hands suddenly upon any one Hee had power therefore of the imposition of hands and to ordain Presbyters For the charge is particularly directed to him and not to them even as wee shall see it afterwards in the Church of Crete where the power of ordination is as peculiar to Titus as here to Timothy and in neither places committed to the Presbyters This therefore made one say that Their hands without His will not serve His without Theirs might An Apostle did so to him meaning to Timothy and he a Bishop might doe it to others For the Apostle doth not say here Lend thy hand to be laid on with others but appropriates it as his owne act saying even to him in particular Lay hands suddenly upon no man neither partake of other mens sias Bee there then what Presbyters there will although the Bishop and so is the practice of our Church may joyne their hands to his owne yet that they alone without him can make a man a lawfull Minister is utterly denied for a meere Presbyter or many Presbyters of themselves did never ordain others into the holy Ministery And Epiphanius gives the reason of it For how can it be saith he that a Priest should create qui potestatem imponendi manus non habet who hath no power of the imposition of hands Hierome himselfe could say Excepta ordinatione who being no fast friend to Bishops may be the better heard without suspition Quid enim facit Episcopus excepta ordinatione quod Presbyter non facit For what doth a Bishop except ordination which a Presbyter also doth not they be his owne words in an Epistle written to Evagrius And in the dayes of Athanasius when that worthy Hosius was also famous there was one Colluthus a certain Priest of Alexandria who tooke upon him to ordaine Presbyters but the Church in a generall Councell convented him and pronounced against his ordination that it was no other then a meere Nullity Quo pacto igitur Presbyter Ischyras aut quo tandem authore constitutus nunquid scilicet a Collutho saith Athanasius in his second Apologie Ischyras was no Priest because ordained by Colluthus He is therefore not onely opposed whilst hee had the holy cup in his hand but even devested afterwards of his pretended orders and with all the rest which Colluthus undertooke to maâ—e put amongst the Laicks ranked in their order and under their name admitted to the holy Supper But some perhaps will say that Paul and Barnabas in Acts 13.3 received imposition of hands by the Presbyters of Antioch and therefore meere Presbyters may ordaine No sure never a jot the more for this Imposition of hands was for more causes then one both Paul and Barnabas were in the Ministery before this and therefore by that which was now done they received not their consecration into holy orders It may rather be said that Paul had his ordination from Ananias a certaine Disciple of Damascus because he before this came and laid his hands upon him as we read in Act. 9.17 But neither was this to ordaine him into holy orders in regard that his calling was immediate and therefore saith he to those of Galatia that he was an Apostle not of men neither by man but by Iesus Christ God the Father Gal. 1.1 And to the Corinthians That he was not inferior to the very chiefe Apostles as he hath likewise told us in the 2. Cor. 12.13 What then It is true that God gave extraordinary gifts in those dayes even to the healing of the sicke and curing of the diseased in which regard S. Paul being blinde through the bright lustre of the vision is cured when Ananias comes laies his hands upon him and is also filled with the holy Ghost which seems to be for the strengthening of him after his conversion and for his settlement in Religion and the saith of Christ for we see that it was done by the speciall appointment of God and not so much before hee went abroad to preach as before hee was received into the Church by holy Baptisme yea the whole businesse was extraordinary even in respect of the instrument who had an immediate direction and an extraorinary gift to doe in this all that he did be it for what it will And as for them at Antioch they were not onely teachers but Prophets by whom the Holy Ghost declared likewise that they must separate Barnabas and Saul from the rest of the Ministers or Disciples there and not now make them Ministers that they were before yet because they must bee gone from them and goe further abroad among the Gentiles they solemnly commend them to the grace of God for they fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them and let them goe the expresse words of the text so that this may be rather termed a Manumission then an Ordination And all this while the way is plaine But there is yet a place in the first Epistle to Timothy chap. 4. verse 14. which is also urged to prove that Presbyters may ordaine the words being taken by some as if Timothy received his consecration into holy Orders by the hands of Presbyters But if Saint Paul may be suffered to be his owne interpreter he afterward shewes us that this was otherwise for I put thee in remembrance saith he that thou stirre up the gift of God which is in thee by the laying on of my hands 2 Tim. 1.6 His then were the hands that ordained Timothy and according thereunto is the charge that hee also gave to the said Timothy when he bade him Lay hands suddenly upon no man there being no one word to invest every ordinary Presbyter with the like power What is it then The text objected saith not Neglect not the gift that is in thee c. by the imposition of the hands of the Presbyters nor by the imposition of the hands of a Presbytery but by the imposition of the hands of Presbytery that is by the laying upon thee the hands of Ordination termed the hands of Presbytery or Priesthood because that 's the office into which the party consecrated is then ordained more then which cannot bee fairely gathered thence especially seeing the Apostle doth so clearly put the matter out of doubt by saying that his were the hands that ordained Timothy as in that before I have already shewed And indeed if Timothy were ordained by a Presbytery then by more then one but Saint Paul in that other place hath said that his hands and no other were imposed on him Nor is this but granted even by Calvin himselfe to be the right sense of the place as in the fourth booke of his Institutions at the third Chapter is manifest But leaving Timothy looke next at Titus the large Island of Crete is expresly committed to his peculiar charge in which were many Cities and he expresly said to be set over them all no mention being made of any other For For this cause left I
somewhat worse them whom in all parts it doth not satisfie And let me say that heretofore Rogations or Letanies were the very strength stay and comfort of Gods Church In the dayes of Mamercus bishop of Vienna the people seeing how heaven threatned their City with imminent ruine began to fly away from it but their Bishop staying still and some others with him exhorted such as remained to use those vertuous and holy means wherewith others in the like case have prevailed with God Whereupon they fly to the Rogations or Letanies formerly used the Bishop perfects them in what he thâ—ught meet and addes unto them what the present necessity required Their good successe was not only a thing known but an encouragement to others who being afflicted with famine and besieged by their enemies took the same course as in particular is storied of Sidoneus the Bishop of Arverna Nor doe we but find by daily experience that those calamities may be neerest at hand and readiest to break in suddainly upon us which we in regard of times or circumstances may imagine to be farthest off as judicious Hooker speaketh Or if they doe not indeed approach yet such miseries as being present all men are apt to bewaile with tears the wise saith he should rather by their prayers prevent Or if finally we for our selves had a priviledge of immunity doth not true Christian charity require that whatsoever any part of the world yea any one of all our brethren doth either suffer or feare the same we account as our own burthen The Letany saith one is a common treasure house of all good devotion It may be said of the Church in composing that exquisite prayer as it was of Origen writing upon the Canticles In caeteris alios omnes vicit in hoc seipsum In other parts of our Liturgy she surpasseth all others but in this her self Some mislike the Letany for that it hath a petition for all men and all people and yet the precept in Gods word is that supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men 1 Timothy 2.1 Others are angry that we should pray From suddain death good Lord deliver us And I wonder much at this let men of understanding tell me and let a wise man hearken unto me whether it be not better to leave this world with a kinde of treatable dissolution then to be snatcht away as in a moment Xenophon and Plato were Ethnicks and strangers from the common wealth of Israel yet it was no little beauty to their stories to tell us how leasurely Cyrus in the one and Socrates in the other departed hence Absolon had a suddain death and how did David therefore exceed in lamentation Elibu speaks of some which dy in a moment we may therefore beg of God to depart as Jacob Moses Joshua David who had not only respit to end their own lives in peace but also to adde comforts and blessings to those about them But I hasten and come again to the Dialogue DIALOGUE Min. Throughout the whole Letany they doe interrupt him by mingling their prayers with his ANSWER Here still you urge us with interruptions but I have already shewed the weaknesse of this cavill in my former answers and should be glad to see you studdy quietnesse and not to think your selfe wiser then the Church of God in all ages with whom these eager devotions were better esteemed And as Fishes were never accepted for Sacrifices so neither would those Christians be as mute as Fishes in their Congregations DIALOGUE Min. They doe also without any warrant from God but from Pope Hormisda interrupt the Minister when he readeth the Psalmes by taking every other verse out of his mouth to reade it for him with a loud hackering and confused noise especially in Country Churches where the people cannot read well The Minister when he readeth or preacheth Gods word is the mouth of God speaking to the people therefore they ought to be silent and to hearken with reverence ANSWER The Psalter as you know contains the whole book of Psalms they were made by severall men someby Moses some by Solomon some by Asaph and the most by David and not seldome composed upon speciall occasions for the most part either to pray unto God or to praise him in such a set form of words David inscribes many of them to sundry Musitians had them used in the service of God were then and have been since otherwise used in the Lords service then the other Scriptures their tittles shew it and the practise of the Church both among the Jews and the Christians evidently declare it This therefore takes away the edge of your argument by which you endeavour to limit them altogether to the mouth of the Minister And whereas you would beare the world in hand that Hormisda was the man that first appointed them to be used interchangeably See St. Aug. confess lib. 10. cap. 33. you are greatly out from the truth of the story as even your own T. C. will witnesse against you Pantaleon brings testimony that this which you mention was done by Celestine Pantal. in Chronol who was Bishop of Rome about an hundred years before Hormisda But Polydore Virgil goes higher and saith Polyd. Virg. de invent rerum lib 6 cap. 2. That the division of Davids Psalter into seven parts called Nocturnes according to the seven dayes of the week was the work of Hierom at the request of Damasus who was then the Bishop of Rome Damasus also saith the same author instituted that the Psalms should be sung and said by course Thus also Platina Plat. in vitae Damasi but some again say as Polydore noteth that this was first devised by Ignatius Thus also Socrates who maketh Ignatius the Bishop of Antioch in Syria Hist Eccl. cap. 8. the first beginner thereof even under the Apostles themselves he suffered Martyrdome in the daies of the Emperour Trajan unto whom it was related by his own vice-gerent concerning the Christians of Pontus and Bithinya that the onely crime he knew of them was they used to meet together at a certain day and to praise Christ with Hymns as a God secum invicem one to another amongst themselves secund Nor doth this but agree most aptly to the Apostles exhortation in Eph. 5.19 Speak to your selves saith he In Psalms and Hymns and spirituall Songs See also Exod. 15.1 compared with verse 21. and again look into Esay 6.3 DIALOGUE Min. When they read the eighteenth nineteenth and twentieth verses of the fifty Psalm they are likened by some to women scoulding and accusing one another The Clark and people doe begin to scould with and to accuse the Minister saying When thou sawest a thiefe thou consentest unto him and hast been partaker with adulterers Then the Priest accuseth the Clark saying Thou hast let thy tongue speake wickednesse and with thy tongue thou hast set forth deceit Then the Clark and people
which he made to God in the armes of others Of such as prophaned themselves being Christians with irreligious delight in the ensigns of Idolatry Heathenish spectacles shows and Stage-plaies Tertullian to strike them the more deep claimeth the promise which they made in Baptisme Why were they dumb being thus challenged Wherefore stood they not up to answer in their own defence that such professions and promises made in their names were frivolous that all which others undertook for them was but mockery and prophanation That which no Heretick no wicked liver no impious despiser of God no miscreant or malefactour which had himselfe been baptised was ever so desperate as to disgorge in contempt of so fruitfully received customes is now their voice that restore as they say the ancient purity of Religion Thus that worthy Hooker We ask them saith Saint Austin Aug. Epist ad Bonif. 43. which offer the Infants and say Beleeveth be in God who being of that age knoweth not whether there be a God or no They answer He beleeveth and so they answer unto every question which is asked They became sick and were burthened another sinning so also being to be made sound they are saved another confessing for them as even the same Father observeth Serm 10. de ver Apost And it is amplified by a late judicious writer thus Profession is either actuall or virtuall An actuall profession of Repentance and faith is required of them who by the acts of reason formerly abused have multiplyed their personall transgressions but for Infants a virtuall profession is sufficient and such a profession we finde in them in respect of their Propagation They are not unfitly termed Beleevers because they are borne within the Profession of Christianity As also the Infants of Pagans are justly accounted Infidels because they are born in the Profession of Infidelity And if Saint Paul had disputed this case I doubt not but as he said of Levi that in Abraham he paid tithes to Melchisedech so he would have said that the seed of the faithfull doe in their Parents professe the Faith of Christ And then as it followeth Adde this saith he That this virtuall profession is actuated by the promise of the Sureties and Parents at Baptisme And a little after It is plain that that Ab-renunciation is the profession of repentance in the name of the Childe so also the Recitation of the Articles a profession of Faith and reputed his according to that well known saying of Saint Austin peccavit in alio credit in alio as his offence so his profession is the act of another but his by Imputation The same Father also saith Aug. in Epi. 105 We confesse that as they be born again by the Ministery of Baptisers so they beleeve by the hearts and mouths of the Confessours And in another place Serm. 10. de verb. Apostoli Accommodat illis Mater Ecclesia aliorum pedes ut veniant aliorum cor ut credant Our Mother the Church lendeth them other mens feet that they may come and other mens hearts that they may believe Math. 9.2 Mat. 2.5 Luk. 5 20. And as the Palsie-man in the Gospell fared the better for the faith of his friends so the little Children are by these means qualified for holy Baptisme and being baptised are no lesse bound to observe the Faith of Christians then the Jewes infants as well as others bound themselves by Circumcision to the Law of Moses For I testifie againe to every man that is circumcised that he is a debter saith the Apostle to doe the whole Law Gal. 5.3 Whereto agreeth that which the Scripture also saith That he who names the name of Christ must depart from iniquity 2 Tim. 2.19 We have therefore Sureties who are examined not altogether in regard of the Infant but also in some respect in regard of themselves that thereby it may appeare whether they be fit to undertake for the Childe for which they come to answer For they be Sureties for the Childe and in the name of the Childe they do promise and vow that which the Childe is afterwards bound to perform To which end is Confirmation after Baptisme that when Children come to the years of discretion and have learned What their Godfathers and Godmothers promised for them they may then themselves with their own mouths and with their own consent openly before the Church ratifie and confirme the same and live by their own Faith their Godfathers and Godmothers being in the mean time bound to teach them what a solemn Vow Promise and Profession they have made by them their Sureties who are not only speciall witnesses of their naming and receiving into the Church as God said to his Prophet Esa 8.2 But are also undertakers and speciall monitours for them For if as the Apostle teacheth in the 1 Cor. 12.25 there is to be no schisme in the body but that the members should have the same care one for another then much more are they bound who specially undertake for others In the phrase of some kind of men as our Hooker speaketh they use to be termed witnesses as if saith he they came but to see and testifie what is done It savoureth more of piety to give them their old accustomed names of Fathers and Mothers in God whereby they are well put in minde what affection they ought to bear towards those innocents for whose religious education the Church accepteth them as pledges This therefore is their own duty But because the answer which they make to the usuall demands of stipulation proposed in Baptisme is not absolutely their own the Church doth best to receive it of them in that form which best sheweth whose the act is And thus much for satisfaction concerning Interrogatories in holy Baptisme at which whilest you scoffe and are pleased to make your selfe merry you see what a scorne you put upon the Church of God which hath been acquainted with this custome long before the novell times of upstart Popery DIALOGUE Ge. What doth the minister after he hath received these feigned answers Min. He doth baptize the Infant and doth marke him on the forehead with a Crosse which doth offend many because they take it to be the mark of the Beast mentioned Revel 14.9 Gent. Why do they take it to be the mark of the beast Min. Because there is no one thing in all Popery set on the forehead and on the hand but a crosse made on the forehead by the Priest in Baptisme and by the Bishop on the right hand in Confirmation saying Signaculum Christi in manu tua dextra trado tibi therefore they say that it is a mark wherewith the Beast doth cause all that are of his Church to be marked according as it is written that he hath made all both small and great rich and poore bond and free to receive a mark on the forehead and on the right hand Rev. 13.16 It is written Rev. 14.9 that if
Father granted to be the first Bishop there Saint Ambrose could say upon Gal. 1.18 that S. Paul saw James at Ierusalem because he was made Bishop of that place by the Apostles So also saith Eusebius in his second booke of Ecclesiasticall History at the first and 23. Chapters Ireneus saith in his third Booke and third Chapter against Heresies that he could reckon who were Bishops from the Apostles to his owne times Eusebius is able to doe the like and in expresse termes saith that Timothy and Titus were the first Bishops of Ephesus and Crete Eccles Hist l. 3. c. 4. The subscriptions at the end of two of S. Pauls Epistles have also said it and though no part of the Text yet of age enough to beare witnesse with the rest But come we to Ignatius a man who was not onely one of S. Johns Disciples but a faithfull Martyr and one that had likewise seen Christ in the flesh and he in his first Epistle saith Quid enim aliud est Episcopus quam is qui omni principatu potestate superior est And a little after Quid vero Presbyterium aliud est quam sacer catus Conciliarii Assessores Episcopi Quid vero Diaconi quam imâ—…itatores angelicarum virtutum purum est inculpatum Ministerium illi ministrantes Meaning in the generall that a Bishop is superiour to his Bench of Presbyters they next to him and the Deacons inferiour to both Lo then here wee have three orders which hee likewise sheweth a little before and esteemes them no better then out of the Church who will not obey their Bishop in the first place and then the rest accordingly Also in his Epistle ad Magnesios he rejoyceth in them that obey their Bishop Hee also saith That neither Presbyter nor Deacon nor Lay man can doe any thing viz. in matters Ecclesiasticall without their Bishop And in his Epistle ad Philadelphenses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est Episcopo attendite Presbyteris Diaconis Obey your Bishop Presbyters and Deacons And in the same Epistle a little after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Doe nothing without your Bishop The like to which he writeth to those of Smyrna and in the the same Epistle saith he saw our Saviour Christ after his Resurrection The same doth Saint Hierom also witnesse of the same Father in his Catalogue of Ecclesiastical Writers And in the foresaid Epistle he willeth That the Layman be subject to the Deacons the Deacons to the Bishop the Bishop to Christ as Christ is to his Father And in his Epistle to Polycarpus the Angell of Smyrna Let nothing saith he be done without thy minde neither doe thou any thing without the minde of God And in his Epistle to the Ephesians Studete dilecti obedire Episcopo c. Study beloved to obey your Bishop Nor doth he but name who was the Bishop of that Church then viz. Onesimus mentioned likewise in the Scripture But I have done And now if this which hath beene said be not sufficient to prove the Divine right of Episcopacy I must for ever acknowledge the Starres to bee more glorious then the Sunne and Glow-wormes to carry more fire and light in their tailes then the greatest flame which till I want my senses I will never doe Yea by this it appeareth how wrongfully our Dialogue-writer hath alledged that there were no other Bishops then ordinary Preachers of Gods word untill 334. yeares after Christ which false tenet wee may finde at the 27. page of his Book And know moreover that whilst my answer to this present Dialogue of his was at the Presse there came to my hands a new Edition of his book containing still the same things excepting some one or two left out but here and there chopped and changed in their order from what they were in that which I first received and intermingled likewise with a few weake Additions and scurrilous railings against the government of the Church by Bishops as Antichristian affirming that they themselves are Antichrists that the Clergy of England are like those of the Church of Laodicea neither hot nor cold but luke-warme All which with what else his new Edition hath affoorded he might very well and wisely have spared untill he had found himselfe fully able to defend his first writings which because hee cannot the rest will fall of it selfe without any further answer especially seeing there is very little or nothing more then what will come within the compasse of this FINIS