not in all the Churches of Christendom but neither approved nor known by the Primitive Church wherefore I require what you produce should be both Primitive and Universal and this to interpret some place of Scripture doubtful in it self not plain Now as to the business in hand I can't yield that the Scripture is very doubtful in it or scarce doubtful at all for though in Scripture 't is not in terminis said Presbytery and Episcopacy are both one and the same Order yet the circumstantial expressions are as I have shewed so strong and many that they are equivalent to a cleer expression in terminis Secondly this is not a matter of any indifferency but of vast and dangerous consequence if mistaken That a Church without such Bishops as you require can't be truly call'd a Church and so we shall exclude many Godly Reformed Churches For if Bishops be of such a superiour and distinct order as you pretend if the power of Ordination be inherent in them only Then where no Bishop no true Priests ordained where no Priests no Sacraments where no Sacraments no Church Wherefore I humbly beseech you be not too positive in this point lest thereby you do not only condemn all the Reformed Churches but the Scripture and St. Paul also who tells us That the Scripture is sufficient to make us wise unto Salvation both in matters of faith and works also to instruct and throughly furnish us to every good work and will any deny this of Ordination to be both a good and necessary work seeing that the powerful preaching the Word and administration of the Sacraments depend upon it Wherefore I dare not by any means suspect the Scripture defective in this weighty affair Yet to shew you our willingness to hear all things let us hear what you can tell us from Antiquity The first you bring is Epiphanius three hundred years after the Apostles from whom the main Objection is drawn against the Indentity of Order and shot as a Cannon Bell against us beyond all possible resistance but you will find it to be a meet Tennis Ball. Epiphanius making a Catalogue of Hereticks puts in Aertius for one who was an Arian and moreover held that Bishops and Priests were all of one Order and of equal Dignity and Authority and that a Presbyter had power to Ordain Confirm and in short to act any thing equal with a Bishop That he was an Heretick is apparent being an Arrian nay I shall not scruple to yeeld unto you that he was an Heretick in this his assertion concerning Episcopacy and Presbytery as we now understand them I say the Assertion contains Heresie in one part but not in every part viz. That the Bishop and other Presbyters are of equal authority and power to act this may in some sense be called Heresie for it is against Apostolical Constitution declared in Scripture therefore an Heresie and if you can shew me from Scripture as much against Identity of Order I shall brand him for an Heretick in that also but being sure there is no such thing in Scripture there can be no Heresie in affirming the Identity I fully agree with Tertullian we can make no judgment de rebus fidei nisi ex literis fidei of matters of Faith but from the writings of Faith that is the Scripture and therefore I shall never be pulled from this Pillar of Truth The Scripture is our compleat Rule of Faith no Opinion is heretical and damnable which is not against that Now Good Reader I pray take notice that Epiphanius was a very godly Bishop in the main but yet a very cholerick Man as appears in that his fierce contest with Iohn Bishop of Constantinople and his bitter expressions therein which I do not mention in disparagement of this holy Man but only to give the Reader a caution to remember that passionate Men do sometimes censure more severely than there is cause Epiphanius being a Bishop and finding the authority and dignity of Episcopacy much disparaged by Aerius being an Arrian Heretick falls upon him sharply for this his Opinion also wherein he was in part much to be condemned as I freely confest before but not in the very Point now in question nor doth Epiphanius himself condemn him in this particular as an Heretick but only in the gross to which I freely give my vote But you will tell me that a Man of a far milder temper St. Austin doth also enrol Aerius among Hereticks I know it well but I desire you to know that St. Austin doth not lay this to his charge as an Heresie for he saith only thus Aereus also was an Heretick for he fell into Arrian Heresie and he added some Opinions of his own then St. Austin recounts several of his Opinions whereof this was one That he affirmed there was no difference between a Bishop and a Presbyter where I pray you observe St. Austin gives us the reason why he ranks him with Hereticks viz. because he fell into the Arrian Heresie then follows And he added some Opinions of his own St. Austin calls these Opinions not Heresies for he doth not say he added more Heresies of his own Secondly I pray you observe St. Austin makes no mention of his affirming the Identity of Order but only this That there was no difference at all between Bishop and Presbyter wherein I will condemn Aerius as well as you But as for the Identity of Order 't is well known that St. Austin is noted by Medina a Papist Writer and others to encline to this Opinion but for my part I think the words quoted from St. Austin do not express any Opinion one way or other to this purpose but are only a Complement to St. Hierom who was but a Prespyter yet in humility St. Austin being a Bishop acknowledges him to be his superiour in many things But I desire you to take notice of another very remarkable and most worthy passage of St. Austin who tells us plainly that we are not to read him or any other Author ever so holy or ever so learned with any obligation to submit to his or their Opinions unless they prove their Opinions by Scripture or convincing Reasons So then had Aerius been declared both by Epiphanius and St. Austin also to have been an Heretick in this very particular of Identity of Order yet they bringing neither Scripture nor any reason at all but meerly a bare narrative of Aerius and his Opinions not so much as calling his Opinion in this particular Heresie much less offering proofs for it by St. Austin's rule we may with great civility to them and great confidence in the truth still affirm the Identity of Order But how will I answer that Objection taken out of St. Hierom who say you was as great a leveller of Bishops with Priests as any and therefore whatever comes from him you may be sure is extracted from him by the powerfulness of undeniable truth yet he confesses that
restrain and chastise disorderly Pastors Just so when whole Nations were converted and not only the Pastors but the Bishops also who had oversight of the Pastors encreased in number then for the same reason it was thought fit there should be an Overseer of the Bishops and be called an Arch-Bishop when the Arch Bishops were multiplied then another set over them and he called a Patriark and at last one over the Patriarks and he call'd Papa a Pope Catexochen though Papa before was a name attrributed to other Bishops Now as Pope Patriarck Arch-Bishop Bishop are all one and the same Order Papists themselves grant this so Bishop Elder Presbyter Priest all one and the same only one of these set over the rest and he now particularly call'd Episcopus that is Bishop Catexochen because he oversees the Overseers but this last constitution only is Apostolical the other of Arch-Bishop Patriark Pope are meer humane not at all mentioned in Scripture But now another Objection arises Petavius grants that all the Elders which the Apostles Ordained were Bishops and towards the end of the Apostles days they set some eminent amongst them over the rest to govern and ordain Elders in every City as Timothy and Titus and these Elders in every City were Bishops and thus the Apostles left the Church with Bishops only and Deacons And this is evident by what I brought before out of Clemens who lived after the Apostles days and mentions only Bishops and Deacons left by the Apostles This being so I desire to know who after the Apostles days began this new kind of Ordination of Presbyters or Elders not Bishops the Apostles Ordained none such who then and by what authority was this new Order set up the Scripture mentions it not when and by whom came it in A very bold undertaking without Scripture or Apostolical practice I will not boast my conceit as Petavius doth his only I wish the Reader to consider which is most practical most rational or rather most scriptural thereon I frame this wole Fabrick as the Rock and only sure Foundation humane Brain is too weak to erect and to support the Fabrick of the Church of God which the Romanists have made a very Babel with their humane inventions and multiplied Characters and Orders some of them would have nine several holy Orders in God's Church militant here on Earth because there are nine several Orders of Coelestial Spirits in the Church Triumphant in Heaven This is a castle of their own building in the Air a rare foundation for God's Church Others will have seven several Orders and Characters as seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost Hath the Holy Ghost then but seven several Gifts to confer on Men St. Paul 1 Cor. 12. counts unto us nine not as if these were all but only for example sake to shew us that many and divers Gifts are conferred on us by one and the same Spirit and in the conclusion of the same Chapter he mentions eight These things were uttered accidentally according to the occasion not as limiting the Gifts of the Holy Ghost to any set number But if you will further look into their application of these Gifts of the Holy Ghost and see to what kind of several Orders they appropriate them it would make a Man amazed to see sober Learned Men even that great Wit and Scholar Aquinas discourse in such wild manner as did you but stand behind a Curtain to hear and not see them you doubtless would conclude you heard some old Woman in the Nursery telling her Dreams to Children rather than Divine Doctors in School I 'le name but one or two of their Orders The Porter of the Church Door is one and he forsooth hath a Sacred Character imprinted on his Soul and his Gift is the discerning of Spirits that he may judge who are fit to enter into God's Church who to be shut out Another of their Orders is that of Acolouthi who are now antiently they were quite another thing certain Boys carrying Torches and attending on the Bishop saying Mass these have their Character also and their Gift of the Holy Ghost is the interpretation of Tongues signified no doubt on 't by the Light in their Hands but understand no more of Tongues than the Stick of their Torch I will not weary you with more of their Absurdities Our Episcopal Divines rejecting these chymerical fancies of Orders and Characters suppose it to be a certain Faculty and Power conferred by the laying on of hands for the exercise of Ministerial Duties and according to this purpose the Superior Order contains the Inferiour as the greater Power contains in it the less Thus Episcopacy being the superior Order contains in it Priesthood and Deaconship these three are their supposed distinct Orders They may suppose this if they please and. I may suppose the contrary But I would gladly know on what Scripture they ground this discourse that 's the thing I still require and there we find no larger Faculty or Power given to Bishops but rather to Presbyters as I have shewed the Apostles who had the greatest power being stiled Presbyters not Bishops And when our Bishops do Ordain Presbyters do not they use the very same form of words which our Saviour used when he Ordained the Apostles Receive ye the Holy Ghost whose sins ye forgive they are forgiven c. Do they not then by the same words conser the same power for I hope they use no Equivocation nor mental Reservation if the Power be the same the Order is the same by their own Rule Again let us examine their own Practice Do they not require a Man should be ordained first Deacon before he be ordained Priest and Priest before Bishop what needs this if the superiour contains the inferiour But in Scripture we find it otherwise Timothy who long officiated under St. Paul as a Presbyter when he was left at Ephesus and so when Titus was left at Creet both to be Bishops we find no new ordination were this requisite sure the Scripture would have given us at least some hint of it but not one tittle there But if the Scripture be defective in expressions you will supply it by the expressions and practice of the Church in first succeeding Ages Before you go on and take much pains to shew me this give me leave to tell you that I shall not easily recede from Scripture in fundamentals either of Faith or Church-discipline in things indifferent of themselves or in more weighty matters very doubtfully express't in Scripture I shall always most readily submit to the interpretation of the Primitive and Universal Church I require both Primitive and Universal for I shewed before that in matters of Faith there were some errors very Primitive yet not continued by the Universal Church but rejected in succeeding Ages And at the time of the Evangelical Reformation by Luther Melancton Calvin c. I can shew some errors generally received in most if
Bishops have the authority of Ordination more than Presbyters A Man may smile to see this used as an Argument for the preheminency of Bishops which is directly against it for St. Hierom having discourst of the equality and Identity of Presbyters and Bishops and having brought many Arguments from Scripture to prove that Bishop and Presbyter was only two names for one and the same Office for a further confirmation hereof asks this question I pray what doth a Bishop do more than a Presbyter except Ordination plainly intimating thereby that this could make no such distinction of eminency in them above Presbyters I beseech you consider Do not Presbyters perform Offices of a higher nature than Ordination Presbyters are ordained Embassadors for Christ to preach his Holy Gospel for the Salvation of Souls they are under Christ Mediators between God and the People to make intercession for them they administer the Sacrament of Baptism wherein the Children of Warth are regenerated and made the Children of God and Heirs of eternal Life yea they administer the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper also the most transcendent act of Religion and Christian Dignity whereby we are made partakers of the Body and Blood of Christ And what doth a Bishop more than these except Ordination which being no Sacrament sure is inferiour in dignity to the other mentioned Acts and therefore cannot elevate them to a higher degree Judge now I beseech you whether this question makes pro or con Are not such questions always tending to disparagement When any Man is boasting his Power and Authority should I come and ask What can you do more than others unless it be in this or that poor business not worth speaking of would he not take this as an affront Wherefore it cannot enter into my head that St. Hierom intended by this Question to express any superiour Order above the Priesthood but plainly the contrary v z. That Bishops having no other power distinct from Priests but Ordination this could be no Argument for a distinct and superior Order And now I desire my Reader if he understand Latin to view the Epistle of St. Hierom to Evagrius and doubtless he will wonder to see Men have the confidence to quote any thing out of it for the distinction between Episcopacy and Presbytery for the whole Epistle is to shew the Identity of them Before I chanced to read this Epistle I was of the crroneous Opinion that Bishops were a distinct Order but so convinc'd by this Epistle as I was forced to submit to a change And I farther desire my Reader to observe the various fate of St. Hierom and Aerius Aerius is reviled as an Heretick for affirming this Identity of Order Hierom passes for a Saint and a great Doctor of the Church though he affirms the very same as fully as Aerius or any Man can do and therefore it may be my fate to be reviled as Aerius was but our Saviour bids us rejoyce and be exceeding glad when we are reviled for his Names sake or for his Words sake sure all is one for great is our Reward and so I proceed But there lies yet a great Objection made by our good Bishop Hall he tells us how that Collutbus a Presbyter of Alexandria took upon him to ordain others and that afterwards in a Council of a hundred Bishops in Aegypt their Ordination was declared null because ordained by a Presbyter From this and some other such Instances the Bishop would prove that the Order of Presbyters is not capable to ordain therefore Bishops are a distinct Order I am sorry so good a Man had no better a proof for his intended purpose It seems he quite forgot how that the famous Council of Nice consisting of above three hundred made a Canon wherein they declare That if any Bishop should ordain any of the Clergy belonging to another Bishop's Diocess without consent and leave had of that Bishop to whose Diocess they did belong their Ordination should be null You see then the irregular Ordination of a Bishop is as null as the irregular Ordination of a Presbyter therefore the irregular Bishop and the irregular Presbyter are of the same Order of the same Authority neither able to Ordain Is it not most evident by this that 't is not their Order but Commission that makes them capable to Ordain sure an irregular Bishop is of the same Order with the regular Is the Line of his Diocess like a Conjurers Circle within it he is a Bishop without it he is none No but within it he hath Commission given him to Ordain without it no Commission no nor to act in his own Diocess beyond his Commission which is to ordain only the Clergy of his own Diocess and within his own Diocess Can any thing be plainer Cellutbus then being but a Presbyter and under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Alexandria his taking upon him to ordain Presbyters was highly irregular and insolent and therefore most justly declared null I desire the Papistical School-Divines with their manifold indelible Characters to observe here how easily the Councils dasht out the indelible Character of Presbyter imprinted on the Souls of these Men irregularly ordained they made a clear rasure not one tittle of it left And could they so easily cancel the Gift of the Holy Ghost I leave my Schoolmen to find out how this rare feat was done And I proceed to add a Canon taken from a Council at Antioch concerning Chorepiscopi much to our purpose When the Apostles had settled Bishops in every City with authority of ordaining and governing the several Churches or Congregations within the Circuits of those Cities some were very large and therefore in process of time when more were converted to the Faith and the Congregations encreased more in number and at greater distance than the Bishop himself could well have the overfight of the Bishop chose some principal Men for his assistance and dividing his great Circuit into several lesser Circuits placed these Men as Overseers under him and these were called Chorepiscopi that is Country Bishops and were much after the manner of our Rural Deans Those Chorepiscopi Country Bishops being thus setled in authority to govern the Pastoral Priests in their Circuits took upon them to ordain more Priests when occasion required which the chief Bishops took very ill at their hands as a great lessening to their Supream Authority And to prevent it for the future a Canon was made in the Council of Antioch about the year 340. to forbid these Country Bishops to ordain any Priests Now I pray you observe These Chorepiscopi were either really ordained in the Order of the Chief Bishop or not if they were as full Bishops as he as really they were why might they not ordain Priests as well as he The Chief Bishop answers Because he gave them no Commission Whereby you see that the power of ordaining Priests was annexed no more to Bishops than to Priests
Cure and then present them to such as are appointed to License them In the first place I humbly conceive it will be necessary to add unto the Catechism a short and plain Paraphrase upon every sentence in the Creed the Lords Prayer and Ten Commandments and particularly to explain every unusual hard word therein For those general Questions at the end of them do not so sufficiently open the understandings of the weaker or duller Youth as that they know how to apply those generals to each particular sentence but many Youths who can most readily say the Catechism to a little yet understand many words no more than if they were Greek and scarce are able to give you the meaning of any Sentence in their own words And although they have all perfectly by heart as we say yet have very little in their heads and understandings and so a Parrot may be well nigh as capable of the Lords Supper as some of those In the next place I must tell you That I fear as much Ministers of the best parts as those of the meanest for this necessary work of Catechizing lest both have the same effect though they act extreamly different the one talking non-sence the other above common sence both of them confounding the brains of the poor Youths who understand neither of them I have heard some Learned Ministers call the Youth together ask a few Catechism-questions which the Boys answering readily are commended and dismissed And then begins this learned Man a profound Lecture shaped according to his own large dimensions at which both Boys and Men also for the most part gaze as at a prodigious Monster of Learning and perchance some of them say to themselves the same that Festus said to St. Paul The Man is besides himself much Learning hath made him mad Sure he doth not know where he is not in an University-School of Divinity but in an Assembly of weak and silly Youth who must be fed with milk and are not capable of strong meat where it were better for him with St. Paut to speak five words with his understanding that by his voice he may teach others also than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue or in such English as they understand no more than an unknown tongue I humbly beseech these Men to attend to the Form and Phrase of the Gospel and mark what kind of matter and language the Divine Oracle used in Preaching it even to the learned Scribes and Pharisees and to learn of him who was lowly in heart and came not to seek his own glory but the glory of Him that sent him I desire them also to read the latter end of the first Chapter of 1 Cor. and the beginning of the second and learn from thence to speak the Wisdom of God in the weak and foolish way of Preaching to instruct and gain the weak and foolish yet wise unto God Really no Man that hath not made some experience can believe how strangely weak and dull thousands both of boyes and men also are in apprehending spiritual matters so that a man had need to study much how to fit their weak heads with a sutable discourse and hath as much need of great patience also to repeat every thing again and again and even beat it into their heads I have observed that Plato's manner of many short and plain questions and answers to effect much and likewise familiar similitudes from things within their own occupation and knowledge And now to encourage them to this toilsome work I beseech them to consider that the Souls of these weak simple ones cost our Saviour as dear as those of the Philosophers and therefore are as dear to him yea it seems dearer seeing St. Paul tells us in the place before cited that he calls more of them to Salvation and therefore they ought to be as dear to our Saviours Ministers and to be chiefly called and sought by them and then they shall be sure to have their reward from this our lowly Saviour In the last place I conceive it necessary to consider what course may be taken to bring all to Catechising for I have heard some Pious Ministers much complain that they have used their utmost endeavours yet cannot effect it and it can never be expected that many of the Youth will come unless compelled by Parents and Masters of whom many are so careless many so covetous as they think every hour lost which is not spent on their worldly affairs so that the Parents and Masters need compulsion as well as their Children and Servants And considering how this necessary work of Catechising hath been neglected for many years past it is much to be feared that the aged need it as much as the youth But would Parents and Masters well consider the great advantages that would accrue to them even in their worldly concerns they would be very zealous to come themselves and both see and hear their youth Catechized and bred up in Piety and Godliness the want whereof hath bred that great undutifulness in children that sloth and falseness of servants which we sadly behold in this degenerated age And let me mention once again the strict account Parents and Masters must give to God for so great neglect to those committed to their charge Wherefore unless some fitter expedient can be found I humbly conceive it would have some effect if such careless Parents and Masters were not admitted themselves to the Holy Communion who were faulty in this kind for though many of them are not very zealous of the Holy Communion and could easily pass it by yet for reputation sake they would not easily incur the being rejected and doubtless many of them would be moved thereby and the example of some would be followed by others and so by degrees the number would encrease and when Catechizing by this means begins to grow in fashion it would quickly be taken up by all God be merciful to us that Religion in many is chiefly for fashion sake yet I hope by Gods assisting grace Religion begining though but in fashion would end at last in true Devotion at least in many if not in all However it is good that God should publickly be glorified the publick would sdeed the better for it though the private hypocrites suffer punishment in the end God in his mercy turn their hearts that they may escape Of Church Government MY last particular which remains yet to be handled is that of the Authority of Bishops to govern as well as to ordain And in the first place who can but wonder to see men so zealous in assuming to themselves the sole power of Ordination so much neglect and even wholly abandon the power of the Keys that of Excommunication so high and so dreadful which though by great abuse in latter times is made very contemptible yet in the original institution and Primitive practice was very terrible A power to deliver men over unto Satan that Prince
of darkness to take full possession of their Souls and sometimes of their Bodies also both being sentenced thereby to the everlasting flames of Hell and likewise a power to release penitent souls from the chains of darkness and slavery of the Devil and restore them to the glorious liberty of the Sons of God whereby they are made Heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven If there be any thing under Heaven fit to stir up the Ambition of mortal men yea an ambition in Angels themselves sure this is it Who can forgive sins but God alone said the Iews to our Saviour Christ swelling with indignation against him for this though they had seen many divine Miracles wrought by him yet this is so peculiar so transcendent a divine act as not to be offered at by any but the great God Iehovah himself But blessed for ever be this great and gracious God who by his eternal Son Christ Jesus hath given this power unto men As his heavenly Father sent him with this power so sent he his Apostles with this power saying unto them Whosesoever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whosesoever sins ye retain they are retained Wherefore if there be any thing in the Office of a Bishop to be stood upon and challenged peculiar to themselves certainly it should be this yet this is in a manner quite relinquished unto their Chancellors Lay-men who have no more capacity to sentence or absolve a sinner then to dissolve the heavens and earth and make a new heaven and a new earth and this pretended power of Chancellors is sometimes purchased with a sum of Money their Money perish with them Good God! what a horrid abuse is this of the Divine Authority But this notorious transgression is excused as they think by this that a Minister called the Bishops surrogat but is indeed the Chancellors servant chosen call'd and placed there by him to be his Cryer in the Court no better that when he hath examined heard and sentenced the Cause then the Minister forsooth pronounces the sentence Just as a Rector of a Parish Church should exclude any of his Congregation and lock him out of the Church then comes the Clerk shews and gingles the Keys that all may take notice that he is excluded And by this his authority the Chancellor takes upon him to sentence not only Lay-men but Clergy men also brought into his Court for any delinquency and in the Court of the Arches there they sentence even Bishops themselves This is a common practise in later ages but in St. Ambrose his time so great a wonder as with amazement cryeth out against the Emperour Valentinian when he took upon him to judge in such cases saying When was it ever heard of since the beginning of the World that Lay-men should judge of spirituals he means in spiritual things not in temporal things which by the laws of God and man belongs to the Lay-Magistrate This was that Ambrose of whom the other great Emperour as Good as Great Theodosius Father to this Valeninian affirmed Ambrose onely knew how to act the Bishop and with all Christian humility this great Emperour submitted to the sentence of this godly Bishop denying him entrance into the Church for the cruelty acted by his Souldiers at Thessilonica by his command and upon his great repentance and pennance performed six months together and after publique confession in the Church was again absolved and joyfully received into the Church Oh my Great and Reverend Fathers of the Church the Bishops whom Christ hath cleaved to his high dignity whom he hath made Kings and Princes whom he hath called to sit with him on his Throne there to give sentence of eternal life or eternal death can you so tamely part with this prime flower of your Crown yea the very Apex of it and suffer the Lay-members of the Church to usurp this divine authority Or how can you answer it to the chief Bishop of our Souls if any one Soul by the ill management of the Chancellors should certainly perish shall not his blood be required at your hands But perchance some of you will answer 'T is no fault of yours but of your predecessors who gave such Patents unto them as by vertue thereof they exercise this power will ye nill ye 'T is too true and I remember when the Bishop of Wells hearing of a cause corruptly mannaged and coming into the Court to rectifie it the Chancellor Dr. Duke fair and mannerly bad him be gon for he had no power there to act any thing and there with all pulls out his Patent sealed by the Bishops Predecessor which like Perseus shield with the Gorgons head frighted the poor Bishop out of the Court Where are you Parliament men you great Sons of the Church so zealous for Episcopal Government yet suffer this principal part of it to be thus alienated and usurped by Lay-men If an unordained person take upon him to pray or preach with what outeries and severe Laws and with great reason also you fall upon him but if an unordained person take upon him to judge sentence and excommunicate Bishops themselves you calmly pass it over take no notice of it You will answer me The Bishops themselves pass it over yea and pass it away from themselves and their successors for to gratifie their kinsmen or their friends or perchance for worse why then should you stir in it Truly in this you have reason and the balme most wholly light on them who do not use all possible endeavour and implore your assistance also to rectifie this great abuse which subverts the main Pillar of the Church Government this is no Ceremonial matter but the very substance of it they strain at Gnats and swallow Camels For Chancellors to intermeddle in Probats of Wills payment of Tythes or any other temporal matters there is no scripture nor reason to condemn but rather to condemn Bishops should they interpose in such matters for which they have no commission from Scripture but rather a prohibition from that saying of our Svaiovr Man who made me a judge or a divider over you but then it will be necessary that Chancellors have also power of Temporal punishments and not prophane that high and holy power in sordid earthly things certainly a greater prophanation than to convert a Church into a Chandlers Shop the Church is a bulk of earthly materials and holy only by dedication the power of its Keys is in its own nature and original constitution spiritual and divine If Uzza being no Levite suffered death for laying hold on the Sacred Ark of God to support and hold it up what shall he suffer who being no consecrated person layes hold on the sacred authority of Gnd to pull it down from heaven to earth Let them consider But let not the Civilians for this account me an Enemy to their Profession which no man honours more and I heartily wish much more of our Civil matters were
heretical Profession though not their Opinion who conscious to themselves of their own dissimulation and desirous to get favour with St. Austin a Person of great Veneration and Authority with all related unto him this specious Story which St. Austin's great Charity was apt to believe as St. Paul saith believeth all things and from hence concludeth that it might be lawfull to use the Power of the Civil Sword to reduce Hereticks to the Church But unless it can be evidenced that these Donatists Hearts were changed as well as their Profession a thing impossible to prove all this proves nothing Thirdly Put the Case their Hearts were really changed as to matter of Belief 't is evident their Hearts were very worldly still groveling on the Earth not one step nearer Heaven our Saviour saith An evil Tree can't bring forth good Fruit and sure their Heart was evil which was far more moved for the quiet enjoyment of this Worlds good than for the blessed enjoyment of Christ. Fourthly Though we farther grant that the pruning of the Magistrates Sword did really correct the vitiousness of the Tree and made it bring forth some good Fruit yet shall we do evill that good may come of it God forbid saith St. Paul Put the case Malchus had been converted by St. Peters cutting off his Ear this would not have excused St. Peters act which our Saviour so sharply reproved and threatned with perishing by the Sword and gave him the reason why he ought not to use the Sword in his cause Thinkest thou that I cannot pray unto my Father and he will presently give me more than twelve legions of Angels Canst thou do any thing more prejudicial to the honour of my God-head than to think I want the help of Man to defend me And according to this may our Saviour say Thinkest thou that I cannot pray unto my Father and he shall give me more than twelve millions of Souls to worship my Name or canst thou do any thing to eclipse more the power and glory of the Gospel which I have ordained to be set up by weakness and foolishness of Preaching and thereby to subdue both the wisdom of the Greeks and the power of the Gentiles As I my self have conquered all Enemies by preaching and suffering so must my Disciples tread in my steps And just so we find that the Gospel was most miraculously advanced over all the World by preaching and suffering for it not by compelling others to it 'T is evident that upon preaching of the Gospel as many as were ordained by God to Eternal Life believed and surely those who are not ordained by God to Eternal Life can never be brought thither by the ordinance or power of Man Wherefore when the Ministers have preached and prayed they have performed all they can do the rest must be left to the Justice or Mercy of God who hath mercy on whom he will haue mercy and whom he will he hardeneth so that the sharpest Sword in this world shall enter their hard heart no more than an Adamant All this I say in reference to compelling Men to believe or conform still reserving to the Magistrate power according to Scripture To punish evill doers not evill believers not who think but do publish or do practice something to subvert the Fundamentals of Religion or disturb the Peace of the State or injure their Neighbour God the only searcher of hearts reserves unto himself the punishment of evil thoughts of evil belief which Man can never have a right cognizance of for the greatest Professor may be the greatest Atheist But the Magistrate shall conceive he hath sufficient warrant to punish also evil believers and shall proceed to execution or on that pretence shall punish true believers the Scripture is most clear that the Subject is bound to submit and bear it with all Christian patience to the loss of Goods Liberty or Life not only patiently to bear it but to rejoyce in it and I am sure if he hath any true Religion any right understanding in him he will rejoyce on his own behalf because his reward is exceeding great Therefore whoever under pretence of Religion raises any Tumult or takes up Armes against the Magistrate to preserve himself from persecution absolutely declares himself either a stark Fool or a stark Atheist either he believes there is no such reward or is mad to reject the opportunity of gaining it and so at the best is fit for Bedlam at the worst for the Gallowes now let him choose An Appendix to the former Subject BEfore I leave this matter of imposing new Articles of Faith I desire to speak a word or two concerning the authority of Councels and Fathers in relation to it When the Superstitions and the Abuses of the Popish Church especially in the matter of Indulgences grew so very gross as not longer to be endured Luther Melancthon Oecolompadius Bucer divers others opposed them and coming to dispute with their Adversaries about these things the Popish Doctors having no Scripture for their Errors quoted several Fathers and Councils to give countenance unto them The Evangelical Doctors so called because they chiefly urged Evangelium the Gospel for the defence of their Doctrine were most of them bred up from their Infancy in the Popish Church and therein taught even to adore all Councils and Fathers and education being of great force to command and awe both the Wil's and Judgments of Men made them very shie and timorous to reject that authority which they had long reverenced in modesty therefore some of the Evangelical Doctors were content to admit the authority of Fathers and Councils for three or four of the first Centuries some admitted five or six whereby they were reduced some times to great streights in their Disputations for though neither all nor half the Popish Errors can be found in the Councils and Fathers of these Centuries yet some of them were crept very early into the Church This Superstition of the Cross and Chrysme were in use in the second Century The Milenary Error got footing about that time the necessity of Infants receiving the Blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper came in soon after About the fourth Century there was some touches in Oratory Sermons by way of Rhetorical Ejaculations like praying to Saints but long after came to be formally used as now in Churches and so Superstitions came in some at one time and some at another The Papists themselves do not receive all these Errors but reject some as that of the Millenaries and the necessity of Infants receiving the Lords Supper Now I ask first the Papists by what rule they retain some of these things and reject others Secondly I ask the Evangelical by what rule they submit to the authority of some Centuries and refuse others Both will answer me Because they believe some to be erroneus some to be Orthodox Whereby 't is evident that neither submit to the Fathers authority as comanding
scripture so plainly declares that nothing so covers the multitude of our sins as an act of charity nothing so acceptable unto God so joyful to his holy Angels as conversion of a sinner Yet these men will most passionately and pardon me if I say most uncharitably and irreligiously cry A way with these Idiot Sectaries and mad Phanaticks let them wander and perish in their own wild imaginations we will not leave one Ceremony nor any one line of our Common Prayer Book to gain thousands of them No if you alter that wee will rather leave the Church and go to the Papists Mass. If these be not as simple Sectaries and mad Phanaticks as any whatsoever let God and his holy Angels judge But as for you my Reverend Fathers of the Church I hope you will consult with Scripture in this weighty Affair and model all according to the rules of meekness charity and compassionate tenderness to weak ones there set down and endeavour with prudent admonitions to rectifie the errors of these too zealous Ceremonists with fatherly bowels of condescention to win the hearts of blind and wilful Separatists Certainly the more understanding and powerful Leaders of them will not cannot have the face to stand off after your charitable condescention their populous pretences will be so confuted their mouths so stopped their faces so confounded as for meer shame if not for reason and religion they must come into our Church and their Pastors coming in the Sheep will follow though some stand a while and gaze but at length having no men of ability to lead them on in their perverse wayes the Shop-prating Weavers and Coblers will soon be deserted and made heartless seeing their own naked folly And then shall we all joyn and joyfully sing Te Deum in our Churches and the holy Angels in the Heavens And then I shall most gladly sing with good old Simeon Lord now let thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation Concerning Preaching IT remains that I now handle this great business of Preaching wherein I fear I shall displease many there being but few who use it according to the original Institution and yet I had rather they should Preach as they do then quite omit it for certainly 't is a necessary work for a Minister of the Gospel to Preach the Gospel St. Paul tells us That some Preach the Gospel out of envy yet he was pleased that Christ should be so preached rather then not preached and so I say of Preaching Christ out of vanity as 't is evident many do preaching themselves and their own abilities at least as they think ablilities though often great weaknesses and conceited impertinences I beseech you tell me did not Christ and the Apostles Preach the best way and are not we to follow their example Who dare say otherwise yet many do otherwise they take ere or there a sentence of Scripture the shorter and more abstruse the better to shew their skill and invention this they divided and subdivided into generals and particulars the quid the quale the quantum and such like quack salving forms then they study how to hook in this or that quaint sentence of Philosopher or Father this or that nice speculation endeavouring to couch all this in most elegant language in short their main end is to shew their Wit their Reading and whatever they think is excellent in them No doubt rarely agreeing with that of St. Paul I determined not to know any thing among you save Iesus Christ and him crucified And my speech and my preaching was not with inticing words of man's wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of Power 1 Cor. 2. And I verily believe this is the reason why Preaching hath so little effect in these days because they labour to speak the wisdom of this world which is foolishness with God nor do they Preach in demonstration of the Spirit but in demonstration of their Learning I know full well this unapostolick way of Preaching was used by some of the Antient Fathers especially the Greeks always fond of nicities and curiosities and being now become Christians as I said before transplanted their beloved Rhetorical flowers of humane learning into Christian Gardens which proved rather Weeds to over-run the seed of sound and plain Apostolick Doctrine humane nature being a soyl apter to give nourishment and vigor to humane principles then divine But when did ever any Learned Witty Rhetorical harang or cunning Syllogistical discourse convert the tythe of St. Peter's or St. Paul s foolish Preaching as he tearms it but the wisdom of God to those that are perfect and sound in the faith Who is ignorant of that famous passage at the Council of Nice whither resorted with divers others one Eminent Heathen Philosopher offering himself as the manner of those vain-glorious Sophisters was to dispute with the Christian Doctors some Bishops of greater Repute for Learning undertook him and as they thought cleerly Confuted but no way Converted him at last rises up a grave antient Bishop of small Learning but of great Faith and Piety and with great dissatisfaction of his Brethren fearing some gross baffle should befal this good man comes up to the Philosopher and with great Magisterial Authority recites unto him the Apostolick Creed I believe in God the Father Almighty and in the close calls to him O Philosopher believest thou all this The Philosopher answered I believe not being able to resist the demonstration of spirit and power wherewith he uttered those Divine Mysteries as he confess 't before them all You will say this was a Miracle of great rarity I grant it but many such Miracles should we see had we the Faith and powerful Spirit of this Holy Bishop and would indeavour to imitate Apostoliâ—al Preaching not Philosophical Arguing nor Rhetorical declaiming We see plainly the Apostolical Preaching was either Catechistical Instructions or Pious Admonitions not tying themselves to any form but past from one matter to another as the Auditors condition required not as the Preachers fancy and reading prompt just as the Roman Emperour Caligula who when Delinquents came before him to be judged condemned or acquitted them as agreed best with the current of his Oration So these men shape their discourse more to the applause then edification of the hearers And so much time is spent in composing these Oratory Sermons as the Minister hath not leisure to perform a quarter of his Parochial Duty of visiting the Sick of admonishing the scandalous of reconciling the janglers of private examining and instructing the poor ignorant souls thousands in every Country as ignorant as Heathens who understand no more of most Sermons then if in Greek so that the Sermon is rather a Banquet for the Wantons that are full then instruction to those who are even starved for want of spiritual food the plain and saving Word of Christ not the nice conceited word of Man which may nourish
a Bishop the same paper contains both Characters but sure one Character doth not contain the other A. doth not contain B. nor doth B. contain A. So the same Soul may receive two Characters two Orders but if the two Orders be distinct how can they contain each other I understand no more then I do these Holy Characters If they can paint them out unto me in their proper figures perchance I may understand them better but as yet I ingeniously confess my ignorance I grant in a Metaphysical way of Abstraction the superiour species contains the inferiour genus A Man a rational creature contains the animality of a Horse the inferiour creature but doth not contain a real Horse in his belly nor can a man beget Horses or men when he pleases Nor can you truly say a man is a Horse I believe my Schoolmen would take it in snuff should I affirm any of them to be Horses c. But they affirm that a Bishop doth not only virtually contain the Priesthood but is really a Priest and can make Priests or Bishops as he please Whereby you may see this answer That the Superiour Order virtually contains the inferiour is a meer evasion it sounds as if it were something but really is nothing to our purpose at all for we are not now upon Metaphysical abstractions but real individual subsistencies two actual distinct Orders as they would have it two distinct indelible characters imprinted on mens souls by Ordination as A. and B. which can never be truly affirmed one of the other A. is not B. and B. is not A. a man is not a horse and a Horse is not a man so a Bishop ordain'd only Bishop is not a Priest nor a Priest a Bishop if they be distinct Wherefore I must beleive them one and the same Order especially seeing the Scripture applies the same name promiscuously to both which is the second argument of their identity to be one and the same Acts. 20. St. Paul sends to Ephesus to call the Presbyters of that Ghurch un-him at Miletum and speaking to them he calls them all Bishops in our Translation 't is Overseers Verse 28. So in his Epistle to the Phillippians he directs to all the Saints with the Bishops and Deacons both in the plural number so that by the word Bishops we must needs understand Presbyters for Bishops as we now take the word were never many in one City I pray observe also St. Paul Epis. to Titus 1. 5. For this cause left I thee in Crete that thou shouldest ordain Elders in every City if any be blameless for a Bishop must be blameless Is it not here evident that an Elder and a Bishop in St. Paul's Language is one and the same otherwise there were no coherency at all in St. Paul's speech If this be not convincing beyond all possible evasion I understand nothing of discourse Other such places are obvious in Scripture to every one I need mention no more only I desire to inform the Reader of a passage to this purpose in an Epistle of Clemens to the Corinthians This Clemens is mentioned in Scripture and is he whom St. Peter appointed his successor at Rome and who was of so great Authority that as St. Hierome tells us this his Epistle was read in Churches Now in this Epistle Clemens particularly sets forth the constitution of the Church by the Apostles and what Ministers they ordained in the Church to wit Bishops and Deacons he names no other which seems to me as full an evidence as can be that there were no other Orders in the Church in those daies but those two And yet we are sure there was then Presbiters in the Church for Peter and Iohn call themselves Presbyters and St. Peter calls them Presbiters to whom he wrote his Epistle so that if there were but two Orders to wit Bishops and Deacons Presbyters must be one and the same with Bishops or with Deacons not with Deacons therefore one and the same with Bishops One Order called by two names promiscuously in Scripture as hath been shewed before And I desire you to observe that of those two names Presbyter and Bishop if therebe any dignity and eminency exprest in one more then the other sure it is in the name of Presbiter not Bishop because the Apostles themselves and the chief of the Apostles as some would have it who stand highest on their Panâ—ables are in Scripture styled Presbyters or Elders as the word in our English Translation but never Bishops as I remember And therefore I can't but wonder why that haughty head of the Papists should not assume to himself the title of his pretended predecessor St. Peter Presbyter rather then Bishop unless it be by God's providential disposure to shew his blindness in this as well as in other things and make him confute himself by this name of Bishop which was never given to St. Peter no more then St. Peter gave unto him the Headship of the Church As to the interpretations and answers given to these and such like Scripture expressions sure I need not take any pains to confute them for they are so weak as that Petavius a late Writer and great stickler for the superiority of Episcopacy durst not trust to them nor would venture his credit to make use of them but sound out a new and rare conceit as he conceives That these Presters mentioned in Scripture and called by both names were all really Bishops and that the Apostles Ordained them so as most convenient for that time for the Congregations of the Faithful being small there needed no Priests under the Bishops to officiate and yet there was need of a Bishop in those small Congregations because there were several things to be done which were not within the power and capacity of Presbiters to act as he supposes viz. the laying on of hands and confirming the Faithful after Baptisme the veiling of devoted Women the reconciling of penitents the ordaining Deacons where there was need and adds moreover several impertinences as the making of Chrisme consecrating Church-Vessels c. And Petavius mightily applauds himself in this conceit as the only means to clear all difficulties Our Doctor Hammond also finding the usual interpretations of those places of Scripture above mentioned too weak to sustain the arguments builded on them for the Unity of Order goes along after Petavius a great way in the fore cited discourse though not in the later impertinances and affirms that the Presbyters then were all Bishops And so far I go with them that all were Presbyters all Bishops because all was one and one was all several names not several Orders as they would have it and this I humbly conceive firmly proved by my former Argument of one Ordination wherein two distinct Orders could not be conferred so that still I require them to shew me from Scripture where these Presbyter-Bishops were twice Ordained else it cannot be truly affirmed they were really
commited to their management and judicature The Civil Law is that whereby most of the civilized World is govern'd and if we will have commerce with them 't is fit we should have able Civilians to deal with them which will never be unelss they have profitable and honourabl places to encourage them for it all that I beg of them is that they would contain themselves within their own Sphear of activity and not intrude into spiritual and sacred matters committed by Christ and his Apostles to the Priesthood And so I beg of Priests that they would not intermeddle in Lay and Temporol officer In the time of Popery when Spiritual and Temporal affairs were all intermingled and horribly confounded as the Pope took upon him Secular and Imperial authority directly contrary to the Word and Constitutions of Christ so the Bishops and Priests under him intermeddled in all Secular Affairs and offices and in this Nation Bishops were frequently Lord Keepers Treasurers Chief Justices Vice-Royes what not which is strangely un-Apostolical and unlawful their vocation being wholly Spiritual as Men chosen out of the World should have no more to do with it than of meer necessity for food and rayment Wherefore to take upon them any Lay-Office which must needs take them off much from the Ministry of the Word and Prayer is doubtless very sinful For Acts 6. we find the Apostles gave themselves continually to these and would not endure to have these interrupted by that charitable Office of taking care for the Poor certainly then they would have much less endured yea abominated to be taken off by temporal and worldly Offices And on this occasion let me speak a word to those of the inferiour Clergy who take upon them to study and practice Physick for hire this must needs be likewise sinful as taking them off from their spiritual employment had they studied Physick before they entered Holy Orders and would after make use of their skill among their poor Neighbours out of charity this were commendable but being entered on a spiritual and pastoral Charge which requires the whole man and more to spend their time in this or any other study not spiritual is contrary to their vocation and consequently sinful and to do it for gain is sordid and unworthy their high and holy Calling But Necessitas cogit ad turpia the maintenance of many Ministers is so small as it forces them even for food and rayment to seek it by other Employment which may in some measure excuse them but mightily condemn those who should provide better for them Whether this belongs not to King and Parliament I must humbly beseech them in Christs name seriously to consider I crave pardon for this I hope useful Digression and return to the Business of Excommunication This Sacred Authority of Excommunication being committed by Christ to the Apostles by them to their Successors was used in weighty and very scandalous matters very few examples of it in Scripture The incestuous Corinthian Hymenus and Alexander scarce another clearly exprest The Apostles being fully guided by the Holy Ghost in all things did exercise this power singly themselves but the succeeding Bishops having not the Spirit of that full measure used the assistance of the principal Clergy in their Diocess that the act might be more solemn and authentick the person excommunicated if he conceived the act injurious appealed to one or more neighbouring Bishops who assembled together and discussing the matter either confirmed or reversed the Act as they found cause And sometimes the matter proceeded so far as to cause an Assembly of the whole Province But each Bishop or Praepositus as St. Cyprian calls him and declares that he was absolute in his own Diocess to exercise his power and none condemned for using it but only for abusing it contrary to reason and conscience there were the only rules they proceeded by at first Afterwards when Bishops on this or other occasions met in Assemblies Provincial or General they made it divers Canons which passed for Rules and Laws to govern the Church by which doubtless are very good helps to bridle the extravagant passions of particular Men very apt in this corrupt age to prevaricate yet I cannot conceive them so far oblidging but new emergent circumstances may justly cause new and different Decrees yet so as every particular Bishop is oblidged for peace sake to submit to or at least to acquiesce in the General Decree of that Nation where he lives I said They are not bound entirely to submit to the Decrees of former Councils either Provincial or General because as I have shewed before all their Decrees are humane not Divine and all humane Ecclesiastical Laws are alterable according to the time and occasions by other General Councils As to the bounds of each Bishops Diocess they were occasioned several wayes The Apostles for the better spreading of the Gospel Preach't it first in the principal Cities which generally had great influence upon the adjacent parts by reason that the occasions of most call them thither and in these Cities they settled the chief Pastors of the Church with power to ordain Presbyters and Pastors in other lesser Cities and Towns round about as the Congregations of the Faithful encreased and all those Churches that were erected and Pastors establish't in them by these Apostolick Men in the chief Cities I humbly conceive in reverence of their worth and Apostolick authority were freely observant and subject to them which afterwards out of custom grew into a kind of right challenged by their successors Sometimes the authority of the Pastor or Bishop of a City was enlarged according to the temporal authority of the same it being the Metropolitan of this or that Countrey for so we find in the Council of Nice and other Councils the chiefest and largest authority given to the Bishop of old Rome because it was the first Imperial City to Constantinople as the second Imperial City to Alexandria as the chief City of that part of Africa to Antioch Ierusalem Ephesus Corinth Phillipi c. where you see that though Ierusalem were the first City from whence the Gospel issued forth Antioch the second City where the Gospel was planted and where the Faithful were first called Christians yet Rome Constantinople and Alexandria were preferred before them and had far larger Jurisdiction so that it is a meer humane temporal matter and Men have no farther obligation to it in conscience than for Peace sake and Order which in like manner obliges every Man to be subject to all Magistrates within their respective Jurisdictions There are yet two things more to be considered in this business First Where the Apostles first planted the Gospel in Cities with authority over the adjacent part it was in rich populous Countries where Cities were much nearer together than in these Northen parts and the circuit of each City was much less in compass so that the Bishop might well have the inspection