Homogenious and therefore also the mos t sutable and excellent Order of the Church making the Government of particular Churches and of the Vniversal Visible Church to agree together with an excellent Harmony and most orderly Decency I am Naturally of such an ingenuous Temper that I had not the confidence to reply that the Members of the Oecumenick Cnuncils were Diocesan Bishops because I not only knew that presbyters have been admiâ—…ed Members and voted as well as Bishops and that presbyterian as well as Episcopal Churches must be allowed their Delegates in case of an Oecumenick Council without any other power than that of the Representatives of the Church that sends them Repre senting their Brethren and not having power over them lodged in their single person But I perceive the strength of the Argument did not at all consist in the Quality of the Members of a General Council whether Bishops or Presbyters but its Frame and the Method of its Acting and Exerting its Authority And finally I have been greatly ashamed and quite confounded when they asked Whether an Erastian head an Episcopal Body and a Presbyterian Tail would orderly agree together to make an intire Church Government and laughing at the monstruous Fabrick of our Government by such a mixâ— ure told me that we Atâ—ribute an Ecclesiastical Supâ—emacy to the King to unite him to our interest that we may abuse and proâ—…itute his Power and Authority in prosecuting and promoving it And that we make use of Parochial Sessions from the Example of Presbytry though Lay Elders be contrary to our principles for amusing the Consciences of Ignorant People into the more willing subjection to us as nothing differing from Presbyterian Ministers But that Episcopal preeminencies and benefices are the chief Design of all to satisfie the Ambition Avarice of the leading men amongst us to be a shelter and incouragement to the ignorance idleness and profanity of the râ—st of us Thus ye see how they have treated me in this point who though I come short in point of obstinate Confidence yet I understand the Controversie betwixt Presbyterians and us better then many of my Brethren and have had greater advantages so to do then the most part of them And I nothing doubt but ye will meet with the like usage from your Adversaries to your publick shame and affronting our cause if ye prevent it not The next thing is that Episcopacy is the best Adapted for preservation of peace Presbyterians will acknowledge that it is a very calm gentle and peaceable Government to scandalous Sinners and in this has the Advantage of being more acceptable then the Presbyterian to such not knowing that favour to their Sins is cruelty to their Souls And yet I have heard some of our own Perswasion say that the Presbyterian Government amidst all its severity was more favourable then the Episcopal because though they were greedy of Folks repentance yet they were not greedy of their Purses But ye may assure your self it will be accounted the height of impudence so much as to have mentioned peace as the native effect of Episcopacy and all the World will be appâ— aled unto whether our Bishops have not been the chief troublers of Israel and whether the connivence to say no more of the Episcopal Government aâ—… Popery and profanity which are the only peaceable Effects it can pretend to in Scotland doth Counterballance its Rigour and cruelty against Non-conformity even when accompanied with Exemplary Sobriety Piety and Loyalty or whether it doth not exceedingly aggredge the same and render it the more odious to all that compare its favour to thâ—se with its severity to this And ingenuously whatever be in their imputing to Episcopacy Tyranny over Mens Consciences as its native effect yet it is so sadly evident that it hath Extremly degenerated thereunto in this Church and Kingdom that we cannot doubt but it will meet with an eas ie belief from most part of the Nation in spite of all your confident Assertions to the contrary they will grant that Presbytery hath been so unfortunate as not only to be rendred unacceptable to our Kings being at a distance in another Nation by the cunning Misinformations of Self-seeking Courtiers the Calumnious Instigations of English Bishops ignorant of the Genious of Scotland and the Pragnatick Influence of Jesuits whose greatest Eye sore it is But also to be made a Mask to the Politick Design of Incendiaries and Vsurpers tho they retained it no longer then their Designs behoved to be kept close and by this means to be miscontrued as the chief cause of War and Blood s hed by these who understand not the Intrigues of Affairs but after they grant you all this nothing they will confidently accuse Episcopacy that it hath been both so cruel and shameless as even of choise to turn the most Serene peace solid Happiness that ever this Nation was blessed with at the Restauration of K. Charles the 2d into a perpetual Tragedy of Persecution Oppression and of Arbitrary Government manifestly of design to Introduce and Establish it self without the Conjunction of any other Malign influence imaginable Though perhaps a popish party stroke in to an After Game finding Episcopals as foreward as they could wish to ruine presbyterians though to the weakning of the Protestant Interest hoping that if they should not be ruined by us yet they should be so weakned and Exasperaced as to be easily gulled by their pretended Moderation to a concurrence with them for the razing down the securities of the Reformed Religion by the Penal Laws against Papists which by a total desuetude we had rendred contemptible to shelter themselves from our Rigorous and severe Laws against them that so at Length popery might swallow us up both And no Thanks to us that the papists were disappointed of their Design by the presbyterians greater zeal against popery then Resentment at our greater Severity to them then to Papists which when I consider I have a strong Apprehension that the Lord is about to reward their Faithfulness to their Principles as Protestants with a Legal establishment of their Government in its integrity under a Presbyterian King according to their wishes So that you see what ever else you ascribe to Episcopacy your was folly to maintain peace In the last place you say That Episcopal Government is found by Experience to be the best Adapted for preservation of Unity And why not say they the Papal Government for Unity amongst Bishops as well as the Episcopal for Uniâ—y amongst Presbyters But they will speak more home and accuse us of Schism in reâ—…ding from the unrepealed Acts and Constitutions of the Church And sâ— Father the Schism on Episcopacy intruded into the Church by meer Civil Laws and violently pressed upon all by the Sword of Persecution Without any due pains or proper methods used for preparing the Nation for its reception And albeit that the present divisions amongst Presbyterians
of Bishop and Presbyter are used indifferently as signifying the same thing nothing given in direction to the ordinaty Officers of the Church is peculiarly applicable to Diocesan Bishops yea and the Superiority of one Pastour above another is expresly prohibited both by Christ in the Gospel and Peter in his Epistle but they will al 's o insult over you as impudent in pretending that for your vindication which not only the Generality of the Learned among the Clergy but all the greates t of our Champions also as Bancroft Bilson Low Sutclive Whitgift Hooker c. do deny to be clear or concludent in our Favours undervaluing this Topick most laboriously as being conscious it is against them asserting that Apostolick Institutions of Church Government do not take away the Indifferency and Mutability of it according to the conveniency of every particular Church And as for these few Learned men who maintain the Divine Right of Episcopacy they do ingenuously confess that there is no Episcopacy in any Church now which doth not in many things Deviate from the Primitive Episcopacy which they own and they will readily acknowledge that Episcopacy as its constitute in Scotland either as to its Elevation to such an hight of Superiority and Power over Presbyters or its complication with sâ—ch gross Erastianism or its Conjunction with civil Dignities and Characters is not only quâ—te Different from it but directly opposite to it So that it is the hight of Impudence to have pleaded no alteration from the Topick of Apostolick Institution which doth so evidently prove the necessity of an Alteration even in the sense that both Parties have of it and it is scarce so excuseable as the confidence of some of our Writers who doubt not to say roundly that albeit Episcopacy was not the Government of the Church in its Infancy yet it is better suted to it in its present Maturity which thâ— ugh it be not a sufficient ground of preferring humane Inventions before Divine Institutions yet is less intolerable because it hath some shaddows and collour of Reason for it And after the great light that these Famous Presbyterians Blondell and Salmasius Parker and Didoclavius have given to the advantage of Presbytry in this controversie is the only shift left us to evade the Force of their Arguments both from Scripture and Antiquity against us The next thing ye assert is that Episcopacy hath the Advantage of a Natural Reception by all Christian Churches from CHRIST to Calvin Sir Your Phrase of a Natural Reception is s o Dark and Ambigous that they will put what sense on 't they will and perhaps deride you and it both by confessing that Episcopacy had a great advantage of Reception from the natural Corrupt and Carnal Reasonings and Inclinations of Men who are naturally Ignorant that the Excellency of all the means of the Churches Edification is their Institution by a Supernatural Divine Wisdom and Authority because they are not only adapted to Supernatural ends but depend intirely for their Efficacy upon a Supernatural Divine Power and Blessing and who are naturally no less Artogant to add the Invention of their own vain Wisdom as no less useful and necessary and to expect Gods Blessing thereupon which he hath promised only to his own Institutions But albeit they put a more Fabourable sense on your Words as importing an Early and easie Reception yet they will not only retort that several acknowledged corruptions had as easie reception as it and far more early then such an Episcopacy as this of ours which taking it complexly we our selves cannot deny would have been odious and intolerable in the Primitive Church but they can likewise quite enervate your Argument by proposing to your consideration the Gradual and Insensible Progress of the Mystery of Iniquity which the Apostles observed to have begun its motion and to be misteriously working even in their time and therefore could not be much regarded yea scarce observed in the primitive Church so full of unexperienced simplicity and extended Charity wherein there were many Pastours so Eminent for their Wisdom Gravity Holiness and Humility as seemed to challenge and easily obtained more then ordinary Deference and Respect from their Brethren and that from one Degree to another untill at last through time the Church degenerated into a Prelatick Government which could not be unacceptable or at leas t intolerable to the Generality being so well suited to the Superstitious the Predominant Genius of these Times though it past not altogether without a witness from some of the most Learned and Seeing Men then living who were not so much incerted with the common distemper of the Age they lived in but that they could both look back to the Primitive purity and parity from which Episcopacy had declined and forward to the Papal corruption and Tyranny to which it insensibly and gradually tended as it should at large by Blondel and Salmasius to the full conviction of all who read their Labourious Writings Yea they will not only Enervate your Argument but turn the edge of it upon your self by instancing the Albigenses who preserved the Presbyterian Government from the Apostles time to Luther and whos e Testimony against Diocesan Episcopacy is as strong as it is by our own Confession against other Romish corruptions Nay they will come nearer home and cite credible History narrating Scotland not to have received Episcopal Government for some hundreds of years after it received the Christian Religion as not only Bucchannan our famous Historian sheweth but our own great Doctor Forbes confesseth in his Irenicon And finally they will foil this Argument quite by shewing Episcopacy to have met with a more early and easie Ejection out of the Church when it was Reformed from corruptions as a Native step of its Reformation then ever it had reception by the Church even when declining from its ancient Purity And though England hath continued Episcopal yet they will ask what reason is there for Justifying the the Episcopal Government more then Her Ceremonious Worship and why may not that Church be condemned for retaining the one as well as the other and they have too evident grounds for imputing their Contumation to the stiffness of Q. Elizabeth as the Chief if not the Sole hindrance of the Ejection of both out of England as well as the other Reformed Churches which was earne stly desired by the most Learned and Pious Divines in the Church though when they found their endeavours fruitless they choosed rather to comply therewith then disturb the Peace of the Church and Kingdom The last thing in this Reason is that Episcopacy is by Experience found to be the best adapâ—ed for preservation of Order Peace and Vnity Preshyterians will hiss the Argument out of doors because its the very same which Papists use against Protestants for justifying the Papal power And it is more easie for them to resort our answer to Papist on our selves then for us to
Evade the Force of them without either derogating from the Episcopal power which we mantain against Presbyterians or Homologating the Papal power which Papists maintain against Protestants We grant the Papal power to be very much Adapted for Wordly Pomp Power and Policy but upon that very score deny it to be a Government becoming the Church becauâ—e Christ expresly dischargeth his Apostles and in them all their Successors to exercise Dominion as the Lords of the Gentiles do over them This Answer to Papists is an Argument so plate against our selves that ingenuously I am not fully satisfied with our subtile Evasions of it And though that of Dr. Burnets in his Latter Dialogues be the best I have yet seen that nothing is prohibited in these words but the Exercise of Civil Power by any Church Officer over the Church and so nothing of the Papal power is condemned by it but the Usurpation of a Temporal Dominion over Princes Yet s eeing this leaves his Ecclesiastick Supremacy under which the subtile Jesuits Comprize all the Power he Exercises untouched and uncondemned by the clearest Scripture Argument we have against it which all Reformâ—d Divines make use of even the Episcopal themselves in their writings against the Papal Tyranny in Ecclesiasticks as well as Civils I nothing doubt but the present Zeal of that great Man against Popery would disclaim this evasion frankly as the effect of his former eagerness against Presbytery hurrying him to a Critici sm so favourable to Popery And when I have considered the extent of the Paralel place 1. Pet. 5.3 and the particular Application in Reference to Spirituals which the Apostle Paul makes 2. Cor. 1. last I cannot look upon that otherwise then an oversight in the Doctor notwithstanding of my singular Es teem of Him and his Writings But the truth is if we consider seriously the aptitude of Episcopacy for preserving the Dignity and promoting the Interest of the Clergy its similitude to the Civil Government and Conformity to the Carnal conceits men have of the Church of God are even as it fares with Popery both its greatest advantage and disadvantage its greatest advantage recommending it to Carnal men who measure all things by their Carnal Imaginations and Inclinations and its greatest disadvantage discommending it to Conscientious men who meas ure all the concerns of the Church by the unerring Rule of the Word of GOD and judge of them by their influence on and usefulness for the Edification of their Souls And alace the odious effects of Episcopacy in Scotland especially since it was last introduced are so recent and obvious that if any witty Presbyterian shall be at the pains to rake up this Dunghil I am afraid such an intolerable stink shall be raised as no Aptitude which our Government hath to what is good or can pretend to have will be either Regarded or Believed by any who are Judicious far less Sober and Conscientious For Sense and Experience are more convincing than all the Reasons in the World. But to be more particular ye say its found by Experince to be the best adapted for preservation of Order Presbyterians will answer That what ever be its apparent Aptitude for this yet it is in effect it self an alteration of the primitive Order observed in the Church which did gradually resolve at last into a total innovation of the Churches Order by a papal supremacy which it hath exchanged for a Caesario-papatus in Scotland lest the Church should not be still monstruous with two heads one under another And it is indeed a hard Question Why Order in the Church which we say cannot be without prius posterius inferius superius doth not equally require a Pope or King under CHRIST over Bishops as a Bishop under CHRIST over Presbytry Or why a parity amongst Bishops should not be thought as inconsis tent with Order as a parity among all Pastors But neither doth the Presbyterian Government want its Order of superius inferius for amongst them single persons are subject to Church Judicatories and a lesser Church Judicatory still to a greater c. In which Order seeing there is not only that ah inferiore ad superius but a minore ad majus it is most agreeable to the Church as it is the Body of CHRIST immediately depending upon CHRIST its Head. And I confess ingenuously when they have argued that feeding of Souls by dispensing the Word and Sacraments is the sublimest piece of a Church Mans imployment that all power of Church Officers is only Ministerial under CHRIST the Head and Lord of his Church that though he be the political as well as Mystical Head of the Church who as its King and Lawgiver might be expected would not leave it without Directions how it should be governed yet there is no institution of a Diocesan Episcopacy that was ever pretented to be so clear as the Directions given concerning the Office of a Deacon the lowest Office in the Church But the checks given by him to the first appearances of an inclination to pre-eminency among his Apostles are clearly recorded in Scripture and finally that the lodging of all Ecclesiastick power of Ordination or Jurisdiction in the single person of a Bishop doth not sute with the immediate Dependance of the Church the Body of CHRIST upon CHRIST the Head of it When they have Argued thus I say and urged each of these Arguments at length I have been extreamly puzled to vindicat the Episcopal Order and the superiority of one Pastor above another All I could say was That Bishops are as necessary to oversee Pastors as Pastors to oversee People and they easily stopped my mouth not only by retorting the equal necessity of a pope to oversee Bishops But by shewing also that all Pastors were subject to the censure of Church Judicatories which could not easily be guilty of connivance and partiality towards the ignorant and scandalous as Bishops and which by their solemnity impartiality have as great and venerable an Authority as a Bishop by virtue of his large Benefice Lordly Titles and pompous Train can have Yea I have been almost perswaded to be a presbyterian when they have reasoned that seing we confess the highest Ecclesiastick power on Earth to be in an Oecumenick Council and yet allow not of any further power in him that preceeds than like that of a presbyterian Moderator in a Presbytry-synod or National Assembly and not like that of a Bishop in a Diocesan Synod for fear of a pope Why do we not also acknowledge Ministers to be subject to inferiour Judicatories of the like frame and an inferiour and lesser Judicatory to a superiour and greater still forward till we arrive at an Oecumenick Council as the highest Judicatorie of all immediately and solly subject to CHRIST as the Body to the Head without any Diocesan Bishop over the se inferiour more than a pope over his supreme Judicatorie as being the most equal and