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hand_n	bishop_n	church_n	presbyter_n	4,517	5	10.4419	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A35696	Jus Cæsaris et ecclesiæ vere dictæ or, A treatise wherein independency, presbytery, the power of kings, and of the church, or of the brethren in ecclesiastical concerns, government and discipline of the church : and wherein also the use of liturgies, tolleration, connivence, conventicles or private assemblies, excomminication, election of popes, bishops, priests what and whom are meant by the term church, 18 Matthew are discoursed : and how I Cor. 14. 32. generally misunderstand is rightly expounded : wherein also the popes power over princes, and the liberty of the press, are discoursed / by William Denton ...	Denton, William, 1605-1691.	1681 (1681)	Wing D1066; ESTC R9164	326,898	268

teach his Body the Church all things and should continue with them unto the end of the World § For soon after his Ascention the Apostles together with the rest of the Body being met together in a great Assembly and after they had prayed the place was shaken where they were assembled together and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and great Grace was upon them all 4. Act. 31.32.33 and accordingly the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every Man to profit withal to one the Word of Wisdome to another the Word of Knowledge to another faith c. and all by the same Spirit 1. Cor. 12.7.8 and all these for the edifying of the Body of Christ 4. Eph. 12 For though the Body be one yet hath it many Members and all the Members of that one Body being many are one Body whereof Christ is the head 1. Cor. 12.12 In the visible Government of the Church Christ appointed and instituted a Priesthood in which likewise it is dissimilar to all temporal Governments which quodam sensuis Independent of the Church though touching the application of the Authority to the Person it is elective and depending of the Body of the Church under this Priesthood is comprehended Bishops and Presbiters now what their Authority and Powers are vide their Commission 28. Mat. 19.20 go teach all Nations Baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and loe I am with you always unto the end of the world other Powers besides these and laying on of hands especially coercive I know none derived unto them by any text of Scripture These Bishops these Presbiters these Ministers or Pastors are not Lords and Masters as in the Roman Church but are Servants to the Body of the Church For we preach not our selves but Christ Jesus the Lord and our selves your Servants for Jesus sake 2. Cor. 4.5 and these Authorities are not coercive but are given them to exhort reprove rebuke beseech intreat for Christs sake and by the mercies of God c. 12. Rom. 3. chap. 15.30 1 Thes 4.1 according to the Doctrines Precepts Rules and Commands set down in Scripture which are able to make us wise unto Salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus and which is profitable for Doctrine for reproof for Correction for instruction in righteousness that the Man of God may be perfected throughly furnished to all good works 2 Tim. 3.16.17 These and such like only are all the Powers that belong unto the Priesthood by any Law of God and there is no need of any other for what concerns punishment for Sins or the breach of moral Duties or municipal laws the Body hath Power to make laws and ordain punishments for any of its Members § I know that they have a long time hooked in by Head and shoulders a kind of coercive Power Excommunication by usurping to themselves the Power of Excommunication a thing I must confess that hath made a great noise and buzz in the world but in truth a magnificum nihil a meer ignis fatuus there being no such thing in the whole new Testament as now used and that which Pope and Presbiter would have to be it is as much in the Power of the Laicks against them as in them against the Laicks and most truly in the Body of the Church In the Romish Church the Bishop or his Vicar excommunicateth without the advice or participation of any many times also the Register only and that which is most important by Authority deligated a Clark of the first Tonsure deputed Comissary in some slight Cause doth excommunicate a Priest Yea Leo. 10. in the Council of Lateran in the 11. Session by a perpetual constitution of his hath granted faculty to a secular person to excommunicate the very Bishops and that which doth more import Navar saith c. 27 no. 11. that if any man shall obtain an excommunication of some Prelate if the obtainer shall not have an intent that the party be excommunicated he shall not be excommunicated moreover he saith ch 23. num 104. that the excommunication pronounced by the Law it self against him that payeth not a Pension for example sake on the Vigil of the Nativity is not incurred by him that payeth it not no not in many month's and years after if the Creditor thereof would not have it incurred But if on the other side after many Month's or Years he would have it incurred it is reputed to have been incurred from the day of the debt from the Vigil of the Nativity and so is the stile of the Court but the Council of Trent hath now expresly provided otherwise Ses 25. c. 3 forbidding secular Princes that they hinder not Prelates to excommunicate nor command that any excommunication be revoked considering that this is no part of their Office by this you may in little see what a nose of wax is made of excommunication and all this and much more grounded and occasioned from wrong Glosses put upon plain Texts But of this more fully hereafter § Though the Congregational men have not fully modelled out unto us the Platform of their Government and Discipline as the Presbyterians have done yet in general they do affirm Independency and Church-Government that to each gathered Church Christ hath given all Power and Authority requisite unto that Order and Discipline which he hath instituted for them to observe and to execute the same with Commands and Rules as before And negatively that there is not instituted by Christ any person or Church more extensive or Catholick entrusted with Power over other Churches and that each particular Church consists of Officers and Members which Members they call Brethren and the Officers they stile Pastors Teachers Elders and Deacons and that there are no stated Synods in a fixed combination of Churches nor any Synods appointed by Christ in any way of sub-ordination to one another nor no one Church to have Power of Censures but of inspection only over other Churches and Members thereof that Counsel and Advice might mutually be communicated That it was so in the days of the Apostles and continued so for some Generations after every Individual gathered Church every Christian Societie as it is natural to all Societies as well Christian as Civil governing it self by its own Laws and Constitutions whithout being obliged to any other superintendency hapily is so manifest that it would not be gainsaid But when the Church became planted and spread its Branches and took root in divers Nations and whole Common-wealths became Christian and Kings and Queens and other Civil Governments became Nursing-Fathers and Mothers of the Church then of necessity for the quiet state of the whole the case came to be altered it being then impossible that every individual Member or Brother of any Christian Kingdom or Common-wealth should personally meet to make Laws

only the Ministers but the Teachers too as also the Elders and Deacons yea even of the Multitude which are willing to conser their gifts received of God 2 Cor. 4.13 to the common utility of the Church Luke 2.46 47. and c. 4.15 16. c. fol. 47.48 § During the Contest between Adrian the Sixth and the German Princes in Anno 1523. in the case of Luther they thinking it reasonable did signify unto his Holiness from the Dyet at Noremberg that married Priests and Religious persons who returned to the world in case they did commit any wickedness that the Prince or Magistrate in whose Territory they shall offend ought to give them their due chastisement which did not please the Pope and therefore he did reply That it would be against the Liberty of the Church and the Sickle would be put into another mans Field and those men would be censured by the World who were reserved unto Christ For Princes should not presume to believe that they were devolved to their Jurisdiction by their Apostacy nor that they could be punished by them and for their other Offences in regard the Character remaining in them and the Order they are ever under the power of the Church neither can Princes do more than delate them to their Bishops and Superiors that they may chastize them Conc. Trid. 27.28 Thus let Pope and Presbyter go hand in hand as to Spiritual Empire and Dominion Though it be besides my purpose to examine particulars yet in the general I cannot but wonder that so many learned and conscientious persons men of great abilities and good lives should countenance and defend that Church Discipline and Government as it is composed and compounded by Calvin the first Brocher and Hammerer thereof as taught by Christ and his Apostles in the Word of God when no Father ever witnessed no Council ever favoured no Church ever found out or practised it since the days of the Apostles and when the general and successive consent of all succeeding Ages is resolute against it as never expounding Pauls words in favour of it till about this last Century and this in opposition unto and derogation of Episcopal Regiment which on the contrary hath been observed every where for many Ages and Generations throughout the Christian world nemine contradicente except the old Heretick Aerius No Church till Calvins time ever alledging or perceiving the Word of God to be against it for if but any one Church upon the face of the whole earth that hath been governed by Calvins or the Scotch Presbytery or any one Church that hath not been ordered by Episcopal Regiment since the death of the Apostles could possibly have been found out no doubt but that we should long since have heard of it with our ears and seen it with our eyes in their Writings for that the Favourers and Abettors thereof have wanted neither abilities industry nor stomack neither to make it known Besides to me it seems strangely improbable I might say impossible that the Church of Christ should never know what belonged to the Government of her self till of late and that the Son of God should be spoiled of half his Kingdom by his own Servants Citizens nay Martyrs for 1500 years together without remorse or remembrance of any one man that so great injury was offered him and without one Champion to throw out his Gauntlet in the demand and challenge of his right Moreover how is it possible that all the Churches in the world should with one consent immediately on the Apostles deaths reject that form of governing the Church according to the Geneva cut which they would fain perswade you to believe was setled and approved by the Apostles and embrace a new and strange kind of Government Episcopal without Precept or Precedent for their so doing for my part I think it much more safe prudent and reasonable to esteem this a new device of Calvins a Chintera of his own brain set up to serve his own ends and to introduce his own Domination than to proclaim so many Apostolick men and antient learned Fathers to be manifest despisers of Episcopal Discipline and voluntary Supporters if not Inventers of Antichrists Pride and Tyranny § I find four Priviledges extraordinary given by Christ to the Apostolic Function requisite for the first founding of the Church What Privileges peculiar to the Apostles which died with them 1. Their Vocation immediate from Christ not from Men nor by Men Gal. 2.12 and their immediate instruction in the mystery of Christ by Christ himself 2. Their Commission extending over all the Earth without limitation to any place 3. Their direction infallible the Holy Ghost guiding them whether they wrote or spake This Office by consent of all Divines begun and ended in their persons to whom at first it was committed And except that Man of sin that hath entred by intrusion and violence into the Prerogatives royal of Christ no man would dare to arrogate the Privileges of this Calling He indeed challengeth as in the right of Peter universal power over the whole Church on earth He assumeth and appropriateth to himself glory of Miracles but all lying in form or end and if we were so mad as to believe infallible assistance of the Spirit in all things that he shall sententiously deliver to the Church out of his Chair of Pestilence Sapientum octavus Apostolorum 41. 4. Their power wonderful as well to convert and confirm Believers as to chastize and revenge Disobeyers whereby they did not only speak with tongues cure diseases work miracles know secrets understand all wisdom but gave the Holy Ghost to others that they might do the like and that they might store the whol world out of hand with meet Pastors and Teachers All which were given to their individual persons and were thought requisite by that wisdom which is above for the first spreading of the Faith and planting of Churches amongst Jews and Gentiles that all Nations might be converted unto Christ by the sight of their Miracles and directed by the truth of their Doctrine § But although all these died with their persons But and what delegated to their Successors to remain for ever yet are there other three and some make four points of Apostolic delegation which have and must have their permanency and perpetuity in the Church of Christ the better to maintain and propagate the Church once setled and Faith once preached As 1. Dispensing the Word 2. Administring the Sacraments 3. Imposing of hands 4. Guiding the Keys to shut or open the Kingdom of Heaven These especially the three first parts of the Apostolic Function are not decayed and cannot be wanted in the Church of God and are now seated in our Bishops and Presbyters by Apostolic successive delegation The first Two by reason they are the ordinary means and instruments by which the Spirit of God worketh each mans salvation must be general to all Pastors and Presbyters the

an Unity of Discipline or Coactive Laws full power of Jurisdiction or Independant Judicature is not seated in any one Church or Person Pope or other to whom all other Churches and Persons must vail Bonnet and submit but the same power is in each of those Churches and this they maintain against the Romanists the English Priests and Jesuits who do not only hold this Unity of Independent Judicature to be necessary to the Constitution of the Visible Catholick Church but that of necessity it must be radically in one person to wit the Pope on whom as upon the Head and Fountain the unity of the Holy Catholick visible Church doth depend and for this reason they put his Holiness into the definition of the Holy Catholick Church and contrary to this the Protestant Divines do maintain That the Church of England and all other National Churches have a Discipline of Government and Judicature within themselves Independent of any other Person Church or Power And this is the Drift and Scope both of Bishop Bilson Dr. Jackson and others in their several Treatises § That which P. N. contends for in the Congregational termed also the Independant way is this viz. That those who are called out of the World by the Ministry of the Gospel have power given them by Christ being a competent Number to gather themselves together in his Name and judge their Warrant to be from 18. Mat. And a Church so gathered becomes a Body or Spiritual Corporation and being joyned thus by mutual Assent of each Person have power one over another as in all Fraternities and liberty from Christ to choose their Officers censure Offenders make Canons and Orders in circumstantials for regulating their Affairs And they further say as the Church-Catholick in general so each parcel of it each particular Church hath Christ also for its Head and in such a union with him and such existence in him even as a Church 1 Thes 11. as that if Persons making up this Body be considered distinctly and as incorporated one with another only and not in their relation to Christ also as one with them and chief in the midst of them 18. Mat. 20. Where two or three are gathered together in my Name there am I in the midst of them they are not a compleat Body or Spiritual Politie And upon this account it is they profess their dependency to be upon Christ alone for the government and manage of this his Kingdom and thus being dependent upon Christ their only Law-giver 4. Ja. 12. Who is the wisdom of the Father and best knoweth how to govern his own House they profess themselves Independent in respect to the Authority or Sovereignty of any other Person Church Synod or meer Ecclesiastical Power whatsoever yet notwithstanding they own and submit to Magistrates in Matters and Causes both Ecclesiastical and Civil as an Ordinance of God and so far as God hath given the Civil Magistrate Authority to command and require But finding in the Books of God that there are some things of so misterious and of so Spiritual a Nature and peculiar to holy Worship that Christ hath reserved the sole Menage thereof to be ordered by himself as expressed in his Word and no otherwise Now although the Magistrate may and ought to require of his Subjects due obedience to such duties yet ought he not by any Laws or Statutes that he shall enact in this kind either add alter or diminish any thing Christ hath established either in the substance or necessary circumstance thereof and if he shall so do the Churches are required of the Lord the one Law giver who is able to save and to destroy 4. James 12. not to be subject 2 Colos 20. And it is a sin for them through fear of Man or the like temptation to observe and keep such Statutes and for this they bring 6. Mich. 16. For the Statutes of Omri are kept and all the works of the House of Ahab and ye walk in their Councils c. And in this sense only they profess themselves subject to the Civil Magistrates supremacy in Ecclesiastical Affairs and go no further and in this also reserve to themselves the sole judgment of what matters are thus meerly spiritual and appertaining to the Worship of God So that if the Christian Magistrate shall out of a good intention appoint Ceremonies or such like helps for the stirring up our dull minds and to make the Worship of God more edifying or shall appoint a day to be observed as sacred in the Remembrance of the Birth or Resurrection of Christ or to the Honour of the blessed Virgin or holy Apostles if the Magistrate for better government of the Church establish Arch-bishops Bishops Chancellors c. or any Officers that are not appointed by Christ himself they will by no means submit but choose rather to suffer which they term Passive Obedience Thus far P. N. from his own Mouth and under his own Hand to me verbatim § But those Reverend Authors Bilson and others considering the Civil Magistrate is highly responsable being appointed by the Lord as Custos utriusque tabulae if any matters of impiety in respect of God as well as unrighteousness in respect to Men be permitted or countenanced by him therefore he is to see to it that his People be not seduced into Errors Heresies or hurtful Opinions tending to prophaness and disloyalty And God having trusted him with Authority in these things it must of necessity also belong to him to judge what Crimes fall within his Province and Cognizance and accordingly to apply himself as the Minister of God for incouragement to those that are good and to execute wrath upon them that do evil And not to be looked upon as only a by-stander Impedimenta removere as P. N. would have him or to execute only what the Ecclesiasticks have decreed by their Censures or in their Synodals as some others though the Name of Independent was not then in common use § Others as Mr. John Robinson in his Apology in Justification of the same Tenets endeavours to prove the same averring That by Intendment of the Scriptures speaking definitely of visible Ministerial Churches no other is to be understood ordinarily at least than one Congregation met together in one place in such competent numbers as that they may all hear and understand one another 18. Mat. 17 20. If he neglect to hear them tell it unto the Church for where two or three are gathered together in my Name there am I in the midst of them And when you are gathered together and my Spirit with the power of the Lord Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 5.4 All that believed were together and had all things common 2. Acts 44. And they were all with one accord in Solomons Porch 5. Acts 12. Then the Twelve called the Multitude of the Disciples unto them c. and the saying pleased the whole Multitude 6. Acts 2 5. When ye come together therefore into

other Two according to common acceptation rather respect the governing and cleansing of Christs Church and therefore in the opinion of some no reason they should be committed to the power of every Presbyter as the Word and Sacraments are as Independents and Presbyters would have it For as there can be no order but confusion in a Common-wealth where every man ruleth so would there be no peace but confusion in the Church of Christ if every Presbyter might impose hands and use the Keys at his pleasure Though the Presbyter of each Church had charge of the Word and Sacraments even in the Apostles times yet might they not impose hands nor use the Keys without the Apostles or such as the Apostles departing or dying left to be their Substitutes and Successors in the Churches which they had planted At Samaria Philip preached and baptized 8 Acts 5.12 and albeit he dispensed the Word and Sacraments yet could he not impose hands on them but Peter and John came from Hierusalem and laid their hands on them and so they received the Holy Ghost 8. Acts 14.17 The Churches of Lystra 14. Acts 20. Iconium and Antioch were planted before yet were Paul and Barnabas forced at their return to increase the number of Presbyters in each of those places by Imposition of their hands v. 23. The Churches of Ephesus and Crete were erected by Paul and had their Presbyters yet could they not create others but Timothy and Titus were left there to impose hands and ordain Elders in every City as occasion required Tim. 1.5 Tit. 1.5 § Having thus briefly seen what Powers Christ left unto his Ministers to continue in the Church let us now consider to whom he committed them To whom were committed the Powers Christ left to continue in the Church I find several persons under several Names and Titles to whom these powers were committed and by them shared as Apostles Prophets Evangelists Teachers Pastors and Deacons § Touching the Apostles whom the Bishops did succeed they probably had a superior Vocation and Jurisdiction above Prophets and Evangelists Pastors Teachers Deacons and the 70 Disciples in the Church of God and had the government and oversight of them which will soon appear If we consider what Paul writeth of himself and unto them directing and appointing what to do and how to be conversant in the Church of God what to refrain in themselves what to rebuke in others In which cases it is not to be said that the Apostle presumed above his calling or had a several Commission distinct from the rest of the Apostles But in his doings and Writings we may perceive the height and strength of Apostolic Authority so guided by the spirit of wisdom that it displeased none in the Church but the proud and contentious troublers of the Church such as drew Disciples after them to reign over their Brethren or seduced the simple to serve their own turns as Diotrephes 3 John 9. These Prerogatives were so proper to the Apostles that no Evangelist nor Prophet in the New Testament came near it § Touching Prophets Prophets they were such as having otherwise learned the Gospel had a special gift of expounding Scriptures bestowed on them from above and of foreshewing things to come of this sort was Agabus and sundry others in Jerusalem Acts 11.27 Acts 21.10 who notwithstanding are not therefore to be reckoned with the Clergy because no mans gifts or qualities can make a Minister of Holy things unless Ordination do give him power And we no where find Prophets to have been made by Ordination but all whom the Church did ordain were to serve either as Presbyters or Deacons § Touching Evangelists they were Presbyters of principal sufficiency Evangelists whom the Apostles sent abroad and used as Agents in Ecclesiastical affairs wheresoever they saw need such were Annanias Acts 9.18 Apollos Acts 18.27 Timothy 2 Tim. 3.15.5.14.28 and others and were thus employed In Trajans days according to Eusebius many of the Apostles Disciples and Scholars to shew their willing minds in execution of that which Christ first of all required at the hands of Men they sold their Possessions gave them to the poor and undertook the labour of * Evangelista 1º qui Evangelium scripsit ut Matcus Luca c. 2º qui annunciat missus vel primo a Christo ante mortem sio 70 discipuli 10 Luke Vel 2º ab Apostolis sic Timotheus dicitur Evangelista a Paulo constitutus Presbyter Episcopus 3º A Christo post resurrectionem sic Annanias Acts 9.18 Evangelists they painfully preached Christ and delivered the Gospel to them who as yet had never heard the Doctrine of Faith § Touching Pastors and Teachers Pastors Teachers they were no other than Presbyters howbeit setled in some certain charge and thereby differing from Evangelists which title the Apostles likewise gave themselves 1 Pet. 1.5 The Elders which are among you I exhort who am also an Elder Albeit that Name was not proper but common unto them with others for of Presbyters some were greater some less in power and that by our Saviours own appointment the greater they which received fulness of spiritual power the less they to whom less was granted § Unto these 2 degrees appointed by Christ the Apostles soon after his Ascension annexed Deacons by Ordination Deacons whose office at first was to distribute the Churches Goods to provide therewith for the Poor and to see that all things of expence might be faithfully disposed of and they were also to attend upon the Presbyters at the time of Divine Service § By all which it appears that Churches Apostolic did know but 3 degrees in the power of Ecclesiastical order 1. Apostles 2. Presbyters 3. Deacons and afterwards instead of Apostles Bishops whether Bishops and Presbyters were two distinct Orders or one and the same I will not here enquire into only this is plain and beyond all contradiction viz. they have one and the same Ordination and Commission and not different and distinct and thereby become more essentially Officers of the Church § Many Errors have been broached and maintained and not without some more than ordinary warmth among the Ecclesiasties meerly through inadvertency through confounding and want of right distinguishing Services Offices and Orders Ecclesiastical the first of which three and in part the second may be executed by the Laity during which execution only they differ from others of the Laity which works and services they also may give over at any time and are no more of the Essence of the Church than Widows or indeed any other Laicks now are or were of old for that they are not admitted into the Church nor tyed by irrevocable Ordination as Bishops Presbyters and Deacons are which makes them to be of the Essence or more especially Officers of the Church These things considered there is no reason we should alter the Apostles Discipline without the Apostles warrant Produce that and we

was his dumb Asse and like Micha's Leuite for a little better reward swallow down theft and Idolatry together § Authority it self hath not so rigorous a sway over the souls of men as to obtrude disliked Religions universally it must perswade as well as compel and convince as well as command or else great alterations cannot easily and suddenly be perfected And in this respect Proclamations of Princes and commanding Edicts mostly prove more efficacious Sermons than those from out of the Pulpits look back on former times and it is evident that before Constantine favoured Religion the Gospel spread but slowly and that not without a wondeful confluence of Heavenly Signs and Miracles wrought by our Saviour and his Disciples all which we may probably conjecture had never been in such plentiful manner manifested to the World had it not been to countervail the enmity and opposition of secular Authority And it may be conjectured nay presumed that had the Caesars heartily by command and example joyned in the propagation of Christs Doctrine more might have been effected towards the propagation of the Gospel by their Cooperation than all Christs Apostles Bishops and other Presbyters did effect by their extraordinary gifts and supernatural endowments we see also that Constantines Conversion was of more moment and did more conduce to the prosperity and propagation of Christianity than all the labours and endeavours of thousands of Preachers and Confessors and Martyrs which before had attempted the same We see Ed. 6. though a Minor in a short time very much dispelled the mists of Popish errors and superstition and when no men were more averse to the truth than the Clergy yet he set up the banner thereof in all his Dominions and redeemed millions of souls from the thraldom of Hell and Rome So Queen Elizabeth though a single woman was a most admirable instrument in the same design and what she did in England other Princes did the like in their Dominions whatsoever was effected by the labour of Ministers after our Saviour the same if not greater matters were sooner expedited by the ordinary Power and Wisdome of Princes when Ministers were generally opposite thereunto And as we see the spiritual power of Princes how strangely prevalent it is for the truth so we see most woful effects thereof against the truth Religion was not sooner reformed by E. 6. than it was deformed again by Q. M. And although many godly Ministers were here then setled as appears by the numerous Martyrs yet all those Ministers could not uphold Religion with all their labours and hands so strongly as Q. M. could subvert it with the least of her Fingers one fierce King of Spain bound himself in a cursed Oath to maintain the Popish Religion and to extirpate all contrary Doctrines out of his confines which taking effect accordingly It demonstrates and confirms that one Kings Enmity or supineness towards Religion is more pernitious than a thousand Ministers zeal is or can be advantagious to the spreading of the Gospel which consequence alone ought to sway and prevail very much with Princes to act very vigorously and very circumspectly in matters of Religion as being most eminently to accompt for it and for that their countenance or discountenance of the true or false Religion of sin or piety is next unto or a kind of an establishing the one or the other by a Law according to that antient received Maxim Regis ad exemplum totus componitur Orbis Therefore the examples of Kings and chief Magistrates being of such wonderful avail and indeed of more consequence than 20000 Pulpits no doubt if they would put in practice and follow the example of King Davids resolution in the 101 Psal to walk in their Houses with a perfect heart to behave themselves wisely in a perfect way to set no wicked thing before their eyes to hate the work of them that turn aside not to know a wicked person to shew no favour to give no countenance no preferment to any wicked person but to let their eyes be upon the faithful of the Land and on them that excel in virtue that they may dwell with them and that they and only they that walk in a perfect way do serve them that they that work deceit should not dwell in their Houses nor they that tell lies tarry in their Sght. No doubt I say but such Princes by such pious practices and examples would by such discountenancing of Sin and Sinners quickly destroy the wicked of the Land and cut off all wicked doers from the City of the Lord and would conduce much even to the making of a high way of holiness throughout the Land that wayfaring Men though Fools might noterre therein For who knoweth not that example doth as certainly kill Souls as Fire and Fagot do bodies and that an exemplary life of Men in Authority doth incline and invite their Subjects and Servants to the same whether it be holy or unholy more much more than Pulpits or any verbal Rhetorick St. Peter did not Preach Judaism but only for fear of offending the Jews did forbear to eat with the Gentiles yet St. Paul reproveth him for it to his face and interpreteth that fact of his as an effective and almost compulsive seducement Cogis Judaizare 2. Gal. 14. Why compellest thou the Gentiles to Judaize so Nehemiah 13. c. v. 17. Contended with the Nobles of Judah saying What evil thing is this that ye do and profane the Sabbath day and yet the Rulers had not sinned by personal commission but by partial Connivence and toleration of the sins of others Besides it is not the Clergy only that is so immediately and so universally responsable for the publick discountenancing of Religion being chiefly responsable for their particular Flocks only for even the abuses of the very Clergy it self will one day be set on the Magistrates account and according to that vast spiritual Power which God hath put into the hands of Princes so will God certainly require at their hands § Preaching is not the only means of Salvation nor Ministers the only Preachers nor Sacraments only efficacious because the Clergy only may administer them Though Pope and Presbyter call themselves only spiritual persons the Church and Lot of Christ and put Princes into the number of Temporal and Laymen and limit them to secular things yet God will not be so mocked they ought to acknowledge the character of Divinity which is so much more fairly stamped on Princes than it is on them and let them not rob Princes of that influence in sacred things which they themselves can never enjoy For as Princes must answer for wilful or negligent permitting a wicked Clergy so must Pope Presbyter and Independent answer for endeavouring to cajol Princes out of their Supream Power on pretence that Gods Message is so delivered to them Let Ministers assist Princes in their Spiritual and Religious Offices as Aaron and Hur did Moses let them not contend

done with what Right or Justice could any succeeding Popes divest them of it After this Henry being Crowned Emperor by Clement the Second Platin● in Vita Clem. 2. he caused the Romans to swear that they would not meddle at all with Elections but by the Emperors Command for that he saw the World was come to that pass that every factious Fellow were he never so base so he were Rich and Potent might corrupt their Voyces and obtain the Popedom by bribes And well he might An. 912. N. 8. for Baronius himself complains in the very preceding Century that most silthy Harlots did bear all the sway at Rome This was the time when Strumpets did thrust their Lovers into the Seat of Peter This was that time when all Canons were put to silence the Pontisical Decrees stisled the antient Traditions proscribed the old Customs sacred Rites and former use of choosing the high Bishop utterly extinguished This was the time to say nothing of Formosus Luit pr. l. ● c. 6. Sergius and others when P. John the Twelfth exceeded in all monstrous Abominations polluted his own Fathers Concubine made his Palace a Stews put out the eyes of his Godfather gelded one of his Cardinals plaid at Dice invocating Jupiter and Venus and drunk a Health to the Devil Notwithstanding all the Right of Elections inherent in Kings and Emperors as Nursing Fathers of the Church and all the Grants conferred on the Emperor by all that did or could pretend to have any power thereof as Pope Senate Clergy People who not and notwithstanding the Oath they had taken not to interpose in the Elections yet ungrateful persidious Gregory the Seventh in a Council holden An. D. 1080. he excluded all Secular Princes whatsoever from Investitures reserving Elections to the Clergy and People only and was seconded by his Successors and Vrban he deposed his own Lord and Sovereign who confirmed him in the Popedom and gave away the Empire to Rodolph a Rebel promised Forgiveness of Sins to all that obeyed him forcing him at last to redeem his Peace and rather lose Investitures than the Empire Thus the Right of Elections which was for many hundreds of Years practised by the Greek Roman and German Emperors and Ratified by Clement the Second by Leo the Eighth by Adrian the First with their several Councils and before them all by Pope Vigilius and before him by the Practice Use and Approbation of the more Antient and Purest Times was now wrested and extorted from him and them by Perjury Cursing and Banning And as they excluded the Emperor reducing Elections to the Clergy and People so afterwards they excluded the People and brought them only to the Clergy after that they excluded the Clergy and Monopolized them only to the Cardinals since which time there have been as monstrous Popes as ever were before To say nothing of the Liberties of the Gallican Church whose Kings had the Choice of Bishops almost 300 years before the Empire came to their hands nor yet with what Artifices Labour and Sweat the Pragmatical Sanction set up by Charles the Seventh was endeavoured to be made null and of no effect by P. Pius the Second in the days of Lewis and by Leo the Tenth in the Reign of Francis the First I cannot but wonder to see how tame Christian Princes have been in suffering themselves to be thus imposed upon Had they had but the Mettle of Lewis the Twelfth the French King who being Excommunicated by Julius the Second stampt his Coyn with Perdam Nomen Babylonis or had they had but the Wisdom and Courage of Hen. 8. of England or had but followed the grave Adviso●s that Theoderick of Niem gave to Rupert King of the Romans they had long since been brought to be like the rest of their Brethren good and honest Prelates faithfully labouring in Gods Vineyard without Usurping the Rights of Princes and of their Fellow-Bishops § This was so palpable and undeniable that in the very Council of Trent it was urged by Thomas Passio a Cannon of Valentia That it was very plain by the Canons that in the Choice of Bishops and Deputations of Priest and Deacons the People of all sorts were present and gave Voice or Approbation of which the Hereticks the Lutherans made most pestiferous Use and therefore moved that the Voyces and Consent of the People in Ordination should be taken away and that the Pontifical also ought to be corrected and those Places expunged which make mention thereof because so long as they continued there the Hereticks would make use of them to prove that the Assistance of the People is necessary and thereby destroy the Church which according to the Romish Court-Dialect is the Pope It was urged moreover that the Places were many that made mention of the People giving their Suffrages and Consent in the Ordination of the Ministers of the Church and that they should be all blotted out of the Pontifical yet he recited but one viz. That where the Bishop at the Ordination of a Priest Pontif. Rom. de Ordinat Presb. viz. 38. Neque fuit frustra a Patribus institutum ut de electione eorum qui ad regimen Altaris adhibendi sunt consulatur etiam populus quia de vita conversatione praesentandi quod nunquam ignoratur à pluribus scitur à paucis necesse est ut facilius ei quis obedientiam exhibeat Ordinato cui assensus praebuerit Ordinando saith It was not without good reason that the Fathers had ordained That the Advice of the People should be taken touching the Elections of those Persons who were to serve at the Altar to the end that having given their Assent to their Ordination they might more readily yield Obedience to those who were so Ordained The Design of this righteous Canon was to have all that made against the Grandeur of his Holiness blotted out of the Pontifical that there might be no Trace or Footsteps of them left remaining for the future For if this and other Rites shall remain the Hereticks will always detract from the Catholick Church as Luther did Pietro Soave Polano 590. Therefore in this as well as in other points Indices expurgatorii are of most excellent Use to serve a Papal Turn Moreover Paulinus saith of himself That having a purpose to apply himself to the Service of God in the Clergy he would for humiliation pass through all Ecclesiastical Degrees Ostiarius Lector Exorcista Acolythus Subdiaconus Diaconus Presbyter Episcopus beginning from the Ostiary but whilst he was thinking to begin being but yet a Laick the Multitude took him by force in Barcelona on Christmas Day carried him before the Bishop and caused him to be Ordained Priest at the first which would not have been done if it had not been the Use in those Times Ibid. 587. Many of the Fathers also of the Council of Trent much desired that a Decree should pass concerning the

then had nothing to do with the Revenues but to govern them and consign them to another In progress of Time the Commendataries not without divers pretences of Honesty and Necessity made use of the Fruits and to enjoy them the longer sought means to hinder the Provision For remedy whereof Order was taken that the Commenda should not last longer than six Months but the Popes by the plenitude of their Power did pass these Limits and commended for a longer time and at length for the Life of the Commendataries giving him power to use the Fruits besides the necessary Charges This good Invention so degenerated was used in the corrupted times for a Cloak of Pluralities observing the words of the Law to give but one Benefice to one Man contrary to the Sence in regard that a Commendatary for Life is the same in reality with the Titular Great Exorbitancies were committed in the number of the Benefices Commended so that after the Lutheran Stirs began and all men demanded Reformation Clement the Seventh in the Year 1534. was not ashamed to commend unto his Nephew Hippolitus Cardinal de Medicis all the Benefices of the World Secular and Regular Dignities and Parsonages simple and with cure being vacant for Six Months to begin from the first day of his possession with power to dispose of and convert to his use all the Fruits This exorbitancy was the height of all which in former times the Court did not use though it gave in Commenda a very great number unto one Therefore the Union formerly invented and used for a good end was now made use of to palliate Plurality This was practised when a Church was destroyed or the Revenues usurped that little which remained together with the Charge being transferred to the next and all made one Benefice the Industry of the Courtier found out that besides these respects Benefices might be united so that by Collation thereof Plurality was wholly covered though in favour of some Cardinal or great Person 30 or 40 in divers places of Christendom were united But an Inconvenience did arise because a number of Benesices did decrease and the favour done to one was afterwards done to many without merit or demand to the great dammage of the Court and Channery And this was remedied with a subtle and witty Invention to unite as many Benesices as pleased the Pope only during the Life of him on whom they were conferred by whose death the Vnion was understood to be dissolved ipso sacte and the Benefices returned to the first state so they shewed the world their excellent Inventions conferring a Benesice which was but one in shew but many indeed Hist. Coun. Fr. P●iro Soave Polano Trattato delle Benesiciare These things thus premised it is obvious to all even to those of the smallest understandings that it hath not been without grand Reason of State-Ecclesiastick that the Clergy have thus Magisterially Monopolized unto themselves the Name and Goods and Estate of the Church All which considered it is demonstrable that the Popish Clergy have under pretence of Piety cleverly cheated their Laity of their proper Goods Rights and Prerogatives for which their so doing they are more properly to be accounted Sacrilegious than H. 8. for retaking Abbeys and other which they called Church-Lands into his own and his Parliaments disposal to whom of just Right they did more properly belong than unto Popes and Popish Clergy I have examined all the most considerable Places or Texts of Scripture 〈…〉 wherein the Word Church is mentioned and I cannot understand that any one of them no not that famous and so much magnified and so much insisted upon place Matth. 18.15 20. whereof by wresting it from its genuine Sence so much ill use hath been made ought to be construed or restrained to the Pope no nor yet unto the Clergy only nay so far from it that most of them do strongly seem to intimate the whole Congregation of Believers distinct though not exclusive the Clergy to be the Church and yet such hath been the Pride and Ambition of Popes as to impose the scornful Name of Laity upon those that are not of the Clergy To use the Terms of Laity and Clergy as Terms distinguishing the Pastors from the Flock is acceptable and useful but when they will make so ill use thereof by affixing and thereby appropriating the Title of the Church and power thereof to themselves only that certainly is neither in the Text nor yet in their Commission but is very injurious to the rest of Gods Heritage it being manfest that the Popish Clergy having by Insinuations Tricks and Cheats devested the Church i.e. the Body of the Brethren of their primitive Right and Power it is evident to all the world what abominable abuses they have brought thereby into the Church whereas the Clergy in Apostolical sense are more truly they whom they call the Laity the Word Clerus being observed to be but only once used in the New Testament and there in that very sense and signification 1 Pet. 5.3 Where he admonisheth the Priests neque ut dominantes Cleris sed ut qui sitis exemplaria gregis viz. That they should not be as Lords over Clerum Domini i.e. Gods Heritage not Priests whereby is meant all the faithful flock of Christ as it follows but be examples of the Flock Now having once robb'd them of the Title it was but very convenient and sutable to their ambitious ends and purposes to strip them also of their Power for without peradventure all the Churches Power is vested in and doth of just Right belong to the Body of the Church to the Congregation of the Faithful Moreover in the very Ordination of Priests and Bishops it will be marvellous difficult clearly to prove whether the laying on of the Bishops hands or the lifting up of the hands of the Congregation conferred most for certainly in the most pure times they were jointly used Bellarmine indeed saith that the Holy Scripture doth no where give the Church power over the Pastors much less over the Supreme Pastor But Gerson affirmeth that Christ sent St. Peter to the Church when he said unto him Die Ecclesiae and he was as Learned as Bellarmine and if they cannot agree among themselves what shall their Flocks do or whom shall they believe It is confest that Christ hath given great powers to his Church truly so called and instituted Pastors to feed them with Knowledge and Vnderstanding and they are so well taught that they understand very well that Christ hath no where exempted Bellarmines Supreme Pastor our Supreme Vsurper from the Obedience of his Church but hath subjected him to the Censures of the Church § As to the Text it self Mat. 18.15 16 20. If there were no more in it than this that the Expositors themselves do much disser about the true Sence and Meaning thereof acknowledging it to be very hard to hit by reason that the state of

I abhor the thoughts of it as will appear hereafter there being a Vast difference between such a Tolleration of Idolatry Superstition crying sins and therefore absolutely unlawful and a Remission only of some few severities in some Acts Canons and Injunctions which relate only to Formalities that tho in construction of Law may be exacted yet may be dispensed withal without prejudice to sound Doctrine or good Conversation and without which the Worship of God would be as pure and sincere Indeed all Acts Canons and Injunctions whether they relate unto Uniformity or not ought according to their own Nature to be sincere and free from all Traps and Covert designs to exclude any that Profess the same Faith and Worship tho many cannot perhaps thro meer tenderness of Conscience submit to every thing therein enjoyned In Concerns of this Nature Scripture in a more especial manner ought to be the Rule of Resolutions and that abstractly and purely without mixing and bringing with them Interest Usurpation or Artifices of men else what were it but by Edicts to lay Snares in Mispah and spread Nets upon Tabor to use Laws Menaces and subtleties to keep Gods People from his Court and Sanctuary and Confine them to State-Religion and to Walk after the Mode of the Commands of men Those Non-conformists Non-assenters that have received Order which they could not have had but permissu superiorum by the Licence and under the Authority of the King in our Laws expressed For no Man hath Power to give himself either Orders to be a Priest or Institution to a Pastoral Charge but must depend upon another Power who by Acts Canons and Edicts long since published and extant hath directed the qualifications of the Persons to be Ordained the manner and Form how the Persons who ought to Ordain them c. and they could not be ignorant that the Liturgy and enjoyned Ceremonies were by the Imperative Constitutive Government of this Church and State to be Countenanced and used in publick Churches by the Bishops Presbyters and Pastors either they consulted their Consciences when they entered on the Ministery by taking Holy Orders whether they could Comply and Submit unto the whole Frame of Government and Polity of this Church Constituted by Act of Parliament from whom they were to receive Authority and Licence to Exercise their Function Gifts and Talents or they did not If they did not they are inexcusable for entring on so Sacred a Calling Stamped with an Indelible Character so rashly so unadvisedly without perspect or foresight of Consequences and yet if they were so pur-blind as not to see one step before them yet their neglect herein cannot be Pleaded in their Excuse it being their own Fault in Common Justice no Court will permit any man to take Advantage of his own misdemeanors or failings Besides hath not every Minister that hath receiv'd Pastoral Charge twice or thrice if not oftner witnessed his allowance of all and singular the 39 Articles of our Church once at his Ordination before the Bishop then at his Institution into his Benefice before his Ordinary and both these by Subscription under his own hand and afterwards upon his Induction before his own Flock and that by verbal Approbation he hath not only acknowledged in the Church the Power of Ordaining Rites and Ceremonies 20 Articles But he hath after a sort bound himself openly to rebuke such as willingly and purposely break the Traditions and Ceremonies of the Church as Offenders of the Common Order of the Church and Wounders of the Consciences of the weak Brethren and hurters of the Authority of the Magistrate Artic. 34. and is it not enacted 1º Eliz. c. 2. that they shall be punished pro ut in the Act that shall Preach declare or speak any thing in derogation or depraving our Liturgy c. Are not then such Dissenters obliged both in Conscience and by virtue of their own Voluntary Acts and Subscriptions to be constant to their own Hands and Tongues if they would be accounted Faithful in Gods House as was Moses And is it reasonable then to hearken unto such Pleading against their own Voluntary Acts and Subscriptions their own Hands and Tongues Besides quo jure with what Face or Conscience can they expect Temples maintenance protection and all things requisite for their Ministery from that Law and Government that they will not Protect Countenance nor submit unto § Indeed it seems to me an old piece of Conscientiousness if not Impiety to enter the Holy Ministerial Function to day when they are sure without Conformity to be silenced to morrow Besides it is Nicety and Indiscretion to exact an express Rule of Scripture or Faith for the Cross in Baptism for standing at the Creed Kneeling at the Lords Beard for Habits in Divine Service the usual sear-Crows of scrupulous men In these cases consent of the Church or Tradition may suffice so there be no express Law of Command to the contrary He that exacts in these Points as express Rules of Faith or Warrant of Scripture for his Obedience to Ecclesiastical Government as he would or as every man ought to do for adventuring upon Worshipping of Images Invocation of Saints c. doth make his Brain or Fancy the chief Seat of his Religion which should be seated in the Heart and Intitles God to the Fancies and Chymaeraes of their own Brains Thus to disobey the Church in these Cases wherein it hath Authority to Command Obedience is to disobey those Mandates of God which give the Body of the Church Authority to make Laws to Govern it self by in things indifferent neither expresly Forbidden nor expresly Commanded by the Law of God I know the Apostles Rule is let every man be fully pers●●ded in his own mind 14 Rom. 5. And this full perswasion or assurance of Faith is in the Cases there mentioned necessary because whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin v. 23. This last Maxim is undoubtedly true and the former Precept most exactly to be observed in such Causes as the Apostle there speaks of that is where the positive Practise unless our Warrant be Authentick in it self and evident to us is very dangerous or deadly whereas on the contrary the forbearance of such Practise is either safe or not prejudicial to our Souls but to our Bodies only or State temporal such Ceremonies as be neither against Faith nor adverse to good manners in the Judgment of St. Austin ep 11.8 go for indifferent and may be Born in Christian Unity without Offence or Confusion If God hath left things indifferent what Authority can make them necessary Let them be so still and their nature not changed by any Injunction and Unity will necessarily ensue Quodam modo it may be true that in Ordination there is something which they receive thereby from God Independent of the King or any Civil Power viz. Authority to T●●ch Baptize and Administer Sacraments by Virtue of Ordination And ●● is as true that