Selected quad for the lemma: power_n
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B13858
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Episcopacie by divine right. Asserted, by Jos. Hall, B. of Exon
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Hall, Joseph, 1574-1656.
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1640
(1640)
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STC 12661.5; ESTC S103631
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116,193
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288
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judgement was given hath thus Non hoc putandum de ultimo judicio c. We may not think this spoken of the last judgement but the seats of the Prelats or presidents by whom the Church is governed and the governors themselves are to be understood the judgment that is given cannot be any better way taken than for that which is said Whatsoeuer ye binde on earth shal be bound in heauen §. 3. The execution of this Apostolicall power after our Saviours ascent into Heaven THe power is clear will you see the Execution of it Look upon St. Paul the Posthumous and Supernumerary but no lesse glorious Apostle see with what Majesty he becomes his new erected Throne one while deeply (a) 2 Thess 36. charging and commanding another while (b) 1 Cor. 5.4.5.6.7 controlling and censuring One while (c) 1 Cor. 11.2 1 Cor. 16 1. giving Laws and Ordinances another while urging for their observance One while (d) 1 Tim. 1.6 1 Tim. 2.9 1 Tim. 6 13. 2 Cor. 13.2 2 Cor. 4.21 1 Tim. 1.20 ordaining Church-governours another while adjuring them to do their duties one while threatning punishment another while inflicting it And if these be not acts of Iurisdiction what can be such which since they were done by the Apostle from the instinct of Gods Spirit wherewith he was inspired and out of the warrant of his high vocation most manifest it is that the Apostles of Christ had a supereminent power in Gods Church And if any person whosoever though an Evangelist or Prophet should have dared to make himselfe equall to an Apostle he had been hissed out yea rather thunder-struck by deep Censure for an Arrogant and saucy usurper Now if our blessed Saviour thought it fit to found his Church in an evident imparity what reason should we have to imagine he did not intend so to continue it It had been equally easie for him had he so thought meet to have made al his followers equally great none better than a disciple none meaner than an Apostle But now since it hath pleased him to raise up some to the honour of Apostles no lesse above the 70 than the seventy were above the multitude only injoyning them that the highest in place should be the lowest in minde and humility of service what doth he but herein teach us that he meant to set this course for the insuing government of his Church Neither is it possible for any man to be so absurd as to think that the Apostles who were by their heavenly Master infeoffed in this known preeminence should after the Ascent of their Saviour descend from their acknowledged superiority and make themselves but equall to the Presbyters they ordained No they still and ever as knowing they were qualified for that purpose by the more speciall graces of the holie Ghost kept their holie state maintained the honour of their places What was the fault of Diotrephes but that being a Church-governour he proudlie stood out against St. John not acknowledging the Transcendant power of his Apostolicall Iurisdiction whom the provok't Apostle threats to correct accordinglie so as those that lay Diotrephes in our dish do little consider that they buffet none but themselves who symbolize with him in opposing Episcopal that is as all antiquity was wont to construe it Apostolicall government But you are ready to say This was during their own time they were persons extraordinary and their calling and superioritie died with them Parâ—câ—â—l 1. c. 4. Thus our Tileno-mastix in terms The only question is Whether of the ordinary Presbyters which were singlie set over severall Churches they advanced one in degree above his brethren We shall erre then if we distinguish not These great Ambassadors of Christ sustained more persons than one they comprehended in themselves the whole Hierarcy they were Christians Presbyters Bishops Apostles So it was they were Apostles immediatlie called miraculouslie gifted infalliblie guided universallie charged Thus they had not they could not have any successors they were withall Church governours appointed by Christ to order and settle the affairs of his Spirituall Kingdome And therein besides the preaching of the Gospel and baptizing common to them with other Ministers to ordain a succession of the meet Administrators of his Church Thus they were would be must be succeeded Neither could the Church otherwise have subsisted No Christian can denie this all binding upon a necessitie of Apostolicall succession though differing in the qualitie and degree of their successors §. 4. The derivation of this power and majority from the Apostles to the succeeding Bishops NOw therefore that we have seene what ground our Saviour laid for a superioritie in them Let us see how they by his divine inspiration erected it in others who should follow them â—hat was Apostolicall this was Episcopall It is true as Calâ—in saith that at the first all to whom the Dispensation of the Gospell was committed were called Presbyters whether they were Apostles Evangelists Prophets Pastors and Doctors as before the Apostles were commonly called by the name of Disciples in every Chapter yet in degree still above the 70 and we do still say one while Bishops and Curats comprehending all Presbyters and Deacons under that name another while Bishops Pastors Curats not distinctly observing the difference of names So they all were called Presbyters yet not so but that there was a manifest and full distinction betwixt the Apostles and Presbyters as thrise Act. the 15. They therefore though out of humility they hold the common names with others yet maintained their places of Apostles and governed the Church at first as it were in common And thus as St. Ierome truly All maine matters were done in the beginning by the common Councell and consent of the Presbyters their consent but still the power was in the Apostles who in the nearer Churches since they in person ordered Ecclesiasticall affairs ordained only Presbyters in the remoter Bishops This for the Consummation of it was an act of time Neither was the same course held at once in every Church whiles it was in Fieri some which were nearer being supplied by the Apostles presence needed not so present an Episcopacy Others that were small needed not yet their full number of Offices neither were there perhaps fit men for those places of eminence to be found every where whence it is that we finde in some Scriptures mention only of Bishops and Deacons in others of Presbyters not of Bishops This then was the Apostles course for the plantation of the Church and the better propagation of the Gospel where ever they came they found it necessary to ordain meet assistants to them and they promiscuously imparted unto them all their owne stile but Apostolicall naming them Bishops and Presbyters and Deacons according to the familiarity and indifferency of their former usage therein But when they having divided themselves into severall parts of the world found that the number of
reader see on what shelves of sand this late Allobrogicall device is erected shortly then let the abettors of the discipline pretended lay their heads together and agree what it is that we may trust to for Christs Ordinance and that once done let them expect our condescent till then and we shall desire no longer let them forbeare to gild their owne fancies with the glorious name of Christs Kingdome §. 6. The imperfections and defects which must needs be yeelded to follow upon the discipline pretended and the necessary inconveniences that must attend it in a kingdome otherwise setled THIS uncertainty of opinion cannot choose but produce an answerable imperfection in the practice whiles some Churches which hold themselves in a Parochiall absolutenesse necessarily furnished with all the equipage of discipline must needs finde those defective which want it so as the Genevian and French Churches and those of their correspondence which goe all by divisions of Presbyteries must needs by our late reformers be found to come short of that perfection of Christs kingdom which themselves have attained Those Churches which have no Doctors those which have no Deacons those which have no Widdowes what case are they in And how few have all these Neither is the imperfection more palpable and fatall where these ordinances are missing then is the absurdity and inconvenience of entertaining them where they are wisht to be for howsoever where some new State is to be erected especially in a popular forme or a new City to be contrived with power of making their owne Lawes there might perhaps be some possibility of complying in way of polâ—cie with some of the rules of this pretended Church-government yet certainly in a Monarchiall State fully setled and a Kingdome divided into severall Townships and Villages some whereof are small and farre distant from the rest no humane wit can comprehend how it were possible without an utter subversion to reduce it to these termes I shall take leave to instance in some particulars the strong inexpediences and difficulties whereof will arise to little lesse than either grosse absurdity or utter impossibility Can it therefore be possible in such a kingdome as our happy England is where there are thousands of small village-parishâ—s I speak according to the plots of our own laâ—est reformers for every Parish to furnish an â—cclâ—siasticall Consiâ— tory consisting of one or more Pastors a Doctor Elders Deacons perhaps there are not so many houses as offices are required And whom shall they then be Iudges of And some of these so farre remote from neighbours that they cannot participate of theirs either teaching or censure And if this were faisible what stuffe would there be Perhaps a young indiscreet giddy Pastour and for a Doctor who and where and what Iohn a Nokes and Iohn a Stiles the Elders Smug the Smith a Deacon and whom or what should these rule but themselves and their plougshares And what censures trow we would this grave Consistory inflict What decisions would they make of the doubts and controversies of their Parish What orders of government For even this Parochiall Church hath the soveraignty of Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction If any of the fautors of the desired discipline dares deny thiâ— let him lookâ— to argue the case with his best friends who all are for this or nothing Else what means Cartwright to say that in such cases God powres out his gifts upon men called to these functions and makes them all new men Here are no miracles to be expected no enthâ—siasmes an honest â— hatcher will know how to hand his straw no whit better after his election than he did before and was as deeply politike before as now and equally wise and devout though perhaps he may take upon him some more state and gravity than he formerly did and what a mad world would it be that the Ecclesiasticall Lawes of such a company should be like those of the Medes and Persians irrevocable that there should be no appeale from them for as for Classes and Synods they may advise in cases of doubt but over-rule they may not And if a King should by occasion of his Court fixed in some such obscure Parish fall into the Censure even of such a Consistory or Presbytery where is he Excommunicable he is with them and what then may follow let a Buchanan speake Now were it possible that an Hockley in the hole or as Cartwright pleases to instance an Hitchin or Newington could yeeld us choice of such a worthy Senate yet whence shall the maintenance arise Surely as the host said upon occasion of a guest with too many titles we have not meat for so many it is well if a poore and painefull incumbent can but live But whence as the Disciples said should we have bread for all these And what doe you think of this lawlesse Polycoyranie That every Parish-Minister and his Eldership should be a Bishop and his Consistory yea a Pope and his Conclave of Cardinals within his owne Parish not subject to controlement not liable to a superiour Censure What doe you thinke of the power of Lay-men to binde and loose What of the equall power of votes in spirituall causes with their grave and learned Pastour What that those which are no Ministers should meddle with the Sacraments or should meddle with the Word and not with Sacraments To see a velvet cloake a gilt rapier and gingling spurres attending Gods Table To see a ruling Elder a better man than his Pastour Who knowes not Epist before Helvet Confes that it is the project of Beza and the present practice of Scotland that Noble-men or great Senatours should be Elders and perhaps at Geneva Deacons too and then how well will it become the house that great Lords should yeeld their Chaplaines to be the better men Danaeus de Eccles Disc c. 10. For as honest Daneus who knew the fashion well Longè est dissimile inferius c. The place of the Elders is utterly unlike and below the order of Pastours neither me thinks should it work any contenting peace to their great spirits to heare that upon their Consistoriall Bench their Peasantly-Tenant is as good as the best of them Artic. Genev. 7 and that if they looke awry to be so matched which T. C. suggests they disdaine not men but Christ These are but a handfull of those strange incongruities which will necessarily attend this mis-affected Discipline which certainly if they were not countervailed with other no lesse unjust contentments could never finde entertainment in any corner of the world but each man would rule and to be a King though of a mole-hill is happinesse enough Had men learned to inure their hearts to a peaceable and godly humility these quarrels had never been §. 7. The knowne newnesse of this invention and the quality of of the late authors or it BVt that which is aboue all other exceptions most undeniable and not least convictive and which