believe that in this Context our Lord Jesus Christ designed to set up and erect an Earthly Domination in and over his Churches to be administred by the Rules of the Canon Law and the Rota at Rome They must be spiritually mad and ridiculous who can give the least entertainment unto such an Imagination Nor can the Discipline of any Diocesan Churches administred in and by Courts and Officers foreign to the Scripture both name and thing be brought within the view of this Rule nor can all the Art of the World make any application of it thereunto For what some plead concerning Magistrates or Arbitrators they are things which men would never betake themselves unto but only to evade the force of that Truth which they love not All this is fallen out by mens departing from the Simplicity of the Gospel and a contempt of that sense of the words of the Lord Jesus which is plain and obvious unto all who desire not only to hear his words but also to observe his Commands 3 dly Our third Argument is taken from the Nature of the Churches â—nstituted by the Apostles and their Order as it is expressed in the Scripture For they were all of them Congregational and of no other sort This the ensuing Considerations will make evident 1. There were many Churches planted by the Apostles in very small Provinces Not to insist on the Churches of Galatia Gal. 1.1 concerning which it is no where intimated that they had any one Head or Mother Church Metropolitical or Diocesan Nor of those of Macedonia distinct from that of Philippi whereof we have spoken before upon the first coming of Paul after his Conversion unto Jerusalem which was three years Gal. 1.18 in the Fourth year after the Ascension of Christ there were Churches planted in all Judea and Galilee and Samaria Act. 9.31 Neither of the two latter Provinces was equal unto one Ordinary Diocess Yet were there Churches in both of them and that in so short a time after the first Preaching of the Gospel as that it is impossible they should be conceived to be any other but single Congregations What is excepted or opposed hereunto by the Reverend Dr. St. shall be examined and disproved afterwards by itself that the Progress of our Discourse be not here interrupted 2. These Churches were such as that the Apostles appointed in them Ordinary Elders and Deacons that might administer all Ordinances unto the whole Church and take care of all the poor Act. 14.23 chap. 20.28 Now the Care Inspection and Labour of Ordinary Officers can extend itself no further than unto a particular Congregation No man can administer all Ordinances unto a Diocesan Church And this ordaining Elders in every Church is the same with ordaining them in every City Tit. 1.5 that is in every Town wherein there was a Number converted unto the Faith as is evident from Act. 14.23 And it was in Towns and Cities ordinarily that the Gospel was first preached and first received Such Believers being congregated and united in the Profession of the same Faith and subiection unto the Authority of Christ did constitute such a Church-State as it was the Will of Christ they should have Bishops or Elders and Deacons ordained amongst them and were therefore as unto their State such Churches as he owned 3. It is said of most of these Churches expresly that they respectively met together in one place or had their Assemblies of the whole Church for the discharge of the Duties required of them which is peculiar unto Congregational Churches only so did the Church at Jerusalem on all occasions Act. 15.12 22. ch â—1 22 see ch 5.11 ch 6.1 It is of no force which is objecteâ— from the Multitude of them that are said to believe and so consequently were of that Church so as that they could not assemble together For whereas the Scripture says expresly that the multitude of the Church did come together it is scarce fair for us to to say they were such a multitude as that they could not come together And it is evident that the great numbers of Believers that are said to be at Jerusalem were there only occasionally and were not fixed in that Church For many years after a small Village beyond Jordan could receive all that were so fixed in it The Church at Antioch gathered together in one Assembly Act. 14.27 to hear Paul and Silas This Church thus called together is called the Multitude chap. 15.30 that is the whole Brotherhood at least of that Church The whole Church of Corinth did assemble together in one place both for solemn Worship and the exercise of Discipline 1 Cor. 8.8 chap. 14.25 26. chap. 11.17 20. It is no way necessary to plead any thing in the illustration or for the Confirmation of these Testimonies They all of them speak positively in a matter of fact which will admit of no debate unless we will put in exceptions unto the Veracity of their Authors And they are of themselves sufficient to establish our Assertion For whatever may be the state of any Church as unto its Officers or Rule into what order soever it be disposed ordinarily or occasionally for its Edification so long as it is its Duty to assemble in and with all its Members in one place either for the exercise of its Power the Performance of its Duty or Enjoyments of its Priviledges it is a single Congregation and no more 4. The Duties prescribed unto all Church Members in the writings of the Apostles to be diligently attended unto by them are such as either in their Nature or the manner of their performance cannot be attended unto and duly accomplished but in a particular Congregation only This I shall immediately speak distinctly unto and therefore only mention it in this place These things being so plainly positively and frequently asserted in the Scripture it cannot be questionable unto any impartial-mind but that particular Churches or Congregations are of Divine Institution and consequently that unto them the whole Power and Priviledge of the Church doth belong for if they do not so whatever they are Churches they are not If therefore any other Church-State be Supposed we may well require that its Name Nature Use Power and Bounds be some or all of them declared in the Scripture Reasonings drawn from the Superiority of the Apostles above the Evangelists of Bishop above Presbyters or from Church Rule in the hands of the Officers of the Church only from the power of the Christian Magistrate in things Ecclesiastical from the Meetness of Union among all Churches are of no use in this case For they are all consistent with the Sole Institution of particular Congregations nor do in the least intimate that there is or needs to be any other Church State of Divine Appointment CHAP. V. The Sate of the First Churches after the Apostles to the end of the Second Century IN Confirmation of the foregoing Argument we urge the President and
as one of the first depraved Inclinations of Mind that wrought in Ecclesiastical Rulers and which in the fourth and fifth Centuries openly proclaimed itself unto the scandal of Christian Religion there was a greater disposition in them unto a Deviation from the Original Institution Rule and Order of the Church no way suited unto the satisfaction of that Ambition then unto a Defection from the Purity of Faith and Worship which yet also followed 2. As the Inclination of many lay towards such a Deviation so their Interests lead them unto it and their Temptations cast them upon it For to acknowledge the Truth unto our Author and Others the Rule and Conduct of the Church the Preservation of its Order and Discipline according unto its first Institution and the Directions given in the Scripture about it are according unto our Apprehension of these things a Matter so weighty in itself so dangerous as unto its Issue attended with so many Difficulties Trials and Temptations laid under such severe Interdictions of Lordly Power or seeking either of Wealth or Dignity that no wise men will ever undertake it but meerly out of a sense of a Call from Christ unto it and in compliance with that Duty which he owes unto him It is no pleasant thing unto Flesh and Blood to be ingaged in the conduct and oversight of Christs Volunteers to bear with their manners to exercise all Patience towards them in their Infirmities and Temptations to watch continually over their walkings and conversation and thereon personally to exhort and admonish them all to search diligently and scrupulously into the Rule of the Scripture for their Warranty in every Act of their Power and Duty under all their Weaknesses and Miscarriagâ—s continuing an high valuation of them as of the Flock of God which he hath purchased with his own Blood with sundry other things of the like kind all under an abiding sense of the near approach of that great Account which they must give of the whole Trust and Charge committed unto them before the Judgment seat of Christ for the most part peculiarly exposed unto all manner of Dangers Troubles and Persecutions without the least encouragement from Wealth Power or Honour It is no wonder therefore if many in the Primitive times were willing gradually to extricate themselves out of this uneasie condition and to embrace all occasions and opportunities of introducing insensibly another Rule and Order into the Churches that might tend more unto the Exaltation of their own Power Authority and Dignity and free them in some measure from the weight of that important charge and continual care with labour which a diligent and strict Adherence unto the first institution of Churches and Rules given for their Order and Government in the Scripture would have obliged them unto And this was done accordingly until in the fourth and fifth Centuries and so onward the Bishops under various Titles began by their Arbitrary Rules and Canons to dispose of the Flock of Christ to part and divide them among themselves without their own knowledge or consent as if they had conquered them by the sword This Bishop shall have such a share and number of them under his Power and that other so many so far shall the Jurisdiction of one extend and so far that of another was the subject of many of their Decrees and Laws for the Rule of the Church But yet neither did they long keep within those Bounds and Limits which their more modest Ambition had at first prescribed unto them but took occasion from these Beginnings to contend among themselves about Preheminence Dignity and Power in which contest the Bishop of Rome at length remained Master of the Field thereby obtaining a second Conquest of the World 3. That there was such a gradual Deviation from the Original Institution of Churches their Order and Rule is manifest in the Event For the change became at length as great as the distance is between the Gospel and the Rule of Christ over his Church on the one hand and the Canon Law with the Pope or Antichrist set over the Church on the other This change was not wrought at once not in one Age but by an insensible Progress even from the Days of the Apostles unto those dark and evil times wherein the Popes of Rome were exalted into an absolute Tyranny over all Churches unto the satiety of their Ambition For 4. This Mistery of Iniquity began to work in the days of the Apostles themselves in the suggestions of Satan and the Lusts of Men though in a manner latent and imperceptible unto the wisest and best of Men. For that this Mistery of the Iniquity consisted in the effectual Workings of the Pride Ambition and other Vices of the Minds of Men excited enticed and guided by the craft of Satan until it issued in the Idolatrous persecuting State of the Church of Rome wherein all Church Rule Order and Worship of Divine Institution was utterly destroyed or corrupted we shall believe until we see an Answer given unto the learned Writings of all sorts of Protestants whereby it hath been proved These things are sufficient to Vindicate the Truth of the Assertion which the Doctor opposeth and to free it from his Exceptions But because as was observed before the supposition hereof is the foundation of all our present contests about Church Order and Rule I shall yet proceed a little farther in the Declaration of the Way and Manner whereby the Apostacy asserted was begun and carried on And I shall not herein insist on particular Instances nor make a Transcription of Stories out of antient Writers giving Evidence unto the Truth because it hath been abundantly done by others especially those of Magdeburg in the sixth and seventh Chapters of their Centuries unto whose Observations many other Learned men have made considerable Additions but I shall only treat in general of the Causes Ways and Manner of the Beginning and Progress of the Apostacy or Declension of Churches from their first Institution which fell out in the successive Ages after the Apostles especially after the End of the second Century until when Divine Institutions as unto the substance of them were preserved entire Decays in any kind even in things Natural and Political are hardly discernable but in and by their effects When an Hectick Distemper befalls the Body of any man it is oftimes not to be discerned until it is impossible to be cured The Roman Historian gives this advice unto his Readers after he hath considered the ways and means whereby the Empire came to its Greatness labente deinde disciplina velut dissidentes primo mores sequatur animo deinde ut magis magisque lapsi sint tum ire caeperint praecipites donec ad haec tempora anibus nec vitia nostra nec remedia pati possumus periculuâ— est Liv. Praefat. His words do not give us a more graphical Description of the Rise and Decay as unto Vertue and Vice
Church for their Work was to call gather and erect it out of the World But no ordinary Officers can be or ever were ordained but to a Church in Being Some say they are ordained unto the universal visible Church of Professors some unto the particular Church wherein their Work doth lye but all grant that the Church-State whereunto they are ordained is antecedent unto their Ordination The Lord Christ could and did ordain Apostles and Evangelists when there was yet no Gospel Church for they were to be the Instruments of its Calling and Erection But the Apostles neither did nor could ordain any ordinary Officers until there was a Church or Churches with respect whereunto they should be ordained It is therefore highly absurd to ascribe the continuation of the Church unto the successive Ordination of Officers if any such thing there were seeing this successive Ordination of Officers depends solely on the continuation of the Church If that were not secured on other Foundations this successive Ordination would quickly tumble into dust Yea this successive Ordination were there any such thing appointed must be an Act of the Church it self and so cannot be the means of communicating Church Power unto others A successive Ordination in some sense may be granted namely that when those who were ordained Officers in any Church do dye that others be ordained in their steads but this is by an Act of Power in the Church it self as we shall manifest afterwards 2. Not to treat of Papal succession the limiting of this successive Ordination as the only way and means of Communicating Church Power and so of the Preservation of the Church-State unto Diocesan Prelates or Bishops is built on so many inevident Presumptions and false Principles as will leave it altogether uncertain whether there be any Church-State in the World or no. As 1 That such Bishops were ordained by the Apostles which can never be proved 2 That they received Power from the Apostles to ordain others and Communicate their whole Power unto them by an Authority inherent in themselves alone yet still reserving their whole Power unto themselves also giving all and retaining all at the same time which hath no more of Truth than the former and may be easily disproved 3 That they never did nor could any of them forfeit this Power by any crime or error so as to render their Ordination invalid and interrupt the succession pretended 4 That they all ordained others in such manner and way as to render their Ordination valid whereas multitudes were never agreed what is required thereunto 5 That whatever Heresy Idolatry Flagitiousness of life Persecution of the true Churches of Christ these Prelatical Ordainers might fall into by whatever Arts Simoniacal Practices or false Pretences unto what was not they came themselves into their Offices yet nothing could deprive them of their Right of Communicating all Church Power unto others by Ordination 6 That Persons so ordained whether they have any call from the Church or no whether they have any of the Qualifications required by the Law of Christ in the Scripture to make them capable of any Office in the Church or have received any Spiritual Gifts from Christ for the Exercise of their Office and Discharge of their Duty whether they have any Design or no to persue the ends of that Office which they take upon them yet all is one being any way Prelatically ordained Bishops they may ordain other and so the successive Ordination is preserved And what is this but to take the Rule of the Church out of the hand of Christ to give Law unto him to follow with his Approbation the actings of men besides and contrary to his Law and Institution and to make Application of his Promises unto the vilest of men whether he will or no. 7 That it is not lawful for Believers or the Disciples of Christ to yield Obedience unto his Commands without this Episcopal Ordination which many Churches cannot have and more will not as judging it against the Mind and Will of Christ. 8 That one Worldly Ignorant Proud sensual Beast such as some of the Heads of this successive Ordination as the Popes of Rome have been should have more Power and Authority from Christ to preserve and continue a Church-State by Ordination than any the most holy Church in the World that is or can be gathered according to his mind with other unwarrantable Presumptions innumerable 3. The pernicious consequences that may ensue on this Principle do manifest its Inconsistency with what our Lord Jesus Christ hath ordained unto this end of the continuation of his Church I need not reckon them upon the surest Probabilities There is no room left for fears of what may follow hereon by what hath already done so If we consider whither this successive Ordination hath already led a great part of the Church we may easily judge what it is meet for It hath I say led men for Instance in the Church of Rome into a Presumption of a good Church-State in the loss of Holiness and Truth in the Practice of false Worship and Idolatry in the Persecution and Slaughter of the faithful Servants of Christ unto a State plainly Antichristian To think there should be a Flux and Communication of Heavenly and Spiritual Power from Jesus Christ and his Apostles in and by the hands and Actings of Persons ignorant Simoniacal Adulterous Incestuous Proud Ambitious Sensual presiding in a Church-State never appointed by him immersed in false and Idolatrous Worship persecuting the true Church of Christ wherein was the true succession of Apostolical Doctrine and Holiness is an Imagination for men who embrace the shadows and appearances of things never once seriously thinking of the true nature of them In brief it is in vain to derive a Succession whereon the Being of the Church should depend through the presence of Christ with the Bishops of Rome who for an 100 years together from the year 900 to a 1000 were Monsters for Ignorance Lust Pride and Luxury as Baronius acknowledgeth A. D. 912.5.8 Or by the Church of Antioch by Samosatenus Eudoxius Gnapheus Severus and the like Hereticks Or in Constantinople by Macedonius Eusebius Demophilus Anthorinus and their Companions Or at Alexandria by Lucius Dioscurus Aelurus Sergius and the rest of the same sort 4. The principal Argument whereby this conceit is fully discarded must be spoken unto afterwards And this is the due consideration of the proper subject of all Church-Power unto whom it is originally formally and radically given and granted by Jesus Christ. For none can communicate this Power unto others but those who have received it themselves from Christ by vertue of his Law and Institution Now this is the whole Church and not any Person in it or Prelate over it Look whatever constitutes it a Church that gives it all the Power and Priviledge of a Church for a Church is nothing but a Society of professed Believers enjoying all Church Power
which having as they thought unduely enough failed in one or two Instances it became the Destruction of a Church state not only in the Churches where such Mistakes had happened as they surmized but unto all the Churches in the World that would hold Communion with them But in these things we have no concernment Other Notions of Schisme besides those insisted on we acknowledge not nor is any other advanced with the least Probality of Truth Nor are we to be moved with outcries about Schisme wherein without regard to Truth or Charity men contend for their own Interest Of those Notions of it which have been received by men sober and learned we decline a trial by none that only excepted that the Refusal of Obedience unto the Pope and Church of Rome is all that is Schisme in the World which indeed is none at all That which is now so fiercely pleaded by some concerning different Observations of external Modes Rites Customes some more or none at all to make men Schismaticks is at once to judge all the Primitive Churches to be Schismatical Their Differences Varieties and Diversities among them about these things cannot be enumerated and so without any disadvantage unto the Faith or breach of Love they continued to be untill all Church Order and Power was swallowed up in the Papal Tyranny ten thousand times more pernicious then ten thousand such Disputes For a Close unto this whole Discourse concerning the original nature and state of Gospel Churches I shall use that Liberty which Love of the Truth puts into my Possession Churches mentioned in the Scripture ordained and appointed by the Authority of Jesus Christ were nothing but a certain number of Men and Women Converted to God by the preaching of the Gospel with their baptized seed associating themselves in Obedience unto Christs Commands and by the Direction of his Apostles for the common Profession of the same Faith the Observance and Performance of all Divine Institutions of Religious Worship unto the Glory of God their own Edification and the Conversion of others These Believers thus associated in Societies knowing the Command and Appointment of Jesus Christ by his Apostles for that End did choose from among themselves such as were to be their Rulers in the Name and Authority of Christ according to the Law and Order of his institutions who in the Scripture are called on various Considerations Elders Bishops Pastors and the like names of Dignity Authority and Office who were to administer all the solemn Ordinances of the Church among them Unto this Office they were solemnly appointed ordained or set apart by the Apostles themselves with fasting Prayer and imposition of hands or by other ordinary Officers after their decease This was the way and method of the Call and setting apart of all Ordinary Officers in the Church both under the Old Testament and in the New It is founded in the Light of Nature In the first Institution of ordinary Church Rulers under the Law the People looked out and chose fit Persons whom Moses set apart to the Office Deut. 1.13 14 15. And in the Call of Deacons Acts 6. The Apostle uses the same Words or words of the same importance unto the Church as Moses did to the People Acts 6.31 asserting the Continuation of the same way and order in their Call And whereas he who was first to be called to Office under the New Testament after the Ascension of Christ fell under a double Consideration namely of an Officer in general and of an Apostle which office was extraordinary there was a threefold Act in his Call the People chose two one of which was to be an Officer Acts 1.23 Gods immediate Determination of one as he was to be an Apostle ver 24. and the obedient Consent of the People in compliance with that Determination ver 26. The Foundation of these Churches was generally in a small number of Believers But their Church state was not compleat until they were supplyed with all ordinary Officers as Bishops and Deacons The former were of of several sorts as shall be proved hereafter And of them there were many in every Church whose number was encreased as the Members of the Church were multiplied So God appointed in the Church of the Jews that every ten Families should have a peculiar Ruler of their own Choice Deut. 1.13 14 15 For there is no mention in the New Testament of any one single Bishop or Elder in any Church of any sort whatever either Absolutely or by way of Preheminence But as the Elders of each Church were many at least more thenone so there was a parity among them and an Equality in Order Power and Rule Nor can any Instance be given unto the Contrary Of these Churches one onely was originally planted in one City Town or Village This way was taken from Conveniency for Edification and not from any positive Institution and it may be otherwise where Conveniency and Opportunity do require it The Number in these Churches Multiplying dayly there was a necessity of the Multiplication of Bishops or Elders among them Hereon the Advantage of some one Person in Priority of Conversion or of Ordination in Age Gifts and Graces especially in Ability for Preaching the Gospel and administring the Holy Ordinances of the Church with the Necessity of preserving Order in the Society of the Elders themselves gave him peculiar Dignity Preheminence and Title He was soon after the Bishop without any disadvantage to the Church For in those Churches in some of them at least Evangelists continued for a long Season who had the Administration of Church Affairs in their hands And some there were who were of Note among the Apostles and eminently esteemed by them who had eminent yea Apostolical Gifts as to Preaching of the Word and Prayer which was the peculiar work of the Apostle These were the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mentioned by Clemens Of the many other Elders who were associated in the Rule of the Church it may be not many had Gifts for the constant Preaching of the Word nor were called thereunto Hence Justin Martyr seemes to assign the constant publick Administration of Sacred Ordinances unto one President And this also promoted the constant presidency of one in whom the Apostolical Aid by Evangelists might be supplyed These Churches thus fixed and settled in one place each of them City Town or Village were each of them intrusted with all the Power and Priviledges which the Lord Christ hath granted unto or endued his Church withal This Power is called the power of the Keys or of binding and loosing which hath respect only unto the Consciences of Men as unto things Spiritual and Eternal being meerly Ministerial Every one of these Churches were bound by the Command of Christ to live in Peace and Vnity through the Exercise of Peculiar sincere and fervent Love among all their Members as also to walk in Peace and useful Communion with all othâ—â— Churches in the