thence that who ever Exercised any Ministerial Office out of this Line of Succession and had not Episcopal Ordination No true Ordination out of the line of Succession could be no other than a Lay Impostor and a Schismatic then I inferred further and consequently all Societies of Christians who with-draw themselves from the Government of their Bishops who are the Apostles Successors and from Communicating with those Presbyters lawfully set over them by Episcopal Ordination and Institution and frame themselves into any other sort of Government are guilty of Schism such Societies are Schismatics and cut themselves off from the Catholic Church but can in no sort properly be call'd Churches and therefore I understand not his Logic in this viz. If by Schism Men and Societies are cut off from the Vniversal Church therefore Schismatical Churches are no Churches ‖ The Donatists were such Churches they are thô Schismatical whilst they retain the Apostolical Succession they retain also the power and Authority of Ordination Preaching the Gospel and Administring the Sacraments and so retain the name of a Church * Dissenters no right to the Succession But what are our Dissenters concerned herein They disclaim the Succession and deny any power or Virtue to be derived from it and therefore have no Commission to preach the Gospel or Administer Sacraments c. and consequently no right to the name of a Church but by the word Societies they would have Churches understood that thereby their Unlawful Assemblies might pass under that Title I must here put one question to these Dissenters many of the Clergy of the Romish Church have embraced Communion with the Reformed Churches I desire to know whether Re-ordination in this case was ever required the answer must be in the Negative their Ordination being derived from the Apostles Successors in vain then is this Gentleman's attempt to un-Un-church the Church of England as in his p. 25. for that our Bishops have derived their Consecration from the Church of Rome it being the Judgement of all Reformed Divines that formal Schism cannot invalidate the power of Regular and formal Ordination In p. 26. he says I would Exclude all the Reformed Churches beyond Sea that have not those Governors c. by those Governors I suppose he means Diocesan Bishops To this I answer That many very Learned and Pious persons among them have declared their longing desires for the Episcopacy but living in Popish Dominions cannot have any but those of the Romish Communion Others there be that approve of it yet live in Republic Governments and they will by no means admit of Episcopacy in that Regiment invincible necessity is upon these and therefore in Charity cannot be charged with Schism being in their desires Catholic but as for those who with you and your Brethren in England deny its Authority and obstinately refuse Subjection to it they with you are notorious Schismatics and can in no wise be excused As for that fanciful supposition of a Company of Christians cast upon a remote Island which he talks of in p. 26. or if all the Pastors in a Country should be put to death c. He cannot bring one instance of either and if it should so happen all the Lay-men and mere Presbyters in the World cannot make one Evangelical Priest cannot impower them to Preach the Gospel not Consecrate Sacraments c. but what can be expected from Invincible necessity They have a God to pray to whose mercies are infinite who will fulfil the desires of them that fear him and will hear their cry Psal 114. v. 19. In his 27 p. he saith But if we assent to the Whimsie of a constant Succession as if power were conveyed like water in a Conduit after a Phisical manner by contact passing through the Fingers ends of the Prelate into the noddle of the person Ordain'd c. A Whimsie I take it signifies some Phantastic Device or the Creature of an unstable or unsettled brain which being applyed or imputed to Prelates who bear the Authority of Christ deriving it Originally from him can be no less I think than Blasphemy for our blessed Savior saith to his Apostles and in them to their Successors He that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me Luke 18. v. 16. no man that has not arrived to the highth of wickedness and given himself over to a reprobate mind would thus revile the Ambassadors of God he can be no better than a filthy Dreamer who thus despiseth Dominion and speaks evil of Dignities Jude v. 8. How wantonly does this man sport himself in holy things and by vilifieing and contemning the Evangelical holy Priest-hood make void and a kicshaw as much as in him lyeth of our holy Religion exposing and prostituting it to the contempt and scorn of Infidels and Atheists What he mentions in p. 28. viz. The Leud Extravagant Caresses that have happened between the ambitious Princes and astiring Church-men concerns us not for he cannot name any such aspiring Church-men that have been in England since the Reformation and thô he could the order being of Divine Institution cannot be dissolved for any mans miscarriage if by this he means any thing of the Church of Rome we abjure her Jurisdiction over us Dr. Sancroft Arch-bishop of Canterbury with six other Bishops in their Address to K. James declared against the Vsurping of any absolute Empire over the Civil and Religious Rights of men and this was done so publickly that it is more than probable the fame of it is gone thrô the World so that this Insinuation of his is a mere malicious calumny In my p. 4. I proved that to love as Christians in Scripture sence is to love as members of Christ and that this obliges Christians to preserve the Body i. e. the Church from Rents and Schisms which says he we never deny He implicitly confesseth that they ought to preserve the Church from Rents and Schisms and yet shamefully denys it in practice every day I have so fully spoken of this before that I need say no more in this place And here again are the Ceremonies objected which thô I have proved to be no sufficient ground for their Separation yet for further satisfaction I will here Recommend the Reasons given by the Convocation why the Ceremonies were retained They are affix'd before the Book of Common Prayer and are important enough to satisfie the Conscience of any sober Consciencious Christian In p. 29. he says for our further Conviction we are told the Communion of Saints is one External visible Communion in the Christian Church which is so far from explaining the thing that it makes it much darker what I said above had reference to the Christian Church when it was first called Catholic And was not the Communion of the Church then One and ought it not to be so still and was not the Union External and Visible but I did a little after
explain by shewing wherein this Communion doth more particularly consist In my p. 5. viz. in the same Articles of Faith The Communion of Saints in Faith I nam'd the Apostles Nicene and Atharasian Creeds which have been received and used in the Catholic Church from the times they were first published and appoint'd by the Authority of the Church the Creeds are Compendiums and brief Comprehensions of the Objects of our Christian Faith and do contain all things necessary to be believ'd every Article being a principle of the Christian Religion which every Christian is bound to profess and is the Test to distinguish between Heretics and sound Christians and now this profession and agreement of Christians in these Articles of Faith may be truly called the Communion of Saints in point of Faith But my Adversary is not very fond of these Creeds and why not in Scripture says he Why every one who truly believes the Scripture believes the Articles of Faith and every one who believe the Articles believe the Scripture He says They are but Human composition They were Composed by those to whom the Care and Authority of the Church was committed and every Article for the benefit of all even the meanest Christians being formed and Collected out of Sacred Scripture are of Divine Authority He says I shut out the Greek and other Eastern Churches This is but his own Conception for they agree with us in all Articles of Faith they do not indeed express the Article of the Holy Ghost in the very same words but they acknowledge that the Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father by the Son which differs not in sense and they Worship the Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity so that in Articles of Faith we and they hold Communion Well! I perceive thô my Adversary relishes not and speaks with but indifferent Respect of the Creeds yet he says however he is so far in Communion with us so in this he will be no Schismatic or rather no Heretic The Communion 〈◊〉 Saints 〈◊〉 the Eucharist Another particular which I mentioned requir'd in this Communion is partaking all at the same Table which thô it be not individually yet Spiritually it is the same and being every where called the Lords Table could be no otherwise meant but that this Gent. will be very witty and take exceptions at every thing The Apostle calls it the Lords Table The Cup of Blessing which we bless 1 Cer. 10.21 v. 16. v. 17. is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ We being many are one Bread and one Body for we are all partakers of that one Bread All true Christians partaking at the Lords Table are one Body in the Apostles Sense the bread not only signifieing the Body of Christ but the Unity of the partakers also and this is the Communion of Saints at the Lords Table Here says he we are with him still I wonder at his confidence he would say sure hâ—re we ought to be with them for they are not with us By comparing our Church with the Primitive Churches I have proved her to be a Church truly Catholic her Jurisdiction as truly Apostolical as they were from whence it follows as I have said that her Orders are to be equally obey'd her Unity and Peace as strictly maintained and what soever was Schism in any of them must be so in her To refuse Communicating with any of them at the Lords Table and to have set up another Table in opposition to any of them must in this Gentlemans judgment have been criminous Schism then of necessity it holds true against our Dissenters they refuse Communion with that Church which most certainly holds true Communion with the Universal Catholic Church and consequently with the Son of God who is the Head thereof and the Principle and proper Object of all Christian Communion Our Dissenters have set up a separate Table in opposition thereto rob'd her of her Members and broke her Unity all this being notoriously the breach of Christian Charity is in this Gent. and Mr. Hery's Sense too Schism which Mr. Hery calls an Arch-Rebel but not so properly as an Infamous Rebellion in Christs Kingdom and thus they are Schismatics in Separating from the Communion of Saints at the Lords Table What he talks here of deriving our Succession from the Church of Rome is already answered A third particular required in this Communion I affirmed to be Communion of Saints in the same Prayers the joyning all in the same holy Prayers and Supplications Intercessions and giving of thanks according to St. Paul's express Command To this he says I cannot mean that in those Dutys we must necessaryly use the very same words c. for then I exclude all the World but them of my own perswasion and a great many of them too I exhort therefore saith St. Paul that first of all Supplications Prayers 1. Tim. 2. v 1.2 Intercessions and giving of Thanks be made for all min for Kings and all that are in Authority c. Here is a sufficient ground from Holy Scripture for Liturgies or Forms of Prayers in the public Worship and Service of God and St. Paul gives his reason for it in his Ep. to the Romans that we might with one mind and one mouth Glorifie God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 15. v. 6. According to this command Forms of Prayers or Liturgies were Composed early in the Catholic Churches and have been used ever since that there might be an Unity in their Supplications and Prayers and in their Thanksgivings and Praises that nothing should be omitted nor any thing more in our Petitions express'd but what our holy Religion requires that there should be no rudeness or undecency in words in which respects conceived and Extempore prayers are very liable to be faulty and in these they were all obliged to joyn where ever they came together for the public Worship and Service of God Herein they had Communion with God the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ who was in the midst of them Mat. 28. v. 20. and in whose name they were presented and with one another Uniting all in the same Prayers here is the Communion of Saints in holy Prayers It is true that the Respective Provincial or Diocesan Churches had not every one their set Forms of Prayers or Liturgies in the very same words every Bishop having power to Compose a Form for that Church of which he was Over-seer Yet they were the same for substance so that every Christian was obliged to Communicate not only with the Bishop or his Presbyters under whose Jurisdiction he lived but all Catholics coming to remote Churches did as bound by the Rules of Catholic Unity Communicate with their Fellow-Christians to what Church soever they came That in this the Church of England as in the former particulars holds Communion with the Primitive Catholic Church will appear Pream Quinto
Enemies that will not contribute their utmost to quench them Men who are not mad will go far for Water to quench those Flame which else would destroy their dwellings They will not contribute to quench them but these men need go no farther but do their duty and the flames are out To disobey the Orders of our Governors is to transgress a plain Law of God If these men have any thing imposed on them by our Governors that is sinful let them shew it and their Plea must be allow'd but they are forced to confess the Terms of Obedience impos'd are but indifferent things mere trifles Now for a man to disobey his Governors and have no other plea but this it is too mean to excuse him from the transgression of a known Law Obey them that have the Rule over you is the command of the holy Apostle Heb. 13.17 Nor can indiffernt things or what they acknowledg mere trifles be a pretence sufficient to bind the Conscience against an express Law of God for as if the blessed Apostle had foreseen these mens Plea he Commands Obedience to our Governors for Conscience sake Rom. 13.5 I hope by what is said it will be allowed by all impartial men and sound Christians that I may conclude without breach of Charity that the Dissenters in England are they who kindle the unhappy Flames about Church Government and Worship and that they are the great Enemies that will not contribute the least not so much as do their Duty to quench them and that notwithstanding all the Writing he talks of the fault of all our Divisions lies at their door He goes on The word Schism has been toss'd like a Tennis-ball from one side to another till by such motion those violent heats have been caused that have much endangered both our Church and State By this Rhetoric I suppose is meant the Opposition and Disputes made by these men against the established Church of England that by these means these men not only endangered but for some years involved both Church and State in Ruin and Desolation had I brought no arguments yet by sad experience is sufficiently proved He says Great endeavours have been used to fasten the Guilt upon such as impose unnecessary and suspected Terms of Communion and it has been is furâ—â—ly retorted upon those who comply not with those Terms Here the Terms of Communion are Vnnecessary and Suspected only but who are to â—e Judges of what things are necessary or what Vnnecessary they that bear Rule over us or they that owe Subjection Government always implies Subjection and how can bare suspicion discharge a man from the dury of Obedience This is certain that if a Father command his Son to do something which is in it self not Unlawful and if the Son tell his Father it is Vnnecessary and that he Suspects it to be so and if only for that Reason will not obey that Son is a Transgressor against the fifth Commandment and it s as certain that this is truly applicable to these men all their Expositers affirm that Obedience to their lawful Rulers Pastors is required by that Commandment But because the whole Controversie which these Dissenters have against our Church mainly depends on these two perticulars mentioned by this Gent. viz. Church Government and Worship it will be very necessary to lay down some irrefragable Instances to prove what was the Practice of the Church in respect of its Government in the times next after the Apostles Episcopacy the Government of the Church in the times next after the Apostles and this I do because by referring thereto I shall answer many passages which follow in this Gentlemans Book I begin with the Canon of the Apostles which I find thus Translated by a person of great worth both for Learning and Veracity Let not the Presbyters or Deacons do any thing without the Consent of the Bishop for he hath the people of the Lord intrusted to him and there shall one day be required of him an account of their Souls Here the Bishop has the Power of Governing the Presbyters and Deacons Of what Authority these Canons are Justellus has made evident in his account of the Code of the Universal Church Clemens Romanus who was an Adjutor of the Apostles and as Linus Succeeden St. Peter and Cletus Lanus so he Succeeded Cletus in the Bishopric of Rome where all others in Holy Orders were called Presbyters except Deacons only who speaking of the Apostles in his Ep. ad Corinth p. 57. saith That they foreseeing that there would be Contentions and Emulations about the Name or Dignity of Bishop or Episcopacy they set down a List or continuation of Successors that when any dyed such a certain person should Succeed him Ignatius Bishop of Antioch and Martyr who saw Jesus and liv'd in the Apostles age whose Authority many of later times Enemies to Episcopacy have opposed yet never could suppress the plainness of it In his Epistle to the Smyrneans he saith But avoid Divisions as the beginning of evils and be all of you observant of the Bishop as Jesus Christ was observant of the Father and observe the Presbyters as the Apostles and reverence the Deacons as the Command of God Let no man presume to do any thing in the Church without the Bishop And let that Eucharist only be accounted firm which is either performed by the Bishop himself or by his Licence And a little further He who honoreth the Bishop honoreth God but he who doth any thing without the Bishop's approbation performs a Service to Satan c. In his Epistle to the Ephesians Therefore pursuant to something before it becomes you every way to glorifie Jesus Christ who glorifies you that being perfected and knit up in the same Subjection and being of one mind and of one judgment you may all speak the same things and being Subject to the Bishop which Onesimus then was 〈…〉 Presbyters may be Sanctify'd in all things Again in the same Epistle As Jesus Christ 〈◊〉 who is our into uparable life did follow the judgment of the Father and the Bishops who are designed to the ends of the Earth follow the judgment of Jesus Christ therefore it is a comely thing for you to concur in the â—â—â—â—ment of the Bishop as also you do for your Presbyters most worthy of Praise and of God is so adapted to the Bishop as strings are fitted to the â—â—rp insomuch that Jesus Christ is Celebrated through your unanimity and agreement in Love And in the same Ep. Therefore let us endeavour to be in subjection to the Bishops that we may be Gods Subjects In his Epistle to the 〈◊〉 For I was accounted worthy to see Damâ—s your Divite â—â—â—â—op and the worthy Presbyters Bassuâ— and Apolliaâ—s and Sâ—tiâ—n the Deacon my Fellow-servant whom I would enjoy because 〈…〉 subject to the Bishop as to the Grace of God and to the Presbyters as to the Law of Jesus Christ
our Learning In the end of p. 17. and in 18. he lays to my charge that I distinguished not betwixt the extraordinary power which was properly Apostolical and that ordinary Pastoral Power which was eminently comprehended in the other The Authority and Government of the Church must have expired with the Apostles had not this Power been conveyed by their Delegation to their Successors by virtue whereof the ordinary Pastoral power viz. Power to Preach the Gospel Administer Sacraments Absolve Penitents c. was and is confer'd upon the Presbyters the extraordinary and Apostolic Power of Ordaining and Governing of Binding and Loosing being intirely reserved in the Bishop the Apostles Successors and this too of the ordinary Pasteral power is to use his own words eâ—inently comprehended in the Diocesan Bishops as it was in the Apostles Other distinction than this cannot be truly made as I suppose Then he maliciously mentions the Arch-bishop of Canterâ—ury what Christian temper or good manners he shews therein let the Reader judge For it is written Thou shalt not speak evil of the Ruler of thy People The Nature and Extent of the Episcopal Office being fuily stated answers what he saith in the bottom of his 18 p. He says Dr. Hammond tells us that all the Elders we read of in the Scripture were Bishops and that every particular Church had one of these This Gent. has this quality he never mentions the place where the thing may be sound in any Author he quotes which is not fair Dr. Hammond says indeed That the Bishops in every City were the Successors of the Apostles Dissert 3 c. 3. In his Anot. on Acts c. 11. b. and in his Tracts of the Power of the Keys Asian Bishops called Angels and Bishop and Elder terms equivalent which were written in Vindication of his Dissertations from the exceptions of the Assembly of Divines as they were called wherein he has by Scripture the Primitive Fathers and undeniable Arguments evinced to the silenceing of the Assemblers that the word Bishop in Scripture did always signifie a Prelate or a Diocesan Bishop and that the word Elder had the same signification so that if this Gent. will be concluded by the Author he has cited his pretentions to Parochial and Congregational Bishops are at an end P. 19. he says t is pritty to hear him say these two that is Timothy and Titus were ordained Bishops by the Apostles was there any Apostle concerned besides Paul in it Here lies the trick c. Whether they were Ordained by St. Paul alone or with others conjunct it was all one being I was only to prove that their being Ordained Bishops was by Apostolic power which being done thô by St. Paul alone is sufficient Nothing but prejudice and ill nature could see any thing of a Trick in this Then he puts the Question and how pray could Timothy and Titus succeed the Apostles in the See of Ephesus and Crete whilst the Apostles were living And then he is pleased in his 20 p. to Droll and scoff at 'em and then says to be the Apostles Successors the Apostles yet alive and in plenitude of Power is a very great Mystery so is all the Gospel then he closes making himself merry with the ignorance of a Vicar of Newport who by the way is said to have been a Nonconformist which in a matter so momentous carries too much levity for a Minister of the Gospel I said in my p. 3. this Apostolical Succession was begun in Timothy and Titus c. They could not have been said to be Successors of Apostolical power if the Apostle moved by the Holy Ghost had not whilst living confer'd it on them could the Apostle have Ordained them after he was dead The Apostle by Ordaining them in his life time secured the Succession to them and the Government too in the Apostles absence even whilest he was living so that it was not improperly said that this Apostolic power was begun in Timothy and Titus they being the first mentioned in Scripture who were invested with Episcopal power of Jurisdiction by Apostolical Ordination that this Succession of Bishops is as he scossingly calls it a very great Mystery is very true the Bishops being by virtue of this Succession as truly the Representatives of Christ Jesus as Ambassadors are of Kings In p. 20. he says I affirmed that no Presbyters had power to Ordain He desires me to try how I will reconcile this with Dr. Hammond who says these Presbyters were all Bishops 1 Tim. 4.14 or with Scripture it self that says even Timothy received the Gift by the laying on the Hands of the Presbitery I have try'd and find it easily reconciled with Dr. Hammond for his Judgment is that those Presbyters who joyn'd in that Ordination were Apostles which you may see in his Paraphrase on the above-mentioned Scripture and he refers to Note on Acts chap. 11. f. for his reasons Mere Presbyters a â—umea power to Ordain first found in the Church of Rome The first clear Instance of mere Presbyters assuming the power to Ordain is to be found in the Church of Rome as the learned Primate Bramhal tells us p. 164. and in p. 431. he saith We may justly ascribe the reviveing of the Aerian Heresy to the Dispensations of the Court of Rome who Licensed Ordinary Priests to Ordain and Confirm c. In p. 20. he further saith for propagation of Apostolical Succession c. I inform 'em that Linus by Apostolical Consecration Succeeded the Apostles in the See of Rome here is a double blunder again Linus succeeded whilst the Apostles were alive How else could he have Apostolical Consecration c. The best way to determin this is to observe the Rule which in great Wisdom our Law hath appointed for Jurors to bring in their Verdict according to their best Evidence The best Evidence in this Case are the writings of the Fathers who lived in the next Age among whom Irenaeus is accounted the most exact Notary of the Succession of Bishops to the Apostolic Sees L. 3. C. 3. he affirms that Linus was made Bishop by the Apostles and that he Succeeded St. Peter in the See of Rome and that next after him Cletus by some called Anen Cletus Succeeded in that See and with him ‖ Lib. 1. adv Her Sect. 6. Epiphanius agrees and with these diverse others now this is so far from being a blunder that it is a clear Manifestation of the great care the Apostles had of providing for the Succession in their life time which no man can object against much less profanely Ridicule as my Adversary does who will consider that otherwise the Succession must have failed and been extinct if neglected whil'st the Apostles lived In the 21 p. at the bottom he saith That my affirming that this line of Apostolic Succession of Bishops hath continued in all Ages to this present time Succession of Bishops from the Apostles without