Leprosie Numb 17.10 11. King Vzziah again on the other side casting off the Authority of the Priests usurps their office and he is also punished by the same hand with Leprosie 2 Chron. 26 16. Now then whilst among Christians both these offences are committed shall we wonder if those of both the extreams be avenged with a spiritual Leprosie and other plagues Would to God the Roman Aaron with his Miriam his Regulars would confess their errour and render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's contenting himself with that which is allotted to him the spiritual charge and care of Christ's Flock John 21.15 But behold in Aaron and Miriam some hopes of pardon Numb 12.15 which comfort we finde not for the Imperial-Papacy for it is written The Leprosie cleaved unto Vzziah the King unto the day of his death 2 Chron. 26.16 I would therefore they would make haste to get them out of the Church v. 15. i. e. to restore the power of the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven which is given to the Church from above but by the corruption of men and the policy of the Devil now taken away from it Verily 't is high time to repent and repair the impaired Order of the Church 3. I pass on to Discipline as the Mean Ligament and Bond ordained from heaven to keep the Church in Unity and Order Christ calls it Salt Mark 9.50 because as salt resists putrefaction and makes food savoury and wholsome so the Discipline of manners heals corrupt manners and makes us careful to keep our selves within the bounds of our duty and therein to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling It was not without cause that our Lord said Every man shall be seasoned with salt and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt v. 49. and it must of necessity be understood of the Discipline to be extended to every man which offers himself up a sacrifice unto God For the command of God is strict Lev. 2.13 Whatsoever thou offerest to the Lord thou shalt season with salt Thou shalt not with-hold the salt of the Covenant of thy God from thy gift in every offering thou shalt offer salt I would those Imperial Papists which would have their Churches to be without all Discipline and their sacrifices themselves without all salt would seriously consider how in despight of God exempting themselves from all Discipline they affect a most dangerous licentiousness of spirit But who shall administer this Discipline Who shall apply this Salt to the Sacrifices of God to sanctifie all souls to God Christ makes the answer to his Apostles You are the salt of the earth Matth. 5.13 They are then to be the Pastors of the Church the Successors to the Apostles in their Office They therefore that wrest out of their hands the Church Discipline would have them to be salt without all savour What is it to deceive a man's self if this be not it To have food sweet rather then wholesome After Christ had said Ye are the salt of the earth he addes immediately but if salt shall be as if were not rendred insipid or lose its savour wherewith shall it be seasoned it is henceforth good for nothing but to be cast away to be trodden under foot Consider I pray which of you would have your Salt your Apostles to be without salt such as yet you do what in you lies to make them to be in the sight of God O how deserving these things be of our utmost consideration But granting the necessity of Discipline in the Church of what kinde would we have it I answer Such as Christ instituted and the Apostles observed Watchful strict and severe wholly spiritual and for edification Watchful to be extended to all that are exorbitant though yet according to the degree of the offence Mat. 18.15 Severe to be exercised without respect of persons even them that are dearest to us or them which are the principal members of the Church and seem to be most necessary Concerning which very remarkable is the Order which Christ gives that no man is to be spared which gives a just cause of offence If any shall be to thee as thy right hand saith he to the Church directing and governing all thy actions viz. the Presbyter himself or Bishop or Pope or as thy foot bearing thee up as the Magistrate and those in Power or as thy Eye giving thee light as all the sublime Doctors whosoever cut off both those and pull out this saith he for it is better for thee maimed lame and with one eye to be preserved unto life then to perish with all thy members full and entire v. 8 9. It is better then that by the vigour and strictness of Discipline the Church preserve it self from scandals should be small obscure and lame than tolerating scandals and enormities to advance her self to never so much largeness wealth honour and glistering pomp in the world Finally the Discipline of the Church ought to be proportioned to the Kingdom of Christ which is altogether spiritual and therefore revilings banishments pecuniary mulcts prisons stocks gibbets or capital punishments which are the kindes of Civil punishment are not the weapons of our warfare but admonitions shame terrour and last of all delivering up to the Divine judgement and to Satan the Executioner thereof Yet all these things not without an holy designe viz. That others in the Church may fear 1 Tim. 5.20 and they themselves which offend may be snatched with fear out of the flames of sin and death Jude v. 23. It remains only that and how the body of the Church being well united well ordered and well knit together with the bands of reverence must over and above this be all filled with the Spirit of Christ This is yet a further matter and differing from the former For any Philosophical Colledge or Secular Commonwealth the Lacedemonian or some other yea and Ants and Bees too and the Synagogue of the Pharisees may be a company well united and well ordered and knit together and yet not be the body of Christ the Church being destitute of his Spirit For if any have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Rom. 8.9 What then is the Spirit of Christ Even the Spirit of the life of God quickning them that are dead in Adam 1 Cor. 15.45 i. e. turning to God them which are turned from God and them which are transgressors of the Law to be obedient to the Law and they that are fierce to be milde humble patient in a word making men new brought off from Satan the world and the flesh and offering themselves up to God alone to do and suffer all his Will This verily is the meaning of that which Christ speaketh If any man will come after me he must deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me Matth. 16.24 and whoever cannot or will not do so he denies that he can be his Disciple Luke 14.26.32 Because
this Bishop presents us with a refracted moderate godly Episcopacy wherein we have a Bishop 1. A degree for order not of order 2. For labour not secular Dignity Dominion Domination 3. Having no more power but what is freely delegated and devolved on him by the election and consent of the Ministers not some but all concerned 4. Performing Ordination ordinarily in a general Synod and Jurisdiction in an Ecclesiastical Senate to which he himself is subject 5. Not countenancing male-administration by admitting any unworthy person to Orders or the Lords Supper 6. Without the leaven of Arminianism page 52 7. Promoting the vigilancy of Pastors in the exercise of Discipline 8. Not imposing snares on the Conscience by the made-Religion of Romish Liturgie or Ceremonies made necessary Exhort page 28 29. 9. Not taking the wicked by the hand nor giving life to looseness to bandy against a real Reformation but of vehement goodwill and zeal for the power of godliness Would the Lord bless us with such a Bishop we would not contend whether Bishop or no Bishop whether by election only or by imposition of hands also whether the rite be essential and constitutive or consecutive and declarative only of Ordination whether the consignation should be by the hands of one in the name of the rest they being acknowledged to ordain Actu Potestate or by the hands of all the Session whether the prudentially invested Bishop be temporary or perpetual whether Ordination be an act of simple Office or of Jurisdiction it being acknowledged that ad ordinem non gradum spectat ordinare and who shall live when the Lord works this great work for us But Reader I will not wrong thee by withholding this Legacy much longer from thee onely give thee an account of my purpose in preparing this book for thee and I assure thee and all the world that my design of making this book speak English is not to carry on any design to smooth or please any party but to advance the common interest of Christians in promoting the union of the Churches all but one which this discourse shews how it may be rendred practicable if men would a little unhusk themselves of their own singularities divest themselves of those prejudices they have entertained and minde the things that tend to peace and edification The first motion to the said translation was from a Reverend Brother whose travels in the work of Pacification the following ages will more gratefully acknowledge then the present The Translator thinks himself sufficiently rewarded with thine and his own edification in the assured knowledge of some momentous matters which are herein contained and communicated which are as followeth 1. That there have been and are some in the world that do evince to all men that the Gospel is not a Fable but that the truths thereof do make real impressions and work strange changes upon the mindes and conversations of men and that the Discipline of the Lord Jesus where but so much of it is practiced as is owned by all Christians hath that majestie and power with it that it needs not the whole secular arm to uphold it nor fears the same power though it be against it for the Church had never better Pastors and Government then in Persecution nor ever thrives better then when its Pastors do wholly attend their flocks and retrench themselves from Secularities and Courtly concernments to minde the good of souls the rebuking and suppressing of wickedness Heresie Errors Schisms advancing Piety and Godliness in the strict observation of the Lords-Day expressing more zeal against the Prophaners of the Lords name and those that live so unlike Christians in the world I am but an obscure person in the world I dare presume to say that this way to prosperity and establishment will never fail but I do verily believe that there are not greater enemies in the world to Episcopacy then some Bishops and that the ready way to throw it down is to set themselves up with the premunire of their Jus Divinum and Secular Domination 2. That it is possible to maintain Order and Decency in the Church and disparity among Ministers without a rigorous imposing of Ceremonies and Forms or advancing Bishops into Superior Order above Presbyters Let but Ceremonies keep their proper place and station and be looked upon as things indifferent and the use of them left free to Christians we need have no more contest about them If it appear by experience in them that use them that they do really tend to Edification and Charity as they must or else they are nullities and mockeries the greatest part I believe of Ministers and Christians in England will take them up nor yet are we sure that even in Heaven we shall be all of one size or posture if there be such excellency significancy and teachableness in them and yet no Superstition Let them stand a while without the bolster of penal Statutes and let us see what ground they get For if this were done that Ministers might use them or not as they finde them most convenient in times and places possibly many if not all Ministers might sometime use them For suppose that a Minister were to preach at the Court some Cathedral or Oratory that were trained up to these things prudence would direct him upon such an occasion and for that instant to do many things which he doth not do in his own or in an ordinary Congregation as in Vniversity he would use an hood which it were ridiculous for him to do at home So if a Bishop were to preach in an ordinary particular Congregation or charge where the people were wholly strangers to the usages or forms of the Court Colledge or Cathedral if he came in the ordinary garb of the Minister of the place and preached in the ordinary mode of a countrey Minister I believe it would get him more reverence and esteem in the hearts of the people and tend more to unity and edification then if he should come in his Pontifical formal Procession with a pompous train of attendants For the Apostle became a Jew to them that were Jews that he might gain the Jews and a Gentile to them that were Gentiles c. that is in indifferent things for we abhor to think that he would transform himself into more Religions in any respect whatsoever To this purpose Augustine tells us That he knew no better course for a serious prudent Christian to take in matters of Ceremonies or Custom then to follow the example of the Church where he is for whatsoever is there observed neither against faith nor manners is a matter of it self indifferent and to be observed according to the custom of those with whom we live This was Ambroses counsel I think to Monica Augustines Mother When I am at Rome saith he I fast on the Sabbath day but at Millain I do not so do you likewise when you come to any Church observe its
drawing about some bush-wood From this their dwelling in such lurking places they were afterward in a scoff called Jamnici or Cavers 58. Moreover these Brethren made a certain order among themselves that the Seniors should be chosen by votes and have the ordering of affairs allotted to them and the rest promise to be ordered by them then with the advice and counsel of these the chief of them which were of the dispersion through Bohemia and Moravia being called they held Synods in those mountains and made certain decrees viz. How they should carry it among themselves how towards others friends and foes also Kings and Magistrates and the like often setting apart times of praying and fasting among themselves with the dispersed and consulting out of the word of God about those things which were needful for a reformation of life and Doctrine 59. Their cheif care was for Pastors of souls where they should procure them when they which they now had were deceased that to expect till some of the Roman Ordination should out of love to the truth come over to them was a matter of uncertain hope And they remembred that Rokyzan did often affirm professedly that all things must be reformed to the very foundations that therefore Ordination was to be set on foot at home by that power which Christ hath given to his Church That while they had some ordained among them they should ordain others and they again others still to succeed them and their desires inclined much this way as also their judgements But there was one thing which did strike their hearts with some fear whether that Ordination would be legitimate enough if a Presbyter ordain a Presbyter without a Bishop and how they should be able to defend such ordination if it should be called in question either amongst others or their own 60. At length after many perplexing thoughts for some years together it was agreed in the year 1467. that the eminentest men out of Bohemia and Moravia of about fifty years old should with many tears and prayers poured out to God resolve to make evidence of the will of God by lot that he would be so pleased to declare whether that which was propounded were acceptable to him and seasonable at that time Then they by votes chose from among them nine men which they judged fit before the rest to take the office of the Ministry upon them and they put into the hand of a child called into the Assembly not knowing what was doing twelve hidden lots or schedules and bid him distribute to these nine nine of them were blancks EST It is he being written upon three only whereupon it might have so faln out that all the nine might have had blancks and this was to be the discovery of the negative will of God but so it came to pass that those three that were written on did alight into the hands of three among them viz. Matthias Kunwaldius a most pious person Thomas Prelaucius a very learned person Elias Krenovius eminent for singular diligence and industry 61. They imbracing these with joy as given to them by a Divine hand began to consult about their confirmation even by a new way of Ordination and they knowing that there was some Waldenses in the Borders of Moravia and Austria that they might consult for satisfaction of the scruples of the consciences of others as well as their own both for the present and future they send unto them Michal Zamberg with two others to acquaint them with what they had done and ask their judgement concerning it They light upon Stephen their Bishop then getting another Bishop and some of the Ministers to be present with him declare unto them their original the Articles of their Doctrine and what horrid things they had undergon in Italy and France They also hearing approving and joying them upon the relation they made of their separation from the Pope and the Calixtines Yea moreover creating them three Bishops by imposition of their hands they conferred on them power to ordain Ministers and sent them away 62. Our Brethren were glad to understand these thlngs and being desirous of Christian Unity they deliberate whether they might not fall in to make one people and one Church with the Waldenses They were very much taken with the purity of their Doctrine and their endeavour of a Christian conversation but it displeased them that they concealed the truth and did not profess it freely but studying to evade persecutions frequented the Churches of the Papists and communicated in their Idolatrous worship It was resolved that they would admonish them of this and some other things therefore sending again fit persoâ—â— they acquaint the Waldenses with these things They testified their good liking of their purpose to come into unity with them giving them to understand that as to the faults they charged upon them they were neither ignorant of them nor did they excuse them but confessed they were departed from the ancient purity of their Fathers and would bethink them of amending They agreed on both parts that upon a certain time they would give one another a meeting to take further order about the business but before that time came the Papists this being divulged began to rage against the good Waldenses Stephen their Superintendent at Vienna suffers burning the rest the most of them getting over to Marchia and from thence were scatterd to Moravia and especially Fulneca 63. And from this transaction of the Brethren of Bohemia with the Waldenses it arose that afterward they were also honoured with the name of Waldenses But they would never own it complaining often publickly in their writings That it was given to them through a mistake And herein they alledge for the cause both Truth and necessity Truth because they took not their Doctrine from them nor were they the Authors that founded that Unity nor yet were they reformed by them but they themselves desired to be reformed of their mischievous errors by them Again it was of Necessity because they thought it prudence not to derive upon themselves but rather to decline the Decrees made published by the Magistrates against the Waldenses yet withal that they received from the Waldenses power of Ordination and thereby external Succession they would never deny although for the present time it was their wisdom to pass over even this in silence 64. But it pleased God that the Brethren in Bohemia should be Fellow-sufferers with the Waldenses in the Austrian Persecution For George the King solemnly calling the Estates into a Convention in the year 1468. enacted a bloody Statute against them That every one of the Nobles in their respective Territories of his Principality or Jurisdiction should do his endeavour to apprehend whom soever they could of the Piccardi and severely punish them upon occasion according to their pleasure By this severity to compel the separation Hereupon there were sore Persecutions until the decease of George on March 22.
a matter of necessity that we must give you a meeting for we must absolutely obviate the various attempts of Satan which with all craftiness they make amongst us to disturb the Church and hinder the progress of the Gospel For there are that neither will in all Articles allow our universally received Doctrine nor willingly will submit to Ecclesiastical Discipline we must therefore have mutual consultation to know how to deal with men of this sort and the Lord give his blessing to us that our meeting may not be in vain c. Thus that excellent a Lasco hoped well but was frustrated for they came together to no purpose both this and some years after all the Antitrinitarian Turn-coats as yet hiding their poyson but always bending another way according to that of our Saviour He which doeth evil hateth the light 99. This good old man a Lasco being taken up into his heavenly Countrey another Synod was convened in the Town of Xians 1560. wherein the haters of Truth and Order being very daringly bold affirmed That the Senior or Superintendent was not to be chosen out of the Clergy but out of the Secular men perswading themselves they could more easily instill their poyson into them They pretended two Reasons 1 That the Pastors had enough to do every one with his flock 2. Lest any thing savouring of Popery be still left among them which were separated from the Papacy The Legates of our Churches which were there Laurentius and Rokita not yet founding the depth of Satan in this matter nevertheless being required their opinion said Our custom anciently carries it an other way affirming also that Order with the Authority of Scripture and Arguments To which the Pastors agreed the Nobles dissented and there was a great stir 100. At last the haters of Order broke out to that height to affirm That there was to be had a more perfect Scriptural 〈◊〉 fâ—â—mation of the Church then that of the Brethren of the Waldenses Arguments therefore were drawn up by our men that this very way of Reformation was such as was settled according to the pattern of the ancient Apostolical Church and that the most famous of the Evangelici did attest it to be such at this day nor was this out Reformation rashly made or by any one man but whatever the grave and serious Counsels of many could finde to be best whatever could be learned from experience what the temper of all times could afford or custom could confirm that onely was agreed upon to be admitted why then should we try new and uncertain experiments since that in our experience now for these forty years we have sufficiently been deluded with c. rather then seen by humble and obedient practice any fruit of the Gospel as if the Gospel lay onely in Temples and lips without reformation of life the onely suitable return for so great a light of Truth So true is the Testimony of Speratus Bishop of Pomefania of holy memory now six years agone deceased wherein he finding things then not much otherwise complains We preach saith he and do not our people hear and believe not Well unless the Evangelici of Polonia knit together on all hands in the bands of order nothing will be of any durable standing for Posterity now Order is that some govern and others obey for constant mutual Edification 101. But still they objected That the Brethren did not open their Churches nor had they any full Communion of Saints but administred the Sacrament to some onely which were of their own way at their Devotion To which answer was made Christ for bad to give holy things to them which are not holy and that Christianity must take its beginning at repentance not at receiving the Sacraments nor is it according to the Institution of Christ to pronounce Absolution save onely to them that repent and believe Both of which viz. Repentance and Faith that they be not superficial and counterfeit there must necessarily be a discovery made by examination had to that purpose in some appointed fit season And inasmuch as to attribute salvifical vertue to the naked Elements by reason of the work done is the Basis of all error in the Papacy that that errour cannot be corrected unless by a certain tryal that not huddled over till the secrets of hearts be disclosed and the newly converted be a long time carefully both informed and examined that Cyril well observed that Christ did not presently commit himself to them which made a profession of their faith in him and that Chrysostome called them abortive Christians that were admitted to the use of the Sacraments before they had been learned and taught to renounce all things forbidden in the Decalogue So that 't is the concern of a true Minister of Christ that he makes not abortive Christians to insist upon the fruits meet for repentance as requisite before admission to the Sacrament and that because there be three parts of the Ministery 1 Doctrine 2. Keys and 3. Sacraments The Sacraments may not be administred save onely to such as unfeignedly embrace sound Doctrine and subject their life and conversation to be tryed by the Laws of Discipline If any man refuse this how is he a part of the flock and before he be a member how can he be joyned or received as such are the Constitutions of Order to be disturbed in favour of such Libertines as exempt themselves from all Law of Order 102. The things at that time more largely discussed are well known yet it seems there was then no such force in them as to make the obstinate to yield Yea the conclusions of that Synod were so drawn up that it was plain to be seen that Politique and Carnal Prudence got the better of Divine and Spiritual wisdom For the body of the Church was not formed as the Apostle would have it Eph. 4.16 that by the inward working power it may encrease unto edification of it self in love But it was with them as the Apostle forewarned ver 14. men being unstable as children tossed and carried about with every wind of Doctrine through Satans long experienced craftiness artificially to deceive This I say was apparently the Frenzy-like Arrians spirit everyday more and more impotently putting forth it self and troubling the faith and tranquility of the Church So that at last the Orthodox were fain of necessity to be very watchful to rid themselves of those unquiet spirits to gather up into a more close body by the yet firmer bands of unity in the Spirit 103. For at length the many Counsels of pious and wise men took place so that the Churches of Polonia the less received th Order of the Brethren of Bohemia they constituting out of their number of their Pastors for their own Churches which were scattered all about the Provinces five Bishops or Presbyters of Cracovia of Sendomiria of Lublin of Russia of Belsa and so many Compresbyters with all the Solemn Rites used
in the day of Christ I commend to you in particular a glittering pearl of Mr Olevian out of the premised Hist 115. The late extream corruption of this generation saith he moveth me and my Colleagues not a little to have some conference with you about the best way of Governing the Church for we would so build that our Fabrick may stand firm unto posterity We see what great differences and how sudden changes are made in those Churches which their Right and Priviledges being taken away are wholly at the devotion of the Civil Polities Unless provision be timely made for the stopping of these evils many of the godly even the greatest part will conclude they have run in vain and so on there many golden sentences following most deserving not only reading but our serious considerations And here even you also may take notice of some excellent pearls worth your observation 1. That in the design which you also now drive whether of Reformation or Confirmation you should be fixed and resolved that what you do may be firm and durable for the generation to come 2. To tremble at that word what differences what sudden changes are made where the Churches are deprived of their Right and Power 3. That unless some timely course be taken to withstand these evils as indeed we did not timely obviate them in Germany the godly will think c. Ah! they do think and feel it and Luther while he was yet living felt it that they that were under the grace of the Gospel were become worse then they that were under the rigour of the Papacy as if the unclean spirit were returned with seven spirits worse then himself c. And how could it be otherwise no bounds of Order and Discipline being set for preservation and the keyes of Christ being more perniciously curtailed then the Eucharist in the Papacy 4. As to which matter we ingeniously acknowledge what God hath conferred upon you and desire still more fully to acknowledge it c. and that in things of such concern counsels are by no means to be precipitated but exquisitely laid together and God from heaven is to be called upon for counsel with greater vehemency then in any other thing that can be named As for that question which is chiefly controverted amongst you concerning the best way and Form of Governing the Church I will say no more having in the Tractate of Independency said what ever I thought could be said in this case for accommodation and peace Only thus much That that golden rule of Christ of a Reformation in Life first rather than in faith and outward Ceremonies John 7. v. 17. is of golden use in this business for that man who-ever he be which seeks not himself and his own Interest but Christ only and in him salvation his own and another's will more easily discern what tends more or less hereunto being taught by that anointing within himself which he hath from the holy Ghost 1 John 7.20 27. But yet I query Whether or no if a Civil Society be well and rightful preserved in one place by Monarchical Government where the people commit their safety to some one person as the ablest and the wisest In another place by Aristocratical Government where the care is committed to some few of their own as able and wise In another by Democratical Government where the people govern themselves by turns Religious Society may not be in like manner so provided for i. e. whether Episcopal Government may not as well be endured where it hath long been as Consistorial where that obtains and Presbyterial or Classical where that is in use It seems probable it may be so for as much as every one of these Governments hath some good in it conducing unto the publick good so it be guarded from abuse v.g. The goodness of Monarchy is an uniting vertue preventing the ruine that may quickly arise from differences by reason of the multitude of counsels The goodness of Democracy is a diffusive vertue suffering no member to be easily overslipt in the dispensation of the common Cause or Interest The goodness of Aristocracy is a collective vertue knitting together Superiours with Inferiours and Inferiours with Superiours and causing many Members to keep themselves under one and one to diffuse himself unto many .. Hence some Nations have pleased themselves with one others with this or that and so it is at this day and they all keep up themselves in their several Forms of Government the one and the other which is an argument that there is in each one of them a proper and peculiar vertue to contain humane Society within its due bounds by the bonds thereof Only indeed through abuse admitted Monarchy easily degenerated into Tyranny Aristocracy into Oligarchy and Democracy into Anarchy which is worse than any Tyranny But againe of all these 3 kinds of Government may there not be a contemperation or temperature which may make for the improving of that which is good in each of them and correcting of that which is evill It may seem possible by the Rule of Christ This doe and leave not the other And that of the Apostle Try all things and hold fast that which is good Viz by holding in each of these Governments that which is excellent that of a threefold good may be made one very good v. g. of Monarchy and Episcopacy the uniting good of Aristocracy and Church-Sâ—nat the Collective vertue of Democracy and Presbitery the diffusive good Of such a kind of temper was the Common-wealth of the Lacedemonians having one King but to whom they put their Ephori as the Overseers of Actions and the power of chusing residing in the Common-people So in the Roman Empire which was of great strength the power and strength was in the peoples hands the counsel in the Senate and the executive part or execution belonged to the two Consuls The like prudent temperation is at this day to be seen in the Venetian Commonwealth and in some Kingdoms especially that of England and Polonia There is a King for Majesty yet therewithal a Senate consisting of the Optimates or the Nobles and there is also the very Commonwealth it self by the Commons their Legates or Representers suffering nothing to be enacted touching themselves without themselves And this course seems to excel all others for stability having remedies alwayes in readiness in reference to all grievances whatsoever Now whether or no we may not see such a temperature also in the Ecclesiastical State under the Apostles when as there were for the management of businesses and deciding of controversies 1. Apostles 2. Seniors 3. The Church Acts 15.22 And whether or no it be any where more evident in our Age then in the Churches of the Bohemian Fraternal Unity under Bishops Consistories Synods I leave it to the Churches to judge It is queried further Whether or no those inconveniences and hazards which have been found in this and the other
and the third Government and the abuses and scandals of each of them hereupon may be taken away I answer Physitians will not think that there be any diseases of the body incurable if there be a skilful Physitian at hand timely to relieve Nature therefore neither let Christians despair as to the diseases of the Church provided only that the counsel of the heavenly Arch-Physitian be hearkned to and taken they advise to care and caution that the disease get not a head by long continuance crying withstand the Beginnings but our High-all-Healer is able to cure even the most inveterate by reducing things to their beginnings Matth. 19.8 by vertue of which Rule Let that be taken away from Episcopacy which was not in the beginning and the Disease is cured But what is that 1. Secular Domination 2. Earthly Riches 3. Pomp of Ceremonies for Christ hath said 1. Kings exercise Lordship c. But you shall not be so Luk. 22.25 2. Possess not you gold nor silver nor money in your purses nor have you two coats Matth. 19.9 As also God forbad earthly Possessions should be assigned to the Priests in the old Testament giving the reason also I will be their portion and inheritance Numb 18.20 Deut. 10.9 18.2 3. Christ also taught them to serve God in Spirit and Truth not in Ceremonies John 4.23 which thing the Apostles very much pressed But they assert themselves in respect of their Wealth and Domination by the Donation of Constantine He adorned the Church with such splendour for the honour of Christ and therein set a good example of holy zeal for other Christian Kings to follow But the answer hereunto is manifold 1. Do they not know can they not tell the story of a voice which as at this time was heard This day is poyson poured out into the Church What-ever any may make of the voice the thing is certain That those endowments being given and accepted beside the Will of God turned unto poyson Let the poyson then be taken out and the Church will be well again 2. Again Grant it were Constantine's pious zeal yet 't is evident that it was not according to knowledge for it was not lawful for him to dispense with the Interdict of God much less ought the Servants of Christ to admit such things against their Lord's Will Naaman the Syrian in pious zeal offered Elizeus money but with better zeal he refused this Lumber Gehezi took it but it turned unto Leprosie upon him 2 Kin. 5. I would the servants not of Elizeus but of Christ would at this time but understand what a foolish choice they have made of an earthly instead of an heavenly inheritance and would begin to think of some course to cleanse the Church of this Leprosie 3. I answer Constantine could not foresee the abuse of this Donation and the mischief that thereby would fall upon the Church Now the whole world sees it and if he were risen again and should see it undoubtedly his desire to restore the Church to her integrity would put him upon it to retract what he gave with a better good will then ever he gave it As haply Moses himself would have broken the Brazen Serpent if he had seen how it would be abused as when he saw the Idolatry of the people he brake the two Tables of the Law written with God's own hand and in as much as Hezekiah coming after him did it piously as it were for him 2 King 18.4 why may not godly Kings at this day piously also retract the liberal donations of their pious Ancestors now perverted by abominable abuses and improve them to better purposes As for the pomp of Church Ceremonies God indeed in the old way of Worship ordained such a thing therein by shaddows to set forth the spiritual mysteries of salvation which Christ at his coming was to disclose but seeing that since the coming of Christ they have been demolished and levelled by so many Apostolical strains as claps of thunder and flashes of lightning directed against them why should we bring them up again still to make use of them Under the Papacy perhaps where the light of the Gospel is once obscured by and in the barbarous generations they may have seemed or seem to be of some use at least with some colourable pretence but in a Reformed Church I beseech you what use can be made of them Those which have been hitherto retained in England under the Reformed Bishops have not the very Pontificians themselves laughed at them unto scorn and derision It is plain to be seen in that Edward Weston's Theater of Life Civil and Sacred Printed at Antwerp 1626. p. 564. c. where having said that the Religion of the Protestants is without all Religion because they have no Sacrifice Priesthood nor Sacred Ceremonies he adds Some Protestants indeed that they may not appear absolutely impious and irreligious use our Missal and Breviary selecting what they please thereof for the Rubrick of their Liturgie and to make the Form of their worship appear the more goodly they have their Canonical persons forsooth and their Arch-DeaconS and so after the mode and custome of the Church of Rome their Caps and Hoods and Holidayes and such like stuff and lumber which they say they found in the Synagogue of Antichrist By which very thing it is apparent that the Religion of the Protestants stands guilty of stealth and robbery by which it first came into the world or if they will not be taken for thieves let them still go for our Apes and Antichrists c. and so he goes on These with all their whole service are derided and scorned not only by ours but also by their own c. at last he set down the judgement of one to this purpose The English seem to have driven the Pope out of their Kingdom in such haste that they compelled him to leave his clothes behinde him which they as fools in a play put on with a kinde of pompous Ceremony of triumph and so lead their Quite O how we are abused by their dallying and colloguing they being Reformed but not to any purpose A goodly Reformation it is that they dare not carry it through It will therefore be a glorious thing for the Reformed Churches to come back to the practise of Christ and his Apostles leaving off the baubles of earthly riches honours and pomp both Ecclesiastical and Civil to be taken up look after and busie themselves about matters of an higher nature Seek the things that are above saith the Apostle where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God Set your affections upon and let your care be for things above not things on the earth for you are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God Col. 3.1 2 3. which if it be enjoyned all Christians much more them which are set next under Christ to be leaders unto others from earth to heaven and to whom the King of
Kings hath said All power is given to me in heaven earth go you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 make all Nations my Disciples Matth. 28. i. e. advance my kingdom both by outward preaching unto all Nations and by the inward power of my Spirit learning of me to live not an earthly but a heavenly life O how invaluable and incomparable would this be if you did but know how much you are advanced above all earthly things but alas the highest of the Bishops at this day stick in the very first rudiments of the Apostles not aspiring unto any degree of high Apostolical perfection What was their first rudeness To dream of Earthly Kingdoms and Thrones with Christ where to sit on the right hand and on the left What their high perfection To count all things here as dung for the excellency of Christ and casting all Worldly Interests behinde them to press forward for the prize of the High Calling Phil. 3. and so to rejoyce in the hope of future glory and glory in Affliction the Cross Martyrdoms c. I would here lay down my Pen but that this swelling excrescence of the Church by tract of time hath gotten such an extreme hard crust upon it that it seems needful to ply it with oft-renewed-mollifying applications Let it be taken therefore how it will I offer in the sight of the Church my desire of things of the better sort Now that which God makes and ordains must needs be better than that which man institutes for the works of God are perfect Deut. 32.4 that which he establishes for ever and the decrees which he makes no man may pass over Psal 148.6 behold then whosoever they be among men which God doth appoint to be guides of others unto heaven all those he absolutely declares in both the Testaments that he would have them altogether free from earthly cares first straitly forbidding his people Israel by Moses to allot to them any inheritance amongst them and then severely charging the Priests themselves that they should not admit of any such terrene possession And Christ did the same for those which he chose for himself to be Messengers to the Gentiles he made leave their Nets Customs and all wayes what ever of getting gain yea and himself also being about to discharge his Commission in reference to mankinde laid aside even his heavenly Riches Honours Thrones to reach that these at least are utterly incompatible and became poor contemptible and low having not upon earth whereon to lay his head Verily it was to be fulfilled which was typified in David who had no hopes to triumph over Goliah till he put off the Royal accoutrements and addressed himself in the habit of a Shepherd and in Gideon who being to discomfite the Midianites was first to dismiss his numerous Armed Forces reserving to himself nothing but his Lamps and Trumpets and then as Gideon said to his company As I do so do ye Judg. 7.17 So Christ bespeaks his I have set you an example that what I do ye may do also John 13.15 Why do we not then imitate him if we would perswade our selves that we are the Sub-Delegates of that Legate from heaven He though they made him an overture of Regal Dignity accepted it not John 6. though they would proclaim him King Luke 19.38 yet he persisted taking to himself no Title but that of Master 22.11 being asked whether he was a King He made answer My Kingdom is not of this World Being assured that there was reserved for him a Royal Throne in Heaven Why not we in like manner having a promise of the same Throne Howbeit not unless we first overcome Apoc. 5.21 Most certain then it is that Episcopal pre-eminence consists not in this to possess vast Demesnes to shine in Gold to be surrounded with a Retinue to be carryed in Coaches or lie on Beds of Doun to be clothed in Scarlet c. but to be deep in inward Piety of the heart and profound in Divine Knowledge with Zeal for the Glory of God and the Salvation of the Church as also of improved experience in the things of God renouncing and abjuring our own private profit these are the things which make up the Pourtraiture or Essence of a true Bishop and his outward Characters are many to be much in Labour and Travel in Watchings in Hunger and Thirst in Fastings and Solicitousness for all the Churches to be weak with them that are weak and to burn when others are offended 2 Cor. 11. and so to bear about in their bodies the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ Gal. 6.17 and when he meets with one sick of the spiritual Palsie to say Silver and Gold I have none but such as I have I give thee in the name of Jesus Christ arise out of the bed of vain and sinful state and walk in the wayes of Christ Acts 3. In a Word not at all to savour Earthly things for he which talks of the earth is earthly John 3.31 but to shew in word and works that he is the Messenger of the Lord from Heaven who gives life to all 1 Cor. 15.45.47 If Bishops and all they that discharge any Embassie for Christ hope to be such verily their worldly additaments earthly dominions and secular honours must be taken away for these are baits which prophane persons swallowing and being caught withal croud themselves into Ecclesiastical preferments shutting and thrusting out their betters For it is vain that Bellarmine saith The Sea of Rome either admits them which are Saints or makes them such It is more truly retorted by another that it either embraceth them that are wicked or makes them such For men cannot reach to such an height but they must be very worldly ambitious subtle to deceive by a thousand tricks more than are good Yea if it be so that haply some of the better sort fly so high yet it is almost impossible but they will be taken wiâ—h a spirit of giddiness by reason of the very heighth of their condition And the same must be said of every Bishops Sea set out with such pomp and riches that these things either are possessed by such as are ambitious covetous idle drones and effeminate or else they soon make them such These sweet poysons the pomps of Riches and Honours can hardly be drunk deeply off by any one and he remain innocent Let no man say within himself the Mendicant condemns them that have riches because he hath none himself for indeed he which is out of the mist can the better see the cloud nor yet need we to be so indigent if modesty and fear of venomous dregs stood not in our way I could tell you the spirit of zeal hath somtime raised up them among us also that by liberal Donation would have setled sufficient large Revenues upon our Church for ever as in Moravia B. B. of Z. in Bohemia Pr. of Rosenberg they were only finding out a way how these Demesnes might with some colour be made over to be possessed by some others so as yet the rents might be paid to the Antistites of the Unity But it was not accepted both because it could hardly be concealed but and if it should have been known it would have provoked envie and because our Ancestors dreaded the not returning footsteps reckoning themselves to be but men and so liable also to abuse this worlds goods but most of all because of the Divine Inhibition and Command God grant the Successors of the Apostles the Spirit of the Apostles that being fully perswaded that there is nothing urged but that which is Apostolical if haply the Church shall think fit otherwise to dispose of her Benefices yet none dare to have a thought of raising tumults or wars upon that account as they Mich. 3.5 or cast off their charge But rather be so much the more instant and cheerful in the work of their Divine Calling in as much as any fight or work is managed with the greater ease when clogs and incumbrances are removed Did not the Apostles of their own accord committing the care of inferiour matters to others Acts 6. chuse to be Dispencers of the Divine Word and not of Tables Let then the followers of the Apostles do the same esteeming it that they are Stewards of those Spiritual Heavenly and Eternal Treasures a thousand times more than if they had the charge of earthly riches Nor doe these things tend thereunto That the faithful Servants of Christ should be defrauded of their Rewards and Honours but that they should learn how to estimate as well their labours as the rewards thereof better then they seem to know how to do it which gaping so greedily after these outward things are carried with a cursed negligence and indifference as to the internal and eternal matters God indeed liberally provided for his Ministers under the old Covenant appointing that the whole people should bring in to them all the First Fruits of their increase and all the Tenths with their Free-will offerings besides even all the best of their Oyles and Wines and Corn as God himself saith Numb 18.12 and yet he commanded them to look after somthing higher saying v. 20. I am thy part and thy possession and commanding the people that they reverence and esteem them as his Angels Mal. 2.7 therefore let all Christian people know that there is due to the Messengers of God maintenance Mat. 10.10 and reward Luke 10.7 and reverence as to the Angels of God yea as to Jesus Christ Gal. 4.14 in whose name and stead they perform the Office of Ambassadors 2 Cor. 5.20 O! how happy the Church would be if we could get back to the times of the Apostles Come Lord Jesus repair us after thy own good pleasure Restore to thy Church the Bands of Unity Restore the beauty of Order Restore the reverence of their Government Restore the fervour of thy Spirit that the Kingdom of God may suffer violence as of old Or if this last age be past cure and incorrigible irreformable take down the stage of the world that we may enter upon that Blessed Kingdom where shall be Unity without Distraction Order without Confusion Love without Intermission and God shall be all in all for ever and ever Amen FINIS