true Christian liberty when in my memory most of yours Engl. was so full and flourishing with excellent Christians of all sorts young and old plain and polite learned and illiterate noble and ignoble in the Nobility Gentry Yeomanry and Peasantry whose setled judicious piety was the fruit of the labours cares counsels and inspection of those learned grave and godly Ministers both Bishops and Presbyters with whom you were blessed Have not all of you had enough and too much of these new flashes these fluttering squibs these erratick Planets these wandering Stars these pretenders to rarities novelties superfluities super-reformings raptures revelations and Enthusiasmes in Religion To all which you may easily see that a fancifull invention a melancholy pride a popular itching a profane spirit a loose temper and a glib tongue are very prone to betray men being as sufficient to furnish them in those trades as a little stock will go far to make up a pedlars pack yet have they so great confidence of themselves as if they exceeded not onely all former Christians all Ministers all Councils all Churches but even all holy Scriptures themselves whose darkness or incompleteness must as some men say be cleared and supplied by their speciall illuminations an old artifice of the Devil most used by those men and in those times which being most destitute of true reason good learning and Religion did most vapour of their visions and revelations their traditions and superstitions witness those Cimmerian Centuries or blinder ages of these Western Churches in which there were as many visions revelations and miracles daily obtruded on the credulous vulgar as there were Monasteries and Nunneries which in stead of Seminaries and Nurseries became dark dungeons wherein Christian Religion and Devotion were for many ages sadly confined and almost smothered with superstition idleness and luxury Have we not had enough too much of vulgar playings with piety of triflings with Christian and Reformed Religion of baffling abusing and abasing the Christian Ministry of buffetings of Christ of mockings of God by impudent pratings and insolent intrudings by confused rhapsodies and shuffling sanctities by endless janglings and refined blasphemies vented in some mens writings preachings prayings practisings so far from the light weight and height the sobriety sanctity and majesty of true Religion that they are most-what void of ordinary reason and common sense of equity and modesty of humanity and civility being little else but the froth of futile and fanatick spirits who blind poor people to enlighten them captivate them to make them free and ruine them under pretense of building them after new wayes and models of Religion sanctity salvation Have we not had enough of passionate transports popular
who commonly were most imperious when the Church had most peace and civil prosperity but the Presbyterian thunder and Independent lightning urged most upon all Bishops and all Episcopall Ministers then when they were most scared pillaged and harrased by a civil war when most tossed by those sad storms and almost overwhelmed by the impressions of those sad dissentions Then then was it that Bishops and other Episcopall Ministers whose consciences were guided in their judgements by the wisdome of this Church and Nation together with all other Christian Churches in all ages having lost their clokes in the wars must be deprived of their coats also chiefly for their innocent opinion and honest adherency to Catholick Episcopacy then was it that where Episcopacy had at any time and that by special command from their Governours silenced or sequestred refractory or turbulent Ministers by tens or hundreds possibly Presbytery and Independency inflicted either those mulcts or terrours at least upon thousands of Ministers dissenting from them not as to the Religion established or Laws in force in England but meerly as to their private opinions and principles about Church-government Hence so many learned pious and painful Preachers since the civil digladiations ceased had been condemned to chains of everlasting darkness to remediless distresses both they and their families if there had not been some more generous mercy and connivence shewed than those mens spirits intended or can well bear Through which miseries and terrours many Ministers gray hairs have been brought down with sorrow to their graves After all which dreadful severities either intended or executed against the Episcopall Clergie yet as far as I can see the condition of any sort of Ministers now in England is not any whit better as to the generality nor comparable to what the Clergie enjoyed in former times who in my judgement might well have born the yoke of Episcopacy with as little disparagement and with as much ease and honour every way as they have for some years done the examination and inspection the rebukes and frowns the terrours and jurisdictions of Major Generals or Countrey Committees not onely in secular and military but even in religious respects among which few I believe were to be found equal or exceeding such Bishops and other grave Divines as England afforded both able Preachers and excellent Governours much more fitted in all respects except their swords to be the superintendents of Ministers being of the same education office and calling than most of those men can be who are generally so much Heteroclites different from learned men both in their breeding learning studies and course of living that even from hence they have sometimes secret Antipathies even against all Ministers or Clergy-men as persons of another genius of more refined minds and if men were impartially weighed of greater worth and merits As then I cannot find that Ministers of any new name form title and extractions whatsoever have much mended their condition by that great alteration they have made or sought in this Church and State so I am sure their mutual enmities and divisions do very much heighten their common afflictions and add exceedingly to that general darkness and diminution in all respects civil and sacred which is come or coming upon them as upon wicked men in the strict account of Gods justice or as weak men in the vulgar process of mans severity Indeed the worst of Ministers miseries they generally owe to themselves who in piety and prudence above all men should by united counsels and cares avoid them because it is sport to the most and worst of men to see those men together by the ears hating despising biting and devouring one another who are esteemed the severe censurers of other mens sins and follies sharp curbs to the childish petulant and licentious humours of people Ministers scufflings and contests with one another is beyond any Cock-fighting or Bear-baiting to the vulgar envy malice profanenesse and petulancy In the midst of all which sufferings first from Divine Justice which calls upon every one to examine the plague of his own heart next from humane ingratitude and insolency though every sober and prudent Minister cannot but see that precipice and gulph of irreligion irreverence and contempt to which the Reformed Religion and the whole office of the Ministry is now falling in England through the endless capricios and extravagances chiefly of some Ministers though most Ministers on all sides that have any learning worth or abilities for that office do generally agree in the same Scriptures and Sacraments in the same Faith and Salvation in the same God and Saviour in the same Graces and Vertues in the same Doctrine for morals and Mysteries in the same Precepts and Promises in the same holy duties and blessed hopes yet even these Ministers which is a thousand pities are sharply and for ought I can see unless God work miracles upon some of their spirits and tempers resolutely and eternally divided by those wedges of differences touching external Church-order and Discipline the manner of worship and power of managing of Church-government so that the way of peace few have known nor are they patient to learn contrary to their presumptions To recant their errours they are ashamed remit their rigour they must not lest they abate their parties and followers exchange their animosities as men for moderations becoming brethren and Christians they will not lest their credit decay and their factions abate lest those shews and shadows of popular empire vanish which they have seemed or fancied themselves to enjoy upon these accounts of rare inventions and new models of Reformation Ministry c. All which must by some men be kept up though all things else do fall to the ground though the Church of England lies languishing and sighing weeping and bleeding though the Reformed Religion is deformed decaying dying though both piety and sincerity be much dispirited though they cannot but see Ichabod wrote upon all their foreheads though all Ministerial order office employment and authority as to mens inward respect and consciences no less than in their outward reverence and obedience is infinitely slackned and in many places as well as in many hearts quite dissolved though the Catholick Character or Christs cognizance of Christians which is sincere charity be much defaced the Devils badges of factious confederacies be much worn though the purity and simplicity the warmth and worth the words and works of true Religion be much out of fashion giving way to fanatick follies and impudent vanities daily vented in every place though the beauty serenity of the true Christian Religion as of old and of the well-reformed Religion as it was of later years well established in Engl. be much hidden defaced disguised by many hypocritical masks new dresses though the palpable cunning of some men hath taught them to abuse this credulous age by shaving off the hair primitive ornament of this Church which was
will be the more blamable before God and man by how much nearer they profess to come to one another in the harmonies of faith and confessions of the same reformed and true doctrine which would soon unite their hearts and studies if they had on all sides less of easiness credulity popularity peevishness obstinacy small ambitions and juvenilities The removing of which distempers from all Ministers new and old and from my self as well as any other is one of my chief designs and endeavours to be carried on in the fourth and last Book of this discourse At present it sufficeth to have shewed as an evil branch of abused Liberty in Religion this to be none of the least causes or occasions of the Church of Englands distempers decayes and miseries that Ministers are after Mundane and machiavellian methods so sharply divided from and eagerly opposite against one another so hardly perswaded by any retreats and principles of piety charity prudence which honest policy publick necessity self-preservation or care of future succession invite them to which may make for an happy close and Christian accommodation Upon some Ministers pride and peevishness not any one nay not all these considerations together can so far prevail I fear as to induce them to any terms or treaty of equable accord but they still carry themselves as young men high in their own conceits coy and elate in their parties opinions presumptions prejudices animosities and disdains especially against the former Ministry of England which was not more Episcopal than Catholick Primitive Apostolicall and truly Christian Few novell Ministers ever lay their hand on their heart and ask what evil have I acted occasioned or not hindred to this Church of England CHAP. XXVI THat I may a little further open the eyes of all my Brethren such as either are or deserve or desire to be Ministers of the Gospel and of all other my Countrey-men both as to their own private interests as Ministers and as to the publick concernments of the Christian Reformed Religion in this Nation I shall yet more particularly and as pathetically as I can endeavour to shew them the true state and posture in which their persons their livelihoods their credits their worldly comforts their calling at present and their succession for the future now seem to stand in England what scratch'd faces what deformed aspects how deplorable conditions all of them either feel or may justly fear and expect by reason of that inordinate liberty which people in England have lately carried on to such intolerable petulancies insolencies and licentiousnesse against Ministers whereto they have been highly animated and encouraged not more by their own lusts and malapertnesse than by those unkind indiscreet and unchristian dissentions which have broke out among Ministers themselves against one another while forgetting that gravity constancy modesty and equanimity which they owed to themselves and to each other they either rowed down or suffered themselves to be carried down this foul stream and torrent of vulgar liberty out of principles of facility or faction popularity or pride covetousness or cowardise ignorance or sequaciousness which have so blinded some Ministers otherwise of very good abilities that like men drenched over head and ears in water they cannot suddenly or easily see what deformities are upon them what dangers threaten them both as men and as Ministers Whatever title order original badge or discriminating character of their Ministry they bear and wear in the world whatever principles they profess whatever party they patronize adhere to or adopt new or old this I am sure if they be not purely plebeian praters of the very scumme lees and dregs of people which have no sense of sin shame or honour if they are persons of any learned latitude of any ingenious capacities and abilities of any tenderness in honour or conscience if they be painful pious or prudent men in any degree they cannot but see that no mens condition in England or almost under heaven of whatever calling and quality they are is more mean and miserable more tattered and scambling less honourable or less comfortable no profession order or fraternity of men is more divided dubious distressed forlorn despicable as to all civil and secular interests for profit peace respect and reputation both for the encouragement of their present ministration and for the hopes of an able future succession none of which things wise and worthy Ministers ought supinely sordidly sluggishly or simply to neglect Their own and all mens eyes that are open and clear may easily see the sad prospects of Ministers dejections diminutions debasements distresses in all those points all of them are under the scorn of some opposite party or other most of them live in a low and mean estate many of them to my knowledge contend with extreme difficulties and all manner of necessities not a few of them which I have been oft an eye-witness of have been and are reduced to a morsel of bread and are driven even to beg alms for the support of themselves and their distressed families How many of their cryes have I heard how many of their tears have I seen with what pallor and dejection with what squallor and horrour with what astonishment and despair do many of them wander from one village city and countrey to another for relief untill being weary and wasted sunk and oppressed by their daily distresses and remedilesse tragedies they go to their graves with sorrow to the shame and sin I believe of the Age in which they have thus lived and died Ministers of the Gospel and very worthy ones too if it be any merit to have constantly deserved well of the Church of England by their godly preaching and living over whose sad ruines I know the enemies of this Church and the Reformed Religion both at home and abroad do infinitely triumph and seriously rejoyce Nor is this hard fate befaln those Ministers onely who were and are of the Episcopal persuasion and most constant to the love and duty they owe to the Church of England but even those Ministers have been shrewdly singed who most eagerly sought to heat the fiery furnace of popular wrath and revenge against all Bishops and the Episcopall Clergie the thumbs and toes of many of those great Adonibezeks have been cropt off who most joyed in the like executions done by popular revenge and vulgar fiercenesse against all of the Episcopall order and ordination even those Preachers who filled their sails most with the peoples breath are now either becalmed or come aground or very leaky or quite dashed in pieces as to their former great influence and reputation among the people nor have they made either such a fair port or such a prosperous voyage as might any way answer their former presumptions their high ostentations and their flattering expectations This I am sure that the ambitious wantonnesse of many Ministers lusting to tast of the forbidden fruit of government beyond their
successions of Christianity imparted to the Infants of Christian Parents who own their own Baptisme and continue in the Churches communion professing to believe that covenant of God made to them and their children as Gods people or Christs Disciples for the remission of sins original and actual through the blood of Christ Against which gracious sign of the Evangelicall covenant sealing the truth of the Gospel conferring the grace of it also distinguishing as by a visible mark of Church-fellowship the Infants of Christians or believers from those of heathens and professed unbelievers who are strangers to the flock of Christ the Anabaptists have ever since their rise in Germany which is about 130 years been not so much fair and candid disputants as bitter and reprochfull enemies for the most part not modestly doubting or civilly denying it as to their own private judgements with a latitude of charity to such in all the Christian world who from the Apostles dayes have and do retain Infant-Baptisme but as if all the Church had erred till their dayes they imperiously deny it they rudely despise it they scurrilously disdain and mock at the baptisme of Infants as wholly void and null therefore they repeat Baptisme to their Disciples whence they have their name CHAP. VII IN this one vexatious Controversie heretofore happily setled in the Church of England both by doctrine and practise conform to all Antiquity I presume as much hath been said and wrote on either side as the wit of man can well invent or the nature of the thing bear and possibly more than can well agree with Christian Charity on either side if the difference were onely as to a circumstance of time and not about the very essence or substance of our Baptisme against which the spirit and design of the Anabaptists doth so fiercely drive that by absolutely nulling all Infant-baptism in the Church of Christ they might overthrow not onely the honour fidelity and credit of this Church but of all other yea and the whole frame even to the foundation of all Christian ministrations priviledges comforts and communion both in England and all Christian Churches through the world as if all we had done said or enjoyed as Christian Ministers and people had been irregular confused inauthoritative invalid all things of Religion having been begun and continued exhibited and received by such Ministers and people as had no visible right to any Christian duties or priviledges in a Church-communion as having never been baptized after the way which Christ instituted so that their claim to be Christians or Churches is as false and insufficient as theirs is to an estate of which they have no deed seal or seisin but what are false or counterfeit By which high and bold reproch of the Anabaptists against this and all other Churches from the beginning it must follow that contrary to Christs promise the gates of Hell have so long prevailed against the Catholick Church in so great a concern as this Sacrament must needs be which being made void and null as to any initiation obsignation and confirmation of all Evangelicall gifts graces and priviledges it will follow not onely that all the Ministry and ministrations of the Church have been illegitimate invalid irregular being acted dispensed and received by such as had no right title or authority to them being persons unbaptized but also all the faith and repentance all the confessions and absolutions all the celebrations and consecrations of the Lords Supper all the perceptions of grace and spirituall comfort all sense of peace joy love of God and Christian charity all the patience and hopes of all Christians as Believers Confessors Martyrs all must be either very defective of Christs order and method or meerly fancifull and superstitious or grosly presumptuous preposterous and wholly impertinent because wanting the first root of Christian Religion the badge and band of Christs Disciples right or lawfull true and valid Baptisme So that however God guided his Church in all other things aright yet in this it seems to have erred a Catholick errour so far that in stead of one Baptisme which the Apostle urgeth as concurrent with other unities of Christian accord as one God one Faith one Body one Christ one Head c. all which the true Church retained constantly there must have been no Baptisme at all for the greatest part of 1600 years in which time as generally before so universally after the Church had peace all Christians brought their Infants to Baptisme Which abominable consequence or conclusion following the Anabaptistick opinion and practise seems to me so uncharitable so immodest so absurd so cruel so every-way unworthy of any good Christian who understands the fidelity exactnesse and constancy of primitive and persecuted Churches in following the way once delivered to them by Christ and his Apostles from which they were so far from an easie receding that they rather chose to die that this jealousie and scandall rather becomes Turks Jews Heathens Hereticks and Infidels or down-right Atheists than any good Christians so far to charge openly or but secretly indeed to suspect the fidelity honesty and integrity of the Catholick Church nor do I see how any judicious sober and humble Christian can with charity comfort and good conscience entertain and promote so horrid a jealousie and censure of all the Christian world as if having kept the two Testaments intire which I suppose the Anabaptists do not deny or doubt yet they had lost one of the two Sacraments and that which is the first foundation main hinge and centre of all the Churches polity priviledges community and unity in this world both to Christ and to each other It is not my purpose in this place or work which is rather to deplore the lapsed state of this Church than to dispute this or any other point long ago setled in this and all true Churches my aim is not to tire you my honoured Countrey-men with drawing over the rough sand of this controversie at large which hath of late by sharp reciprocations made such deep wounds or incisions on this Churches face and peace agreeable to the practise and spirit of the Anabaptists wherever they come and prevail Onely give me leave since this Anabaptistick poyson is still pregnant in this Nation in order to move your compassions to the Church of England and your love to the truth of God as it is in Jesus to shew you how unjustly She hath and still doth suffer yea and is daily more threatned by this sort of men who upon weak and shallow pretensions seek to overthrow so great so ancient so Catholick so Primitive so Apostolick so Scriptural so Christian a practise and priviledge as that is of baptizing the Infants of Christian Professors First the Anabaptists cannot with any forehead or face of reason and therefore the soberest of them do not deny but that the Infants of Christians have both in respect of sinfull
as to question the usual and approved practise of it from all times which S. Austin so vehemently affirmes that in his Epistle to Volusia he sayes The custom of our Mother the Church in baptizing Infants as it is not to be neglected as superfluous so nor would it have been either practised or believed unlesse it had been so delivered by the Apostles as their undoubted sense and practise which Pelagius did not yea could not with any colour deny as S. Austin observes though it had much served his design about original sin if he could in that point have baffled the credit custome and authority of the Catholick Church which S. Cyprian who lived in the second Century so beyond all cavill or scruple so industriously and fully sets down that if there were no other testimonies of the Ancients that alone would satisfie any sober man being written not upon any heat of dispute but calmly and clearly as of a matter ever done and never under dispute in the Church to his dayes But I have in this part done more than I designed in order to advance not strifes and further contention but Christian peace and charity on all sides in this Church and Nation as to those religious differences which are a great occasion of our miseries CHAP. XIV FRom the Deformities Divisions and Degeneration of Religion also the Falsifications Usurpations and Devastations which of later years have been made by the violent sort of Anabaptists and other furious Sectaries against the Unity and Authority the Sanctity and Majesty of the Church of England destroying its Primitive Order and Apostolick Government its Catholick Succession its holy Ordination its happy and most successfull Ministry to the great neglect and contempt of all holy ministrations and duties of Religion I cannot but further intimate to your piety and prudence O my honoured Countrey-men that which is most notorious and no lesse dangerous both in religious and civil respects namely the great Advantages Applauses and Increases which the Roman or Papal party daily gain against the Reformed Religion as it was once wisely honourably and happily established professed and maintained here in England which is now looked upon by the more subtill superstitious and malicious sort of Papists as deformed divided dissolved desolated so conclamate for dead that they fail not with scorn to boast that in England we have now no Church no Pastors no Bishops no Presbyters no true Ministry no holy Ministrations no Order no Unity no Authority no Reverence as to things Divine or Ecclesiastick Insomuch that we must in this sad posture not onely despair of ever getting ground against the Romanists by converting any of them from the errours of their way to the true Reformed Religion but we must daily expect to lose ground to the Popish party and their Proselytes there being no banks or piles now sufficient to keep the Sea of Rome from over-flowing or undermining us in order to advance their restlesse interests which have been and still are mightily promoted not by the reverend Bishops and the other Episcopal Clergie who are men of Learning Piety Prudence and Martyr-like constancy as some men with more Heat than Wit more Spite than Truth have in their mechanick and vulgar Oratory of late miserably and falsely declaimed but by those who have most done the Popes work while they have seemed most furiously to flie in the Popes face as popularly zealous against Popery and yet at the same time by a strange giddinesse headinesse and madnesse they have risen up against that Mother-Church which bare them and those Fathers in it who heretofore mightily defended them and theirs from the talons and gripes of that Roman Eagle and this not with childish scufflings or light skirmishings to which manner of fight the illiterate weaknesse and rudenesse of our new Masters and Champions hath reduced those Controversies but with such a Panoply or compleat Armour of proof such sharp Weapons such ponderous Engines such rare dexterity of well-managed Powers raised from all Learning both Divine and Humane that the high places and defences of Rome were not able to stand before them heretofore when they were battered by our Jewels our Lakes our Davenants our Whites our Halls our Mortons our Andrews and the late invincible Usher who deserved to be Primate not onely of Ireland but of all the Protestant Forces in the world All these were Bishops Worthies of the first three seconded in their ranks by able and orderly Presbyters as Whitakers Perkins Reynolds Whites Crakanthorps Sutliffs and innumerable others while our Regiments were orderly our Marchings comely and our Forces both united and encouraged Whereas now there is no doubt but the mercilesse mowing down and scattering of the Clergie of England like Hay with the withering and decay of Government Regularity and Order in this Church these have infinitely contributed to the Papall harvest and Romish agitations the gleanings of whose Emissaries will soon amount to more than the sheaves of any the most zealous and reformed Ministers in England By the Papall interests and advantages I doe not mean the Roman Clergies preaching or propagating those Truths of Christian Doctrine Duties which for the main they profess in common with us and all Christian Churches if any of them be thus piously industrious I neither quarrell at them nor envy their successes but rather I should rejoyce in them with S. Paul because however Christ crucified is preached by some whom common people will either more reverence or sooner believe than they generally doe the decayed despised divided Ministers of Engl. who seem to have many of them so small abilities and carrying so little shew or pretence of any good authority for their work ministeriall nor can they be potent or esteemed abroad who are so impotent and disesteemed at home But I mean that Papall Monarchy or Ecclesiasticall Tyranny by which the Church or rather the Court of Rome by such sinister Arts and unjust Policies as were shamefully used and discovered in the Tridentine conventicle seeks to usurp and continue an imperiall power over all Churches and Bishops as if there had been but one Apostle or one Apostolick Church planted in the world also to corrupt abuse that ancient Purity Simplicity and Liberty of Religion which was preserved among Primitive Churches and their coordinate Bishops Further without fear of God or reverence of man opposing some Divine Truths and undoubted institutions of Christ also imposing such erroneous Doctrines and superstitious Opinions upon all Christians to be believed and accordingly practised as become not the severity and sanctity of true Religion adding to that holy foundation which was indeed first laid by the great Apostles and continued happily for many hundred years by the successive Bishops of Rome those after superstructures not of ceremonies onely which are tolerable many of them like feathers making but little weight in Religion but of corrupt Doctrines and
and employing those advantages of Estates and Honours which they lawfully enjoy as any of those are like to doe who would by force or under specious pretensions deprive them of those enjoyments who can think it strange that such persons of eminency with all their Relations Friends Clientels and Dependences are very unwilling to come under the hands of such rifling Reformers such mad shavers of Religion who design not onely to cut off some part of the long locks and over-grown haire of Church-men I mean the Riot and Luxuriancy of their Manners which are the reall deformity of any Christian much more of any Clergy-man but they intend to treat them as Hanun did Davids Messengers or as the Philistins did Sampson shave them so bare and close make them so curtailed and cropt that all their strength beauty esteem and honour shall depart from them not onely in the sight of people of better quality but even before the very abjects of the people who may afterward safely contemn and scorn them as persons unable to doe them good or hurt Who sees not that some mens cruel severities and rude reformings if they had their wills are not to be satisfied with the wooll and fleece of Church-men but they study to flea off their very skins They gape like the pit and enlarge their mouthes like hell while any Estate is yet left to the Church not onely goodly mannors and fair houses which have properly belonged many hundred yeares to Church-men and the Church of Christ but Glebes Tithes yea the material Churches and Chappels must all goe down the unsatiable gulphs the sacrilegious Gules of some lack-latine Reformers nothing ample or setled must be left to any Ministers either Bishops or Presbyters be they never so sound in Doctrine exemplary in their Lives of excellent Abilities and charitable Spirits as many were heretofore and still are in England The greedy godlinesse of some Reformers would have all Preachers such spiritual persons as should like Chameleons live onely upon the aire their own and the popular breath with little or no corporal sustenance urging much that primitive poverty which armed with the conspicuity of miracles and attended with primitive charity in Christian people was no diminution but advantage to the Bishops and Ministers of the Gospel for they then lived among believers of so generous liberality grateful beneficence that they were the cream and flower of Christianity esteeming their Preachers dearer than their right eyes But we alas are faln among unsatiable leeches tenacious vultures in an age ingeniously wicked to mock God to rob the Church to deceive and damn their own with others souls full of the dregs of hypocritical cruelty covetous formality which loves the goods of the Church of Christ as much as those in former times did the good of it when by their munificent bounty Christian Princes Nobility and Gentry bestowed those many ample and honourable endowments on the Church of Christ and his Ministers in all Countreys where the state of Christians was peaceable and plentifull which gifts now were the great baits of some sacrilegious Reformers who to be sure love the world themselves and their mammon very well how they love God and Christ the Church and the Clergy I list not to judge but leave it to be known by their good works by the great things they have either done or suffered for Religion by the cost and charges they have been at from their private purses to make a gainfull Reformation by that zeale they have to eat up the Houses of God to serve God in a way that may cost them nothing to be sure and next get them some good Booty and Advantage from the Church while any is to be had I therefore appeale to all men of any equitable honest or ingenuous Senses Is it expectable that persons of so much Learning Reason Prudence and Experience as the Roman Clergy generally are should ever think of approving much lesse of embracing such a Reformation which besides other foul spots cast by some upon it unsuitable to any thing of true Religion evidently threatens the utter ruine of their Honour and Livelihood yea of their very Order and Function Will any sober Papist wash in this Jordan in order to be clean which he sees not onely so troubled and tumultuary but so violent and excessive that like a rapid Torrent it overflowes all banks of Modesty Moderation Equity and Charity carrying down all before it and overwhelming at once both Churches and Church-men it hurries them away without ever hearing them plead for themselves into the gulph and precipice of Poverty and Basenesse of Dishonour and Contempt of Disorder and Confusion What grave and well-advised Romanists wil not be much upon the reserve as to any thoughts of Reformation when they see that under that colour they are sure to be undone They must lose all those personall acquisitions and honorary enjoyments which they have obtained by the will of the dead by the lawes of any Christian Nation by the proportions of Equity and Gratitude by the indulgence of God the merits of Christ yea though they should be content to admit of all reall Reformations in doctrine and manners yet still they must by a pious stupidity and asinine sanctity consent to have themselves and their whole Order deprived of all those necessary Supports comely Ornaments and just Honours which were most fitting for the Christians God and Saviour for Christian Churches and Ministers of the glorious Gospel all these must be wasted alienated and embezelled from God his Church and his Ministers in order to gratifie either the exorbitant luxury of some riotous Prince or the more thrifty covetousnesse of some State and Common-wealth or the ever-craving and envious necessities of some private mean-spirited people till they see Deformity Beggery Contempt Confusion and all Irreligion dancing like Satyrs and evil Spirits among the Ruines of Religion and amidst the Desolations not of the pomp so much as of the very power and profession of true Christianity Which dreadfull effects must needs be much in the eye and abhorrence of every pious and prudent man who sees by evident experience what some mens Reformations doe mean when they not onely grudge at all setled just and honourable maintenance of Ministers which they would fain swallow up and divert another way but they are further as studious to demolish and devour as ever their fore-fathers were to build even those publick Monuments of pristine Devotion Gratitude and Magnificence which became Christians above all men to their bountifull God and blessed Saviour Even those goodly Cathedrals and other materiall Churches which never cost their defacers one penny to build or repaire them these must if some men may have their wills and they have had it God knowes too much be so robbed of all their great endowments and ancient Revenues that nothing must be left so much as to repaire them or keep them up
for their Worshippers should boast of their Temples to the upbraiding of Christians or that the Jewes and Mahometans should have cause to suspect us of a disesteem and slight of our God and Saviour who lived among us and died for us by our neglect of the places where we Christians meet to serve our God and Saviour While we ambitiously dwell in sciled houses Gods houses lie wast poor mortall worms affect Palaces for themselves and crowd their God the King immortall into a Cottage The pouring of that costly oyntment on our Saviours head was not that which he either absolutely needed or required but he deserved it and all that could be rendred to him as tokens of Love Honour and Gratitude and we see he was so far from finding fault with it or complying with the thrifty and thievish basenesse of Judas that he accepted it kindly he justified it publickly and commended it highly as worthy to be recorded whereever the Gospel is preached that it might be an everlasting example of generous Grace and liberall Love capable to give check in all Ages to such dangerous Christians and penurious spirits as are prone under pretences of Piety or Charity or any reforming Frugalities to quarrel at or condemn parallel expressions of munificent Honour and heroick Gratitude to Jesus Christ for the honour of whose name I thought it my duty thus farre to vindicate against sacrilegious Vastators the sanctity and sumptuousnesse of those places where the honour of our God and Saviour eminently dwels in the solemn and publick celebration of his Name Praise Merit and Divine Majesty who abasing himself to the shame of the Crosse and now ascended above every created name of Power and Honour in Heaven and Earth ought not to be in any respect treated in such a vile fashion as if we thought meanly of him or with the Samosatenians and Arians esteemed him no other than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a meer Man to be served in as mean or meaner way than we serve our selves which seems the sense of some wretches who are glad to see Churches lie like Hog-sties full of filth and confusion and to be made even as Jakes and Dunghils which fate Nebuchadnezzar threatned to those that spake any thing amisse against the true God A sight and example which I confesse I take to be as little to the credit or encouragement of any reformation of Religion as it is no advantage to a beautifull face which possibly is a little foul and besmeared to scratch and tear its skin till the blood come in stead of washing it clean I could not forbear to insist on this subject in which if I offend some penurious and sacrilegious spirits of the present Age I hope I shall please and promote the desires and designs of more generous posterity in whose dayes it may be God will restore the captivity repair the ruines wipe away the reproches unjustly by Papists others cast upon this Church and the true Reformation which indeed never owned any such Principles or Practises as savoured of Sacriledge which is a taking away from our God and the Lord Jesus Christ from his Church his Ministers such things as are dedicated to his Worship and Service to the Churches Benefit and his Ministers Maintenance Order and Honour without which Religion cannot flourish nor indeed well subsist especially among such Christians as under pretense of love and zeal for Reformation as friends daily pillage and spoil Religion as its cruellest enemies CHAP. XXVII IT was a speech in old times of better significancy than sound Luxus Clericorum Laus est Laicorum The Splendour or Pomp of the Clergy was the Praise and Honour of the Laity not that Church-men should at any time be riotous and luxurious in their greatest abundance but it is the commendation of Christian people as indeed of all men so to entertain the Ministers of their God and Dispensers of their Religion specially in times of peace and a Land of plenty as may set them and their Profession furthest off from Poverty and its inseparable companion vulgar contempt that Church-men might have not onely wherewith to keep up the outward Decency Majesty of Religion but to maintain themselves and their families at such a proportion as may extend to charity liberality and hospitality The habits and exercises of which vertues become no mens Hearts Hands and Houses better than Christian Ministers and Rulers of the Church nothing more confirming the Doctrine they teach of Gods munificence to mankind than their living so as to be ever giving Religion is never so acceptable to common people as when they not onely hear the Word and see the Ceremony but taste the sweetnesse and substance of it in the reall fruits of its bounty Which pious Policy and charitable Craft in former dayes kept up the credit of Religion both while it was Roman and when it was Reformed to as high a pitch in England as in any Nation under Heaven while the Clergy enjoyed those blessings of Gods and mans Donation which enabled many an one of them to build and endow many such noble foundations of Churches Colledges Hospitals and Almes-houses that any one of them now goes beyond all that ever sacrilegious spirits did or designed either for Gods honour or mans benefit if all their good works and thoughts were summed up and put together though indeed those men are uncapable of doing any good work as to Charity who are guilty of sacred Robbery stoln Sacrifices were not to be consecrated to God no more than dead carkases Every History of England shews at large what good and great works Bishops and other Church-men in England did not onely in their Papal Celebacy but in their Primitive and later Conjugacy fruits indeed of pious and Princely Magnificence such as now neither the joint abilities of the indigent and peeled Clergy nor the gripple charity of whole Counties can or will so much as keep up or repair no not so much as to the very fabrick of those fair Churches which were the honour of Cities Counties and the whole Nation Whose vast Revenues being taken away both from Churches and Church-men no wonder if the sordid vastations of them and their deplorable decayes as that of S. Pauls in London and of Ely-Minster in that Isle every where appear as shamefull scandalous and prodigious Spectacles to all ingenuous persons to Papists both at home and abroad also to all Forraigners Christian Mahometan or Heathen who come into this Island who may easily see such sights as rather proclaim Saracenism Barbarism and Atheisme than such a sense of Christianisme as possessed our noble Progenitors who were ashamed to seem base and niggardly toward a bountifull God and Saviour Every City in England besides other Towns had such stately and durable monuments of pristine Piety and Charity in them as were hardly to be destroyed by the malice of Time in many Centuries if the
much letting of blood as these last Calentures which have infinitely wasted the people and spirits of these three Nations taking their first popular heats or pretending so at least from the zeal each party had for its Religion not as Christian which all professe but as discriminated by particular marks of lesser Opinions and Perswasions which occasion more discords than all their agreement in other main matters can preserve of Love and Concord as men as Countrey-men or Christians How oft since the Reformation in England began and was perfected to so great a beauty for Justice Piety Order Charity Moderation and Honour as became the Glory of God the Majesty of Christian Religion and the Wisdome of this Nation have the struglings of Religion threatned and began civil broyles not onely in eighth's dayes both in the North and West when yet Reformation was much unhewn and unpolished people being unsatisfied because untaught as to the just grounds of necessary Alteration but afterward in succeeding Princes dayes especially in Queen Elizabeth's long and happy reign how infinitely did religious discontents boyle in some mens breasts insomuch that for want of vent in open flames of Hostility which the publick Power Policy and Vigilancy of those times repressed they bred all sorts of foul Impostumations even to the study of Assassinations Empoisonings and Treasons some so black and barbarous as are unparallel'd in former and will be scarce credible in after-Ages Nor did the discontented Papists onely meditate first revenge then Soveraignty by blowing all up at one blow that was sacred or civil in this Nation but even that little cloud which at first seemed but as an hands breadth of difference in some outward Forms Ceremonies and Circumstances of Religion as Christian and Reformed this in time grew so full of sulphurous or hot vapours that it looked very black when it was not yet very big in England either by schismes or separations being much cooled and allayed yea in great part dissipated and vanished through the excellent temper of that Government both in Church and State which that renowned Queen and her wise Councel preserved which suffered neither Conformity to grow wanton and lazy nor Non-conformity to be presumptuous or desperate nor yet too popular by out-vying the other party either in Piety or Industry Episcopacy as the ancient and onely Catholick Government of this and all other Churches for 1500. years was then had in due veneration allowed its double honour both in Church and State in Parlaments and Synods it was treated with great gravity and respect by that incomparable Princesse afterward it was asserted with greater indulgence and passion by King James who began that Proverb which his Son saw verified No Bishop no King yet in the beginning of the late Kings dayes Episcopacy and the state of the Church was even pampered and cosetted by so excessive a favour and propensity as made it seem his chief Favourite not onely for reasons of State but of Conscience The Episcopall throne and dignity seemed as immutable as the Kings Scepter and Majesty so zealously devoted he was to assert it so fearfull by any sacrilegious act to diminish it such a Patron such a Champion for the State Ecclesiastick that upon the matter he was resolved to venture Kingdomes Life and all upon this cause and either to swimme or sink with the Church of England against the Tide of all Faction What could be desired of greater advantage and security than such an immensity of favour from so potent a Monarch for the indemnity and stability of the Episcopall interests and its friends in England which in the Beginning of King Charles his reign had what they could hope or desire his benignity exceeding the very hopes of Church-men his Royall favour confirming all those Immunities Honours Jurisdictions and Revenues as sacred and inviolable which they enjoyed by the Lawes Priviledges and Customes of England to which the Learning Gravity and Merit of many worthy Bishops and other Church-men in England bare so great and good a proportion that few were so impudently envious as not to think that many yea most of them well deserved what they soberly enjoyed The heat of the opposite Factions as Non-conformists or Separatists was so much allayed that it seemed quite extinguished nor possibly could it have revived to so sudden and dreadfull flames if the immoderations of some mens passionate counsels and precipitate activities had not transported them beyond those bounds which politick and it may be pious prudence did require which easily re-inkindled those old differences which had been so much suppressed that they seemed quite buried in England till they took fresh and unexpected fires from the cold climate but hot spirits of Scotland which finding prepared and combustible matter there and here too soon brake out to such flames as were not to be quenched but with the best blood in England and the overthrow of the ancient Government both of Church and State even then when both seemed to be in their greatest height and fixation So dangerous even beyond all imagination and expression are the sparks of religious dissentions if they be either by preposterous Oppositions provoked or by imprudent Negligences permitted to ferment and spread in any Church and State or if they be not by at powerfull way of reall Wisdome and true Piety which is the best and surest policy so quenched and smothered as may take away from all men of any Worth Modesty and Conscience any just cause to endeavour or desire any such Innovations as those did who upon Presbyterian principles first aimed at not a totall change of Doctrine but onely an amendment of Discipline and Government in this Church which as they seemed in a short time to have obtained beyond their first designs so in no long time after they were as much frustrated and soon defeated by other subsequent parties which sprang up upon the like grounds of religious differences After Episcopacy was thrust under hatches what I pray could be more absolute and Magisteriall bigger in words lookes enterprises in terrours of others in boasts and confidences of it self than the Presbyterian party was after once that Leven by a Scotch maceration and infusion had diffused it self and sowred many peoples simplicity here in England against the Episcopall constitution and administration of this Church How did this high-flying Icarus in a short time disdain any rivall puffing at all its Prelatick adversaries setting its feet on all the Bishops and the Episcopall Clergies neck as the Israelites did on the five Kings of the Amorites before they were to be slain which thing was done at Josuahs command who was the supreme Magistrate but these forward Spirits tarried not for any such command or consent to their dominion from the Prince of the people but their new soveraginty fought to spread it self like lightning in a moment to the latitude of these three Kingdomes impregnated and palliated with many popular petitions
as much away from the Charity and Unity of Religion That Passion commonly darkens and sullies more than their pretensions of Piety do polish or brighten Religion That preposterous Reformers instead of snuffing the lamps of the Temple are prone to put them quite out especially when the ignorance and insolence of Lay-men undertake to set the Ark of God upon their Cart to draw it with Beasts and drive it with their whips and whistlings though they whistle to the tune of a Psalm yet Religion alwayes totters is oft overthrown by them being never safe but when it is as the Ark ought to have been carried upon the shoulders of able Priests and Levites such Bishops and Presbyters as ought to bear it up and to whose care that sacred depositum is chiefly committed by Christ and the Apostles Nor hath the learned and godly Clergy in England ever been so weak and unworthy as to want either ability or will Sufficiency or Authority to do this service to God and his Church however now they are so debased discouraged and almost beaten out of the Sanctuary Reformations of Religion ever prove either abortive or misshapen when they are either begotten or brought forth by Ministers factiousnesse or peoples fury tumultuating and irregular wayes of reforming any Church do but cut up and so kill the mother in hope to save that Bastard-child which having neither due form nor legitimation deserves no long life We see by too wofull experiences and infinite expences of blood that Churches when in some things decayed are easier mended in Fancy than in effect in the project than performance That this Church-work requires not onely proper workmen and skilfull Artists but tender hands and cautious fingers That where the Essentialls Vitals and Fundamentalls of Religion in any Church are good as to true doctrine saving faith holy institutions and honest moralls the prudentialls and ornamentalls cannot but be commendable if they be tolerable That the peace and safety of a setled Church ought not to be indangered for circumstances That it is a dangerous practice of Empiricks to give able and otherwise healthfull bodies uncorrected Quick-silver which shall kill them outright in order to kill some little itch or tetter upon them whose breaking forth to the circumference or outward habit of the body is a good effect of an ill cause a sign of firmer health in the nobler and more retired parts I must ever conclude with S. Austin and Dionysius Bishop of Athens it is better for the Churches peace and Christian charity sake to tolerate some inconveniences for some there will ever be or at least to some men seem to be in the best constituted Churches than to admit of such hazardous wayes and means of reforming as will endanger the ruine of Religion and totall routing of a well-setled Church that it is better in all respects to acquiesce in or submit to publick determinations and tried appointments of true Religion than to be still tampering with untried experiments and essayes of Novelty to the wast of that Order Peace and Unity which ought to be preferred before any such Truths as are but probable or so disputable that good men on either side have do and may hold them in some opposition without danger of their salvation It is but a delusion and device of the Devil which prompts men to wind up the strings of Religion to so high a note of Reformation as breaks both the strings themselves and the very ribs of that Instrument which they pretend to set to such a pitch An immoderation which hath as I have endeavoured to set forth by many sad instances in this third Book of the Church of Englands Sighs and Teares so defaced deformed shaken disunited weakned and endangered the state and honour of Religion as Christian and Reformed in this Church and Nation that it threatens like a Fistula Gangrene or Cancer a totall though it may be a lingring fatality both to Church and State unlesse by some wise hearts and worthy hands the Lord of Heaven vouchsafe to apply such Cures as may stop the prevailings of such sad Effects and remove the Causes which began or promoted them so far as to give occasion to this famous Church and her Children thus sadly to bemone themselves BOOK IV. SETTING FORTH THE SIGHS and PRAYERS of the CHURCH of ENGLAND In order to its Healing and Recovery CHAP. I. HAving set before you Honored and beloved Countrymen in the three former Bookes first the well-formed and sometime flourishing constitution of the Church of England Lib. 1. secondly its present decayes or destitutions both in the causes Lib. 2. and consequences Lib. 3. relating to Ministers and people in sacred and civill regards to the great diminution detriment and danger of the Reformed Religion in this Church and Nation It is now time to apply my thoughts and yours in this fourth Book to the Restitution or recovery of that which is the honour and happinesse of this as all Nations which undoubtedly consists in the Purity Unity Stability Sanctity Solemnity Autority and Efficacy of True Religion Hitherto I have powred Wine into the wounds of this Church not so much suppling as searching them by an honest severity The bruises and putrified sores which are all over the body of our reformed Religion were not capable of Oyles and Balsames of softer and sweeter applications till the putid and painfull ulcerations were first opened the cores of them discovered and the pus or sanies of them let out which to conceal and smother by gentle but unsincere salves by civil but cruel plaisters rather palliating our miseries than healing our maladies were a method of so great basenesse and unworthinesse in me as might for ever justly deprive me of the honour of faithfulnesse to God to this Church to true Religion to my Country to my own and to your soules I know the freedom of my pen hitherto like the sharpnesse of a Lancet or probe may be prone to offend on all sides few men are so humble as not to find fault with those that tell them of their faults those are commonly least patient of Phisitians or Chirurgeons hands who need them most crying out of other mens severities which are occasioned yea necessitated by their own debauchnesse and distempers Yet since my aymes are in this writing upon or rather ripping up the bilious inflammations of Religion not to spare my own disorders or theirs with whom I may seem most to symbolize in my opinion and practice I hope no good man great or small will be causelesly offended with the just incisions or scarrifyings I have made which as the gangrenous necessity of our maladies otherwise desperate and incurable have compelled me to so the pious peaceable and charitable intentions of my soul inorder to a common and publick good will then best excuse them when my Readers shall perceive with how liberall an hand and free an heart I do in this fourth Book
are safest healed by lenitive purgations rather than cold applications outwardly Factions in Religion like Fistula's or running sores in foule bodies are in least pain and danger when they have some vent allowed them by which the venemous humours may leisurely spend themselves and those pestilent opinions which carry with them pernicious practices so drain away as most keeps them from recoyling upon the head heart or other noble parts All sudden skinning over or closing of the orifices by which those sharp humours are obstructed but not purged is very dangerous and diffusive of the mischief making the source of the malignity to flow higher if it be not drawn away by such gentle dieticks or healing applications as strengthning the sound parts assisting the weak and purging the disaffected enables them by little and little to cast out what ever was unsound in them and noxious to them Nothing makes the nestitutions of true but decayed and divided Religion more difficult in any Nation than those mutuall corruptions and passions those animosities and transports which disaffect both the People as Patients and many times the Magistrates and Ministers as Physitians And nothing renders that work more facile and feisable than that calmnesse moderation and temper which ought alwayes to be in Physitians whatever violent fits and distempers appear in the Patients Governours in Church and State must ever expect such distempers in peoples minds especially when they are touched upon the tender place of their Religion with which mens consciences seem so vehemently to sympathize that Reformers had need carefully to furnish themselves with such meeknesse of wisdome as is the best antidote for their own security and against the others malady Then there will be hopes of healing in Religion not when Toleration or indulgence is granted to all opinions and professions which list to christen themselves but when such a publick way of solid and sincere Religion both as to doctrine and practice is seriously debated duly prepared publiquely agreed upon and solemnly established as carryes with it most of cleare Scripture-precept and Saintly pattern in faith and manners in vertues and graces in duties and devotions in order and authority in honesty and charity with the greatest uprightnesse and impartiality towards God and man However Epidemick contagions may for a time be permitted something of necessary connivence that they may more freely breathe out themselves yet this great remedy and soveraign medicine in due time ought to be applyed which consists in the owning and establishing of such a Religion as hath in it whatever is holy necessary usefull comely and commendable in any of the pretending parties This once approved and fixed by grave counsell and publique advice of all Estates as the Standard of the publique profession and practice of Religion being also asserted and propagated by Preachers of most indisputable authority of pregnantest abilities and of most exemplary lives orderly and unanimously agreeing among themselves hereby meriting and enjoying the double honour of publique respect and maintenance these gentle rationall and wholsome methods of Religion will certainly in a few years by Gods blessing either drein or drive out by secret and gentle workings all those pestilent distempers in Religion which vulgar minds by a corrupted Liberty as by a licentious and foule diet have contracted to the great disorder and deformity of any Church or Nation professing Christianity For in a short time such as are truly consciencious by the fear of God and love of true Religion will cease to be either pertinacious or contentious or factious or inconstant when they are convinced of so excellent a way as they cannot but conclude to be safe since it is holy and true sober and setled comely and charitable Others that are meer Politicians in Religion either formall Pharisees or false hypocrites or fawning Parasites ready to change and comply with any party and perswasion in order to secular advantages even these will soon give over their factious agitations their pragmatick sticklings and popular sidings and shiftings in Religion when once they find which way the wind or stream of publique favour and civill interest doe drive The Mils of Factions in Religion will soon give over their motions when once they perceive no grist of Profit or stream of Preferment or breath of vulgar Applause is brought in to them There is no wonder to be made at those late sad and mad extravagancies which of later yeares have prevailed against the reformed Religion once setled in England while the Majesty and Honour of this Church and State the sanctity of our Lawes Civil and Ecclesiastick the solemnity of Gods publick worship and service the authority and maintenance of his Ministers have all been through our civil broyles and tumults unhappily exposed to infinite arrogancies spoiles contempts and insolencies even of common people while they saw so many prisons and bonds so many sequestrations and silencings so many deaths and dangers attend not onely the Bishops but the Presbyters the chief Preachers and prime Professors on all sides of that reformed Religion which was established in England No wonder if while the populacy see great Preachers and Professors cast so much dirt and spit in each others faces while they suspect that all piety honesty and Christian charity are made to truckle under State Policies and bend to worldly interests no wonder if the vulgar desperately leap into the Sea of confusion and faction out of that ship which they saw not onely so leaky and crazy that it was almost sunk but so set on fire that they despaired to quench it No wonder if they venture upon either inventing what new wayes of Religion they list to fancy or despising all wonted publick formes and professions since they think themselves not onely incouraged but in a sort exemplarily commanded and almost compelled to cast off with scorn that Reformed Profession of Christian Religion which had so great a Name of Wisdome Law Honour and Holinesse Glory and Happinesse as that had which was established in the Church of England never to be mended as to the main and substantials of Religion in Doctrine Worship Discipline Devotion and Government however in some circumstantials something might possibly be altered or added by the sober counsels of wife and peaceable men who had both ability and autority for such a work Whose great difficulty now is chiefly heightned by that popular froth and vanity those animosities and arrogancies those infinite variations and confusions with which vulgar fury and passions have deformed the face divided the body yea almost devoured every joynt and limb of Chiristan and reformed Religion in England 'T is true these will in time very much waste sink and vanish of themselves while one Faction justles crowds and confounds another the new ones as the night-mares insulting and overlaying the Elder But this is onely as the changing of a Captives Chaines this will but bring in religious rabbles or successions of confusions but no
oath that he aimed at no more than his Duchy yet afterward aspired gained the Kingdom of England by the name of King Edward the fourth so some Presbyters at first pretended onely to claime a coordinate exercise of Counsell and assistance with Bishops in some things consisting with a modest and orderly subordination to them as chief Fathers of their Ecclesiasticall Tribes and Families yea I knew some chief Rabbies of them have professed that they cryed down and covenanted onely against the Tyrannick Government of Prelates and the over-grown train of their Officialls shewing some reason to regulate Episcopacy by reducing it to the modesty of Primitive patternes Yet this motion was no sooner begun among us but we see it increased to such a violence as kindled the ambition of some people and Presbyters so hot against all Bishops that the best of them and many of them were incomparable men excellent Christians and most admirable Bishops were counted Refractory Popish and Antichristian with all their abetters because they would not tamely contribute to their own utter destruction and presently consent to the reproch of this and all ancient Churches where Bishops I think were as well known and as long used as the Sacraments or the Scriptures Yea at last the contention grew so sharp that it not onely whetted many tongues and pens but it came to swords ending if it be ended in much blood Presbyters challenging to have not only a meet share and concurrent influence as was ancient in Ignatius and St. Cyprians and St. Austins times and which might be very fitting and usefull in Church-Government but they will have all or none and this upon Christs title Bishops as usurpers for 1600. years must have no faire quarter nay none at all but persons and power must be wholly exautorated extirpated impoverished contemned abased undone Though they had done nothing but what either the Lawes commanded or the Prince in whom by law was the chief Ecclesiasticall as well as civill power indulged yea and required them to do yet no medium no moderation can be expected between Caesar and Pompey Sylla and Marius Antonius and Augustus when mens Spirits are heightned by jealousies and emulations to seek each others destruction After all this the peremptory reign of Presbytery which cost this Church and Nation so deare was not long-liv'd nor could be well established though at first it looked so big and grasped on the sudden even at three Kingdomes For before it was warme in its nest or well seated in its Throne we see Independency got hold on one end of its Scepter or quarter-staffe rather threatning in the right of Christ Jesus and in the behalf of all Christian common people to wrest it quite out of the hands of Presbytery either by legerdemaine or maine force unlesse it might go at least halfe with it in the spoiles of Episcopacy and that share of Church-Government which they pleaded was due not onely to a few Preaching Parsons and ruling Elders but to the whole congregation as being holy the Lords people the body of Christ in particular This check made Presbytery much more tame and tractable than it was wont to be when it first whetted its tushes so sharply and brisled so fiercely against all Episcopacy root and branch hoofes and hornes no regulation no remission no moderation no merit of so many Godly Learned Moderate yea Martyrly Bishops heretofore and even then in England would serve the turn After all this trouble the more grave and sober sort even of those Presbyterian and Independent Ministers are brought as we see into no small straits and reduced to this great Dilemma of policy whether they should choose to put their heads again under the Bishops hands or under the common peoples feet whether it be more for the honor of their Ministry to be subordinate to grave and worthy Bishops as Learned Moderators Presidentiall Fathers and elder Brothers or to be thus everlastingly haunted with evill and unclean Spirits to be thus hampered with the giddy and ungratefull vulgar who are very petulant and saucy companions very soure and insolent masters Nor is this Triumvirate of Episcopall Presbyterian and Independent Antagonists and rivals the boundary of mens religious Ambition and contentions in England There are other Names and Titles and daily will be more and more new Sects and Factions which will have their Godly agonies and pretentions no lesse than those three have had Yea the least and most unsuspected the feeblest and silliest of them will serve either to kindle new or to continue successive fires of jealousies troubles seditions and wars in this Nation Take them all together and leave them equally to their severall principles and contrary operations they will be like the complication of many diseases in one body as the Quartanes Dropsies Scurvys Hectick Feavers and Consumptions of this State and Church not onely shaking oft and daily dispiriting but in time quite destroying the Beauty Health Strength Peace Safety and Honor of this Nation whatever it be Common-wealth or Kingdom Aristocracy Democracy or Monarchy For while mens Spirits are sharpned by daily contentions in Religion to anger emulations and ambitions who shall be greatest in popular esteem in prevalency of parties in number of Sectators in novelties of opinions and in presumptuous practises they not onely sowr to secret animosities but break out to open enmities from the least differences For the true life and power of Religion which consists in a Knowing Humble and Charitable Zeal for Gods glory and each others good this is taken off and extremely dulled as the edge of sharp knives by cutting of cork while mens head and hearts are wholly busied in whitling and hewing those small points and softer parts of Religion which consider at first it may be onely the ritualls externals and polities of it yet in time these continuall droppings undermine and overthrow the very fundamentals which consist in the Unity of the Faith the Sanctity of Manners and the Sincerity of Christians Charity to each other which held better in Unity Health Beauty and Strength amidst heathenish persecutions than they ever did or can do amidst Christians contentions needlesse and endlesse janglings of Preachers and Professors among themselves For these rising most-what not from the holy and humble warmth but the wantonnesse and luxuriancy of mens Spirits especially after long peace and setling upon their Lees do naturally break out to such boyles and tumors of Factions as swell every Opinionist and his party to the hope of having a turne or share at least in rule and Empire wherein the present prevalent party is ever jealous and impatient of having any equall or rivall either to affront or disturb them and the depressed parties still conceive they are injured and oft complaine of being persecuted Nay they are filled with Whisperings and Murmurings with Envies and Animosities though they be let alone and connived at by way of Toleration when they see the publick
Ministers who yet survive being civilly dead and buried in obscurity O how infinite jealous are all Novellers lest the English world should at last see the dangerous mistake of exchanging gold for copper Learned Grave Orderly duly-ordained and authoritative Bishops and Presbyters of a primitive stamp and Catholick Edition for a scattered and tattered company of new-coyned Pastors and Teachers who have either not the metal or to be sure not the mint and Character of such a Ministry as was ever current in England and in all the Christian world whose care was not to broach every day new fountaines as Sampson did with his Asses jaw-bone of Ministeriall office and authority when ever factious Presbyters or fanatick people thirsted after the novelties of parity or popularity but they ever kept to that cisterne those conduits or pipes which were first laid by the Apostles and derived from Christs grand Commission as the source and fountain of holy orders which was deduced by orderly Bishops and Presbyters to all parts and places where any Christians owned themselves to live in any Church-order fellowship and communion which was never known in the Christian world for 1500. yeares to be any where separated from the Episcopall over-sight regulation presidency and jurisdiction if all Scripturall and Ecclesiasticall records do not deceive us which never shew us any Church of greater or lesser dimensions without some greater or lesser Apostles as Bishops presiding and ruling over Presbyters Deacons and people which neither Aerius nor St. Jerome himself of old nor the disguised Wallo Messalinus or Blondel of later dayes did ever so much as endeavour to disprove by any one credible instance of any Church in any age Upon so deep and large a foundation did the Clergy Ministry and Church of England formerly stand till the Scotch Pioneers and other Engineers undertook with their pickaxes to undermine and overthrow the Catholick antiquity of Episcopall authority which work some novelizing Presbyters beginning to transgresse gave occasion to puny Independents to go beyond them Neither of which parties have yet nor are ever like for ought I see so to mend the State of Christian or Reformed Religion in England beyond what it enjoyed in former dayes as to make any learned or wise man so much in love with their various novelties that they should abhorre that uniforme antiquity to which the Episcopall Clergy of England did conforme The enjoyment of whose renowned worth learned labours and everlasting Monuments of true piety this nation hath so little cause to be ashamed of or repent that there is no Jewell in the Diademe of English glory which it ever had or will in any age have so much cause to boast of and glory in as the excellency of its Clergy or Ministry both Bishops and Presbyters for the last Century whose private failings and personall infirmities the crambe oft alledged to an impudent hoarsenesse by some detractors whose uncharitable Synecdoches impute the faults of every part to the whole will never be sufficient to justifie this nations generall unthankfullnesse to the memory and merit of its former Ministry and Ministers taken in the completion of their harmony and orders as made up of Bishops Presbyters and Deacons that threefold cord of Ecclesiasticall polity and unity which is not easily and ought not rashly much lesse rudely ingratefully be broken by any Nation proâ—essing Christian and reformed Religion but rather it should be carefully twisted and wisely recomposed where either prelatick extravagancie or Presbyterian arrogancy or popular petulancy have ravelled unloosned or dissolved the intirenesse of its meet subordination and its ancient constitution CHAP. V. TO which temper and method of Ecclesiasticall Unity Order and Authority as piety policy honour and gratitude do invite the wisdome of this Nation which I have hitherto in many instances demonstrated so my next endeavour is to encourage all sober and good Christians to desire and advance in all worthy waies that happy Restitution and Primitive settlement in our Religion by setting before you and them the possibility of effecting so great so good so necessary a work while many difficulties do not yet run us upon that rock of utter despaire which shipwrecks all industry but they are easily counterpoised by that not onely possibility but hopefull probability which seems to appeare in the inclinations of the wisest and best men of all Religious interests and parties in this Nation who have learned wisdome either by their own or other mens follies For this Good the wise God hath brought out of the evill of our follies and miseries that the sad consequences possibly not intended by many but pursuing our late deviations and transports on all sides in this Church where the projects and practises of particular men rather served their private passions and presumptions than the Divine Institutions Christs glory or the Churches generall good these have already so fully confuted their Authors and abettors confidences by the sin shame weaknesse and fatuity of them that they need no blacker marks or deeper brands of dislike than those which they have with their own hand set upon their fore-heads having brought the things of Religion to so great a deformity as it is this day by their praeter subter or super-conformities either beyond the use intent or indulgence of the lawes or beyond the constitutions and customes and interests of this Church Thus while either restive and sullen or busie and pragmatick Spirits will needs be breaking that hedge which their wise fore-fathers made serpents have bitten them while they would take burning coales from the Altar without tongs which the Seraphin used as the ordinary meanes they have shrewdly burned their own fingers in so much that many if not most of them I believe would be glad they were every way fairly healed to as great a soundnesse of Order Honour and Unity as they formerly enjoyed of which they were as weary as unworthy whose indiscreet forsaking that medium and measure of their happinesse which was wisely established by publick counsell and authority hath been of late so many waies unblest and unsuccesseful that their very going out of the right way which was the way of Peace Truth and Order hath somewhat prepared their feet for an happy returne Every one that is so blest as to see their unlucky extravagancies hath learned to esteem the good old way better than heretofore they did when private presumption tempted them to preferre their own novell fancies before the publick establishments of such a famous Church and renowned Nation as England was I make no question but many men are grown wise by their own woes others at a cheaper rate have bought wisdome by observing the fruits of their neighbours folly rashnesse and weaknes Some have deeply suffered for their former Hydropick fullnesse restivenesse and lazinesse in Religion contracted by long peace great plenty and high preferments which it is farre more honour to use piously and profitably moderately and
conferences occasion better understanding between many of them and so by Gods blessing in time produce some such counsels as may be worthy of them and the publick But if their aime be slily to get into some hands such popular advantages by their soft insinuations of seeming equanimity and moderation as shall further displace and disparage the former Catholick Government of this and all ancient Churches they will be but as new patches put to an old garment which will make the rent and deformity the greater Certainly the state of the Reformed Religion in England will never be happy till it is setled nor setled till it be uniform nor uniform till the office and authority of Ministers be valid and venerable nor will this ever be untill the sanctity and samenesse of ordination together with the use of Ecclesiasticall power and holy Ministrations be rendred so August so Sacred and Complete as may be most conforme to Scripture and to pure Antiquity for while Ministers are of diverse makes and moulds they will be of diverse minds nor can they produce other than multiforme Christians of different fashions and deformed factions in Religion which do as necessarily bring forth infinite mischiefs in any Church or Christian State as the itch breeds scratching and scratching fetches blood As the blessed Apostles so their holy successors kept to one way of Religious Order and Power which preserved the unity of faith and love among Christian Bishops Presbyters and people I confess I do sometimes in my sad and retired solitudes hope that our common calamities may by Gods softning and calming grace upon mens spirits make both all Godly Ministers and all good people so wise as humbly sincerely and charitably to search into the cleare steps of Primitive prudence Apostolicall order and Ecclesiacall Authority which had due and tender regard to all sorts of Christians so as to keep up a meet subordination with a Christian communion To which end I was willing to hope this shew of Association might conduce But when I find in some of them nothing that looks civilly upon Episcopacy many things cast reprochfully and scornfully upon the excellent Bishops of England and all the Episcopall Clergy who were not inferiour in any regard to the best Associators when I find that some of them have the confidence to exclude all that have of late yeares been ordained by any Bishop with Presbyters though such an one as the late most venerable Bishop of Norwich Dr. Hall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when I see that some rigid Presbyterians and popular Independents affect with great Magistery to Duopolize all Church-power to grasp into their hands and bosomes as the sides of a drag-net meeting together all Ministeriall Authority not onely not owning the best surviving Bishops with any respect nor yet in any faire way applying to any of them after all their undeserved indignities but spitefully and professedly abdicating all communion with them under the name of Bishops reducing them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the levell and parallel of Presbyters which the 630. Orthodox Fathers in the fourth generall famous Councell of Chalcedon which all Ministers of England approved and I think subscribed to call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an absurd and unreasonable practise yea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a great sacriledge and Zonaras upon that Canon makes it a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fighting as Giants against God as a dethroning of Christ the Bishops eminent authority and presidency in the Church being a lively representation of Christs sitting in the midst of the throne who did undoubtedly delegate his visible authority of governing the Church to the chief Apostles above the 70. and all other Teachers after which manner and proportion these chief Apostles who were the first and great Bishops after Christ did both commit and derive their authority to the following Bishops their successors who were a lesser sort or second edition of Apostles when I see what an Idol some Ministers and people make of their Scotch-Covenant by which great Engine or Military Ram they still think themselves bound to batter Episcopacy as if their Covenanting against it as it then stood in England were an obligation to persecute all Episcopacy for ever when in earnest the least variation of its former constitution both satisfies and absolves from that bond which some men still superstitiously venerate as if it were an image faln from heaven a matter of divine precept and institution and not rather of humane machination and politick invention which we are sure it was as if it were the solemn result of the pious or of the peaceable and publick sense of this Nation and not rather the issue of troubled braines and broken times indeed many forget that the Covenant smells more of fire smoke of sulphur and gun-powder than of the Spouses myrrh and perfumes of Christian Love and Charity Again when I consider how passion and pride betrayes many men to rashnesse rashnesse to folly folly to obstinacy obstinacy to presumption presumption to animosities and these to unchristian fewds everlasting despite and bitternesse which must still be vented as cholerick humors once in a month against the most innocent and Primitive Episcopacy yea against the most deserving and yet most suffering Bishops of this Church and of all the world old and new when I see the personall errata's and exorbitances or infirmities of some few Bishops by most uncharitable Synecdoches which put a part for the whole are in a pittifull fallacious way of vulgar oratory urged against all Episcopacy and Bishops in any orderly eminency or presidentiall authority in the Church contrary to the faith and honour of all antiquity and the former happy experiences of this Reformed Church when I find how wary and shy some Ministers are in their zeal and forwardnesse for their petty Associations to seem to own even their own judgements and reall inclinations toward any such condescentions and close with Episcopacy as may reflect upon their former transports how loth they are really and freely to offer such proposals as are equable and ingenuous pure and peaceable to the Episcopall party who aim at no more than such a paternall presidency and order as may best preserve the undoubted power of ordination and Ecclesiasticall Jurisdiction as it was Primitively setled in and transmitted by the hands of the first Bishops who immediately succeeded the Apostles When I see as I plainly do this partiality restivenesse and cowardise in some Ministers of good parts then do I almost sink in despaire ever to see or enjoy while I live in England any thing in the Order Government and Discipline of this Church that may look like the Primitive pattern which was indeed a Catholicon approved in all Churches used in all ages and submitted to by all sorts of good Christians the onely proper Antidote I think against the poysons of our times farre beyond any of these kind of new confections which tampering and partiall Empiricks
may make or boast of and prescribe to those that list to be their tame and credulous customers who will find that all these new Balsames of Covenanting and Associating against Episcopacy are not onely not soveraignly or solidly healing but full of noxious festering and pernicious qualities scalding one place while they seem to skin over another So that if I should onely look to the arme of flesh or at some Ministers inconstant ingratefull violent partiall and intractable spirits there is little hopes that either they or their Sectators will return to any happy close and generall accord without a miracle and indeed it would be as strange to see some Ministers return with meeknesse and submit to their lawfull and worthy Bishops as their Fathers or Chief Heads and Rulers of their Ecclesiasticall fraternities and families under any the most innocent qualification and temper of Episcopacy as it was to see Saint Dennis his Corps or trunk take up his head and carry it 3. miles after it was cut off as the French Legends report of that Martyr so prepossessed and prejudiced some Ministers and their Disciples are against the Order and Honour of their own calling and function no lesse than against the happiness of this Church both Ministers and people against the peace also and prosperity of the reformed Religion of this Nation all which are so concerned in a right Episcopacy wherein the reall interests of Christian people sober Presbyters and worthy Bishops should be all preserved that in earnest I cannot see how they can without such an orderly Communion and venerable Authority ever be happy because not united either in principles or practises in opinion or affection I believe no good Christian is so blind as not to see that faith cannot in this world be separated from charity that Churches divisions are their confusion as leaky and unhooped vessels let out much if not all the good liquor in them CHAP. VIII THerefore leaving these my hotter-spirited brethren to take breath after their earnest pursuits against Episcopacy and their zealous agitations for either Presbyterian or Independent interests by the new juncto's of their Associations expecting in time to find them in a much cooler temper as already I do all sober and moderate Ministers who unfeignedly approve and heartily pray for Episcopacy in its Primitive proportions I shall in the next place apply my self to You of the Magistracy Nobility and Gentry of this Nation if possibly your spirits less engaged and so less imbittered in Church-contentions may incline to the meditations and embrace the motions of Ecclesiasticall peace and accord in this Church and Nation Saint Paul saw in a vision a man of Macedonia coming to him and calling for Help It is not a vision in the night or a dreame of distresse but the noon-day or meridian of this Churches miseries which presents to you many thousands of poor people daily overgrown with Ignorance Lukewarmness Licenciousnesse Unsetlednesse Superstition Faction Atheisme and all manner of Irreligion also many hundreds of poor Ministers for none is to be esteemed rich or renowned where all are either envyed or condemned by one side or other of all perswasions Episcopall Presbyterian and Independent many of them endued with excellent parts most of them with competent and usefull abilities all these and in them the whole Church and Nation call to you Come and Help us Help to redeem us from that vulgar insolency reproch and contempt into which we are faln both our persons and profession by our mutuall divisions our childish contentions our uncharitable factions our unseasonable ambitions our unreasonable revenges by our immoderate popular and implacable passions Help us as Constantine the Great did those Bishops and other Church-men who were met at the famous Councill of Nice to burn and bury all those complaints quarrels libels jealousies disaffections reproches dissentions and mutuall disparagings under which the Ministers and Ministry of England now lie and labour Manasseh being against Ephraim and Ephraim against Manasseh and Judah against both Episcopall Ministers against Presbyterians and these against Episcopall and Independents against both and some against them all Help to restore us to a condition beyond slaves and villaines reduce us to the state of ingenuous freedom such as the Law affords all honest and industrious men Reform and reunite us if it be possible but not with Swords and Staves with Pistols and Prisons not by the arbitrary Discipline of Souldiers and absolute Tribunals of Committee-men not by plundering sequestring silencing and ejecting us out of all upon meer politick jealousies or onely veniall infirmities when for the main we carry our selves in all things Righteously Soberly and Peaceably Do not expose us to men of new lights to men of erratick judgements and fanatick fancies who lay as much Religion upon their new Disciplines and Church-modellings as upon all the Doctrine Piety and Charity of Christianity Leave us not to the novel and illegall power and partiality of such men who will try us with passion and judge us with prejudice destroy us with pleasure undoe us without appeal or remedy who greedily receive accusations against us as Ministers without letting us see or hear our accusers which are not alwaies two or three according to Gods command both in the Law and Gospel but many times testis singularis onely one sometime none besides some mens jealousies disaffections and surmises against us who seldome give us two admonitions after the Apostles order but at first dash they quite blot us out of their book of life utterly routing us and our families disabling us ever after to plead our innocencies or exercise our abilities or supply our necessities in any convenient way of living Help to redeem if not our persons which are made by vulgar scorn as the filth and off-scouring of all estates in this nation yet at least our Function and Profession which was ever esteemed holy redeem it from those invasions intrusions and usurpations which are made upon it by illiterate mechanick sordid and simple people who can have no true or tolerable authority to be Ministers of holy things when they have no competent abilities and who being on no hand duly consecrated set apart sanctified or ordained for such holy Ministrations cannot but profane abuse and abase them by their abominable arrogancies and sacrilegious usurpations which are the greatest abuses of you and the whole Nation Help to restore the dignity and Authority of the Evangelical Ministry to its Pristine honour and reverence to that Sanctity and Majesty which becomes the deputation and vicegerency the Command and Commission of your blessed God Saviour Let not that lie despicable and trampled under the feet of vile men which is a means and the onely ordinary to instruct to convert to sanctifie to confirme to comfort to save your and your childrens soules Let not that office and function be made triviall despicable and execrable among men
Last of all I appeal to all sober Ministers whether they do not think that Episcopacy as now it is stripped and devested of all secular greatnesse and reduced to Primitive poverty might be as safely restored as any of their crude and new Associations in their severall stations and formations with their mutable moderators and temporary Presidents either in greater or lesser Circles which are but the thin parings small shreds and weaker shivers of Episcopacy whether they do not in their consciences think that some righteous and just compensation ought to be done to good Bishops and to the case of true Episcopacy which have suffered so hard measure a long time now in England that so we might not in this nation beyond any place in the Christian world cast eternall and indeleble reproches not onely upon this Church since its first plantation but upon the Catholick Church of Christ in all ages and places as if wilfully for ignorantly they could not they had from the beginning swerved from the Apostles prescript and example in the Order and Government Discipline and Authority which was to be in the Church of Christ I will not suspect any honest-hearted or worthy Minister of having been so base and sacrilegious in his Spirit as therefore to cry down Episcopacy root and branch new and old good and bad out of secret hopes of filthy lucre and secular glory expecting some benefit by plundring the personall estates of Bishops or by sequestring the revenues of their Churches or gaging to buy at last some good peniworths of them These temptations were so black and base so sordid and Plutonian that they may not be suspected of any Ministers or other men but those whose notorious actions have put them beyond all suspicion Presuming therefore in charity that those precipitant alterations in Church-Government which have produced so sad consequences and calamities in this Church were from principles of honesty and purposes of integrity in the best Ministers on all sides at first and finding now that the itch of former novelties is past and the pleasure of Ministers scratching one another is now very little because of the rawnesse and sorenesse of all their common conditions besides the distractions and confusions of ordinary people and foreseeing that this painfull posture is not onely very grievous to all honest Protestants but dangerous to this Church and Nation if they be not speedily healed Give me further leave to ask of the greatest Zelots and sticklers against all Episcopacy and the admirers of either Presbytery or Independency whether after they reflect upon the rough meanes used and the sad events which have followed the design of extirpating Episcopacy and introducing any other waies they do still believe was pretended that either the God of order or the Saviour of his Church who is the Bishop of our soules and the exemplary Institutor of Episcopall eminency in his chief Apostles for Power and Authority over all parts of his Church who accordingly transmitted their ordinary power and superintendency to others as Bishops or successive or minor Apostles in all Churches whether I say they do in earnest believe that God or Christ or the Apostles ever were or are such enemies to all Episcopall order and presidentiall eminency as hath been vulgarly clamored and passionately pretended so that now after 1600. yeares prescription and succession of Episcopacy in all Churches God is not to be pleased unlesse Episcopacy be extirpated and Presbytery or Independency as waies of parity and popularity be brought in Can they sufficiently wonder at the patience of God and our Saviour Christ that for 1500. yeares bare with Episcopacy yea continued it in the peaceable possession of Church-Government as to the Primacy and priority of it both in Order and Authority without any notable check from any Martyr or holy man T is strange that Aarons Rod should never bud before nor Presbytery challenge its Divine right in all that time nor Christ ever enjoy the freedome of his Kingdom and Scepter till these last and worst times Do they in earnest think that no Scripture no word of God old or new no precepts and paternes of the Apostles no Primitive practise no true testimonies of Fathers Councils and credible historians do any way favour a right Episcopacy further than they were misunderstood warped and wrested by all antiquity from the mind of God the will of Christ and the way of the Apostles onely to gratifie the ambition of some few Bishops and Clergy-men who made way for Popes and Antichrists T is strange all should conspire thus to eject Christ from his Kingdom and Government or to abuse the whole Christian world from holy Polycarp Polycrates and Ignatius his daies all Primitive Bishops yea from St. Johns dayes and yet none detect or decry the fraud none persevere in the first way if it were as is now pretended Independent or Presbyterian in the many shepherds or many sheep without any prime pastors and Governours among them as Bishops Yea further I demand whether their divisions at least into such a Dichotomy as they now are in be not a just jealousie to sober men that both of these novelties may be in the wrong since both of them cannot be in the right whether regular Episcopacy may not yet be as the virtue or medium between these vicious extremes which are made up either of parity popularity or of Tyrannick and Papall Episcopacy whether they now find that either of thse new waies have any thihg so much to plead out of Scripture for themselves as Episcopacy hath or the thousandth part so much out of any good Antiquity whether they be not pure novelties of later invention and unprosperous use hardly yet formed and never well setled in this or any other famous or Reformed Church that enjoyed its just freedom without the oppression of either sacrilegious Princes or heady and mutinous people Can any learned and sober Minister either Presbyterian or Independent now flatter himselfe that there is no light or shadow no shew of Reason or Religion of Scripture or Antiquity for Episcopacy Can they any longer wonder without ignorance or impudence that learned and moderate Episcopall Divines are so firme to their first principles and perswasions which are not easily answered or with any reason overthrown by any ancient example at least Episcopall men are very excusable in adhering to their ancient and Primitive way till they find these novell opposites to Episcopacy and rivals to each other so well reconciled by a firme Associating together as may wholly supply the Office Power and place of Episcopacy which yet they have not done as to the Order Polity Peace and Unity of the Church or to the satisfaction of the most learned and godly men at home and abroad Where I beseech you O my good and gracious brethren of Presbyterian and Independent principles where do you think were the Eyes the Learning the Wits the Hearts the Honesty the Conscience
of all holy men in all Churches before your time Can you prefer the factious fancies of one Aerius or Acolythus or Ischyras of old before all the famous Bishops Presbyters and Councils Can you honestly plead St. Jerom for your Presbytery till you reconcile him with himself who is plaine and punctuall for Episcopall eminency and onely pleads at most for the joynt Counsel and assistance of Presbyters in which rank himself was which I and all sober men do earnestly desire as best and safest for the Church yea and for Bishops too Shall one David Blondel or Walo Messalinus that is Salmasius men indeed of excellent Learning yet obliged as Pet. Moulin confesseth of himself in his Epistolary dispute with the most Learned Bishop Andrewes to plead what might be for the enforced stations and necessitated conditions of those Presbyterian Churches with which they were then in actuall fellowship and Church-Communion shall I say these two men which are the greatest props for Presbytery who yet are allowers of Episcopacy though not as absolutely necessary yet as best for the Polity and Government of the Church where they may be had be put into the balance against all the ancient and modern assertors of Episcopacy or shall the votes of the late Assembly be a just counterpoise against all the chief Reformed Divines at home and abroad as Calvin Peter Martyr Bucer Zanchy Chemnitius Gerard and many others who are all well known to be for Episcopacy and Bishops if they will be Fathers and Fautors of the true Christian and Reformed Religion as Bishops in Engl. were Did not Deodate from Geneva Salmasius from Leiden write hortatory though concealed letters to the chief sticklers of late for Presbytery in England advising them to acquiesce in and blesse God for such a regulated Episcopacy as had obtained and might best be retained in England Have not others abroad much deplored their want of such Episcopacy and such Bishops as England happily enjoyed since the reformation and ever before Can the late Scotized Assembly modestly pretend to better light clearer spectacles more discerning eyes or more honest hearts for Religion and due Reformation for Christs honor and this Churches happinesse than all the ancient Councils or the modern Convocations and Nationall Synods of Engl. Or can it now at last seem either an unreasonable expectation in Episcopall Ministers or an unconscientious condescention in those of the Presbyterian and Independent parties to turne their Extemporary Presidents or Momentary Moderators into fixed and deserving Bishops can it be an hard matter for them to conforme to uniforme Antiquity who have so long gratified various novelty What great matter were it for them so far to satisfie the consciences of Episcopall men yea and the interests of all sober Ministers as not to suffer any further Innovation or longer abscission or total interruption or final abruption to befal the Catholick Order and Authority of Episcopacy in this Church the restoring of which would no way injure their own true interests as Presbyters or patrons for the people who might both have and enjoy all those ingenuous Liberties and Priviledges which they justly claim short of an absolute sole and soveraigne power in Church-Government which is never to be trusted either in common peoples or common Presbyters hands I ask these Acephalists who will indure no head but that on their own shoulders whether the City of London is worse governed because it hath a Lord Maior among and above the Aldermen and Common Councel whether the Colledges in the Universities or the Companies and Fraternities in Cities are lesse happily ordered because they have Presidents or Masters and Wardens in them and over them whether they think it were better for an Army to have no Colonels or Commanders in chief but all military Counsels and transactions should be managed in war and peace by a meer Democratick or popular way as every souldier fancied his own valour and ability I doubt not but in all these parts and proportions of good Government sober men stand convinced that they are then best when Counsel and Order make up the Majesty and completenesse of Authority by subordination of all and the suffrages of many joyned to the eminency of one worthy person in their severall precincts stations and jurisdictions Nor can I think that chief Governors can be hereticall irrationall irreligious or Antichristian onely in the point of Church-Goverment as if this polity and fraternity beyond any other were exclusive or incapable of that order and eminency which is the Crown and completion of Government which is used in all other Societies and ever was so in the Churches of Christ In order therefore to draw the designed plat-forme of Ecclesiasticall Communion from the novelty partiality and popular policies of Associations to its just proportions and due dimensions my last quaere or proposall to my brethren the Ministers is whether all things considered in cool thoughts and consciencious tempers it were not worthy of all Learned Godly and sober Ministers first to unite themselves in their judgements counsells and desires with all singlenesse of hearts and mutual brotherly kindness and then humbly to crave leave of the civill powers to permit them to cast themselves into such prudent and orderly combinations for Church-Government as might best suite as with the peace and prosperity of this Church so with the Primitive and Catholick way of Christs Church thereby satisfying all honest desires and pious interests of all considerable parties That neither Bishops should be wholly ejected as superfluous nor yet Presbyters despised as meer ciphers nor Christian people any way oppressed as slaves or beasts who having each of them their severall honest interests and just uses wil better attaine their desires in an happy conjuncture than in any separations which first weaken them apart then destroy them all Nor may this model of Church-union and Government be thought a meer Idea or Utopian fancy experience of all times and the best times for Religion as Christian and reformed that ever England or any Nation enjoyed assures us that it is not onely feisable but every way most commendable as most agreeable to every honest interest and indeed every way completest for the glory of God the honor of Christ the good of this Church and the Communion with all other either Christian or Reformed For by this meanes the scandall and shame of late Schismes would be removed the ancient Ecclesiacall succession continued the grand power of Ordination will be neither various nor defective neither innovated not altered the Ministeriall Office and Authority will be most authentick and undoubted the minds of all Learned and sober men will be satisfied their heads hearts tongues and hands united Christian charity and brotherly Communion best restored the reverence and Majesty of Religion also the honor and dignity of the Ministry as Christian and Reformed would be mightily recovered the Peace and Unity of this famous and well-reformed Church
been the magnifying of the Popes of Rome beyond their line and measure of old That if Episcopacy could have held its Primitive and ancient parity according to the Apostolick seates and paternes that one Chaire of Rome had not so far exalted it self in this Western Church above all those that are therefore called Gods because the power of Christ and the word of God came to them as much as to Rome and is to be derived by them to their successions T is certain that Bishops did not at first as Nimrod set up themselves by any private ambition they were either constituted by the Apostles yet living as Irenaeus Eusebius Tertullian and others tell us or when the Apostles were dead the Presbyters of every chief city and Territory or Diocese did as S. Jerom tells us choose some Apostolick and eminent person from among themselves to be their Bishop not compelled hereto by any civill powers nor by any popular force or faction but meerly moved so to do by the precept and pattern the constant custome and imitation of the Apostles which were so full of pregnant reason necessary order and holy policy that nothing could be better If any then be to be blamed for giving occasion to the Papal ambition and what some count the great Antichrist who is as Isid Hispal defines by so much the more Antichrist by how much more he professeth Christ yet lives or teacheth contrary to the rule and example of Christ it must be either the Apostles themselves who first designed Bishops as their successors or the succeeding Presbyters of every Church who to avoid Schisme and Confusion first chose successive Bishops in every Church after the death of the Apostles not onely in obedience to their commands and conformity to their pattern but in order to preserve necessary polity Primitive unity and Apostolick authority in the Church of Christ And yet now behold by a strange vertigo or change of Counsels Presbyters must in all hast pull down all Bishops the better to avoid Antichrist who lies as much in confusion as error in schisme as in heresie none of which will ever advance Reformation or setling of true Religion So that it is an intolerable insolency and rudenesse of some men to say or suspect that every Bishop whom the Apostles themselves or the Presbyters after them first constituted were but spawnes and embryo's of Antichrist when many yea most if not all the first and best Bishops for 300. yeares were not onely excellent preachers and wise governours after the way of the Apostles but such resolute Martyrs and confessors as few of the more delicate Presbyters and softer-fingred Independents of our age would willingly carry the least stick of their fagots or touch the least coale of their fires or bear the least stroke and burden of their torments As then the Papall Tyranny so the Presbyterian Parity and Independent Anarchy may and will give I fear greater advantages to Antichrists than ever Episcopall order and eminency either did or can do while wisely setled and managed Fifthly another great bugbeare or terriculament which scares some from looking back with the least cast of favour on Episcopacy is the terror they pretend to have had of some Bishops sharpnesses and severities of which say they many godly men feel the smart to this day My answer is I do not go about to justifie or excuse any unreasonable unseasonable indiscreet or uncharitable actions of any Bishops who are justly to be blamed so far as they exceeded their Commission and power by the Lawes of man or Christ and the Church given to them not for destruction but edification Though some Bishops might shew themselves to be but men yea and some of them to be harsh and rash enough in their passions yet these failings and infirmities they neither had nor discovered as they were Bishops no more than tyrants do tyrannize as they are Magistrates or Judges are corrupt as they are Judges or Presbyters are partiall popular and imprudent as they are preachers It must still be granted that not onely some but very many yea most Bishops in England since the Reformation were as Angels of God in their light and love in their excellent learning and worthy living every way which sufficiently proves that piety and Episcopacy may as well meet in one man as piety and Presbytery or sanctity and Independency If any of these good Bishops seemed sometime too severe to some that were rudely refractory against the lawes then in force in this Church and State possibly those very persons that most complaine of them will be found not short of the sharpest of them if any of these complainers have suffered by any Bishops rigors I am sure they have had their full and excessive revenge upon them But to avoid the feared exorbitancy of Episcopacy for the future it will be sufficient effectually to restore that Commune Consilium Presbyterorum common Counsel and concernment of worthy Presbyters to their pristine use and assistance without which Bishops should do nothing publick and authoritative according to the Canon of the Councel of Cartharge and agreeable to the judgement as of St. Jerom so of St. Cyprian Ignatius and all the ancients This as I formerly touched is the best preservative of Bishops authority of Presbyters priviledges of peoples liberty and the Churches safety As I believe Episcopacy by this time sees it did it self as much wrong as any men could design in doing many things of publick concern without the presence counsel and concurrence of their gravest and most discreet Presbyters and as I think that modest and sober Presbyters shall do not onely themselves a right but the best Bishops too in their Christian advise and assistance to bear partem solicitudinis part of the care trouble odium and envy which is prone to offend all good Bishops as all good Governours in Church and State so I conclude that violent Presbyters have done themselves the Bishops the people and this whole Church as much injury and indignity as they well can by rudely rejecting and obstinately refusing as much as in them lies to readmit the Order and Honor of Episcopall Presidency which indeed was the common Honor of the whole Clergy Episcopacy we know preferred many Ministers of the Gospel to be as Lords and Peers in England whereas Presbytery Independency have purely levelled and abased all Clergy-men to a plebeian condition if not to be slaves and vassals yet to be very vile and servile even in the esteem of the vulgar Certainly it was in prudence to be desired by all wise Presbyters and other Ministers rather to bear much under the burden of the Episcopal yoak which was to them more honos than onus a dignity than any depression than thus by a precipitant impatiency to run themselvs their whole Order or function into a plebeian slavery while they affected an inordinate liberty It is better for birds to be
fed in their cage or restraint than by wandring from them to be starved The best Bishops were wisely severe and most venerable when least remisse the most rigid of them were not more imperious or intolerable than some Presbyters have been to all Bishops The last but greatest terror to some men is that if any thing like a true Primitive Bishop should revive and authoritatively act again in England especially fortified and assisted with such a strength of wise and grave Presbyters orderly combined with their Bishops there might be great danger of the Clergies recovering the Lands and Revenues which once belonged to Bishops and other Church-men in England Thus the jealous hearts and mis-giving consciences of many men do beat within them who have bought Bishop◠〈◊〉 other Church-lands which do make them as vigilant over the Bishops Sepulchers as the Jewes and Souldiers were over Christs lest the second error of losing Bishops Lands should be worse than the first of taking them away not onely from very worthy Bishops then in lawfull and unforfeited possession but from the whole Clergy yea from the service of the whole Church and of Christ and of God who had a sacred interest in them By what right they were alienated and are now possessed let them see who first did seize upon them and upon that title have either sold or bought them For my part I can look upon Episcopacy in its Primitive poverty and present barenesse with as much respect and reverence as in its greatest pomp and superfluity I value it and desire it not for state but conscience not for secular ambition but spirituall satisfaction Let them keep the lands that have justly got them or paid a valuable consideration for them provided they will but help to restore Primitive and Catholick Episcopacy without which Ecclesiasticall authority yea and Ministeriall power seemes to me and to many wiser men if not wholly dead and void or null yet very defective dubious and infirme as one that is lame and maimed yet is still a man having an esse or being as a true man but yet esse defectivum a being short of that fulness firmness and perfection which might be were he so complete as he ought to be according to the pattern of God and nature The Herculean work of resuming Church-Lands and restoring either Revenues or civill Honors to Episcopacy is not to be expected without a miracle such as shall shake heaven and earth despising all humane opposition and making the unjust keepers to be like dead men for no thunderbolts of divine vengeance are more penetrant and irresistible than those which fall upon the head of sacriledge as both Humane and Divine Histories tell us True I think it were an act worthy of this Nations pristine piety and renowned munificence to add something comely for Hospitality and Charity besides civill respect to Bishops if they will have any Nor were it as I conceive a work lesse becoming the Honor and Devotion of England to repurchase and restore those ancient Church-Lands or patrimony to the Church than it was to take them away and sell them to lay-hands But in this I am not so solicitous the honor of all Bishops and so of Presbyters will be diligently and wisely to do the work of God which its probable will never want the respect love and liberality of all good Christians as was seen in Primitive times where Bishops were never poore if Christian people were in plenty peace and unity As Mephibosheth said to David so do I to all my Countrymen and brethren Let Ziba take all as to Bishops Lands so as those Bishops may returne in peace which are after the Lords mind and the Scripture-rule the Apostles pattern the Primitive judgement and Catholick practise in the Church of Christ The lesse there may be of riches and secular honors added to Episcopacy the more it must provoke both Bishops and Presbyters to holy industry and eminent virtues which are the best foundations of true honor CHAP. XIII MY chief ambition is not to procure civill honors or estates to Bishops but so to reconcile all sober Ministers and others to true Episcopacy as may promote that Christian union between all Ministers that are worthy of that name and office and all sober Christian people in England which may most remedy and avoid those miserable factions and sad divisions which we see are the pests of true religion the moths of all Reformation the advantages of superstition and nurses of profaneness against which St. Paul in his Epistles and St. Clemens in his to the Corinthians so much inveighs as carnall and not spirituall methods of Religion I should heartily rejoyce to see before I die the dry land to appeare this deluge of factious confusion not onely to abate but to be quite spent by which Christian Religion and true Reformation hath lost together with Episcopacy in one score of yeares very much of that publick Majesty and Authority that Power and Improvement that Love and Honor that Sanctity and Solemnity that Charity and Unity which they formerly had and held in England for above a hundred yeares highly to the glory of God to the happinesse of this Church and to the Honor as well as Peace of the Nation It is great pitty that any man who bears the name of a Minister of Christ should appeare to the world other then an able wise humble holy peaceable and orderly person that we may not cease to be sociable and reasonable creatures so soon as we undertake to be Preachers as if we presently turn'd Tragedians when we grew Theologians Divines in profession but Devils in our dissentions that none of us may be so far bereaved of our wits as to fancy that we Ministers or Clergy-men beyond all men may not enjoy nor endure that comely and holy subordination which is lawfull and most necessary in all other societies and fraternities of men and no less among those that are Presbyters or Preachers where we see God and nature age and gifts learning and prudence distinguish even these men so far as makes some one or few very fit to govern and the other though many more onely fit to be governed There is much folly rashness juvenility indiscretion presumption and vulgarity to be seen even among the community of Ministers as well as other common people who can never be safe or happy unless they be setled in some comely Government Ecclesiasticall as well as civill yea and governed by some men that are much wiser than themselves Certainly Religion cannot prosper or be glorious in the eyes of the world as Christian or Reformed if it be not uniforme as to the main both in its source and course its origination and dispensation For every notable difference especially in the same Church and State seemes to the severall parties and divided sides as a great deformity in their adversaries Religion will never be uniforme if the Ministers or
the very beasts of the people are so far flattered as to be suffered with their foule feet daily to trouble and confound that cleare fountain and constant streame of Ministeriall Authority and Ecclesiasticall succession by way of Episcopall Ordination which was ever of so solemn and conspicuous use in all Churches of so venerable a succession of so ancient and uninterrupted a derivation from the very Apostles dayes and hands that it never failed to keep its course as some rivers do through salt waters amidst all the confusions which either heathenish hereticall or schismaticall persecutions raised in the Church Yea no Hereticks no Schismaticks except Aerius and his few complices who discontent for not obtaining a Bishoprick which â—e sought and turning Arrian was the first the onely and the fitâ—â—st engine to oppose Episcopacy as Epiphanius observes were ever so wild so fanatick so desperate as to cast off all Episcopall succession Authority over them both in Ordination and jurisdiction yea they knew no meanes to keep their confederacies and factions better together than that which they saw had alwaies been serviceable to preserve the true Churches communion Though the Manicheans Arrians Macedonians Nestorians Pelagians and others together with the Novatians Donatists withdrew from or were justly excluded by the Bishops of the sound and orthodox profession yet still these Heterodox Opiniasters had not onely Deacons and Presbyters but Bishops of their own Some of which Bishops afterward returning to the Catholick Communion were not degraded from their Episcopall power but onely suspended from the exercise of it in another Bishops jurisdiction or Diocese without his leave which being granted to some of them gave occasion to those Chorepiscopi which were Bishops without particular title and locall jurisdiction but yet enjoying and using this power of Ordination in some Country-Townes and Villages by the permission of the Bishop or Metropolitane of the Diocese or Province residing in the chief City which indulgence was after as the Church-Histories tell us taken away from the Chorepiscopi when it was found to occasion great inconveniences by admitting two Bishops in one Precinct or Diocese Certainly what is so pregnantly Catholick and usefull that not onely all good men but even such as were evill could not but approve and use it it were not onely folly but frenzy to cast quite away if it were the full vote and free act of the Nation What Apology could be sufficient to excuse this Nation either among Churches abroad or to posterity at home when they should see that by a rash partiall and popular precipitancy we have been hurried against all Reason Honor and Religion to forsake or to stop up the ancient fountaines of living waters which have alwaies flowed from Episcopall Ordination supplying this as all Churches in all places and offices with orderly Presbyters and usefull Deacons onely to try what those pits will afford which novellers have digged to themselves and which they eagerly obtrude upon this Church notwithstanding they are already found by sad experience to hold no such cleare and pure waters either for Doctrine or Discipline for Authority or Unity for Order or Peace as those were which the Apostles digged and the Catholick Church ever used and esteemed for sacred In this great point then of Right Ordination and true Ministeriall Authority of which the Learned Mr. Mason professeth next his salvation he desires to be assured it is as I humbly conceive not onely piously but prudently necessary for our Reformed Church Religion and Ministry to be effectually vindicated and by all possible meanes fairly united If there were ever any other way of Ordination used or allowed in the Church of Christ let the Authors Histories and instances be produced either as to their grounds or their practise If there were never any other either used or approved or thought of besides that which was in the Church of England managed by Bishops as necessary and chief agents in it truly it is but Justice Reason Conscience and Honor to own this Truth to follow this Catholick precedent to returne to an holy conformity with pious Antiquity which neither invented nor induced Bishops or Episcopall Ordination and jurisdiction as an affected novelty or a studied variety but they followed doubtlesse herein what was received from the very first Bishops who succeeded to the Apostles as authorized and placed by them So that as the succession of Bishops was lineally reducible to the Apostles which Irenaeus Tertullian Cyprian Eusebius Nicephorus and others evidently prove not onely by their publick Registers but by their private memories when the names of Bishops were fresh in Christians minds and not very numerous as in the second and third Centuries No lesse may be affirmed of Ordination by Bishops it had its precept and pattern from the Apostles expresly committed and enjoyned to some persons as chief Bishops never trusted to meer Presbyters alone much less to people in common so far as any Record of the Church Sacred or Ecclesiastick doth informe us whose constant silence in this case is a better Testimony against all innovation of Ecclesiasticall Ordination than all the Sorites the Rhapsodies heapes and scamblings of I know not what broken scraps and wrested allegations out of any Scriptures or Fathers can be by which I see some men have sought with much dust sweat and blood to bring in their new uncertaine unaccustomed and unauthentick formes of Ordination exclusive of any President or Bishop who ever was as the principall Verb in a sentence which cannot be wanting without making the sense of all other words very lame defective incoherent and insignificant These grand perswasions joyned to the sad experiences made in Englands late variations do thus far command me to be more intent and earnest that in this point of valid complete undoubted and most authoritative Ordination we might be made uniform that all Ministers like currant money might have the same image and superscription upon them It is most certaine that the Christian and Reformed Religion will never be able to shine either clearly or constantly or comfortably upon the consciences of Christians either as Ministers or people while it is in this great point of Ordination so darkned clouded and eclipsed that it lookes like the Sun wrapped in sackcloth or the Moon turned into blood What Ministry what Ministers what Ordination what Ordained what Ordainers what Ordinances of Christ will in time be much esteemed in England by the Nobility Gentry or Yeomanry when they shall see various waies of Ordination daily invented and obtruded pittifull Novelties induced uniform Antiquity discarded Primitive Episcopacy exautorated a subordinate Presbytery scorned a popular parity and petulancy indulged every where to make what extemporary Priests and Preachers they list of the dregs and meanest of the people as little God knowes to their own soules benefit as to the Churches peace or to the honor of this Nation though they do it with as much
ownes as the badg or bond of his admission into Communion with Christ and his Church both Catholick and congregationall generall and particular This it seemes must now not at all be owned or slighted nulled and forgotten by the superfetation of a new form of Christian confederation more solemn sacred and obliging as they fancy to Christian duties than that was which was solemnly made in the presence of the congregation ratified in the blood of Jesus Christ and testified in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost yea and after this the poor Episcopall Divines if they will gently comply and for feare Associate must quietly permit either the community of the people or the parity of the Presbyters in their severall lesser bodies and congregations or in their greater classes and conventions to challenge to themselves the plenary sole absolute perfect and unappealable power of not onely ordination which of old they never had as St. Jerom confesseth but of all Ecclesiasticall Jurisdiction and Discipline and this under the conduct and auspicious management of onely some Diurnall Dictator some temporary prolocutor or extemporary moderator who is forsooth to have the Image of a superficiall Bishop and the shadow of a short-liv'd superintendent a thing meerly occasional and unauthoritative as to any office or power inherent in him or of right to be challenged or exercised by him enjoying onely an horary arbitrary and humane presidency for fashion and civility sake without any Ecclesiasticall eminent or constant Authority residing in him as derived from Christ the Apostles or their successors or any Churches custome designation and consent in former times Such as was ever committed to owned in and used by the Bishops of the Church as regularly succeeding to the Apostles in that ordinary eminency of power which was necessary to keep both Presbyters and all Christian people and Churches good Order Peace and Unity which blessings they never more enjoyed or more happily than under a right Episcopacy Whose cause however of later yeares it hath been run down and trampled in a hurry under foot by some men in England Scotland and Ireland yet hath it suffered no reall diminution as to the true Honor of its Apostolick Authority its Primitive Antiquity its Catholick succession its high descent and its holy Originall which was never denyed or much disputed by any men of any considerable Learning and Piety till these later Dog-dayes in which not onely some single Stars of nebulous and dubious light but whole Constellations of them like Sirius or the Canicular Juncto erected under the new name and figuration of Smectymnuus to calculate the Nativity of a new Reformation became Lords of the Ascendent being filled contrary to their former Conformity and declared submission with a very unbenigne that I say not malignant influence not only against Episcopacy but in effect against the whole visible Constitution of this Church in which as Goods in a sunk ship all things are much wasted and abased by the ruine of Episcopacy Their destructive fires kindled from the colder parts of this Island first flamed into strange Logomachies thredbare cavillings and triviall strifes about Words and Names as if after sixteen hundred years all the Christians and Ministers of England its Princes and Parliaments its Synods and Councels yea all the Christian world elsewhere were to be Catechized by a few petty Presbyters in comparison and their Scot-English Assembly what the names of Bishop and Presbyter of Pastor and Teacher of Elder and Ruler of Helps and Governments of Apostle and Evangelist of Ecclesiastical Stars and Angels did mean which not onely all Writers but all times and practises of all Churches had sufficiently interpreted and cleared from the first promiscuous use of some general names which called the chief Apostles Prophets Evangelists Bishops Presbyters Elders Ministers and Deacons too in whose offices authorities and duties there were real and great differences to more proper and peculiar distinctions according to the several ranks degrees orders offices and powers then established in the Church After the Squibbs and Crackers of paper had been lighted and cast in the face of venerable Episcopacy at last as the manner is things came to dreadful Chiromachies such scufflings and fightings with hands and arms of flesh against that Government which is as the Ancient of dayes that they looked more like that Gigantomachy the Giants assaulting Heaven and the Gods than that Good fight of faith which ought to contend earnestly onely for that which was once uniformly delivered to all true Saints and received by all true Churches of Christ in doctrine order and government among whom all lesser disputations and differences circumstantial rising among good Christians were wont to be fairly debated and determined in lawful Assemblies in Ecclesiastical Synods and National or general Councils from which Christian and Orthodox Bishops were never either terrified or excluded but principally called and admitted as the chief Fathers of those holy Oeconomies or Christian Polities Nor was Episcopacy ever condemned by any of those Councils Synods or Assemblies in any Age of the Church much less was it ejected and extirpated as uselesse unlawful and abominable no not by any Synods and confessions of any Protestant and reformed Churches of note notwithstanding they could not conveniently enioy the blessing of it for so they accounted it either by reason of the petulancy of people or the impatience of civil Magistrates or the Sacrilegious humours and designes of all against the Clergy After all these prepossessions and just presumptions thus challenged to the cause and state of Episcopacy in point of its venerable and undeniable Antiquity I cannot but offer to its still scrupulous or implacable Adversaries these following Quaeres 1. How sad I beseech you and wretched how confounded and astonished must the awakened Consciences of those men be who have been the chief Authors and Fautors of our late troubles variations and miseries chiefly upon the account of their Antiepiscopal Antipathies if after all these combustions perturbations and plunderings of Religion which have rather pleased mens private passions and opinions than any way profited the publick welfare of this Church or State if I say these great sticklers against Episcopacy should be either grosly mistaken or malitiously perverted from the right path that good old way of which former Ages can better inform us then those that are but of yesterday and can know nothing but by their light 2. What if it should be as true as it is most probable because generally so believed in all Ages parts and places of the Church that the cause of Primitive Episcopacy is indeed the cause of God of Christ and of the whole Church the cause of all the Apostles of all Primitive Bishops their immediate successors yea the cause of all true Presbyters and all true Christians a cause in which the glory of God the wisdome of Christ the honor of the Apostles the fidelity of their successors the
Directory of Ecclesiasticall prudence and practise 8. What if the Great God of order peace and truth as well as so many learned and godly men so many famous and flourishing Churches in all Ages should by beating or scaring men from their popular prejudices pitiful subterfuges and sinister designes thus mightily plead the cause of true Episcopacy against all those who have spoken and done so many perverse things against that excellent government What if he should by some powerful means rebuke their confidences as he did Job's justly demanding of these Destroyers Where is that Wisdom that Modesty that Gentleness that Charity that Moderation that Humility that Gravity and Christian Caution which became godly men to their betters to such a Church and to such worthy Bishops as were the Governours of it under God and the King Could you be ignorant of the learning graces virtues merits and worth which were in Bishops suitable to their lawful Autority Did you not know and with some repining see how justly they were preferred before Presbyters and People as every way fittest to be over and above them Are these immoderations and injuries the wayes of true Religion and Reformation Can there be true piety without charity yea without equity or pitty If evil men are not to be injured much less good men good Ministers and least of all good Bishops which were not wanting among you May not thus the lightnings of Gods rebukes be clearly seen and the terrors of his thunders be justly heard and the blastings of his displeasure be felt by all the unjust tumultuary malicious and implacable enemies of venerable Episcopacy Methinks I hear the Divine Majesty thus uttering his glorious voice against them O foolish People O unthankful Nation O degenerous Christians or deformed Church not worthy to be beloved of God or happily governed by wise men Do you thus requite the Lord and thus despise all the ancient Churches of Christ by forsaking yea rejecting your own mercies and happiness Is it a small thing that you have broken through all Laws and the arm of mans civil authority but will you also contend against the power of God and the wisdom of Christ whose out-stretched arm in the way of Episcopacy hath been in all Ages a defence and refuge to his Church Should you beyond the boldnesse of Balaam dare to curse what God hath not cursed or to defie what God hath not defied but signally owned with his blessing in all Ages and Churches In seeing do you not see and in reading do you not understand the constant methods of Gods guiding and governing both this and all other Christian Churches How hath a novel zeal but not according to knowledge blinded your minds Who called the first Apostles to be chief Bishops over all Churches Who supplied the Apostasie of Judas by the Election of Matthias to his Episcopacy Upon whom did the power of the Holy Ghost first come Who placed Bishops immediately after them in all completed Churches through the world What planted preserved united and reformed them but that Apostolical that is the Episcopal autority assisted by such Presbyters whom they ordained to part of the Office Labour Honour and Ministry Who were the chief Champions of the Gospel but the venerable Bishops in all Ages Who were the most resolute Confessors holy Bishops Who the most glorious Martyrs excellent Bishops Who were the most Learned and Valiant Asserters of the Orthodox faith Primitive purity sanctity order and harmony becoming Christian Churches but admirable Bishops Who were counted the prime Starres in the hand of Christ Who were called by way of eminency Angels by him but the chief Presidents and Bishops of the seven Churches To whom was Divine Power first given and after derived not onely to teach and feed but to ordain Presbyters and Deacons also to rebuke rule and govern both Presbyters Deacons and People as St. Paul enjoynes but to holy Bishops in the persons and patterns of Timothy and Titus Archippus and others whose Authority as such no man ought to despise Who were they that wounded and destroyed the Great Behemoth and Leviathans of prodigious errors and spreading heresies in the four first Centuries but incomparable Bishops such as were Irenaeus Athanasius Epiphanius Augustine Ambrose Hilary Prosper both the Cyrils the Basils the Gregories and others Who quenched the wild-fires of Schisme and faction among Christian people and Ministers but excellent Bishops such as Clemens Ignatius Cyprian both the Dionysiu's Austin Optatus Fulgentius and others By whose sweat and blood next after the Apostles were the plantations and necessary Reformations of Churches watered and weeded but by the vigilancy and industry of worthy Bishops both in their single capacity and in their joynt Synods or Councills wherein Bishops as the Representatives or chief Fathers of all Churches as the families of Christ might orderly meet duly deliberate and autoritatively determine what seemed good to the Spirit of God and to them for the Churches Purity and Peace according to the Scriptures precept and Catholick practise Who were those renowned Pastors and Preachers of old that mitigated the Spirits of great Princes that converted many Nations that baptized mighty Kings and Emperours that advanced the Gospel beyond their Empires and set up the Crosse of Christ above their Crownes not in soveraignty or civill power but in the Divine Empire of Verity Sanctity and Charity Who moderated the Spirits and passions of persecutors Who convinced them of their errors resolved their scruples who condemned their sins who terrified their consciences and who either raised or restored them through repentance to the peace of Christ and his Church but heroick wise and invincible Bishops Who have been the chief Luminaries in all Churches in all Ages the Chariots and Horsemen of Israel the prime Pillars of Piety and Peace of Hospitality and Honour of Order and good Government but wise and renowned Bishops Who furnished all Churches with fervent Prayers devout Liturgies convenient Catechises learned Homilies practical Sermons accurate Commentaries and excellent Epistles with sound Decisions of Controversies and Cases arising in the Church or any private Conscience Who made up with charitable Composures all uncomfortable breaches and unkind differences among Christians but pious and prudent Bishops whose autority was ever esteemed as sacred being experienced in all Ages to be sanative and soveraign to Religion and the Church where they had freedom and encouragements to act as became the chief Pastors Counsellors and Governours of the Church in all Ecclesiastick concernments Sure if God would have them utterly destroyed he would not so long have accepted such sacrifices from the hands of Bishops both ancient and modern nor thus mightily have pleaded the cause of Episcopacy in all Ages and in this both as to Gods wisdom in and his blessing upon that way of Church-government and Governours But possibly our later Bishops especially in England whose cause is here chiefly pleaded were such
themselves high upon the confidence of Christs Scepter Call and Kingdome which they say admits no stop delay or obstruction whenever Providence opens a door not to the Gospel which is already professed but to such a Form and way as they like to have it in as to Discipline Government and Church-Order and this if not to be had by Princes favour and consent yet by the suffrages and assistance of common people where they may be had who in such cases are not to regard their obedience to any worldly Princes or powers who stand in opposition to or competition with Jesus Christ or any thing that some godly men shall fancy to be an ordinance of his though never heretofore owned or used as such in his Church What is there so fond so fanatick so foolish so mad which such presumptuous fury will not bring into Church or State that is not of their mind That these have been the principles and in many places the endeavours or practises of many for I dare not impute them to all is not to be doubted being evident by their writings and the Histories of those who have truly told the world what their sense agencies and aimes are Nor is there any great cause to expect that other petty parties or novel sects which are generally the spawne of Presbytery should deny themselves that Gospel-Power and Liberty as they call it since every one sees it hath been affected and acted though with no very great or glorious success by their grand-fire Presbytery which both in Scotl. and in England besides other places hath not been sparing to proclaime to all the world what zeal they have for their and Christs cause for his that is their Discipline even to the consuming of their foes their friends and themselves as Penry Udal Hacket and others did in Queen Elizabeths daies of which Mr. Cambden and others give us sufficient account as Sleidan and others do of the like agitations in Germany by such as were first Schismaticks from the Church and then Rebels to their lawfull Magistrates But the true Episcopall principles are wholly Evangelical they neither preach nor practise other than what they have learned from Christ and his Apostles in the Scripture they know no voyce of Providence ever calling them to act contrary to those Rules of civil obedience and good conscience which are signall expresse and emphatick in Gods word to be subject to every Ordinance or Law of man for the Lords sake to obey Kings as supreme and all under them for conscience sake if in any thing they cannot freely and cheerfully act there they must and will patiently suffer what penalties or pressures are laid upon them Thus did all Bishops and all Presbyters of old both pray and preach obey and suffer as Tertullian tells us at large in his Apology whose example and Doctrine all good Christians followed in their constant subjection and submission to civill though persecuting powers even then when Christians wanted not power and numbers to have invited them to have asserted themselves against both persecuting people and Princes Yet still godly Bishops with all Presbyters and people subordinate to them in Religious respects followed exactly the precepts of the two great Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul yea and of their great Master and Saviour Jesus Christ rather suffering by many persecutions than breaking out to any one act or thought of sedition or rebellion No injuries ever made good Bishops forget their Duty and Loyalty to Soveraigne powers though they might have had Legions to have sided with them yet as Christ they chose the Crosse as the best refuge of Christian subjects Thus all holy Bishops both held and did in Primitive times Yea and since the later spring of Reformation in England I am confident there is not one instance of any one Bishop or Episcopall Divine that either wrote or instigated any Christian Subjects to act upon any religious pretentions contrary to the Rules of civil subjection to that Prince or State under which they lived no not to bring in or restore Episcopacy it self which hath far more pleas for it from Catholick Antiquity and Universall prescription from actuall possession in all times and places from the pattern of Christ and the practise of the Apostles from the imitation and uninterrupted succession of after-Ages besides the proportions of Gods wisdome and mans prudence in all setled polities and good Government together with its own Ancient Catholick and Nationall Rights which aggravate its injuries and exasperate mens spirits yet these are not enough to animate or heighten Episcopacy so far as to make or restore its way into any Nation Church State or Kingdom by armed power or tumultuary violence against the will of the chief Magistrate or the Lawes in force it humbly attends Gods time and the Soveraignes pleasure for its reception or restitution So false and foul are the odious aspersions of Fellonies Treasons Seditions and Rebellions which the loosenesse and choler of a Presbyterian Gentlemans Pen then more passionate and popular then now it seems hath cast upon all the Bishops of England as such in that rude immodest and uncharitable pamphlet which he then set forth by a preposterous zeal when having surfeited of an immoderate revenge against one Bishop he aymed so to disguise venerable Episcopacy and to degrade all the most excellent Bishops of Engl. with their Clergy as to expose them all to be the more cruelly baited and worried even to death by the enraged beasts of the people even then when they were to be diverted from considering the actuall combustions which then were raised by and for his Presbytery Such Declamatory and partiall papers were certainly very unbecoming a man of Learning Religion or Ingenuity especially toward such Bishops in his own Country which were men most-what his equals in all things and in many things much his betters and superiours being Peeres of the Kingdome and chief Fathers of that Church with which he held Communion vested in their Authority by our Laws as well as conforme to all Ecclesiastick ancient Constitutions being persons famous most of them for their worth every way answerable to the Piety and Learning of their best Predecessors who were great Preachers wise Governours learned Writers and valiant Martyrs as well as venerable Bishops I confesse this one instance makes me see with horror what a dreadfull tyrant and temptation passion and faction revenge ambition popularity and discontent are when once they transport men of parts beyond the true bounds of Reason and Religion of Charity Patience and Civility which is as apparent in that virulent charging of all Bishops for seditious Traytors as if one should condemn all Lawyers for corrupt and covetous for bribery and oppression as if all were Trissilians Empsons and Dudleys which were a reproch most unjust and false there having been and still are many of them men of great justice and integrity I well know it is
not to be denyed and dissembled what he liberally reports to have been done by some Bishops even in England in the more pompous and superstitious times that were like stormy nights blind and boysterous when many of them no lesse than other men of all sorts Yeomen Lawyers Gentlemen Judges and Noblemen were violently engaged in those different interests either Secular or Ecclesiasticall which set up two Supremes as two Suns in one firmament either in the Church against the State whereto the Papall pride and ambition then laid claime seven hundred yeares after Christ by an usurpation and pretention upon Christs score too at least St. Peters not known to the Primitive Popes or other pious Bishops either of Rome or any other City or else the distractions arose in the same civil State by the severall claimes and Titles which Princes made to the Crown and Soveraignty occasioning civill warres either in England or elsewhere But here the sidings and actings of some Bishops which we read of in our own and forreigne Chronicles were not as they were Bishops upon any Apostolicall rule or example nor by any Ecclesiasticall Canons much lesse upon any reall or pretended interests of Jesus Christ but they acted either meerly as persons of civill place and politick power or as men of common prudence and justice or of common passions and infirmities sometime as they stood affected in the justice of the cause which they were commanded to assist sometime for their own necessary preservation as wel as their Soveraignes sometime as they stood related by blood and adherencies to great and potent families which were commonly the first movers in those civill broyles and dissentions which many times were begun and carried on contrary to the desires of sober Bishops no lesse than the will of the lawfull Prince in order to gratifie private mens ambitions yet under specious pretentions of either asserting the Lawes or liberties of the people more than the advancing the Papall power and some Church-immunities that it was no wonder especially in the twilight and dimnesse of those times to see some Bishops out of their way as well as other gowned men who had naturally those civill and carnall principles of self-preservation common to even Judges and Lawyers Nobility and Gentry as to go along sometime with a potent streame and to symbolize with the strongest sword not the justest side But in dubious cases as to the right of Rule Bishops as all good Christians medled not with factions being neither Nigriani nor Albiniani as Tertullian speaks More veniall and excusable may those verball reluctancies reserves and refractures rather than any thing of open force and hostile rebellions seem which some Bishops are reported sometime to have been guilty of here in Engl. when they superstitiously asserted their disobedience and inconformities to their Princes upon the point of conscience and those religious perswasions which were then very plausible and generally admitted both in England and all Christendome as to the priviledges of the Popes of Rome or of the Churches interests and immunities distinct or exempt from the Authority of the Civil State which very challenges arose not from the seditions treasons and rebellions of Bishops and Church-men as such but partly from the cunning encrochments of the Popes of Rome and partly from the former indulgences of Princes more superstitious and easie also from the favourable Lawes or Customes of the Nation to the Clergy as men most usefull and venerable in their Ecclesiastick Authority which was esteemed sacred and Divine as indeed it is in the right constitution and execution of it But no Christian or Reformed Bishop as such did ever approve the stubborne and indeed insolent spirit of Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury who was slaine as he was officiating in the Church by a paroxysme more blameable in the King than that was in the Archbishop which made him so stiffe and refractory as to his and the Churches supposed priviledges and immunities What true Christian and Reformed Bishop doth not pitty the distempers of Lanfranc and Anselm both Predecessors to Becket in the same See of Canterbury who so highly contended with their Soveraignes in behalf of the Popes power as to investitures contrary indeed to the just prerogatives and ancient customes of this Kingdome and Crown in those cases as hath been sufficiently proved by Sir Roger Twisden and others that they lost much of the lustre of their otherwise reall worth and usefull virtues in the point of Learning Piety Charity Devotion and Integrity which were eminent as then times went in those two Archbishops of which Eadmerus gives a very honest and full account Yet did not these Bishops or their brethren proceed further than spirituall armes and Ecclesiasticall censures rather receding than revolting much lesse actually rebelling They never that I find did raise any armies against their Soveraignes upon those Church-quarrels nor did they ever engage Ministers and People by Oathes Leagues or Covenants to a forcible asserting of any Episcopall power or Ecclesiasticall priviledges or pretentions contrary to the declared will of their Soveraignes No look upon Episcopacy in the whole series of Bishops that were of the true Primitive temper stamp and succession as they followed the chief Apostles in their ordinary Ecclesiasticall Power and jurisdiction so they walked in the same steps and spirit of Humility Meeknesse Wisdome Patience Obedience and Loyalty as the Reforming and Reformed Bishops of elder and later Ages have alwaies done coming into all Nations Cities Countries Kingdomes Empires and Common-wealths at their first accesse and entrance as Christ did unto Jerusalem meekly riding upon an Asse with resolutions rather to be crucified there than to give any crosse or offence to civil powers further than they humbly testified soberly preached the Truth of God to them and their subjects not with any Factious Seditious or Rebellious spirits they never preached any such principles nor encouraged any such practises They neither at first nor afâ—â—â—ward when the word of God mightily grew and multiplied did make their way by any hostile invasions they never called Horsemen and Footmen Troopes and Regiments of Armed Souldiers to assist them in the work of the Lord or to set up Jesus Christ against Princes or people who did not believe them or not willingly receive them Yea so Meek Moderate Just Wise and Charitable was the zeal of Primitive Bishops and Church-men that they did not by force turne the Idols of the Heathens out of their Temples till Soveraigne and Imperiall Authority either commanded or permitted them so to do Nor did they drive out the Flamens and Arch-flamens here in England which were Idolatrous Priests till Princes converted by Bishops and other Preachers of the Gospel did forsake and abolish those lying vanities So far were Bishops from obtruding their opinion or party meerly as to gubernative order and power upon any City Nation or Kingdom contrary to the will of the chief Magistrate nor did
they ever turne any lawfull Prince out of doores to make way for themselves and their Episcopall Authority or party Which method as I touched appeares to have been used even by the first Presbyterians in the world even at Geneva as some report where popular fury violently expelled not onely the Bishop but the lawfull Prince of that City who had of right not onely the spirituall jurisdiction but also the civil dominion of that Place and Territory as Bodin and Mr. Calvin confesse After this copy in many places turbulent spirits did endeavour arte vel Marte by power or policy by hook or by crook to bring in that new way into Cities and Countries and no where I find more remarkably than in Scotland during the minority of King James and the raigne of his mother How little regard was had to the Lawes or Religion then established to the Will or Authority of the supreme Magistrate how insolent petulant imperious audacious were some Presbyterian spirits there against Princes as well as Bishops is no newes to those that have read the histories of that Church among which none exceeds that of Dr. Spotswood Arch-Bishop of St. Andrewes set forth by the care of Dr. Duppa the Learned and Reverend Bishop of Salisbury a person of such Piety Patience and Prudence under his undeserved sufferings that not onely his friends but his and all Bishops enemies admire the Christian gravity and heroick greatnesse of his mind as well as others of his Order How far the like spirit plotted threatned acted and attempted in England in Queen Eliz. time so afterward in K. James his raigne and now at last in K. Charles his compleat Tragedies ful sore against his will and conscience no lesse than against the Lawes not then by any power repealed both Mr. Hooker Bishop Bilson Bishop Bancroft Archbishop Whitgift Mr. Cambden and many more of old together with our own late sad experience sufficiently informe us They of old began with scandalous petitions scurrilous libels bold admonitions rude menacings cunning contrivances which were followed at last with fire and sword with blood and ruine with sad division and great devastation to Church and State to Prince and People Which events are no wonder when any new thing pretending to Religion and Reformation may be carryed on by principles and practices of violence and force and these not because lawfull but because they are said to be necessary for Gods interest yea as instances of the highest zeal and most conscientious courage as if there never were nor could ever be any truth or faith any piety or sanctity any Christ or Christianity any Grace or Gospel in the Church or any Christians hearts unlesse Anabaptisme or Presbyterisme or Independentisme had not gently contested but rudely justled Episcopacy out of the Church of England as well as Scotland though full sore against the will of the Chief Magistrate Certainly military or mutinous methods of Religion and Reformation were never preached or practised meditated or endeavoured by any worthy Prelates Presbyters or people of that perswasion For they doe not think that Secular Arms are fit Engines to set up Jesus Christ or his Kingdome in this world which is not of this world nor after the methods of worldly power and force yea they hold that Soveraigne Princes as Christians ought not by brutish force to compel but by reason and due instruction to perswade their Subjects at first to the true Religion much lesse are weapons in the hands of Subjects meet instruments to convince or convert Princes forcibly to yield to any popular presumptions and meer innovations in Religion especially when contrary not onely to the Catholick Customes of all Churches but to the present constitution of that Church of which the Prince is a chief part yea against that personall oath by which a Prince hath sworn to preserve the setled and just rights and priviledges both of that Church and those Church-men which are in his Dominion What is more horrid than to have Reformation or Religion never so good and true thus crammed down the consciences of Kings or States whether they will or no which is the way to make all secular powers jealous of all Christianity and Reformation to set their faces and their forces against them as seditious injurious mutinous and rebellious against the publick peace the civil Rights Honors and Authorities of all Governours in Kingdoms and States The Episcopall and Evangelicall methods have been quite other as I have said by preaching and praying by patient sufferings and frequent Martyrdomes by attending Gods leisure and their Princes pleasures Thus they obtained the protection and favour of the Lawes other projects or policies other arts or armes were never known to the true Gospel of Jesus Christ or its unseparable attendant Episcopacy Thus did Evangelicall Bishops and their Clergy conquer by a meek gentle and unbloody Conquest the vast Roman world and that part of it which was here in Britany no people were so barbarous no Princes so tyrannous whom they did not soften and sweeten by that Evangelicall way and spirit which is called an anointing because it is a sacred balme or oyle which breaks not heads but hearts wounds not the bodies but the spirits of Princes and others with an healing stroke with a soft and mercifull wound Thus did the Crosse of Christ and the Crosiers of Bishops ever go together into all places not pulling down but exalting not shaking but setling the Crownes of Kings and Princes Though they were Heathens Unbelievers and Persecutors as all at first were yet did holy Bishops and their Clergy so far submit to their civil power as to pray and preach not onely faith in Christ but fidelity to Kings teaching not onely Religion but Allegeance yea they made the Allegeance of Christian subjects and souldiers even to heathen Emperours as Tertullian saith a great part and note of true Religion which perfectly abhors all rebellion against God or man as the sin of witchcraft it being as an apostasie from and an abnegation of the true God and true Religion when upon any godly and specious pretentions of Piety or Reformation as by so many charmes and enchantments of the Devil turning himself into an Angel of light Christian Preachers or Professors do begin and carry on factious tumultuous and rebellious motions against the civil Powers Lawes and Polities of any Prince or State It is upon the point a denying of the faith and setting up a new Gospel a Judaick or Mahometan not a Christian Messiah whose true servants and souldiers were alwaies armed with weapons that were spirituall not carnal ministerial not military or martial which in Church-men rather stab and wound all true Religion and Reformation to the heart by infinite scandals injuries and deformities than any way advance it either to a greater power or approbation and acceptance among men of any sober reason or morall sense of things No violence and injustice
the Emperour did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as men suffer their native passions to carry them somewhat beyond tha discretion and temper which became grave and godly Bishops while they did too much proscind and prostitute as it were the Imperial purple vilifying that Majesty which ought to be sacred to Christian Subjects although the persons wearing them may be Tyrants Persecutors and Apostates as the Censers were to be holy in which Incense had been once offered though with strange fire Bishops Miters and Crosiers ought in no case to clash with the Crowns and Scepters of Soveraign Princes however their discreet zeal may seasonably represent to them and in Gods name reprove their misdemeanors as Christians much less may any Presbyters pert upon them who are of a far lesser size and never had any ensignes of honor and autority as chief governours of any Church Be Bishops or Presbyters never so zealous and gracious yet they are not beyond the ancient and best Bishops of Rome and of other chief Cities who with Gregory the Great owned the Emperours as their Soveraign Lords So did St. Ambrose respect both Theodosius and Valentinian so did the venerable Council of the Nicene Bishops reverence the Emperour Constantine the Great Neither their number being three hundred and eighteen nor their publick representation of the Catholick Church did encourage them to do or meditate any thing beyond prayers and petitions recommending all their Counsels to God the Emperour and all the Church No Preachers or Christians warmth needs go beyond the pitch of Christ and his Apostles who are so absolutely for obedience respect and civil feare to Princes whether heathen or Christian that no supreme power whatever need to fear the overthrow or shaking of their Empire Soveraignty and Dominion by admitting true Christian Religion and true Christian Bishops nor need they feare it as any sin persecution or injustice in them to curb represse and punish by all meanes the inordinate pragmatick and seditious zeal as of Bishops so of any Presbyters or people who shall pretend to bring in any Religion or Reformation against their will and permission it being the work and mark of true Religion and undefiled to establish the Thrones of Princes to preserve the publick peace to teach subjection not onely of purses and persons but of soules and consciences so far as Princes do not require them to disobey God and in these cases they need not rack their wits to find out rebellious remedies or disloyall evasions the onely lawfull and laudable refuge is neer at hand namely Christian patience which sets men furthest off from railing or resisting both which are but the scorchings and soote of black and over-burning zeal which makes a kind of Charcoale of Religion What wise sober and humble Christian then can sufficiently love honour and admire the modesty humility and loyalty of true Episcopacy ever expressed by the carriage of the best Christian and reformed Bishops towards all Princes And who can sufficiently abhor the petulancy and insolency of those Novellers and Reformers who shall dare to lift up either the Presbyterian virgula or the Independent ferula or the Anabaptistick flail not onely to threaten but to chastise Soveraign Princes that list not to admit their wayes into their dominions before they can approve them in their Consciences and Judgements following the disciplining methods and penance used by some Monks of Canterbury against our King Henry the second Surely Christianity and the Clergy are never so healthy and comely as when their complexion is rather pallid with the fastings and prayers the studies and pains of humble Bishops and Presbyters than purpled or sanguine with blood and fury The over-hot breathings of Ministers like the chaud of Charcoale stifle and suffocate the vital spirits of true Religion Godly Bishops and Presbyters ever abhorred as Hell and damnation to teach Princes their Religion their Canons Catechises and Directories as Gideon did the men of Succoth with Briars and Thornes or to discipline Soveraigne Majesty with Swords and Pistols in order to perswade them to submit to the Gospel-Scepter and Discipline No they never did attempt so to do either in the Primitive and persecuting times when Magistrates were most froward and injurious or in those times which were afterward more propitious and prosperous when the Clergy fed highest and was most indulged by the munificence of Christian Emperours and Empresses devout Kings and Queens who as good nurses never repined at the fulness of their own breasts or the hearty sucking of their dear nurslings joyning the Prince to the Prelate and adding Lordly Honors with Estates to Christian Bishops never fearing hereby to make them too wanton or insolent while they saw them keep to the sober principles of Christianity conformable to that Apostolick and Primitive Episcopacy which was alwaies pure and peaceable faithfull to God humble and loyall to man so Ruling the Church of Christ as not to be Masters of mis-rule in any Nation State or Kingdom Yea in the amplest enjoyments of that pious munificence and those generous liberalities which Christian Princes Noblemen Gentlemen and inferiour persons devoutly afforded to Bishops and the rest of the Clergy as tokens of their gratitude to God their honor to their Saviour their love to their spirituall Fathers and their value of their own and other mens soules however some few Clergy-men among many might possibly surfeit sometime and as Jesurun grow petulant sensuall and sottish through fulness of bread idlenesse and luxury yet still the generall face of the best Bishops and Clergy was comely and venerable there wanted not in all Ages such Bishops and Presbyters both in England and all Churches for Gravity Learning Sanctity Charity Fidelity and Loyalty as kept up the Office Name and Honor of the Clergy and of Episcopacy to an high degree of honor and veneration both with Princes and people that were good Christians No men were more usefull or more imployed for the good ordering both of Church and Common-weale than Bishops were none were better Counsellors to Princes and greater Benefactors to their fellow-subjects none further from faction sedition popularity sacriledge and rebellion none did greater service or better offices for their King their Church and their Country How loyal resolute and religious a Remonstrance did the Bishop of Carlile make in Parliament against the deposing of King Richard the Second when the whole stream ran against him Was not Morton first Bishop of Ely and after of Canterbury the first designer and a principal effecter of the union of the White and Red Roses the two great houses of York and Lancaster to the blessed extinguishing of those long flames of civil war which drank up the blood and consumed the flesh of this Nation whose greatest miseries rise from its own bowels Was not Richard Fox Bishop of Durham the chief Counsellour Promoter and Actor of that other union between the two Crowns of England and Scotland by treating
obloquies and affronts which sometimes either weak or wicked foolish or factious men sought to cast upon all Bishops and all the Clergy under them yet still the kindness of Parlaments the favour of Princes the worth of good Ministers the discretion of wise Bishops and above all the goodness of a gracious God kept the Clergy of England in such a condition as was rather to be envied than pittied No Minister of any worth was then so cheap despicable so obvious to injuries and obnoxious to all indignities as now he is no not by an hundred degrees Every grave and good Minister in his place then moved as wheels in an Engine by that concurrent strength which then was in the whole Fabrick Juncture of the Church the beams of Episcopal honor shined on the meanest Clergy-man whose own fatuity or factiousnesse weaknesse or wickednesse did not obscure him The secular interests and worldly enjoyments of the whole Clergy were then much more considerable both for profit and honor their livings much better and more secure to them as their Free-holds if they kept within the bounds which our Laws had set their preferments more ample and more easie to be had their reliefs in case of any loss burthen or charge more easie their reputation more conspicuous when they had something of authority and commission besides their Desks and Pâ—lpits when some of them were not only in Ecclesiastick Commissions but assessors on Benches of civil Judicature for which as they might well have leisure enough without neglecting their spiritual employment so I believe they might be as able to serve their Country and their neighbours in that way as a great many Justices of latter edition especially so far as to preserve the honor of the Church and true Religion from suffering any detriment in any County It is evident that in all times since England was Christian no Courts of Justice were ever had without some Divines at them and in them our Fore-fathers alwayes judging it to be of no less concernment to preserve Religion in authority and Church-men in conspicuity than to preserve their Estates civil Peace and Lifes Beyond this how great a lustre I beseech you was added by the piety and generosity of the English-Nation to all the Clergy when some of the Bishops were taken into the Privy Counsell of the Princes when all the Bishops had the places and priviledges of Peers in Parlament having temporall Baronies yea when the whole Clergy in their Representees had place and power in Convocation both to consult of all things Ecclesiasticall and to give of their own Spirituall Estates a free-will-offering to the publick Treasury These and such like marks of publick conspicuity looked indeed like the beams of honor upon the Clergy making their faces to shine before the common people This posture of the Clergy was manly generous heroick becoming the Honor and Piety of the Nation worthy of the munificence of Christian Princes of the Devotion of Christian Parlaments of the Learning and Merit of so excellent a Clergy and Christian Ministry as England enjoyed which of all professions in any Nation should be least Eclipsed and most illustrated with the tokens of publick respect because no men have to encounter with so many Devils of disdain and Spirits of opposition in private breasts as good Ministers have if they will be friends to mens soules and foes to their sins Now poor wretches wherein are any of us as Ministers of the Gospel considerable for any publick remarques of respect and honor either to our persons or callings Are we not even ashamed of our selves and one another when we see the nakednesse to which the justice of God by our own sin and folly hath exposed us and our profession Not onely all Bishops under whose wings Presbyters were wont to be best sheltred but even Presbyters yea Presbytery it self and all sorts of Preachers or Ministers whatsoever are miserably disputed and despised by those many fac'd parties in Religion which have been gendred of late in England while people have looked upon that ring-streaked py-bald and party-coloured Ministry which hath been set before them vastly different from that Candor Beauty and Uniformity which heretofore was both in Shepherds and their severall flocks agreeable to that Primitive pattern which never had a Christian Congregation without an appointed Minister nor a Minister without due Ordination nor Ordination without a Bishop nor a Bishop without great honor and respect among all good Christians The Bishops of the Church being as St. Jerom expounds that of the Psalmist those children of the Church which are prophesied to be made Princes in all Lands under the Gospel and in the Government of Jesus Christ All these united together in an holy and happy correspondency kept up Christian Religion its Doctrine Ministry and Discipline to some height and eminency which is now faln here in England to a very poor and pittifull a plebeian and precarious yea in many to a Parasiticall posture not daring to discommend what they dislike nor to owne what they desire nor to desire what they approve nor to complaine of what they feel pressing and pinching them yea some are such Cossets and Tantanies that they congratulate their Oppressors and flatter their Destroyers calling that a State of precious Liberty which is indeed no better than a tamer slavery boasting in their shame and triumphing in the ruines and disparagings as of their profession so of the true Christian and Reformed Religion which cannot but be darkned when the Clergy is Eclipsed as now it is in England where not any one Minister great or small can keep himself in any tolerable esteem with all parties no nor avoid the contempts and reproches cast from some hand or other on him let his worth be what it will for Learning and Integrity for Piety and Paines yet he wants not those friends to Reformation that seek to depresse him and would heartily joy in his utter ruine Some poor Ministers may possibly now shrowd themselves here and there under some particular shelter of some civil and less supercilious patrone or some more sober and good-natured people but to speak the truth none of them have any proper Sanctuary or any meet refuge among themselves where they may equally expect protection for their Rights Persons and Profession as Ministers of the Church or as men in holy orders How many with scorne disallow and disavow any such Church or Orders as the best Ministers pretend nor do they that are first Antiepiscopal and then Antiministerial think that there is any thing of right due to any of them besides poverty and contempt Yet to such ports many times most Ministers put in when tossed to and fro in the tempest of popular contests forced thus to run themselves a ground sometimes to avoid utter Shipwrack many have given over their Livings to enjoy their Liberties and to preserve a capacity either to get another or by
occasionall preaching to get their bread Ecclesiasticall Courts we have none nor any considerable or competent Judges of our own Cloth and Calling To Convocations or Synods we are never called which I conceive might be as usefull and necessary for the religious interests of the Nation as Parlaments are for the secular and civil out of which the Clergy are wholly excluded Bishops being ejected out of the House of Peers where they sate so many hundreds of yeares yea ever since there was such a great Councel in the Nation and long before there was any House of Commons Neither Presbyterian nor Independent Ministers are admittable however they have either renounced their Clericall Order or Metamorphosed themselves both in apparel and in principles to a Laick forme Other men though they ordinarily preach yet may be chosen as Members of the House of Commons and sit there onely professed Preachers though not in Orders may not So that in neither House the Clergy or Ministry now have any other Proxyes Deputies Representees or Patrons than such as the meanest Mechanicks or Trades-men have no nor so much for these may have of their own Art and Calling there to assert their Rights which Ministers have not as any spirituall Corporation or Fraternity not so much as the meanest Burgesse Towne or civil Corporation Nothing is left the Clergy but a Lay-Committee for Religion which may in time be as great an injury and a grievance to the true Religion as any they sit to inquire of while all the Concernments of the Church all matters Ecclesiastick all the Doctrine and manners of the Clergy all that concernes the Preservation or Reformation of Religion all disputes and determination of controversies yea and of cases of Conscience all setling and asserting of true Doctrine all confutation of dangerous errors all Antidotes against the poysons and infections of Religion all direction for the decency of Gods publick worship for administration of holy Mysteries for Ordination of Ministers for execution of Church-Order and Discipline all the Liberties and Livelihoods of Ministers must be wholly left either to the Learning Religion and Discretion of some plaine Country Gentlemen who God knowes are most-what but very superficially studied in these cases being better skill'd in hawks and hounds in their oves and boves than in the deep studies or points of Divinity nay t is well with many of them if they have not forgot their first Catechize and principles of Religion or else the Clergies concernments must fall under the judgement of Lawyers who finding no worldly profit to come by their Pleadings for Religion do not much mind them or enable themselves for them or they must be exposed to the piety of Physitians which was never thought very intense nor much in the Rode of their practise or the cases of Ministers must fall under the tender-heartednesse of Souldiers who are more skilled in Swords than Bookes in Military than Ecclesiasticall Discipline men of blood as David himself are not fit to build Temples or Churches as God tels him or at last the affaires of Ministers must be referred either to the formall gravity of some solemn Citizens whose Shops and Counting-houses have been their most constant and profitable studies or to the pragmatick activity of some confident Mechanicks who whetting each other by their disputes and janglings are every where ambitious to be as thornes in the flesh and goades in the sides of poor Ministers left they should be lifted up above measure To the mercy of some of which sharp censors had the Ministers of England been sometime left they had not left one Minister in his Living nor one Church Living in England for a Minister But God then hampered them in their strange Vagaries preserving still some Remains of this Church and its Clergy from being wholly left like Sodom and Gomorrah And indeed who almost is there of any profession never so sober that ingenuously now or at any time sympathizeth with either Scholars or Ministers who is there that by a native as St. Paul saith and genuine affection careth for their affaires All seek their own Profit Honor Pleasure Any of them may invade the place and office of a Minister if they list Few are scrupulous to pinch or deprive Ministers of their profits none expects any great good from them but rather unwelcome reproofes and censures according as every Minister is either severe or supercilious and cholerick setting up his small Tribunall and exercising his Discipline as he fancies best scaring silly men and women sometime with the thunder-bolts of his Excommunications Examinations and Suspensions that generally all people are jealous of Ministers peartnesse and ambition which aime to rule them with a Rod of Iron when they have but the Scepter of a Reed in their hand Hence is it that most Gentlemen Noblemen Yeomen and Artizans not onely do not much care for Ministers that are weighty and steady but they generally look asquint on them and are afraid of them as their Tetricall Reprovers and Moroser Monitors In all respects all men are now tempted to despise them as made every way inferiour to all sorts of men of small gaines and uncertaine Estates of no publik power honor or influence not worthy to be adopted to any friendship nor to be feared for any distance and enmity persons most safely to be injured of any men having nothing to revenge or right themselves with but their sad lookes and sharp tongues a generation of men rather filled as with wind and swoln with their own airy speculations than any way considerable for solid sufficiency and usefull worth yea by very many and most illiterate persons all Ministers are esteemed no other than their Leeches Hangby's and Dependants whom grudgingly they entertaine rather out of formality than conscience out of policy more than piety Persons of some literature and ingenuous breeding have many times secret emulations and rivalries against their Ministers judging themselves not onely the better men in all other respects but the better Scholars too as it oft falls out now so that they think it time lost to heare their Ministers preach because they find them do it with little study or dexterity and with lesse Authority The meanest poorest and plainest sort of people expect neither much good nor hurt by any Minister whom they see every where reduced to such a tenuity and minority that there is no spark of Majesty or beam of Magistracy among them since the ancient and honourable Chairs of the Bishops of England have been turned into Joint-stools and their Jurisdictions or Courts both Ecclesiastical and Civil resolved into Lay-Committees This blessing hath the Clergy of England gained since Ministers affected to ride on Scotch saddles and Galloway-Naggs which was once made an Article of accusation against Bishop Farrar in Queen Elizabeths third year as a diminishing of his Episcopal dignity Thus desolate dejected and despised is the condition of the Clergy now in England both
it may be their greatest enemies in their place posture and provocations would not have been much more moderate and calme than they were But let these Bishops passe who as the highest trees have suffered first and most the battery of the storms raised against Bishops These few were abundantly counterpoised by those many other Bishops both in former and later dayes whose worth and abilities every way were such that it is hard to find any of their adversaries in all things equall to them nor could they have stood before them in the combate if no weapons but bookes and arguments had been used certainly some one Bishop had been able to have chased an hundred Presbyters these last being seconded by none of the ancients the first having all antiquity on his side T is true I well know that many of the Presbyterian party were men of very fleet pace of voluble tongues pregnant parts and plausible appearances which did very well while they kept their ranks and stations but yet under favour they did not any of them attaine to the first three There were many pounds yea talents difference between a spruce Lecturer or a popular Preacher and a wel-studied Bishop whose great Learning and Experience had made him every way grave and complete there was as great a distance between some Bishops sufficiencies and the ablest Antiepiscopall Presbyterian that ever I knew as there was between their honors and revenues Take them in all latitudes for writing speaking and doing that I say nothing of their prudentials in governing wherein Bishops drove the Chariot tolerably well at all times sometimes very well during a thousand yeares and more in England and Wales But the Presbyterian wisdom and Policy hath not onely overthrown others but themselves too in a few yeares together with the unity order and honor of this Nationall Church Yea as to that part of a Clergy-man which is not more popular and plausible than profitable and commendable when well performed I meane preaching no Presbyterians exceeded the Episcopall Clergy or some Bishops in this particular if they preached oftner yet not better no nor oftner considering the Age and infirmities of body which might attend some Bishops Nothing was beyond the thunders and lightnings sometime or the gentle raines and softer dewes otherwhile which distilled from the Tongues of Learned Godly and Eloquent Bishops How oft have I heard them with equall profit and pleasure Such apples of Gold in pictures of silver such wholesome fruit in faire dishes were their sermons many of which have been printed and many hundred more never published Doubtless none of the Primitive Bishops and Fathers went beyond ours in England if we may judge of their Preaching by those short and most-what plaine Homilies or Sermons which we read Few of which were preached before great Princes and their Courts as ours oftâ—were whose Court-sermons since Queen Elizabeth began to Reigne if they could be collected together I doubt not but they would be one of the richest Mines or Magazines of Learning Piety Prudence and Eloquence in the world For those Sermons both for the present Majesty of the Prince for the curiosity of the Auditory and for the abilities of the Orator were the Quintessence or Spirits of many sermons and much study commonly as much beyond ordinary preachments as orientall pearles are beyond the Scotch Pallors of those Jewels Not but that it is the commendation of ordinary Ministers to preach plainly yet powerfully to ordinary hearers so as may most profit them For he is the best Archer not who shootes highest or furthest but neerest and surest as to that mark at which he is to aime which in preaching must be the saving of soules not pleasing mens eares Nor did the others preach lesse honestly or usefully because more elaborately at Court considering the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nauseous wantonnesse of most Courtiers and their curious expectation who needed as much as they expected sermons that savoured not onely of the Lips and Lungs but of the heart and head too For Court-hearers will never get profit unless the Preacher take paines And Queen Elizabeth very smartly once said when she heard a warme and earnest but a very plaine and easie Country-preacher who was brought to preach before her in her progresse by some of those Courtiers who then seemed to favour the Nonconformists She that had been wonted to drink strong-waters rarely distilled and compounded of many excellent spirits which were very cordiall in lesser quantities did not wel relish any drink that was very smal though it seemed scalding hot which is rather a culinary than a celestiall heat in preaching whose true warmth lies in the weight of the matter not in the noise or heat of the speaker I am not ignorant that some of our later Bishops fell under great obloquy and odium among many people specially the last Archbishop of Canterbury who being a man naturally active quick rough and cholerick enough lesse benigne and obliging than was expected from him had brought upon himself so great a weight of envy jealousie and disdain that there was no standing before it when once he was left to stand by himself he was easily over-run by a multitude being but low of stature of no promising winning or over-awing presence As for his politick or civil Demeanours upon which account he suffered death I have nothing to do with them in this place both he and his Judges are to be judged by the Lord. As to his Religion I shall afterward expresse my sense whether he were Popish or not But first I would a little consider that suddaine cloud which covered the face of many of our brightest Bishops at once confining them to prisons who were esteemed persons of great Candor Prudence and Moderation yet was their discretion much called into question when twelve of them were snared and twice committed most of them to the Tower for a Remonstrance or Protestation which they made in order to assert their ancient and undoubted priviledge to sit as Peeres in the House of Lords to which they had by writs been summoned Some State-Criticks thought they forgat what became their yeares their wisdome their dependance and the distempers of the times My answer is possibly those goodmen might through discontent and indignation at the vile and vulgar indignities they suffered even a Parlament now sitting of which they were Members pen the form of their intended plea lesse conveniently passion being an ill Counsellour or dictator to the wisest men yet I believe few of their severest censurers would have been more cautious in their expressions if they had been under the like tumultuary terrors and insolencies which repeated and unremedied were capable to provoke men of very meek spirits and mortified passions to speak or write unadvisedly as Moses himself did in a case of lesse personall provocation than at other times he had given him from the petulancy of people Nothing scares sober men more than to
removed from the real power of Godlinesse which mortifies all inordinate lusts moderates all passions brings the thoughts words and deeds of Christians to the exact conformity of true Holiness Justice and Charity Who are more vain bablers and endless janglers who more unholy unjust uncharitable unmerciful implacable immoderate in their passions presumptions and revenges than many of those who have most stript themselves as to their Religion of their clothes and coverings that they may prophesie with Saul quaking and naked enjoying what immodest and insolent freedoms they list to use and call Christian Liberties and Simplicities Certainly the power of Godlinesse is most seen when men having most power in their hand to do good or evil do chuse the good and refuse the evil No men were more gracious and spirituall none did more good than many of the Bishops of England in their prosperity both publickly and privately yea no men have suffered more evil in their adversity with more silence and patience They onely once cryed out when they durst not go to the Parlament by Land and going by water they were with St. Stephen assaulted on the shore with a showre of stones and could not land with safety of their lifes Since that time though fleeced and flayed yet they have held their peace under the shearers hands both singly and socially as far as ever I have heard or read It is no great sign of the power of Godlinesse that men can endure no power civil or Ecclesiastick but in their own hands and think no power is of God which other men lawfully enjoy Since Bishops and Episcopacy and Liturgy and Ceremonies and constant Catechizings and all uniform celebration of Sacraments are discarded since nothing but Ministers private breasts and brains must serve the Church with their formed or informed constant or extemporary conceptions Praying and Preaching and Celebrating is the power of Godlinesse as to true grace or the fruits of the Spirit much advanced Is there more constant hearing of sound Doctrine Is there more of sober and setled Knowledge Is there more Modesty Humility Equity Charity Obedience Unity Proficiency Patience Love and Fear of God or Reverence of Man or Conscience of Duty to both than was formerly If these Antiepiscopal men who so much pretend to the bare sword of the Spirit that they scorn to wear any scabbard of Form or Ceremony have with Saul utterly destroyed the Amalekites of Immorality and Hypocrisie what means the bleating crying complaining biting and devouring of one another which are among us what mean the factions divisions envies animosities among both Ministers and People what means the contempt of the Word of God of all publick Duties and of the best Ministers who are most able most humble and most constant what means the Uncatechisedness the Sottishness Profaneness Impudence and Irreligion which are so much spreading and prevailing How many rich and poor people neither have nor care for any Preachers at all No Sermons no Prayers no Catechises no Sacraments no Morals no Civilities almost are left among them All the Religion of many is resolved into disputing and denying Tithes into paying their Taxes into the fear of Souldiers the Sword and Laws the Prisons and Gallowses or Men lastly into enjoying what liberties or loosness in Religion they fancy best as far and as long as they list But are there in earnest generally more or better Scholars or Ministers or Christians now than there were under Bishops I trow not scarce the half part for number scarce the half part so able for Learning as they were heretofore as our Timber for great Oaks so our Ministry in England for grave Divines is much wasted Whatever the matter was and is I am sure if it was not the Wisdom and Piety of Bishops it was the undeserved Blessing of God that made the power of Godlinesse in sound Knowledge Humility Faith Repentance Love of God Justice and Charity to men in unity amongst Christians in good Lives and good Works appear much more to me and others under Episcopacy than ever it hath done since its dissolution Undoubtedly true Religion both as to its profession and power as Christian and as Reformed as opposite to Profaneness and to Popish Superstition did among the generality of the Nation both Nobility Gentry and Commons thrive better when it fed on the pults and water as some esteemed of the Liturgy good Catechizing sound Preaching frequent Communicating and orderly Governing under Bishops than since it hath fed of other mens dainties who left a lean Church and Clergy while they have been filled with Kings and Bishops portions The garden of Christs Church was much safer and better among those Ceremonious Briars and Thorns as some count them yet good senses of religious Order and Honour under Episcopacy than since it hath been laid so open and wilde without ancient boundaries or defences Alas poor Ministers even all upon the point have no authority among the Common-people but what is precarious and despicable which people contemn cast and kick off as they list unless so far as a Souldier may perchance smile upon a Preacher But to avoid these just Ironies and retorted Sarcasmes the more grave and modest Antiepiscopall Spirits do now professe That their fierce wrath was intended onely against such Prelates as were indeed Persecutors Proud Idle Superstitious Imperious Luxurious Court-Complyers and Flatterers c. I reply first as to persecution First Many Bishops were blamed as too remisse and indulgent by some of their own Order who drove more furiously Secondly all were not equally such persecutors in their enemies sense yet all of them equally complaine of being no lesse persecuted For their Court-Complying they had been very ingratefull men if they had not owned with all loyall respect and service the fountaine of their Honor and Estates yet good men could not love their King without loving their Country nor their Country without their King which all godly and honest Bishops did if any others did not why did not Justice separate between the good and the bad the precious and the vile Why should good Bishops yea and good Episcopacy it self suffer As Abraham said to God Gen. 18.25 so doth God say to every good mans conscience Far be it from thee to destroy the righteous with the wicked Why should not all Presbyters yea Presbytery it self as well suffer a finall and totall extirpation which some men have designed and desired since no doubt there were and now are many yea as many nay more for the number of insufficient preachers and unworthy Presbyters as there were of Bishops and few if any of them so able so worthy so well-deserving of the publick both Church and State as some Bishops were Why should Presbytery be preserved alive and Episcopacy which is the elder be slaine Since Episcopacy in all Ages hath preserved Presbytery why should Presbytery ingratefully extirpate Episcopacy Was it not because Episcopacy was
late Archbishop of Armagh and Lord Primate of Ireland whom I reckon as ours because not onely his ashes and mortal remaines are deposited with us but he lived his last yeares of exile and ended his mortality amongst us in Engl. where besides his constant paines in Preaching even to his last he hath left us many of his Learned works which are enjoyed by and highly esteemed of all worthy men who were blest with the example of his great and unspotted worth which no envy no malice can I think be so impudent as to blemish With this rare and Reverend Prelate this great and gracious Bishop I was rather happy than worthy to be acquainted many yeares so far as to be able more neerly to discover his genius and temper both before and after the storme of blood and Massacre in Ireland had driven this holy man to fly from that Terra irae Dei land of Gods wrath and to take such Sanctuary or shelter as then he hoped might be had in England for Protestant Bishops where he little thought good man he should have found some Protestants in England as fierce to undoe and destroy their Bishops though of the same Reformed Faith and of unblameable Profession as the most Jesuited Papists were in Ireland who were and are sworne enemies against them not as Christian Bishops but as of the Reformed Religion which had nothing in it more Primitive Illustrious and Honorable than this that in England it shined with the glory of those Apostolick Stars Godly and Venerable Bishops which did not depend on the Pope of Rome The reall excellencies of this Bishop every way were such that they exceeded all ordinary measures of humane commendation and capacity extending to something of admiration or ecstasie None but those whose minds are enlarged to some proportions of his accomplishments can be able to comprehend his worth and amplitude so vast so transcendent so astonishing was his Learning and Understanding in all kinds of knowledge Divine and Humane that he was as the Cynosure by which all great Divines steered and as the Sun-Diall by which all great Scholars set their watches Much of this Treasure was discovered in his writings printed and not yet printed of all sorts both of greener and riper studies in all which he was exact and complete He wrote as he studied not in the beaten paths of Plagiary Compilators or Systematicall Collectors as Scriba doctus ad regnum Caelorum but he brought forth out of his large heart and vast reading new as well as old things of rare hidden and untroden observation even out of Manuscripts which scarce any but his Eagle-eye had seen and but few could read All which he judiciously collected methodically disposed clearly explained and aptly applyed yet it was with him as with copious and living springs the least part of his innate acquired and unexhausted fulnesse was to be discerned by any of his outward emanations So accurate was he in all usefull and Learned Languages Occidentall and Orientall so cleare a prospect he had of all History and Chronology of all Controversies ancient and modern that nothing escaped him nor was he onely as a Reader and Spectator but as a Judge and Censor as an Arbitrator and Dictator in Disputes as one that sate in a Tribunall of Soveraigne Learning above all Nothing was new or hidden to him in Philology Philosophy Geography Astronomy Mathematicks and least of all in Theology or Divinity he had conquered all others but in this he Triumphed which was the Trophee Crown and Center of all his other studies There was scarce any Book printed or Manuscript worth reading in private or publick Libraries throughout all Christendome which he had not read either in the Copy or Originall and digested into the method or designe of his studies yea and to a miracle remembred as to the maine contents of it To the Immensity of his Learning there was added excellent principles of Politick prudence as a Governour of the Church and as a Counsellour of State wherein he was conspicuous not for the crafty projects and practises of policy or for those sinister waies of Artifice and Subtilty which are the usuall unreasonable Reasons of State the so admired depths of devillish Hypocrisie but indeed the flats and shallowes of all Truth and Honesty no the Measures and Rules of his Politicks and Prudentialls were taken from that great experience he had gotten and many excellent observations he had made out of all Histories as well Humane as Divine though he alwaies laid the greatest weight upon the grounds and instances of holy Scripture which gives the truest judgement of wisdom or folly These great abilities managed with so much Piety Prudence and Integrity could not but make this Bishop as fit to be a Counsellor of State for so he was in Ireland or a Privy Counsellor to his Prince which other Bishops were who lived in England as any of those Misepiscopists were who most envied and denyed that honour to this or any other Bishops with whose sufficiencies few of their enemies the chiefest of whom I well knew were to be compared either for Wisdom Gravity Goodnesse Learning Experience and Eloquence or for that Sanctity Severity and Integrity which make a complete Counsellour All which are hardly learned by the juvenile Gallantry of a little travelling or by seeing many Men or by courting many Mistresses or by passing through many Cities and Countries in a negligent way or by wearing ample plumes on mens heads or by shewing fair clothes on their backs or by fanciful and affected conformities to all the modes and fashions which may be observable in forreign places all which Leven do usually so puff up many young Gallants who glory most in their Nobility and Gentry with Amorousnesse Futility Vapouring Vanity and Folly that it is a long time before they can throughly decoct them or settle themselves to that clear and serious study of Piety and Policy of Wisdom Divine and Humane which onely can furnish out fit and able Counsellours of State who are to be not onely as the Eyes Guides and overseers of the Publick but even of the Prince whose hand of power if he be wise will steer according to the Card and Compass set before him by his Council which cannot be good if it be not godly nor prudent if it be not pious So that it is not onely my wonder but it will be so to all Posterity what should move any sober and religious wise men to exclude all Bishops and Clergymen from all capacity of being either Members of the great and Parlamentary Council or of the Privy Council of any Prince or State When 1. Religion ought alwayes to be as much under the care counsel and inspection of Christian Princes Parlaments and Councils of State as any secular or civil affairs which never prosper where Religion is put in the rear and Crupper of business or where the Clergy beyond all men must be
excluded Do we not read in one Melchizedek the Type of Christ both Prince and Priest joyned together Afterward were not Aaron and Moses the one as King the other as Chief-priest appointed by God as the leaders of the Church of God From this example Abiathar the Priest also Gad and Nathan the Prophets were Counsellours as well as Confessors to King David so was Azariah the son of Zadok the Priest a chief Prince and Counsellor to King Solomon so Jehojadah the Priest was a Father a Protector and a chief Director to King Joash who ceased to prosper when he wanted such a Counsellor 2. When no men may be presumed or indeed generally are and in all times have been so able in managing and advising of matters religious as eminent Bishops and well-chosen Church men certainly none were so fit as they to give account to the Prince and State of the true estate of the Church and Religion which are miserably mis-represented by other ignorant or envious Informers none so much layes to heart the true concerns of Religion or the interests of mens souls none will so much take care that these suffer no prejudice and detriment by any Lay-mens disorderly insolency or covetous encrochments 3. As for the preaching part of a Bishop or his residence and inspection to his particular Diocese it can be no hinderance as some men have pittifully pretended sometime to attend the general good of their own and all others Dioceses they may not be thought to neglect their own Cabin who are sometime imployed for the reparation or conservation of the whole Ship as my Lord Viscount Newark very honourably learnedly and eloquently expressed himself in the House of Peers where it was briefly disputed touching Bishops sitting as Peers in the House which they had done ever since there was an House of Christian Peers in England So that the pretended damage as to their particular care of their Diocese is abundantly compensated by the good they may do to the publick which may easily be as much as that was of the English and Scotch Presbyters who were dispensed with for many moneths Non-residency as to their particular Livings and charges when they were to attend the Assemblies great service of making a Catechize a Directory and helping to extirpate Bishops out of this Church and State 4. The retortion upon these Ministers especially who were so much enemies to Bishops being in any Council Civil or Ecclesiastick must needs be a most smart and severe conviction of their Partiality when we have daily seen so many petty Presbyterian and Independent Preachers as busie as Bees and every where eager Sticklers in all secular Councils and Affairs How did some of them haunt some Lords and Commons in the long Parlament How did they ply all Committees specially that for Religion which had swallowed up the Convocation How prone are they still uncalled to croud or insinuate into all publick yea into Cabinet-Counsels both military and civil What of concern in Church or State for these last eighteen years can move or pass without their suggestions whisperings and agitations Many publick Declarations savour much of their strain and form both for fancy and phrase especially if they regard any religious businesse of State as Fastings Humiliations Thanksgivings and the like which heretofore were managed by the counsel of great Bishops as able I believe as any of our new and little ones But it is not strange that some men should think themselves fit to be at both ends of all publick Counsels either laying or hatching them and yet be so eager against all Bishops who were full as honest and in all respects as able and worthy as the best of these Sticklers for nothing makes men more presumptuous of themselves or more envious against others than want of true knowledge of eithers dimensions 5. And lastly the very light of Nature makes it seem very preposterous and impolitick to exclude all Church-men of which Bishops were ever the chief Fathers out of all publick Counsels for all Nations have taught us that they did so far venerate their Gods and honour their Religion as never to carry on their chief Counsels publick Affairs of War or Peace for Religion or Civility without taking some of their Holy men and Priests into their Councils so King Balak cals for Balaam in his greatest exigencies so were the Pontifs or Flamens ever among the chief Roman Counsellors and Senators so were the Druids ever among the British and Gallick Parlaments so were the Magi among the Persian Princes so at this day are the Mufties among the Turks chief Counsel All Mankind knowing this that the best counsels are those which rise nearest to Jupiters Throne and are drawn from the clearest fountains of Divine Wisdom If the true God and the Son of God the Christians Saviour have justly the Titles of the All and Onely wise yea the wonderful Counsellors how I beseech you can it stand with any Christian sense or reason of State and true Religion to exclude those men beyond any from all publick Councils of Church and State who are most in Gods and Christs stead best studied and acquainted with the Divine Will Wisdom and Counsel in Gods Word I am sure so far as I am versed in any Histories neither this Church or State nor any other did ever flourish without Bishops among the prime Counsellors both in Parlament and other-where nor did they ever more flourish in Piety Peace and Plenty than when these had as great an influence as any other Men of Learning Worth and Wisdom How things may hereafter thrive where the Clergy are so nipt and frost-bitten time and success will best inform the survivers yet it is no very promising omen when neither Clergy-men are encouraged to be fit and able nor if fit and able are at any hand to be admitted to such publick use and honour when any others may whatever extraction rise and education they have had for they are not alwayes noble Rivers and ancient Springs of Vertue Wisdom and Honour but many times small Brooks and very inconsiderable Rivolets which aspire to this honour of contributing their small drops of Counsel into the great publick Cistern of Government And such were they as far as I understood men for the most part who with least patience could bear any Bishops to sit in counsel with them lest they should be miserably outshined and eclipsed by the others improved parts and well-known learning which vastly exceeded the small shreds and short ends which many other men were so highly conceited of in themselves whose Estates laid the greatest foundation of their Honour But I here crave the Readers pardon for this digression no way impertinent to my designe which is to demonstrate the merit and so far to recover the publick esteem and honor of good Bishops and all the Clergy such as they ever enjoyed in this and all other Christian States till these darker daies in
alwaies as pupills and minors in the world Gods the Kings and the States Wards as Sir Edward Cook calls them power never so prevalent ought to be either limited by present Lawes in force or by common principles of equity and righteousnesse which are set down in Gods word and written in all mens hearts which is To do as they would be done unto Not to be punished further than they have offended To be heard and fairly tried before they be condemned and executed These limits ought to be observed by all men in their greatest power and passion so far as no one man may be notably injured to gratifie many without any after-amends nor may Paul be exposed to present death or danger in order to appease the furious multitude of the Jewes Let this great pleader and plaintiffe answer Are they not poor and pittifull Gods who in their supposed supremacy of power may sin must dye and be judged by the most high God may not many men sin as well as few and wise men as well as simple and choise Lay-men as well as all the chiefest Clergy-men in England which they must all be supposed to have done in a very high nature to be justly and so grievously punished Have not all men cause to be jealous of their own hearts lest at any time and in any case they offend God or man Ought any Prince or Parlaments whatever they be forget they are but men or to flattered by themselves or others that they cannot erre or be deceived Have we not read of Parlaments though great ships yet tossed to and fro in a few yeares with severall winds of Doctrine one while to renounce and cast off the Popes yoke a little after as Camels on their knees to stoop down and receive that burthen again as in Queen Mary's daies with the lesse scruple as one notably observes because the Legal Cardinal Pool made no mention or demand of restoring the Abby-lands Though Parlaments should be as the Assemblies of the Son of God may not Satan come in among them May not Parlaments as well repent before God as oft revoke before men what they Vote and Enact Doth any thing betray wise men more than to have too great confidence of themselves If Ecclesiastick Synods and Councills except perhaps such as are truly Catholick and free may be subject to erre and have erred why not civil Senates and Parlaments Have they any porter that can keep sin out of their doores or any walls that keep out infirmities from surprizing them which they carry alwaies not so much about them as within them But what if there be such a sin as Sacriledg yea and in the case which the D. puts it which his equals and far his betters in all respects have earnestly affirmed and the more impartially because long before this particular case of the Bishops of England was put may not many men yea whole Nations be guilty of this sin and infected as with an Epidemick plague so far as they act abet approve or applaud Doth not God himself when the Priests and Levites were over-awed and durst not complaine against the generall vogue charge the whole Nation of the Jewes with robbing him and denounceth by his Prophet an heavy curse against them for robbing God Although they reply with great confidence as commonly there is least brow where most guilt wherein have we robbed thee God answers them in Tithes and offerings Was the detaining or denying of these from the Priests and Levites a robbing of God and had it been no such matter if every Tribe had taken away those Houses and Lands those Cities and Suburbs which God had appointed them by the ancient distribution not onely for a bare and necessitous subsistence like Micahs Levite but for such an honorable entertainment as became that Tribe and that service they did to the God of Israel If it be a mocking of God as well as man for any man to keep back or to resume what once he hath by a valid and declared Act given to any pious and charitable use or to any one poor man as an Almes how dangerous is it in publick cases to be done without very cleare and sure grounds No wise men are so vain as to think themselves in any capacity inerrable and infallible nor may any good man fancy that at any time or in any case he hath Gods dispensation to commit no nor to permit if he can hinder the least sin much lesse so great an one as Sacriledg is esteemed by many men who are no children in understanding Let this pleader ask Jewes and Gentiles old and new Testament Papinian and Plowden Justinians Institutes and Justice Cooks Canon and Civil Imperiall and Municipall Lawes yea he cannot be ignorant what the great Reformers Luther and Melanchthon with the Augustane Protestants say what the grand Masters for Presbytery whom I suppose he hath not of late believed in that point Calvin Zanchy Bucer Knox Cartwright and others did they not first or last suspect condemn and cry down as sin and Sacriledg the Confiscation or Alienation of such Lands as were properly Church-lands for the maintaining the Ministry Order Government and Honour of the Church to a Charitable Hospitable and Honorable amplenesse Their Testimonies are every where extant diligently collected easily perused and possibly they would have been more speedy and severe in their censure of it if they had seen it done against any Bishops and Clergy-men who sincerely professed diligently preached and mightily maintained the Reformed Religion against the Romane Superstition which they were loth to nourish with such full breasts of Plenty and Honor. But sure they would never have envyed or denyed them to so Learned and Godly Bishops with other Church-men as were here in England whom Mr. Calvin would have much honored as he professeth so earnestly that he Anathematizeth all that would not who might easilier have been Reformed and it may be at a cheaper rate to the publick than by being so terribly fleeced and flayed as they were of all their Ecclesiasticall dignities and revenues belonging to them I will put a Case or Quere to this great Vindicator what he would have thought of those men who Voted or Created themselves a Parlament that is the Supreme Power as Deputies or Representative of the English People though not chosen by the people nor any way such an one as some men had so zealously covenanted to maintaine in their Freedom and Priviledg if these Grandees had gone on for they were as neer it as two Groats are to nine pence and had peremptorily Voted this good D. with all other Beneficed Ministers in England and Wales out of their beloved Glebes Tithes and Mansion-Houses after the Precedents which they had lately seen acted against green Trees the Learned Bishops Deanes and Prebends as to all their Ecclesiastick Revenues annexed to their dignities who would have cried Sacriledg with greater contention of Voice and Lungs than
possibly as Valiant Pious and Morall yet Wisdome being the highest humane endowment and politick or gubernative prudence being the noblest exercise of wisdome in this world for the publick and common good of mankind few of whom are fit to governe themselves or others it is but fit that greater publick incouragements and preferments of Honor and Estate should be given to these than onely to strength which alone is but brutall the endowment of a body which men have common with beasts but the other is proper to our reasonable soules by which we are not far from Angels and neer of kin to God In which excellencies since some Ministers may and do exceed others which makes these want Governours and the others fit to govern what is there of Humane or Divine Law that can be against so prudent so necessary an Order and Polity in the Church as Bishops are and ever have been Whose so envied Estates and Dignities were still no more than that double honour which the Apostle challengeth from all Christians as due to those that rule well and labour in the Word and Doctrine not onely by teaching and writing themselves but by taking care that others do so too within the limits of sober Life and sound Doctrine which works many yea most I hope of our Bishops did and all might yea should have done since the Reformation with as much paines and to as much publick good as this or any other Antiprelatist can pretend to So far was the case of Bishops and Deanes and Prebends different from that of Monks and Abbots which this great D. seeks to parallel as equally needlesse idle odious and pittiless when he cannot be ignorant that Bishops being immediate Successors to the Apostles with whom were anciently resident in Cities the Venerable Colledges of Presbyters which were Deanes and Prebends as their ordinary Counsel these must needs be much elder than any Monastick Orders unlesse he think Jo. Baptist began those Bishops were as placed by the Apostles ever owned in all Ages and Places and reverenced by all orderly Presbyters and Christian people yea and by all Christian Princes by whose pious munificence they were endowed with Revenues and Honors long before ever Presbyters had their Glebes apart and Tithes appropriate to them yet were these Bishops and the Colledges of Presbyters more severely used than the Monks and Abbots who had pensions for life allowed them if they staied in England I appeale to all that are not Levellers in Church or State Is not Government good order and comely subordination as necessary in the Church among all men both of the Laity and Clergy as the family of Christ the Household of faith and an holy Polity City or Common-wealth as it is in all civil Fraternities Companies and Communities or in this paintiffs family Where besides food and other necessaries which he provides for himself in common with his Servants and Children yet doubtless he still reserves for himself a Benjamins portion as to the eminency of his Estate and Authority above them as a Father and Governour Were it robbery and violence to take away any thing unjustly from his children and not so to take all from him as a Father Let this great advocate who pleads I suppose without his see uncalled and unhired against the poor Bishops let him freely declare next bout to all the world whether if he had been a Bishop which honor few men are of the Heresie to think he would have refused being a double-Beneficed and very Conformable man he would have been content that measure should have been offered to him which he thus justifies and triumphs in as offered to his Fathers the Bishops men much his betters every way some of whose shooe-latchets he was not worthy to unloose unlesse he have more worth in him than ever yet he discovered to the world whose agitations have yet been as various as many and as importune to and fro as any Presbyters in England Besides that he endeavours for ever to obstruct any generous return of this Nation to put the Church and Clergy into any Estate of Order Honor and Estate worthy of such Learned and Worthy men as might be bred up if such publick incouragements were not wanting I do in no sort doubt of his Tenderness Touchiness and Impatience if the case had been his own I find how he is netled for a little portion of Bishops Lands to which he pretends a right of purchase I have ever heard this character of this plaintiff that he was ad rem satis intentus nor was he among Pharaohs lean Kine that needed to have fed upon the fatter Quo teneam modo How partial are the principles of some Protestant Preachers of some Quodlibetick Presbyters They may well be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who are so far 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 self-tormenting who are self-condemned who seek to ingratiate and corroborate with men of power by an absolute commending of that for lawful just and good without any peradventure which hath alwaies been a case scarce disputable among Learned and Godly men in all Ages so much did they ever not onely incline but generally resolve the case quite contrary to this great Casuist However it is the safer side no doubt not to alienate any Church-lands and in dubious cases a Divine yea a Doctor and a great one that undertakes to be Confessor and Absolver to Parl. and people he should rather advise in tutiorem partem to the safer side than adventure upon or incourage to that which hath any thing dubious or dangerous in it as to sin yea and a sin of an high nature as Sacriledg is esteemed by all Nations by all Christians that have not buried Christianity and Christ in the Mount Calvary of covetous hearts the Golgotha's or places of skulls where no Helena will ever look for the Crosse of Christ in hope to find it They are far enough from being true Christians who dare Crucifie the Pastors Preachers and Ministers of this Crucified Savour O how glorious and gracious an example to all sorts of men in the present and after-Ages hath this Rabbi this great Master now in our Israel given Prima est haec ultio quod se judice c. May not all men hereafter venture in any case never so doubted to follow this one Doctors opinion if any way plausible or probable against the generall streame and current of all Learned men A latitude which of late I find some Jesuits have allowed in cases of conscience Truly it might seem veniall for secular and military men in cases of civil urgencies and as they imagined necessities of self preservation to seize upon the shew bread the Priests portion and Goliahs sword too as David and his men did by the good leave of the Priests but it had become a Clergy-man and an eminent one who still ownes I think his Academick degrees as deserved and his Ecclesiastick Orders which sure were from
these now desire to appear as Goliah in their compleat Armour boldly braving the whole Church of England and this not onely as great Scripturists but great Artists too yea they would seem great Statists Pragmaticks and Politicians They pretend to be curious inspectors beyond all men into all religious mysteries yea rigid and exact Anatomizers of all both Modern and Ancient Churches subtile Insinuators into all Interests and grand Modellers of all Polities both Civil and Ecclesiasticall aiming no doubt in time to erect some Saintly soverainty for their party in England though their former ambitious attempts have every where miscarried as in severall parts of Germany so of late in Ireland These Anti-paedo-baptists who are such hard-hearted Fathers such unkind and unchristian Parents to their Children as to deny them those distinctions and indulgences of divine grace and favour which God of old granted to the Jewish infants and which the Catholick Christian Churches in all ages have thankfully accepted and faithfully applied to the Children of professed believers as a priviledge and donation renewed to them by Christ and confirmed by the Apostles these Birds glorying like Ostriches in their negligence toward their young ones are risen up to be not onely nimble Disputants against children but valiant combatants against men For they find after the way of the world more is got in one year by the terrour of armes than in ten yeares by the shew of arguments And although the pretended principle at first of that party was to go with soft feet as Lions and Cats do hiding and preserving their Clawes till there is use of them crying up Peace and crying down all Warre and sword-work upon Christs or the Gospels score yet the latter sort of their Disciples being in hopes to become more regnant and triumphant have interpreted the meaning of their Grandsires to be onely in prudence and caution not in piety and conscience that fighting was onely forbidden them when they had cause to despair of getting the better or just fear to be worsted but if Providence gives them honest hopes and advantages by the arm of flesh and the sword of Steel to set up the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and his spirit they are ready with S. Peter not onely to fight for Christ but to cut off Malchus his eare yea and his head too if they find any Christian Prince or Prelate Magistrate or Minister stand in their way or if he seemeth to fight against that Anti-infantall Christ which they say is so predominant in them that he ought by their assistance to reform and rule all the Christian world first beginning to destroy the Baptismall rights of Christians Infants and then to go on to invade the rights of their parents both Civil and Ecclesiasticall The ancient Church as in England so every where adored a Saviour who invited infants to him and blessed them These men set up a Christ who will not endure the Infants of his Church and people to come neer him or have any relation to him as Lambs of the flock to that great Shepherd Thus the Papists on the one side agitate an endlesse controversie with this Church of England and all Reformed Churches touching the Lords Supper First in not restoring the Cup to Lay-men agreeable to Christs institution and intention which was best declared by the practise of the Apostles and the Catholick Church after them for a thousand years next in their stating precisely and explicitely as matter of faith under a grievous curse and Anathema the manner of Christs presence in that Sacrament which as we confesse to be very mysterious adorable and ineffable yet most reall true and effectuall to a worthy Receiver according to the proper capacity of Faith receiving its object so we conclude that it is not in that grosse and contradictive manner which they have lately invented and imposed upon the Churches credulity by way of Transubstantiatings which is a strange nulling of the substance nature of the signes Bread and Wine owned as such by the Apostle after consecration and inducing the intire substance of Christs Body and Blood under every crum and drop of those accidents or shadows which seem still to be Bread and Wine to the four Senses And this must be first done even then when Christ was yet at table with the Disciples and had not yet suffered so that they corporally eat of Christs Body made of the Bread when he gave them the Bread and was at once in their eyes and between their teeth Which strange and unheard-of manner of super-omnipotent transmuting or transposing or annihilating of Substances the Papists owe more to the wit and subtilties of some Schoolmen of later ages who scorned to seem ignorant of any thing or to be posed in any Christian mystery than either to the verdict of their senses to the principles of true Philosophy to the grounds of sound Reason to the Analogy or tenour of Scriptures in parallel Mysteries or Sacraments or last of all to the Testimony of the Primitive Fathers and ancient Churches as hath been amply and unanswerably proved by many Reformed Divines at home and abroad Who though they spake very high things of this blessed Sacrament as to its holy use end and relation to the Lord Jesus yet they thought it enough for Christians to believe adore and admire the invisible mysticall and spirituall yet reall presence of Christ in it for truly and fully present they ever believed him to be though they confessed themselves ignorant how and so were both humbly and modestly silent of the manner of his presence In which bounds if the later Church of Rome could have contained it self I believe much trouble and misery much blood-shed and persecution had been saved in these Western Churches which are now divided and destroyed upon no point more than this of the Lords Supper which was the greatest Symbol of Christians communion with Christ and one another till the Papall arts and policies did so maim and mishape that blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper as to make it a ground of everlasting contention On the other side the peevish and petulant Anabaptists who for many years past almost since the first day-spring of the Reformation visited these Western Churches have by the pens and tongues the writings and preachings of many learned and godly men been brayed in the mortar of Scripture-testimonies Ecclesiastick practise Catholick custome and tradition yet wil not their folly depart from them These I say have heretofore in Transilvania Westphalia and many parts of Germany and the adjacent Countreys and of late in England since it became Africa Septentrionalis the Northern Africa full of Serpents and fruitfull in Monsters with greater boldnesse and freedome than they ever enjoyed under any Christian Magistrate or in any Reformed Church sharply contested against the other great Sacrament of Baptisme so far as it was in the Church of England and ever hath been in all ages and
such Those are of an other sphere and of other principles which I neither censure nor it may be understand I quarrell with no particular mens persons I encounter onely that colluvies of factions parties and novel principles which like the sewers collected from many sinks and kennells have met together to besmeare or over-beare the Church of England I despise no mans Religion so far as it is Religion deserving that holy name in any Catholick and Christian sense But I abhorre an unreasonable immodest unjust and licentious way in any I esteem and embrace with all Charity whatever of Gods Spirit of Christs Truth of Grace and Vertue of Gifts and Parts of Morall Honesty and Humanity I find in any men of any side But I am too old and serious to be abused with vaporings with affectations with popular pretentions with rude and rash Reformations I am for solid sober orderly humble constitutions or restitutions rather of Order Honor and publick encouragement to Religion the Church and Clergy No man hath justled or offended me in all these turbulent times worth owning nor have I an evil eye or an ill will against any man What I write as to my Ecclesiastick Calling Honor and the Church of Englands common concernments may possibly have something of salt but nothing of gall there may be some corrosive to mortifie and meet with the diseased and proud flesh but no venome to poyson or hurt either the diseased or the whole parts It extremely grieves me to see how far the contagion of Ignorance Impudence Profanenesse Irreligion Faction Division Levity Popularity Disorder and Uncharitablenesse hath spread among some of my brethren of the Ministry and many of my Countrymen without any present advance that I can see or future hopes I say not as to their own Honour or Profit but as to Gods glory or the publick interests of the true Christian and Reformed Religion or the good of mens soules or the improvement of any grace and vertue What any side offers as really good or convenient I allow what they partially cry down and causelesly condemn or change that I defend upon the account of this and all Churches Wisdome Honour and Happinesse If what I have written may do any good to the present or after-Ages I have my designe if not I shall by Gods help hereafter redeem this waste of time and labour by applying to studies more suitable to my Genius Spirit and Age which may more improve those graces which are least in dispute among good Christians yet in this I have not wholly lost my labour because I have hereby further discharged my own soul my conscience and reputation from any approbation of what I judge to be either the sins or imprudencies the wickednesse or weaknesse of this Age in which I do not so much live as dye daily weary that my soul finds so little hope of an happy rest or composure unity or harmony in our Church which I had rather see and enjoy before I dye than to have the greatest preferment in the world I envy no men that have wrapped up their worldly interests in their religious policies and daily gaine by the shrines of godlinesse they have made I do indeed boldly rifle their godly principles and pretentions as to their novelties for I see no reason as yet to yield to any of them no not for an hour though they seem never such pillars while they import as if the Church of England had heretofore consisted of a company of silly people and silly Priests whose either ignorance or superstition or sottishnesse or basenesse had hidden the beauties and blessings of true Religion from all peoples eyes so that neither Bishops nor Presbyters nor Princes nor Parlaments nor Convocations ever till now saw what was fit to know and do in Church-matters which are now to be taught and brought to light by the new methods of Presbytery and Independency or by Anabaptism Quakerism and other rarities of Religion untried and untamed Novelties every way as short of the Piety Prudence Unity and Majesty of the Religion and Church of England heretofore as they are wide of or beyond the true ancient bounds and Catholick grounds of Order Government Unity and due Authority I may adde and of the Blessings or Prosperities internal or external spiritual and temporal which attended Episcopal Order and Paternal Presidency which I profess to value as now it is in its rags and ruines far beyond the others in their silks and sprucenesses Episcopacy is now far from being the object of any sober mens Flattery or Ambition yet I cannot but look upon it with such an eye of pitty and reverence as primitive Christians were wont to do upon their Bishops such as Polycarpus Ignatius Irenaeus Cyprian and other Martyrs when they saw them imprisoned beaten tormented destroyed I know yet I plead for those men and for that cause which was once strong but now is weak was honourable and is now despised was favoured but is now frowned upon by many yea I fear most men of ordinary spirits yet I plead for that reverend Order and those reverend persons who have been made a spectacle to Angels and Men such as to this present hour suffer both hunger and thirst are naked and buffeted having no certain dwelling-place which being reviled do blesse being persecuted have suffered with patience being defamed do intreat and being the Glory of all Churches as to Order Unity and Government in all Ages are now looked upon by many as the filth and off scouring of all things yet am I one of those Angels which attend Lazarus on his Dunghil I have chosen to follow the clear though now more exhausted stream of Antiquity rather than the troubled torrents of any Novelties which may be as short-lived as they have been suddenly started I have looked upon all mens principles and pretensions as to Ecclesiastick affairs with what Candor Equanimity and Sincerity I could If in any thing I was inclinable to be partial it was neither for Presbytery nor Independency I confess which I never was catechized in nor accustomed to nor convinced of as to any such Piety or Policy Wisdom or Worth in them which might make me see cause to desire or esteem them but I was swayed against some things not in the constitution so much as some mens administration of Episcopacy I was originally principled to no small jealousies of Bishops actions when they were in their greatest glory and power nor do I yet think but that some Bishops might have been greater Masters of pious Arts than they have proved yet I find now that in many things people were more afraid than hurt For the main I conclude no Ministers or Governours no Superintendencies or Presbyteries in any Reformed way exceeded the Usefulness Merit and Excellency of our English Bishops and Presbyters nor is any thing as to Church-government comparable to a primitive Episcopacy which includes the just Rights Liberties or