Adeo Argumenta ab absurdo petita ineptos habent exitus said Lactantius truly Now for my History and my proceedings in it that must next be known my business being to make good the matter of Fact that is to say that in all Ages of the Church there hath been an imparity of Ministers that the chief of these Ministers was called the Bishop that this Bishop had the Government of all Presbyters and other Christian people within his Circuit and finally that the powers of Jurisdiction and Ordination were vested in him In which particulars if the Affirmative be maintain'd by sufficient evidence it will be very difficult if not impossible to prove the Negative And for the better making good of the Affirmative I have called in the ancient Writers the holy Fathers of the Church to testifie unto the truth of what is here said either as writing on those Texts of Scripture in which the Institution and Authority the Church in their several times in the Administration and Government whereof they had most of them some special interess Their Testimonies and Authorities I have fully pondered and alledged as fully not misreporting any of them in their words or meaning according to the best of my understanding as knowing well and having seen experience of it that such false shifts are like hot waters which howsoever they may serve for a present pang do in the end destroy the stomach And for those holy and renowned Authors thus by me produced I desire no more but that we yieldas much Authority unto them in Expounding Scripture as we would do to any of the Modern writers on the like occasion and that we would not give less credit to their Affirmations speaking of things that hapned in their own times and were within the compass of their observation than we would do to any honest Country Yeoman speaking his knowledg at the Bar between man and man And finally that in relating such orrurrences of Holy Church as hapned in the times before them we think them worthy of as much belief as we would give to Livy Tacitus or Suetonius reporting the Affairs of Rome from the Records Monuments and Discourses of the former times This is the least we can afford those Reverened Persons whether we find them acting in publick Councils or speaking in their own private and particular Writings and if I gain but this I have gained my purpose I hope to meet with no such Readers as Peter Abeilard of whom Saint Bernard tells us that he used to say Omnes Patres sic ego autem non sic though all the Fathers hold one way he would hold the contrary To such if any such there be I shall give no other answer at this time but what Dr. Saravia gave to Beza in this very case viz. Qui omnem Patribus adimit Authoritatem nullam sibi relinquit that is to say He which takes all Authority from the ancient Fathers will in fine leave none unto himself I should proceed next to the Canonical Ordination of Priests and Deacons the Stewards which the Lord hath set over his Houshold the ordinary Dispensers of Mysteries of Eternal life which like the Angels ascending and de scending upon Jacobs Ladder offer the People Prayers to God and signifie Gods good pleasure and commands to the rest of the People Offices not to be invaded or usurp'd by any who are not lawfully Ordained that is to say who are not inwardly prompted and inclined unto it by the Holy Spirit outwardly set apart and consecrated to Gods publick service by Prayer and imposition of Hands A point so clear as to the Designation of some persons unto sacred Offices that it hath been universally received in all times and Nations The sanctifying of the Tribe of Levi for the service of the Tabernacle amongst the Jews the instituting of so many Colledges of Priests for the service of their several Gods by the ancient Gentiles Acts 13. v. 2. the Separating of Paul and Barnabas to the work of the Ministery in the first dawnings of the Gospel sufficiently evidence this truth And no less clear it is as to the Laying on of Hands in that Sacred action retained since the Apostles times in all Christian Churches at the least deservedly so called And this the Presbyterian-Calvinists saw well enough who though profest Adversaries to all the old Orders of the Church do notwithstanding admit none amongst them to the Ministration of the Word and Sacraments but by the Laying on of the Hands of their Presbyteries But if it be objected that there is no such thing required by the Ordinance of approbation of publick Ministers bearing date March 20. 1653. I answer that that Ordinance relateth not to Ordination but to Approbation and Admission it being supposed that no Man is presented to any Benefice with cure of souls or unto any publick Lecture and being so presented craves to have Admission thereunto who is not first lawfully Ordained That Ordinance was made for no other end but to great Admission to such fit persons as were nominated and presented to them and thereby to supply the place of Institution and Induction which had been formerly required by the Laws of the Land And therefore the said Ordinance declares very well that in such Approbations and Admissions there is nothing sacred no setting apart of any Person to a particular Office in the Ministery that being the sole and proper work of Ordination but only by such trial and approbation to take care that places destitute may be supplyed with able and faithful Preachers throughout the Nation The Question is not then about Ordination or about Laying on of Hands in which all agree but what it is which makes the Ordination lawful whose Hands they are which make it to be held Canonical The Genevians and the rest of Calvins Discipline challenge this power to their Presbyteries a mungrel company not heard of till these latter times consisting of two Lay-elders for each preaching Minister The Lutherans with better reason appropriate it to their Superintendents which in their Churches execute the place of Bishops But all Antiquity Councils Fathers the general usage of the Churches of the East and West with those also of the Aethiopian or Habassine Empire carry it clearly for the Bishop who hath alone the power to Ordain and Consecrate and by the imposition of Hands to set apart some Men to the publick Ministery though he call in some Presbyters as Assistants to him Saint Jerom no great friend to Bishops doth acknowledg this Quid facit Episcopus excepta Ordinatione quod Presbyter non faciat What doth a Bishop saith the Father but what a Presbyter may do also except Ordination And to the disquisition of these Canonical Ordinations I shall next proceed as hath been promised in the Title But I have said so much to that Point in the Course of the History as Part 1. Cap. 2. Num. 11 12. Cap. 4. Num. 2,3 Cap. 5.
the third Council of Carthage I shall bethink my self of an Answer to it But sure I am that in the third Council of Carthage Caesario Attico Coss as it is said to be in all Collections of the Councils were made but 24 Canons as it is in balsamon but five and twenty as in zonaras whereof this is none And no less sure that it is told me by Baronius haud omnes in hac Synodo sanciri that all the Canons attributed to this Council were not made therein Baron Annal. Eccla An. 397. n. 46. nor is it to be found in the Collection of the Canons of the Councils of Carthage either of Zonaras or Balsamon or in the Codex Canonum published by Justellus and therefore in all probability made in none at all Next look we on the other parts of the publick Liturgies for other parts there were besides the ministration of the Sacraments and the daily Service and we shall find as undeniable Authorities for defence of those as any of the former before remembred Of these I shall insist upon no more at this present time than the Form of ordering Bishops Priests and Deacons and that of solemnizing Matrimony to which we shall adjoyn their Form and Rites of Burial and so descend at last to a conclusion And first for that of Ordination whereas the ancient Form thereof had been interrupted and many of the Rulers of the Church had been too sensibly indulgent to their own affections in the dispensing of the same it pleased the Fathers in the fourth Council of Carthage not so much to ordain and constitute new Forms and Ordinances as revive the old A Council of that note and eminance that as the Acts thereof were approved and ratified by Pope Leo the great if that add any thing unto them Binius in titulo Concil To. 1. p. 587. edit Col. Id. Ibid. p. 591. so by the same the following Ages of the Church did use to regulate and dispose the publick Discipline Adeo ut hoc Concilium Ecclesiae disciplinae ad pristinam consuetudinem revocatae quasi promptuarium semper meritoque apud posteros habitum fuit as saith Binius truly Now amongst those they which first lead the way unto all the rest declare the Form and manner to be used in all Ordinations whether of Bishops Priests and Deacons or of inferiour Officers in the Church of Christ And first for Bishops especial care being taken for an inquisition into their Doctrine Life and Conversation Concil Carthag IV. can 1. it is decreed that when a Bishop is to be ordained two other Bishops are to hold the Book of the holy Gospel over his head and whilest one of them doth pronounce the blessing the rest there present lay their hands upon his head Episcopus cum ordinatur Ib. Can. 2. duo Episcopi panant teneant Evangeliorum codicem super caput cervicem or rather verticem ejus uno super eum fundente benedictionem reliqui omnes Episcopi qui adsunt manibus suis caput ejus tangant So the canon goeth And this is still observed in the Church of England save that the laying of the Book on the parties head is turned and as I think with more significancy into the putting of the same into his hand Then for the ordering of the Priest or Presbyter it is thus declared Presbyter cum ordinatur Episcopo eum benedicente manum super caput ejus tenente Ib. Can. 3. etiam omnes Presbyteri qui praesentes sunt manus suas juxta manum Episcopi super caput illius teneant When a Presbyter is to be ordained the Bishop giving the benediction or saying the words of Consecration and holding his hand upon his head all other Presbyters then present are to lay their hands upon his head near the hand of the Bishop And this is also used and required in the Church of England save that more near unto the Rule and prescript of Antiquity three Presbyters at least are to be assistant in laying hands upon the party to be ordained And last of all for that of Deacons it was thus provided solus Episcopus qui eum benedicit manum super caput illius ponat Ibid. Can. 4. that the Bishop only who ordains should lay his hand upon his head The reason of the which is this quia non ad Sacerdotium sed ad ministerium consecratur because he is not consecrated to the Office of Priesthood but to an inferiour ministry in the house of God Nor is the Deacon otherwise ordained than thus in the Church of England Here are the Rites the visible and external signs but where I pray you are the Forms the prescribed words and prayers which are now in use I answer that they are included in those two phrases benedicere and fundere benedictionem to bless to give the benediction or pronounce the blessing For as a Writer of our own very well observes Benedicere hic nibil aliud est quam verba proferre Mason de Minist Angl. l. 2. cap. 17. per quae horum Ordinum potestas traditur To bless saith he or give the benediction is nothing more nor less than to say those words by which the power of Order is conferred on every or either of the parties which receive the same And that the Form of words then used was prescribed and set not left unto the liberty of every Prelate to use what Form of words he pleased so he kept the sense we saw before in that of Zonaras where he affirmed that the Canon formerly remembred about the using prescribed Forms in the Church of God did reach to Ordination also ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã In Ordinations Zonaras in Concil Carth. Can. 117. saith the Scholiast the Bishop or Chief Priest laying his hands on him that came to be ordained was to recite the usual and accustomed Prayers Statas preces exequi solitus est as the Translator of the Scholiast And this may be observed withal that though this Council be of good antiquity as being held An. 398. yet almost all the Acts thereof and those especially amongst the rest were rather declaratory of the antient Customs of the Church of CHRIST Baron Annal. Eccl. An. 398. than introductory of new as both Baronius and Binius do affirm and justifie That which remains concerns the Form of Marriage and Rites of Burial to which a little shall be added of those pious Gestures used by them in the Act of publick Worship and that being done I shall conclude And first for Marriage there is no question to be made but that from the beginning of Christianity it hath been celebrated by the Priest or Minister with publick Prayers and Benedictions and most times with the celebration of the blessed Eucharist whereof thus Tertullian Vnde sufficiam ad felicitatem ejus matrimonii enarrandam Tertullian ad uxorem l. 2. quod Ecclesia conciliat confirmat
Gentiles exercise Dominion over them and they that are great exercise auhtority upon them Vobis autem non sic Matth. 20.25 Luke 22.25 But so it shall not be amongst you Where plainly it appears both by the Text and context first that this strife and contestation was only amongst the twelve Apostles and therefore howsoever it may prove that there was to be a parity or equality amongst themselves yet it will never prove but that they were and might be still superiour unto the Seventy And secondly that Christ our Saviour doth not prohibit them the use and exercise of all authority on those who were inferiour and subordinate to them but only such authority as the Princes of the Gentiles and the great Lords and Ministers about them did exercise upon their Subjects The power and government of the Apostles in the Church of Christ was meerly ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã such as a Father beareth unto his children but not ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a Lordly and imperious Rule such as a Master exerciseth on his slaves and servants 1 Pet. 5.3 2 Cor. 2.24 Chrysost in oper imper in Mat. hom 35. Not as Lords over Gods inheritance but as the helpers of their joy say the two Apostles and herein stands the difference according unto that of Chrysostom Principes mundi ideo fiunt ut dominentur minoribus suis The Princes of the Earth were made to this end and purpose that they might Lord it over their inferiours and make them slaves and spoil them and devour them abasing them unto the death for their own profit and glory Principes autem Ecclesiae fiunt c. But the Governours or Princes of the Church were instituted to another end viz. To serve their inferiours and to minister unto them all such things as they have received from the Lord. This eminence and superiority over all the Church which was thus setled in the Apostles by our Lord and Saviour will appear more fully if we consult the several ministrations committed unto them and to them alone For unto them alone it was that Christ committed the whole power of preaching of his holy Word administring his blessed Sacraments retaining and forgiving sins ruling and ordering of his flock giving them also further power of instituting and ordaining such by whom these several Offices were to be performed till his second coming None but the Twelve were present with him when he ordained the blessed Sacrament of his body and blood Luke 22.19 and unto them alone was said Hoc facite do this i. e. take bread and break and bless it and distribute it in remembrance of me To the eleven alone it was that he gave commission to go into all the World and preach the Gospel to all creatures Matth. 28.19 baptizing them in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost They only had that powerful and immediate mission John 20.21 John 20.22 23. Sicut misit me Pater As my Father sent me so send I you and upon them alone he breathed saying Receive the Holy Ghost whose sins ye do remit they are remitted unto them and whose sins you do retain they are retained Finally they and none but they were trusted with the feeding and the governance of the Flock of Christ the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the Greek doth imply them both for howsoever Pasce oves meas John 21.15 16. was in particular spoken to Saint Peter yet was that charge incumbent on them all as before we noted from Saint Austin By all which passages and Texts of Scripture it is clear and manifest that the Apostles were by Christ ordained to be the sole and ordinary Teachers Bishops and Pastors of the Church next and immediately under his most blessed self Heb. 13.20 1 Pet. 2.25 who still continueth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the great Shepheard of the Sheep as Paul the Shepheard and Bishop of our Souls as Saint Peter calls him The Seventy had no part in this new Commission the dispensation of the Word and Sacraments but at second hand as they were afterwards intrusted with it by the holy Apostles either as Prophets Presbyters or Evangelists according to the measure of the Grace which was given unto them or specially designed to some part therein after the Ascension of our Lord and Saviour by the immediate designation of the Holy Ghost And when they were entrusted with a part thereof yet were they still secundi Ordinis Ministers of a second rank inferiour unto the Apostles both in place and power to whom all latitude of power was given Nay the Apostles took an hint from this different mission to institute two several sorts of Ministers in the Church of Christ the one subordinate unto the other as were the Seventy unto them And this by vertue of these words in their Commission Ita mitto vos i. e. as the Arch-Bishop of Spalato very well applyeth it De Repab Eccl. l. 2. c. 3. n. 7. Sicut ego à Patre habui potestatem eligendi Ministros etiam diversi ordinis ita vos pariter habeatis As I received power from my heavenly Father of instituting Ministers even of divers Orders so I give it you And therefore whatsoever the Apostles did therein they did it after Christs example and by his authority and consequently the imparity of Ministers by them ordained was founded on the Law of God and the original institution of our Saviour Christ by whom the power of Ordination was to them committed and by them unto their Successours in the Church for ever To bring this Chapter to an end our Saviour Christ having thus furnished his Apostles with those several powers faculties and preheminences which before we spake of he thought it best to recommend them to the blessings of Almighty God whose work they were to go about And therefore being to take his fare-well of them Luke 24.50 did in a very solemn manner bestow his benediction on them Elevatis manibus suis benedixit eis he lifted up his hands and blessed them as Saint Luke hath it Which benediction Saint Austin takes to be a consecrating of those holy men unto the power and dignity of Bishops Aug. quaest N. Test qu. 14. Ipse enim priusquam in caelos ascenderet imponens manum Apostolis ordinavit cos Episcopos as the Father hath it Which whether it were so or not I mean so done with such an outward Form and Ceremony and in that very point of time is perhaps uncertain But sure I am that for the thing it self which is here delivered the Fathers many of them do agree with Austin affirming passim in their writings that the Apostles were made Bishops by our blessed Lord. Saint Cyprian voucheth it expresly The Deacons ought to understand Cyp. lib. 3. Ep. 9. quoniam Apostolos i. e. Episcopos Praepositos Dominus elegit that the Lord Christ himself did chuse the Apostles that is the Bishops
besides the Church of Rome before remembred We find Epaphroditus not he that is commemorated by S. Paul In Annal. Eccles A. 60. Rom. Martyr Mart. 22. April 3. Jun. 4. Julii 12. Julii 12. Julii 23. Chrys serm 128. in his Epistle to the Philippians as Baronius witnesseth against himself à beato Petro Apostolo Episcopus illius Civitatis ordinatus made Bishop by S. Peter of Tarracina of old called Anxur Pancratius made by S. Peter Bishop of Tauromenium in the Isle of Sicily as the Greeks also do affirm in their Menologia Marcianus Bishop of Syracusa to whom the said Menologies do bear record also Hermagoras a Disciple of S. Mark the first Bishop of Aquileia now in the Signeurie of Venice Panlinus the first Bishop of Luques in Tuscanie Apollinaris created by S. Peter the first Bishop of Ravenna in praise of whom Chrysologus one of his Successors and an holy Father hath composed a Panegyrick Marcus ordained Bishop of Atina at S. Peters first coming into Italy Rom. Martyr Apr. 28. Novemb. 7. Sept. 1. Octob. 25. Jan. 27. Acts. Martyrol Rom. Decem. 29. And last of all Prosdocimus the first Bishop of Padua à Beato Petro ordinatus made Bishop thereof by S. Peter Next to pass over into France we find there Xystus the first Bishop of Rhemes and Fronto Bishop of Perigort Petragorricis ordained both by this Apostle As also Julianus the first Bishop of Mayne Cononiensium in the Latine of his Ordination And besides these we read that Trophimus once one of S. Pauls Disciples was by S. Peter made the first Bishop of Arles And this besides the Martyrologies and other Authors cited by Baronius in his Annotations appeareth by that memorable controversie in the time of Pope Leo before the Bishop of Vienna the chief City of Daulphine and him of Arles for the place and dignity of Metropolitan In prosecution of the which it is affirmed by the Suffragans Epist contr Provinc ad S. Leonem in fine lib. or Com-provincial Bishops of the Province of Arles Quod prima inter Gallias Arelatensis Civitas missum à Beatissimo Petro Apostolo Sauctum Trophimum habere meruit Sacerdotem that first of all the Cities of Gaul that of Arles did obtain the happiness to have Saint Trophimus for their Bishop for so Sacerdos must be read in that whole Epistle sent to them from the most blessed Apostle S. Peter to preach the Gospel For Spain we find this testimony once for all that Ctesiphon Torquatus Secundus Caecilius Judaletius Hesychius Rom. Martyr Maij 15. and Euphrasius Romae à Sanctis Apostolis Episcopi ordinati ad praedicandum verbum Dei in Hispanias directi Having been ordained Bishops at Rome by the Apostles viz. S. Peter and S. Paul were sent unto Spain to preach the Gospel and in most likelihood were Bishops of those Cities in which they suffered the names whereof occur in the Martyrologie If we pass further into Germany we may there see Eucherius one of S. Peters Disciples also by him employed to preach the Gospel to that Nation which having done with good effect in the City of Triers Primus ejusdem Civitatis Episcopus Decemb. 8. he was made the first Bishop of that City And unto this Methodius also doth attest Ap. Mar. Scotum in An. 72.74 as he is cited by Marianus Scotus who tells us that after he had held the Bishoprick 23 years Valerio Trevericae Ecclesiae culmen dereliquit he left the government of that Church unto Valerius who together with Maternus both being Disciples of Saint Peper did attend him thither and that Maternus after fifteen years did succeed Valerius continuing Bishop there 40 years together I should much wrong our part of Britain should I leave out that as if neglected by the Apostle concerning which we are informed by Metaphrastes whose credit hath been elsewhere vindicated that this Apostle coming into Britain Commem Petri Pauli ad diem 29 Junii and tarrying there a certain time and enlightning many with the word of grace ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã did constitute Churches and ordain Bishops Presbyters and Deacons in the same Which action as he placeth in the twelfth year of Nero being the 67. of our Redeemer so he professeth that he had his information out of some writings of Eusebius which have not come unto our hands but with a great deal more of that Authors works have perished in the ruins and wrack of time Nor is it strange that the Apostle should make so many of his Disciples Bishops before or shortly after they were sent abroad to gain the nations to the Faith Beda hist Eccl. l. 1. c. 27. that being the usual course in the like imployments as may appear by Austins being consecrated Bishop immediately after his first coming into England The reason was as I conceive it that if God prospered their endeavours with desired success they might be furnished with a power of ordaining Presbyters for their assistance in that service And so much for the Churches planted by Saint Peter and by his Disciples CHAP. IV. The Bishoping of Timothy and Titus and others of Saint Pauls Disciples 1. The Conversion of Paul and his ordaining to the place of an Apostle 2. The Presbyters created by Saint Paul Act. 14. of what sort they were 3. Whether the Presbyters or Presbytery did lay on hands with Paul in any of his Ordinations 4. The people had no voice in the Election of their Presbyters in these early times 5. Bishops not founded by S. Paul at first in the particular Churches by him planted and upon what reasons 6. The short time of the Churches of S. Pauls plantation continued without Bishops over them 7. Timothy made Bishop of Ephesus by S. Paul according to the general consent of Fathers 8. The time when Timothy was first made Bishop according to the Holy Scripture 9. Titus made Bishop of the Cretans and the truth verified herein by the ancient Writers 10. An Answer unto such Objections as have been made against the Subscription of the Epistle unto Titus 11. The Bishopping of Dionysius the Areopagite Aristarchus Gaius Epaphroditus Epaphras and Archippus 12. As also of Silus Sosthenes Sosipater Crescens and Aristobulus 13. The Office of a Bishop not incompatible with that of an Evangelist WE are now come unto S. Paul and to the Churches by him planted where we shall meet with clearer evidence from Scripture than before we had A man that did at first most eagerly afflict the poor Church of Christ as if it were the destiny not of David only but also of the Son of David to be persecuted by the hands of Saul Rhemist Testam Act. 15. But as the Rhemists well observe that the contention between Paul and Barnabas fell out unto the great increase of Christianity So did this persecution raised by Saul fall out unto the great improvement of the Gospel For by this means the Disciples being
and unreprovable until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ Now Timothy was not like to live till Christs second coming the Apostle past all question never meant it so therefore the power and charge here given to exercise the same according to the Apostles Rules and Precepts was not personal only but such as was to appertain to him and to his successours for ever even till the appearing of our Lord and Saviour The like expression do we find in Saint Matthew when our Redeemer said unto his Apostles Matth. 28. ult Behold I am with you always even unto the end of the world Not always certainly with his Apostles not to the end of the World with those very men to whom he did address himself when he spake these words for they being mortal men have been dead long since Non solis hoc Apostolis dictum esse this was no personal promise then saith Calvin truly Harmon Evangel In Matth. 28. With them and their successours he might always be and to the end of the world give them his assistance Cum vobis successorlbus vestris as Denis the Carthusian very well observeth Saint Paul then gives this charge to Timothy and in him unto all his successors in the Episcopal function which should continue in the Church till Christs second coming And therefore I conceive the annotation of the ordinary gloss to be sound and good in Timotheo omnibus successoribus loquitur Apostolus Glossa Ordinar in 1 Tim. 6. that this was spoke in Timothy unto all his successors And so the Commentaries under the name of Ambrose do inform us also saying that Paul was not so solicitous for Timothy as for his successors ut exemplo Timothei Ecclesiae ordinationem custodirent In 1 Tim. 6. that they might learn by his Example i.e. by practising those directions which were given to him to look unto the ordering of the Church This ground thus laid we must next look on the authority which the Apostle gave to Timothy and Titus and in them to all other Bishops And the best way to look upon it is to divide the same as the School-men do into potestas ordinis and potestas jurisdictionis the power of Order and the power of jurisdiction in each of which there occur divers things to be considered First for the power of Order besides what every Bishop doth and may lawfully perform by vertue of the Orders he received as Presbyter there is a power of Order conferred upon him as a Bishop and that 's indeed the power of Ordination or giving Orders which seems so proper and peculiar to the Bishops Office as not to be communicable to any else Paul gives it as a special charge to Timothy to lay hands hastily on no man Tim. 5.22 which caution doubtless had been given in vain in case the Presbyters of Ephesus might have done it as well as he And Titus seems to have been left in Crete for this purpose chiefly Tit. 1. v. 5. that he might ordain Presbyters in every City which questionless had been unnecessary in case an ordinary Presbyter might have done the same The Fathers have observed from these Texts of Scripture that none but Bishops strictly and properly so called according as the word was used when they lived that said it have any power of Ordination Epiphanius in his dispute against Aerius Haeres 75. n. 4. observes this difference betwixt Bishops and Presbyters whom the Heretick would fain have had to be the same that the Presbyter by administring the Sacrament of Baptism did beget children to the Church but that the Bishop by the power of Ordination ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã did beget Fathers to the same A power from which he utterly excludes the Presbyter and gives good reason for it too for how saith he can he ordain or constitute a Presbyter ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which in his Ordination did receive no power to impose hands upon another Hom. 11. in 1 Tim. c. 3. Chrysostom speaking of the difference between a Bishop and a Presbyter makes it consist in nothing else but in this power of Ordination ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. only in laying on of hands saith he or in Ordination a Bishop is before or above a Presbyter and have that power only inherent in them Epistola ad Euagr. which the others have not Hierom although a great advancer of the place and Office of the Presbyter excludes him from the power of Ordination or any interest therein Quid enim facit excepta ordinatione Episcopus quod Presbyter non faciat What saith he doth a Bishop saving Ordination more than a Presbyter may do Neither doth Hierom speak de facto and not de jure quid facit not quid debet facere Smectymn p. 37. as I observe the place to be both cited and applyed in some late Discourses Hierom's non faciat is as good as non debet facere and they that look upon him well will find he pleads not of the possession only but the right and Title And we may see his meaning by the passage formerly alledged upon the words of Paul to Titus cap. 1. v. 5. Audiant Episcopi qui habent constituendi Presbyteros per singulas urbes potestatem By which it seems that Bishops only had the power of ordaining Presbyters and that they did both claim and enjoy the same from this grant to Titus For further clearing of this point there are two things to be declared and made evident first that the power of Ordination was so inherent in the person of a Bishop that he alone both might and did sometimes ordain without help of Presbyters and secondly that the Presbyters might not do the same without the Bishop And first that anciently the Bishops of the Church both might and did ordain without the help or co-assistance of the Presbyters Euseb hist Eccl. l. 6. c. 7. n. appeareth by the ordination of Origen unto the Office of a Presbyter by Theoctistus Bishop of Caesarea and Alexander Bishop of Hierusalem who laid hands upon him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as my Author hath it Which act of theirs when it was quarrelled by Demetrius he did not plead in bar that there were no Presbyters assistant in it but that the party had done somewhat and we know what 't was by which he was conceived to be uncapable of holy Orders Id. l. 6. c. 25. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã So when the Bishop whosoever he was out of an affectation which he bare unto Novatus not being yet a Separatist from the Church of God desired ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Clergy being all against it to ordain him Presbyter the matter stood upon as the story testifieth was not the Bishops being the sole agent in it but because it was forbidden by the ancient Canons that any one who had been formerly baptized being sick in bed and that had been Novatus case should be
assumed into the Clergy But not to make a further search into particulars which are vast and infinite we have two notable cases that reflect this way and in them two such general Maxims as will make all sure In the third Council of Carthage holden in or about the year 390. it was proposed by Aurelius then Metropolitan of Carthage Concil Carthag 3. Ca. 45. that it might be lawful for him to chuse or take Presbyters out of the Churches of his Suffragans and to ordain them Bishops of such Cities as were unprovided and that the Bishops of those Churches whose Clerks or Presbyters they were might not be suffered to oppose To which when all the Fathers had agreed Posthumianus one of the Prelates there assembled puts this case that if a Bishop had but one Presbyter only Numquid debet illi ipse unus Presbyter auferri whether that one Presbyter should be taken from him Aurelius thereunto replyeth Episcopum unum esse posse per quem dignatione divina Presbyteri multi constitui possunt that a Bishop by Gods grace might make many Presbyters and therefore that on such occasions his one and only Presbyter must be yielded up upon demand By which it is most clear and evident that a Bishop may alone perform the Act or Ceremony of Ordination not having any Presbyter at all to join with him in it The like occurreth in the second Council of Sevil held in the year 617 or thereabouts concerning Erangitanus a Presbyter of the Church of Corduba who by the Bishop of that See Concil Hispalens 2. c. 5. Cap. 6. a ruffling Prelate as appeareth by the following Chapter had been deposed from his Ministry the cause being brought before the Council and the whole process openly declared unto them the man was presently restored to his Orders and the sentence passed against him declared to be irrregular and contrary to the ancient Canons whereby it was enacted that no Clergy-man should be deposed without the judgment of a Synod And then it followeth Episcopus sacerdotibus ministris solus dare honorem potest auferre solus non potest that Bishops solely of themselves may confer holy Orders on Priests and Deacons but solely of their own authority they could not depose them So then it is most clear and evident that Bishops might and did ordain without their Presbyters might not the Presbyters do the like sometimes without their Bishop Certainly nothing less than so or if they did attempt it at any time the whole act was not only censured and condemned as uncanonical but adjudged void and null from the first beginning For besides that which hath been said before from Hierom Chrysostom and Epiphanius touching the limitation of this power to the Bishops only there are three Book-cases in the point which put the matter out of question Coluthus once a Presbyter of Alexandria Athanas in Apol 2. Edit Gr. Lat. p. 784. falling at difference with his Bishop usurps upon the Bishops Office and ordains certain Presbyters himself being one This business being canvassed in the Council of Alexandria before that famous Confessor Hosius and other Bishops there assembled Coluthus was commanded to carry himself for a Presbyter only as indeed he was and all the Presbyters of his ordaining reduced to the same condition ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in which they were before the said Ordination Where by the way instead of Coluthus the last edition of this Author in Greek and Latin doth read Catholicus Lutet 1627. which must be mended as before in the relation of this story P. 732.792 where we have Coluthus and not Catholicus But to proceed It hapned afterwards that Ischyras one of the Pseudo-Presbyters ordained by Coluthus Id. ibid. p. 757. accused Macarius one of the Presbyters of Athanasius for a pretended violence to be offered to him Id. ibid. p. 732. then ministring at the holy Table So that the business being brought at last unto the judgment of a Council and the point in issue being this whether this Ischyras were a Presbyter or not and so by consequence a dispenser of those sacred Mysteries he was returned no Presbyter by the full consent of all the Prelates then assembled The reason was because he was ordained by Coluthus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã who died a Presbyter and that his Ordinations had been all made void and those that had received them at his hands ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã became lay again and in that state received the blessed Sacrament as the Lay-men did And this saith Athanasius was a thing so publique ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that no man ever doubted of the truth thereof The second case was that of Maximus once a familiar friend of Gregory Nazianzens at such time as he was Bishop of Constantinople and by him Greg. Presb. in vita Nazian having taken a good liking to him admitted into the Clergy of that Church But Maximus being an ungrateful wretch complots with others like himself to be made Bishop of that City and thereupon negotiates with Peter then Patriarch of Alexandria to ordain him Bishop of the same which being done accordingly for Maximus was by birth of Egypt and possibly might have good friends there besides his money and the whole City in a great distemper about the business the whole cause came at last to be debated in the first general Council of Constantinople Conc. Const 1. cap. 4. where on full hearing of the matter it was thus Decreed viz. that Maximus neither was to be taken for a Bishop ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã nor any of those he had ordained to be accounted of the Clergy or remain in any order or degree thereof Where note that howsoever Maximus came unlawfully unto the bishoprick of Constantinople by means whereof all the Acts done by him as a Bishop were made void and frustrate yet if as Presbyter to which degree he had been lawfully ordained by Nazianzen he might have given the imposition of hands the Presbyters by him ordained would have held good still But the third case comes nearest to the business yet as it is thus reported in the Council of Sevil before remembred A Bishop of the Church of Spain Concil Hisp 11. cap. 5. being troubled with sore eyes and having some presented to him to be ordained Presbyters and Deacons did only lay his hands upon them suffering a Presbyter that stood by to read the words of Ordination This coming to be scanned in the aforesaid Council upon mature deliberation it is thus determined First for the Presbyter which assisted that for his boldness and presumption he had been subject to the Councils censure but that he was before deceased next for the Presbyter and Deacons who were so ordained that they should actually be deposed from all sacred Orders Concluding thus Tales enim merito judicati sunt removendi quia prave inventi sunt constituti that they were worthily adjudged to lose those Orders
which they had wrongfully received So little influence had the Presbyters in the essential parts of Ordination as that their bare reading of the words though required to it by the Bishop was adjudged enough not only to make them liable to the Churches Censure but also for their sakes to make void the Action Nay so severe and punctual was the Church herein that whereas certain Bishops of those times whether consulting their own case or willing to decline so great a burthen had suffered their Chorepiscopi aswell those which were simply Presbyters as such as had Episcopal Ordination for two there were to perform this Office Concil Gangrens Can. 13. Concil Antioch l. Can. 10. it was forbidden absolutely in the one limited and restrained in the other sort as by the Canons of the two ancient Synods of Gangra and Antioch doth at full appear It is true indeed that anciently as long for ought I know as there is any Monument or Record of true Antiquity the Presbyters have joyned their hands to and with the Bishops in the performance and discharge of this great Solemnity And hereof there are many evidences that affirm the same as well in matter of fact as in point of Law Saint Cyprian one of the ancientest of the Fathers which now are extant Cyprian Ep. 33. or l. 2. ep 5. affirms that in the ordination of Aurelius unto the Office of a Reader in the Church of Carthage he used the hands of his Colleagues Hunc igitur à me à Collegis qui praesentes aderant ordinatum sciatis as he reports the matter in a Letter to his charge at Carthage Where by Colleagues it is most likely that he means his Presbyters first because that Epistle was written during the time of his retreat and privacy what time it is not probable that any of his Suffragan Bishops did resort unto him and secondly because those words qui praesentes aderant are so conform unto the practice of that Church in the times succeeding For in the fourth Council of Carthage held in the year 401. Concil Car. 4. Can. 3. it was Decreed that when a Presbyter was ordained the Bishop blessing him and holding his hand upon his head etiam omnes Presbyteri qui praesentes sunt manus suas juxta manum Episcopi super caput illius teneant all the Presbyters which are present shall likewise lay their hands upon his head near the hands of the Bishop Id. Can. 12. And in the same Council it was further ordered that the Bishop should not ordain a Clergy-man sine consilio clericorum suorum without the counsel of his Clergy which also doth appear to be Cyprians practice in the first words of the Epistle before remembred But then it is as true withal that this conjunction of the Presbyters in the solemnities of this Act was rather ad honorem Sacerdotii quam essentiam operis more for the honour of the Priesthood than for the essence of the work Nor did the laying on of the Presbyters hands confer upon the party that was ordained any power or order but only testified their consent unto the business and approbation of the man according to the purpose and intent of the last of the two Canons before alledged And for the first Canon if you mark it well it doth not say that if there be no Presbyters in place the Bishop should defer the Ordination till they came but Presbyteri qui praesentes sunt if any Presbyters were present at the doing of it they should lay their hands upon his head near the Bishops hands So that however anciently in the purest times the Presbyters which were then present both might and did impose hands with the Bishop upon the man to be ordained and so concurred in the performance of the outward Ceremony yet the whole power of Ordination was vested in the person of the Bishop only as to the essence of the work And this appears yet further by some passages in the Civil Laws prescribed for the ordering of Ecclesiastical Ministers by which upon neglect or contempt thereof the Presbyters were not obnoxious unto punishment that joyned with the Bishop because they had no power to hinder what he meant to do But the Bishop only qui ordinat or qui ordinationem imponit he in whom rested the authority by laying on or by withholding of his hands either to frustrate or make good the action he was accomptable unto the Laws if he should transgress them for which consult Novell Constitut 123. Cited by B. Bilson c. 13. Sozomen Hist Eccl. l. 4. c. 23. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ca. 16. and Novell Constitut 6. And so it also stood in the Churches practice as appeareth plainly by the degradations of Basilius Eleusius and Elpidius three ancient Bishops because that amongst other things they had advanced some men unto holy Orders contrary to the Laws and Ordinances of the Church of which Elpidius was deposed on no other reason but on that alone Now had the Presbyters been agents in ordaining as well as the Bishop and the imposing of their hands so necessary that the business could not be performed without them there had been neither equity nor reason in it to let them scape Scot-free and punish the poor Bishops only for that in which the Presbyters were as much in fault Against all this I meet with no Objection in Antiquity but what hath casually been encountred in the former passages This present age doth yield one and a great one too which is the case of the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas who finding an aversness of the Bishops at the first to give them Orders unless they would desert the work of Reformation which they had in hand were fain to have recourse to Presbyters for their Ordinations in which estate they still continue That thus it was August Con. in fine appeareth by the Augustan Confession the Authors and Abettors of the which complain that the Bishop would admit none unto sacred Orders Nisi jurent se puram Evangelii Doctrinam nolle docere except they would be sworn not to Preach the Gospel according to the grounds and Principles of their Reformation For their parts they professed Non id agi ut dominatio excipiatur Episcopis that they had no intention to deprive the Bishops of their Authority in the Church but only that they might have liberty to Preach the Gospel and be eased of some few Rites and Ceremonies which could not be observed without grievous sin This if it could not be obtained and that a Schism did follow thereupon it did concern the Bishops to look unto it how they would make up their account to Almighty God So that the Bishops thus refusing to admit them into holy Orders which was the publique ordinary Door of entrance into the Ministery of the Church necessity compelled them at the last to enter in by private ways and impose hands on one another In which
of all the brethren Where clearly there is nothing ascribed unto the Presbyters as in the way of reconciliation but only in the way of intercession as unto other of the brethren the main work being still reserved unto the Bishop I know indeed Tertullian is alledged by some as if there were a Government of the Church at that time in use in the which neither the Bishop nor the Presbyters did bear the greatest stroke but a Society of Lay-Elders or if we may admit such a Monster both in sense and Grammar a Lay-Presbytery The place or passage commonly alledged to make good the same is that in his Apologetick for the Christian Churches where having shewed the manner of the Christian meetings in their Congregations for Prayer and hearing of Gods Word he addeth Id. in Apol. c. 39. that there are also Exhortations Chastisements and Divine censures Judgment being executed with great advice Then followeth Praesident probati quique seniores honorem istum non pretio sed testimonio adepti the Presidents of our meetings are approved Seniors or Elders call them which you will who have obtained this honour not by money but by good Report So he And those whom he calls Seniores Elders they will needs have to be such Elders as they dream of men of the Laity taken in to day and put out to morrow A thing which better might become the Conventicles of the Heretick and Sectary than the Church of Christ And as it seems amongst the Hereticks and Sectaries such a course there was hodie Presbyter qui cras Laicus that he which was to day an Elder was on the next day to revert to his occupation Id. de Praescr haeret l. 41. this day an Elder in the Consistory the next a Botcher on the stall The Christian Church had no such custom what ever might be found amongst the Marcionites if then it be demanded who these Seniors were which are here said to have presided in their Congregations I answer that they were the Bishops those at whose hands de manu Praesidentium the people used in those times to receive the Sacrament Lay-men they could not be though called simply Elders because they did administer the blessed Eucharist and simply Presbyters they were not and they could not be because it is there said that they did preside and had the Power of Censure and Correction which are the works and badges of Authority It then remains they were the Bishops the Presidents or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of the Church of Christ such as we find described before by Justin Martyr and are affimed by Beza to be such as Timothy whom we have proved to be a Bishop And this appears to me yet further by the words themselves in which we find that those who did attain that honour got it by good Report and not by Money And this may very well be might the Gentiles say had it been spoken of the Presbyters for who would give money for so poor an Office wherein there was but little to be gotten more than ones labour for his pains or at the best some bare allowance from the sportula and that too on the Bishops curtesie When we can hear you say the like of Bishops through whose hands the money went who had the keeping and disposing of the common Treasury and might enrich themselves by the spoyl therof you then say somewhat to the purpose Till then it makes but little to the praise of your integrity and candour that such poor men whose places were not worth the haviing should pay nothing for them This makes it evident to me that the Elders mentioned here were not simply Presbyters but such whose places were esteemed to be both of Means and Credit and therefore doubtless they were Bishops that did so preside Nor is it any prejudice to the truth thereof that they are called Seniores in the plural number Tertullian speaking not in the behalf of a particular Church or City wherein could be one Bishop only but pleading in the behalf of the Universal wherein there were as many Presidents or Bishops or Presiding Elders call them which you will as there were Cities gained to the Faith of Christ Now if we please to take a view of the extent of Christianity according as it stood in the present Century we cannot better do it than by a place and passage of Tertullian who very fully hath described the same in his Apologetick presented to the Magistrates of the Roman Empire in the last year thereof or the next year after as is affirmed both by Pamelius and Baronius out of ancient Writers Pamol in vita Tertul. Bar. in Annal. For having shewn that Christians were not to avenge themselves upon their Persecuters or to take Arms for the repelling of those injuries which were offered to them he doth thus proceed Tertullian in Apologet. c. 37. Si enim hostes exertos c. For should we shew our selves saith he to be open enemies unto the State should we want either strength or numbers Behold what mischief is done daily to you by the Moors Marcomannians and those of Parthia Masters of a few Countreys only whereas the Christians are diffused over all the World you count us Aliens or strangers to you vestra omnia implevimus yet we have filled all places that are yours Cities Isles Castles Burrowes your places of Assembly Camps Tribes Palaces the very Senate and the Market-place with our numerous Troops Only your Temples are your own c. Nay should we only go away from you and retire into some remote corner of the World and carry all our Families with us Suffudisset utique dominationem vestram tot qualiumcunque amissio civium the loss of so many of your people how ill soever you conceive of them would be so shrewd a weakening unto your Dominions that you would tremble at that strange desertion and be astonished at the solitude and silence of your emptied Cities quite destitute of men to be commanded there being more Enemies than Citizens remaining in them Whereas now God be thanked you have the fewer Enemies amongst you in that you have so many Christians Pene omnes cives Christianos habendo most of your People being of that Religion Which as it shews the great extent of Christianity in Tertullians time so doth it shew a like extent also of Episcopacy there being no place where Christianity had been received wherein Episcopacy was not planted also Which lest it might be taken for a bold assertion without ground or Truth I shall crave leave to step a little out of this present Century and borrow a testimony from Saint Cyprian who is next to follow and if he may be credited will affirm no less Cyprian E. 52. For by him we are told of a certain truth per omnes Provincias per urbes singulas ordinatos esse Episcopos that in all Provinces and in every City Bishops had long
to a publick tryal for their misdemeanours before himself and all the People 'T is true indeed that in the outward action and formality of this great work of Reconciliation the Clergy did impose hands with the Bishop upon the head of him that was reconciled Epist 10.11 c. for we find often in St. Cyprian Manus ab Episcopo clero imposita but this was only as I said before in the outward action the power of admitting him unto that estate and giving way to his desires in making of him capable of so great a favour belonging only to the Bishop as before appears Thus have we seen how and in what particulars as also upon what considerations Saint Cyprian communicated some part of his Episcopal Authority either unto the Presbyters or to the People or to both together We will next look on those particulars which he reserved wholly and solely to himself and they concern his Clergy chiefly in his behaviour towards whom in matters of reward and punishment he was as absolute and supream as ever any Bishop since his time And first in matter of reward the greatest honour whereof the Clergy in his time were capable was their place of sitting distinct and separate from the People A place by Sozomon Sozom. l. 5. c. 14. Concil Laodi Can. 55. Canon Sacerdot distinct 2. Cypr. Ep. 35. called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as it were the Sacrarie by the Council of Laodicea entituled ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by reason it was higher than the rest that all the people might behold it by others Presbyterium the place for Presbyters but by what names soever called a place it was appointed for the Bishop and his Clergy only Into this place St. Cyprian admits Numidicus a stranger to the Church of Carthage as before was noted from Baronius but by him added to the number of the Presbyters there adscriptus Presbyterorum Carthaginiensium numero as his own phrase is that so he might enjoy the honour of that place with the less distast And so for point of maintenance which was another part of the Reward that did belong to the Laborious and painful Presbyter the distribution of the same was wholly in the Bishops power So wholly in his power that howsoever it belonged unto none of right but unto the Presbyters yet he having bestowed on Celerinus and Aurelius the place of Readers in the Church did also give unto them or assign the same full maintenance Id. Epi. 34. which was allowed to any of the Presbyters Presbyterii honorem designasse nos illis jam Sciatis ut sportulis iisdem cum Presbyteris honorentur divisiones menstruas aequatis portionibus partiantur Know you saith he in an Epistle to the whole Church of Carthage that we have assigned them to the full honour of Presbyters appointing that they should receive the same proportion of allowance and have as great a share in the monthly dividends as any of the Presbyters had Where by the way this portion or allowance had the name of Sportula from the reward or fees which anciently were allowed to Judges and by that name are mentioned in the Civil Laws which being assigned to the Presbyters pro singulorum meritis according to the merits of the persons to some more some less at the discretion of the Bishop gave them the name of Fratres sportulantes whereof we read in Cyprian Ep. 66. And they were called divisiones mensurnae the monthly Dividends because that as the contributions of the people were made once every month menstrua quaque die as Tertullian a Presbyter of this Church hath told us so as it seems Tertul. in Apolog c. 36. the Dividend was made accordingly as soon as the mony had been brought to the Bishops hands So also in the way of punishment when any of the Clergy had offended the Bishop had Authority to withdraw his maintenance and with-hold his stipend For when complaint was made to Cyprian of Philumenus and Fortunatus two of his Sub-deacons Cypr. Ep. 28. and of Favorinus an Acolythite qui medio tempore recesserunt who formerly had forsook their calling and now desired to be restored again unto it although he neither would nor could determine in it before he had consulted with his Colleagues and the whole body of his People the matter being great and weighty yet in the mean time he suspends them from their monthly pay interim se à divisione mensurna tantum contineant as he there resolves it leaving the cause to be determined of at better leasure This was a plain suspension à Beneficio and could he not suspend ab Officio also Assuredly he both could and did as appears evidently by his proceeding with these Presbyters who had entrenched upon his jurisdiction as before was said Whose great offence though he reserved unto the hearing both of the Confessors themselves and the whole body of the People for a final end yet in the mean time prohibeantur interim offerre Idem Ep. 10. it was his pleasure to suspend them for the Ministery from their attendance at the Altar Suspend them then he might there 's no doubt of that but might he not if he saw cause deprive them also He might assuredly or otherwise he had never given that counsel to Rogatianus that if the Deacon formerly remembred did not repent him of his faults eum vel deponat vel abstineat Idem Ep. 65. he either might deprive or excommunicate him which he would himself He were a very greedy Bishop who would not be content with that allowance of Authority which S. Cyprian had The like authority he used towards the People also not suffering them to be remembred in the Churches Prayers if they had broken or infringed the Churches Canons And this appeareth by the so celebrated case of Geminius Victor who at his death had made Geminius Faustinus one of the Presbyters of Carthage tutorem testamento suo Idem Ep. 66. the Executor of his last Will and Testament which being like to be a means whereby Faustinus might be taken off from his employment in the Ministery the displeased Bishop doth declare ne deprecatio aliqua nomine ejus in Ecclesia frequentetur that he should neither be remembred in the Offertory nor any Prayer be made in his name in the Church And this he did upon this reason ne quis Sacerdotes Ministros Dei Altari ejus Ecclesiae vacantes ad seculares molestias devocet that none hereafter should presume to withdraw the Priest and Ministers of God from their attendance at the Altar in the Churches service unto the cares and troubles of the world Which passage as it shews expresly the great tye which the Bishops of those times had upon the Conscience of the People whom they could punish thus after death it self So is it frequently alledged Smectym p. 46. to shew that neither Presbyters nor Bishops were to be molested
he might prove in the Church of God did at another time as he passed through Palestine to go towards Greece ordain him Presbyter And this was done ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã saith Eusebius by the Bishops there Euseb hist Eccl. l. 6. c. 17. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. 7. by the two Bishops formerly remembred no Presbyter concurring in it for ought there we find Yet when Demetrius moved with his wonted envy did not only what he could to disgrace the man but also sought to frame an accusation against those ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Id. l. 6. c. 7. n. which had advanced him to the order of a Presbyter We do not find that he objected any thing against them as to the Act of Ordination but only as unto the irregularity of the person by reason of a corporal defect of his own procuring And on the other side when as Demetrius saw his time and found that some few passages in his many writings either by him or in his name at least set forth and published had made him liable unto danger obnoxious to the censures of the Church he did not only excommunicate him which had been enough either to right the Church or revenge himself but he prevailed with many other Churches also Hier. in Apo. l cont Ruffinum to confirm the sentence Ab eodem Demetrio Episcopo Alexandrino fuisse excommunicatione damnatum prolatamque in eum sententiam à caeteris quoque Ecclesiis ratam habitam as S. Hierom hath it Whereas before we had his Ordination performed only by the two Bishops of Caesarea and Hierusalem without the hands of any of the Presbyters and yet the Ordination good and valid the whole Church after reckoning him for a Presbyter without doubt or scruple so here we find him Excommunicated by one Bishop only without the votes or suffrages of the Presbyters or any shew or colour of it and yet the Church concurring with that Bishop though his ancient Enemy in confirmation of that censure So fully was the Church persuaded in the former times that these were parts of the Episcopal jurisdiction and authority that there was no objection made against this last though Origen had many friends and those great ones too nor nullity or invalidity in the first although Demetrius who by reason of his great place and power had made him many Enemies did except against it From that which doth occur concerning Origen in the Books and Works of other Writers proceed we unto that which doth occur concerning Bishops in the works of Origen And there we find in the first place the several Orders of Bishops Presbyters and Deacons For speaking of those words of the Apostle He that desireth the Office of a Bishop desireth a good work he tells us this Origen in Mat. cap. 15. Talis igitur Episcopus non desiderat bonum opus that such a Bishop desireth not a good work who desireth the Office either to get glory amongst men or be flattered and courted by them or for the hope of gain from those which believe the Gospel and give large gifts in testimony of their Piety Then adds Idem vero de Presbyteris de Diaconis dices that the same is to be said of Presbyters and Deacons also Nor doth he only shew us though that were sufficient the several ranks and orders in the Hierarchy but also the ascent or degrees from the one to the other In Ecclesia Christi inveniuntur In the Church of Christ Orig. tract 24. in Mat. c. 23. saith he there are some men who do not only follow Feasts and them that make them but also love the chiefest places and labour much primùm ut Diaconi fiant first to be made Deacons not such as the Scripture describeth but such as under pretence of long Prayers devour Widdows houses And having thus been made Deacons cathedras eorum qui vocantur Presbyteri praeripere ambiunt they very greedily aspire to the chairs of those who are called Presbyters and some not therewithal content practise many ways ut Episcopi vocentur ab hominibus to have the place or name of Bishops which is as much to say as Rabbi And shortly after having endeavoured to depress this ambitious humour he gives this caveat that he who exalts himself shall be humbled which he desireth all men to take notice of but specially the Deacons Presbyters and Bishops which do not think those words to be spoken of them Here have we three degrees of Ministers in the Church of God one being a step unto the other whereof the Bishop is Supream in the highest place And not in place only but in power also and authority as being the men unto whose hands the keys were trusted by our Saviour Id. Tract 1. in Matth. For in another place he discourseth thus Quoniam ii qui Episcoporum locum sibi vendicant c. When they which challenge to themselves the place of Bishops do make the same confession that Peter did and have received from our Saviour the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven teaching that what they bind on Earth is bound in Heaven and what they loose in Earth is loosed in Heaven we must acknowledge that what they said is true if withal they have those things for which it was so said to Peter For if he be bound with the Chains of his own sins frustra vel ligat vel solvit in vain he takes upon him to bind or loose In the which words not taking notice of his errour seeming to make the efficacy of the Ministery to depend upon the merit of the Minister we find that in the time of Origen the dispensation of the Keys was the Bishops office This if it should not be sufficient to declare their power we may hear him in another place calling them Principes populi Christiani Id. in Mat. 19. Tractat. 12. the Princes of the Christian people blaming them such especially as lived in the greatest Cities in which he secretly upbraids the proud behaviour of Demetrius towards him for want of affability and due respect to their Inferiors And writing on these words of our Saviour Christ Who is that faithful and wise Servant Id. in Mat. 24. Tractat. 31. c. he applies them thus Peccat in Deum quicunque Episcopus qui non quasi conservis servus ministrat sed quasi Dominus That Bishop whosoever he be doth offend against God which doth not minister as a Servant to his Fellow-Servants but rather as a Lord amongst them yea and too often as a sharp and bitter Master domineering over them by violence remember how Demetrius used him like the Task-masters in the Land of Egypt afflicting the poor Israelites by force Finally as he doth acquaint us with their power and eminency so doth he tell us also of their care and service Id. Homil. 6. in Esaiam assuring us that he who is called unto the Office of a Bishop non
this time when as Gods people which were scattered up and down the Countrey did either come unto the Cities there to be made partakers of the Word and Sacraments in which the Bishop was at hand to attend all businesses or that the Presbyters were by the Bishop sent into the Countrey with more or less authority intrusted to them as the business was And for the other power the power of Order although it was no other than before it was as to the power and faculty conferred upon the Presbyters in their Ordination yet did they find a great enlargement and extension of it in the free execution of the same For whereas formerly as was observed both from Ignatius and Tertullian and some other Ancients Vide Chap. 1. Chap. 3. of this 2d part the Presbyter could not baptize nor celebrate the blessed Eucharist sine Episcopi authoritate without the leave and liking of the Bishop who then was near at hand to be asked the question after this time the Presbyters became more absolute in their ministration baptizing celebrating preaching and indeed what not which potestate ordinis did belong unto him only by vertue of that general faculty which had been granted by the Bishop at his Institution I mean his special designation to that place or Cure And yet the Bishops did not so absolutely invest the Presbyters with a power of Order in the administration of the Sacraments as not to keep unto themselves a superiour Power whereby the execution of that Power of Order together with a confirmation of such acts as had been done by vertue of the same might generally be observed to proceed from them And of this kind especially was that rite or ceremony which now we call by the particular name of Confirmation being called anciently impositio manuum the laying on of hands For howsoever the original institution of it be far more ancient and Apostolical as most think yet I conceive it neither was so frequent nor so necessary in the former times as in those that followed For when the Sacrament of Baptism either was administred to men grown in years or by the Bishop himself in person or in his presence at the least he giving his Fatherly and Episcopal blessing to the work in hand the subsequent laying on of hands which we call Confirmation might not seem so necessary Or if it did yet commonly it was administred with Baptism as a Concomitant thereof Hooker Eccl. Pol. l. 5. n. 66. Tertul. de Baptismo c. 7. to confirm and perfect that which the Grace of the Spirit had already begun in Baptism And so we are to understand Tertullian where having spoken before of Baptism he addeth next Dehinc manus imponitur per benediciionem advocans invitans Spiritum sanctum c. Then saith he followeth imposition of hands with invocation and invitation of the holy Ghost which willingly cometh down from the Father to rest upon the purified and blessed bodies acknowledging as it were the Waters of Baptism for a fit seat And so long as they went together and were both commonly performed by the same Minister that is the Bishop there was the less notice taken of it and possibly the less efficacy ascribed unto it But when they came once to be severed as in the necessary absence of the Bishop they had been before and on this setting out of Parishes were likely for the most part to be after the Bishops out of their abundant care of the Churches welfare permitted that which was most necessary to the common Presbyter reserving that which was more honorary to themselves alone Thus was it in the first case in St. Cyprians time who lived as was before observed Vid. Ch. 4. of this 2d part in a kind of voluntary exile as did also divers other Bishops in the heat and violence of persecutions during whose absence from their Cities and their much distance from the Countrey there is no question to be made but that the Presbyters performed their Office in administration of that Sacrament and after which there is little question but that the Children so baptized were at some time or other brought for Confirmation Certain I am that to him they were brought to be confirmed and that he grounds the Institution of that Right on the example of Peter and John Cypr. Epist 73. in the Eighth Chap. of the Acts. Illi qui in Samaria crediderant c. The faithful in Samaria saith he had already received Baptism Only that which was wanting Peter and John supplyed by Prayer and imposition of hands to the end the holy Ghost might be poured on them Then adds Quod nunc quoque apud nos geritur which also is done amongst our selves when they which be already baptized are brought unto the Prelates of the Church Praepositis âcclesiae offeruntur that by our Prayer and Imposition of our hands they may receive the holy Ghost and be strengthened by the seal of the Lord. And in the second case Hier. advers Luciferianos it is whereof Hierom speaketh where he observeth it to be the custom of the Church ut ad eos qui longè in minoribus urbibus per Presbyteros Diaconos baptizati sunt Episcopus ad invocationem Spiritus Sancti manum impositurus excurrat that the Bishop should go abroad as in Visitation and imposing hands pray for the gift of the Holy Ghost on them who far off in the lesser Cities as also in Viculis Castellis in small Towns and Villages had by the Presbyters and Deacons been baptized But note withal that Hierom tells us that this imposition of hands was reserved only to the Bishop ad honorem potius sacerdotii quam ad legis necessitatem not that the Sacrament of Baptism was not perfect and compleat without it but rather out of a certain congruity and fitness to honour Prelacy with such preheminencies the safety of the Church depending upon the dignity of the chief Priest or Bishop By which it doth appear to be St. Hieroms opinion Hooker Eccl. Pol. l. 5. n. 66. as Hooker excellently collects That the Holy Ghost is received in Baptism that Confirmation is only a Sacramental complement that the reason why Bishops alone did ordinarily confirm was not because the benefit grace and dignity thereof was greater than of Baptism but rather for that by the Sacrament of Baptism men being admitted into Gods Church it was both reasonable and convenient that if he baptize them not unto whom the chiefest authority and charge of their souls belongeth yet for Honours sake and in token of his spiritual superiority over them because to bless is an act of Authority the performance of this annexed Ceremony should be sought for at his hands What other reasons there are for it in reference to the parties that receive the same I forbear to specifie as not conducing to the History of Episcopacy which I have in hand to which estate
the honour of giving Confirmation hath always been reserved to this very day Another thing which followed upon this setting forth of Parishes by Dionysius was the institution of a new Order in the Church betwixt the Bishop and the Presbyter being neither of the two but both Those they called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or Rural Bishops Of which being that there were two sorts according to the times and Ages when they were imployed we must distinguish them accordingly Now of these Chorepiscopi or Countrey Bishops some in the point and power of Order were no more than Presbyters having received no higher Ordination than to that function in the Ministery but were inabled by the Bishop under whom they served to exercise some parts of Ecclesiastical jurisdiction as much as was thought fit to commit unto them for the better reiglement of the Church And these I take it were more ancient than the present times appointed as the Bishops Visitors to go abroad into the Countrey to parts more remote to oversee such Presbyters as had been sent forth for the instruction of the people in small Towns and Villages and to perform such further Offices which the ordinary Presbyter for want of the like latitude of Jurisdiction was defective in Con. Neo-Caesaviens Can. 13. These I conceive to be of the same nature with our Rural Deans in some parts of England And these are they which in the Council of Neo-Caesarea are said to be ordained ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã after the manner of the Seventy and if no more than so then but simply Presbyters in the power of Order though ranked above them in regard of their Jurisdiction To which Pope Damasus agreeth also affirming quod ipsi iidem sunt qui Presbyteri Damas Ep. 5. ap Bin. Concil T. 1. Bellarm. de Clericis l. 1. c. 17. that they are the very same with Presbyters being first ordained ad exemplum Septuaginta after the example of the Seventy Others there were whom we find furnished with a further power qui verè Episcopalem consecrationem acceperant which really and truly had received Episcopal Consecration and yet were called Chorepiscopi because they had no Church nor Diocess of their own sed in aliena Ecclesia ministrabant but executed their authority in anothers charge And these saith Bellarmine are such as we now call Titular or Suffragan Bishops such as those heretofore admitted in the Church of England whereof consult the Act of Parliament 26 H. 8. cap. 14. Now that they had Episcopal consecration appeareth evidently by the Council of Antioch where it is said expresly of them ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that they had received the Ordination of Bishops Conc. Anti. cap. 10. and so by vertue of their Ordination might execute all manner of Episcopal Acts which the Bishop of the City might perform And to this Power they were admitted on two special reasons whereof the first was to supply the absence of the Bishop who being intent upon the business of the City where his charge was greatest could not so well attend the business of the Countrey or see how well the Presbyters behaved themselves in their several Parishes to which upon the late division they were sent abroad And this is called in the said Council of Antioch Id. Ibid. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the looking to the Administration of the Churches under their authority The other was to content such of the Novatian Bishops who rather would continue in their schism and faction than return unto the Catholick Church with the loss of the honour and calling which they had before whom they thought fit if they were willing to return to the Church again to suffer in the state of a Chorepiscopus And this is that which was so prudently resolved on in the Council of Nice in which fifteen of those which assembled there were of this Order or Estate viz. Conc. Nicen. can 8. That if any of them did return to the Catholick Church either in City or Village wherein there was a Bishop or a Presbyter before provided ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã he should enjoy the place and honour of a Presbyter but if that pleased him not ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã he should be fitted with the Office of a Chorepiscopus Which being the true condition of those Chorepiscopi it seems to me a plain and evident mistake that the Chorepiscopus who was but a Presbyter Smectymn pag. 36. should be affirmed to have power to impose hands and to ordain within his Precincts with the Bishops licence For certainly it is apparent by the Council of Antioch that the Chorepiscopi which had power of conferring Orders had to that end received Episcopal consecration and consequently could not but be more than Presbyters though at the first indeed they medled not therewith without the leave and licence of the Bishop whose Suffragans and Substitutes they were But when they had forgot their ancient modesty and did not keep themselves within the bounds and limits appointed to them which was to make two Bishops in one Diocess contrary to the ancient Canons the Church thought fitting to reduce them to their first condition And thereupon it was decreed in the Council of Ancyra ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Conc. Ancyran can 13. that it should no more be lawful for them to ordain either Presbyters or Deacons that is to say as it was afterwards explained in the Council of Antioch ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Conc. Antio can 10. without the liking of the Bishop under whom he served Howsoever that they might have somewhat of the Bishop in them they were permitted by that Canon to ordain Sub-Deacons Exorcists and Readers with which they were required to rest contented as also ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to send abroad their Letters unto other Bishops Ibid. can 8. which they called Literas Formatas Communicatorias as before was noted as those that had the full authority and power of Bishops did use of old to do at their Ordinations A point of honour denied unto the ordinary Presbyters in that very Canon Now to proceed The next Successor unto Dionysius in the See of Rome Ibid. Sept. 18. is called Felix but no more happy in some things than his Predecessour the Heresie of Paulus Samosatenus taking beginning in the time or Government in the one that of the Manichees commencing almost with the other Hujus tempore Manes quidam gente Persa vita moribus barbarus c. During his time saith Platina arose one Manes Platina in vita Felicis by birth a Persian in life and manners a Barbarian who took upon him to be Christ gathering unto him Twelve Disciples for the dispersing of his frenzies In this he differed amongst many things from Samosatenus he making Christ to be no better than a man and Manes making a vile sinful man to be the Christ I know Baronius doth place the rising of this Manicbean Heresie
Clergy in the Church of of God hath been or is maintained with less charge to the Subject than the established Clergy of the Church of England Page 167 2. That there is no man in the Kingdom of England who payeth any thing of his own towards the maintenance and support of his Parish-Minister but by his Easter-Offering Page 171 3. That the change of Tithes into Stipends will bring greater trouble to the Clergy than is yet considered and far less profit to the Countrey than is now pretended Page 174 The History of Episcopacy PART I. CHAP. I. The Christian Church first founded by our Lord and Saviour in an imparity of Ministers 1. THE several Offices of Christ our Saviour in the Administration of his Church Page 187 2. The aggregating of Disciples to him Page 188 3. The calling of the Apostles out of them and why twelve in number ibid. 4. Of the Name and Office of an Apostle Page 189 5. What things were specially required unto the making of an Apostle Page 190 6. All the Apostles equal in Authority amongst themselves ibid. 7. The calling and approinting of the 70 Disciples Page 191 8. A reconciliation of some different Opinions about the number Page 192 9. The twelve Apostles superiour to the Seventy by our Saviours Ordinance ibid. 10. What kind of superiority it was that Christ interdicted his Apostles Page 193 11. The several powers faculties and preheminences given to the Apostles by our Saviour Christ Page 194 12. That the Apostles were Bishops averred by the ancient Fathers ibid. 13. And by the text of holy Scripture Page 195 CHAP. II. The foundation of the Church of Hierusalem under the Government of Saint James the Apostle and Simeon one of the Disciples the two first Bishops of the same 1. Matthias chosen in the place of Judas Page 196 2. The coming of the Holy Ghost and on whom it fell Page 197 3. The greatest measure of the Spirit fell on the Apostles and therewithal the greatest power ibid. 4. The several Ministrations in the Church then given and that in ranking of the same the Bishops are intended in the name of Pastors Page 198 5. The sudden growth of the Church of Hierusalem and making Saint James the first Bishop there ibid. 6. The former point deduced from Scripture Page 199 7. And proved by the general consent of Fathers ib. 8. Of the Episcopal Chair or throne of James and his Successors in Hierusalem Page 200 9. Simeon elected by the Apostles to succeed Saint James Page 201 10. The meaning of the word Episcopus and from whence borrowed by the Church ibid. 11. The institution of the Presbyters Page 202 12. What interest they had in the common business of the Church whilst St. James was Bishop ib. 13. The Council of Jerusalem and what the Presbyters had to do therein Page 203 14. The institution of the Seven and to what Office they were called ibid. 15. The names of Ecclesiastical Functions promiscuously used in holy Scripture Page 204 CHAP. III. The Churches planted by Saint Peter and his Disciples originally founded in Episcopacy 1. The founding of the Church of Antioch and that Saint Peter was the first Bishop there Page 205 2. A reconciliation of the difference about his next Successors in the same Page 206 3. A List of Bishops planted by him in the Churches of the Circumcision Page 207 4. Proofs thereof from St. Peters general Epistle to the Jews dispersed according to the exposition of the Ancient Writers ibid. 5. And from Saint Pauls unto the Hebrews Page 208 6. Saint Pauls Praepositus no other than a Bishop in the Opinion of the Fathers ibid. 7. Saint Peter the first Bishop of the Church of Rome Page 209 8. The difference about his next Successors there reconciled also ibid. 9. An Answer unto such Objections as have been made against Saint Peter's being Bishop there Page 210 10. Saint Mark the first Bishop of Alexandria and of his Successors Page 221 11. Notes on the observations of Epiphanius and Saint Hierom about the Church of Alexandria Page 212 12. An observation of Saint Ambrose applyed unto the former business ibid. 13. Of Churches founded by Saint Peter and his Disciples in Italy France Spain Germany and the Isle of Britain and of the Bishops in them instituted Page 213 CHAP. IV. The Bishoping of Timothy and Titus and other of Saint Pauls Disciples 1. The Conversion of Saint Paul and his ordaining to the place of an Apostle Page 214 2. The Presbyters created by Saint Paul Acts 14. of what sort they were Page 215 3. Whether the Presbyters or Presbytery did lay on hands with Paul in any of his Ordinations Page 216 4. The people had no voice in the Election of those Presbyters by Saint Paul ordained Page 217 5. Bishops not founded by Saint Paul at first in the particular Churches by him planted and upon what reasons ibid. 6. The short time that the Churches of Saint Pauls Plantation continued without Bishops over them Page 218 7. Timothy made Bishop of Ephesus by Saint Paul according to the general consent of Fathers Page 219 8. The time when Timothy was made Bishop according to the holy Scripture Page 220 9. Titus made Bishop of Cretans and the truth verified herein by the antient Writers Page 221 10. An Answer unto some Objections against the subscription of the Epistle unto Titus ibid. 11. The Bishoping of Dionysius the Areopagite Aristarchus Gaius Epaphroditus Epaphras and Archippus Page 222 12. As also of Silas Sosthenes Sosipater Crescens and Aristobulus Page 223 13. The Office of a Bishop not incompetible with that of an Evangelist ibid. CHAP. V. Of the Authority and Jurisdiction given unto Timothy and Titus and in them to all other Bishops by the Word of God 1. The authority committed unto Timothy and Titus was to be perpetual and not personal only Page 224 2. The power of Ordination intrusted only unto Bishops by the Word of God according to the exposition of the Fathers Page 225 3. Bishops alone both might and did ordain without their Presbyters Page 226 4. That Presbyters might not ordain without a Bishop proved by the memorable case of Colluthus and Ischyras ibid. 5. As by those also of Maximus and a Spanish Bishop Page 227 6. In what respects the joint assistance of the Presbyters was required herein Page 228 7. The case of the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas objected and declared ibid. 8. The care of ordering Gods Divine Service a work peculiar to the Bishop Page 229 9. To whom the Ministration of the Sacraments also doth in chief belong Page 230 10. Bishops to have a care that Gods Word be preached and to encourage those that take pains therein ibid. 11. Bishops to silence and reprove such Presbyters as preach other Doctrines Page 231 12. As also to correct and reject the Heretick ibid. 13. The censure and correction of inferiour Presbyters in point of life and conversation doth
the Gift of Prayer as much kept in where the matter of the Prayer is prescribed unto us as when we are prescribed also in the form and words And secondly whereas it seems to be intended that Ministers should use no Form of Prayer before their Sermons or in any other part of worship but such as they call Conceived extemporary or unpremeditated Prayers though by the way all Conceived prayer require some premeditation Few of those Men who have conformed themselves to the Rules of the Directory have ventured on the Exercise of the Gift of Prayer most of them using certain and Set Forms of their own Composing and some not only using such Set Forms memoriter or without book as we use to say but reading them in their books or papers as they lie before them As great a stinting of the Spirit as contrary to the free Exercise of the Gift of Prayer as any publick Liturgy or Set Form of Worship can be thought to be But that which is most worth our noting is that those very Men who composed the Directory and laboured so industriously in abolishing all Set Forms of Worship by the Ordinance of the third of January should within a while after publish some Set Forms of Prayer to be used by such as were at Sea A supply of Prayer for the Ships Quo teneam nodo This is just fast and loose pretty sport for children For though it be pretended that these Set Forms are to be used only in the want of Ministers yet then it must be supposed withal that none but Ministers have the Gift of Prayer or if they have are not to be permitted the free exercise and use thereof as they see occasion which I conceive the Lay-brethren will not thank them for who think themselves as well Gifted as the Presbyters do Or if it be to be supposed it is to be supposed only in common Cases when no sense of extraordinary danger or approaching Ruine can quicken the dull spirits of Men to the free and voluntary acts of invocation to which the tempestuousness of the Sea and unavoidable fears of a sudden death give so many advantages that there cannot be a better Tutor to teach men to pray Insomuch that it grew into a proverb in the elder times Qui nescit orare discat navigare that he who knew not how to to pray should undertake some Voyage by Sea and there he would be sure to learn it Which shews that there was somewhat else which these good Men aimed at in crying down the publick Liturgie than the free exercise and use of the Gift of Prayer which few of them make use of now they have their ends in it and what that was it shall not be long before I tell you For if we look back into the busie times of Queen Elizabeths Reign we shall find there were some secret workings amongst those of the Puritan or Presbyterian party to draw all the power and Riches of the Church into their own hands And to this end the Ministers so bestirred themselves that as they had invaded the Government and Jurisdiction of the Church by setting up their Presbyters in several places so they resolved that the people should depend upon them alone as for prayer and preaching and all the other exercises of their Religion A thing which could not be effected if the Liturgy were not first abolish'd which of necessity must bring their own conceived prayers as they use to call them into estimation and make them the sole Rule and Rubrick of all publick Worship by means whereof they were sure to get that absolute Sovereignty in the peoples Consciences which in their practices and preachings they had so long aimed at But on the other side the Lay-brethren had their Ends in it also hoping that if they could destroy the Liturgy it would be no hard matter for them to ingross the Tithes unto themselves and to put their Ministers off with arbitrary Pensions as in other places Tithes being as they gave it out a Jewish imposition not to be laid upon free Subjects in the times of the Gospel never intended for the maintenance of a Preaching Ministery but of a Sacrificing Priesthood And so far they might seem to have the truth on their side that the first Tithes which were ever taken were not received with reverence to preaching to or instructing the people but with relation unto praying for them or offering up to God the daily and commanded Sacrifices in their behalf When Melchisedech took Tithes of Abraham it was not for any pains he had taken in preaching to him or instructing his little Army but for praying to God for his Blessings on them for the Text only tells us that he blessed Abraham praising God for his good success against his Enemies Gen. 14.19..20 and for performing that Office had the Tithes of all And when Tithes were paid by Gods appointment to the Priests and Levites it was not for their Teaching Preaching or Exhorting for we find not that any such Offices were either required of them or performed by them but for their service in the Temple the offering the appointed and occasional Sacrifices performed with several kinds of Prayer agreeable to the occasion and the Spiritual necessities of that people Tithes therefore being the reward and maintenance of a praying not a preaching Ministery the Liturgy being taken away and Preaching made the main if not the sole work of the Minister there could no reason be alledged why the people might not withold their Tithes or why the Tithes might not be otherwise imployed as the State thought fit This business being resumed and more hotly followed in these latter times and some proposals set on foot for depriving the Ministers of their Tithes drawing them into some Common Treasuries and out of them allotting such maintenance to the Ministers as the necessities and wants of the State could spare I publish'd a Discourse entituled The undeceiving of the people in the point of Tithes and to my Preface to that Treatise do refer the Reader both for the motives which induced me having no ends of my own in it to that Undertaking the whole Design and Method of it and finally the Reasons why I did so disguise my name that I might not appear for the Author of it At this time I shall only add that Tithes being now the only remaining Patrimony which is left the Church for the encouragement and reward of a learned Ministery should they be also taken from it and the poor Clergy forced to depend on uncertain Stipends I see not what can follow thereupon but a gross night of Ignorance and Egyptian darkness especially in those who now hold out the light to others For certainly that saying of Panormitan will be always true Ad tenuitatem Beneficiorum necessaria sequitur ignorantia sacerdotum And if ignorance once possess the Priests I hope it will not be offensive if I use that name
his time save that the latter clause was altered and that for praising God for Saints departed put instead thereof as we may see in Bishop Latimers Sermon preached at Stanford whereof more anon Hitherto are we clear for King Edwards time and no less clear are we for King Henries also especially for the latter part thereof in which the use of Bidding prayers or moving the people unto prayer had by him been imposed upon the Clergy before this time the people had been trained up in a very gross ignorance not knowing explicitely the Articles of their belief accustomed to a Latin service in their publick Churches and to a daily stint of Pater-nosters and Ave-Maries in the Latin tongue which few or none of them understood But that King having taken on himself the Title of supreme Head of the Church of England and adding of the same to the stile Imperial viz. Anno 1535 there issued out an order by his Authority in this Form that followeth This is an Order taken for Preaching and Bidding of Beads in all Sermons to be made within this Realm First Whosoever shall Preach in the presence of the Kings Highness and the Queen's Grace shall in the bidding of Beads pray for the whole Catholick Church of Christ as well quick as dead and especially for the Catholick Church of this Realm and first as we be most bounden for our Soveraign Lord King Henry the VIII being immediatly next under God the only supreme Head of this Catholick Church of England And for the most gracious Lady Qu. Anne his Wife and for the Lady Elizabeth Daughter and Heir to them both And no further Item the Preacher in all other places of this Realm not in the presence of the Kings said Highness and the Queens Grace shall in the bidding of the Beads pray first in manner and Form and word for word as is above ordained and limited Adding thereto in the second part For all Archbishops and Bishops and for the whole Clergy of this Realm And specially such as the Preacher shall name of his devotion And thirdly for all Dukes Earls Marquess's and for all the whole Temporalty of this Realm and specially for such as the Preacher shall name of devotion And finally for the souls of all them that be dead and specially for such as it shall please the Preacher to name So far the very words of the Injunction as it relates unto the business now in hand which differs very little if at all in Form and fashion though there be some difference in the matter from those which followed in the Reign of K. Edward VI. and Q. Eliz. both of which out of question took their hint from hence Besides it is to be observed that the said King having assumed unto himself the stile and Title of supreme Head of the Church of England as before is said did before this by Proclamation dated June 9. An. 1534. declare and signifie his Royal pleasure that all and all manner of Ecclesiastical persons should teach preach publish and declare in all manner of Churches the said his just Title Stile and Jurisdiction on every Sunday and high Feast throughout the year which after was enjoyned in the Injunction of the year Anno 1536 set out by the Lord Cromwell being then Vicar General with the Kings authority As also in the Injunctions of King Edward the 6. An. 1547. which again was revived in the Queens Injunctions Anno 1559. As after in the first Convocation of King James in the year 1603. And besides this it was appointed in the said Injunctions of King Henry the 8. that the Preacher or Parochial Priest should every Sunday in the Pulpit rehearse distinctly the Lords prayer the Articles of the Creed and the ten Commandments in the English Tongue for the better instructing of the people in their duties both to God and Man which being ordered at the same time as the bidding of the Beads in the Forni spoken of before was first enjoyned shews plainly the intention and effect of both to be no other than to instruct the people in the principles of faith and piety So that as well to teach the people how to pray and what things they chiefly were to pray for in the publick meeting as to make known unto them the Kings just Title by which they were to recommend him in their devotions the Form before remembred of Bidding prayers or Beads was prescribed the Priests by them to be proposed unto the people in their several Sermons For instance of the which in point of practice in the said Kings time we need but look upon a Sermon of Bishop Latimers being that before the Convocation Anno 1536. which was the 28. of King Henries Reign In which being entred on his matter as the use then was he thus bids the prayers That all that I say shall may turn to the glory of God your Souls health and the edifying of Christs Body I pray you all to pray with me unto God and that also in your Petitions you desire that these two things he vouchsase to grant us First a mouth for me to speak rightly next Ears for you that in hearing me you may take profit at my hands and that this may come to effect you shall desire him unto whom our Master Christ bad we should pray saying even the same prayer which Christ himself did Institute Wherein we shall pray for our Sovereign Lord the King chief and supreme Head of the Church of England under Christ and for the most excellent gracious and vertuous Lady Queen Jane his most lawful Wife and for all his whether they be of the Clergy or Laity whether they be of the Nobility or else other his Grace's Subjects humbly beseeching Almighty God that every one of us even from the highest to the lowest may in his degree and Calling earnestly endeavour to set forth the glory of God and the Gospel of his Son Christ Jesus that so living in his fear and love we may in the end of our days depart out of this life in his friendship and favour For these graces and what else his wisdom knoweth more needful for us let us pray as we are taught saying Our Father c. Put all that hath been said together and the sum is this That if we do interpret the Canon of the year 1603. by the Queens Injunctions and construe both of them according to the Injunctions in King Edwards and King Henries days we shall see plainly that the Form of prayer appointed by the Canon is no new Invention neither obtruded on the Church by the Bishops of these times on a design to stint the Spirit as some now give out or on a like design of Archbishop Bancroft and the Prelates of his time as is said by others but carried and transmitted from hand to hand since the very first beginning of the Reformation nor did it stand thus only in point of Law not being reduced unto practice
Agents in this Ordination Cum constituissent illis when they had Ordained and they is there a relative and points to Paul and Barnabas mentioned v. 20. They preached the Gospel they returned to Lystra and finally they here Ordained Of any one that laid hands with them on these Presbyters heads which was the ceremony by them used in this Ordination as the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã doth plainly manifest ne My Lucilianum not a word in Scripture Indeed it cannot be conceived that in those places wherein there were no men in Sacred Orders any should joyn with the Apostles in that sacred action So that the Presbyters which were here ordained could have no other hands laid on them than those of Paul and Barnabas if they joyned together and did not rather severally and apart perform that ceremony And if that the Apostles by the imposition of their own hands only could perform it now how came they to be shortned after how came they so devested of that sacred priviledge as to want others to be joyned with them and not to make a Presbyter without the co-assistancy of the Presbytery The Holy Ghost was no less powerful in them after this than it had been formerly neither did Paul or want or crave the help of any in giving of the Holy Ghost on the like occasions in the times that followed Certain I am Act. 19. v. 6. when Paul was at Ephesus though Timothy and others were then present with him yet none but he laid hands upon the twelve Disciples And yet upon the laying on of his hands The Holy Ghost came on them and they spake with tongues and prophesied Which if it were an Act of Ordination Beza Annot. in Act. 19. v. 1. as Beza thinks and it is likely so to be because the Text saith that they spake with tongues and prophesied then have we here more Presbyters created by laying on of Pauls hands only without help of others As for that passage in the first Epistle to Timothy 1 Tim. 4.14 2 Tim. 1.6 wherein the Presbytery may be thought to lay hands upon him let it be ballanced with another in the second Epistle where the Apostle doth assume the whole performance to himself as his proper act and then the difference which appears will be quickly ended If Timothy received those gifts which did enable him for the Holy Ministery by laying on of Pauls hands only as it seems he did what interest could the Presbytery challenge in that sacred action If he received it joyntly from the Presbytery what influence had Saint Pauls hands on him more than all the rest Assuredly Saint Pauls hands were not grown so impotent that they needed help or that he could not give the graces of the Holy Ghost by laying on his own hands only as he had done formerly And therefore if the Presbytery did concur herein it was not that the business could not be performed without them but either to declare the good affections which they did bear unto the person or to express their joyful approbation of his calling to that sacred function 1 Tim. 1.16 1 Tim. 4.14 of whom so many Prophesies had gone out before or finally to contribute their prayers and blessings to the solemnity of so grave and great a work And so I think the business will be best made up if Paul be suffered to enjoy the honour of giving unto Timothy by the imposition of his hands the gifts and graces of the Spirit and the Presbytery be permitted not to want their share in the performance of the outward ceremony Certainly that the power of Ordination was in one alone that is to say in the Apostle is affirmed by Calvin Calvin in 2. ad Tim. 1. v. 6. Who having canvassed the point doth resolve at last Vnum tantum fuisse qui manus imponeret Which is indeed the safest tenet and most agreeable unto Antiquity Estius in 1. ad Tim. c. 4. v. 14. And therefore Estius in my mind did resolve it well when he did thus divide the business Ceremoniam impositionis manuum à pluribus fuisse adhibitam sed solum Paulum ea peregisse quae Sacramento erant substantialia Unless perhaps we may conceive as perhaps we may that Timothy received two Ordinations the one unto the Office of a Presbyter in which the Presbytery might concur as to the outward pomp or ceremony the other to the function of a Bishop in which because the Presbyters might not concur no not so much as to the outward act or ceremony he was Ordained by laying on of Pauls hands only The last thing offer'd to consideration is the election of the persons which are here ordained which some refer unto the people Concerning that the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which Saint Luke here useth doth signifie a popular manner of election used by the holding up of hands Ortum est hoc verbum ex Groecorum consuetudine Beza Annot. in Act. 14.23 qui porrectis manibus suffragia ferebant as Beza notes it on the place who hereupon translates the word Cum per suffragia creassent wherein he hath been followed by some Translators of our Bibles who express it thus When they had created Elders by Election But whatsoever use the word might have in the old Greek Writers assuredly it either had no such use now or if it had it quite excludes the people of those Churches from having any hand in this Election ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã however used amongst the Grecians to signifie the approbation of the people testifyed by the holding up of their hands yet in the Church-construction it signifyeth Ordination done by the laying on of hands And this to save the labour of a further search is very throughly avouched by Calvin Calvin in Act. c. 14. v. 23. where he acknowledgeth that amongst Ecclesiastical Writers the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã was used pro solenni ordinationis ritu for the solemn ceremony of Ordination which is in holy Scripture called Imposition of hands Particular instances hereof he that lists to see may find them gathered to his hand in the learned work of Bishop Bilson The perpet governm of Ch. Ch. c. 7. Calvin us supra before remembred But whereas Calvin hence collecteth that Paul and Barnabus permitted the Election of these Presbyters to the common suffrage of the people and that themselves did only preside therein Quasi moderatores ne quid rumultuose fieret only as Moderators of the business to see that it was fairly carried What other ground soever he might have for his conjecture assuredly he could collect none from the word here used For if that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã did signifie election by holding up of hands Id. ibid. qualiter in Comitiis populi fieri solet as in Assemblies of the people it did use to be as he himself affirms it doth Then certainly none but Paul and Barnabas holding up
some Miracle or great hiatus in the story I leave to any man to be imagined Timothy and Titus being thus setled in their Episcopal Sees we must pass on to see if we can meet with any other of Saint Pauls Disciples or his assistants if you will that were entrusted with the like Authority And first we meet with Dionysius the Areopagite ordained by Saint Paul as is most likely the first Bishop of Athens but howsoever questionless ordained the first Bishop there Another Dionysius Bishop of Corinth Ap. Euseb Eccl. hist l. 4. c. 22. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as also l. 3. c. 4. who in all probability was born whilst Saint John was living doth expresly say it viz. that Dionysius the Areopagite being converted to the Faith by the Apostle Paul ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã was first ordained Bishop of the Church of Athens The foresaid Dionysius the Corinthian doth also tell us Ap. Euseb l. c. 22. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that Publius succeeded the Areopagite after him Quadratus both which were Disciples of the Apostles the former of the two being conceived to be the same Acts 28.8 whose Father Paul cured so miraculously in the Isle of Malta Next for the Church of Thessalonica August 4. the Martyrologies inform us that Aristarchus one of Pauls Companions ab eodem Apostolo Thessalonicensium Episcopus ordinatus was by him ordained Bishop of the Thessalonians And after him succeeded Caius whom Saint Paul mentioned in his Epistle to the Romans Rom. 16.23 Comment in Epi. ad Rom. c. 16. by the name of Gaius the Host as he calls him of the whole Church Certain I am that Origen reports him to be Bishop here and that upon the known tradition of his Elders Fertur sane ex traditione majorum quod hic Gaius Episcopus fuerit Thessalonicensis Ecclesiae as his own words are So for the Church of the Philippians Saint Paul hath told us of Epaphroditus one whom he mentioneth oftentimes Phil. 2.29 in his Epistle to that people that he was not only his Brother and Companion in labour and his Fellow-souldier Vestrum autem Apostolum but he was also their Apostle Theodor. in 1. ad Tim. c. 3. Ask of Theodoret what Saint Paul there meaneth and he will tell you that he was their Bishop For in his Comment on the first to Timothy he gives this note Eos qui nunc vocantur Episcopi nominabant Apostolos that in those times in which Saint Paul writ that Epistle those who are now called Bishops were called Apostles And this he proves out of this passage of Saint Paul that so in this respect ita Philippensium Apostolus erat Epaphroditus Epaphroditus is called the Apostle of the Philippians Which clearly sheweth that in his opinion Epaphroditus was Bishop of the Philippians as Titus of the Cretans and Timothy of the Ephesians in whom he afterwards doth instance Beza indeed doth render the Greek word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by the Latin Legatus in which he hath been followed by the latter English who read it Messenger But Calvin doth not only keep himself to the old Translation Calvin in ãâã lip c. 2. though he take notice of the other but he prefers the old before it Sed prior sensus meliùs convenit as more agreeable unto the meaning of the place For the Colossians next we find the names of Epaphras and Archippus their two first Bishops in the Epistle to that Church And first for Epaphras it is conceived that he first preached the Faith of Christ to the Colossians And this Saint Paul doth seem to intimate in the first Chapter of the same Epistle saying Ver. 7. As ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellow servant Certain it is that in the Martyrologies he is affirmed to be the Bishop of this Church ab eodem Apostolo ordinatus Julii 19. and that he was ordained Bishop by the hands of Paul But being after Prisoner with Saint Paul at Rome Archippus undertook the Episcopal charge Colos 4.17 whom Paul exhorteth to take heed unto the Ministery which he had received of the Lord and to fulfil it Most sure I am that Ambrose writing on those words doth make Archippus Bishop of Colossi by the name of their Praepositus Ambros in Colos 4. V. cap. 3. n. 5. or Governour of which see before adding withal that after Epaphras had seasoned them in the Truth of God hic accepit regendam eorum Ecclesiam Archippus took the Government of that Church upon him For other of Saint Pauls Disciples we find in Dorotheus if he may be credited that Silas Pauls most individual Companion Dorotheas in Synopsi was Bishop of the Church of Corinth the truth whereof shall be examined more at large in the second Century and that Sosipater mention of whom is made Acts 20 was ordained Bishop of Iconium wherein Hippolitus concurring with him doth make the matter the more probable Of Sosthenes of whom see Acts 18. 1 Cor. 1. the same two Authors do report that he was Bishop of Colophon one of the Cities of the lesser Asia But leaving these more Eastern Countreys let us look homeward towards the West And there we find that Crescens whom Saint Paul at his first coming unto Rome 2 Tim. 4. had sent into Galatia to confirm the Churches was after by him sent on the like occasion into Gaule or Gallia there to preach the Gospel for so I rather chuse to atone the business than correct the Text and read it Crescens in Galliam with Epiphanius Epiphan haeres 51. n. 11. For having with so good success been employed formerly in Galatia he might with better comfort undertake the service of Preaching Christ unto the Gaules whereof the Galatians were a branch or Colony Now that he did indeed Preach Christs Gospel there is affirmed positively both by Epiphanius and Theodoret two very eminent and ancient Writers Epiphan haeres 51. Theodor. in Epl. 2. ad Tim. Ado in Chron. and Ado Viennensis a Writer though of lesser standing yet of good repute affirmeth that he was put upon this employment quo tempore Paulus in Hispà nias pervenisse creditur at such time as it is conceived that the Apostle Paul went into Spain which was in Anno 61. as Baronius thinketh there being left and having planted a Church of Christ in the City of Vienna now in that Province which is called Daulphine he became the first Bishop of the same Primus ejusdem Civitatis Episcopus saith the Martyrologie Decemb. 29. In Chronico And to this Ado one of his successors also doth agree adding withal that after he had sat there some few years he returned back again into Galatia leaving one Zacharias to succeed him Finally not to leave out Britain it is recorded in the Greek Menologies that Aristobulus whom Saint Paul speaks of Rom. 16. being one of the Seventy and afterwards a follower of Saint Paul Menolog
Craec in Martii 14. was by him ordained Bishop of Britain ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as the words there are a region full of fierce and savage people and that having there setled the Church and ordained Presbyters and Deacons in the same he did there also end his life The Reverend Primate of Armagh out of a fragment attributed to Heleca De Britannic Eccl. prim c. 1. sometimes Bishop of Saragossa in Spain doth recite a passage wherein it is affirmed of this Aristobulus missum in Angliam Episcopum that he was sent Bishop into England for so the Author calleth this Countrey according to the name it had when he writ the same But these things which relate to the British Churches I rather shall refer to our learned Antiquaries to be considered of more fully than affirm any thing my self But to look back on Timothy and Titus whom we left lately in their several Churches I hear it said that notwithstanding all those proofs before produced from the ancient yet being Evangelists as they were they could be no Bishops Smectymn p. 48. Bishops being tied to the particular care of that flock or Church over which God had made them Overseers but the Evangelists being Planetary sent up and down from place to place by the Apostles as the necessities of the Church required Besides that moving in an higher sphere than that of Bishops and being Co-partners with Saint Paul in his Apostleship or Apostolical function Unbishopping of Tim. Tit. p. 36. it had been a devesting of themselves of their Apostolical jurisdiction and preheminence to become Bishops at the last and so descend from a superiour to an inferiour Office For answer whereunto we need say but this that the gift of being an Evangelist might and did fall on any rank of ordinary Ministers as might that also of the Prophet Philip one of the seven a Deacon as it is generally conceived but howsoever Ministring unto the Church in an inferiour place or Office was notwithstanding an Evangelist and Agabus though perhaps but a simple Presbyter one of the Seventy past all question was a Prophet too Philip as he was one of the Seven was tied to a particular employment and of necessity sometimes Acts 6.12 must leave the Word of God to serve Tables Yet the same Philip as he was furnished by the Lord with gifts and graces for gaining Souls to God Almighty and doing the work of an Evangelist must leave the serving of those Tables to preach the Word And Agabus Acts 11.27 28. 21.10 if he were a Presbyter whether of Hierusalem from whence he is twice said to come or of some other Church that I will not say might notwithstanding his employment in a particular Church repair to Antioch or Caesarea as the Spirit willed him there to discharge the Office of a Prophet So then both Timothy and Titus might be Bishops as to their ordinary place and calling though in relation unto their extraordinary gifts they were both Evangelists As for their falling from a higher to a lower function from an Evangelist unto a Bishop I cannot possibly perceive where the fall should be They that object this will not say but Timothy at the least was made a Presbyter for wherefore else did the Presbytery which they so much stand on lay hands upon him And certainly if it were no diminution from an Evangelist to become a I resbyter it was a preferment unto the Evangelist from being but a Presbyter to become a Bishop But for the Bishopping of Timothy and Titus as to the quod sit of it that so they were in the opinion of all ancient Writers we have said enough We will next look on the authority committed to them to see what further proof hereof may be brought for that CHAP. V. Of the Authority and Jurisdiction given by the Word of God to Timothy and Titus and in them to all other Bishops 1. The Authority committed to Timothy and Titus was to be perpetual and not personal only 2. The power of Ordination intrusted only unto Bishops by the Word of God according to the judgments of the Fathers 3. Bishops alone both might and did Ordain without their Presbyters 4. That Presbyters might not Ordain without a Bishop proved by the memorable case of Coluthus and Ischyras 5. As by those also of Maximus and a Spanish Bishop 6. In what respects the joint assistance of the Presbyters was required herein 7. The case of the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas declared and qualified 8. The care of ordering Gods Divine Service a work peouliar to the Bishop 9. To whom the Ministration also of the Saoraments doth in chief belong 10. Bishops to have a care that Gods Word be preached and to encourage those that take pains that way 11. Bishops to silence and correct such Presbyters as preach other doctrines 12. As also to reprove and reject the Heretick 13. The censure and correction of inferiour Presbyters doth belong to Bishops 14. And of Lay-people also if they walk unworthy of their Christian calling 15. Conjectural proofs that the description of a Bishop in the first to Timothy is of a Bishop truly and properly so called THEY who object that Timothy and Titus were Evangelists and so by consequence no Bishops Unbishopping of Tim. Tit. p. 60 61 c. have also said and left in writing that the authority committed to them by Saint Paul did not belong to them at all as Bishops but Evangelists only But this if pondered as it ought hath no ground to stand on The calling of Evangelists as it was Extraordinary so it was but temporary to last no longer than the first planting of the Church for which so many signal gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit were at first poured on the Disciples I know not any Orthodox Writer who doth not in this point agree with Calvin Com. in 4. ad Eph. v. 11. who in his Comment on the Epistle to the Ephesians gives us this instruction Deum Apostolis Evangelistis Prophetis Ecclesiam suam non nisi ad tempus ornasse that God adorned his Church with Prophets Evangelists and Apostles for a season only having before observed that of all those holy ministrations there recited Postrema tantum duo perpetua esse the two last viz. Pastors and Teachers which he takes for two were to be perpetual But on the other side power to ordain fit Ministers of what sort soever as also to reprove and censure those that behaved themselves unworthily authority to convent and reject an Heretick to punish by the censures of the Church all such as give offence and scandal to the Congregation by their exhorbitant and unruly living this ought to be perpetual in the Church of Christ This the Apostle seems to intimate when he said to Timothy I charge thee in the sight of God 1 Tim. 6.14 and before Jesus Christ that thou keep this Commandment without spot
particular the case of the Reformed Churches may not unfitly be resembled unto that of Scipio as it is thus related in the story Valer. Maxim l. 3. c. 7. Upon some want of money for the furtherance of the necessary affairs of State he demanded a supply from the common Treasury But when the Quaestor pretending that it was against the Laws refused to open it himself a private person seised upon the Keys Et patefacto aerario legem necessitati cedere coegit and made the Law give way to the necessities of the Commonwealth So in like manner the better to reform Religion many good men made suit to be supplyed out of the common Treasuries of the Church to be admitted to the Ministery according to the common course of Ordination Which when it was denyed them by the Bishops the Churches Quaestors in this case they rather chose to seise upon the Keys and receive Ordination from the hands of private persons than that the Church should be unfurnished This I conceive to be the Case at the first beginning But whether with the change of their condition the case be altered or whether they continue in the state they were I am not able to say any thing It is a good old saying and to that I keep me ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that where I am a stranger I must be no medler Hitherto of the power of Ordination committed by Saint Paul to his two Bishops of Ephesus and Crete and in them to all other Bishops whatsoever We must next look upon the power of Jurisdiction and that consists in these particulars First in the ordering of Gods Service and the Administration of his Sacraments Secondly in the preaching of his Word censuring those that broach strange Doctrines and on the other side encouraging and rewarding such as are laborious in their Calling and lastly in correction of the manners of such as walk unworthy of the Gospel of Christ whether of the Clergy or the Laity To these three Heads we may reduce the several points and branches of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction so far forth as the same hath been committed by the Word of God and by the practice of the Church unto the managing and care of Bishops First for the ordering of Gods Service and all things thereunto pertaining Saint Paul gave Timothy this Direction that first of all 1 Tim. 2.1 Supplications Prayers Intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men for Kings and all that be in authority that men may lead a quiet and a peaceable life in all godliness and honesty This as it was a common Duty and appertaining unto every man in his several place so the Apostle leaves it unto Timothy to see that men performed this Duty and were not suffered to neglect it For that the Prayers here intended were not the private Prayers of particular persons but the publique of the Congregation is agreed on all sides Calvin conceives it so for the Protestant Writers Paulus simpliciter jubet quoties orationes publicae habentur Calvin in 1. ad Tim. c. 2. that Paul doth here appoint what he would have to be comprized in our publique Prayers Estius for the Pontificians doth resolve so also Estius in 1 ad Tim. c. 2. that the place must be understood de publicis Ecclesiae precibus of the publique Prayers of and in the Congregation And that the Western Churches may not stand alone Theophylact and Oecumenius do expound the words Theophyl Occum in locum ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of the daily Service used in the Church of God who also call it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the first Christian Duty Now ask of Chrysostom Chrysost in 1 ad Tim. c. 2. to whom it doth belong to see this Duty carefully discharged as it ought to be and he will tell you 't is the Priest or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as he which is the common Father of the Universe and therefore to take care of all as doth the Lord whose Priest or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã he is And ask of Oecumenius Oecum Ibid. than whom none better understood that Fathers Writings whom he doth there mean by the Priest or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and he will tell you that it is the Bishop ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. It doth saith he belong unto the Bishop as the common Father to make Prayers for all men faithful and infidels friends and enemies persecuters and slanderers Lyra speaks home and fully to this purpose also For this he makes to be secundus actus ad Episcopum pertinens the second Act belonging to the Bishops Office that Prayers be offered unto God The Ministration of the Sacraments being a principal part of Gods publique service and comprehending Prayers and Supplications and giving of thanks must be looked on next And this we find to be committed principally to the Bishops care and by their hands to such inferiour Ministers in the Church of God as they thought fit to trust with so great a charge Mat. 28.19 Luk. 22.19 To teach and to Baptize was given in the charge to the Apostles and unto none but they did Christ say hoc facite that they should take the bread and break and bless it and so deliver it to the Communicants So also in the blessing and distributing of the other element This power they left in general to their Successors to the Bishops chiefly and such as were found worthy of so high a trust Ep. ad Smyrnens by their permission Ignatius who lived nearest to our Saviours time and had been conversant with the Apostles doth expresly say it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. It is not lawful without the Bishop either to Baptize or make Oblations or celebrate the Eucharist or finally to keep the Love-feasts or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which were then in use for those I take it were the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which the Father speaks of Tertul. de Baptismo c. 17. Tertullian for the second Century doth affirm as much The right saith he of giving Baptism belongs to the chief Priest that is the Bishop next to the Presbyters or Deacons non tamen sine authoritate Episcopi yet not without the Bishops Licence or Authority Concil Laodic Can. 57. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã In the third Century the Councel held in Laodicea is as plain and full save that indeed it is more general in which the Presbyter is tyed from doing any thing i. e. such things as appertain to his ministration ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã without the knowledge of his Bishop Hieron adv Luciferian Saint Hierom finally no great advancer of the Episcopal authority and jurisdiction having considered of it better doth conclude at last that if the Bishop had not a preheminence in the Church of God there would be presently almost as many Schisms as Priests And hence it is saith he Vt sine Episcopi missione neque Presbyter
Strings and Harp In which he speaks if you observe as of a Bishop that had been long confirmed and setled in his place of Government and knew the temper of his people one that was vested with a constant and fixt preheminence above his Presbyters not with a temporary Presidency and no more than so But whatsoever doubt or scruple may be made about Onesimus his being Bishop or Angel at this time of the Church of Ephesus certain I am there can be none pretended against Polycarpus as if he were not then the Angel of the Church of Smyrna he being made Bishop of that See 13 years before Pullenger in Apocal Conc. 9. as Bullinger computes the time and holding it a long while after no less than 74 years as the Annals reckon it without vicissitude or alteration Now that this Polycarpus was Bishop of this Church of Smyrna appears by such a cloud of Witnesses as he that questioneth it may with equal reason Ignat. Vpist ad Polycarp make doubt of yesterday And first we have Ignatius Bishop of Antioch one of his Co-temporaries who taking him in transitu as he was led from Syria towards Rome to suffer Martyrdom did after write to him an Epistle in which he stileth him in the superscription ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Bishop of the Church of Smyrna Irenaeus apud Euse l. 4. c. 10. con haeres l. 3. c. 3. Irenaeus one of his Disciples and who had often heard the good man discourse of his conversation with Saint John reporteth that he was not only taught by the Apostles and had conversed with many of those who had seen Christ in the flesh ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but also was by them appointed Bishop of the Church in Smyrna Next comes in the whole Church of Smyrna Apud Euseb Eccl. hist l. 4. c. 15. in their Encyclical Epistle of his death and Martyrdom where he is called an Apostolical and Prophetical Doctor ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and Bishop of the Catholick Church of Smyrna After them speaks Polycrates Ap. Euseb hist Eccl. l. 5. c. 24. Bishop of Ephesus one of the Successours of Onesimus and so by consequence his Neighbour who being 38 years of age at the time of the death of Polycarpus attesteth to him saying amongst other things ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that he had been both Bishop and Martyr in Smyrna Tertal lib. de praescript Tertullian who lived about the same time with Polycrates though in another Clime or Region is more particular in the point not only making him Bishop of Smyrna as the others do but à Johanne collocatum refert making him to be placed or established there by Saint John the Apostle Euseb hist Eccl. l. 3. c. 30. From these hands and no doubt from many others it came at last to Eusebius Bish of Caesarea by whom it is affirmed that he was made Bishop of the Church of Smyrna ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by those which had beheld the Lord and were his Ministers Saint Hierom finally doth inform us De Scryptor Eccl. in Polycar that he was a Disciple of Saint Johns ab eo Smyrnae Episcopus ordinatus and by him ordained Bishop of Smyrna By which it is most clear and evident that he was the Angel or Bishop of this Church and thereto constituted by Saint John other of the Apostles and Disciples of our Lord and Saviour concurring in the Ordination No titular or nominal Bishop only but such a one as had a body of Presbyters assistant and subservient to him as doth most evidently appear out of Ignatius his Epistle unto those of Smyrna Ignat. Epist ad Smyrnen wherein he telleth them ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. that they ought not to do any thing no not so much as to administer the Sacrament without the consent and approbation of their Bishop The Angel of the Church of Pergamus is next in order but who this was is not so easie to determine That there had been a Bishop of this Church before is proved by Paraeus out of Aretas Caesariensis Paraeus Com. in Apocal. c. 2. who makes Antipas whom we find mentioned Apocal 2.13 to be the Pastor of this Church under the Empire of Domitian who being cruelly put to death by the Pergamenians successor ejus haud dubiè fuit iste ad quem scribit his successour as there Paraeus doth observe must out of question be the man to whom as to the Angel of that Church these things are written And he informs us this withal that similis supplicii metu for fear of the like punishment which Antipas suffered though he continued constant in the faith of Christ he might grow more remiss and negligent in looking to his Pastoral Office So then the Angel of this Church was Pergamensis Episcopus the Bishop of Pergamus as he plainly calls him Id. in v. 14. and possibly may be that Gaius whom Clemens makes to be ordained Bishop of this Church by the hands of some of the Apostles Or if not he yet questionless some one particular person as Paraeus saith this we may rely upon though his name we know not Next is the Angel of the Church of Thyatira Antistes Thyatirensis that is Id. in v. 18. the Bishop of Thyatira saith Paraeus That Thyatira had a Bishop as other the seven Churches had was affirmed before And probably the Bishop of it at this time might be that Carpus who by the name of Carpus Bishop of Thyatira did suffer Martyrdom during the persecution raised by Antoninus whereof consult the Martyrologies Apr. 13. Euseb l. 4. c. 14. compared with Eusebius lib. 4. However we may take what Paraeus gives us that the Angel of this Church was the Bishop of it one singular and individual Person to whom our Saviour doth direct his charge though there be somewhat in the Text which is alledged to the contrary For whereas in the two former Epistles and the beginning of the present the stile is singular I know thy works Apoc. 2.2 4 9 13 14 19 20. and I have somewhat against thee here on a suddain as it were the stile is altered and it is Vobis autem dico but I say to you and unto the rest in Thyatira Apoc. 2.24 Smectym p. 53. Hence some infer that by the word Angel in that place is meant not any one singular person but the whole company of Presbyters and by the rest the residue of that People there the people governed and the governours in the plural number But this as I conceive will avail but little these alterations or enallages of number being no rare matters in the Scripture as doth appear by that so memorable place in the first of Timothy Salvabitur autem si permanserint 1 Tim. 2.15 where the Apostle doth begin in she and end in they Besides it is observed that the antienter and better Copies read it without the copulative
it not been a graft of his own heavenly planting Which graft what root it took in this present Age in little more than half an hundred years after Christs Ascension we shall best see by looking on this brief Chronologie which I have drawn to that intent The state of Holy Church in this first CENTURY Anno Chr. 34. OVR Saviour Christ suffered and rose again and ascended into glory S. James made Bishop of Hierusalem 35. The conversion of Paul 39. S. Peter takes upon him the Bishoprick or government of the Church of Antioch 41. S. Peter baptizeth Cornelius and his family opening the door of life unto the Gentiles 43. The Disciples first called Christians at Antiochia 44. Bishops ordained by Saint Peter in the Churches of sidon Berytus and Laodicea of Syria and other Cities of the East Saint Peter cometh to Rome and undertaketh the government of the Churches of the Circumcision founded in that City Paul and Barnabas called forth by the holy Ghost to the Apostleship of the Gentiles 45. Euodius made Bishop of Antioch S. Mark ordained Bishop of Alexandria 46. Saint Peter ordaineth many of his Disciples Bishops and sendeth them abroad into France Italy and Spain 49. Saint Paul ordaineth Presbyters in Churches of his Plantation 50. Eucherius one of St. Peters Disciples made Bishop of the Church of Triers in Germany 51. The Jews banished from Rome by Claudius Caesar in which regard Saint Peter leaving Rome committeth the government of his Church to Cletus by birth a Roman The Apostolical Council in Hierusalem Saint Paul maketh his first Journey into Macedonia 52. Saint Paul first Preacheth at Athens Corinth c. 55. Saint Paul taketh up his aboad at Ephesus and from thence writeth to those of Corinth 57. Timothy ordained by Saint Paul the first Bishop of Ephesus Titus ordained Bishop of Crete by the same Apostle Other of Pauls Disciples ordained Bishops for the Eastern Churches 58. Saint Paul calleth the Elders from Ephesus to Miletum 59. Saint Paul brought Prisoner unto Rome takes on himself the Government of the Churches of the Gentiles there 60. Archippus Bishop of the Colossians Epaphroditus ordained Bishep of the Philippians 61. Crescens made Bishop of Vienna in Daulphine Paul passeth into Spain leaving the Church of Rome to the care of Linus 63. Simeon elected Bishop of Hierusalem in the place of James by the joynt consent of the Apostles and Disciples 64. Anianus succeedeth Mark in the Bishoprick of Alexandria 67. Saint Peter planteth Churches and ordaineth Bishops in the Isle of Britain 68. Peter and Paul return to Rome 69. The Martyrdom of Peter and Paul at Rome by command of Nero. 70. Linus and Cletus or Anacletus succeed the two Apostles in the government of their Churches there 71. Ignatius succeedeth Euodius in the See of Antioch 74. Valerius succeeds Eucherius in the Church of Triers 80. Saint John taketh up his abode in Asia planting and confirming the Churches there and ordaining Bishops in the same 81. Linus being dead Clemens succeedeth him in the government of the Church of the Gentiles in Rome 84. Polycarpus made Bishop of Smyrna by Saint John 87. Abilius succeedeth Anianus in the Bishoprick of Alexandria 92. Saint John confined unto Patmos by Domitianus 93. Cletus or Anacletus being dead the Churches of the Circumcision in the City of Rome and parts adjoyning became united with the Gentiles under the Government of Clemens 97. Saint John writeth the Apocalypse to the Seven Churches in Asia 98. Saint John restored to Ephesus foundeth the Churches of Trallis and Magnesia ordaining Bishops in them both as in other places 99. At the intreaty of the Asian Bishops St. John writeth his Gospel 100. Cerdo succeeds Abilius in the Bishoprick of Alexandria 101. Saint John dieth at Ephesus in a good old age leaving the government of the Church in the hands of Bishops as Successors to the Apostles and the Vicars of Christ The End of the first Part. THE HISTORY OF EPISCOPACY The Second Part. From the Death of Saint JOHN the APOSTLE To the beginning of the Empire of CONSTANTINE By PETER HEYLYN D. D. IREN Lib. III. Cap. III. Habemus annumerare eos qui ab Apostolis instituti sunt EPISCOPI in Ecclesiis Successores eorum usque ad nos LONDON Printed by M. Clark to be sold by C. Harper 1681. THE HISTORY OF EPISCOPACY PART II. CHAP. I. What doth occur concerning Bishops and the Government of the Church by them during the first half of the second Century 1. Of the Condition of the Church of Corinth when Clemens wrote unto them his Epistle 2. What that Epistle doth contain in reference to this point in hand 3. That by Episcopi he meaneth Bishops truly and properly so called proved by the scope of the Epistle 4. And by a Text of Scripture therein cited 5. Of the Episcopal succession in the Church of Corinth 6. The Canons of the Apostles ascribed to Clemens what they say of Bishops 7. A Bishop not to be ordained under three or two at least of the same order 8. Bishops not barred by these Canons from any secular affairs as concern their families 9. How far by them restrained from the employments of the Common-wealth 10. The jurisdiction over Presbyters given to the Bishops by those Canons 11. Rome first divided into Parishes or Tituli by Pope Euaristus 12. The reasons why Presbyteries or Colleges of Presbyters were planted at the first in Cities 13. Touching the superiority over all the flock given to the Bishop by Ignatius 14. As also of the Jurisdiction by him allowed them 15. The same exemplified in the works of Justin Martyr FROM the Apostles we proceed unto their Disciples such as conversed with them and lived nearest to them And first of all we meet with Clemens once one of Pauls Disciples and by him remembred afterwards Deacon to Saint Peter Philip. 4.3 Epist ad Trallianos as Ignatius tells us and finally successor to them both in the administration of the Church of Rome as before was shewed Chap. 3. n. 8. Amongst the several Monuments of Piety which he left behind him the most renowned is his Epistle to the Church of Corinth of which Eusebius gives this testimony Euseb Hist Ecc. 1.3 c. 12.16 that it was ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã famous and very much admired adding withal that as well anciently as in his times it used to be read publickly in the Congregation Tht occasion which induced him to write the same was a sedition or a faction rather raised in the Church which from the first Preaching of the Gospel there had been too much addicted to Divisions But what this faction was about 1 Cor. 3. or what occasion was then taken for the production of new broyls or the reviving of the old we shall best see by looking on this piece of Clemens recovered from the ruins of Antiquity by the care and industry of Patr. Yong Library-keeper to his Majesty Clemen
in this case before that of Anastasius or the Pontifical or Platina or any whosoever of the later days Now of this Evaristus it is said by Damasus in the Pontifical In vita Evarist and from him by Platina titulos in urbe Romae Presbyteris divisisse that he did first assign the Presbyters in Rome their particular charges which also is affirmed by Rob. Barnes De vitis Pont. Rom. in Evaristo Hooker Eccles Polit. l. 5. n. 80. one of the great Agents in our Reformation which words of the Historians being short and dark we will expound in the expressions of judicious Hooker thus as followeth For more convenient discharge of Ecclesiastical duties as the body of People must needs be severed by divers Precincts so were the Clergy likewise accordingly distributed Whereas therefore Religion did first take place in Cities and in that respect was a cause why the name of Pagans which properly signifieth Country-people came to be used in common speech for the same that Infidels and Vnbelievers were it followed thereupon that all such Cities had their Ecclesiastical Colleges consisting of Presbyters and Deacons whom first the Apostles or their Delegates the Evangelists did both ordain and govern Such were the Colleges of Hierusalem Antioch Ephesus Rome Corinth and the rest where the Apostles are known to have planted our Faith and Religion Now because Religion and the Cure of souls was their general charge in common over all that were near about them neither had any one Presbyter his several Cure apart till Evaristus Bishop in the See of Rome about the year 112. began to assign Precincts unto every Church or Title which the Christians held and to appoint unto each Presbyter a certain compass whereof himself should take charge alone the commodiousness of which invention caused all parts of Christendom to follow it So he And he saith well that Evaristus first began it but it was shortly after followed by Higinus also who added more divisions to the former number if I do understand my Author rightly Platina in vit Higini As for the following of this pattern by other Churches 't is most true indeed that this invention of his was after followed in the Churches of Antioch and Alexandria whereof see Socrates Hist Eccles l. 5.3 for that of Antioch and for the other Epiphanius who reckoneth nominââim those several Churches which were before the time of Constantine in that famous City And doubtless in all other Cities as the number of Christians did increase so were the like divisions made and several Presbyters appointed for those divisions though we have no such pregnant evidence thereof as for those before But then we must observe withal that such divisions were not in the Country till a long time after as we shall let you see in due place and time As for those Colleges of Presbyters and Deacons whereof Hooker speaketh founded by the Apostles and Evangelists in all the Cities wherein they planted the Gospel of Christ and by them conjoyned into one Church under and with the Bishop It was a very excellent and useful institution Bilson perpet Covernm ca. 14. as the times then were For first it did exceedingly promote the conversion of the world to Christ our Saviour it being a work too great for one or two to undertake in a populous City and would require more time to effect the same than such a weighty business could afford The Harvest being great it was most expedient that the Labourers should also be many that so the truth of Christ might disperse it self not only throughout their Cities but even unto those Country Towns and Villages which bordered near them A second use was to continue those whom they had converted in the Faith of Christ instructing and incouraging the Faithful from house to house and from man to man to stand fast to the Doctrine which they had received and not to shrink under the bloody storms of persecution which were then so frequent A work that of necessity required many hands the more because the faithful in those dangerous times had not their publick places of Assembly or if they had durst not frequent the same as in times of peace and so the labour must be great and the persons many in Preaching teaching and exhorting in their private houses or in those secret places where they met by stealth for the receiving of the Sacrament A third use was that from these Presbyteries or Colleges of Presbyters and Deacons as from a sacred spring or fountain there might be a continual supply of fit and able men by whom as well the Cities themselves might be continually furnished for their own occasions and also that from thence the smaller Towns and Villages within the circuit of those Cities which for the slenderness of their estate and paucity of believers could not maintain a Presbyter at their proper charge might be provided of industrious teachers for their spiritual necessities For in these times whereof we speak and a long time after the Villages and Country Towns as they were converted to the Faith and did desire a Minister of the Word and Sacraments to reside amongst them so they repaired unto the Bishop of the City within whose ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or bounds they were of him desiring a fit man for that business which course continued in the Church for a long time after until Churches were endowed with Tithes and Glebe and Mansion houses which drew the Patronage or Presentation as we call it into hands of such their Founders and liberal Benefactors to the same The last but not the least was the advising and assisting of the Bishop of the Church or City in all doubts and dangers as well in making Rules and Ordinances for the better government of the place as for the censuring and correcting of such faulty persons whether of the Clergy or Laity as were thought fit to be convented for an example to the rest Ignatius in Ep. ad Trallian In which regard Ignatius calleth the Presbytery or College of Presbyters and not the Priesthood Sacerdotium as it is rendred by Vedelius ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã an holy Corporation Counsellors and Assessors to the Bishop A perfect Image of the which we have remaining in our Deans and Chapters of Cathedral Churches though not so frequently consulted with in the Churches business as I could heartily desire they were and as our Canons now in force in some sort require The mention which I made so lately of Ignatius leads me on to him who yielded up his pious soul by Martyrdom to the hands of God in the City of Rome whilst Euaristus was there Bishop And in him I shall only touch upon those Epistles which I find mentioned in Eusebius and which Vedelius doth confess and defend to boot Euseb Hist Eccles l. In Apolog. pro Ignatio to be truly his But by the way I must first tell you that Vedelius in this
was a very pregnant evidence that they had neither verity nor antiquity to defend their Doctrins nor could with any shew of Justice challenge to themselves the name and honour of a Church Id. ibid. ca. 36. And such and none but such were those other Churches which he after speaketh of viz. of Corinth Philippi Thessalonica Ephesus and the rest planted by the Apostles apud quas ipsae Cathedrae Apostolorum suis locis praesidentur in which the Chairs of the Apostles to that time were sate in being possessed not by themselves but by their Successors By the same argument Optatus first and after him St. Austin did confound the Donatists that mighty faction in the Church St. Austin thus Numerate Sacerdotes vel ab ipsa sede Petri August contr Petil. l. 2. in illo ordine quis cui successerit videte Number the Bishops which have sate but in Peters Chair and mark who have succeeded one another in the same A Catalogue of which he gives us in another place Id. Epist 165. lest else he might be thought to prescribe that to others on which he would not trust himself Nay so far he relyed on the authority of this Episcopal Succession in the Church of Christ as that he makes it one of the special motives quae eum in gremio Ecclesiae justissimè teneant which did continue him in the bosom of the Catholick Church Id. contr Epist Manichaei c. 4. As for Optatus having laid down a Catalogue of the Bishops in the Church of Rome till his own times He makes a challenge to the Donatists to present the like Optat. de schis Donat. l. 2. Vestrae Cathedrae originem edite shew us saith he the first original of your Bishops and then you have done somewhat to advance your cause In which it is to be observed that though the instance be made only in the Episcopal succession of the Church of Rome Irt. adv haere lib. 3. cap. 3. the argument holds good in all others also it being too troublesome a labour as Irenaeus well observed omnium Ecclesiarum enumerare successiones to run through the succession of all particular Churches and therefore that made choyce of as the chief or principal But to return again unto Tertullian whom I account amongst the Writers of this Age though he lived partly in the other besides the use he made of this Episcopal succession to convince the Heretick he shews us also what authority the Bishops of the Church did severally enjoy and exercise in their successions which we will take according to the proper and most natural course of Christianity First for the Sacrament of Baptism which is the door or entrance into the Church Tertul. lib. de Baptism c. 17. Dandi quidem jus habet summus sacerdos i. e. Episcopus The Right saith he of giving Baptism hath the High-Priest which is the Bishop and then the Presbyters and Deacons non tamen sine Episcopi antoritate yet not without the Bishops licence and authority for the Churches honour which if it be preserved then is Peace maintained Nay so far he appropriates it unto the Bishop as that he calleth it dictatum Episcopi officium Episcopatus a work most proper to the Bishop in regard of his Episcopacy or particular Office Which howsoever it may seem to ascribe too much unto the Bishop in the administration of this Sacrament is no more verily than what was after affirmed by Hierom Hieron adver Lucifer shewing that in his time sine Episcopi jussione without the warrant of the Bishop neither the Presbyters nor the Deacons had any authority to Baptize not that I think that in the days of Hierom before whose time Parishes were assigned to Presbyters throughout the Church the Bishops special consent and warrant was requisite to the baptizing of each several Infant but that the Presbyters and Deacons did receive from him some general faculty for their enabling in and to those Ministrations Next for the Sacrament of the blessed Eucharist that which is a chief part of that heavenly nourishment by which a Christian is brought up in the assured hopes of Eternal life he tells us in another place non de aliorum manu quam Praesidentium sumimus Tertul. de Corona Militis that they received it only from their Bishops hand the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or President of the Presbytery as Justin Martyr seconded by Beza did before call him Which Exposition or construction lest it should be quarrelled as being injurious to the Presbyters who are thereby excluded from the honour and name of Presidents I shall desire the Reader to consult those other places of Tertullian in which the word Prefident is used as viz. Prescriptio Apostoll Bigames non sinit praesidere Tert. ad axor lib. ad uxorem and lib. de Monogamia in both of which the man that had a second Wife is said to be disabled from Presiding in the Church of God and on consideration to determine of it whether it be more probable that Presbyters or Bishops be here meant by Presidents Besides the Church not being yet divided generally into Parishes but only in some greater Cities the Presbyter had not got the stile of Rector and therefore much less might be called a President that being a word of Power and Government which at that time the Presbyters enjoyed not in the Congregation And here Pope Leo will come in to help us if occasion be assuring us that in his time it was not lawful for the Presbyter in the Bishops presence nisi illo jubente Leo Epist 88. unless it were by his appointment conficere Sacramentum corporis sanguinis Christi to consecrate the Sacrament of Christs body and blood The author of the Tract ascribed to Hierom entituled de Septem Ecclesiae ordinibus doth affirm as much but being the author of it is uncertain though it be placed by Erasinus amongst the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã docta we will pass it by From the Administration of the Sacraments which do belong ad potestatem ordinis to the power of Order proceed we on to those which do appertain ad potestatem jurisdictionis unto the power of Jurisdiction And the first thing we meet with is the appointing of the publick Fasts used often in the Church as occasion was A priviledg not granted to the common Presbyter and much less to the common people but in those times wherein the Supream Magistrate was not within the pale or bosom of the Church entrusted to the Bishop only This noted also by Tertullian in his book entituled de jejuniis which though he writ after his falling from the Church and so not to be trusted in a point of Doctrine may very well be credited in a point of custom Quod Episcopi universae plebi mandare jejunia assolent non dico de industria stipium conferendarum sed ex aliqua sollicitudinis Ecclesiae causa
now resolved on in the present too Accordingly the Bishops of those Churches and as many other as could be drawn together in that dangerous time Platina in vita Marcel Assembled at Sinuessa now called Suessa a City of Campania 180. in the total as it is in Platina Where though they had sufficient proof of that foul offence yet because Marcellinus stood upon the Negative negabat se thurifieâsse as the Acts declare Acta Conc. Sinuessani ap Bin. To. 1. they thought it fit not to proceed unto the sentence till they had brought him to confession Ex ore tuo justificaberis ex ore tuo condemnaberis as Petrus one of the Bishops then assembled did press it on him Not that being met Synodically they did want Authority to proceed against him as the Pontifician Doctors vainly say Bellarm. de Pont. Rom. l. 2. c. 26. Act. Concil Sinuessani but that it was more consonant to the Roman Laws that to the testimony of the Witnesses the confession of the party should be added also Which when they had procured from him Subscripserunt in ejus damnationem damnaverunt eum extra Civitatem they all condemned him say the Acts and all subscribed unto the Condemnation Helchiades one of the Bishops there Assembled being the first that led the way And therefore that which followeth after Prima sedes non judicabitur à quoquam that the Bishop of the first See shall be judged of none which Bellarmin so much insists on was either foisted in by some later hand Bellar. ut supra the better to advance the Popes Supremacy or else must be interpreted as it fairly may non judicabitur à quoquam that no particular person of what rank soever had any power to judge his Primate So great a person as Marcellinus being fallen so foully though after he recovered footing and died a Martyr for the Gospel It is the less to be admired Damas Platina Alij if many of inferiour quality did betray the cause and fell into the like Idolatries The persecution was both fierce and long though never at the height till the last years of Dioclesian and more than ever were the Lapsi who had for saving of their lives denied their Saviour Who when they came unto themselves and having made their way unto it by some appearance of contrition desired to be admitted to the blessed Sacrament the Bishops were much troubled with their importunity those godly Prelates being as well careful of the Churches Discipline as the unfortunate estate of those wretched men Besides the quality of their offence appearing in some greater in some less than others it put them unto no small trouble how to proportion the intended penance unto the nature of the crime For remedy whereof Petrus the godly Patriarch of Alexandris diversa adhibens pro conditione cujusque medicamenta vulneribus Id. ibid. n. 20. fitting each several wound with a proper plaister as Baronius hath it published certain Canons and instructions for their direction in the same A copy of the which we have both in Baronius and the Bibliotheca This as it gave great ease unto the Prelates in the Eastern parts where the authority of the man was great and prevalent So in the West the Bishops of particular Churches spared no pains nor labour for the upholding of that Discipline which they received from the hands of their Predecessors In Spain particularly where both the number and condition of these Lapsi seemed more considerable Id. ibid. n. 39. the Bishops of the Province of Betica called a Council at Eliberis then a prime City of those parts near to the ruines of the which the City of Granada standeth Osius that famous Confessor being there amongst them where they established divers Canons 81. in all for confirmation of the publick Discipline and holding up of that severity by which the same had been maintained Of all which number those which concern our business are these five especially Conc. Eliberit Can. 19. First it is ordered that neither Bishops Presbyters nor Deacons should leave the place in which they served to follow Merchandise de locis suis negociandi causa non discedant nor wander up and down the Countrey after gainful Markets In which it was provided notwithstanding that ad victum sibi conquirendum that for their necessary maintenance they might send abroad on those employments their Sons or Freed-men or Servants or any other and for their own parts if they would needs take that course intra Provinciam negotientur they were required to contain themselves within the compass of the Province in the which they ministred It seems the Fathers of the Council were not so severe though otherwise tenacious enough of the Ancient Canons as to conceive that Merchandizing a secular imployment doubtless was utterly inconsistent with holy Orders especially if either it conduced unto the maintenance of their selves and Families or that it did not take them off from the attendance on those places in which their Ministery was required This for the maintenance the next was for the honour of Episcopacy For in the 32. it is ordained Ibid. can 32. that those who in some grievous Lapse be in danger of eternal death apud Presbyterum poenitentiam agere non debere sed potius apud Episcopum ought not to make confession to or be enjoyned penance by a Presbyter but to or by the Bishop only unless it be in urgent and extream necessity in the which case a Presbyter might admit him unto the Communion as might a Deacon also by the appointment of the Presbyter Of this sort also this that followeth Ibid. can 53. by which it is decreed ut ab eo Episcopo quis accipiat Communionem that Sinners be admitted to the Sacrament by that Bishop only by whom for their offences they had been formerly Excommunicated and that if any other Bishop presumed to admit him thereto the Bishop who had Excommunicated him neither being made acquainted with it nor consenting to it he was to render an account of it unto his Colleagues Cum status sui periculo even with the danger of his place Ibid. can 77. Of the same temper is a fourth wherein it is enacted That if any Deacon having a cure or charge committed to him shall Baptize any of that cure without a Presbyter or Bishop Episcopus eos per benedictionem perficere debebit the Bishop is required to confirm the party by his Episcopal benediction With this Proviso notwithstanding that if the party do decease before confirmation Sub fide qua quis credidit poterit esse justus it is to be conceived that by the Sacrament of Baptism he had received all things necessary to salvation Nor did the Fathers in this Council take order only for the Bishops in point of honour but they provided also for the whole Clergy in point of safety Ibid. 75. decreeing by a full consent
joyn'd together So whereas those of the Monastick life did use to solemnize the Eve or Vigils of the Lords day and of other Festivals with the peculiar and preparatory service to the day it self that profitable and pious custom began about these times to be taken up and generally received in the Christian Church Of this there is much mention to be found in Cassian as Institut lib. 2. cap. 18. l. 3. c. 9. Collat. 21. c. 20. and in other places This gave the hint to Leo and St. Austin if he made the Sermon to make the Eve before a part or parcel of the day because some part of the Divine Offices of the day were begun upon it And hence it is that in these Ages and in those that followed but in none before we meet with the distinction of matutinae vespertinae precationes Mattins and Evensong as we call it the Canons of the Church about these times beginning to oblige men to the one as well as formerly to the other The Council held in Arragon Conc. Tartaconens Can. 7. hereupon ordained Vt omnis clerus die Sabbati ad vesperam paratus sit c. That all the Clergy be in readiness on the Saturday vespers that so they may be prepared with the more solemnity to celebrate the Lords day in the Congregation And not so only sed ut diebus omnibus vesperas matutinas celebrent but that they diligently say the morning and the evening service every day continually So for the mattins on the Sunday Gregory of Tours informs us of them Motum est signum ad matutinas Erat enim dies dominica how the Bell rung to mattins for it was a Sunday I have translated it the Bell according to the custom of these Ages whereof now we write wherein the use of Bells was first taken up for gathering of the people to the house of God there being mention in the Life and History of St. Loup or Lupus Baron Ann. Anno 614. who lived in the fifth Century of a great Bell that hung in the Church of Sens in France whereof he was Bishop ad convocandum populum for calling of the congregation Afterwards they were rung on the holy-day Eves to give the people notice of the Feast at hand and to advertise them that it was time to leave off their businesses Solebant vesperi initia feriarum campanis praenunciare so he that wrote the life of Codegundut Well then the Bells are rung and all the people met together what is expected at their hands That they behave themselves there like the Saints of God in fervent Prayers in frequent Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs hearing Gods holy Word receiving of the Sacraments These we have touched upon before as things that had been always used from the beginnings of the Church Collections for the poor had been sometimes used on this day before but now about these times the Offertory began to be an ordinary part of Gods publick Worship Pope Leo seems to intimate it in his fifth Sermon de collectis Et quia die dominico proxima futura est collectio vos omnes voluntariae devotioni praeparare c. and gives them warning of it that they may be ready For our behaviour in the Church it was first ordered by St. Paul that all things be done reverently ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã because of the Angels according to which ground and warrant it was appointed in these Ages that every man should stand up at the reading of the Gospel and the Gloria Patri that none depart the Church till the service ended Pope Anastasius who lived in the beginning of the fifth Age is said to have decreed the one Dum S. S. Epl. Decret 1 ap Bin. Evangelia in Ecclesia recitantur sacerdotes caeteri omnes praesentes non sedentes sed venerabiliter curvi in conspectu sancti Evangclii stantes dominica verba attente audiant fideliter adorent The Priests and all else present are enjoyned to stand their Bodies bowed a little in sign of reverence during the reading of the Gospel but by no means to hear it sitting adding some joyful acclamation at the end thereof such as is that of Glory be to thee O Lord. So for the Gloria Patri that form of giving to the Lord the Glory which belongs unto him we find in Cassian that they used to stand upon their feet at the doing of it In clausula Psalmi Institut lib. 2 c. 8. omnes astantes pronunciant magno clamore Gloria Patri c. that gesture being thought most natural and most proper for it No constitution needed to enjoyn those Duties which natural discretion of it self could dictate As for the last it seemed the people in those parts used to depart the Church some of them before the Service ended and the blessing given for otherwise there had been no Canon to command the contrary Ex malis moribus bonae nascuntur leges the old saying is And out of this ill custom did arise a Law made in a Synod held in a Town of Gallia Narbonensis the 22 of the Reign of Alaricus King of the Visi-Gothes or Western-Gothes Anno 506. Conc. Agathens Can. 47. that on the Lords day all Lay-people should be present at the publick Liturgy and none depart before the Blessing Missas die dominico secularibus audire speciali ordine praecipimus ita ut egredi ante benedictionem sacerdotis populus non praesumat So the Canon hath it According unto which it is provided in the Canons of the Church of England Can. 19. that none depart out of the Church during the time of Service and Sermon without some reasonable or urgent cause The Benediction given and the Assembly broken up the people might go home no doubt and being there make merry with their Friends and Neighbours such as came either to them of their own accord or otherwise had been invited Gregory of Tours informs us of a certain Presbyter that thrust himself into the Bishoprick of the Arverni immediately upon the death of Sidonius Apollinaris who died about the year 487 and that to gain the peoples favour on the next Lords day after Jussit cunctos cives praeparato epulo invitari Hist l. 31. he had invited all the principal Citizens to a solemn Feast Whatever might be said of him that made the invitation no doubt but there were many pious and religious men that accepted of it Of Recreations after Dinner until Evening prayers and after Evening prayer till the time of Supper there is no question to be made but all were practised which were not prohibited Nam quod non prohibetur permissum est as Tertullian Of this more anon Thus have we brought the Lords day to the highest pitch the highest pitch that hitherto it had enjoyed both in relation unto rest from worldly business and to the full performance of religious Duties Whatever was
Ark of Gods Secret Counsels of which spirit I conceive this Frith to be not that I find him such in any of his Writings extant with the other two but that he is affirmed for such in a Letter of Tyndals directed to him under the borrowed name of Jacob For in the collection of his pieces neither the Index nor the Margent direct us unto any thing which concerns this Argument though to the Writtings of the others they give a clearer sense howsoever made then in favour of the Calvinian party than the Books themselves or possibly was ever meant by the men that made them Acts and Mon. fol. 987. Now Tyndals Letter is as followeth Dearly beloved Jacob my hearts desire in our Saviour Jesus is That you arm your self with patience and be hold sober wise and circumspect and that you keep you a low by the ground avoiding high questions that pass the common capacity but expound the Law truly and open the Rule of Moses to condemn all flesh and prove all men sinners and all deeds under the Law before mercy hath taken away the condemnation thereof to be sin and damnable And then as a faithful Minister set abroach the mercy of our Lord Jesus and let the wounded consciences drink of the water of life And then shall your preaching be with power not as the Doctrine of Hypocrites and the Spirit of God shall work with you and all consciences shall bear record unto you and feel that it is so And all Doctrine that casteth a mist on these two to shadow and hide them I mean the Law of God and mercy of Christ that resist you with all your power Of him it is or of such high Climers as he was âroloe before the Epist unto the Rom. p. 48. who we find Tyndal speaking in another place But here saith he we must set a mark upon those unquiet busie and high-climing Wits how far they shall go which first of all bring hither their high Reasons and pregnant Wits and begin first from on high to search the bottomless secrets of Gods Predestination whether they be predestinated or no These must needs either cast themselves headlong down into Desperation or else commit themselves to free chance careless But follow thou the order of this Epistle and nuzzel thy self with Christ and learn to understand the Law and the Gospel-means and the office of both that thou mayst in the one know thy self and how thou hast of thy self no strength but to sin and in the other the grace of Christ and then see thou fight against sin and the flesh as the seven first Ghapters teach thee Of these high flyings Lambert another of our Martyrs was endicted also who as he would not plead Not guilty Acts and Mon. fol. 1008. so he stood not mute but bound to the Endictment in this manner following Vnto the Article saith he whether it be good or evil cometh of necessity that is as you construe it to wit whether a man hath Free-will so that he may deny joy or pain I say as I said at the beginning that unto the first part of your Riddle I neither can nor will give any desinitive answer for so much as it surmounteth any capacity trusting that God will send hereafter others that be of better cunning than I to incite it If there be any thing in this which may give any comfort to our rigid Calvinists much good do them with it and if they meet with any in the former passages let them look back upon the Answers before laid down and then consider with themselves what they have got by the adventure or whether Tyndal Barns and Frith conjunct or separate may be considered as a Rule to our first Reformers which having done I would have them finally observe the passage in the eighth of St. Mark where the blind man whom our Saviour at Bethsaida restored to his sight at the first opening of his eyes said he saw men as trees walking that is to say he saw men walking as trees quasi dicat homines quos ambulantes video non homines sed arbores mihi videntur as we read in Maldionale By which the blind man declared saith he se quidem videre aliquid imperfecte tamen videre cum inter homines c arbores distinguere non posset I discern somewhat said the poor man but so imperfectly that I am not able to distinguish between trees and men Such an imperfect sight as this might these Martyrs have in giving unto men no greater power of walking in the ways of Gods Commandments than as if they had been sensless Trees or liveless shadows And such an imperfect sight as his the Lord gave many times to those whom he recovered out of the Egyptian darkness of Popish Errours who not being able to discern all divine Truth at the first opening of the eyes of their understanding were not to be a Rule or President to those that followed and lived under a brighter beam of illumination Finally taking all for granted as to the judgment of these men in the points disputed which the Calvinians can desire and pretend unto and letting them enjoy the Title which Mr. Fox hath given them of being called the Ring-leaders of the Church of Englanp which Bilney Byfield Lambert Garet or any other of our ancient Martyrs may as well lay claim to yet as they suffered death before the publick undertaking of the Reformation under E. 6. so nothing was ascribed to their Authority by the first Reformers CHAP. VIII Of the Preparatives to the Reformation and the Doctrine of the Church in the present points 1. The danger of ascribing too much to our ancient Martyrs c. exemplified in the parity of Ministers and popular elections unto Benefices allowed by Mr. John Lambert 2. Nothing ascribed to Calvins judgment by our first Reformers but much to the Augustine Confession the writings of Melancthon 3. And to the Authority of Erasmus his Paraphrases being commanded to the use of the Church by King Edward VI. and the Reasons why 4. The Bishops Book in order to a Reformation called The Institution of a Christian man commanded by King Henry VIII 1537. corrected afterwards with the Kings own hand examined and allowed by Cranmer approved by Parliament and finally published by the name of Necessary doctrine c. An. 1543. 5. The Doctrine of the said two Books in the points disputed agreeable unto that which after was established by King Edward the Sixth 6. Of the two Liturgies made in the time of King Edward VI. and the manner of them the testimony given unto the first and the alterations in the second 7. The first Book of Homilies by whom made approved by Bucer and of the Argument that may be gathered from the method of it in the points disputed 8. The quality and condition of those men who principally concurred to the Book of Articles with the Harmony or consent in Judgment between
albeit the light of Reason doth abide yet is it much darkned and with much difficulty doth discern things that be inferiour and pertain to this present life but to understand and perceive things that be spiritual and pertain to that everlasting life it is of it self unable And so likewise there remains a certain freedom of the will in those things which do pertain unto the desires and works of this present life yet to perform spiritual and heavenly things Freewill of it self is unsufficient and therefore the power of mans Freewill being thus wounded and decayed hath need of a Physician to heal it and one help to repair it that it may receive light and strength whereby it may be so and have power to do those godly and spiritual things which before the fall of Adam it was able and might have done To this blindness and infirmity of mans Nature proceeding of Original sin the Prophet David hath regard when he desired his eyes to be lightened of Almighty God that he might consider the marvellous things that be in his Law And also the Prophet Jeremy saying Psalm 115. Jer. 16. Heal me O Lord and I shall be made whole Augustin also plainly declareth the same saying We conclude that Freewill is in man after his fall which thing whoso denieth is not a Catholick man but in spiritual desires and works to please God it is so weak and feeble hat it cannot eithre begin or perform them unless by the Grace and help of God it be prevented and holpen And hereby it appeareth that mans strength and Will in all things which be helpful to the soul and shall please God hath need of the graces of the holy Ghost by which such things be inspired to men and strength and constancy given to perform them if we do not wilfully refuse the said Grace effered to them And likewise as many things be in the Scripture which do shew Freewill to be in man so there be now fewer places in Scripture which declare the Grace of God to be so necessary that if by it Freewill be not prevented and holpen it neither can do nor will any thing good and godly of which sort be these Scriptures following Without me you can do nothing no man cometh to me except it be given him of my Father John 15. Jon. 6.1 Cor. 3. We be not sufficient of our selves as of our selves to think any good thing According unto which Scriptures and such other like it followeth That Freewill before it may will or think any godly thing must be holpen with the grace of Christ and by his Spirit be prevented and inspired that it may be able thereunto And being so made able may from thenceforth work together with grace and by the same sustained holpen and maintained may both accomplish good works and avoid sin and persevere also and increase in grace It is true of the grace of God only that first we are inspired and moved to any good thing but to resist temptations and to persist in goodness and go forward it is both of the Grace of God and our Freewill and endeavour And finally after we have persevered unto the end to be crowned with glory therefore is the gift and mercy of God who of his bountiful goodness hath ordained that reward to be given after this life according to such good works as be done in this life by his Grace Therefore men ought with much diligence and gratitude of mind to consider and regard the inspiration wholesom motions of the holy Ghost and to embrace the Grace of God which is offered to them in Christ and moveth them to work good things And furthermore to go about by all means to shew themselves such as unto whom the Grace of God is not given in vain And when they do settle that notwithstanding their diligence yet through their infirmity they be not able to do that they desire then they ought earnestly and with a fervent devotion and stedfast faith to ask of him which gave the beginning that he would vouchsafe to perform it which thing God will undoubtedly grant according to his promise to such as persevere in calling upon him For he is naturally good and willeth all men to be saved and careth for them and provideth all things by which they may be saved except BY THEIR OWN MALICE they will be evil and so by the righteous judgment of God perish and be lost For truly men be to themselves the AVTHOR OF SIN and DAMNATION God is neither the AVTHOR OF SIN nor the CAVSE OF DAMNATION and yet doth he most righteously damn those men that do with Vices corrupt their Nature which he made good and do abuse the same to evil desires against his most holy will wherefore men be to be warned that they do not impute to God their Vice or their damnation but to themselves who by Freewill have abused the grace and benefits of God All men be also to be monished and chiefly Preachers that in this high matter they looking on both sides so attemper and moderate themselves that neither they so preach the Grace of God as to take away thereby Freewill Nor on the other side so extol Freewill that injury be done to the grace of God Such was the judgment of the Bishops and Clergy assembled in Convocation Anno 1543. touching the nature of Freewill and the co-operations of it with the grace of God In which I can see nothing not agreeable to the present establish'd Doctrine of the Church of England And if it be objected as perhaps it may that this Convocation was held in times of Popery and managed by a Popish Clergy it may be answered that the Bishops and Clergy then assembled were such as had a principal hand in the Reformation and generally subscribed unto the Articles of Religion agreed upon and published in King Edwards time Anno 1552. At which time fifteen of the Bishops which had been present at the Convocation Anno 1543. were not only living but present and consenting to the Articles in King Edwards time that is to say Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury Parfew Bishop of Saint Asaph Buchely Bishop of Bangor Bush Bishop of Bristol Sampson Bishop of Litchfield Barlow Bishop of Saint David Goodrich Bishop of Ely Ship Bishop of Hereford Folgate Bishop of Landaff and afterwards Archbishop of York King Bishop of Oxon Chambers Bishop of Peterborough Cepon Bishop of Sarum Thirlby then Bishop of Westminster Aldrich then Bishop of Carlile and Bird Bishop of Chester By which proportion we may conclude that a far greater number of the Deans and Arch-deacons who have a personal right of voting in all Convocations and coming to the number of eighty and thereabouts must be living and consenting also to the Reformation as being younger men than the Bishops were not to say any thing of the Clerks or Procurates of Cathedral Churches and those of the Diocesan Clergy as being variable and changeable
belong also to Bishops 14. And of Lay-people if they walk unworthy of their Christian calling ibid. 15. Conjectural proofs that the description of a Bishop in the first to Timothy is of a Bishop strictly and properly called Page 233 CHAP. VI. Of the estate of holy Church particularly of the Asian Churces toward the later days of Saint John the Apostle 1. The time of Saint Johns coming into Asia Page 235 2. All the seven Churches except Ephesus of his Plantation ibid. 3. That the Angels of those Churches were the Bishops of them in the opinion of the Fathers Page 236 4. And of some Protestant Divines of name and eminency ibid. 5. Conclusive Reasons for the same Page 237 6. Who is most like to the Angel of the Church of Ephesus ibid. 7. That Polycarpus was the Angel of the Church of Smyrna Page 238 8. Touching the Angel of the Church of Pergamus and of Thiatyra ibid. 9. As also of the Churches of Sardis Philadelphia and Laodicea Page 239 10. What Successors these several Angels had in their several Churches Page 240 11. Of other Churches founded in Episcopacy by Saint John the Apostle ibid. 12. Saint John deceasing left the Government of the Church to Bishops as to the Successours of the Apostles Page 241 13. The ordinary Pastors of the Church Page 242 14. And the Vicars of Christ Page 243 15. A brief Chronologic of the estate of holy Church in this first Century Page 244 PART II. CHAP. I. What doth occur concerning Bishops and the Government of the Church by them during the first half of the second Century 1. OF the condition of the Church of Corinth when Clemens wrote unto them his Epistle Page 249 2. What that Epistle doth contain in reference to this point in hand Page 250 3. That by Episcopi he meaneth Bishops truly and properly so called proved by the scope of the Epistle Page 251 4. And by a text of Scripture therein cited ibid. 5. Of the Episcopal Succession in the Church of Corinth Page 252 6. The Canons of the Apostles ascribed to Clemens what they say of Bishops Page 253 7. A Bishop not to be ordained under three or two at least of the same Order ibid. 8. Bishops not barred by these Canons from any Secular affairs as concern their Families Page 254 9. How far by them restrained from the employments of the Common-wealth ibid. 10. The jurisdiction over Presbyters given to the Bishops by those Canons Page 255 11. Rome divided into Parishes or tituli by Pope Euaristus Page 256 12. The reasons why Presbyteries or Colleges of Presbyters were planted first in Cities ibid. 13. Touching the superiority over all the flock given to the Bishop by Ignatius Page 257 14. As also of the Jurisdiction by him allowed them Page 258 15. The same exemplified in the works of Justin Martyr Page 259 CHAP. II. The setling of Episcopacy together with the Gospel in the Isle of Britain by Pope Eleutherius 1. What Bishops Egesippus met with in his Peregrination and what he testifieth of them Page 260 2. Of Dionysius Bishop of Corinth and of the Bishops by him mentioned ibid. 3. How Bishops came to be ordained where none were left by the Apostles Page 261 4. The setling of the Gospel in the Isle of Britain by Pope Eleutherius Page 262 5. Of the Condition of the Church of Britain from the first preaching of the Gospel there till the time of Lucius Page 263 6. That Lucius was a King in those parts of Britain which we now call England Page 264 7. Of the Episcopal Sees here founded by King Lucius at that time Page 265 8. Touching the Flamines and Arch-flamines which those Stories speak of ibid. 9. What is most like to be the reason of the number of the Arch-bishopricks and Bishopricks here of old established Page 266 10. Of the Successors which the Bishops of this Ordination are found to have on true Record Page 267 11. Which of the British Metropolitans was antiently the Primate of that Nation Page 268 CHAP. III. The Testimony given to Episcopal Authority in the last part of this second Century 1. The difference betwixt Pope Victor and the Asian Bishops about the Feast of Easter Page 269 2. The interpleading of Polycrates and Irenaeus two renowned Prelates in the aforesaid cause Page 270 3. Several Councils called about it by the Bishops of the Church then being with observations on the same ibid. 4. Of the Episcopal Succession in the four prime Sees for this second Century Page 271 5. An Answer to some Objections made against the same Page 272 6. The great authority and esteem of the said four Sees in those early days ibid. 7. The use made of this Episcopal Succession by Saint Irenaeus Page 273 8. As also in Tertullian and some other Antients Page 274 9. Of the authority enjoyed by Bishops in Tertullians time in the administration of the Sacraments Page 275 10. As also in enjoyning Fasts and the disposing of the Churches treasury ibid. 11. And in the dispensation of the Keys Page 276 12. Tertullian misalledged in maintenance of the Lay-Presbytery Page 277 13. The great extent of Christianity and Episcopacy in Tertullians time concludes this Century Page 278 CHAP. IV. Of the Authority in the Government of the Church of Carthage enjoyed and exercised by Saint Cyprian and other Bishops of the same 1. Of the foundation and preheminence of the Church of Carthage Page 279 2. Of Agrippinus and Donatus two of Saint Cyprian's Predecessors ibid. 3. The troublesome condition of that Church at Cyprian's first being Bishop there Page 280 4. Necessitated him to permit some things to the discretion of his Presbyters and consent of the People Page 281 5. Of the Authority ascribed by Cyprian to the People in the Election of their Bishop Page 282 6. What power the People had de facto in the said Elections ibid. 7. How far the testimony rf the People was required in the Ordination of their Presbyters Page 283 8. The power of Excommunication reserved by Saint Cyprian to the Bishop only Page 284 9. No Reconciliation of a Penitent allowed by Cyprian without the Bishops leave and licence Page 285 10. The Bishop's power as well in the encouragement as in the punishment and censure of his Clergy Page 286 11. The memorable case of Geminius Faustinus one of the Presbyters of Carthage Page 287 12. The Bishop's power in regulating and declaring Martyrs Page 288 13. The Divine Right and eminent Authority of Bishops fully asserted by Saint Cyprian Page 289 CHAP. V. Of the condition and affairs of the two Patriarchal Churches of Alexandria and Antiochia 1. Of the foundation and first Professors of the Divinity-School in Alexandria Page 290 2. What is affirmed by Clemens one of those Professors concerning Bishops Page 291 3. Origen the Divinity Reader there permitted to expound the Scriptures in the presence of the Bishop of Caesarea ibid. 4. Contrary to
too much to our ancient Martyrs c. exemplified in the parity of Ministers and popular elections unto Benefices allowed by Mr. John Lambert Page 547 2. Nothing ascribed to Calvins judgment by our first Reformers but much to the Augustine Confession the Writings of Melancthon Page 548 3. And to the Authority of Erasmus his Paraphrases being commended to the use of the Church by King Edward VI. and the Reasons why ibid. 4. The Bishops Book in order to a Reformation called The institution of a Christian man commanded by King Henry VIII 1537. correcied afterwards with the Kings own hand examined and allowed by Cranmer approved by Parliament and finally published by the name of Necessary Doctrine c. An. 1543. ibid. 5. The Doctrine of the said two Books in the points disputed agreeable unto that which after was established by King Edward VI. Page 549 6. Of the two Liturgies made in the time of King Edward VI. and the manner of them the testimony given unto the first and the alterations in the second Page 550 7. The first Book of Homilies by whom made approved by Bucer and of the Argument that may be gathered from the method of it in the points disputed ibid. 8. The quality and condition of those men who principally concurred to the Book of Articles with the Harmony or consent in judgment between Archbishop Cranmer Bishop Ridley Bishop Hooper c. Page 551 9. The Doctrine delivered in the Book of Articles touching the five controverted points ibid. 10. An Answer to the Objection against these Articles for the supposed want of Authority in the making of them Page 552 11. An Objection against King Edwards Catechism mistaken for an Objection against the Articles refelled as that Catechism by John Philpot Martyr and of the delegating of some powers by that Convocation to a choice Committee Page 553 12. The Articles not drawn up in comprehensible or ambiguous terms to please all parties but to be understood in the respective literal and Grammatical sense and the Reasons why ibid. CHAP. IX Of the Doctrine of Predestination delivered in the Articles the Homilies the publique Liturgies and the Writings of some of the Reformers 1. The Articles differently understood by the Calvinian party and the true English Protestants with the best way to find out the true sense thereof Page 555 2. The definition of Predestination and the most considerable points contained in it ibid. 3. The meaning of those words in the definition viz. Whom he hath chosen in Christ according to the Exposition of S. Ambrose S. Chrysostom S. Jerom as also of Archbishop Cranmer Bishop Latimer and the Book of Homilies Page 556 4. The Absolute Decree condemned by Bishop Latimer as a means to Licentiousness and Carnal living ibid. 5. For which and making God to be the Author of sin condemned as much by Bishop Hooper ibid. 6. Our Election to be found in Christ not sought for in Gods secret Councils according to the judgment of Bishop Hatimer Page 557 7. The way to find out our Election delivered by the same godly Bishop and by Bishop Hooper with somewhat to the same purpose also from the Book of Homilies ibid. 8. The Doctrine of Predestination delivered by the holy Martyr John Bradford with Fox his gloss upon the same to corrupt the sense Page 558 9. No countenance to be had for any absolute personal and irrespective decree of Predestination in the publique Liturgie ibid. 10. An Answer to such passages out of the said Liturgie as seem to favour that opinion as also touching the number of Gods Elect. CHAP. X. The Doctrine of the Church concerning Reprobation and Universal Redemption 1. The absolute Decree of Reprobation not found in the Articles of this Church but against it in some passages of the publick Liturgie Page 560 2. The cause of Reprobation to be found in a mans self and not in Gods Decrees according to the judgment of Bishop Latimer and Bishop Hooper ibid. 3. The Absolute Decrees of Election and Reprobation how contrary to the last clause in the seventeenth Article Page 561 4. The inconsistency of the Absolute Decree of Reprobation with the Doctrine of Vniversal Redemption by the death of Christ ibid. 5. The Vniversal Redemption of man-kind by the death of Christ declared in many places of the publick Liturgie and affirmed also in one of the Homilies and the Book of Articles Page 502 6. A further proof of it from the Mission of the Apostles and the Prayer used in the Ordination of Priests ibid. 7. The same confirmed by the Writings of Archbishop Cranmer and the two other Bishops before mentioned Page 563 8. A Generality of the Promises and an Vniversality of Vocation maintained by the said two godly Bishops ibid. 9. The reasons why this benefit is not made effectual to all sorts of men to be found only in themselves ibid. CHAP. XI Of the Heavenly influences of Gods grace in the Conversion of a Sinner and a mans cooperation with those Heavenly influences 1. The Doctrine of Deserving Grace ex congruo maintained in the Roman Schools before the Council of Trent rejected by our ancient Martyrs and the Book of Articles Page 564 2. The judgment of Dr. Barns and Mr. Tyndal touching the necessary workings of Gods grace on the will of man not different from that of the Church of England Page 565 3. Vniversal grace maintained by Bishop Hooper and approved by some passages in the Liturgie and Book of Homilies ibid. 4. The offer of Vniversal grace made ineffectual to some for want of faith and to others for want of repentance according to the judgment of Bishop Hooper ibid. 5. The necessity of Grace Preventing and the free co-operation of mans will being so prevented maintained in the Articles in the Homilies and the publique Liturgie Page 566 6. The necessity of this co-operation on the part of man defended and applied to the exercise of a godly life by Bishop Hooper ibid. 7. The Doctrine of Irresistibility first broached by Calvin pertinaciously maintained by most of his followers and by Gomarus amongst others Page 567 8. Gainsaid by Bishop Hooper and Bishop Latimer ibid. 9. And their gain-sayings justified by the tenth Article of King Edwards Books Page 568 And 10. The Book of Homilies ibid. CHAP. XII The Doctrine of Free-will agreed upon by the Clergy in their Convocation An. 1543. 1. Of the Convocation holden in the year 1543. in order to the Reformation of Religion in points of Doctrine Page 569 2. The Article of Free-will in all the powers and workings of it agreed on by the Prelates and Clergie of that Convocation agreeable to the present Doctrine of the Church of England ibid. 3. An Answer to the first Objection concerning the Popishness of the Bishops and Clergie in that Convocation Page 571 4. The Article of Free-will approved by King Henry VIII and Archbishop Cranmer Page 572 5. An Answer to the last Objection concerning the Conformity of
be placed according to ancient custom at the East end of the Chancel and railed about decently to prevent base and profane usages and where the Chancel wanted any thing of repairs or the Church it self both to be amended Having thus shewed his care first for the House of God to set it in good order the next work followed was to make his own dwelling House a fit and convenient Habitation that to the old Building he added a new one which was far more graceful and made thereto a Chappel next to the Dining-room that was beautified and adorned with silk Hangings about the Altar in which Chappel himself or his Curate read Morning and Evening Prayer to the Family calling in his Labourers and Workfolks for he was seldom without them while he liv'd saying that he loved the noise of a Work-mans hammer for he thought it a deed of Charity as well as to please his own fancy by often building repairing to set poor People a work and encourage painful Artificers and Tradesmen in their honest Callings Yet after his death his Eldest Son was sued for Dilapidations in the Court of Arches by Dr. Beamont his Fathers Successor but the ingenious Gentleman pleaded his cause so notably before Sir Giles Swet then Judge of the Court that he was discharged there being no reason or justice he should be troubled for Dilapidations occasioned by the long War when his Father was unjustly turn'd out of his House and Living In July 1630. he took his Degree of Batchelor in Divinity His Latin Sermon was upon these words Mal. 4.19 Facim vos fieri piscatores hominum Upon the Sunday following being the time of the Act he Preach'd in the Afternoon on Matth. 13.25 In Feb. 13. A. D. 1633. He took his Degree of Dr. in Divinity an honour not usually in those days conferr'd upon men of such green years but our young Doctor verified those excellent words of the Son of Syrach That honourable Age is not that which standeth in length of time nor that is measured by number of years but Wisdom is the grey unto men and an unspotted life is an old Age Wisd 4.8 9. He entertain'd some hopes that Dr. Prideaux his animosities in so long a Tract of time as from 1627. to 1633. might have cooled In his first Disputation he had insisted on the Churches Visibility and now he resolved to assert and establish its Authority and to that purpose made choice to answer for his Degree upon these three questions viz. An Ecclesia habeat Authoritatem In determinandis fidei controversus An Ecclesia habeat Authoritatem Interpretandi S. scripturas An Ecclesia habeat Authoritatem Decernendi Ritus Caeremonias All which he held in the Affirmative according to the Doctrine of the Church of England in the 20th Article But Dr. Prideaux was as little pleased with these questions and the Respondents stating of them as he was with the former And therefore to create unto the Respondent a greater odium he openly declared that the Respondent had falsified the publick Doctrine of the Church and changed the Article with that sentence viz. Habet Ecclesia ritus sive caeremonias c. which was not to be found in the whole body of it and for the proof thereof he read the Article out of a Book which lay before him beginning thus Non licet Ecclesiae quicquam instituere quod verbo Dei scripto adversetur c. To which the Respondent readily answered That he perceived by the bigness of the Book which lay on the Doctors Cushion that he had read that Article out of the harmony of Confessions published at Geneva A. D. 1612. which therein followed the Edition of the Articles in the time of King Edward VI. A.D. 1552. in which that sentence was not found but that it was otherwise in the Articles agreed on in the Convocation A. D. 1562. The Respondent caused the Book of Articles to be sent for out of the Book-sellers shop which being observed by the Doctor he declared himself very willing to decline any further prosecution of that particular But Dr. Heylyn was resolved to proceed on no further Vsquedum liberaverit animam suam ab ista calumnia as his own words were At the coming in of the Book the Respondent read the Article in the English Tongue viz. The Church hath power to decree Rites and Ceremonies and Authority in Controversies of Faith c. Which done he delivered the Book to one of the Standers by who desired it of him the Book passing from one hand to another till all men were satisfied The Regius Professor had no other subterfuge but this He went to prove that not the Convocation but the High Court of Parliament had power of ordering matters in the Church in making Canons ordaining Ceremonies and determining Controversies in Religion And he could find no other medium to make it good but the Authority of Sir Edward Coke in one of the Books of his Reports An Argument that Dr. Heylyn gratified with no better answer than Non Credendum est cuique extra suam artem For these things and the Professors ill words in the former Disputation Dr. Heylyn caused him to be brought before the Council Table at Woodstock where he was publickly reprehended And upon the coming out of the Kings Declaration concerning lawful sports Dr. Heylyn translated the Regius Professors Lecture upon the Sabbath into English and putting a Preface before it caused it to be Printed a performance which did not only justifie his Majesties proceedings but took off much of that opinion which Dr. Prideaux had amongst the Puritanical Faction in those days A. D. 1634. The grievances which the Collegiate Church of Westminster suffered under the Government of John Lord Bishop of Lincoln then Commendatory Dean thereof became so intolerable that Dr. Heylyn with Dr. Tho. Wilson Dr. Gabriel Moor and Dr. Lud. Wemys with other of the Prebends drew up a Charge of no less than 36 Articles against the Bishop and by way of complaint humbly Petitioned his Majesty for redress of these grievances Whereupon a Commission was issued out to the Arch-Bishops of Canterbury and York the Earl of Manchester Earl of Portland the Lord Bishop of London and the two Secretaries of State Authorizing them to hold a Visitation of the Church of Westminster to examine the particular Charges made against John Lord Bishop of Lincoln who afterwards calling the Prebends to meet him in the Jerusalem-Chamber desired to know of them what these things were that were amiss that so he might presently redress them But to that Dr. Heylyn replied that seeing they had put the business into his Majesties hands it would but ill become them to take the matters out of his into their own Amongst other grievances the Bishop had most disgracefully turned out the Prebends of the great Seat or Pew under the Pulpit Dr. Heylyn being chosen Advocate for his Brothren did prove before
whether the Arch-Bishop had moved him to draw up those exceptions against Pryns Book which he denied or at least was not bound to confess that as he was faithful to his Sovereign so he would never prove himself unfaithful to his chief Minister both in Church and State But now John Lord Bishop of Lincoln at this Session of Parliament returned from the Tower to the Church after so long a time of his Suspension and Indevotion to say his Prayers and hear his Brother Peter Heylyn Preach in his course at the Abby in Westminster where notwithstanding the Holiness of that place to which his Lordship had no regard or reverence but only to the Name and Thing of it he was resolved publickly to revenge himself for old-done deeds that ought to have been forgotten by disturbing the Doctor in his Sermon before all the Congregation contrary to the Laws of this Realm and with Reverence to his Lordship against all good manners and the common rules of civility Mala mens furorque vecors In tantam impulerit culpam Catull. Strange That a Bishop could not rule his passions for one hour when no provocation was given by the Doctor whose Sermon from the beginning to the end of it throughout the whole discourse was pacificatory exhorting Christians to Moderation Love and Charity among themselves for the preservation of the publique peace although they differed in some opinions For satisfaction of the Reader I will set down the Doctors own words viz. Is it not that we are so affected with our own Opinions that we condemn whosoever shall opine the contrary and so far wedded to our own wills that when we have espoused a quarrel neither the Love of God not the God of Love shall divorce us from it Instead of hearkning to the voice of the Church every man hearkens to himself and cares not if the whole miscarry so that himself may bravely carry out his own devices Vpon which stubborn height of Pride what quarrels have been rais'd what Schisms in every corner of this our Church to enquire no further some rather putting all into open tumult than that they would conform to a Lawful Government derived from Christ and his Apostles to these very Times At the speaking of which words the Bishop of Lincoln sitting in the great Pew which was before the Seat of Contention knocked aloud with his Staff upon the Pulpit saying No more of that point No more of that point Peter To whom the Doctor readily answered without haesitation or the least sign of being dashed out of countenance I have a little more to say my Lord and then I have done which was as followeth viz. Others combining into close and dangerous Factions because some points of speculative Divinity are otherwise maintained by some than they would have them Also regardless of the common peace that rather than be quiet we will quarrel with our blessed Peace-maker for seeking to compose the differences though to the prejudice of neither party Thus do we foolishly divide our Saviour and rent his Sacred Body on the least occasion vainly conceiving that a difference in point of Judgment must needs draw after it a dis-joyning of the affections also and that conclude at last in an open Schism Whereas diversity of opinions if wisely managed would rather tend to the discovery of the Truth than the disturbance of the Church and rather whet-our Industry than excite our passions It was St. Cyprians resolution Neminem licet aliter senserit à Communione amovere not to suspend any man from the Communion of the Church although the matter then debated was as I take it of more weight than any of the points now controverted which moderation if the present Age had attained unto we had not then so often torn the Church in pieces nor by our frequent broils offered that injury and inhumanity to our Saviours Body which which was not offered to his Garments At this and all the other part of his Sermon the Auditory was highly pleased but the Bishop in so great wrath that his voice and the noise of his Pastoral Staff if I may so call it had like to have frighted the whole Flock or Congregation out of the Fold Considering the ill posture of affairs in which the Nation then stood overflowing with Seditions and Schisms I think a more seasonable Sermon could not have been Preached than to move men of different persuasions unto Peace and Unity one with another which is a most Christian Doctrine After the Sermon was ended he took Sir Robert Filmore his Learned Friend with some Gentlemen of Quality that were his Auditors out of the Church along with him to his House where he immediately Sealed up the Book that contained this Sermon and other Notes to which they also set their Seals that so there might not be the least alteration made in the Sermon nor any ground to suspect it which was presently after sent to the Bishop who kept it in his hands for some days in which time his passions allayed being more calm at home than in Church he sent the Book untouched back again to Dr. Heylyn in whose Study it had lain dormant for the space of fifteen years when the danger of an old Sermon of being called in question must needs be over by my persuasion and his consent he was pleased to give me leave to open that Apocalyptical Book that I might read and see the mystery that lay hid under the Seals for so many years which indeed proved only a pious and practical Sermon for Edification to moderate the heats of those fiery spirits that were like to make a Combustion in the whole Kingdom The Bishop deserved a sharper rebuke for his own Sermon which about that time he Preached before the King when he made a strange Apostrophe from his Text to the Sabbath falling down upon his knees in the Pulpit at the middle of his Sermon beseeching his Majesty in most humble manner that greater care might be taken for the better observation of the Sabbath day which was looked upon by many as a piece of most grand Hypocrisie who knew his opinion well by his practice for he did ordinarily play at Bowls on Sundays after Evening Service shoot with Bow and Arrows and used other exercises and recreations according to his Lordships pleasure The Bishop restored to his Dignities by means of that unhappy Parhament with whom he was in high favour expected that the Doctor should have submitted himself to his Lordship and particularly acknowledge his error in putting out the Antidotum Lincolniense which he commanded him to call in to which Dr. Heylyn replied that he received his Majesties Royal Command for the Writing and Printing of that Book in which he had asserted nothing but what he was still ready to justifie and defend against the opposers of it No sooner was the Doctor out of the Pulpit but he must come again before the Chair of the old Committee to
we cannot look for much knowledg in the Common people For if the light be darkness then ipsae tenebrae quantae as we know who said But the grand Quarrel of these times is about Episcopacy followed with more acrimony than the former was because there was something more to be gained by the fall of Bishops than by contending about Forms and Freedoms to be used in Prayer And in this point the Papists and the Presbyters differ not a little both in the end they aimed at and the motives to it The Papists quarrelled not the Calling the Episcopal function and much less the Revenues which belonged unto it but the persons rather offended chiefly that some Men of their own persuasions were not advanced to those great places and yet not quarrelling the persons neither for want of any fitness or abilities to discharge the Office but for defect of some Legalities in their Consecration And if they could possess the World that we had no Bishops it would be no hard matter to persuade them that we had no Ministery no lawful Dispensation of the Word and Sacraments by consequence that since we had withdrawn our selves from the See Apostolick we had left off to be a Church the gaining of which point was the matter aimed at in the Calumny Quid enim est Ecclesia nisi Plebs Sacerdoti adunata Pastori suo grex adhaerens Cypr. Epist 69. No Bishop no Church in St. Cyprians judgment for that by Pastor and Sacerdos he doth mean the Bishop is a thing past question In this respect as Harding in his Answer to Jewels Challenge would not acknowledg him to be Bishop of Salisbury and Bonner denied Horn in an open Sessions to be Bishop of Winchester so did they generally disclaim all the first Bishops of Queen Elizabeths Reign and consequently those also which descended from them as being consecrated in no other Chappel than the Nags-head in Cheapside nor by the imposition of any other Hands than their own nor finally by any lawful Ordinal either old or new But being beaten from these Holds partly by the inspection of the Publick Registers at Lambeth-house and partly by the Testimony of some honourable persons who were present at those Consecrations but partly by the pains and industry of Fr. Mason in his Book entituled Vindiâiae Ecclesiae Anglicanae they join themselves underhand to the other Faction for the subverting of the Calling as the easiest and most expedite way to their Journeys end With greater violence and impetuosity did the other Faction hurry on towards their Design spur'd on by Covetousness and Ambition the two principal Sticklers in all Distractions of the Church The Lay-brethren with unsatiable Covetousness gaped after the Possessions and Lands of the Bishops as the Presbyters and Ministers with as great Ambition did aspire unto their jurisdiction And as He in Plutarch seeing his own name unexpectedly amongst the Proscripts and consequently certain of nothing more than some sudden death cryed out aloud that it was his fine Gardens and his Countrey-house which drew that fatal end upon him so might the Bishops also say that it was their fair Houses and their goodly Mannors which exposed them to the common envy and sacrificed them in conclusion to Spoil and Rapine For though nothing else was pretended by them but a zeal to Gods glory the purity of the Ordinances and the Churches peace yet as my Author well observes Ecclesiarum opibus inhiabant it was the Churches goods which they most gaped after Camâd in Annal Eliz. not the Churches good In vain had the Presbyterian Ministers laboured in the pursuit of their Ambition and hopelesly endeavoured to change the Government that they might have it to themselves had they not been animated and supported in it by their Lay-patrons many of which as some of the Scottish Writers say of theirs would have crucified CHRIST himself to have had his garments Presuming on their power and favour some of the Ministers which had fled into Geneva in Queen Maries days brought with them at their coming back in the beginning of Queen Elizabeths Reign a strong affection and some secret instructions withal to settle the Presbyterian Discipline first fitted by Calvin for that City in the Church of England Incouraged thereunto no doubt both by Calvin and Beza the two great Patriarchs of the Sect who could not but be much agrieved that their Discipline which had found such welcome in the neighbouring Churches should find none in this And yet we do not hear of any open Declaration which they made herein till the year 1566. in which Genebrard placeth the beginning of the Puritan Faction more visibly appearing about two years after when Coleman Button Cambd. Annal. An. 1568. and some others spoken of before and Cartwright not long after them did openly undertake the Business And we may very well conceive that Beza would not be an idle Spectator when they once were at it having given order unto Knox for the Church of Scotland Ne pestem illam unquam admittat quantumvis unitatis retinendie specie blandiatur Beza in Epist that is to say not to admit the plague of Episcopal Government though it might seem of special use for preserving Unity Thus countenanced abroad and back'd at home they presently mustred up their forces betook themselves to the quarrel and whole Realm was on the sudden in an uproar The Parliaments continually troubled with their Supplications Admonitions and the like and when they found not there that favour which they looked for they denounced this dreadful Curse against them That there shall not be a man of their seed that shall prosper to be a Parliament man For this and that which follows see Bancrofts dangerous positions c. or bear Rule in England any more The Queen exclaimed upon in many of their Pamphlets her honourable Council scandalously censured as opposers of the Gospel The Prelates every where cryed down as Antichristian Petti-popes Bishops of the Devil cogging and cousening Knaves dumb Dogs Enemies of God c. and their Courts and Chanceries the Synagogues of Satan After this they erected privately their Presbyteries in divers places of the Land and cantoned the whole Kingdom into their several Classes and divisions and in a time when the Spaniards were expected they threaten to Petition the Queens Majesty with 100000 Hands Their Discipline they call'd the Scepter and Throne of Christ and their erecting of Presbyteries the setting of Christ upon his Throne Their quarrel not being raised as they gave it out about Caps and Surplices but whether Jesus Christ should be King or not Good ground for our Fifth monarchy-men and by them well followed Never did men so ply their Adversaries with the Hail-shot of Libels as Martin Mar-prelate and his followers plaid upon the Bishops but they had then no Ordinance on their side and did little hurt And all this while the Church might seem to he asleep till
Parliament that is might have the force of a Law by a civil Sanction The whole debate with all the Traverses and emergent difficulties which appeared therein are specified at large in the Records of Convocation Anno 1532. But being you have not opportunity to consult those Records I shall prove it by the Act of Parliament called commonly The Act of submission of the Clergy but bearing this Title in the Abridgment of the Statutes set out by Poulton That the Clergy in their Convocations shall enact no constitutions without the Kings assent In which it is premised for granted that the Clergy of the Realm of England had not only acknowledged according to the truth that the Convocation of the same Celrgy is always hath been and ought to be assembled always by the Kings Writ but also submitting themselves to the Kings Majesty had promised in verbo Sacerdotis That they would never from henceforth presume to attempt alleadge claim or put in ure enact promulge or execute any new Canons Constitutions Ordinances provincial or other or by whatsoever other name they shall be called in the Convocation unless the Kings most Royal Assent may to them be had to make promulge and execute the same and that his Majesty do giv his most Royal Assent and Authority in that behalf Upon which ground-work of the Clergies the Parliament shortly after built this superstructure to the same effect viz. That none of the said Clergy from henceforth should presume to attempt alleadge claim or put in ure any Constitutions or Ordinances Provincial or Synodals or any other Canons norshall enact promulge or execute any such Canons Constitutions or Ordinances Provincial by whatsoever names or names they may be called in their Convocations in time coming which always shall be assembled by the Kings Writ unless the same Clergy may have the Kings most Royal Assent and Licence to make promulge and execute such Canons Constitutions and Ordinances Provincial or Synodical upon pain of every one of the said Clergy doing the contrary to this Act and thereof convicted to suffer Imprisonment and make Fine at the Kings Will 25 H. 8. c. 19. So that the Statute in effect is no more than this An Act to bind the Clergy to perform their promise to keep them fast unto their word for the time to come that no new Canon should be made in the times succeeding in the favour of the Pope or by his Authority or to the diminution of the Kings Royal Prerogative or contrary to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm of England as many Papal Constitutions were in the former Ages Which Statute I desire you nto take notice of because it is the Rule and Measure of the Churches power in making Canons Constitutions or whatsoever else you shall please to call them in their Convocations The third and final Act conducing to the Popes Ejection was an Act of Parliament 28 H. 8 c. 10. entituled An Act extinguishing the Authority of the Bishop of Rome By which it was enacted That if any person should extol the Authority of the Bishop of Rome he should incur the penalty of a preamunire that every Officer both Ecclesiastioal and Lay should be Sworn to renounce the said Bishop and his Authority and to resist it to his power and to repute any Oath formerly taken in maintenance of the said Bishop or his Authority to be void and finally that the refusal of the said Oath should be judged High Treason But this was also usher'd in by the determination first and after by the practice of all the Clergy For in the year 1534. which was two years before the passing of this Act the King had sent this Proposition to be agitated in both Vniversities and in the greatest and most famous Monasteries of the Kingdom that is to say An aliquid authoritatis in hoc Regno Angliae Pontifici Romano de jure competat plusquam alii cuicunque Episcopo extero By whom it was determined Negatively that the Bishop of Rome had no more power of Right in the Kingdom of England than any other forreign Bishop Which being testified returned under the hands and seals respectively the Originals whereof are still remaining in the Library of Sr. Robert Cotton was a good preamble to the Bishops and the rest of the Clergy assembled in their Convocation to conclude the like And so accordingly they did and made an Instrument thereof subscribed by the hands of all the Bishops and others of the Clergy and afterwards confirmed the same by their corporal Oaths The copies of which Oaths and Instrument you shall find in Foxes Acts and Monumets Vol. 2. fol. 1203. and fol. 1210 1211. of the Edition of John Day Anno 1570. And this was semblably the ground of a following Statute 35 H. 8. c. 1. wherein another Oath was devised and ratified to be imposed upon the Subject for the more clear asserting of the Kings Supremacy and the utter exclusion fo the Popes for ever which Statutes though they were all repealed by an Act of Parliament 1 and 2 d. of Phil. and Mary c. 1. yet were they all revived in 1 Elize save that the name of supream Head was changed unto that of the supream Governour and certain clauses altered in the Oath of Supremacy Where by the way you must take notice that the Statutes which concern the Kings Supremacy are not introductory of any new Right that was not in the Crown before but only declaratory of an old as our best Lawyers tell us and the Statute of the 26 of H. 8. c. 1. doth clearly intimate So that in the Ejection of the Pope of Rome which was the firt and greatest steptowards the work of Reformation the Parliament did nothing for ought it appears but what was done before in the Convocation and did no more than fortifie the Results of Holy Church by the addition and corroboration of the Secular Power 3. Of the Translation of the Scriptures and permitting them to be read in the English Tongue THE second step towards the work of Reformation and indeed one of the most especial parts thereof was the Translation of the Bible into the English Tongue and the permitting all sorts of people to peruse the same as that which visibly did tend to the discovery of the errours and corruptions in the Church of Rome and the intolerable pride and tyranny of the Roman Prelates upon which grounds it had been formerly translated into English by the hand of Wickliff and after on the spreading of Luthers Doctrine by the pains of Tindal a stout and active man in K. Henries days but not so well befriended as the work deserved especially considering that it hapned in such a time when many Printed Pamphlets did disturb the State and some of them of Tindals making which seemed to tend unto sedition and the change of Government Which being remonstrated to the King he caused divers of his Bishops together with sundry of the Learned'st and
Articles had been concluded and condescended upon by the Prelates and Clergy of the Realm in their Convocation as appeareth in the very words of the Injunction For which see Fox his Acts and Monuments fol. 1247. I find not any thing in Parliament which relates to this either to countenance the work or to require obedience and conformity from the hand of the people And to say truth neither the King nor Clergy did account it necessary but thought their own Authority sufficient to go through with it though certainly it was more necessary at that time than in any since The power and reputation of the Clergy being under foot the King scarce setled in the Supremacy so lately recognized unto him and therefore the Authority of the Parliament of more Use than afterward in Times well ballanced and established 'T is true that in some other year of that Princes Reign we find some Use and mention of an Act of Parliament in matters which concerned Religion but it was only in such Times when the hopes of Reformation were in the Wane and the Work went retrogade For in the year 1539. being the 31. H. 8. When the Lord Comwels power began to decline and the King was in a necessity of compliance with His Neighbouring Princes there passed an Act of Parliament commonly called the Statute of the six Articles or the Whip with six strings In which it was Enacted That whosoever by word or writing should Preach Teach or publish that in the blessed Sacraments of the Altar under form of Bread and Wine there is not really the natural Body and Blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ conceived of the Virgin Mary or affirm otherwise thereof than was maintained and taught in the Church of Rome should be adjudged an Heretick and suffer death by burning and forfeit all his Lands and Goods as in case of High Treason Secondly That whosoever should Teach or Preach that the Communion of the blessed Sacrament in both kinds is necessary for the health of mans soul and ought to be maintained Thirdly Or that any man ofter the Order of Priesthood received might Marry or contract Matrimony Fourthly Or that any Woman which had vowed and professed Chastity might contract Marriage Fifthly Or that private Masses were not lawful and laudable or agreable to the Word of God Or sixthly That auricular Confession was not necessary and expedient to be used in the Church of God should suffer death and forfeit Lands and Goods as a Felon 31 H. 8. c. 14. The rigour of which terrible Statute was shortly after mitigated in the said King's Reign 32 H. 8. c. 10. and 35 H. 8. c. 5. and the whole Statute absolutely repealed by Act of Parliament 1 E. 6. c. 12. But then it is to be observed first that this Parliament of K. H. 8. did not determine any thing in those six points of Doctrine which are therein recited but only took upon them to devise a course for the suppressing of the contrary Opinions by adding by the secular Power the punishment of Death and forfeiture of Lands and Goods unto the censures of the Church which were grown weak if not unvalid and consequently by degrees became neglected ever since the said K. Henry took the Headship on Him and exercised the same by a Lay Vicar General And secondly you must observe that it appeareth evidently by the Act it self that at the same time the King had called a Synod and Convocation of all the Arch-Bishops Bishops and other Learned men of the Clergy that the Articles were first deliberately and advisedly debated argued and reasoned by the said Arch-Bishops Bishops and other Learned men of the Clergy and their opinions in the same declared and made known before the matter came in Parliament And finally That being brought into the Parliament there was not any thing declared and passed as doctrinal but by the assent of the Lords Spiritual and other Learned men of the Clergy as by the Act it self doth at large appear Finally Whatsoever may be drawn from thence can be only this That K. Hen. did make use of his Court of Parliament for the establishing and confirming of some points of Popery which seemed to be in danger of a Reformation And this compared with the Statute of the 34. and 35. prohibiting the reading of the Bible by most sorts of people doth clearly shew that the Parliaments of those times did rather hinder and retard the work of Reformation in some especial parts thereof than give any furtherance to the same But to proceed There was another point of Reformation begun in the Lord Cromwels time but not produced nor brought to perfection till after his decease and then too not without the Midwifery of an Act of Parliament For in the year 1537. the Bishops and others of the Clergy of the Convocation had composed a Book entituled The Institution of a Christian Man which being subscribed by all their hands was by them presented to the King by His most excellent judgment to be allowed of or condemned This Book containing the chief Heads of Christian Religion was forthwith Printed and exposed to publick view But some things not being clearly explicated or otherwise subject to exception he caused it to be reviewed and to that end as Supream Head on Earth of the Church of Engl. I speak the very words of the Act of Parl. 32. H. 8. c. 26. appointed the Arch-Bishops and Bishops of both Provinces and also a great number of the best learned honestest and most vertuous sort of the Doctors of Divinity men of discretion judgment and good disposition to be called together to the intent that according to the very Gospel and Law of God without any partial respect or affection to the Papistical sort or any other Sect or Sects whatsoever they should declare by writing and publish as well the principal Articles and points of our Faith and Belief with the Declaration true understanding and observation of such other expedient points as by them with his Graces advice counsel and consent shall be thought needful and expedient as also for the lawful Rights Ceremonies and observation of Gods Service within this Realm This was in the year 1540. at what time the Parliament was also sitting of which the King was pleased to make this special use That whereas the work which was in hand I use again the words of the Statute required ripe and mature deliberation and was not rashly to be defined and set forth and so not fit to be restrained to the present Session an Act was passed to this effect That all Determinations Declarations Decrees Definitions and Ordinances as according to God's Word and Christ's Gospel should at any time hereafter be set forth by the said Arch-Bishops and Bishops and Doctors in Divinity now appointed or hereafter to be appointed by his Royal Majesty or else by the whole Clergy of England in and upon the matter of Christ's Religion and the Christian Faith
and the lawful Rights Ceremonies and Observations of the same by his Majesties advice and confirmation under the great Seal of England shall be by all his Graces Subjects fully believed obeyed observed and performed to all purposes and intents upon the pains and penalties therein to be comprized as if the same had been in express words and sentences plainly and fully made set forth declared and contained in the said Act 32 H. 8. c. 26. where note That the two Houses of Parliament were so far from medling in the matter which was then in hand that they did not so much as require to see the Determinations and Decrees of those Learned men whom his Majesty had then Assembled before they passed the present Act to bind the Subject fully to believe observe and perform the same but left it wholly to the judgment and discretion of the King and Clergy and trusted them besides with the ordaining and inflicting of such pains and penalties on disobedient and unconformable persons as to them seemed meet This ground-work laid the work went forwards in good order and at last being brought unto as much perfection as the said arch-Arch-Bishops Bishops and other Learned men would give it without the co-operation and concurrence of the Royal assent it was presented once again to the Kings consideration who very carefully perused it and altered many things with his own hand as appears by the Book it self still extant in the famous Library of Sir Robert Cotton and having so altered and corrected it in some passages returned it to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury who bestowed some further pains upon it to the end that being to come forth in the King's Name and by his Authority there might be nothing in the same which might be justly reprehended The business being in this forwardness the King declares in Parliament Anno 1544. being the 34 year of his Reign his zeal and care not only to suppress all such Books and Writings as were noysome and pestilent and tended to the seducing of his Subjects but also to ordain and establish a certain Form of pure and sincere Teaching agreable to God's Word and the true Doctrine of the Catholick and Apostolick Church whereunto men may have recourse for the decision of some such controversies as have in Times past and yet do happen to arise And for a preparatory thereunto that so it might come forth with the greater credit he caused an Act to pass in Parliament for the abolishing of all Books and Writings comprizing any matters of Christian Religion contrary to that Doctrine which since the year 1540. is or any time during the King's life shall be set forth by his Highness and for the punishment of all such and that too with most grievous pains which should preach teach maintain or defend any matter or thing contrary to the Book of Doctrine which was then in readiness 34 35 H. 8. c. 1. Which done he caused the said Book to be Imprinted in the year next following under the Title of A necessary Doctrine for all sorts of People prefixing a Preface thereto in his Royal Name to all his faithful and loving Subjects that they might know the better in those dangerous Times what to believe in point of Doctrine and how they were to carry and behave themselves in points of Practice Which Statute as it is the greatest Evidence which those Times afford to shew that both or either of the Houses of Parliament had any thing to do in matters which concerned Religion so it entitles them to no more if at all to any thing then that they did make way to a Book of Doctrine which was before digested by the Clergy only revised after and corrected by the Kings own hand and finally perused and perfected by the Metropolitan And more then so besides that being but one Swallow it can make no Summer it is acknowledged and confessed in the Act it self if Poulton understand it rightly in his Abridgment That recourse must be had to the Catholick and Apostolick Church for the decision of Controversies Which as it gives the Clergy the decisive power so it left nothing to the Houses but to assist and aid them with the Temporal Sword when the Spiritual Word could not do the deed the point thereof being blunted and the edge abated Next let us look upon the time of K. Ed. 6. and we shall find the Articles and Doctrine of the Church excepting such as were contained in the Book of Common-Prayer to be composed confirmed and setled in no other way then by the Clergy only in their Convocation the Kings Authority co-operating and concurring with them For in the Synod held in London Anno 1552. the Clergy did compose and agree upon a Book of Articles containing the chief Heads of the Christian Faith especially with reference to such Points of Controversie as were in difference between the Reformators of the Church of England and the Church of Rome and other Opponents whatsoever which after were approved and published by the Kings Authority They were in number 41. and were published by this following Title that is to say Articuli de quibus in Synodo London Anno 1552. ad tollendum opinionum dissentionem consensum verae Religionis firmandum inter Episcopos alios Eruditis viros Convenerat Regia authoritate in lucem Editi And it is worth our observation that though the Parliament was held at the very time and that the Parliament passed several Acts which concerned Church-matters as viz. An Act for Vniformity of Divine Service and for the Confirmation of the Book of Ordination 5 and 6 Edw. 6. c. 1. An Act declaring which days only shall be kept for Holy days and which for Fasting days C. 3. against striking or drawing weapon either in the Church or Church-yard C. 4. And finally another Act for the legitimating of the Marriages of Priests and Ministers C. 12. Yet neither in this Parliament nor in that which followed is there so much as the least syllable which reflecteth this way or medleth any thing at all with the book of Articles Where by the way if you behold the lawfulness of Priests Marriages as a matter Doctrinal or think we owe that point of Doctrine and the indulgence granted to the Clergy in it to the care and goodness of the Parliament you may please to know that the point had been before determined in the Convocation and stands determined by and for the Clergy in the 31 of those Articles and that the Parliament looked not on it as a point of Doctrine but as it was a matter practical conducing to the benefit and improvement of the Common-wealth Or if it did yet was the Statute built on no other ground-work than the Resolution of the Clergy the Marriage of Priests being before determined to be most lawful I use the very words of the Act it self and according to the Word of God by the Learned Clergy of this realm
came out in some years succeeding for the taking away of Images and Reliques with all the Ornaments of the same and all the Monumens and writings of feigned Miracles and for restraint of offering or setting up Lights in any Churches but only to the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar in which he was directed chiefly by Arch-Bishop Cranmer as also those for eating of white meats in the time of Lent the abolishing the Fast on St. Marks day and the ridiculous but superstitious sports accustomably used on the days of St. Clement St. Katherine and St. Nicholas All which and more was done in the said Kings Reign without help of Parliament For which I shall refer you to the Acts and Mon. fol. 1385 1425 1441. The like may also be affirmed of the Injunctions published in the name of K. E. 6. An. 1547. and printed also then for the Use of the Subjects And of the several Letters missive which went forth in his Name prohibiting the bearing of Candles on Candlemas-day of Ashes in Lent and of Palms on Palm-sunday for the taking down of all the Images throughout the Kingdom for administring the Communion in both kinds dated March 13 1548. for abrogating of private Masses June 24 1549. for bringing in all Missals Graduals Processionals Legends and Ordinals about the latter end of December of the same year for taking down of Altars and setting up Tables instead thereof An. 1550. and the like to these All which particulars you have in Foxes Book of Acts and Mon. in King Edwards life which whether they were done of the Kings meer motion or by advice of his Council or by consultation with his Bishops for there is little left upon Record of the Convocations of that time more than the Articles of the year 1552 certain I am that there was nothing done nor yet pretended to be done in all these particulars by the Authority of Parliament Thus also in Q. Elizabeths time before the new Bishops were well settled and the Queen assured of the affections of her Clergy she went that way to work in the Reformation which not only her two Predecessors but all the Godly Kings and Princes in the Jewish State and many of the Christian Emperours in the Primitive times had done before her in the well ordering of the Church and People committed to their care and government by Almighty God and to that end she published her Injunctions An. 1559. A Book of Orders An. 1561. Another of Advertisements An. 1562. All tending unto Reformation unto the building up of the new Jerusalem with the advice and counsel of the Metropolitan and some other Godly Prelates who were then a-about her by whom they were agreed on and subscribed unto before they were presented to her without the least concurrence of her Court of Parliament But when the times were better settled and the first difficulties of her Reign passed over she left Church-work to the disposing of Church-men who by their place and calling were most proper for it and they being met in Convocation and thereto Authorised as the Laws required did make and publish several Books of Canons as viz. 1571. An. 1584. An. 1597. Which being confirmed by the Queen under the broad Seal of England were in force of Laws to all intents and purposes which they were first made but being confirmed without those formal words Her Heirs and Successors are not binding now but expired together with the Queen No Act of Parliament required to confirm them then nor never required ever since on the like occasion A fuller evidence whereof we cannot have than in the Canons of year 1603. being the first year of King James made by the Clergy only in the Convocation and confirmed only by the King for though the old Canons were in force which had been made before the submission of the Clergy as before I shewed you which served in all these wavering and unsettled times for the perpetual standing rule of the Churches Government yet many new emergent cases did require new rules and whilst there is a possibility of Mali mores there will be a necessity of bonae Leges Now in the confirmation of these Canons we shall find it thus That the Clergy being met in their Convocation according to the Tenour and effect of his Majesties Writ his Majesty was pleased by virtue of his Prerogative Royal and Supream Authority in causes Ecclesiastical to give and grant unto them by his Letters Patents dated April 12. and June 25. full free and lawful liberty licence power and authority to convene treat debate consider consult and agree upon such Canons Orders Ordinances and Constitutions as they should think necessary fit and convenient for the honour and service of Almighty God the good and quiet of the Church and the better government thereof from time to time c. to be kept by all persons within this Realm as far as lawfully being members of the Church it may concern them which being agreed on by the Clergy and by them presented to the King humbly requiring him to give his Royal assent unto them according to the Statute made in the 25 of K. H. 8. and by his Majesties Prerogative and Supream Authority in Ecclesiastical causes to ratifie and confirm the same his Majesty was graciously pleased to confirm and ratifie them by his Letters Patents for himself his Heirs and lawful Successors straightly commanding and requiring all his loving Subjects diligently to observe execute and keep the same in all points wherein they do or may concern all or any of them No running to the Parliament to confirm these Canons nor any question made till this present by temperate and knowing men that there wanted any Act for their confirmation which the law could give them 7. An Answer to the main Objections of either Party BUT against this all which hath been said before it will be objected That being the Bishops of the Church are fully and wholly Parliamentarian and have no more Authority and Jurisdiction nisi à Parliamentis derivatum but that which is conferred upon them by the power of Parliaments as both Sanders and Schultingius do expresly say whatsoever they shall do or conclude upon either in Convocation or in more private conferences may be called Parliamentarian also And this last calumny they build on the several Statutes 24 H. 8. c. 12. touching the manner of Electing and Consecrating Arch-Bishops and Bishops that of the 1 E. 6. c. 2. appointing how they shall be chosen and what Seals they shall use these of 3 and 4 Ed. 6. c. 12. 5. 6 E. 6. for Authorizing of the Book of Ordination But chiefly that of the 8 Eliz. c. 1. for making good all Acts since 1 Eliz. in Consecrating any Arch Bishop or bishop within this Realm To give a general answer to each several cavil you may please to know that the Bishops as they now stand in the Church of England derive their Calling together with
ãâã ãâã Then doth the Bishop say the Prayers and give the peace or kiss of peace to all the company who having saluted one another with an holy kiss the Diptychs are forthwith recited After the Bishop and the Priests having washed their hands the Bishop standing against the middle of the Altar the Priests and Ministers being round about him and giving praise to God for all his works proceeds unto the Consecration of the Elements being then presented to the publick view Which being thus Sanctified and publickly set forth to view ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã he first partakes thereof himself and then exhorteth others to do the like The blessed Sacrament being thus given and received ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã he finally descends to the giving of thanks and so dismisseth the Assembly This is the Form of ministration laid down before us in the Books ascribed to this Dionysius in which I see not any thing which may advantage those of the Church of Rome unless it be the use of censing but I see much which makes against them viz. the giving of the whole Communion sub utraque specie For should you stumble at the Altar which is mentioned here Ignatius who lived in these very times Irenaeus who lived but little after S. Cyprian and almost who not amongst the Ancients will lend an helping hand for to raise you up And if you would sum up the Form which is described here at large we have the daily Service which I conceive to be those leading Prayers which the Bishop first said at the holy Altar the Psalms the reading of the Scriptures in a prescript order which possibly may be the Epistle and Gospel as we call them now then the dismission of all such who are not fitted to communicate the placing of the Bread and Wine on the holy Table the general confession of the peoples sins to Almighty God the kiss of peace and mutual salutation with the commemoration of the Righteous After all this the Prayer of Consecration and the participating of the blessed Sacrament and finally Thanksgiving for so great a blessing In all which there is nothing that I can see except it be the act of censing as before is said which savoureth not of primitive and Apostolical purity nothing but what is worthy of the name and piety of Dionysius nothing but what we may observe in other Worthies near about the time which is assigned unto this Author Finally if the Author be not Dionysius which I will not take upon me to determine yet doubtless he is very ancient and for the Books ascribed unto him Petr. Molinaeuâ in tract de Altar c. 7. they are acknowledged by Du Moulin to be utilia bonae frugis which is as much as need be said in the present case Let us next look upon the Form of Baptism which is another part of the publick Liturgy For howsoever the word Liturgy be used sometimes to signifie no more than the Ministration of the blessed Eucharist in which respect it is the same with ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and is expounded so by Balsamon Balsam in not is ad Concil Sardic yet doth it signifie most commonly the whole course And therefore Bellarmine was foully out when he made this note à patribus Graecis vix aliter accipi quam pro minifterio sacrificii Eucharistiae offerendi Bellarm. de Missa l. 1. c. 1. Dionys de Eccles Hierarch p. 77. edit gr lat ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that it was seldom used otherwise by the Greek Fathers then for the Celebrating of the Sacrifice of the holy Eucharist But let that pass cum caeteris errorbus and go we on unto our business to the Form of Baptism which we find thus described by the said Dionysius The day being come in which the party is to be Baptized and the Congregation being Assembled in the holy Church ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. The Bishop sings some Psalm contained in the Scripture the whole Assembly joyning with him then doing reverence towards the holy Table he turns unto the party offered unto Baptism and asks him for what cause he cometh who being taught by his Surety first making known his ignorance and want of God desires that he might be admitted to these things which pertain to godliness The Bishop next letting him know the rules of a Christian life demandeth if he will conform unto them ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the which when he hath promised to do his name together with his sureties are enrolled in the publick Registers This done ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the bishop saith the holy Prayer which when the whole Assembly have consented to by saying Amen the Deacon doth prepare himself to strip him and disrobe him of his Cloaths and placing him towards the West with his hands lift up requireth him to bid defiance unto Satan thrice ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and saying to him the set and solemn words of Abrenuntiation when he hath thrice repeated them he is turned towards the East and willeth him having both his hands and eyes heaved up to Heaven to joyn himself to Christ and Gods holy Word Which having promised and thrice made profession of his faith the Bishop layeth his hand upon him and prayeth over him Then being disrobed the Priests bring the Oyl or chrism wherewith the Bishop doth thrice sign him with the sign of the Cross and after delivereth him unto the Priests who carry him unto the Font where calling upon God to bless and sanctifie the waters and singing to the Lord one of the song or Psalms made by the inspiration of the Holy ghost the party is called by his Name and thrice dipped in water one of the persons of the blessed Trinity being particularly named and called upon at each several dipping or immersion This done they cloath him all in white and bring him back unto the Bishop who once more anointeth him with the Oyl or Chrism and so pronounceth him to be from that time forwards a meet partaker of the blessed Eucharist So far and to this purpose Dionysius But then withal you must observe that this was in baptismo Adultorum and that there was not so much ceremony in the Baptism of Infants although it was the same in both for the main and substance Now for the Form of Abrenuntiation we find it thus laid down in the Constitutions ascribed to Clemens of which it may be said as was before of Dionysius that though they be not his whose name they carry yet are they notwithstanding very ancient and do exceeding well set forth the Forms and usages of the primitive Church Clement Constitut l. y. c. 42. The Form is this ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. i. e. I forsake the Devil and all his works his pomps and service his Angels and inventions with all things under his command Which done he doth rehearse the Articles of his belief in this Form that followeth ãâã ãâã ãâã
Concil Laodicen ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to name the Psalm and to begin it as some about this time had presumed to do it being permitted as he noteth after the Psalm was so begun ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that Lay-men of what rank soever if they had tuneable voices or could sing their parts might then joyn with them asin consort to make up the Harmony The next care taken by this Council was that the Gospels and other parts of the holy Scripture might be read upon the Saturday or the old Jewish Sabbath ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Whereof the reason is thus given by Balsamon Concil Ladoic Can. 15. because that day had been formerly spent in Feasting ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and that the people used not to assemble on it Balsamon in Can. 16. Laodicen for religious offices which to redress it was determined by this Canon that on that day as well as others ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã all sorts of Ecclesiastical ministrations were to be performed The last was for the ordering of the Psalms concerning which it was ordained that between every portion of the Psalms for they divided the whole Psalter ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Id. in Canon 17. Concil Laodic Can. 17. into several portions ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã some part of holy Scripture should be intermingled lest else the people might be tyred with continual singing Here then we have certain prescribed Rules and Orders for the officiating of Gods publick Service the Palms divided into Portions those Portions intermingled with the reading of the holy Scripture a prescribed office ordered for the Saturday and finaly a punctual direction not only who should name or begin the Psalm but from what Book it should be read But there 's another Canon of this Council which looks more backward and did not so much introduce any new Orders into the Church as confirm the old and doth indeed give as full a view of the several parts and Offices of the publick Service as any other of that time whatever The first part of the Service we have seen before in Justin Martyr that which he calleth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Common-prayers of the Church at which all sorts of people were and might be present This ended with the Sernion as we saw before And we shall see now more particularly what they had to do after that was done For howsoever it may seem in that place of Justin that presently upon the conclusion of the Sermon they went unto the Celebration of the blessed Eucharist yet that is on a supposition that there were none present but Believers only and such as were prepared to Communicate But being that in those severe Ages of the Church they had not only Catechumeni such as desired to be admitted into the bosom of the Church and had not yet received that Sacrament of Baptism but such as having been Baptized were for their lapses and offences put to open Penance as well as godly and religious persons against whom no bar could be pretended the Offices of the Church were to be so fitted that every one of these conditions might not want his part And this is that which we find described in this Canon thus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Concil Laodicen Can. 19. c. After the Bishop hath done his Sermon let first the prayer be said for the Catechumeni they being gone the prayers for such who are under penance are to be dispatched and when they have received Imposition of hands and are also gone then let the prayers for the faithful be thrice made thus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. the first softly every man secretly to himself the second and the third aloud which done the Peace or kiss of peace is to be given and so they are to go to the Oblation And let none but such as be in Orders enter within the rail ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or come within the place where the Altar stands to receive the Sacrament So far the Canon of the Council by which it is apparent that each sort of Auditors had a peculiar course or Office besides that part of publick Service in which they joyned all together as before was said But whether the prayers here spoken of were left at liberty to the discretion of the Minister or in a prescribed and determinate Form we must see elsewhere And in my mind we cannot see it at a fuller view than in the Constitutions ascribed to Clemens undoubtedly more ancient than the times we speak of where we find it thus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. All rising up let the Deacon go into some eminent place and say Constitut Apost lib. 8. c. 5. None of the hearers none of the unbelievers depart the place And silence being made he saith ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Pray ye hearers And all the faithful shall pray for them with a good devotion saying ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Lord have mercy upon them Then let the Dacon thus proceed Id. cap. 6. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. Let us all pray to God for the Catechumeni that our good God of his abundant love to man-kind would graciously hear their prayers and give them help minate their understandings instruct them in knowledge and teach them his Commandments c. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. Moreover let us beseech God for them that having obtained remission of their sins by Baptism they may be meet partakers of the holy Eucharist and dwell for ever with the Saints c. Now unto every point or period contained in this solemn prayer the people answered ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Lod have mercy on them after the manner of the Litany and the whole prayer being ended they bowed their heads under the Bishops hands by whom they were dismissed with a Benediction conform unto the Canon of the Laodicean Council which before we spake of Which done the Deacon standing as before said thus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Depart ye Catechumeni in peace The Ite missa est in the Western Churches is the same with this Then follow prayers for the Engergumeni or such as were possessed with unclean spirits And that being ended together with another for the Baptized or Illuminati the Deacon said ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Pray ye devoutly which be under Penance and then goeth on Id. ibid. cap. 8. Pray we for those which be under Penance that God would shew them the way of repentance accept their Recantation and Confession and finally beat down Satan under their feet c. the people still subjoyning unto every clause ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Lord have mercy on them Thus much and more unto this purpose in the Constitutions And I the rather am inclined to admit these Forms or to resolve it at the least that set Forms they had for these several Offices because the Minister by whom they were performed was of no higher Order than a Deacon For had the
they whose they will And with as little justice do they use S. Austin whose words they bring to prove that it was free for Christians to pray as their occasions did require Vindication p. 17. without being limited to prescribed prayers This they are brought to prove indeed they say well in that For they are thus brought in in another place viz. And to the same purpose that there were then no such stinted Liturgies S. Austin in his 121. Ep. Liberum est c. It is free to ask the same things which are in the Lords prayer Smectymn p. 7. aliis atque aliis verbis sometimes one way and sometimes another But doth this prove think they that in those times there were no stinted Liturgies which is the matter to be proved I cannot possibly believe they think so whatsoever they say The Father in that place as they know full well speaks of private prayer and sheweth that in addressing our desires to God we are not bound to use the very syllables and words of the Lords prayer only I trow none ever said we were Certain I am that there is no such doctrine preached by any of the Sons of the Church of England Besides if there were publick Liturgies in S. Austins times as they seem to grant because they say they will not peremptorily say there were not Vindication ibid. and we say they are peremptory enough when there is ground for it Then certainly whatever might be done in private it was not free nor lawful to ask the same thing in the publick service of the Church aliis atque aliis verbis in other words than were prescribed in those Liturgies And so the testimony out of Austin is neither so full unto the purpose as they did intend nor hath it proved the matter it was brought to prove Id. ibid. So far was that good Father from decrying either the benefit or use of publick Liturgies that as we saw before he derives their petigree not only from the Apostles times ab ipsts Apostolorum temporibus as his own words are but also from their words and warrant and therefore was not like to countenance so bold a freedom of praying in Gods publick worship with what words we listed or indeed any other than the prescribed Forms But this being only his opinion as a private man it may be some will take it to be more authentick if he delivered it in Synod and had therein the suffrage and consent of all the Fathers there Assembled And possible it is that it may be so For in the body of the Canons which as they stand in Balsamons collections are called the Canons of the Council of carthage and so they are in that of Zonaras but as collected by Justellus are called in general the Canons of the Church of Africa there is one runs thus entituled De precibus quae debent fieri ad Altare Touching the prayers to be made at the Altar Codex Can. Eccl. Africn c. 103. Hoc quoque placuit ut precationes quae in Synodo confirmatae sunt sive Praefationes sive Commendationes sive manus impositiones ab omnibus peragantur omnino aliae adversus fidem nunquam proferantur sed quae à sapientioribus colleciae sunt dicentur i. e. It seemeth good unto us say the Fathers that those prayers which have been approved of in the Synod whether that they be Prefaces or Commendations or laying on of hands that is in Ordination as I conceive and I will tell you why anon be performed by all that none which be against the faith be said in publick but only such as have been formerly composed by wise and understanding men This Canon if it were made in any time between the year 395. and 430. it is most likely that S. Austin had a hand in the making of it for so long he sate Bishop of the Church of Hippo. v. baron in Annal. eccl An. 395.430 Binius in editione Concil To. 1. For if it were decreed in the third of Carthage which seems to have a touch of something of it Can. 23. it must be then An. 397. as it is ranked by Baronius if in the Council of Milevis whither some refer it it falls into the year 416. by the same account at one of which S. Austin was and at both of them might be present for ought I know unto the contrary But the truth is the Canons of these African Councils are much disordered in all collections of them which I yet have seen This Canon in the collection made by zonaras being the 117th in that of Balsamon Can. 106. in the Code published by Justellus his 103. and amongst those ascribed to the Milevitan Council 't is in rank the 12th But howsoever it be placed in this rank or that it seems it was not made without good occasion For as it is observed by Balsamon Balsamon notae in Concil Carth. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Some Bishops then as since some Presbyters have done endeavoured to introduce new Forms of their own devising And yet it was not only the Bishops fault some of the Priests was no less active in the Innovation Zonaras in Concil Carthagin Can. 117. and unto them it is referred by Zonaras ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as he tells us there And this not only in the ministration of the daily prayers but ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the very act of Ordination in which the Bishop laying hands ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã upon the head of him that was to be ordained used certain prayers Fically he resolves that in all the several Acts of publick Worship before remembred the prayers confirmed ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã not first devised in that Synod should be only used ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Id. ibid. and that no new ones brought into the Church by any one whosoever he was should be entertained The reason of the which as 't is touched before so is it more expresly manifested in that of the Milevitan Council if it were of that Ne forte aliquid contra sidem Concil Milevit Can. 12. vel per ignorantiam vel per minus studium sit compositum lest else perhaps either through ignorance or want of care something against the rule of Faith be composed and published So then this was no new restraint and much less the first whereby the liberty of Prayer or praying by a Form of ones own devising was prescribed and limited as some give it out Smectymn p. 7. but a Reviver only or a Confirmation of the antient Canons by which it had been limited and prescribed before As for the Canon of the third of Carthage in which it seems to be permitted to the Minister to use such Prayers in the officiating Gods divine Service concerning which cum fratribus instructioribus contulerit he had before conferred with the learned Brethren Id. Ibid. when they can prove that Canon to be made in
They are all now for Root and Branch for the very Calling that having grubbed up those goodly Cedars of the Church the Bishops they might plant a stinking Elder as a noble person well observed in the place thereof Never was Learning so employed to cry down the encouragements and rewards of Learning The Branches needs must wither when the Root decays and what could else befall Cathedras as we see it too evidently but the inevitable exposing of them to a present ruin by making them Oblations unto Spoil and Rapine And now or never was the time for those that had a care of the Churches safety to put themselves into a posture of defence and be provided for the Battel In which if few appeared at the first on the Churches side it was not that they durst not give the onset but that they were reserved for succours For whilst the Humbly reverend Remonstrant was pleased to vindicate as well his own as the Churches honour there was small cause or rather none that other men should interpose themselves at all or rob him of the glory of a sole encounter Parque novum fortuna videt concurrere Bellum atque virum as in a case not much unlike was observed by Lucan But when that Reverend pen grew wearied not with the strength or number of his Adversaries but their importunity who were resolved to have the last words as himself observeth and that he hath been pleased to give way to others to shew their duty and affection in so just a cause it was then no hard matter to persuade me to such further courses as might be thought on and pursued for the Churches peace And I the rather was resolved to do somewhat in it because the Smectymnuans in a manner had ingaged me in the undertaking It seems they have forgotten what their own Darling HEILTN c. Smectym pag. 16 17. by giving me the Title of the Bishops Darling a Title which though given in scorn had been ill bestowed should I be wanting unto those of that Sacred Order which were supposed to let me hold so principal a place in their affections Doubly ingaged by duty and this provocation which I could not take but for a challenge I took their Book into my hand in which I found the whole dispute as it relates to the Episcopal Government reduced to these Propositions viz. 1. That the Impropriation of name and Imparity of place between Bishops and Presbyters was not of divine right and Apostolical institution but of humane invention and occasionally only and that a Diabolical occasion also and no more than so 2. That the eminent Superiority and Power of Ordination and Jurisdiction which our Bishops claim was both unknown to the Scripture and the Primitive times 3. That antiently in some places of the World the Episcopal Government was never known for many years together the people in those places being instructed in the faith without help of Bishops Hereupon they infer in the close of all That Bishops or Episcopacy being at the best a meer humane Ordinance may by the same Authority be abrogated by which it was first established This last I must confess delivered in the way of Quere but so delivered as to carry a Position in it more pertinent to their aim and purpose than the other three In prosecuting of which points as they have shewed the greatest of their wit and cunning to give the fairest colours to a rotten Cause so have they brought no new Objections against the Episcopal Order and Jurisdiction but what are either answered or prevented in the Learned works of B. Bilson B. Downham and other Worthies of this Church now in bliss with God Nihil dictum quod non dictum fuit prius had been an Answer new enough for an old Objection But seeing that these Men though they could bring no new supply of Arguments is make good their Cause would not rest satisfied with those old Answers which had been given in former times to their Predecessors I was resolved to deal with them in another way than what hath formerly been travelled Not in the way of Argumentation or a Polemical discourse there being no likelihood of any end in such Disputations as long as men had so much Sophistry as either to evade the Argument or find some sleight to weaken and shift off the Answer I rather chose having found good success in that kind before to manage the whole Controversie as it lay between us in the way of an Historical Narration as in point of fact which I conceive to be the readiest means to convince gainsayers and silence the dispute for the times to come For if History be Testis temporum the surest and most faithful witness of mens actions in the carriage of all publick businesses as no doubt it is it cannot but be also Magistra vitae both which the Orator affirms of it the best Instructress we can have in all Affairs of like nature as they come before us The History of Episcopacy collected from the Writings of the Antient Fathers cannot but be of special use and efficacy in setting forth the Government of the Church in the purest times especially when those Fathers are produced on no other occasion but either as writing on those Texts of Scripture in which the Institution and Authority of Bishops is most clearly evidenced or speaking of the condition of the Church in their several times in the Administration and Government whereof they had most of them some especial interess Out of whose testimonies so digested and compared together I doubt not but it will appear most evidently to an indifferent and impartial Reader first That our Lord and Saviour JESVS CHRIST laid the foundation of his Church in an imparity of Ministers and that according unto his example the Apostles did the like ordaining the three several Orders and Degrees of Bishops Presbyters and Deacons in the holy Ministry Next that the Government of Bishops being founded thus was propagated over all the World with the faith it self there being no Nation which received the one without the other And finally that in matter of Authority and Jurisdiction the Bishops of the primitive and purest Ages had full as much as ours of England in these latter times And if I have done this as I hope I have it may more rationally be inferred though perhaps not so safely as the times now are that Bishops or Episcopacy being of Divine and Apostolical institution no humane invention cannot with piety be abrogated by a less Authority than that by which it was ordained at the first appointment This is the sum and this is the end of my design In prosecution of the which I had drawn down my story to the times of Constantine by whose power and favour the Church began to settle in all parts of the Empire where it had formerly been persecuted with all kind of Extremities which either the wit of Tyranny could invent or an
the governance of the Church was trusted one who was vested with a constant and fixed preheminence as well over the Clergy as the Laity committed to his charge such as both Timothy and Titus are described to be in S. Pauls Epistles V. Chap. 5. De civ Dei l. 19. c. 19. of whom we shall say more hereafter S. Austin rightly understood the word and the original of it when he told us this Graecum est enim atque inde ductum vocabulum quod ille qui praeficitur eis quibus praeficitur superintendit c. The word saith he is Greek originally and from thence derived shewing that he which is preferred or set over others is bound to take the oversight and care of those whom he is set over And so proceeding unto the Etymology or Grammar of the word he concludes it thus ut intelligat se non esse Episcopum qui praeesse dilexerit non prodesse that he deserves not to be called a Bishop which seeketh rather to prefer himself than to profit others Saint Austin being himself a Bishop knew well the meaning of the word according to the Ecclesiastical notion and sense thereof And in that notion the Scriptures generally and all the Fathers universally have used the same out of which word Episcopus whether Greek or Latine the Germans had their Bischop and we thence our Bishop If sometimes in the holy Scripture the word be used to signifie an ordinary Presbyter it is at such times and such places only when as the Presbyters had the chief governance of the Flocks next and immediately under the Apostles and where there was no Bishop properly so called established over them as we shall see hereafter in the Churches of S. Pauls plantation Having thus seen the sudden and miraculous growth of the Church of God in and about the City of Hierusalem and seen the same confirmed and setled in Episcopal government our next enquiry must be made into the Clergy which were to be subordinate to him and to participate of the charge to him entrusted according to his directions And in this search we first encounter with the Presbyters the first as well in time as they are in dignity The Deacon though exceeding ancient yet comes short in both We shewed you in the former Chapter how our Redeemer having chosen the Twelve Apostles appointed other Seventy also and sent them two and two before him 1 Cor. 12. Eph. 4.8 to prepare his way Of these the Lord made choice of some to be Evangelists and others to be Prophets some to be Pastors and Teachers and others to be helps in Government according to the measure and the purpose of his grace bestowed upon them in the effusion of his Spirit And out of these thus fitted and prepared for the work of God I doubt not but there were some chosen to assist S. James in the discharge of the great trust committed to him by the common Counsel and consent of the Apostles Such as were after added unto them according to the exigences of that Church I take it to be all of Saint James ordaining who being a Bishop and Apostle is not to be denied the priviledg of ordaining Presbyters it being a thing which both the Apostle Paul did do in all the Churches which he planted and all succeeding Bishops since have done in their several Dioceses Certain it is that there were Presbyters in the Church of Hierusalem before the election of the Seven Ignat. ep ad Hieron Ignatius telling us that Stephen did minister ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. to James and to the Presbyters which were in Hierusalem And certain also it is that the Apostles first and Bishops afterwards ordained Presbyters to be assistant with them and subservient to them in their several charges and this they did according as the Fathers say in imitation of our Lord and Saviour who having chose his twelve Apostles Hier. ad Fabiolam appointed Seventy others of a lower rank Seciendos Christi Discipulos as S. Hierom calls them Not that the Presbyters of the Church do succeed the Seventy who were not founded in a perpetuity by our Saviour Christ De Rep. Eccles l. 2. c. 2. n. 6. Concil Neo-Caesar Can. 13. as the Arch-Bishop of Spalato hath well observed but only that they had a resemblance to them and were ordained ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as the Council of Neo-Caesarea affirmed before as secondary and subservient Ministers in the Church of God And this is that which Beda tells us in his Comment on the Gospel of Saint Luke Beda in Luc. 10. that as the Twelve Apostles did premonstrate the Form of Bishops so the Presbyters did bear the figure of the Seventy Another resemblance between the Presbyters and the Seventy may perhaps be this that as our Saviour in the choicing of these Disciples related to the number of the Elders in the state of Jewry so the Apostles thought it fit to give unto the Ministers thus by them ordained though they regarded not the number the name of Elders according to the custom of that State before Presbyters they are called in the Greek originals which being often rendred Seniores in the vulgar Latin occasioned that our first Translators who perhaps looked no farther than the Latin turned it into Elders though I could heartily have wished they had retained the name of Presbyters as the more proper and specifical word of the two by far But for these Presbyters of the Church of Hierusalem from whencesoever they may borrow or derive their name we find thrice mention of them in the Book of the Acts during the time Saint James was Bishop viz. in the 11.15.21 In the first place we read that when the Disciples which dwelt at Antioch Acts 11. ult Cap. 18. in Act. Apostol had made a contribution for the brethren of Judaea they sent it to the Elders there by the hands of Barnabas and Saul Ask Oecumenius who these Elders were and he will tell you ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that they were the Apostles And like enough it is that the Apostles may be comprehended in that general name In Act. 11. they being indeed the elder brethren Ask Calvin why this contribution was sent unto the Presbyters or Elders being there were particular Officers appointed to attend the poor as is set down in the 6. Chapter of the Acts and he will tell you that the Deacons were so appointed over that business that notwithstanding they were still inferiour unto the Presbyters nec quicquam sine eorum auctoritate agerent v. 18.19 c. and were not to do any thing therein without their authority So for that passage in the 21. S. Luke relates how Paul at his last going to Hierusalem went in unto James and that all the Elders were present and adds withal what counsel and advice they gave him for his ingratiating with the Jews Here find we James the Bishop
attended by his Presbyters at the reception of Saint Paul Chrys in Act. 21. and they together joyning with him in the consultation then in hand the business being great and weighty And therefore Chrysostom observes ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that James determined nothing in it as a Bishop of his sole authority but took Paul into counsel with him and that the Presbyters on the other side carried themselves with great respect and reverence towards him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã giving him an account or reason of their following counsel The Bishop never fist in a firmer Chair than when his Chapter doth support it But that which is indeed the matter of the greatest moment is that which occurs in the 15. Chapter of the Acts touching the Council of Hierusalem wherein the Presbyters are so often mentioned as if without their presence and assistance the Apostles had been able to determine nothing Some would fain have it so perhaps but it will not be Saint Paul was so assured of the Doctrine by him delivered as not to put it to the trial of a mortal man and the Apostles of a spirit so infallible in the things of God as not to need the counsel and assistance of inferiour persons How many points of Doctrine did Saint Paul determine without repairing to the Apostles How many did the Apostles preach and publish without consulting with the Presbyters Somwhat there must be in it more than ordinary which did occasion this conjuncture and is briefly this Some of the Jews which had but newly been initiated in the faith of Christ and were yet very zealous of their ancient Ceremonies came from Hierusalem to Antiochia Acts 15.1 and there delivered Doctrines contrary unto those which Paul taught before It seems there were some Presbyters amongst them for it is said they taught the people and they pretended too that they did teach no other Doctrine than that which had been authorized by the Apostles The Doctrine was that except men would be circumcised after the manner of Moses they could not be saved Paul might have over-ruled this case by his own authority But partly for the satisfaction of the Antiochians and partly for the full conviction of these false Teachers he was content by Revelation of the Spirit Gal. 2.2 to put the matter over to the resolution of such of the Apostles as were then abiding in Hierusalem that by their general attestation they might confirm his doctrine to be sound and true As for the Presbyters it concerned them to be present also as well to clear themselves from authorizing any such false brethren to disturb the Church as to prevent the like disorders in the time to come This is the sum of the proceedings in this business And this doth no way interest the Presbyters in the determination of points of faith further than as they are concerned either in having been a means to pervert the same or for the clearing of themselves from the like suspicions And yet I cannot but affirm withal that pure and primitive antiquity did derive from hence the Form and manner of their Councils in which the Presbyters did oftentimes concur both for voice and hand I mean as well in giving of their suffrages as the subscription of their names Concil Tarracon Can. 13. Certain I am that in the Council held in Arragon Anno 490. or thereabouts it was provided among other things ut non solum à Cathedralibus verum etiam de Diocesanis that certain Presbyters should be chosen as well out of the Diocesan as the Cathedral Churches to attend that service and that the Metropolitan should send out his Letters unto that effect according as is still observed in holding of the Convocation of the Church of England Next to the constituting of the Presbyters in time and order was the election of the Seven and this the Apostles did put over to the people only not intermedling in the same at all further than in commending them to the grace of God that they might faithfully discharge the trust committed to them The Church was then in that condition that the Disciples lived in one place together and had all things common some of them selling their Estates Acts 4.32.34 35. and laying down the price thereof at the Apostles feet that by them it might be distributed as occasion was But being it fell out that some did think themselves neglected in the distribution the Apostles both to free themselves of so great a trouble Acts 6.1 as also to avoid suspicion of being partial in the business required them to make choice of such trusty men as they conceived most fit to be the Stewards of their goods Acts 6.3 and the dispensers of the common stock This was the charge the Seven were called to by the people which being no Ecclesiastical function but a Civil trust no dispensation of the Word and Sacraments but a dispository power of the common Treasure it was most consonant to the Rules of Reason that the election of them should be left to the people only I know these Seven are commonly both called and accounted Deacons but I find no such thing in the Texts or story Neither in that Chapter nor in all the Acts is the word Deacon to be found nor find I either Stephen or Philip of whom the Scripture is most copious to be so entituled Acts 21.8 Philip indeed is called unus de septem but no more one of the Seven but no such stile as Deacon added which makes me think their Office was not such as it is conceived And this I am the rather induced to think because I find Saint Chrysostom Hom. 14. in Act. 6. and others of the same opinion Saint Chrysostom putting it unto the question what dignity or Office these men had what Ordination they received and namely whether that of Deacons makes answer first that in his time the use was otherwise the Presbyters being there intrusted with the distribution of the Churches Treasure and then concludeth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that it appeared not in his opinion that they were either Presbyters or Deacons The Fathers of the sixth Council in Constantinople building upon those words of Chrysostom Concil in Trullo Can. 16. do affirm the same determining expresly that those Seven mentioned in the Acts were not ordained to any ministration at the Lords Table ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but only to the service and attendance of the Common Tables Hieron in epist ad Euagr. In which regard Saint Hierom looking back unto the Primitive institution doth call the Deacons of his time mensarum viduarum Ministros in his Epistle to Euagrius For howsoever I believe not on my former ground that the Seven spoken of in the Acts had either the Office or the name of Deacons as it was used afterwards in the Church of God yet I deny not but the Church took some hint from hence even in the
45. n. 14. Ignatius did willingly resign his present interest unto Euodius whom he succeeded also after his decease But be this how it will certain I am that the preferment of Euodius to the See of Antioch is placed by Eusebius in the 45. year of Christs Nativity who having sate there six and twenty years did leave the same unto Ignatius Anno 71. S. John and perhaps other of the Apostles being then alive More than so Chrysostom affirms expresly Serm. de Ignat. Tom. 5. p. 499. edit Savil. not only that some of the Apostles were then alive but that he was made Bishop by them ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and that the hands of the Apostles touched his holy head And so much for the Bishops of Antioohia which lived and were co-temporary with the Apostles But to go forwards with S. Peter having thus setled and confirmed the Church of Antioch and by this Preaching to Cornelius opened a door unto the Gospel in Caesarea and amongst the Gentiles he followed on the course of his Apostleship Preaching unto the Jews dispersed in the Eastern parts as namely throughout Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia and Bithynia as himself intimates in his first Epistle 1 Pet. 1.1 And when he was to leave those parts and make for Italy he left them not without a Ministery nor did he leave that Ministery without some Bishops to govern and direct the Flock The Roman Martyrology doth reckon in these Churches of S. Peters founding Cornelius the first fruits of the Gentiles Februar 2. Quem B. Petrus Episcopali honore sublimavit made by him Bishop of Caesarea Metaphrastes if he may be credited Citat ap Baron An. 44. n. 10. as in most things which do not tend to miracles I think he may relateth that S. Peter in his peregrination did ordain Bishops in the Churches of Sydon Berytus and Laodicea that he made Marson Bishop of Tripolis and Prochorus of Nicomedia and finally that in the Provinces of Pontus Cappadocia and Bithynia he did not only plant Churches but he founded Bishopricks But waving these things as I find them and the report of Agapetus in the fifth Council of Constantinople that the first Bishop of Bizantium was of Peters founding though of unquestionable credit Let us repair unto the Scriptures Conc. Constant 5. Act. 2. There find we the Apostles stirring up the Pastors to have a care unto the Flock The Elders which are amongst you I exhort who am also an Elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ Feed the Flock of God which is among you 1 Pet. 5.1 Oecumen in 1 Pet. cap. 5. Ask Oecumenius who these Presbyters or Elders were and he will tell you they were Bishops And then he gives this reason of it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that Bishops are called Presbyters in the book of Acts. But Oecumenius being of a later standing may possibly be undervalued when he speaks alone and therefore we will stare super vias antiquas enquire amongst the ancients and ask their judgments in the case And here we meet with Gregory Nazianzen Nazian in Apââget who pencelling and describing a perfect Prelate makes amongst others this to be a special quality belonging to him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã not to constrain their people to the works of piety by force and violence but to allure them by persuasions For proof whereof he instanceth in this present Text Feed the Flock of Christ which is among you not by constraint but willingly of a ready mind But this construction may be verified from the Text it self as well as from the Glosses of the ancient Writers and that from three particular words or phrases that occur therein For first Saint Peter calling himself their Fellow Presbyter ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the Greek shews plainly that they were not simple Presbyters which he thus exhorteth but Presbyters invested with some higher dignity such as had some resemblance of the Apostolical function In which regard S. John the Apostle in his two last Epistles calls himself a Presbyter the Elder as our English reads it Which word he used as Oecumenius hath observed Oecum in 2. Joh. ep 1. v. 1. either because he was grown aged when he wrote the same ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or intimating that he was a Bishop according as the word Presbyter would bear in those former times And why not thus since Beza doth affirm on those words of Saint Peter Generale esse nomen Presbyteri Beza Annot. in 1 Pet. c. 5. that the name of Presbyter was very general so general as it seems by him ut etiam ipsi Apostoli hoc nomine comprehendantur that even the holy Apostles are comprised therein And therefore Beza being Judge S. Peter may mean Bishops here though he calls them Presbyters And that he meaneth Bishops may be also gathered from the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Feed ye the Flock which is among you ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the Greek not signifying to feed only and no more than so but such a feeding as implyeth a rule or governance annexed unto it which is the proper act of Bishops Inferiour Presbyters may ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã feed the particular Flock committed to them by the word of Doctrine The Bishop only may ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã so feed them with the word of Doctrine as that he also rule them with the rod of Discipline In this respect as the Apostle joyns the Shepherd and the Bishop in a line together 1 Pet. 2.25 So primitive Antiquity did arm the Bishop with a Crozier or Pastoral staff to shew the union of those Offices in the self-same person But hereof we shall speak more fully in another place And indeed need not speak more of it upon this occasion considering that there is another word behind in S. Peters Text which putteth the matter out of question Feed ye the Flock of God which is among you saith the Apostle ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã saith the Text taking the oversight thereof as our English reads it doing the Office of a Bishop as the word doth signifie Phil. 3.17 cap. 9. v. 9. The ordinary Presbyters may be called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or Seers if you will according to the notion of that word in the first of Samuel the Bishops are ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã such as do over-see the Seers So then the Presbyters whom S. Peter speaks of being such as might ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã both feed and oversee and govern it is apparent they were Bishops and not simple Presbyters But in this point Saint Peter shall not go alone S. Paul will put in for a share and keep him company who writing to the Hebrews even to the very hebrews of Saint Peters Province Heb. 13.17 doth advise them thus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. Obey them that have the rule over you and submit your selves for they watch
scattered and dispersed abroad the Gospel was by them disseminated in all the parts and Countreys where they came and Saul himself being taken off even in the middle of his fury became the greatest instrument of Gods power and glory in the converting of the Gentiles For presently upon his own Conversion we find him Preaching in the Synagogues of Damascus Act. 9.20.22 Gal. 1.17 18. Act. 9 30. Act. 11.26 thence taking a long journey into Arabia from thence returning to Hierusalem afterwards travelling towards Tarsus his own native soyl and thence brought back to Antioâh by the means of Barnabas And all this while I look upon him as an Evangelist only a constant and a zealous Preacher of the Gospel of Christ in every Region where he travelledâ His calling unto the Apostleship was not until the Holy Ghost had said unto the Prophets Lucius Act. 13.1 2. Simeon and Manahen ministring then in Antiochia Separate mihi Barnabam Saulum separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them An extraordinary call and therefore done by extraordinary means and Ministers For being the persons here employed in this Ordination neither were Apostles nor yet advanced for ought we find unto the estate and honour of Episcopacy it most be reckoned amongst those Extraordinaries which God pleased to work in and about the calling of this blessed Apostle Of which we may affirm with Chrysostom ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Chrysostom hom 20. in Act. that of the things which did befall S. Paul in his whole vocation there was nothing ordinary but every part was acted by the hand of God God in his extraordinary works ties not himself to ordinary means and courses but takes such ways and doth imploy such instruments as himself best pleaseth for the more evident demonstration of his power and glory So that however Simeon Manahen and Lucius did lay hands upon him yet being the call and designation was so miraculous he might well say that he was made an Apostle neither of men nor by men but of Jesus Christ and God the Father Chrysostom so expounds the place Not of Men ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Gal. 1. v. 1. Hom. 27. in Act so to make it manifest that he received not his call from them not by men because he was not sent by them but by the Spirit As for the work to which he was thus separated by the Lord ask the said Father what it was and he will tell you ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that it was the office of an Apostle and that he was ordained an Apostle here ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that he might Preach the Gospel with the greater power Ask who it was that did ordain him and he will tell you that howsoever Manahen Lucius and Simeon did lay hands upon him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã yet he received his Ordination by the Holy Ghost And certainly that he had not the Apostleship before may be made manifest by that which followed after For we do not find in all the story of his Acts that either he ordained Presbyters or gave the Holy Ghost or wrought any miracles which were the signs of his Apostleship before this solemn Ordination 2 Cor. 12.11 or imposition of the hands of the said three Prophets as afterwards we find he did in several places of that book and shall now shew as it relates unto our present business in that which followeth Paul being thus advanced by God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ to the high place of an Apostle immediately applyeth himself unto the same Preaching the Word with power and miracles in the Isle of Cyprus Act. 13.11 c. from thence proceeding to Pamphylia and other Provinces of the lesser Asia every where gaining Souls to Almighty God Having spent three years in those parts of Asia and planted Churches in a great part thereof he had a mind to go again to Antioch Act. 14.26 from whence be had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which he had fulsilled But fearing lest the Doctrine he had Preached amongst them might either be forgotten or produce no profit if there were none left to attend that service Before he went he thought it fitting to found a Ministery amongst them in their several Churches To this end They i.e. He and Barnabas ordained them Presbyters in every Church with prayer and fasting Act. 14.23 and that being done they recommended him unto the Lord in whom they believed This is the first Ordination which we find of Presbyters in holy Scripture though doubtless there were many before this time The Church could neither be instructed nor consist at all without an ordinary Minister left amongst the people for the Administration of the Word and Sacraments However this being as I said the first record thereof in holy Scripture we will consider hereupon first to what Office they were called which are here called Presbyters Secondly by whom they were Ordained And thirdly by what means they were called unto it First for the Office what it was I find some difference amongst Expositors as well new as old Beza conceives the word in a general sense and to include at once Pastors and Deacons and whoever else were set apart for the rule and government of the Churches to them committed Annot. in Act. 14. v. 23. Presbyteros i.e. Pastores Diaconos alios Ecclesiae gubernationi praefectos as his own words are Here we have pastors Deacons Governours included in this one word Presbyters Ask Lyra who those Governours were Lyra in Act. 14. which Beza calls praefecti in a general name and he will tell you they were Bishops Nomine Presbyterorum hic intelliguntur etiam alii Ecclesiae Ministri ut Episcopi Diaconi Under the name of Presbyters saith he are comprehended also other Ecclesiastical Ministers as Bishops and Deacons Gloss Ordinar in Act. 14. The ordinary gloss agrees herewith as to that of Bishops and gives this reason for the same Illo autem tempore ejusdem erant nominis Episcopi Presbyteri that in that time Bishops and Presbyters were called by the same name Oecum in Act. 14. And Oecumenius holds together with them as to that of Deacons nothing that Paul and Barnabas had Epifcopal Authority ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in that they did not only ordain Deacons but also Presbyters So that it seemeth Saint Paul provided here against all occasions fetling the Churches by him planted in so sure a way that there was nothing left at random which either did relate to government or point of Doctrine And yet if any shall contend that those who here are called Presbyters were but simply such according to the notion of that word as it is now used I shall not much insist upon it I only shew what other Authors have affirmed herein and so leave it off The next thing here to be considered is who they were that were the
their hands for none but they were ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the present business the whole election of these Presbyters must be given to them But indeed it was neither so nor so Neither the Apostle nor the People had any hand in the elections of those times but the Spirit of God which evidently did design and mark out those men whom God intended to imploy in his holy Ministery The words of Paul to Timothy make this clear enough where it is said Neglect not the gift that is in thee which was given thee by Prophesie 1 Tim. 4.14 1 Tim. 1.18 c. and that there went some Prophesies before concerning Timothy the same Saint Paul hath told us in the first Chapter of that first Epistle Hom. 5. in 1. ad Tim. c. 1. Chrysostom notes upon these words that in those times ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Priests and Ministers of God were made by Prophesie that is saith he ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by the Holy Ghost And this he proves by the selection of Paul and Barnabas to the work of God which was done by Prophesie and by the Spirit And finally glossing on those words Noli negligere gratiam c. he doth thus express it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã God saith he did elect thee to this weighty charge he hath committed no small part of his Church unto thee ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã no mortal man had any hand in that designation and therefore take thou beed that thou disgrace not nor dishonour so Divine a calling More might be said both from Theodoret and Oecumenius to confirm this Truth Theodor. Oecum in locum but that I think it is sufficiently confirmed already So then the Presbyters of these times being of Gods special choice his own designation and those upon the laying on of such holy hands furnished by the Spirit with such gifts and graces as might enable them sufficiently to discharge their calling The marvel is the less if in those early days at the first dawning as it were of Christianity we find so little speech of Bishops In the ordaining of these Presbyters as also of the like in other places the Apostles might and did no question communicate unto them such and so much Authority as might invest them with a power of government during the times of their own necessary absence from those several Churches So that however they were Presbyters in degree and order yet they both were and might be trusted with an Episcopal jurisdiction in their several Cities even as some Deans although but simply Presbyters are with us in England And of this rank I take it were the Presbyters in the Church of Ephesus Act. 20.28 whom the Apostle calleth by the name of Bishops that is to say Presbyters by their Order and Degree but Bishops in regard of their jurisdiction Such also those ordained by Saint Paul in the Church of Philippos Phil. 1.1 whom the Apostle mentioneth in the very entrance of his Epistle to that people Which as it may be some occasion why Bishops properly so called were not ordained by the Apostles in the first planting of some Churches so there are other reasons alledged for it and are briefly these For first although the Presbyters in those times were by the Holy Ghost endued with many excellent gifts and graces requisite to the Preaching of the Word yet the Apostles might not think fit to trust them with the chief government till they had fully seen and perfectly made tryal of their abilities and parts that way Epiphan adv haeres 75. n. 5. And this is that which Epiphanius meaneth in his dispute against Aerius saying ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. that where there were no fit men to discharge that Office the place remained without a Bishop but where necessity required and that there wanted not fit men to supply the place there Bishops forthwith were appointed But that which I conceive to be the principal reason was this that the Apostle did reserve unto himself the chief Authority in all the Churches of his planting so long as he continued in or about those places And this he exercised either by personal Visitations mention whereof is made in the 14.21 and 15.36 of the Book of Acts or else by his rescripts and mandates as in his sentencing of the incestuous Corinthian although absent thence But when he was resolved to take a journey to Hierusalem Act. 19.21 and from thence to Rome not knowing when he should return to those Eastern parts and knowing well that multitude of governours do oft breed confusions and that equality of Ministers did oft end in factions he then resolved to give them Bishops to place a Chief in and above each several Presbytery over every City committing unto them that power aswell of Ordinations as inflicting censures which he had formerly reserved to himself alone This great Apostle as for some space of time he taught the Church without help of Presbyters so for another while he did rule the same without help of Bishops A time there was wherein there were no Bishops but the Apostles only to direct the Church and so there was a time wherein there were no Presbyters but they to instruct the same However it must be confessed that there was a time in which some Churches had no Bishops And this Hieron in Tit. c. 1. if any was the time that Saint Hierom speaks of Cum communi Presbyterorum consilio ecclesiae gubernabantur when as the Churches were governed by the common counsel of the Presbyters But sure it was so short a time that had not the good Father taken a distaste against Episcopacy by reason of some differences which he had with John the Bishop of Hierusalem he could not easily have observed it For whether Bishops were ordained Id. ad Evagrium In Schismatis remedium as he saith elsewhere for the preventing of those Schisms and factions which were then risen in the Church or that they were appointed by the Apostles to supply their absence when they withdrew themselves unto further Countreys This government of the Church in common by the Presbyters will prove of very short continuance For from the first planting of the Church in Corinth Baronius so computes it Annal. Hieron in Titâm c. 1. which was in Anno 53. unto the writing of his first Epistle to that Church and people in which he doth complain of the Schisms amongst them was but four whole years And yet it doth appear by that place in Hierom for ought can see that the divisions of the people in Religion some saying I am of Paul and I of Apollo and I of Cephas every one cleaving unto him by whom he had received Baptism were the occasion that it was decreed throughout the world as that Father saith Vt unus de Presbyteris electus superponeretur caeteris that one of the Presbyters should be set over the rest to whom
the care of all the Church should appertain that so the seeds of schism might be rooted up And from the time when Paul ordained those Presbyters in Lystra and Iconium and those other Churches which was in Anno 48. according as Baronius calculates it unto Saint Paul's return unto Hierusalem which was in Anno 58. are but ten whole years Before which time immediately upon his resolution to undertake that journey and from thence to Rome he had appointed Bishops in the Churches of his own plantation so that the government of the Presbyters in the largest and most liberal allowance that can be given them will be too short a time to plead prescription Now that Saint Paul ordained Bishops in many of the Asian Cities or in the Churches of those Cities which himself had planted before his last going thence into Greece and Macedon may well be gathered out of Irenaeus who lived both neer those times and in those parts and possibly might have seen and known some of the Bishops of this first foundation Item l. 3. c. 14. Now Irenaeus his words are these In Mileto enim convocatis Episcopis Presbyteris qui erant ab Epheso reliquis proximis civitatibus c. Paul saith he calling together in Miletum the Bishops and Presbyters which were of Ephesus and other the adjoyning Cities told them what things were like to happen to him in Hierusalem whither he meant to go before the Feast Out of which words of Irenaeus I collect thus much First that those Presbyters whom Paul called to Miletum to meet him there were not all of Ephesus though all called from Ephesus Ephesus being first appointed for the Randevouz or place of meeting and secondly that amongst those Presbyters there were some whom Paul had dignified with the stile and place of Bishops In which regard the Assembly being of a mixt condition they are entituled by both names especially those Presbyters which had as yet no Bishops over them having the charge and jurisdiction of their Churches under the Apostles as before was said And this perhaps may be one reason why the Apostle in his speech to that Assembly makes no words of Timothy who being present with the rest received his charge together with them as also why he gave the Presbyters of Ephesus no particular charge how to behave themselves before their Bishop there being many Bishops there which were not under the command of Timothy However we may gather thus much out of Irenaeus that though we find not in the Scripture the particular names of such as had Episcopal Authority committed to them but Timothy and Titus yet that there were some other Bishops at that time of S. Paul's Ordination who doubtless took as great a care for Thessalonica and Philippos for Lystra and Iconium as for Crete and Ephesus And that these two were by Saint Paul made Bishops of those places will appear most fully by the concurrent testimony of ancient Writers And first for Timothy that he was Bishop of the Church of Ephesus and the first Bishop there appeareth by an ancient Treatise of his death and martyrdom bearing the name of Polycrates who was himself not only Bishop of this Church of Ephesus but born also within six or seven and thirty years after the writing of the Revelation by Saint John Which treatise of Polycrates entituled De martyrio Timothei is extant amongst the lives of Saints printed at Lovaine An. 1585. and cited by the Learned Primate of Armagh in his brief Discourse touching the original of Episcopacy Sigebertus de Eccl. Script Certain I am that Sigebertus doth report Polycrates to be the Author of a Book entituled De passione Sancti Timothei Apostoli but whether that it ever came unto the hands of those of Lovain I am not able to determine More like it is the book is perished and the fragments of the Treatise which remain in Photius Photius in Biblioth n. 254. touching the death and martyrdom of Timothy is all which have escaped that shipwrack And yet in those poor fragments there is proof enough that Timothy was Bishop of the Church of Ephesus in which it is expresly said ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that Timothy was both Ordained and Inthroned Bishop of the Metropolis of Ephesus by the great Apostle Secondly this appeareth by the testimony of Eusebius who reckning up Saint Pauls assistants his ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and coadjutors as it were bringeth in Timothy for one and this adds thus of him Eccles hist l. 3. c. 4. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that as Histories recorded of him he was the first Bishop of the Diocess of Ephesus Thirdly by Epiphanius Epiph. har 75. n. 5. who in a glance gives him the power and stile of Bishop where he relateth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that the Apostle speaking unto Timothy being then a Bishop doth advise him thus Rebuke not an Elder c. Fourthly by Ambrose if the work be his Ambr. Praef. in Epist 1. ad Timoth. who in the preface to his Commentaries on the Epistles unto Timothy thus resolves the point Hunc ergo jam creatum Episcopum instruit per Epistolam that being now ordained a Bishop he was instructed by Saint Pauls Epistle how to dispose and order the Church of God Fifthly by Hierom who in his Tract De Eccles Scriptoribus doth affirm of Timothy Hieron de Script Eccles Ephesiorum Episcopum ordinatum à Beato Paulo that he was ordained Bishop of the Ephesians by Saint Paul Sixthly by Chrysostom as in many places so most significantly and expresly in his Comment on the Epistle to the Philippians saying Chrysost Hom. in 1. ad Tim. in Praef. ad eand Paul saith in his Epistle unto Timothy Fulfil thy Ministry ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã being then a Bishop ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã for that he was a Bishop appears by Pauls writing thus unto him Lay hands hastily on no man Seventhly by Leontius Bishop of Magnesia Concil Chal. Act. 11. one of the Fathers in the great Council of Chalcedon affirming publickly ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that from blessed Timothy unto his times there had been 26 Bishops of the Church of Ephesus Eighthly by Gregory the Great De cura Pastorali pars 2. c. 11. where he saith that Paul admonisheth his Scholar Timothy Praelatum gregi being now made the Prelate of a Flock to attend to reading Com. in 1. ad Tim. c. 1. Ninthly by Sedulius an ancient writer of the Scotish Nation who lived about the middle of the first Century affirming on the credit of old History Timotheum istum fuisse Episcopum in Epheso that Timothy to whom Paul wrote had been Bishop of Ephesus Primas in Tim. 1. Ep. 1. c. 4. Tenthly by Primasius a writer of the first 600 years who in the Preface to his Commentaries on the first to Timothy gives us this short note Timotheus Episcopus fuit Discipulus Pauli that
in person or sent from place to place on his occasions and dispatches as may appear by looking on the concordances of holy Scripture Now that Titus was ordained the first Bishop of Crete hath been affirmed by several Authors of good both credit and antiquity For first Eccles hist l. 3. c. 4. Eusebius making a Catalogue of Saint Pauls assistants or fellow-labourers and reckoning Timothy amongst them whom he recordeth for the first Bishop of the Church of Ephesus adds presently ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and so was Titus also the first Bishop of Crete Ambr. praef in ep ad Titum Saint Ambrose in the Preface to his Commentaries on the Epistle unto Titus doth affirm as much Titum Apostolus consecravit Episcopum the Apostle consecrated Titus a Bishop and therefore doth admonish him to be solicitous for the well ordering of the Church committed to him Saint Hierom writing on these words in that Epistle Hieron in Tit. c. 1. v. 5. For this cause left I thee in Crete c. doth apply them thus Audiant Episcopi qui habent constituendi Presbyteres per singulas urbes potestatem Let Bishops mark this well who have authority to ordain Presbyters in every City on what conditions to what persons for that I take to be his meaning Ecclesiastical orders are to be conferred Which is a strong insinuation that Titus having that authority must be needs a Bishop More evidently in his Catalogue of Writers or in Sophronius at the least Id. de Scrip. Eccles in Tit. if those few names were by him added to that Catalogue Titus Episcopus Cretae Titus the Bishop of Crete did preach the Gospel both in that and the adjacent Islands Apud Oecumen Praef. ad Tim. Theodoret proposing first this question why Paul should rather write to Timothy and Titus than to Luke and Silas returns this answer to the same that Luke and Silas were still with him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but those had entrusted with the government of Churches But more particularly Titus a famous Disciple of Saint Paul Ap. eund in Praef. ad Tit. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã was by him ordained Bishop of Crete being a place of great extent with a Commission also to ordain Bishops under him Theoph. in praef ad Tit. Oecum in Tit. c. 1. v. 5. Theophylact in his preface unto this Epistle doth affirm the same using almost his very words And Oecumenius on the Text doth declare as much saying that Paul gave Titus authority of ordaining Bishops Crete being of too large a quantity to be committed unto one alone ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã having first consecrate or made him Bishop Finally the subscription of this Epistle calls Titus the first Bishop of the Church of the Cretians which evidence though questioned now of late is of good Authority For some of late who are not willing that Antiquity should afford such grounds for Titus being Bishop of the Church of Crete have amongst other arguments devised against it found an irreparable flaw as they conceive in this Subscription Beza Annot at in Ep. ad Tit. in fine who herein led the way disproves the whole Subscription as supposititious because it is there said that it was written from Nieopolis of Macedonia A thing saith he which cannot be for the Apostle doth not say ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã I will winter here but ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã illic I will winter there and therefore he was somewhere else when he wrote this Epistle But Athanasius who lived neerer the Apostles times In Synopsi sacr script Ad Paulum Eustochium Comment in Ep. ad Tit. affirms it to be written from Nicopolis and so doth Hierome in his Preface unto that Epistle The Syriack translation dates it also thence as is confessed by them that adhere to Beza Theophylact and Oecumenius agree herein with Athanasius and the ancient Copies As for the criticism it is neither here nor there for Saint Paul being still in motion might appoint Titus to repair unto Nicopolis letting him understand that howsoever he disposed of himself in the mean time yet he intended there to Winter and so he might well say though he was at Nicopolis when he writ the same That Titus is there called the first Bishop of Crete Smectym p. 54. or of the Church of the Cretians is another hint that some have taken to vilifie the credit of the said Subscription asking if ever there were such a second Bishop Assuredly the Realm of England is as fair and large a circuit as the Isle of Crete And yet I do not find it used as argument that Austin the Monk had neither any hand in the converting of the English or was not the first Archbishop of the See of Canterbury Beda hist Eccl. l. 1. c. 27. because it is affirmed in Beda's History Archiepiscopus genti Anglorum ordinatus est that he was ordained the Archbishop of the English Nation Hist Eccl. l. 4. c. 20. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And for an answer to the question we need but look into Eusebius where we shall find Pinytus a right godly man called in plain terms Bishop of Crete Cretae Episcopus saith the Latin ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as the Greek Original the self-same stile which is excepted at in Titus Now whereas it is said that Titus was left no otherwise in Crete than as Pauls Vicar General Commissary or Substitute to order those things in such sort as he had appointed which he could not dispatch himself when he was there present this can by no means be admitted the Rules prescribed unto him and Timothy being for the most part of that nature as do agree with the condition of perpetual Governours and not of temporary and removable Substitutes As for the anticipation of the time which I see some use relating that Saint Paul with Titus having passed through Syria and Cilicia to confirm the Churches did from Cilicia pass over into Crete where the Apostle having preached the Gospel left Titus for a while to set things in Order although I cannot easily tell on what Authority the report is built yet I can easily discern that it can hardly stand with Scripture We read indeed in the 15. Chapter of the Acts that he went thorow Syria and Cilicia confirming the Churches ver ult and in the first words of the following Chapter Acts 14.6 Hist Eccl. l. 4. c. 20. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã we find him at Derbe and Lystra Cities of Lycaonia the very next Province to Cilicia Northward from which it is divided by a branch of the Mountain Taurus Now whether of the two it be more probable that Paul should pass immediately from Cilicia unto Lycaonia upon the usual common Road or fetch a voyage into Crete Smectymn p. 50. as these men suppose and be transported back again into Lycaonia being an in-land Countrey far from any Sea which could not be without
displeasure when some of the Presbyters neither mindful of the Gospel or their own duty or the day of Judgment nor thinking that they have a Bishop set over them cum contemptu contumelia praepositi totum sibi vendicent with the contempt and reproach of him that is their Bishop shall arrogate all Power unto themselves Which their behaviour he calls also contumelias Episcopatus nostri the reproach and slander of his Government in having such affronts put on him as never had been offered to any of his Fredecessors The like complaint to which he doth also make but with more resolution and contempt of their wicked practices in an Epistle to Cornelius being the 55. in number according to the Edition of Pamelius I have the more at large laid down the storms and troubles raised against this godly Bishop at his first coming to the place because it gives greater light unto many passages which concern his time especially in that extraordinary Power which he ascribes sometimes both to the People and the Presbyters in the administration of the Church as if they had been Partners with him in the publick Government Which certainly he did not as his case then stood without special reason For being so vehemently opposed from his first Election to the Episcopal Office all opportunities espied to draw away the peoples hearts and alienate their affections from him every advantage taken against him during his absence from the City to vex and cross him in his doings what better way could he devise to secure himself in the affections of the people and the obedience of his Presbyters than to profess that in all his acts and enterprises whatsoever he did and would depend upon the counsel of the one and consent of the other And this is that which he professeth in a Letter to the Presbyters and Deacons of Carthage quod à primordio Episcopatus mei statuerim Idem Epist 6. nihil sine consilio vestro consensu plebis meae privatâ sententiâ gerere that he resolved from his first entrance on that Bishoprick to do nothing of his own head as we use to say without the Counsel of his Clergy and the consent of his People and that on his return for he was then in exile when he wrote this Letter he would communicate his affairs with them Et in commune tractabimus and manage them in common with their assistance And certainly this was a prudent resolution as the World went with him For by this means he stood assured that whatsoever Schism or Faction should be raised against him it would be never able to prevail or get ground upon him as long as he had both the People and the Presbyters so obliged unto him for the support of his authority But this being but a private case and grounded on particular reasons makes no general Rule no Bishop being bound unto the like by this Example but where all circumstances do concur which we meet with here and then not bound neither except he will himself but as it doth conduce to his own security So that it is to me a wonder why the example of St. Cyprian should be pressed so often and all those passages so hotly urged wherein the Presbyters or People seem to be concerned in matters of the Churches Government as if both he and all other Bishops had been bound by the Law of God not to do any thing at all in their holy function but what the Presbyters should direct and the people yield their suffrage and consent unto For being but a resolution taken up by him the better to support himself against his Adversaries it obligeth no man to the like as before I said And he himself did not conceive himself so obliged thereby but that he could and did dispense with that resolution as often as he thought it necessary or but expedient so to do performing many actions of importance in the whole course and Series of his Episcopal Government wherein he neither craved the advice of the one nor the good liking of the other and which is more doing some things not only without their knowledg but against their wills as we shall make appear in that which followeth Now whereas the points of most importance in the Government and Administration of the Church are the Election of Bishops the Ordination of Ministers the Excommunicating of the Sinner and the reconciling of the Penitent it will not be amiss to see what and how much in each of these St. Cyprian did permit as occasion was either unto the People or the Presbyters and what he did in all and every one of these as often as he saw occasion also without their knowledg and consent First for Election of their Bishops it is conceived and so delivered that all their Elections were ordered by the privity Semctymn pag. 33. Sect. 7. consent and approbation of the people where the Bishop was to serve and for the proof of this St. Cyprian is alledged as one sufficient in himself to make good the point The place most commonly alledged is in his 68. Epistle touching the Case of Basilides and Martialis two Spanish Bishops who had defiled themselves with Idols and many other grievous Crimes concerning whom the people of those parts repaired unto him for his resolution But he remitting the cause back to them tells them how much it did concern them A peccatore Praeposito se separare to separate themselves from such sinful Prelates and not to participate with them in the Sacrifice Cypr. Ep 68. giving this reason for the same quando ipsa maxime habeat potestatem vel eligendi dignos Sacerdotes vel indignos recusandi because the people specially have power either of chusing worthy Prelates or of rejecting the unworthy For that by Sacerdotes here the Father understandeth Bishops Smectymn p. 33. is confessed on all hands Nor doth the Father only say it but he goeth forward to make good the same by Divine Authority ut Sacerdos plebe praesente that the Bishop should be chosen in the presence of the People under all mens eyes that so he may be proved to be fit and worthy by their publick testimony And for the proof of this is urged a Text from Moses in the book of Numbers where God is said to speak thus to Moses Apprehende Aaron fratrem tuum Take Aaron thy brother and Eleazar his son and thou shalt bring them to the Mount before all the Assembly and put off Aarons garments and put them on Eleazar his son By which it is apparent that God willeth the Priest to be made before all the multitude shewing thereby that the Priest should not be ordained but in the presence of the People that so the People being present the offences of the evil may be detected and the merits of the good made known and consequently the Election or rather Ordination may be good and lawful being discussed by the opinion and voice of all
Bishops there Assembled being sixteen in all Ib. ibid. as by S. Cyprian is recorded Which as it was the manner of Electing not only of the Bishops of Rome but of most Bishops else Leo. Epist 89. in the times we speak of so it continued long in use the voices of the Clergy in the point and substance the presence and approbation of the people for the form and ceremony electio Clericorum and testimonia populorum being joyned together by Pope Leo. Now the condition of the Church of Rome under this Cornelius besides the Schism raised in it by Novatianus of which more anon is to be seen most fully in a Letter of his to Fabius Patriarch of Antiochia Extat ap Ruseb hist l. 6. c. 35. p. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in which he certifieth him that besides the Bishop ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã who was but one in every Church and could not be more there were forty-six Presbyters seven Deacons and Sub-Deacons seven forty-two Acolythites Exorcists Readers Sextons Ostiarij fifty-two in all Widows and other poor People pressed with want and sickness fifteen hundred ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã All which saith he are maintained at the publick charge by the grace and bounty of the Lord. Out of which place and passage of my Author there are these several points to be considered in reference to our present business First the exceeding large revenue of the Church of Rome in these early days so great as to maintain the numbers before specified according to the rank and quality of each particular the distribution of the which did ordinarily and of common course belong unto the Bishop only or such to whom he pleased to entrust the same And secondly we may observe the singularity of succession wherein the Bishop differed from the other Clergy he being but one they many in their ranks and stations sometimes more sometimes fewer according to the greatness of the Church in which they served and the emergent necessities and occasions of it Here in the Church of Rome to one only Bishop we find a Clergy of inferior Ministers consisting of 154 persons which doubtless was exceedingly increased in the following times Hierom. in epist ad Evagr. Hierom complaining in his time Presbyteros turbam contemptibiles facere that the great number of them made them be the less regarded And last of all we may observe that though Cornelius mentioneth Acolythites Readers Sub-Deacons Exorcists and Sextons these are not to be reckoned as distinct Orders in the Church although now so accounted in the Church of Rome but only several services and imployments which were required in the same Concerning which take here the learned resolution of judicious Hooker Hooker Eccl. Polit. l. 5. n. 78. There is an error saith he which beguileth many who much intangle both themselves and others by not distinguishing Services Offices and Orders Ecclesiastical the first of which three and in part the second may be executed by the Laity whereas none have or can have the third but the Clergy Catechists Exorcists Readers Singers and the rest of like sort if the nature only of their labour and pains be considered may in that respect seem Clergy-men even as the Fathers for that cause term them usually Clerks as also in regard of the end whereunto they were trained up which was to be ordered or ordained when years and experience should make them able Notwithstanding in as much as they no way differed from others of the Laity longer than during that work of Service which at any time they might give over being thereunto but admitted not tied by irrevocable Ordination we find them always exactly severed from that body whereof those three before rehearsed Orders of Bishops Presbyters and Deacons only are the natural parts So the judicious Divine indeed as one truly calls him I add this further of Cornelius Holy Table having thus fallen upon the Orders in the state Ecclesiastick that he had passed through all inferior Offices per omnia Ecclesiastica officia promotus as Saint Cyprian hath it Cypr. Ep. 52. and exercised each several Ministery in the Church of God before he mounted to this height ad Sacerdotij sublime fastigium are the Fathers words which shewed that the estate of Bishops was as a different office so an higher dignity than any other in the Church Now as the speech of Heaven doth many times put us in mind of Hell so this relation of Cornelius an holy Bishop and a Martyr occasioneth me to speak of Novatianus in whom it is not easie to determine whether the Heretick or the Schismatick had the most predominancy Certain it is he proved in both respects one of the cunningest instruments of Satan for the disturbance of the Church who suffered most extreamly by him both in peace and truth the Schism or Heresie by him raised at this very time being both more suddain in the growth and permanent in the duration of it than ever had been set on foot before in the Church of Christ Now this Novatianus was a Presbyter of the Church of Rome and being much offended as well at the Election of Cornelius as that himself was pretermitted in the choice associates himself with one Novatus an African Bishop as near unto him in conditions as he was in name whom Cyprian omnium sacerdotum voce Cypr. Epist 49. by the consent and suffrages of all his Comprovincial Bishops had before condemned By them it was agreed that Novatianus should take upon himself the name and title of the Bishop of Rome And being there could be no shew nor colour for it did he not first receive Episcopal Consecration from some hands or other they sent unto the obscurest parts of Italy Euseb hist Eccl. lib. 6. c. 35. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as my Author hath it to find out three poor Countrey Bishops that had not been acquainted with the like affairs Who being come to Rome and circumvented by the Arts of these wicked men and partly also forced by their threats and menaces ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã they Ordained him Bishop if at the least an Act so void and null from the beginning may be called an Ordination And this being done because they found that people naturally are inclined to imbrace new fancies especially where pretence of piety seems to bear a stroke they took upon them to be very strict in their conversation precise in their opinions and wonderfully devout in all their carriage raising withal this doctrine suitable thereto That such as fell in time of Persecution though they repented never so truly and did what ever was thought necessary to testifie their grief and sorrow for their great offence yet ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã there was no hope of their salvation Id. ibid. no mercy to be looked for at the hands of God By means whereof they drew unto their side some Confessors as they called
Kingdom So great is their delight therein and with such eagerness they pursue it when they are at leisure from their business that as it seems they do neglect the Church on the Holy-days that they may have the more time to attend their Dancing Upon which ground it was ãâ¦ã and not that Dancing was conceived to be no lawful sport for the Lords day that in the Council of Sens Anno 1524. in that of Paris Anno 1557. in those of Rhemes and Tours Anno 1583. and finally in that of Bourges Anno 1584. dancing on Sundays and the other Holy-days hath been prohibited prohibited indeed but practised by the People notwithstanding all their Canons But this concerns the French and their Churches only our Northern Nations not being so bent upon the sport as to need restraint Only the Polish Churches did conclude in the Synod of Petricow before remembred that Tavern-meetings Drinking-matches Dice Cards and such like pastimes as also Musical Instruments and Dances should on the Lords day be forbidden But then it followeth with this clause Praesertim eo temporis momento quo concio cultus divinus in temple peragitur especially at that instant time when men should be at Church to hear the Sermon and attend Gods worship Which clearly shews that they prohibited dancing and the other pastimes then recited no otherwise than as they were a means to keep men from Church Probably also they might be induced unto it by such French Protestants as came into that Countrey with the Duke of Anjou when he was chosen King of Poland Anno. 1574. which was four years before this Council As for the Churches of the East being now heavily oppressed with Turkish bondage we have not very much to say Yet by that little which we find thereof it seems the Lords day keeps that honour which before it had and that the Saturday continues in the same regard wherein once it was both of them counted days of Feasting and both retained for the Assemblies of the Church First that they are both days of Feasting or at the least exempted from their publick Fasts appears by that which is related by Christopher Angelo a Graecian whom I knew in Oxford De institut Graec. c. 16. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that on the Saturday and Sunday which we call the Lords day they do both eat Oyl and drink Wine even in Lent it self whereas on other days they feed on Pulse and drink only water Then that they both are still retained for the Assemblies of the Church with other Holy-days he tells us in another place where it is said Id. c. 17. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. that for the Lords days and the Saturday and the other Festivals they use to go unto the Church on the Eve before and almost at midnight where they continue till the breaking up of the Congregation For the Egyptian Christians or Cophties as we call them now it is related by G. Sandys Travels l. 2. That on the Saturday presently after midnight they repair unto their Churches where they remain well nigh until Sunday at noon during which time they neither sit nor kneel but support themselves on Crutches and that they sing over the most part of Davids Psalms at every meeting with divers parcels of the Old and New Testament He hath informed us also of the Armenians another sort of Eastern Christians that coming into the place of the Assembly on Sunday in the afternoon he found one sitting in the middest of the Congregation in habit not differing from the rest reading on a Bible in the Chaldean tongue that anon after came the Bishop in an Hood or Vest of black with a staff in his hand that first he prayed and then sung certain Psalms assisted by two or three after all of them singing joyntly at interims praying to themselves the Bishop all this while with his hands erected and face towards the Altar That service being ended they all kissed his hand and bestowed their Alms he laying his other hand on their heads and blessing them finally that bidding the succeeding Fasts and Festivals he dismissed the Assembly The Muscovites being near unto the Greeks once within the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constantinople partake much also of their customs They count it an unlawful thing to fast the Saturday Gagvinus de Moscovit which shews that somewhat is remaining of that esteem in which once they had it and for the Holy-days Sundays as well as any other they do not hold themselves so strictly to them but that the Citizens and Artificers immediately after Divine Service betake themselves unto their labour and domestick businesses And this most probably is the custom also of all the Churches of the East as holding a Communion with the Church of Greece though not subordinate thereunto From the which Church of Greece the faith was first derived unto these Muscovites as before was said and with the faith the observation of this day and all the other Holy-days at that time in use As for the Country people as Gagvinus tells us they seldom celebrate or observe any day at all at least not with that care and order as they ought to do saying that it belongs only unto Lords and Gentlemen to keep Holy-days Last of all for the Habassines or Ethiopian Christians though further off in situation they come as near unto the fashions of the ancient Grecians Enquiries c. 23 Of them we are informed by Master Brerewood out of Damiani that they reverence the Sabbath keeping it solemn equally with the Lords day Emend Temp. lib. 7. Scaliger tells us that they call both of them by the name of Sabbaths the one the first the other the later Sabbath or in their own language the one Sanbath Sachristos that is Christs Sabbath the other Sanbath Judi or the Jews Sabbath Bellarmine thinks that they derived this observation of the Saturday or Sabbath from the Constitutions ascribed to Clemens which indeed frequently do press the observation of that day with no less fervour than the Sunday âe Script Ecclin Clem. Of this we have already spoken And to this Bellarmine was induced the rather because that in the Country they had found authority and were esteemed as Apostolical Audio Ethiopes his Constitutionibus uti ut vere Apostolocis ea de causa in erroâibus versari circa cultum Sabbati diei Dominicae But if this be an errour in them they have many partners and those of ancient standing in the Church of God as before was shewn As for their service on the Sunday they celebrate the Sacrament in the morning early except it be in the time of Lent when fasting all the day they discharge that duty in the Evening and then fall to meat as the same Scaliger hath recorded So having looked over all the residue of the Christian World and found no Sabbath in the same except only nominal and that
Archbishop Cranmer Bishop Ridley Bishop Hooper c. 9. The Doctrine delivered in the Book of Articles touching the five controverted points 10. An answer to the Objection against these Articles for the supposed want of Authority in the making of them 11. An Objection against King Edwards Catechism mistaken for an Objection against the Articles refelled as that Catechism by John Philpot Martyr and of the delegating of some powers by that Convocation to a choice Committee 12. The Articles not drawn up in comprehensive or ambiguous terms to please all parties but to be understood in the respective literal and Grammatical sense and the Reasons why I Have the longer stood upon the answering of this Objection to satisfie and prevent all others of the like condition in case it should be found on a further search that any of our godly Martyrs or learned Writers who either suffered death before the Reign of Edward VI. or had no hand in the carrying on of the Reformation embraced any opinions in Doctrine or Discipline contrary to the established Rules of the Church of England For otherwise as we must admit all Tyndals Heterodoxies and Friths high flying conceits of Predestination which before we touch'd at so must we also allow a Parity or an Identity rather in Priests and Bishops because John Lambert another of our Godly Martyrs did conceive so of it In the primitive Church saith he there were no more Officers in the Church of God than Bishops and Deacons that is to say Ministers as witnesseth beside Scripture S. Hierom in his Commentaries on the Epistles of S. Paul Whereas saith he that those whom we now call Priests were all one and no other but Bishops and the Bishops no other but Priests men ancient both in age and learning so near as could be chosen nor were they instituted and chosen as they be now a days the Bishop and his Officer only opposing them whether they can construe a Collect but they were chosen also with the consent of the people amongst whom they were to have their living as sheweth S. Cyprian But alack for pity such elections are banished and new fashions brought in By which opinion if it might have served or a Rule to the Reformation our Bishops must have been reduced to the rank of Priests and the right of Presentation put into the hands of the people to the Destruction of all the Patrons in the Kingdom If then the question should be asked as perhaps it may On whom or on whose judgment the hrst Reformers most relied in the weighty business I answer negatively First That they had no respect of Calvin no more than to the judgement of Wicklef Tyndal Barns or Frith whose offered assistance they refused when they went about it of which he sensibly complained unto some of his friends as appears by one of his Epistles I answer next affirmatively in the words of an Act of Parliament 2. 3. Edw. 6. where it is said That they had an eye in the first place to the more pure and sincere Christian Religion taught in the Scriptures and in the next place to the usages of the Primitive Church Being satisfied in both which ways they had thirdly a more particular respect to the Lutheran Plat-forms the English Confession or Book of Articles being taken in many places word for word out of that of Ausberg and a conformity maintained with the Lutheran Churches in Rites and Ceremonies as namely in kneeling at the Communion the Cross in Baptism the retaining of all the ancient Festivals the reading of the Epistles and Gospels on Sundays and Holy-days and generally in the whole Form of External Worship Fourthy in reference to the points disputed they ascribed much to the Authority of Melancthon not undeservedly called the Phoenix of Germany whose assistance they earnestly desired whose coming over they expected who was as graciously invited hither by King Edward the Sixth Regiis literis in Angliam vocari as himself affirms in an Epistle to Camerarius His coming laid aside upon the fall of the Duke of Sommerset and therefore since they could not have his company they made use of his writings for their direction in such points of Doctrine in which they though it necessary for the Church to declare her judgment I observe finally That as they attributed much to the particulars to the Authority of Melancthon so they ascribe no less therein unto that of Erasmus once Reader of the Greek Tongue in Cambridge and afterwards one of the Professors of Divinity there whose Paraphrases on the four Evangelists being translated into English were ordered to be kept in Churches for the use of the People and that they owned the Epistles to be studied by all such as had cure of souls Concerning which it was commanded by the injunctions of King Edward VI. published by the advice of the Lord Protector Somerset and the Privy Council Acts and Mon. fol. 1181. in the first year of the said Kings Reign 1. That they should see provided in some most convenient and open place of every Church one great Bible in English with the Paraphrase of Erasmus in English that the People might reverently without any let read and hear the same at such time as they listed and not to be inhibited therefrom by the Parson or Curate but rather to be the more encouraged and provoked thereunto And 2. That every Priest under the degree of a Batchellour of Divinity should have of his own one New Testament in English and Latine with the Paraphrases of Erasmus upon the same and should diligently read and study thereupon and should collect and keep in memory all such comfortable places of the Scripture as do set forth the Mercy Benefits and Goodness of Almighty God towards all penitent and believing persons that they might thereby comfort their flock in all danger of death despair or trouble of Conscience and that therefore every Bishop in their Institution should from time to time try and examine them how they have profited in their studies A course and care not likely to have entred into the thoughts of the Lord Protector or any of the Lords of the Council if it had not been advised by some of the Bishops who then began to have an eye on the Reformation which soon after followed and as unlikely to be counselled and advised by them had they intended to advance any other Doctrine than what was countenanced in the Writings of that Learned man Whereupon I conclude the Doctrine of the points disputed to be the true and genuine Doctrine of the Church of England which comes most near to the plain sense of holy Scripture the general current of the Fathers in the Primitive times the famous Augustane Confession the Writings of Melancthon and the Works of Erasmus To which Conclusion I shall stand till I find my self encountred by some stronger Argument to remove me from it The ground thus laid I shall proceed unto the Reformation
which was built upon it first taking in my way some necessary preparations made unto it by H. 8. by whom it had been ordered in the year 1536. That the Creed the Lords Prayer and the Ten Commandments should be recited publickly by the Parish Priest in the English Tongue and all the Sundays and other Holidays throughout the year And that the people might the better understand the duties contained in them it pleased him to assemble his Bishops and Clergy in the year next following requiring them Vpon the diligent search and perusing of Holy Scripture to set forth a plain and sincere Doctrine concerning the whole sum of all those things which appertain unto the Profession of a Christian man Which work being finished with very great care and moderation they published by the name of an Institution of a Christian man containing the Exposition or Interpretation of the common Creed the seven Sacraments the Ten Commandments Epls Dedit the Lords Prayer c. and dedicated to the Kings Majesty Submitting to his most excellent Wisdom and exact Judgment to be by him recognized overseen and corrected if he found any word or sentence in it amiss to be qualified changed or further expounded in the plain setting forth of his most vertuous desire and purpose in that behalf A Dedication publickly subscribed in the name of the rest by all the Bishops then being eight Archdeacons and seventeen Doctors of chief note in their several faculties Amongst which I find seven by name who had a hand in drawing up the first Liturgy of King Edward VI. that is to say Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury Goodrich Bishop of Ely Hebeach then Bishop of Rochester and of Lincoln afterwards Skip then Archdeacon of Dorset after Bishop of Hereford Roberson afterwards Dean of Durham as Mayo was afterwards of S. Pauls and Cox of Westminster And I find many others amongst them also who had a principal hand in making the first Book of Homilies and passing the Articles of Religion in the Convocation of the year 1552. and so it rested till the year 1643. when the King making use of the submission of the Book which was tendred to him corrected it in many places with his own hand as appeareth by the Book it self remaining in the famous Library of Sir Robert Cotton Which having done he sends it so corrected to Archbishop Cranmer who causing it to be reviewed by the Bishops and Clergy in Convocation drew up some Annotations on it And that he did for this intent as I find exprest in one of his Letters bearing date June 25. of this present year because the Book being to be set forth by his Graces censure and judgment he would have nothing therein that Momos himself could reprehend referring notwithstanding all his Annotations to his Majesties exacter judgment Nor staid it here but being committed by the King to both Houses of Parliament and by them very well approved of as appears by the Statutes of this year Cap. 1. concerning the advancing of true Religion and the abolition of the contrary it was published again by the Kings command under the title of Necessary Doctrine and Erudition for any Christian man And it was published with an Epistle of the Kings before it directed to all his faithful and loving Subjects wherein it is affirmed To be a true Declaration of the true knowledge of God and his Word with the principal Articles of Religion whereby men may uniformly be led and taught the true understanding of that which is necessary for every Christian man to know for the ordering of himself in this life agreeable unto the will and pleasure of Almighty God Now from these Books the Doctrine of Predestination may be gathered into these particulars which I desire the Reader to take notice of Institut of a Christian that he may judge the better of the Conformity which it hath with the established Doctrine of the Church of England 1. That man by his own nature was born in sin and in the indignation and displeasure of God and was the very child of Wrath condemned to everlasting death subject and thrall to the power of the Devil and sin having all the principal parts or portions of his soul as reason and understanding and free-will and all other powers of his soul and body not only so destituted and deprived of the gifts of God wherewith they were first endued but also so blinded corrupted and poysoned with errour ignorance and carnal concupiscence that neither his said powers could exercise the natural function and office for which they were ordained by God at the first Creation nor could he by them do any thing which might be acceptable to God 2. That Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God the Father was eternally preordained and appointed by the Decree of the Holy Trinity to be our Lord that is to say to be the only Redeemer and Saviour of Man-kind and to reduce and bring the same from under the Dominion of the Devil and sin unto his only Dominion Kingdom Lordship and Governance 3. That when the time was come in the which it was before ordained and appointed by the Decree of the Holy Trinity That Man-kind should be saved and redeemed Necessary prayer than the Son of God the second Person in the Trinity and very God descended from Heaven into the world to take upon him the very habit form and nature of man and in the same nature of suffer his glorious Passion for the Redemption and Salvation of all Man-kind 4. That by this Passion and Death of our Saviour Jesus Christ not only Corporal death is so destroyed that it shall never hurt us but rather that it is made wholesome and profitable unto us but also that all our sins and the sins also of all them that do believe in him and follow him be mortified and dead that is to say all the guilt and offence thereof as also the damnation and pains due for the same is clearly extincted abolished and washed away so that the same shall never afterwards be imputed and inflicted on us 5. That this Redemption and Justification of Man-kind could not have been wrought or brought to pass by any other means in the world but by the means of this Jesus Christ Gods only Son and that never man could yet nor never shall be able to come unto God the Father or to believe in him or to attain his favour by his own wit and reason or by his own science and learning or by any of his own works or by whatsoever may be named in Heaven or Earth but by faith in the Name and Power of Jesus Christ and by the gifts and graces of his Holy Spirit But to proceed the way to the ensuing Reformation being thus laid open The first great work which was accomplished in pursuance of it was the compiling of that famous Liturgy of the year 1549 commanded by King Edward VI. that is to
say the Lord Protector and the rest of the Privy Council acting in his Name and by his Authority performed by Archbishop Cranmer and the other six before remembred assisted by Thirdby Bishop of Winchester Day Bishop of Chichester Ridley Bishop of Rochester Taylor then Dean after Bishop of Lincoln Redman then Master of Trinity Colledge in Cambridge and Hains Dean of Exeter all men of great abilities in their several stations and finally confirmed by the King the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in Parliament Assembled 23 Edw. VI. In which Confirmatory act it is said expresly to have been done by the especial aid of the Holy Ghost which testimony I find also of it in the Acts and Monuments fol 1184. But being disliked by Calvin who would needs be meddling in all matters which concerned Religion and disliked it chiefly for no other reason as appears in one of his Epistles to the Lord Protector but because it savoured too much of the ancient Forms it was brought under a review the cause of the reviewing of it being given out to be no other than that there had risen divers doubts in the Exercise of the said Book for the fashion and manner of the Ministration though risen rather by the curiosity of the Ministers and Mistakers than of any other cause 5 6 Edw. 6. cap. 1. The review made by those who had first compiled it though Hobeach and Redman might be dead before the confirmation of it by Act of Parliament some of the New Bishops added to the former number and being reviewed was brought into the same form in which now it stands save that a clause was taken out of the Letany and a sentence added to the distribution of the blessed Sacrament in the first year of Queen Elizabeth and that some alteration was made in two or three of the Rubricks with an addition of Thanksgiving in the end of the Letany as also of a Prayer for the Queen and the Royal Issue in the first of King James At the same time and by the same hands which gave us the first Liturgy of King Edward VI. was the first Book of Homilles composed also in which I have some cause to think that Bishop Latimer was made use of amongst the rest as one who had subscribed the first other two books before mentioned as Bishop of Worcester Ann. 1537. and ever since continued zealous for a Reformation quitting in that respect such a wealthy Bishoprick because he neither would nor could conform his judgment to the Doctrine of the six Articles Authorized by Parliament For it will easily appear to any who is conversant in Latimers writings and will compare them carefully with the book of Homilies that they do not only savour of the same spirit in point of Doctrine but also of the same popular and familiar stile which that godly Martyr followed in the course of his preachings for though the making of these Homilies be commonly ascribed and in particular by Mr. Fox to Archbishop Cranmer yet it is to be understood no otherwise of him thad than it was chiefly done by encouragement and direction not sparing his own hand to advance the work as his great occasions did permit That they were made at the same time with King Edwards first Liturgy will appear as clearly first by the Rubrick in the same Liturgy it self in which it is directed Let. of Mr. Bucer to the Church of England that after the Creed shall follow the Sermon or Homily or some portion of one of them as they shall be hereafter divided It appears secondly by a Letter writ by Martin Bucer inscribed To the holy Church of England and the Ministers of the same in the year 1549. in the very beginning whereof he lets them know That their Sermons or Homilies were come to his hands wherein they godlily and effectually exhort their people to the reading of Holy Scripture that being the scope and substance of the first Homily which occurs in that book and therein expounded the sense of the faith whereby we hold our Christianity and Justification whereupon all our help censisteth and other most holy principles of our Religion with most godly zeal And as it is reported of the Earl of Gondomar Ambassador to King James from the King of Spain that having seen the elegant disposition of the Rooms and Offices in Burleigh House not far from Stanford erected by Sir William Cecil principal Secretary of State and Lord Treasurer to Queen Elizabeth he very pleasantly affirmed That he was able to discern the excellent judgment of the great Statesman by the neat contrivance of his house So we may say of those who composed this book in reference to the points disputed A man may easily discern of what judgment they were in the Doctrine of Predestination by the method which they have observed in the course of these Homilies Beginning first with a discourse of the misery of man in the state of nature proceeding next to that of the salvation of man-kind by Christ our Saviour only from sin and death everlasting from thence to a Declaration of a true lively and Christian saith and after that of good works annexed unto faith by which our Justification and Salvation are to be obtained and in the end descending unto the Homily bearing this inscription How dangerous a thing it is to fall from God Which Homilies in the same form and order in which they stand were first authorized by King Edward VI. afterwards tacitly approved in the Rubrick of the first Liturgy before remembred by Act of Parliament and finally confirmed and ratified in the book of Articles agreed upon by the Bishops and Clergy of the Convocation Anno 1552. and legally confirmed by the said King Edward Such were the hands and such the helps which co-operated to the making of the two Liturgies and this book of Homilies but to the making of the Articles of Religion there was necessary the concurrence of the Bishops and Clergy Assembled in Convocation in due form of Law amongst which there were many of those which had subscribed to the Bishops book Anno 1537. and most of those who had been formerly advised with in the reviewing of the book by the Commandment of King Henry VIII 1543. To which were added amongst others Dr. John Point Bishop of Winchester an excellent Grecian well studied with the ancient Fathers and one of the ablest Mathematicians which those times produced Dr. Miles Coverdale Bishop of Exon who had spent much of his time in the Lutheran Churches amongst whom he received the degree of Doctor Mr. John Story Bishop of Rochester Ridley being then preferred to the See of London from thence removed to Chichester and in the end by Queen Elizabeth to the Church of Hereford Mr. Rob. Farran Bishop of St. Davids and Martyr a man much favoured by the Lord Protector Sommerset in the time of his greatness and finally not to descend to those of the lower
absolute will and pleasure yet he is fain to have recourse to some certain condition telling us that though the mercy of God his Grace Election Vocation and other precedent Causes do justifie us yet this is upon condition of believing in Christ And finally it is to be observed also that after all his pains taken in defending such a personal and eternal Election as the Calvinians now contend for he adviseth us to wrap up our selves wholly both body and soul under Gods general promise and not to cumber our heads with any further speculations knowing that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish c. And so I take my leave of our Martyrologist the publishing of those discourse I look on as the first great battery which was made on the Bulwarks of this Church in point of doctrine by any member of her own after the setling of the Articles by the Queens Authority Ann. 1562. the brables raised by Crowley in his Book against Campneys though it came out after the said Articles were confirmed and published being but as hail-shot in comparison of this great piece of Ordnance Not that the Arguments were so strong as to make any great breach in the publick Doctrine had it been published in a time less capable of innovations or rather if the great esteem which many had of that man and the universal reception which his Book found with all sorts of People had not gained more authority unto his discourse than the merit or solidness of it could deserve The inconveniencies whereof as also the many marginal Notes and other passages visibly tending to faction and sedition in most parts of that Book were either not observed at first or winked at in regard of the great animosities which were ingendred by it in all sorts of People as well against the persons of the Papists as against the doctrine Insomuch that in the Convocation of the year 1571. there passed some Canons requiring that not only the Deans of all Cathedrals should take a special care that the said Book should be so conveniently placed in their several Churches that people of all conditions might resort unto it but also that all and every Arch-Bishop Bishops Deans Residentiaries and Arch-Deacons should choose the same to be placed in some convenient publick room of their several houses not only for the entertainment and instruction of their menial servants but of such strangers also as occasionally repaired unto them If it be hereupon inferred that Fox his doctrine was approved by that Convocation and therefore that it is agreeable to the true intent and meaning of the Articles of the Church of England besides what hath been said already by Anticipation it may as logically be inferred that the Convocation approved all his marginal Notes all the factious and seditious passages and more particularly the scorn which he puts upon the Episcopal habit and other Ceremonies of the Church Touching which last for the other are too many to be here recited let us behold how he describes the difference which hapned between Hooper Bishop of Glocester on the one side Cranmer and Ridley on the other about the ordinary habit and attire then used by the Bishops of this Church we shall find it thus viz. Acts and Mon. so 1366 1367. For notwithstanding the godly reformation of Religion that was begun in the Church of England besides other ceremonies that were more ambitious than profitable or tended to edification they used to wear such garments and apparel as the Romish Bishops were wont to do First a Chimere and under that a white Rocket then a Mathematical cap with four Angles dividing the whole world into four parts These trifles being more for superstition than otherwise as he could never abide so in no wise could he be persuaded to wear them But in conclusion this Theological contestation came to this end that the Bishops having the upper hand Mr. Hooper was fain to agree to this condition that sometimes he should in his Sermon shew himself apparalled as the Bishops were Wherefore appointed to preach before the King as a new Player in a strange apparel he cometh forth on the stage His upper garment was a long skarlet Chimere down to the foot and under that a white linnen Rocket that covered all his shoulders upon his head he had a Geometrical that is a square cap albeit that his head was round What case of shame the strangeness hereof was that day to the good Preacher every man may easily judge But this private contumely and reproach in respect of the publick profit of the Church which he only sought he bare and suffered patiently Here have we the Episcopal habit affirmed to be a contumely and reproach to that godly man slighted contemptuously by the name of trifles and condemned in the marginal Note for a Popish attire the other ceremonies of the Church being censured as more ambitious than profitable and tending more to superstition than to edification which as no man of sense or reason can believe to be approved and allowed of by that Convocation so neither is it to be believed that they allowed of his opinion in the present point For a counterballance whereunto there was another Canon passed in this Convocation by which all Preachers were enjoyned to take special care âne quid unquam doceant pro concione quod à populo religiose teneri credi velint nisi quod consentaneum sit doctrinae veteris aut novi testamenti quodque ex'illa ipsa doctrina Cathotici Patres veteres Episcopi Collegerint that is to say that they should maintain no other doctrine in their publicki Sermons to be believed of the People but that which was agreeable to the doctrine of the Old and New Testament and had from thence been gathered by the Catholick or Orthodox Fathers and ancient Bishops of the Church To which rule if they held themselves as they ought to do no countenance could be given to Calvines Doctrines or Fox his judgment in these points maintained by one of the Catholick Fathers and ancient Bishops of the Church but St. Augustine only who though he were a godly man and a learned Prelate yet was he but one Bishop not Bishops in the plural number but one father and not all the fathers and therefore his opinion not to be maintained against all the rest CHAP. XX. Of the great Innovation made by Perkins in the publick Doctrine the stirs arising thence in Cambridge and Mr. Barrets carriage in them 1. Of Mr. Perkins and his Doctrine of Predestination which his recital of the four opinions which were then maintained about the same 2. The sum and substance of his Doctrine according to the Supralapsarian or Supra-creatarian way 3. The several censures past upon it both by Papists and Protestants by none more sharply than by Dr. Rob. Abbots after Bishop of Sarum 4. Of Dr. Baroe the Lady Margarets Professor in the Vniversity and his Doctrine
Assistants whom I reverence do purpose to proceed in disquieting and traducing me as you have done by the space of three quarters of this year and so in the end mean to drive me out of the University I must take it patiently because I know not how to redress it but let God be judg between you and me These things I leave to your Worships favourable consideration for this I must needs say and peradventure it may tend to your credit when I shall report it that above the rest hitherto I have found you most courteous and most just I leave your Worship to Gods Direction and holy tuition expecting a gracious Answer Your daily Beadsman WILLIAM BARRET But here perhaps it may be said that though Barret might be as obstinate in refusing to publish the Recantation as this Letter makes him yet it appears by the whole course of those proceedings that his Doctrines were condemned by the heads of the University as being contrary to that which was received and established in the Church of England And that it was so in the Judgment of those men who either concurred in his Censure or subscribed the Letter to the Lord Treasurer Burleigh above-mentioned is a thing past question But this can be no Argument that Barrets Doctrines were repugnant to the Church of England because these Heads either in favour of Dr. Whitacres or in respect to Mr. Perkins were pleased to think no otherwise of them for if it be we may conclude by the same Argument that the Church of Rome was in the right even in the darkest times of ignorance and superstition because all those who publickly opposed her Doctrines were solemnly enjoyned by the then prevailing party to a Recantation and which is more it may be also thence concluded that the Doctrine maintained by Athanasius touching Christs Divinity was contrary to that which had been taught by the Apostles and men of Apostolical spirits because it was condemned for such by some Arrian Bishops in the Council or rather Conventicle of Tyre which was held against him 2. It cannot be made apparent that either Dr. Duport the Vice-Chancellor who was most concerned or Dr. Baroe the Lady Margarets Professour for Divinity there had any hand in sentencing this Recantation Not Dr. Baroe because by concurring to this Sentence he was to have condemned himself Nor Dr. Duport for I find his place to be supplyed and the whole action govern'd by Dr. Some which shews him to be absent at that time from the University according to the stile whereof the Title of Procancellarius is given to Dr. Some in the Acts of the Court as appears by the Extract of them in the Anti-Arminianisin p. 64. compared with p. 63. But thirdly admitting that the Heads were generally thus enclined yet probably the whole body of the University might not be of the same Opinion with them those Heads not daring to affirm otherwise of Barrets Doctrine in their Letter to the Lord Treasurer Burleigh than that it gave just offence to many And if it gave offence unto many only it may be thought that it gave no offence to the Major part or much less to all for if it had the writers of the Letter would not have been so sparing in their expressions as to limit the offence to many if they could have said it of the most But of this we shall speak more in the following Chapter when we shall come to feel the pulse of the University in the great competition between Wotton and Overald after Whitacres death Of which Opinion Harsnet was we have seen before And we have seen before that Baroe had many Disciples and Adherents which stood fast unto him And thereupon we may conclude that when Dr. Baroe had for fourteen or fifteen years maintained these Opinions in the Schools as before was shewed which are now novelized by the name of Arminianism and such an able man as Harsnet had preached them without any Controul when the greatest audience of the Kingdom did stand to him in it There must be many more Barrets who concurred with the same Opinions with them in the University though their names through the Envy of those times are not come unto us CHAP. XXI Of the proceedings against Baroe the Articles of Lambeth and the general calm which was in Oxon touching these Disputes 1. The differences between Baroe and Doctor Whitacres the addresses of Whitacres and others to Archbishop Whitgift which drew on the Articles at Lambeth 2. The Articles agreed on at Lambeth presented both in English and Latin 3. The Articles of no authority in themselves Archbishop Whitgift questioned for them together with the Queens command to have them utterly supprest 4. That Baroe neither was deprived of his Professorship nor compelled to leave it the Anti-Calvinian party being strong enough to have kept him in if he had defired it 5. A Copy of the Letter from the Heads in Cambridg to the Lord Treasurer Burleigh occasioned as they said by Barret and Baroe 6. Dr. Overalds encounters with the Calvinists in the point of falling from the Grace received his own private judgment in the point neither for total nor for final and the concurrence of some other learned men in the same Opinion 7. The general calm which was at Oxon at that time touching these Disputes and the Reasons of it 8. An answer to that Objection out of the Writings of judicious Hooker of the total and final falling 9. The disaffections of Dr. Bukeridge and Dr. Houson to Calvins doctrines an Answer to the Objection touching the paucity of those who opposed the same 10. Possession of a Truth maintained but by one or two preserves it sacred and inviolable for more fortunate times the case of Liberius Pope of Rome and that the testimonies of this kind are rather to be valued by weight than tale FROM Barret pass we on to Baroe betwixt whom and Dr. Whitacres there had been some clashings touching Predestination and Reprobation the certainty of Salvation and the possibility of falling from the Grace received And the heats grew so high at last that the Calvinians thought it necessary in point of prudence to effect that by power and favour which they were not able to obtain by force of Argument To which end they first addressed themselves to the Lord Treasurer Burleigh then being their Chancellor acquainting him by Dr. Some then Deputy Vice-Chancellor with the disturbances made by Barret thereby preparing him to hearken to such further motions as should be made unto him in pursuit of that Quarrel But finding little comfort there they resolved to steer their course by another compass And having prepossest the most Reverend Archbishop Whitgift with the turbulent carriage of those men the affronts given to Dr. Whitacres whom for his learned and laborious Writings against Cardinal Bellarmine he most highly favoured and the great inconveniences like to grow by that publick discord they gave themselves good hopes of
composing those differences not by the way of an accommodation but an absolute conquest and to this end they dispatch'd to him certain of their number in the name of the rest such as were interessed in the Quarrel Dr. Whitacres himself for one and therefore like to stickle hard for the obtaining their ends the Articles to which they had reduced the whole state of the business being brought to them ready drawn and nothing wanting to them but the face of Authority wherewith as with Medusa's head to confound their Enemies and turn their Adversaries into stones And that they might be sent back with the face of Authority the most Reverend Archbishop Whitgift calling unto him Dr. Flecher Bishop of Bristol then newly elected unto London and Dr. Richard Vaughan Lord Elect of Bangor together with Dr. Tyndal Dean of Ely Dr. Whitacres and the rest of the Divines which came from Cambridg proposed the said Articles to their consideration at his House in Lambeth on the tenth of Novemb. Anno 1595. by whom those Articles were agreed on in these following words 1. Deus ab aeterno praedestinavit quosdam ad vitam quosdam reprobavit ad mortem 2. Causa movens aut efficiens praedestinationis ad vitam non est praevisio fidei aut perseverantiae aut bonorum operum aut ullius rei quae insit in personis Praedestinatis sed sola voluntas beneplaciti Dei 3. Praedestinatorum praefinitus certus est numerus qui nec augeri nec minui potest 4. Qui non sunt Praedestinati ad salutem necessario propter peccata sua damnabuntur 5. Vera viva justificans fides spiritus Dei justificantis non extinguitur non excidit non evanescit in Electis aut finaliter aut totaliter 6. Homo vere fidelis id est fide justificante praeditus certus est plerophoria Fidei de Remissione peccatorum suorum salute sempiterna sua per Christum 7. Gratia salutaris non tribuitur non incommunicatur non conceditur universis hominibus qua servari possint si velint 8. Nemo potest venire ad Christum nisi datum ei fuerit nisi pater eum traxerit omnes homines non trahuntur à patre ut veniant ad filium 9. Non est positum in arbitrio aut potestate uniuscujusque hominis servari 1. God from Eternity hath predestinate certain men unto life certain men he hath reprobate 2. The moving or efficient cause of predestination unto life is not the foresight of Faith or of perseverance or of good works or of any thing that is in the person predestinated but only the good will and pleasure of God 3. There is predetermined a certain number of the Predestinate which can neither be augmented or diminished 4. Those who are not predestinated to salvation shall be necessarily damned for their sins 5. A true living and justifying Faith and the Spirit of God justifying is not extinguished falleth not away it vanisheth not away in the Elect either totally or finally 6. A man truly faithful that is such an one who is indued with a justifying faith is certain with the full assurance of faith of the remission of his sins and of his everlasting salvation by Christ 7. Saving Grace is not given is not granted is not communicated to all men by which they may be saved if they will 8. No man can come unto Christ unless it be given unto him and unless the Father shall draw him and all men are not drawn by the Father that they may come to the Son 9. It is not in the will or power of every one to be saved Now in these Articles there are these two things to be considered first the Authority by which they were made and secondly the effect produced by them in order to the end proposed and first as touching the authority by which they were made it was so far from being legal and sufficient that it was plainly none at all For what authority could there be in so thin a meeting consisting only of the Archbishop himself two other Bishops of which but one had actually received consecration one Dean and half a dozen Doctors and other Ministers neither impowred to any such thing by the rest of the Clergy nor authorized to it by the Queen And therefore their determinations of no more Authority as to binding of the Church or prescribing to the judgment of particular persons than as if one Earl the eldest son of two or three others meeting with half a dozen Gentlemen in Westminster Hall can be affirmed to be in a capacity of making Orders which must be looked on by the Subject as Acts of Parliament A Declaration they might make of their own Opinions or of that which they thought fittest to be holden in the present case but neither Articles nor Canons to direct the Church for being but Opinions still and the Opinions of private and particular persons they were not to be looked upon as publick Doctrines And so much was confessed by the Archbishop himself when he was called in question for it before the Queen who being made acquainted with all that passed by the Lord Treasurer Burleigh who neither liked the Tenents nor the manner of proceeding in them was most passionately offended that any such Innovation should be made in the publicck Doctrine of this Church and once resolved to have them all attainted of a Premunire But afterwards upon the interposition of some Friends and the reverend esteem she had of the excellent Prelate the Lord Archbishop whom she commonly called her Black Husband she was willing to admit him to his defence and he accordingly declared in all humble manner that he and his Associates had not made any Articles Canons or decrees with an intent that they should serve hereafter for a standing Rule to direct the Church but only had resolved on some Propositions to be sent to Cambridge for the appeasing of some unhappy differences in the University with which Answer her Majesty being somewhat pacified commanded notwithstanding that he should speedily recall and suppress those Articles which was performed with such care and diligence that a Copy of them was not to be found for a long time after And though we may take up this relation upon the credit of History of the Lambeth Articles printed in Latin 1651. or on the credit of Bishop Mountague who affirms the same in his Appeal Appeal p. 71. Resp Nec p. 146 Anno 1525. yet since the Authority of both hath been called in question we will take our warrant for this Narrative from some other hands And first we have it in a book called Necessario Responsio published by the Remonstrants Anno 1618. who possibly might have the whole story of it from the mouth of Baroe or some other who lived at that time in Cambridge Cabul p. 117. and might be well acquainted with the former passages And secondly We find the same
continual Prevalency of a busie faction And I have carried it on no further because at this time Bishop Laud to whom the raising and promoting of the Arminian doctrines as they call them is of late ascribed was hardly able to promote and preserve himself opprest with a hard hand by Archbishop Abbot secretly traduced unto the King for the unfortunate business of Early of Devonshire attaining with great difficulty to the poor Bishoprick of St. Davids after ten years service and yet but green in favour with the Duke of Buckingham What happened afterwards towards the countenancing of these Doctrines by the appearing of King Charles in the behalf of Mountague the Letter of the three Bishops to the Duke in defence of the man and his Opinion his questioning and impeachment by the House of Commons and his preferment by the King to the See of Chichester are all of them beyond the bounds which I have prescribed unto my self in this Narration Nor shall I now take notice of his Majesties Proclamation of the 14. of June Anno 1626. For establishing the peace and quiet of the Church of England by which he interdicted all such preaching and printing as might create any fresh disturbance to the Church of England or for his smart Answer to that part of the Remonstrance of the House of Commons Anno 1628. which concerned the danger like to fall on this Church and Kingdom by the growth of Arminianism or of the Declaration prefixed before the book of Articles in the same year also for silencing the said Disputes or finally of his Majesties Instructions bearing date Decemb. 30. 1629. for causing the Contents of the Declaration to be put in execution and punctually observed for the time to come By means whereof and many fair encouragements from many of our Prelates and other great men of the Realm the Anti-Calvinist party became considerable both for power and number A POSTSCRIPT TO THE READER Concerning some particulars in a scurrilous Pamphlet intituled A Review of the Certamen Epistolare c. PRimâ dicta mihi summâ dicenda camaenâ with thee good Reader I began and with thee I must end I gave thee notice in the Preface of a scurrilous Libel the Author whereof had disgorged his foul stomach on me and seemed to glory in the shame But whether this Author be a Cerberus with three heads or a Smectymnuus with fire or but a single Shimei only for it is differently reported is all one to me who am as little troubled with the noise of Billings-gate as the cry of an Oyster-wife It is my confidence that none of the dirt which he most shamefully confesseth himself to have thrown in my face will be found upon it P. 175. notwithstanding that necesse est ut aliquid haereat may be sometimes true Omitting therefore the consideration of his many Obscenities which every where are intermingled for the flowers of his Rhetorick I cannot but do my self so much justice as to satisfie the Reader in the truth of some things which otherwise may be believed to my disadvantage I am content to suffer under as much obloquie as any foul-mouth'd Presbyterian can spit upon me but I am not willing to be thought a slanderer a profane person or ungrateful for the sinallest favours all which the Author of that scurrilous Pamphlet hath imposed upon me In the first place it is much laboured to make me guilty of ingratitude and disaffection to Magd. Coll. of which I had the honour to be once a member P. 22. and do retain so high an estimation of it that whensoever I shall write or speak any thing to the reproach of that foundation let my tongue cleave unto the roof of my mouth and my right hand forget its cunning But I am able to distinguish between the duty I own to the House it self and that which every member of it is to challenge from me quid civitati quid civibus debeam in the Orators Criticism And therefore I would not have the Libeller or his Partners think that his or their taking Sanctuary under the name of Magdalen Colledge shall so far priviledge them in their actings either against the Church in general or my own particular but that I shall as boldly venture to attacque them there without fear of sacriledge as Joab was smitten by Benaiah at the horns of the Altar But the best is that I am made to have some ground for my disaffection though there be no less falshood in the fundamentals than the superstructure And a fine tale is told of some endeavours by me used for bringing one of my own brood into that foundation the failing of which hopes must of necessity occasion such an undervaluing of that Colledge as to change it from a nest of Sparrows to a nest of Cucknes P. 22. But the truth is that the party for whom I was a suitor was so far from being one of my own brood as not to be within the compass of my Relations so much a stranger to my blood that he was no otherwise endeared unto me than by the extraordinary opinion which I had of his parts and industry And therefore I commended him no further unto Dr. Goodwin than that it was not my desire to have him chosen if any abler Scholar should appear for the place And it was well for the young man that I sped no better Periisset nisi periisset as we know who said For within less than two years after he was elected into the Society of Merton Colledge to their great honour be it spoken upon no other commendation than his own abilities In the next place I am made a slanderer for saying that the new Sabbath speculations of Dr. bound and his adherents had been embraced more passionately of late than any one Article of Religion here by Law established How so Because saith he or they 't is no matter which it is well known that they do more passionately embrace the great truths of Christs Divinity and the Divine Authority of Scripture c. than any opinion about the Sabbath What may be meant by the c. it is hard to say perhaps the Presbyterian Discipline or the Calvinian Doctrines of Predestination the two dear Helena's of the Sects as sacred and inviolable in their estimation as any of their new opinions about the Sabbath But whether the great truths of Christs Divinity the Divine Authority of Scripture or any Article of Religion here by Law established be embraced by them with the like passion as their new Saint Sabbath may be discerned by that impunity which is indulged by them to all Anabaptists Familists Ranters Quakers and all other Sectaries by whom the great Truths of Christs Divinity and the Divine Authority of holy Scripture and almost all the Articles of the Christian Faith have been called in question And yet we cannot choose but know with what severity they proceeded when they were in power against all persons whatsoever
intermitting their own studies to ingage themselves in the determining of such secular causes as were brought before them for the contentation of the People and the diseharge of their own duty both to God and man And this is that which both S. Ambrose and S. Austin tell us in their several writings viz. that they did undergoe this trouble for no other reason than out of a conformity and obedience to the words and imitation of S. Paul 1 Cor. cap. 6. touching the ending of such suits and differences as did arise amongst the Faithful S. Austin saying Constituisse Apostolum talibus causis Ecclesiasticos cognitores Id. in Psal 110. serm 174. Id. de opere Monach. 29. Amb. Epist 24. and iisdem molestiis eos affixisse Apostolos S. Ambrose that he had undertook the businesses which were brought before him Secundum sacrae formam praeceptionis qua eum Apostolus induebat which did impose such a necessity upon him that he was not able to decline it Both of them do agree in this and Posidonius doth agree with both in the same particular that they were not only warranted but obliged by S. Pauls injunction Posidon in vita August c. 19. to undertake the cognizance of such secular causes as were from time to time committed to their care and trust and that they had not done their duty had they made any scruple of the undertaking But these being only private matters let us next see whether their service was not used in affairs of State and we shall find that Constantine did always take some Bishops with him when he went to War not only for their ghostly counsel in spiritual matters but for advise in matters which concerned the occasion the prosecution of the War which was then in hand Euseb in vita Constant l. 4. c. 54. that Ambrose was twice sent Ambassador from Valentinian the younger to the Tyrant Maximus which he performed to the great contentment of his Prince and the preservation of the Empire whereof he gives us an accompt in an express unto the Emperor that when Firmus had rebelled in Africk Amb. Epist 27. lib. 5. and saw himself too weak to resist the Forces which were raised against him under Theodosius Antistites ritus Christiani pacem oraturos misit he sent the African Prelates his Ambassadors to treat of peace Ammian Marcel hist l. 29. Socrat. Eccles hist l. 7. c. 8. that Marutha Bishop of Mesapotamia was in like nature sent to the Court of Persia in the time of the Emperour Honorius I. as after that Epiphanius Bishop of Ticinum which we now call Pavie employed from the Ligurians to Athalaricus King of the Gothes in Italy from him unto the Court of Burgundy as Cassiodorus and Ennodius do describe at large that James the godly Bishop of Nisibis a frontier Town against the Persians was also ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã both Governour of the place and Captain of the Souldiers which were there in Garrison Theodoret. hist Eccl. l. 2. c. 30. and did most manfully defend it against all the force and fury of the Persian Armies An. 338. or thereabouts and finally which was an argument of great power and trust that the Bishops in Justinians time were by him appointed to oversee the Civil Magistrates and to give notice to the Emperour if they failed in any thing which did concern the Government of the Estate in their several places Novel 56. in Append. ad Novel 8. of which the very Edicts are still extant in the Book of Novels The Prelates being grown into this esteem for their integrity and wisdom with the Roman Emperours it is no wonder if they were imployed in the greatest Offices of trust and counsel after the Empire was dismembred and shared betwixt such several Princes as grew up in the place of those mighty Monarchs And this they did on so good motives and with such success that in short time the Prelates were not only used for advice and counsel but the inferiour Clergy also were called unto imployments of the highest nature and in conclusion with the Prelates made up the third Estate in most Christian Kingdoms For being that the study of Divinity is diffused and large and that the knowledge of Philosophy and the Art and Histories is but attendant on the same and subservient to it there was no question made at all in the times we speak of but that a Church-man so accomplished might be as useful in the service of the Common-wealth as those who wanted many opportunities to be so versed in Books the best guides to business especially when to those helps in poin of Learning were joyned a suddenness of apprehension a perspicacity of judgment and which swayed most of all integrity of life and conversation These when they met together as they often did in men admitted by the Church unto holy Orders it was not either thought or found and indeed how could it that their admittance into Orders did take off from any of those natural or acquired indowments of which before they were possessed or that it was a disabling to them to make use thereof in any matter of debate or action which concerned the publick And that it hath been so of old in all Christian Kingdoms besides that it is intimated by our Author here we shall clearly see by looking over such particulars as have most influence and power in the affairs of Christendom And first beginning as of right with the German Empire August Thuan. hist lib. 2. Thuanus gives this note in general Imperium in tria omnino membra dividi that that Emire is divided into three Estates over all which the Emperour is the Head or the Supream Prince Of these the first Estate is ex sacro Ordine of the holy Hierarchy composed of the three spiritual Electors together with the residue of the Archbishops and Bishops and many Abbots Priors and other Prelates The second is of the Nobility consisting of the three temporal Electors the Dukes Marquesses Lantgraves Burgraves Earls and Barons of which there is no determinate number the Emperour having power to add daily to them as he sees occasion The third Estate is of the free or Imperial Cities in number 60. or thereabouts who represent themselves at the General Diets by such Commissioners or Deputies as are authorized to that purpose Now for these Diets for by that name they call their Conventus Ordinum or Assembly of the three Estates they are summoned at the will and pleasure of the Emperour only and at such place and time as to him seems meetest Id. ibid. Where being met as all the three Estates must meet either in person or by their Ambassadors they use to treat of Peace and War of raising Subsidies and Taxes to support the State of leagues and confederacies of raising and decrying moneys of making abrogating and expounding laws and of such other points and matters as do pertain unto the
Successors of John of Gaunt cast many a longing eye on the Church revenues and hardly were persuaded to abstain from that height of sacriledg which Henry the 8. did after come to And this I am induced to believe the rather in regard that in the confirmation of the Churches rights so solemnly confirmed and ratified in all former Parliaments there was a clog put to or added in these times which shaked the Fabrick the confirmation being first of such rights and liberties as were not repealed 3 Hen. 5. cap. 1. 4 Hen. 5. cap. 1. and afterwards of such as by the Common Law were not repealable 2 Hen. 6. cap. 1. which might go very far indeed And secondly I find that in the 8. of Henry the 6. an Act of Parliament was passed that all the Clergy called to Convocation by the Kings Writ and their servants and Family shall for ever hereafter fully use and enjoy such liberty and defence in coming tarrying and returning as the great men and Commonalty of the Realm of England called to the Kings Parliament do enjoy 8 Hen. 6. cap. 1. c. Which being an unnecessary care or caution when the Clergy had their Voice in Parliament and very necessary to be taken formerly if they had never had such Voice makes me conceive that it was much about this time that they lost that priviledg But this I leave as a conjecture and no more than so For answer to the second Argument that if they had been called of old ad consentiendum we should have found more frequent mention of their consent unto the Acts and Statutes of the former times besides that it is a Negative proof and so non concludent it strikes as much against the presence and consent of the Knights and Burgesses in the elder Parliaments as it can do against the Clergy For in the elder Parliaments under King Henry 3. and K. Edward the first there is no mention of the Commons made at all either as preent or consenting nor much almost in all the Parliaments till King Henry 7. but that they did petition for redress of grievance and that upon their special instance and request several Laws were made for the behoof and benefit of the Common-wealth In the Proem to the severall Sessions which part the Clergy also acted in some former Parliaments as before was shewed So that this negative Argument must conclude against both or neither But secondly I answer that in these elder times in which the Proctors for the Clergy had their place in Parliament they are included generally in the name of the Commons And this I say on the Authority of the old modus tenendi Parliamentum in which the Commons are divided in the Spiritualty and the Temporalty and where it is expresly said that the Proctors for the Clergy the Knights the Citizens and the Burgesses did represent the whole commonalty of the Realm of England Cap. ult And this holds good in Law for ought I find unto the contrary to this very day Certain I am that Crompton in his book of the Jurisdiction of Courts where he speaks of Parliaments doth tell us that the Knights Citizens Burgesses and Barons of the Cinque-ports ove le Clergie qu' eux assemble au Pawles Crompton Jurisd des Courts Car. represent le corps de tout le Comminalty Dengliterre together with the Clergy which assembled at S. Pauls do represent the body of the whole Commonalty of England So then the Clergy were not only called but were present also according to that clause in the Writ of Summons which before I spake of directed to their several and respective Bishops as the Kings spiritual Sheriffs if I may so say enabled by the Laws to that end and purpose Which some endeavouring to avoid have at last found out that the clause before recited out of the Writ to the Bishops is not a calling of the Clergy to attend in Parliament but to command them to attend in the Convocation which I have heard much pressed by those who pretend unto some knowledg in the course of things Which though it be a gross mistake and inconsistent with the words and circumstances of the Writ it self which relates meerly to the Parliament and business of a Parliamentarie nature yet for the clearing of the point and undeceiving such as have been deceived they may please to know thta besides this Writ by which the Clergy are commanded to appear in Parliament there is another Writ and another Form of calling them unto the service of the Convocation which is briefly this The King sends out his Writ or Mandat to the Arch-bishop of Canterbury requiring him super quibusdam arduis urgentibus negotiis Regist Warham c. for divers great and weighty reasons cocnerning the Kings Honour the Churches safety and the publick peace of his Dominions to summon all the Bishops Deans and Chapters Arch-deacons and the whole Clergy of his Province to meet in Convocation at a day and place appointed On the reception of which Writ thge Arch-bishop sendeth out his Monitory to the Bishop of London who by his place in Dean of the Episcopal Colledg Antiqu. Britan. in initio and to disperse the Mandates of the Metropolitan requiring him to appear himself in person and to send out his Warrant unto every Bishop of the Province to appear there also and to take order that the Deans of the Cathedrals and Arch-decaons personally the Chapter of one Procurator the Clergy of the Diocese by two whom we usually call Clerks of the Convocation do attend that service Which coming to the hands of each several Bishop the do accordingly give intimation to their Deans and Chapters Regist Warham and to their Arch-deacons and the Clergy and they accordingly prepare themselves to obey the Monitory and to return certificate of their doings in it The like proceeding is observed also for the Province of York So that the calling of the Clergy to the Convocation being by a different Writ and another Form which hath no reference to nor dependance on the Writs directed by the King to each several Bishop for their attendance in the Parliament it must needs be as I conceive it that by that clause remaining in the Writs aforesaid the Clergy have good right and Title to a Voice in Parliament though they have lost their jus in re the benefit the use and possession of it But I speak this as once the Apostle said in another case not by commandment but by permission For I persaude my self the Clergy do not aim so high at the recovery of a right so long antiquated and disused but would be well enough content with the restitution of the Bishops to their Vote in Parliament of which they stood possessed by so strong a Title as the very constitution of the Parliament and the fundamental Laws of the English Government could confer upon them For though the Bishops sat in
the Body of Christ Nay their labour was blessed by God first for the Conversion and then for the Resormation of this Church and Kingdom and therefore I hope there is no sober Protestant in England but will heartily say Amen to that Prayer of Mr. Beza's who although no great Adorer of Episcopacy yet considerdering the Blessings that God brought to this Nation by their Ministry put up this devout Petition Si nunc Anglicanae Ecclesiae instauratae suorum Episcoporum Archiepiscoporum auctoritate suffultae perstant quemadmodum hoc illi nostra memoria contigit ut ejus ordininis homines non tantum insignes Dei martyres sed etiam praestantissimos pastores ac Doctores habuerit fruatur sane istâ singulari Dei beneficentia quae utinam sit illi perpetua Theod. Bez. ad Tract de min. Evang. Grad ab Hadr. Sarav cap. 18. Fruatur Anglia ista singulari Dei Beneficentiâ quae utinam sit illi perpetua Let England enjoy that singular Blessing of God which I pray to God may be perpetual to it There are others that envy them their Honours and Dignities For though the Holy Spirit of God does oblige all Christians to esteem their Bishops very highly or more than abundantly ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in love for their work sake 1 Thes 5.12 13. and reason it self dictates that the honours confer'd upon Representatives and Embassadors redound to the Prince that delegates and imploys them though Jews Heathens and Mahomâtans ever paid the profoundest Veneration to their Priests Caliphs and Musti's and our Relig ous Ancestors in the Saxon Danish and Norman times set the highest value upon their Bishops yet the Religion of this Age is to load them with all possible Calumnies and Reproaches and with Corah and his Complices to charge them with taking too much upon them and to disdain to set them with the Dogs of their Flocks The Priests were Judges in Egypt and so were the Magi and Areopagites who were sacred persons in Persia and Athens and it was no other wise with the Druids amongst the Ancient Britains and Gauls For Caesar tells us how their Office extended to things Temporal as well as Religious Sacrificia publica privata procurant religiones interpretantur Druides a bello a besse consueverunt ni que tributa una cum reliquis pendunt St quod admissum est facinus si caedes facta si de haereditate de finibus controversia est iidem decernunt Caesar Com. lib. 6. that they did not only order publick and private Sacrifices and expound Religion and instruct Youth but were free from Contribution and Warfare and all burthens of State and determined all Controversies both publick and private and executed the place both of Priests and Judges for if any offence were committed as Murther or Man-slaughter or any Controversie arose touching Lands or Inheritance they sentenced it rewarding the Vertuous and punishing the Wicked The Patricii the noblest Romans were ambitious to be admitted into the College of the Priests and when the Government became Monarchical the Emperors took upon them the pontifical Dignity thinking it no diminution of them Grandeur to be imployed about the Service of the gods but rather conceiving the Priesthood too noble an imployment to be confer'd upon a Subject But we need no other Testimonies to convince us of the Rights of Church-men for the management of the civil concerns of human Society that the holy Scriptures Amongst the Jews the Civil and Ecclesiastical power were not so distinguished but one and the same person exercised both For not to expatiate upon particular instances Melchisedeck Eli Samuel Ezra Esdras were all Priests and had the power not only of Ecclesiastical but Civil jurisaictior Neither could Samuel have hewed Agag in pieces with his own hand 1 Sam. 15.33 if it had been unlawful for persons dedicated to the sacred Offices of Religion to havè intermeddled in causes of blood Which very instance proves that Clergy-men are not excluded from managing the highest secular concerns by any immutable Laws of God or Nature And if there are any Canons or Councils that forbid them to meddle in things of that kind that so they may the better attend upon the sacred Offices and Exercises of Religion let those be obligatory to the persons unto whom they were delivered but not be pleaded or produced to the prejudice of English Bishops who have distinct Priviledges and Laws For there have been Constitutions that have forbidden Church-men to Marry to make Wills to be Executors of mens Wills and Testaments to be the Wards of Orphans c. And these Constitutions are of as great force to bind the Clergy of England as the Council of Toledo to thrust the Bishops out of the House of Lords in Causes of Attainder and Blood Let the Archbishops of Ments and Colen with other Princes of the Empire look to it if it be unlawful for Ecclesiastical persons to adjudge Criminals to death It will be infinite to shew how St. Ambrose St. Augustin and the Godly Bishops of all Ages had no Supersedeas given them to intermeddle in things civil and secular because of their Wisdom and Knowledge in things Sacred and Divine Certainly the Holy Spirit of God did not conceive it unfit that Worldly matters and Controversies should be committed to Church-men for it is highly reasonable to think that those who are the Pastors of mens Souls will be the best Judges in determining their civil Rights It could not indeed be expected whilst the Empire was Heathen that Bishops should be busied and employed in Secular affairs unless it were in those Controversies which arose among the Christians themselves wherein St. Paul gives direction that they should rather determine their Contentions by a private Arbitrement of their own than by the publick judgments of their Enemies 1 Cor. 6. But when Kings became Christians Soz. lib. 1. c. 9. we find persons making their Appeals from the Tribunals of Princes to the Consistory of Bishops For then Bishops had power to reverse the sentence of death and to stay the hands of Executioners when the poor Criminals were going to receive the reward of their Iniquities just as the Praetors and Consuls of Rome would submit their Fasces those Ensigns of Authority when they did but casually meet with some of the Priests Constantine granted the Bishops this priviledge that condemned Malefactors might appeal unto their Courts and when such appeals were made the Bishops had power as well to deliver them over into the hands of Justice as to extend unto them a Pardon or Reprieve For the priviledge confer'd on them was as well for the punishment and terror of the Wicked as for mitigating the rigour of Justice and encouraging Criminals to Vertue and Repentance Mr. Selden himself who was none of the best Friends to Church-men grants that for four thousand years the Civil and Ecclesiastick jurisdiction went always hand in hand
together Ex hisce simul sanè ex primo secundo libro hoc satis puto constabit per Annos amplius M. M. M. M. tam sacrorum regimen qua forense esset atque à functione facrâ ritè distinctum quam profanorum five res spectes five personas juxta jus etiam divinum ex Ecclesiae Judaicae populorumque Dei anteriorum disciplinâ perpetuâ ad eosdem attinuisse judices seu Magistratus ejusdem Religionis atque ad synedria eadem neutiquam omnino ex juris istius instituto aliquo sacrorum prosanorum instar Ecclesiarum seu Spiritualium laicorum seu teorporalium Nominibus nullatenus discriminata Seld. de syn praefat libr. secundi And so it did till Pope Nicolas made the one independent upon the other So that their disunion is a Popish Innovation for till his time the Judges of Church and State ever sate together affairs Sacred and Religious were scan'd and determined in the morning and those that were Secular and Civil in the afternoon There was not till that time any clashing between Moses and Aaron no prohibitions out of one Court to stop or evacuate the proceedings of another and then it was that Justice run down like a stream and Righteousness like a mighty River If it be said that there are many corruptions among Church-men and especially in Ecclesiastical Courts The answer is That Callings must be distinguish'd from persons or else those two noble professions of Law and Physick will fall under the same condemnation with Divinity No man of any sobriety will condemn either of those professions because there are some Empericks in the World who kill mens Bodies and some Petifoggers that intangle and ruine their Estates And I hope Divines may have some grains of allowance granted them as well as the Inns of Court and Chancery and the College of Physicians if they cannot let that Calling which is most innocent cast the first stone It cannot be hoped that there will in this Age be a Revival of the primitive usage of these two Jurisdictions But yet this ought to be seriously regarded by all who have any belief of a Deity and regard for their native Country I mean that either our English Monarchs might be totally excused from their Coronation-Oath or not be put upon a necessity of violating thereof Their Oath in favour of the Clergy is that they will grant and keep the Laws Customs and Franchises granted to the Clergy by the glorious King St. Edward their Predecessor according to the Laws of God Rushw Hist Collect. part 1â pag. 204. the true profession of the Gospel established in this Kingdom agreeable to the Prerogative of the Kings thereof and the Ancient customs of the Realm But how this Oath is observed when the Bishops are infringed in their ancient and indisputable priviledges let it be considered by all persons of sober mind and principles And let it be declared what order of men in the whole Nation the King can rely upon with so much safety and confidence as upon the Bishops and that not only upon the account of their Learning Wisdom Sanctity and Integrity qualifications not every day to be met withal in State-Politicians but upon the score of Gratitude and Interest For 't is from their Prince that they derive their Honours Dignities Titles Revenues Priviledges Power Jurisdictions with all other secular advantages and upon this account there is greater probability that they will be faithful to his Concerns and Interests than those who receive nothing from him but the common advantages of Government But this argument is known too well by our Anti-Episcopal Democraticks And perhaps 't is the chief if not the only reason of their enmity against an Order of men of so sacred and venerable an Institution As for this little Treatise the Author of it is too well known unto this Nation to invite any Scholar to peruse it It was written when the Bishops were Voted by the House of Lords not to be of the Committee in the Examination of the Earl of Strafford For then it was that Dr. Heylyn considered the case and put these few Sheets as a MSS. into the hands of several of the Bishops that they might be the better enabled to assert and vindicate their own Rights It was only intended for private use and therefore the Reader is not to expect so punctual an accuracy as he may find in other Treatises of this Learned Author It has been perused by some persons of good Eminency for judgment and station in the Church of England and by them approved and commended All that is wished by the Publisher is that it may produce the effects which he proposes to himself in exposing it to publick view and that those Lords who are now Prisoners in the Tower and from whose tryal some have laboured to exclude the Bishops were able to give unto the World as convincing Evidence of their Innocency as that great and generous States man did who fell a Sacrifice to a prevailing Faction and whose Innocent Blood was so far from being a lustration to the Court as some thought it would have proved as it drew after it such a deluge of Gore as for many preceding years had never been spilt in this Kingdom But 't is not my design or desire to revive any of the Injustice or Inhumanities of the last Age. Suffice it to say that it was for this Apostolical Government of Bishops that King Charles the First lost his Kingdoms his Crown his Life And the exclusion of Bishops from Voting in causes of blood was the prologue to all those Tragical mischiefs that happened to that Religion and Renowned Prince And those who have the least veneration for his present Majesty cannot certainly conceive him a King of such slender and weak abilities as to permit Himself and Family to be ruined by those very methods with which his Father was before him De jure Paritatis Episcoporum OR The Right of Peerage vindicated to the BISHOPS OF ENGLAND SINCE the restoring of the Bishops to their place and Vote in the House of Peers I find a difference to be raised between a Peer of the Realm and a Lord of the Parliament and then this Inference or Insinuation to be built upon it that though the Bishops are admitted to be Lords of Parliament yet they are not to be reckoned amongst the Peers of the Realm the contrary whereof I shall endeavour to make good in this following Essay and that not only from the Testimony of approved Writers but from unquestioned Records Book-Cases Acts of Parliament and such further Arguments as may be able to evince the point which we have in hand But first perhaps it may be said that there is no such difference in truth and verity betwixt a Lord of Parliament and a Peer of the Realm but that we may conclude the the Bishops to be Peers of the Realm if they be once admitted to
their Authority and power in Spiritual matters from no other hands than those of Christ and his Apostles their Temporal honours and possessions from the bounty and affection only of our Kings and Princes their Ecclesiastical jurisdiction in causes Matrimonial Testamentary and the like for which no action lieth at the common Law from continual usage and prescription and ratified and continued unto them in the Magna Charta of this Realm and owe no more unto the Parliament than all sort of Subjects do besides whose Fortunes and Estates have been occasionally and collaterally confirmed in Parliament And as for the particular Statutes which are touched upon that of the 24 H. 8. doth only constitute and ordain a way by which they might be chose and consecrated without recourse to Tome for a confirmation which formerly had put the Prelates to great charge and trouble but for the form and manner of their Consecration the Statute leaves it to those Rites and Ceremonies wherewith before it was performed and therefore Sanders doth not stick to affirm that all the Bishops which were made in King Henries days were Lawfully and Canonically ordained and consecrated the Bishops of that time not only being acknowledged in Queen Maries days for lawful and Canonical Bishops but called on to assist at the Consecration of such other Bishops Cardinal Pool himself for one as were promoted in her Reign whereof see Masons Book de Minist Ang. l. c. Next for the Statute 1 E. 6. cap. 2. besides that it is satisfied in part by the former Answer as it relates to their Canonical Consecrations it was repealed in Terminis in the first of Queen Maries Reign and never stood in force nor practice to this day That of the Authorizing of the Book of Ordination in two several Parliaments of that King the one à parte ante and the other à parte post as before I told you might indeed seem somewhat to the purpose if any thing were wanting in it which had been used in the formula's of the Primitive times or if the Book had been composed in Parliament or by Parliament-men or otherwise received more Authority from them then that it might be lawfully used and exercised throughout the Kingdom But it is plain that none of these things were objected in Queen Maries days when the Papists stood most upon their points the Ordinal being not called in because it had too much of the Parliament but because it had too little of the Pope and relished too strongly of the Primitive piety And for the Statute of 8 of Q. Elizabeth which is chiefly stood on all that was done therein was no more than this and on this occasion A question had been made by captious and unquiet men and amongst the rest by Dr. Bonner sometimes Bishop of London whether the Bishops of those times were lawfully ordained or not the reason of the doubt being this which I marvel Mason did not see because the book of Ordination which was annulled and abrogated in the first of Queen Mary had not been yet restored and revived by any legal Act of Queen Elizabeths time which Cause being brought before the Parliament in the 8th year of her Reign the Parliament took notice first that their not restoring of that Book to the former power in terms significant and express was but Casus omissus and then declare that by the Statute 5 and 6 E. 6. it had been added to the Book of Common-prayer and Administration of the Sacraments as a member of it at least as an Appendant to it and therefore by the Statute 1 Eliz. c. 2. was restored again together with the said Book of Common-prayer intentionally at the least if not in Terminis But being the words in the said Statute were not clear enough to remove all doubts they therefore did revive now and did accordingly Enact That whatsoever had been done by virtue of that Ordination should be good in Law This is the total of the Statute and this shews rather in my judgment that the Bishops of the Queens first times had too little of the Parliament in them than that they were conceived to have had too much And so I come to your last Objection which concerns the Parliament whose entertaining all occasions to manisest their power in Ecclesiastical matters doth seem to you to make that groundless slander of the Papists the more fair and plausible 'T is true indeed that many Members of both Houses in these latter Times have been very ready to embrace all businesses which are offered to them out of a probable hope of drawing the managery of all Affairs as well Ecclesiastical as Civil into their own hands And some there are who being they cannot hope to have their sancies Authorized in a regular way do put them upon such designs as neither can consist with the nature of Parliaments nor the Authority of the King nor with the privileges of the Clergy nor to say truth with the esteem and reputation of the Church of Christ And this hath been a practice even as old as Wickliffe who in the time of K. R. 2. addressed his Petition to the Parliament as we read in Walsingham for the Reformation of the Clergy the rooting out of many false and erroneous Tenets and for establishing of his own Doctrines who though he had some Wheat had more Tears by odds in the Church of England And lest he might be thought to have gone a way as dangerous and unjustifiable as it was strange and new he laid it down for a position That the Parliament or Temporal Lords where by the way this ascribes no Authority or power at all to the House of Commons might lawfully examine and reform the Disorders and Corruptions of the Church and a discovery of the errors and corruptions of it devest her of all Tithes and Temporal endowments till she were reformed But for all this and more than this for all he was so strongly backed by the Duke of Lancaster neither his Petition nor his Position found any welcome in the Parliament further than that it made them cast many a longing eye on the Churches patrimony or produced any other effect towards the work of Reformation which he chiefly aimed at than that it hath since served for a precedent to Penry Pryn and such like troublesome and unquiet spirits to disturb the Church and set on foot those dreams and dotages which otherwise they durst not publish And to say truth as long as the Clergy were in power and had Authority in Convocation to do what they would in matters which concerned Religion those of the Parliament conceived it neither safe nor fitting to intermeddle in such business as concerned the Clergy for fear of being questioned for it at the Churches Bar. But when that Power was lessened though it were not lost by the submission of the Clergy to K. H. 8. and by the Act of the Supremacy which ensued upon it then did the Parliaments