These were ordained in every Church Act. 14.23 and now an Inspection is to be made whether their demeanour be sutable to the import of their sacred Function At their Ordination the Apostles did not divest themselves of their authority to govern in those places St Paul saies 2 Cor. 11.28 that the care of all the Churches was upon him They conveyed a power as the Sun doth light without being losers by the communication The Elders were ordained to be Episcopi Pastores gregis but the Apostles remained to be Episcopi gregis pastorum Acts 20.17 And therefore St Paul at his Visitation at Miletus cites the Elders to make their appearance and left his Apostolicall injunctions with them and in his instructions to Timothy how to demean himself in the Church of God one branch of his advice is not to receive an accusation against an Elder without the testimony of two or three witnesses which plainly intimates a superiority over them residing both in Himself and Timothy These with the Laity are the Persons to be visited Let us visit our Brethren 4 Here is the place where the Visitation is to be held In every city where we have preached the Word of the Lord. In every City The plantation of the Church was first begun in Cities insomuch that the words Infidell and Pagan that is one inhabiting in a village became Synonimous or terms of the same signification When the Disciples were made fishers of men they cast their nets where there was the greatest confluence and expectations of success When the converts were increased to such a number that one place had not capacity enough to entertain them they were not like Bees when they swarm put into a hive which had no dependance upon that from which they came Though they worshipped God in their apartments yet they continued to be one and the same Society The Unity of the Church was no more prejudiced by this division into divers congregations then the unity of Faith by the division of the Bible into Chapters and Verses In the most eminent Cities although there must necessarily be more Assemblies then one yet we read of the Church in the singular number as the Church at Corinth 1 Cor. 1.2 Acts 13.1 Acts 8.1 the Church at Antioch the Church at Jerusalem All of them being imbodyed under the same Numericall Government made but one Community Elders were constituted to take the immediate care of them yet what they did was onely in a subordination to and dependance upon the Apostles to whom the power of Ruling was so far appropriated that nothing could be Authentick and have the impress of Authority without their consent and therefore notwithstanding the Presbyters in every City St Paul and Barnabas did challenge to themselves the power of Visitation This power did not extend to all Cities but those onely where they had preached the Word of the Lord. The Apostolicall jurisdiction was not exercised in every place but confined to a certain precinct Every Star did move in his own Orb. When St Paul speaks of his boasting according to the measure of the rule 2 Cor. 10.16 and not in anothers line he intimates that every Apostle had his Bounds and Province The words allude to the measure whereby Surveyers use to adjust the rights of others and assign to every one their proper allotment or to the white Line which the Agonisticall law did oblige Racers to conform their course unto and by no means to run over They did not visit in every City but those in which they preached Though they had a commission to teach in all the world yet they had none to govern but where they taught with success gained Proselytes to the Faith Those who lived without the pale of the Church like the earth before propriety was settled were primi occupantis The Apostles who took the first possession of their minds had a peculiar right to the Government of them The vanquished did lie under an obligation to submit to the laws and regiment of their Conquerour St Chrysost observes that these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do manifest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the necessity of Inspection What they planted they were obliged to water and by a prudent discipline to eradicate every thing whereby the growth of it might be impeded They standing in a paternall relation to such who were begotten again by the Word which they had preached it would have been an omission of Duty not to have interested themselves in the nurture of them 5. Here is the end and design of the Visitation to see how they do Though in the Greek we have onely these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet the Syriack version is as full as ours ut videamus quid agant These Apostles knew that those whom they converted to the Faith were obnoxious to many distempers In the converted Jews there were remaining some faeces of their former disease They nauseated the Bread of Life and made it their choice to pick and eat the rubbish of the partition Wall which Christ had demolished The Rights of the Law which expired at the death of Christ and by this time had an honourable interment they attempted to pull out of their graves and give a resurrection to them The converted Gentiles were not totally delivered from the power of former custom and education Amidst these circumstances the infernal Spirit was not backward to act his part The Sun of Righteousness could no sooner in any place appear above the Horizon but he did endeavour to raise his mists in order to the obscuring of him Some of his Instruments were animated with so much confidence as to arrogate to themselves the dignity which is peculiar to the Son of God Simon Magus who is stiled his first born Epiph. l. 1. tom 2. p. 55. did not content himself with this usurpation but invaded the Rights of the Sacred Trinity He asserted he was the Father among the Samaritanes the Son among the Jews the Holy Ghost among the Gentiles In the new Heavens there were some Planets which did affect an erratick motion In the new earth some weeds presently sprang up In Paradise regained the temptation began at the Tree of Knowledge There was a science falsly so called which gave denomination to the Gnosticks They pretended to know how to secure their Title to the Heavenly Purchase and yet to deny the Lord that bought them The Grace of God which teacheth sobriety they found a way to turn into wantonness and make it a Pander to their impure appetites They were impatient to sit under the government of the Apostles being desirous to invest themselves with the Preeminence They did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 trample under foot the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or order which was of Divine Erection In these circumstances among the influences of so many infectious examples the Brethren being not exempted from the peril of contagion the Holy
Prelates and to sink them into the same Order with Presbyters but at the bottom no kindness is intended Their design being to advance the B. of Rome they make him and not Christ the immediate Fountain of that Authority which the Governours of the Church are vested in and Transubstantiation being the highest mystery of their Religion and Presbyters undoubtedly interested in it they are unwilling to allow any Order in the Church superior to them believing that such a Concession may lessen the dignity of that Mystery Hitherto I have spoken of the Disease both in general and particular which is supposed in the Text. And now I shall pass on to the Remedy namely an Apostolicall or Episcopall Authority and Inspection What S. Paul and S. Barnabas did was not an act of Charity onely but Authority This was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Primitive age which was used in order to the preventing and healing Distempers As our blessed Lord retained the Power in his own hand during his residence upon the Earth so likewise did his Apostles And therefore as he is stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 2.25 so their Office 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 1.10 The Inspection of the Churches within a certain precinct was committed to them S. James was settled betimes at Jerusalem for this Sacred purpose S. Paul at his first coming Gal. 1.18 19. found him residing upon his Episcopall Charge at his last both him and his Elders in a most solemn Assembly Acts 21.18 The Brethren came from him to Antioch as their Bishop about Ecclesiasticall Concerns Gal. 2.12 Although others of the Apostles were present at Jerusalem Acts 15.20 yet the Canon of the Council was drawn up in his words Eusebius saies Euseb Hist Eccl. l. 7. c. 19. p. 265. par that the Chair which was peculiar to him was preserved unto his time This settlement was made immediately after the Passion of our Lord as a pattern for the rest of the Apostles to imitate in their severall Plantations As the Gospel was dispersed through all Nations beginning at Jerusalem Luke 24.27 so likewise the Law whereby the converted Nations were to be governed Isa 2.3 Therefore S. Paul in order to the Reforming some abuses at Corinth tacitely makes an appeal to it as the place from which the Word of the Lord first came 1 Cor. 14.36 There being an impossibility that all things in every place should come to a fulness of growth and be ripened into an exactness of Order in a moment Divine providence settled at first this sensible rule for all who were interested in the Regiment of the Church to operate by and come up unto as the circumstances of every place would permit And therefore in a Conformity to it we read of Titus being left in Crete and Timothy at Ephesus Their not residing always in those places can be no more an argument of their not being Bishops there then it would be that Richard the First was not King of England because our Chronicle represents him sometimes in Cyprus sometimes in Germany sometimes in the Holy Land Agreeable likewise to this pattern are the seven Angels enthroned in the Churches of Asia by the approbation of our blessed Lord as is manifest by his letters to them in which he commends those Vertues which did appear in the discharge of their Function His right hand was the firmament in which those Pleiades were fixed They cannot as some would perswade us signifie seven Churches The Churches are stiled Candlesticks the Angels Stars So long as Stars are of a nature distinct from Candlesticks the Angels must import some thing different from the Churches Neither can they be seven Colleges of Elders for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly denotes one individual This is the constant import of it in all other parts of holy Writ and there is nothing in the Context which may oblige us to depart from the customary signification The plurall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 2. v. 24. hath no necessary relation to the Angel of Thyatira but may without any incongruity be referred to those who are mentioned v. 23. I will give to every one of you according to his works that is you who have received the doctrine of Jezebel shall receive punishment according to the merit of your crime and then it follows but I say unto you and to the rest which have not this Doctrine It is a received Rule that we are not to desert the proper import of any word and flie to an improper but where those things which stand in conjunction put a necessity upon us Neither can the seven Angels be seven Pastours of so many particular Congregations For all which did adhere to the Doctrine of Christ in the Lydian Asia are contained under the Seven Churches and it will be very difficult for any to believe that there were no more Congregations within that Compass In Ephesus alone where it is said that the Word of the Lord mightily grew Acts 19.20 there could be no fewer then that number Oratories and places of Convention could be of no great capacity in those times when Christians were hindred from building by continuall storms of Persecution Therefore there is nothing left for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to signifie but one Individuall Person having the care and inspection of divers Congregations The best Records next unto the Scripture inform us that Polycarp one undoubtedly invested in a power of this Latitude was the Angel of the Church of Smyrna From whence we may easily compute what we are to determine concerning the rest all the seven Stars being represented without any disparity in their Magnitude Timothy and Titus with these Seven must not be looked upon as Presidents or Chairmen onely having a Primacy of Order among the Presbyters It is most evident that they had not onely a power to Visit and govern the Laity but the Deacons and Elders themselves 1 Tim. 3.10 5.22.17 19. These they did examine ordain provide for their maintenance had Authority to receive an accusation against them Tit. 1.11 8.10 1 Tim. 5.21 stop the mouths of such who did teach false doctrine reject the Hereticall and are charged in their severall Consistories to prejudice no man nor to be byassed with any partiall regards Rev. 2.2 Rev. 2.20 The Angel of Ephesus is commended for trying those who pretended to be Apostles of Thyatira reproved for suffering such as did teach and seduce the people which can argue no less then a Superiority vested in them over the Pastours and Teachers of those Churches If the power had not been in these Persons alone why is the Charge directed to them commendation given when performed reprehension when neglected without the least mention of any coordinate Society Had they been in the quality of Chairmen onely whose office is to preserve Order in the Convention without any conclusive power in themselves the doing of the things
would not have been imposed as their duty but the modus or manner how they were to be done namely not in a confused and tumultuary way but in methods agreeable to the Rules of all regular Societies When Timothy is commanded to fight the good fight lay hold on eternal life to keep that which was committed to him and Titus to speak the things which become sound Doctrine rebuke with all Authority avoid foolish questions we may as well conclude that these things were not to be done without the concurrence of the Elders as those before mentioned There is nothing expressed in the Text which discovers any discrimination The independency of their Power is visible in the deportment of the Apostles whose Delegates they were S. Paul challengeth to himself alone an Authority to set in order what was amiss to deliver to Satan to visit with his rod and exempts no degrees whether Elders or people from being the objects of it Eusebius out of Clemens informs us of S. John's Visitation of the Clergy and Laity in the Churches of Asia Epiphanius of S. Peters in Pontus and Bythinia L. 3. c. 23.3 L. 1. tom 2. p. 107. par If Titus and Timothy were delegated to do the work of an Apostle as it is most evident they were and an Apostle did act without a dependance upon the Elders we have reason to conclude that their obligations to them were no greater Elders indeed were ordained in every City but not to govern alone What they did was in a subordination to the Apostles The Apostles acted without their concurrence but we never read that they did any thing for which they were not accountable to the Apostles In the case of the incestuous Corinthian the Spirit and Authority of S. Paul was the first mover In the Ordination of Timothy the hands of the holy Apostle were signally interested If any find themselves disposed to believe that this Authority to Visit and Govern the Clergy by a single Person was a remedy adapted onely to the Primitive times and that in after-ages the Apostolicall Superiority was to be laid aside and a Parity prevail they will meet with no small inducement to alter their minds if they please impartially to weigh these three Particulars The reason of the thing the declaration of God the practise of the Universall Church 1. The reason of the thing The constitution of the Church is such that it cannot continue long in Repairs without Inspection and Government Though the Universall is built upon a Rock yet particular Churches are liable to Dilapidations And if Government be necessary no Form ought to take place and be preferred before that which prevailed in the Apostolicall Age. Those who are most under the power of imagination will scarcely be able to fancy that He who shed his precious bloud in order to the purchasing a Church should be so unconcerned for it as to leave it in the world without Rules of Settlement that He who did erect this new Society should contrary to the method of all Founders leave it without Statutes prescribing the modes of Regulation That He who had the government upon his shoulder should ascend with it to Heaven and not deposite it in some prudent hands to secure his Subjects upon the earth against the inevitable inconveniences of Anarchy that He who is the great Shepherd should leave his Flock either to be governed by the tremulous decisions of their own discretion or else the pleasure of the Civil Powers which by his unerring prescience he was assured would have for three hundred years the same degree of kindness for them as Wolves have for Sheep that He who after his Resurrection spent fourty days upon the Earth speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God should pass by in silence the regiment of it which is a matter of no small moment and hath an inseperable connexion with the subject of his discourse that He who gave a positive commission to his Apostles undoubtedly containing something over and above the dictates of Nature which are that the Church must be governed in the Government there must be a Superiority in some a Subordination in others Superiours must have all becoming regards expressed to them Inferiours be accountable for the violation of their Rules and yet express nothing concerning the particular form of Government which is the onely positive which could have been added to what the Light of Nature gives us the perception of Though it is too great a presumption to determine what Christ hath appointed by what we conceive he ought to appoint our intellects being no competent judges of the Methods of his Wisdom yet when we find by Revelation that he hath instituted a Church would have this Church to be one this one Church to be well governed that some mode of Government is of indispensable necessity in order to this end it is not unbecoming our Christian humility to pronounce that he hath appointed a particular Form He who wills the end never fails to contrive the means which conduce to it Amongst the objects of our Belief we do not onely rank those things which are found in the Scripture in particular propositions but whatsoever hath an inseperable connexion with such Axioms And if it be reasonable to believe that our blessed Lord hath appointed some Government none can make a more just claim to be it then that which was practised by his holy Apostles who were inspired by his Spirit and by reason of an intimate converse with him did enjoy the most advantageous opportunities to gain a full comprehension of his mind This certainly hath the best right to be the Standard whereby all Models are to be tried and from whence they are to receive their allowance or disallowance according as they appear conformable or disagreeable to it Though an argument from Apostolicall Practice in generall may fail as is evident by the Love-feasts the community of Goods the office of Deaconisses yet when it is derived from such a species of Practice as is grounded upon universall Reason and not upon peculiar respects and incommunicable circumstances the validity of it must be acknowledged Those who have made the most scrupulous inquiry into the Government of the Apostles can find nothing in it of an inseparable accommodation to that Age. It is true the Unction whereby they were qualified for it was not of the vulgar Composition The holy Spirit gave them an unerring conduct in framing Rules of Discipline a power to assert the authority of their actions by miraculous operations yet their Function namely to Govern was ordinary and doth import nothing but what might be enjoyed by the Rulers of the Church in after-ages The power may descend where the same gifts and degrees of Aptitude to use it do not Commodus was inferiour to Antoninus in politicall accomplishments and yet did inherit his Power in the amplitude of it Caligula was not comparable to Augustus in Architectonicall skill
Divine right of it By the same reason we may prove that the power of a Father of a family hath not its foundation in a Divine Law because it receives an augmentation as his Children encrease and falls under divers Modifications according to the various Stations they are placed in or that the Theocracy recorded in the Old Testament did not derive its originall from Heaven because it was of a larger extent when the People of Israel were settled in their apartments in the land of Canaan then when they lived in the wilderness altogether 3. The conforming Ecclesiasticall Government to the Civil is no just presumption against a Divine originall It doth not appear but that it was the Will of God that the New Jerusalem which came down from Heaven should conform it self to the mould it fell into When the Church was first planted it found the world cantoned into Provinces in every Province a Metropolis inferior Cities suburbicarian Regions in every Metropolis a Proconsul in every City a Defensor upon which the suburbicarian Regions did depend The imitation of this civil Disposition in placing a Bishop in every City answerable to the Defensor in every Metropolis an Arch-Bishop sutable to the Proconsul being of a eminent use to invite the People to a ready obedience they being by custom habituated to the like Regiment in civil concernments and likewise giving the Governours a singular advantage to obtain the ends of their Constitution by reason of the daily confluences to those Places upon secular accounts there is a high degree of probability that it was sutable to the will of him whose constitutions are always conformable to the deepest reason Some footsteps it we find as early as the New Testament Churches were planted in Metropoles as Corinth Thessalonica Antioch upon which those who in any part of the Province entertained the belief of the Gospel had some dependence The second Epistle to the Corinthians is inscribed to all the Saints which are in all Achaia The first to the Thessalonians hath a peculiar aspect upon all in Macedonia C. 3.10 The letter of the Apostles and Elders to Antioch is directed to the Brethren in Syria and Silicia Achaia being the Province of Corinth Macedonia of Thessalonica Syria and Silicia of Antioch Why these Epistles sent to the Metropolis about Ecclesiasticall matters should be inscribed to all in any part of the Province and no other though all the Scripture was written for our learning there must be some peculiar reason Rom. 15.4 and none can be rendred more congruous than this that all Christians in every part of it whether Cities or suburbicarian Regions did depend upon the Metropolis in point of Government As the Romans when they subdued a Country by force of Arms did constitute there a civil Province so the Apostles when they had made a Spirituall conquest by the weapons of their warfare an Ecclesiasticall Therefore S. Peter when he writes to the converted in the dispersion directs his Epistle to them in their distinct Provinces Galatia Cappadocia Asia Bithynia And when S. Paul mentions the contribution of the Churches he characterizeth them by the name of their Provinces where their abode was It hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia Rom. 15.26 Achaia was ready a year ago 2 Cor. 9.2 This hypothesis gives the most intelligible account why all the Churches in Asia are reduced to seven No doubt there were more congregations within that compass Acts 19. v. 10. All that dwelt in Asia are said to hear the Word of the Lord and the Preachers were S. John and S. Paul who were endued with a power of working Miracles and spake in the demonstration of the Divine Spirit The Cities from which these Churches had their denomination being Metroples upon which the lesser with the suburbicarian Regions did depend in point of Government and make but one Community the Churches in them and in the Metropolis symbolizing with this temper in the State are represented but as one Church That the immunities of a Metropolis did belong to Ephesus Nat. Hist l. 5. c. 29. c. 30. Pro. Geo. l. 5. c. 2. Smyrna Sardis Pergamos Laodicea is asserted by Pliny to Thyatira by Ptolomy to Philadelphia by the Greek Acts of the Council of Constantinople under Mennas Actio quints Orig of Metropolitans p. 69. Though Pliny doth not attribute this honour to Thyatira yet he doth not deny it The defect of his testimony is fully supplyed by Ptolomy who is not his inferior in point of Authority Philadelphia's being placed in the Notitiae under Sardis is no demonstration that it was not a Mother-city The same individuall may be a Mother in one respect and a Daughter in another The Provinces themselves were not all equall and by consequence the Mother-city in one Province might be inferior in dignity and dependent in power upon the Metropolis of another We need go no further for an instance then our own Nation Of the two Provinces into which it is divided one is acknowledged to have a Superiority and some power over the other All this makes it appear that the conforming Ecclesisticall Government to the Civil is no prejudice to the Divine originall of it The Vine which was planted by a Divine hand under the civil Power as a wall of defence did naturally according to the will of Him who planted it adapt it self to the mode of that which it grew against The rain which descends from heaven conforms to the figure of the vessel it falls into 4. Ecclesiasticall concerns were managed according to the decrees of Councils but not all of them The ancient Church was governed by a double rule the Canon of Scripture and of Councils The last consists either of declarations of what is contained in Scripture or else constitutions to restrain liberty in those things which the Sacred Oracles have left to our choice either to do or not to do As for Prelacy the essence of which lies in a Superiority of an Ecclesiasticall person over Elders within a certain precinct it was ever owned by the Church as agreeable to the Canon of Scripture Councils suppose it to be grounded upon a right more early then themselves and never give it a place in the Catalogue of those things which may be or not be the object of their determination He who thinks fit to consult the Code of the universall Church cannot remain unacquainted with the truth of this Assertion 5. The Churches acknowledgement of her subordination to the civil Power is reconcileable with a belief that her Government is grounded upon a Divine Right Oeconomicall Regiment which doth undoubtedly derive its origen from Heaven is in the exercise of it subordinate to the civil Power A Father of a family though he governs his progeny by vertue of the law of God yet is accountable to his Prince and limitable by his decrees in the execution of his Authority Eph. 3.15 The Churches being
stiled a family will justifie the congruity of this example The supream Rector hath moulded the Universe into Communities and constituted the civil Magistrate to be their Guardian Into these Communities he hath let down from Heaven the New Jerusalem namely a Church or Ecclesiasticall Society with Governours and Laws not onely harm less and inoffensive but singularly advantageous to the purposes of the civil Constitution And because it is not impossible but that the Rulers may degenerate from the true meaning of their Originall and under a pretence of a Supernall commission undermine the interest of the civil Community the Magistrate is impowered to see that they keep within their own bounds and if they swell above their banks to remand them into their proper channel if they do not to protect and defend them against the hand of violence This makes it evident how the Church may be subordinate to the secular Power and yet have a Government grounded upon a Divine right It is the Divine pleasure that Princes within their own Territories should be so far concerned in all causes and over all persons as to see that nothing be done to the prejudice of the Community they are set over From hence doth emerge their right to inhibit limit and regulate the execution Though Christ is the immediate Fountain of the Power yet they have a commanding influence upon the streams which flow from it Though they may not invade the Offices which are peculiar to the Church yet they are obliged to see that they are duly performed by those to whom they appertain Though they have not the Power of the Keys yet in case those which have make use of them to open a door to Sedition and Disorder they have the Power of the Sword to shut it and prevent the mischief If the Church keep within her due bounds and the supream Magistrate be of opinion that she doth not and from hence a contest is commenced she hath no other weapon to defend her self but Prayer and a composed Submission to what the preservation of a good conscience may expose her All this is very far from erecting imperium in imperio it hath nothing in it of a malevolent aspect upon the Supremacy of Princes All pretended inconveniences fall with an equall weight upon paternall Government which undoubtedly being in nature and time antecedent to the civil Constitution must have a Divine originall And now whosoever pleases to look back and consider the reason of the thing the declaration of God the practice of the Universall Church which is no bad commentary upon what is dubious in any Divine appointment will be under no temptation from any rationall inducement to believe that the Apostolicall authority to govern was adapted onely to the Primitive times and not intended to continue in all Ages So much of the Remedy in generall namely an Apostolicall or Episcopall Authority expressed in visiting the Brethren In the next place I will enumerate some particular acts of this Power which are of eminent use in all Ages for the preventing and healing distempers 1. An Inspection into the Authority of those who preach 2. The Doctrine 3. The lives 4. The giving rules for the preserving of Order 5. The censuring those who neglect the Order which is agreed upon 1. An Inspection into the Authority of those who preach The work of the Ministry is of greater importance than to lie open to every one who by the strength of his fancy can perswade himself that he is fit to discharge it The peace of the Church depends upon the Practice of those who are members of it their practice upon their judgement their judgement upon the Doctrine of their Teachers These have the Helm in their hand whereby the body of the People is easily moved the Key of Knowledge whereby they are in the nearest capacity to open the intellect and let in or shut out Principles which tend to Unity The Community would not enjoy the least degree of security might the private opinion of every Person concerning his own Aptitude give him a title to this Office Men are not competent Judges of their own abilities The Generality are very partiall when they take an estimate of their intellectuall Powers Every place is filled with complaints of the want of Riches and Honour but we seldom meet with any querulous resentments of the defects of Reason and Understanding Indeed S. Paul said who is sufficient for these things but we are apt to say who is not The stream runs the fastest where the channel is most shallow Those are most forward who have the least acquaintance with the depth of Knowledge The few exceptions from the generall Rule which are duly prepared are so much under the command of humility that they judge themselves unworthy The burden of fruit which grows upon these branches bends them into too low and despondent thoughts of themselves Socr. Hist l. 4. c. 18. When Ammonius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he is stiled by Socrates was acquainted with a resolution in others to compell him to take upon him the most Sacred office in the Church he cut off his right ear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the deformity of his body might be a bar to his Consecration Socr. Hist l. 7. c. 12. Chrysanthus a person eminent for wisdom and sobriety when he was solicited to take upon him the same Function was so much under the power of modesty that he fled from Constantinople into Bythinia where he concealed himself with a design to decline it By reason of this unfitness in Men to judge for themselves and to be the fountain of their own Authority God hath endued the Governours of his Church with a power as to Ordain so to examine every mans pretence that the Community may receive no damage 2. The Doctrine Those who have a good commission may exceed the bounds of it and in stead of feeding their Flock in wholsom Pastures lead them into Boggs where they will inevitably sink into an eternall Perdition Error is damnable as well as vice All the difference is this is the more open rode that the more concealed and private way to Hell T it 3.11 The Apostle saies that he which is engaged in it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is overturned as a ship when the Keil is uppermost As the man of sin who sits in the Temple of God and under a pretence of Religion vents that which tends to the overthrow of it 2 Thess 2.3 is stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the son of perdition so error which enthrones it self in the conscience and sits there with a pretence of a descent from Heaven 2 Pet. 2.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is no perdition more certain and less apt to meet with disappointment then that which is secured from a disclosure by so plausible a cover as Religion and Divine approbation Errour puts the highest of affronts upon the Divine Majesty He