prove too much that there should be no power at all among Churchmen over other Christians For since the parallel runs betwixt the Disciples and the Lords of the Gentiles it will run thus that tho the Lords of the Gentiles bear rule over their people yet you must not over yours so that this must either be restricted to Civil Authority or else it will quite strike out all Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction But how this should be brought to prove that there may not be several ranks in Church Offices I cannot yet imagine And as it is not thought contrary to this that a Minister is over your Lay-Elders and Deacons why should it be more contrary to it that a rank of Bishops be over Ministers In a word since we find the Apostles exercising this paternal authority over other Churchmen it will clearly follow they understood not Christ as hereby meaning to discharge the several ranks of Churchmen with different degrees of power But to tell you plainly what by these words of CHRIST is clearly forbidden I acknowledg that chiefly the Pope's pretence to the Temporal Dominion over Christendom whether directly or indirectly as the Vicar of CHRIST is expresly condemned Next all Churchmen under what notion or in what Judicatory soever are condemned who study upon a pretence of the Churches intrinsick power to possess themselves of the authority to determine about obedience due to Kings or Parliaments and who bring a tyranny on the Christians and prâ—cure what by Arts what by Power the secular Arm to serve at their beck Whether this was the practice of the late General Assemblies or not I leave it to all who are so old as to remember how squares went then and if the leading Men at that time had not really the secular power ready to lacquay at their commands so that they ruled in the spirit of the Lords of the Gentiles whatever they might have pretended And the following change of Government did fully prove that the obedience which was universally given to their commands was only an appendage of the Civil Power which was then directed by them For no sooner was the power invaded by the Usurper who regarded their Judicatories little but the Obedience payed to their Decrees evanished Thus I say these who build all their pretences to parity on their mistakes of these words did most signally despise and neglect them in their true and real meaning Now think not to retort this on any additions of Secular Power which the munificence of Princes may have annexed to the Episcopal Office for that is not at all condemned here CHRIST speaking only of the power Churchmen as such derived from him their Head which only bars all pretensions to Civil Power on the title of their Functions but doth not say that their Functions render them incapable of receiving any Secular Power by a secular conveyance from the Civil Magistrate And so far have I considered this great and pompous argument against precedency in the Church and am mistaken if I have not satisfied you of the slender foundations it is built upon all which is also applicable to St. Peter's words of not Lording it over their flocks Isot. You are much mistaken if you think that to be the great foundation of our belief of a parity among Churchmen for I will give you another page 91. which is this that IESUS CHRIST the head of his Church did institute a setled Ministery in his Church to feed and over-see the Flock to preach to reprove to bind loose c. It is true he gave the Apostles many singular things beyond their Successors which were necessary for that time and work and were to expire with it But as to their Ministerial Power which was to continue he made all equal The Apostles also acknowledged the Pastors of the Churches their fellow-laborors and Brethren And the feeding and overseeing the Flock are duties so complicated together that it is evident none can be fitted for the one without they have also authority for the other And therefore all who have a power to preach must also have a right to govern since Discipline is referable to preaching as a mean to its end preaching being the great end of the Ministery These therefore who are sent upon that work must not be limited in the other neither do we ever find CHRIST instituting a Superiour Order over preaching Presbyters which shews he judged it not necessary And no more did the Apostles though they with-held none of the Counsel of GOD from the flock Therefore this Superior Order usurping the power from the preaching Elders since it hath neither warrant nor institution in Scripture is to be rejected as an invasion of the rights of the Church In fine the great advantage our Plea for parity hath is that it proves its self till you prove a disparity For since you acknowledg it to be of divine Right that there be Officeâ—s in the House of GOD except you prove the institution of several Orders an equality among them must be concluded And upon these accounts it is that we cannot acknowledg the lawfulness of Prelacy Phil. I am sure if your Friends had now heard you they would for ever absolve you from designing to betray their cause by a faint Patrociny since you have in a few words laid out all their Forces but if you call to mind what hath heen already said you will find most of what you have now pleaded to be answered beforehand For I acknowledge Bishop and Presbyter to be one and the same Office and so I plead for no new Office-Bearers in the Church Next in our second Conference the power given to Churchmen was proved to be double The first branch of it is their Authority to publish the Gospel to manage the Worship and to dispense the Sacraments And this is all that is of divine right in the Ministery in which Bishops and Presbyters are equal sharers both being vested with this power But beside this the Church claims a power of Jurisdiction of making rules for discipline and of applying and executing the same all which is indeed suitable to the common Laws of Societies and to the general rules of Scripture but hath no positive warrant from any Scripture precept And all these Constitutions of Churches into Synods and the Canons of discipline taking their rise from the divisions of the World into the several Provinces and beginning in the end of the second and beginning of the third Century do clearly shew they can be derived from no divine Original and so were as to their particular form but of humane Constitution therefore as to the management of this Jurisdiction it is in the Churches power to cast it in what mould she will and if so then the constant practice of the Church for so many ages should determine us unless we will pretend to understand the exigencies and conveniences of it better than they who were nearest the Apostolical time But we
more For I am sure had he but read over those Canons which might be done in half an hour he had argued this point at another rate and had he seen the Edition of Dionysius Exiguus he had not accused the Conformist for citing that Canon as the fortieth since it is so in his division who was their first publisher in the Latine Church tho it be the thirty ninth in the Greek division But I will deal roundly in this matter and acknowledge that collection to be none of the Apostles nor Clement's since all that passed under Clement's name was accounted spurious except his first Epistle to the Corinthians Nor was this a production of the first two ages For the silence of the Writers of those Centuries gives clear evidence for their novelty They not being cited for the decision of things then in controversie wherein they are express as in the matter of Easter the rebaptizing Hereticks and divers other particulars Yet in the Fourth and Fifth Century reference is after made to some Elders rules of the Church which are to be found no where but in this Collection The Apostolical Canons are also sometimes expresly mentioned and this gives good ground to believe there were from the Third Century and forward some rules general received in the Church and held Apostolical as being at first introduced by Apostolical men This was at first learnedly made out by De Marca Concord lib. 3. c. 2. and of late more fully by that most ingenious and accurate searcher into Antiquity Beveregius in his Preface to his Annotations on these Canons Yet I am apt to think they were only preserv'd by an oral tradition and that no collection of them was agreed on and publish'd before the fifth Century It is certain the Latine Church in Pope Innocent 's days acknowledged no Canons but those of Nice And many of the Canons in this Collection we find among Canons of other Councils particularly in that of Antioch without any reference to a preceding authority that had enjoined them which we can hardly think they had omitted had they received the collection I speak of as Apostolical And that of the triple immersion in Baptism looks like a Rule no elder than the Arrian Controversie They began first to appear under the name of the Apostles Canons in the Fifth Century which made Pope Gelasius with a Synod of seventy Bishops condemn them as Apocryphal though I must add that the authority of that pretended Council and Decree though generally received be on many accounts justly questionable And yet by this we are only to understand that he rejected that pretended authority of the Apostles prefixed to these Canons In the beginning of the Sixth Century they were published by Dionysius Exiguus who prefixed fifty of them to his translation of the Greek Canons but he confesses they were much doubted by many At the same time they were published in the Greek Church with the addition of thirty five more Canons and were acknowledged generally Iustinian cites them often in the Novels and in the sixth Novel calls them the Canons of the holy Apostles kept and interpreted by the Fathers And the same authority was ascribed to them by the Council in Trullo These things had been pertinently alledged if you had known them but for your Friends niblings at them if you will but give your self the trouble of reading these Canons you will be ashamed of his weakness who manageth his advantage so ill And to instance this but in one particular had he read these Canons himself could he have cited the eighty which is among the latter additions and passed by the sixth which is full to the same purpose But for that impudent allegation as if a bare precedency had been only ascribed to Bishops by these Canons look but on the 14. the 30. 37. 40. 54. and 73. and then pass your verdict on your Friends ingenuity or his knowledg By the 14. No Churchman may pass from one Parish to another without his Bishop's sentence otherwise he is suspended from Ecclesiastical Functions and if he refuse to return when required by his Bishop he is to be accounted a Churchman no more By the 30. A Presbyter who in contempt of his Bishop gathers a Congregation apart having nothing to condemn his Bishop of either as being unholy or unjust he is to be deposed as one that is ambitious and tyrannous and such of the Clergy or Laity as join with them are likewise to be censured By the 37. The Bishop hath the care of all Church matters which he must administrate as in the sight of God By the 39. The Bishop hath power over all the goods of the Church and the reason given is that since the precious souls of men are committed to him it is much more just he have the charge of the goods of the Church By the 54. If a Clergy-man reproach their Bishop he is to be deposed for it is written Thou shalt not curse the Ruler of thy people And by the 73. A Bishop when accused is only to be judged of by other Bishops Now from these hints judg whether there be truth in that Assertion that only a precedency is asserted in these Canons and if all the power is now pleaded for be not there held out not to mention the Canon was cited by the Conformist that Presbyters or Deacons might finish nothing without the Bishop's Sentence since the Souls of the people are trusted to him As for the sole power of Ordination and Jurisdiction I am sure none among us do claim it but willingly allow the Presbyters a concurrence in both these And as to what your friend saith of Cyprian it is of a piece with the learning and ingenuity that runneth through the rest of his Discourse from page 150 to page 160. where for divers pages he belabours his Reader with brave shews of Learning and high invention so that no doubt he thinks he hath performed Wonders and fully satisfied every scruple concerning the rise and progress of Episcopacy Isot. I pray you do not fly too high and make not too much ado about any small advantages you conceive you have of my Friend but upon the whole matter I am willing to believe there was a precedency pretty early begun in the Church which I shall not deny was useful and innocent tho a deviation from the first pattern Neither shall I deny that holy men were of that Order but when it is considered what a step even that Precedency was to Lordly Prelacy and how from that the son of perdition rose up to his pretence of Supremacy we are taught how unsafe it is to change any thing in the Church from the first institution of its blessed Head who knew best what was fit for it according to whose will all things in it should be managed Poly. It hath been often repeated that nothing was ever so sacred as to escape that to which all things when they
opinions or actings of all your party which when you undertake then I allow you to charge me with what you will But it is a different thing to say that no Ordination nor greater act of Jurisdiction should pass without the Bishop's consent or concurrence which is all I shall pretend to and is certainly most necessary for preserving of Order and Peace from asserting that the sole power for these sâ—ands in the Bishops person And though I do hold it schismatical to ordain without a Bishop where he may be had yet I am not to annul these Ordinations that pass from Presbyters where no Bishop can be had and this lays no claim to a new Office but only to a higher degree of inspection in the same Office whereby the exercise of some acts of Iurisdiction are restrained to such a method and this may be done either by the Churches free consent or by the King's authority As for the consecration of Bishops by a new imposition of hands it doth not prove them a distinct Office being only a solemn benediction and separation of them for the discharge of that inspection committed to them and so we find Paul and Barnabas though before that they preached the Gospel yet when they were sent on a particular Commission to preach to the gentiles were blessed with imposition of hands Acts 13.3 which was the usual Ceremony of benediction Therefore you have no reason to quarrel this unless you apprehend their managing this oversight the worse that they are blessed in order to it nor can you quarrel the Office in the Liturgy if you do not think they will manage their power the worse if they receive a new effusion of the holy Ghost And thus you see how little ground there is for quarrelling Episcopacy upon such pretences Eud. I am truly glad you have said so much for confirming me in my kindness for that Government for if you evinces its lawfulness I am sure the expediency of that Constitution will not be difficult to be proved both for the tryal of Entrants and the oversight of these in Office for when any thing lyes in the hands of a multitude we have ground enough to apprehend what the issue of it will prove And what sorry overly things these tâ—yals of Entrants are all know â—ow little pains is taken to form their minds into a right sense of that function to which they are to be initiated at one step without either previous degree or mature tryal And here I must say the ruine of the Church springs hence that the passage to sacred Offices lyes so patent whereby every one leaps into them out of a secular life having all the train of his vanities passions and carnal designs about him and most part entering thus unpurified and unprepared what is to be expected from them but that they become idle vain and licentious or proud ambitious popular and covetous I confess things among us are not come to any such settlement as might give a provision against this But devise me one like a Bishop's Authority who shall not confer Orders to any before either himself or some other select and excellent persons on whom he may with confidence devolve that trust be well satisfied not only about the learning and abilities but about the temper the piety the humility the gravity and discretion of such as pretend to holy Orders And that some longer tryal be taken of them by the probationership of some previous degree Indeed the poverty of the Church which is not able to maintain Seminaries and Colledges of such Probationers renders this design almost impracticable But stretch your thoughts as far as your invention can send them and see if you can provide such an expedient for the reforming of so visible an abuse as were the Bishop's plenary authority to decide in this matter For if it lie in the hands of a Plurality the major part of these as of all mankind being acted by lower measures the considerations of Kinred alliance friendship or powerful recommendations will always carry through persons be they what they will as to their abilities and other qualifications And a multitude of Churchmen is less concerned in the shame can follow an unworthy promotion which every individual of such a company will be ready to bear off himself and fasten on the Plurality But if there were one to whom this were peculiarly committed who had authority to stop it till he were clearly convinced that the person to be ordained was one from whose labors good might be expected to the Church he could act more roundly in the matter and it may be presupposed that his condition setting him above these low consideâ—ations to which the inferiour Clergy are more obnoxious he would manage it with more caution as knowing that both before GOD and Man he must bear the blame of any unworthy promotion And as for these in Office can any thing be more rational than that the inspection into their labors their deportment their conversation and their dexterity in Preaching and Catechising be not done mutually by themselves in a parity wherein it is to be imagined that as they degenerate they will be very gentle to one another And when any inspection is managed by an equal it opens a door to faction envy and emulation neither are the private rebukes of an equal so well received nor will it be easie for one of a modest temper to admonish his fellow-Presbyter freely And yet how many things are there of which Churchmen have need to be admonished in the discharge of all the parts of their function especially when they set out first being often equally void of experience and discretion But what a remedy for all this may be expected from an excellent Bishop who shall either if his health and strength allow it be making excursions through his Diocese and himself observe the temper the labors and conversation of his Clergy or at least trust this to such as he hath reason to confide most in that so he may understand what admonitions directions and reproofs are to be given which might obviate a great many indiscretions and scandals that flow from Churchmen And the authority of such a person as it would more recommend the reproofs to these for whom they were meant so it could prevail to make them effectual by a following Censure if neglected If the confusion some keep matters in have hindered us for coming at a desired settlement the Office of Episcopacy is not to be blamed whose native tendency I have laid out before you and in a fair idea but in what was both the rule and practice of the ancient Church and wants not latter instances foâ— verifying it In a word I must tell you I am so far from apprehending danger to the Church from Bishops having too much power that I shall fear rather its slow recovery because they have too little which might be managed with all the meekness and humility
not succeed he openly made War against Constantine And as he was preparing for it he made War likewise against GOD and persecuted the Christians because he apprehended they all prayed for Constantine and wished him success whereupon he made severe Laws against the Christians forbidding the Bishops ever to meet among themselves or to instruct any Women afterwards he banished all that would not worship the Gods and from that he went to an open Persecution and not content with that he by severe Laws discharged any to visit and relieve such as were in Prison for the Faith Yet notwithstanding all this none that were under his part of the Empire did resist him nay not so much as turn over to Constantine against him for ought that appears But upon these things a War followed betwixt Constantine and him wherein Licinius was defeated and forced to submit to what conditions Constantine was pleased to give who took from him Greece and Illyricum and only left him Thrace and the East But Licinius returning to his old ways and breaking all agreements a second war followed wherein Licinius was utterly defeated and sent to lead a private life at Thessalonica where he was sometime after that killed because of new designs against Constantine This being the true account of that Story I am to divine what advantage it can yield to the cause of Subjects resisting theiâ— Sovereign for here was a Superior Prince defending himself against the unjust attempts and hostile incuâ—sions of his Enemy who was also inferior to him as Eusebius states it whom consult 10. Book 8. â—â— and 1. Book of Const. life ch 42. and 2. Book ch 2 c. And for your instance of the Persians imploring the aid of the Romans I am afraid it shall serve you in as little stead for the account Socrates gives of it lib. 7. cap. 18. is that Baratanes King of Persia did severely persecute the Christians whereupon the Christians that dwelt in Persia were necessitated to fly to the Romans and beseech them not to neglect them who were so destroyed they were kindly received by Aticus the Bishop of Constantinople who bent all his care and thoughts for their aid and made the matter known to Theodosius the second then Emperor but it happened at that tune the Romans had a quarrel with the Persians who had hired a great many Romans that wrought in Mines and sent them back without paying the agreed hire which quarrel was much heightned by the Persian Christians complaint for the King of Persia sent Ambassadours to remand them as fugitives but the Romans refused to restore them and not only gave them Sanctuary but resolved by all their power to defend the Christian Religion and rather make War with the Persians than see the Christians so destroyed Now it will be a pretty sleight of Logick if from Subjects flying from a Persecution and seeking shelter under another Prince you will infer that they may resist their own King And for Theodosius his War we see other grounds assigned by the Historian and the Politicks even of good Princes in their making of Wars must not be a Rule to our Consciences neither know I why this instance is adduced except it be to justifie some who are said during the Wars betwixt their own Sovereign and the Country where they lived to have openly prayed for Victory against their Country and to have corresponded in opposition to their native Sovereign But I must next discuss that Catalogue of Tumults in the fourth and fifth Century which are brought as Precedents for the resisting of Subjects and here I must mind you of the great change was in Christendom after Constantine's days before whom none were Christians but such as were persuaded of the truth of the Gospel and were ready to suffer for its profession so that it being then a Doctrine objected to many Persecutions few are to be supposed to have entred into its discipline without some Convictions about it in their Consciences but the case varied much after the Emperors became Christian so that what by the severity of their Laws what by the authority of their Example almost all the World rendered themselves Christian which did let in such a swarm of corrupt men into the Christian Societies that the face of them was quickly much changed and both Clergy and Laity became very corrupt as appears from the complaints of all the Writers of the fourth Century what wonder then if a tumultuating Humor crept into such a mixed multitude And indeed most of these instances which are alledged if they be adduced to prove the corruption of that time they conclude but too well But alas will they have the authority of Precedents or can they be look'd upon as the sense of the Church at that time since they are neither approved by Council or Church-Writer And truly the Tumults in these times were too frequent upon various occasions but upon none more than the popular elections of Bishops of which Nazianzen gives divers instances and for which they were taken from the People by the Council of Laodicea Can. 13. It is also well enough known how these Tumults flowed more from the tumultuary temper of the People than from any Doctrine their Teachers did infuse in them And therefore Socrates lib. 7. cap. 13. giving account of one of the Tumults of Alexandria made use of by your Friends as a Precedent tells how that City was ever inclined to Tumults which were never compesced without blood And at that time differences falling in betwixt Orestes the Prefect and Cyril the Bishop who was the first that turned the Priesthood into a temporal Dominion they had many debates for Orestes hating the power of the Bishops which he judged detracted from the Prefect's authority did much oppose Cyril and Cyril having raised a Tumult against the Iews wherein some of them were killed and the rest of them driven out of the City Orestes was so displeased at that that he refused to be reconciled with him whereupon 500 Monks came down from Nitria to fight for their Bishop who set on the Prefect and one of them named Ammonius wounded him in the head with a stone but the People gathering they all fled only Ammonius was taken whom the Prefect tortured till he died but Cyril buried him in the Church and magnified his Fortitude to the degree of reckoning him a Martyr of which he was afterwards ashamed And their being in Alexandria at that time a learned and famous Lady called Hyppatia whom the People suspected of inflaming the Prefect against the Bishop they led on by a Reader of the Church set on her and dragged her from her Chariot into a Church and stript her naked and most cruelly tore her body to pieces which they burnt to ashes And this saith the Historian brought no small Infamy both on Cyril and on the Church of Alexandria since all who profess the Christian Religion should be strangers to killing
fightings and such like Truly Sir he that will found the Doctrine of Resistance on such grounds hath a mind on very easie terms to run himself upon Condemnation And yet such like are the warrants your Friends bring from Church History Therefore I see there is yet good ground to assert that Doctrine was unknown in the Christian Church till the times wherein the Popes pretended to the Temporal Power over Princes all whose plea was managed upon the grounds of the great Importance of Religion to be preferred to all human Interests and that Christ had told his Disciples to buy a sword and that Princes being the Ministers of God were to be no longer acknowledged than they observed that design for which they were set up Only in one particular less disorder may be apprehended from the pretensions of the Roman Bishops than from these Maxims that put the power of judging and controuling the Magistrate in the Peoples hands which opens a door to endless confusions and indeed sets every private Person on the Throne and introduceth an Anarchy which will never admit of order or remedy whereas these who had but one pretender over them could more easily deal with him and more vigorously resist him Isot. You have said very many things from History which I shall not at this time undertake to examine but I am sure it hath been both the Practice and Doctrine of the Reformed Churches that in case of unjust Tyranny the States of a Kingdom may put a stop to the fury of a King and therefore where the Reformation was opposed by Cruelty it was also defended by Arms. And let me add that I believe your great quarrel at this Doctrine is because the practice of it was so great a mean of preserving the Reformation which though in good manners you must commend yet I am afraid you hate it in your heart Philar. Whether you or we be greater friends to the Reformation let the world judge by this one Indication that you study to draw all can be devised for the staining it with blood which is the constant calumny of its adversaries whereas we offer with the clearest evidences to evince its Innocence But let me premise the distinction of Doctrine from Practices and tho some unjustifiable Practices appear these must never be charged on the Reformed Churches unless it be made appear they were founded on their Doctrine Besides the Reformers coming out of the corruptions of Poperâ— in which the Doctrine and Practice of Resistance upon pretences of Religion were triumphant it will not be found strange tho some of that ill-tempered Zeal continued still to leaven them But for their Doctrine I take the Standart of it to be in the Confessions of the several Churches all which being gathered in one harmony we are in the right scent of their Opinions when we search for them there Now the Doctrine of resisting of Magistrates is by divers of their Confessions expressly condemned but in none of them asserted It is true there were some ambiguous expressions in our Scots Confession registred in Parliament Anno 1567 for Art 14. among the transgressions of the second Table they reckon to disobey or resist any that God hath placed in authority while they pass not over the bounds of their office which seems to imply the lawfulness of Resistance when they so transgress but besides that it is not clearly asserted and only inferred this doth not determine what the bounds of the Magistrate's Office are And if it be found that his Office is to coërce with the Sword so as to be accountable to none but to God then no Resistance will follow from hence except of a limited Magistrate who is accountable to others The same Explication is to be given to that part of the 24. Art where all such are condemned who resist the Supream Power doing that thing which appertaineth to his charge But in the same Article the Magistrate is called God's Lieutenant in whose Sessions God himself doth sit and judge But with this it is to be considered when that Confession was ratified in Parliament even when no Sovereign was to look to the clearing of any ambiguities which might have-been upon design by some and through the neglect of others let pass The Confessions of the other Churches are unexceptionably plain and without restriction in the point of subjection For what seems like a Restriction in the French Confession that the yoke of subjection is willingly to be born though the Magistrates were Infidels provided that God's Sovereign authority remain entire and uncorrupted imports nothing but that our subjection to them which takes in both Obedience and Suffering is not to strike out the great Dominion God hath over our Souls whom we should obey rather than man And even the Confession of the Assembly of Divines ratified by the Scots General Assembly speaks of submission to Authority in absolute terms without the exception of Resistance in case of Tyranny Cap. 22. art 4. It is the duty of People to be subject to their authority for Conscience sake Infidelity or difference in Religion doth not make void the Magistrate's just and legal Aurity nor frâ—e the people from their due obedience to him If then the Doctrine of Resistance be to be owned as a Law of Nature and as a part of the Christian Freedom how came it that it was not more expresly owned in this Confession especially since it is known to have been the opinion of most of both these Assemblies But on the contrary it seems condemned and only the undiscerned reserves of just legal and due are slipâ— in for the defence of their actings Truly this seems not fair dealing and such an asserting of Subjection at that time looks either like the force of truth extorting it or intimates them afraid or ashamed to have owned that as their Doctrine to the World And by this time I suppose it is clear that the Reformed Churches ought not to be charged with the Doctrine of Resistance Poly. Nay nor the Reformed Writers neither with whose words I could fill much Paper and shew how they do all generally condemn the resistance of Subjects and when any of them gives any Caveat to this it is not in behalf of the People but of the States of the Kingdom who they say perhaps are impowered with authority to curb the tyranny of Kings as the Ephori among the Lacedemonians the Tribuns of the people and the Demarchs in Rome and Athens Now it is acknowledged that if by the Laws of the Kingdom it be found that the King is accountable to the States then their coercing of him is not the resistance of Subjects but rather the managing of the Supreme Power which lies in their hands If then you will stand to their decision in this Point of the Peoples resisting of their Sovereigns though Tyrants the debate will not run long they being so express And this will be nothing shaken by any thing
for one would expect it must be a very concerning matter which hath occasioned so much bloud and confusion and continues still to divide us asunder with so much heat and bitterness I confess my discerning is weak which keeps me from apprehending what importance can be in it to exact so much zeal for it that it should be called the Kingdom of CHRIST â—â—â—n Earth his Interest Cauâ—e and Work which therefore should be â—aâ—nestly contenâ—ed for Iâ—ot The natural man receiveth not the things of GOD and theâ— are 〈◊〉 to him but Wisdom 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 â—â—â—â—dren That we plead for is CHRIST's Kingdom which is in opposition both to the proud aspirings of the Prelates and to the violent invasions of the Civil Powers We are therefore on CHRIST's side asserting that none in earth can institute new Officers in his House but those he hath appointed and that he hath appointed none higher than ordinary preaching Presbyters among whom he will have an equality observed which whosoever contradict with Diotrephes they lâ—ve the preeminence and Lord it over GOD's inheritance Phil. Though I will not fly so high with my pretensions in big words yet the issue of our Discourse will declare if I have not better grounds to assert Episcopacy to have descended from the Apostles and Apostolical timeâ— into all the Ages and corners of the Church who received it and that there is nothing in Scripture that contradicts â—uch an Institution But I shall â—efer the deciâ—ion of thiâ— to all impartial minds Basil. Truly when without a particular Examen I consider the whole matter in general I can see little to except against Episcopal Government that I cannot avoid the severe thoughts of suspecting the great aveâ—sion many have at it to be occasioned from the â—â—â—rit of contradiction is in many which lusâ—â—th to 〈◊〉 or from their opposition to these in Aâ—thority â—or I doubt not but if Presbytery had the same countenance from the Laws it should meet with the same contradiction from these who seem to adhere to no principle so firmly as to their resisting the Powers that are ordained of GOD. But the handling of this with that fulness and clearness which the noise made about it requires will take up more of our time than we can be now Masters of and may well claim a new Conference Therefore we shall remit any further discourse about it to our next meeting Isot. It is agreed to and I shall let you see that for all the Railings of these days Discourse my patience is yet strong enough to allow of another enterview though I confess my self weary of so much bad Company whose evil Communications are designed to corrupt my good Principles Phil. I confess my weariness is as great as yours though upon a very different account For I am â—urfeited of the Contention and heat hath been among us and long for an end of our Conferences upon these Heads which I shall now go through once for all being encouraged to meet with you again because this penance is near an end out of which if I were once extricated I am resolved to meddle in such contentious Themes no more Eud. Having swallowed the Ox we must not stick on the Rump It is true your Converse is extreamly agreeable yet my stomach begins to turn at so much disputing But I hope to morrow shall put an end to it And therefore I doubt not of your return to finish what you hitherto carried on And so a good night to you THE FOURTH CONFERENCE Isotimus I COME now upon our last Nights appointment to pursue this Conference to its end and to examine what these grounds are which endear Episcopacy to you so much especially considering the great disorders and conâ—usions its re-establishment among us hath occasioned For my part I cannot see what can reconcile the World to it much less what should enamour you so of it as to make you adhere to it notwithstanding all the evils spring from it and all these black Characters of GOD's displeasure are upon it which really appear so signally to me that it seems a fighting against GOD to adhere longer to it Phil. Truly you and I enter on this Sâ—bject with an equal surprize though upon very different accounts For I must tell you freely that after I have with all the application of mind and freedom of thoughts imaginable considered what could engage so many in this Island into so much zeal and rage against the Order I am not able to satisfie my self about it That venerable Order having such a native tendency for advancing of true Religion Peace Order and every thing that is excellent that the aversion and prejudices so many have drunk in against it seem as unjust as unconquerable and look like a part of GOD's controversie with us whereby we are blindly carried into so much unjustifiable zeal against that which if well managed might prove an excellent mean for reviving the power of Religion that hath suffered so great decays I shall not deny but on our part there have been great failings for which GOD's anger hangs over our heads and that he permits all this opposition we meet with for punishing us for our sins which have justly provoked GOD to make us base and contemptible in the sight of the people And this I hope shall be an effectual mean of humbling us and of purging us from our dross whereby this holy Order being again managed with the ancient Spirit may appear into the World in its Pâ—imitive lustre and be attended with the blessings that then followed it to the wonder and conviction of all men But let me add the opposition some firy spirits have given the establishment of Episcopacy deserves much of the blame of its being so little succesful in the great work of the Gospel for always bitter envy and strife produce confusion and every evil work therefore when you are to view Episcopacy in its amiable and lovely colors let me send you back to that cloud of witnesses who for the testimony of IESUS endured all manner of torments were torn by beasts slain by the sword burnt in the fire and in a word who preached the everlasting Gospel through the World How many Churches did these Bishops found with their labors in preaching and water not only with their tears but their blood how sublime was their piety how frevent were their Sermons how constant were their labors how strict was their discipline how zealous were they against heresies and how watchful against vice In a word read but the Histories and Writings of those great Worthies who were by the confession of all men Bishops and had more absolute Authority over the Inferior Clergy than is pretended to among us and then tell me if you have not changed your verdict of that order Have there been such men in the Christian World as were Ignatius Polycarp Iâ—â—naeus Cyprian Thaumaturg Athanasius Basil Nazianzen Martin Ambrose Chrysostome Augustin and
ought to be much more determined by the Laws of the Land which in all such matters have a power to bind our consciences to their obedience till we prove the matter of them sinful Now discover where the guilt lyes of fixing one over a Tract of ground who shall have the chief inspection of the Ministery and the greatest Authority in matters of Jurisdiction so that all within that Precinct be governed by him with the concurring votes of the other Presbyters if you say that thereby the Ministers may be restrained of many things which otherwise the good of the Church requires to be done I answer these are either things necessary to be done by divine precept or not if the former then since no power on earth can cancel the Authority of the divine Law such restraints are not to be considered But if the things be not necessary then the Unity and Peace of the Church is certainly preferable to them I acknowledge a Bishop may be tyrannical and become a great burden to his Presbyters but pray may not the same be apprehended from Synods And remember your friends how long it is since they made the same complaints against the Synods and the hazard of an ill Bishop is neither so fixed nor so lasting as that of a bad Synod For a Bishop may die and a good one succeed but when a Synod is corrupt they who are the major part are careful to bring in none but such as are sure to their way whereby they propagate their corruption more infallibly than a Bishop can do And what if the Lay ruling Elders should bend up the same plea against the Ministers who do either assume a Negative over them directly or at least do what is equivalent and carry every thing to the Presbytery Synod or General Assembly where they are sure to carry it against the Lay-Elders they being both more in number and more able with their learning and eloquence to confound the others But should a Lay-Elder plead thus against them We are Office-Bearers instituted by CHRIST for ruling the flock as well as you and yet you take our power from us for whereas in our Church Sessions which are of CHRIST's appointment we are the greater number being generally twelve to one you Ministers have got a device to turn us out of the power for you allow but one of us to come to your Synods and Presbyteries and but one of a whole Presbytery to go to a National Synod whereby you strike the rest of us out of our power and thus you assert a preeminence over us to carry matters as you please Now Isotimus when in your principles you answer this I will undertake on all hazards to satisfie all you can say even in your own principles Next may not one of the Congregational way talk at the same rate and say CHRIST hath given his Office-Bearers full power to preach feed and oversee the flock and yet for all that their power of overseeing is taken from them and put in the hands of a multitude who being generally corrupt themselves and lusting to envy will suffer none to outstrip them but are tyrannical over any they see minding the work of the Gospel more than themselves And must this usurpation be endured and submitted to And let me ask you freely what imaginable device will be fallen upon for securing the Church from the tyranny of Synods unless it be either by the Magistrates power or by selecting some eminent Churchmen who shall have some degrees of power beyond their brethren In a word I deny not but as in Civil Governments there is no form upon which great inconveniences may not follow so the same is unavoidable in Ecclesiastical Government But as you will not deny Monarchy to be the best of Governments for all the hazards of tyranny from it so I must crave leave to have the same impressions of Episcopacy Crit. But suffer me to add a little for checking Isotimus his too positive asserting of parity from the New Testament for except he find a precept for it his Negative Authority will never conclude it and can only prove a parity lawful and that imparity is not necessary I shall acknowledge that without Scripture warrants no new Offices may be instituted but without that in order to Peace Unity Decency and Edification several ranks and dignities in the same Office might well have been introduced whereby some were to be empowered either by the Churches choice or the Kings Authority as Overseers or inspectors of the rest who might be able to restrain them in the exercise of some parts of their functions which are not immediatly commanded by GOD. And you can never prove it unlawful that any should oversee direct and govern Churchmen without you prove the Apostolical function unlawful for what is unlawful and contrary to the rules of the Gospel can upon no occasion and at no time become lawful since then both the Apostles and the Evangelists exercised Authority over Presbyters it cannot be contrary to the Gospel rules that some should do it To pretend that this superiority was for that exigent and to die with that age is a mere allegation without ground from Scripture for if by our LORD's words it shall not be so among you all superiority among Churchmen was forbid how will you clear the Apostles from being the first transgressors of it And further if upon that exigent such superiority was lawful then upon a great exigent of the Church a superiority may be still lawful Besides it is asserted not proved that such an authority as S. Paul left with Timothy and Titus was to die with that age for where the reason of an appointment continues it will follow that the Law should also be coeval with the ground on which it was first enacted if then there be a necessity that Churchmen be kept in order as well as other Christians and if the more exalted their office be they become the more subject to corruption and corruptions among them be both more visible and more dangerous than they are in other persons the same parity of reason that enjoyns a Jurisdiction to be granted to Churchmen over the faithful will likewise determine the fitness of granting some excrescing power to the more venerable and approved of the Clergy over others neither is this a new Office in the House of GOD but an eminent rank of the same Office Isot. You study to present Episcopacy in as harmless a posture as can be yet that it is a distinct Office is apparent by the sole claim of Ordination and Iurisdiction they pretend to and by their consecration to it which shews they account it a second Order besides that they do in all things carry as these who conceit themselves in a Region above the Presbyters Phil. I am not to vindicate neither all the practices nor all the pretensions of some who have asserted this Order no more than you will do the
imaginable and indeed ought to be always accompanied with the advice and concurrence of the worthiest persons among the inferior Clergy But till you secure my fears of the greater part in all Societies becoming corrupt I shall not say by the major part of them but by the better part Isot. I see you run a high strain and far different from what was the discourse of this Countrey a year ago of an accommodation was inâ—ended wherein large offers seemed to be made but I now see by your ingenuous freedom that though for a while you who were called a great friend to that design were willing to yield up some parts of the Episcopal Grandeur yet you retain the â—oot of that Lordly ambition still in your heart and so though for some particular ends either to deceive or divide the LORDS people you were willing to make an appearance of yielding yet it was with a resolution of returning with the first opportunity to the old practices and designs of the Prelats of enhansing the Ecclesiastical Power to themselves and a few of their associats And this lets me see what reason all honest people have to bless GOD that these arts and devices took not for an Ethiopian cannot change his skin Phil. I confess to you freely I was a little satisfied with these condescentions as any of you and though they gave up the Rights of the Church to a peevish and preverse party whom gentleness will never gain and therefore am no less satisfied than you are that they did not take and so much the more that their refusing to accept of so large offers gave a new and clear character to the World of their temper and that it is a faction and the servile courting of a party which they design and not a strict adherence to the rules of conscience otherwise they had been more tractable Eud. Let me crave pardon to curb your humor a little which seems too near a kin to Isotimus his temper though under a different character For my part I had then the same sense of Episcopacy which I have just now owned But whâ—n I considered the ruines of Religion which our divisions occasioned among us and when I read the large offers S. Augustin made on the like occasion to the Donatists I judged all possible attempts even with the largest condescentions for an accommodation a worthy and pious design well becoming the gravity and moderation of a Bishop to offer and the nobleness of these in authority to second with their warmest endeavors for if it was blessed with success the effect was great even the setling of a broken and divided corner of the Church if it took not as it fully exonered the Church of the evils of the Schism so it rendered the enemies of Peace and Unity the more unexcusable Only I must say this upon my knowledg that whatever designs men of various sentiments fastened upon that attempt it was managed with as much ingenuity and sincerity as mortals could carry along with them in any purpose I know it is expected and desired that a full account of all the steps of that affair be made publick which a friend of ours drew up all along with the progress of it But at present my concern in one whom a late Pamphlet as full of falshoods in matters of fact as of weakness in point of reason hath mirepresented the case of Accommodation Page 31 shall prevail with me to give an account of a particular pasâ—ed in a Conference which a Bishop and two Presbyters had with about thirty of the Nonconformists at Pasley on the 14th of December in the year 1670. When the Bishop had in a long Discourse recommended Unity and Peace to them on the terms were offered he withal said much to the advantage of Episcopacy as he stated it from the rules and practices of the ancient Church offering to turn their Proâ—elyte immediately if they should give him either clear Scripture good reason or warrant from the most Primitive Antiquity against such Episcopacy And with other things he desired to know whether they would have joined in Communion with the Church at the time of the Council of Nice to carry them no higher or not for if they refused that he added he would have less heartiness to desire communion with them since of these he might say Let my soul be with theirs But to that a general answer was made by one who said He hoped they were not looked upon as either so weak or so wilful as to determine in so great a matter but upon good grounds which were the same that the asserters of Presbyterian Government had built on which they judged to be conform both to Scripture and Primitive Antiquity But for Scripture neither he nor any of the meeting offered to bring a Title only he alledged some differences betwixt the anciâ—nt Presidents as he called them and our Bishops But this was more fully enlarged by one who is believed to be among the most learned of the Party whose words with the answer given them I shall read to you as I take both from a Journal was drawn of that affair by one whose exactness and fidelity in it can be attested by some worthy spectators who read what he wrote after the Meeting was ended and Judged it not only faithful but often verbal And that he was so careful to evite the appearances of partiality that he seemed rather studious to be more copious in proposing what was said by these who differed from his opinion whereas he contracted much of what was said by these he favored The account follows Mr. said That he offered to make appear the difference was betwixt the present Episcopacy and what was in the ancient Church in â—ive particulars The first was that they had nâ— Archbishops in the Primitive Church It is true they had Metropolitans but in a Council oâ— Caâ—thage it was decreed that no Bishop should be â—allâ—d â—ummus Sacerdos or Princeps Sacerdoâ—um sed primae sedis Episcopus 2. The Bishops in the ancient Church were Parochial and not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but in every Village 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for even in Bethany we find there was a Bishop 3. Two Bishops might be in one Church such was not to mention Alexander and Narcissus at Jerusalem Augustin who with Valerius was ordained Bishop of Hippo. 4. Bishops were elected by their Presbyters so Jerome tells us that in Alexandria the Presbyters choosed one of their number to be Bishop and finally the Bishops were countable to and censurable by their Presbyters for either this must have been otherwise they could not have been censured at all For though we meet with some Provincial Synods in Church History as that of Carthage in Cyprians time for the rebaptizing of hereticks and that at Antioch against Samoâ—atenus yet these instances were rare and recurred seldom therefore there must have been a power in Presbyters to have censured their