which they had Power to give by Will to their Executors or Relations as they had need and they saw cause This is plain out of the Fortieth Canon of the Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The Goods of the Bishop are to be proper to himself and manifestly distinct from those of the Church and which are more peculiarly call'd the Lord's Goods That the Bishop may have Power at his Death to leave that part which is his own to whom he please and not under pretence of a title of Church Goods to have them entangled and lost especially if he have either a Wife or Children or Kindred or Houshold Servants These were not to be cut off and left in want by reason of the Church and occasion Curses upon the Bishop when he is dead And indeed how else had the Churches their Endowments and Provisions Temporal as Houses Gardens c. before the days of Constantine and which were by the Rules and Obligations of Christianity as their Freehold 't was Sacriledge the blackest Guilt to invade them and which Constantine only restored when preyed upon and spoiled by the Heathen Persecutors as Eusebius Hist Eccl. l. 10. c. 5. and we have the famous Case of this Nature in Paulus Samosetanus who when deposed for Heresie kept Possession of his Church-House till Aurelian the Emperor no Christian assisted the Catholicks and by force dispossessed him The heathen Power sometimes conniving at these Donations of the Christians and took not advantage of the Forfeitures their Laws gave them now and then countenancing them against Invaders but never by the Imperial Laws giving a full Settlement and Confirmation of them BUT then besides this another Portion § XIX was to be reserved by the Apostles and Bishops for the Necessities of the Poor and destitute People for the Bishops were not the Alms-Men themselves as they are now adays termed but the Treasurers and Trustees to receive and keep the like Provisions and dispose them at their Prudence thus the Goods were brought in and laid at the Apostles feet Acts 4.37 and the Complaint was made to the Apostles when the Grecian Widows were thought to be neglected and who determined that a new Order of Deacons should be constituted and appointed for this business the better and more impartial looking after the Poor Acts 6. and this continued course of Charity and Goodness is apparent in the succeeding Church-Practice Tertullian tells us they had Quoddam arcae genus a kind of Chest in which every Month or when they will or if they will and if they can every one puts in something and this to be expended not in Banquets and Gluttony but to sustain or bury such as died in Want Children destitute of Parents and the Maintenance of old Men such as suffer'd Shipwrack work'd in Metals were banished into Islands and such as were in Prison in the Thirty ninth Chapter of his Apology So also Justin Martyr who was earlier a little than he after the Holy Communion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Such as were rich and willing offered every Man what he pleased and it was deposited in the hand of the Bishop for the Relief of Orphans and Widows such as by Sickness or any other Accident were brought to want if in Bonds or Strangers and the care of all that were indigent in general was upon him St. Cyprian in his Book De Opere Elecmosynis will not allow him that is rich and abounding to keep the Lord's-Day at all if he passes by the Corban or Poor Man's Box Qui in Dominicum sine Sacrificio â—enâ—â— and comes into the Lord's House without a Sacrifice tying them up more strictly to that of St. Paul 1 Cor. 16.1 2. Now concerning the Collection for the Saints as I have given order to the Churches of Galâ—tia even so do ye Vpon the first day of the Week let every one of you lay up in store as God hath prospered him And 't is the Injunction of the One and fortieth Canon of the Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We Command that the Bishop have Power of the Goods of the Church to assist by the Presbyters and Deacons such as are in want and to care for his own Necessities if he have any and for the Brethren that are sustain'd by Hospitality that there be nothing wanting among any of them And suitably in the Eighth Canon Conc. 4. Gen. held at Chalcedon Care is there taken That if the Bishop be translated out of one See into another that he carry nothing with him of the Goods of his former Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whether of those belonged to the Martyrs or the Hospitals or the Entertainment of Strangers AND thus hath this Body or Association § XX its Duties and Offices in general and which every particular Member is concern'd in no one to be excepted as Occasion offers and Circumstances permit Now besides these there are Powers and Offices distinct and appropriated by Christ the Head and Fountain of what Power is devolved to particular Members such as never was design'd to be communicated in common and promiscuously neither can they without a ceasing of the Corporation its ruine and dissolution for if all the Body were the Head or the Eye where were the Foot it could not continue No Association can stand and preserve it self without special Officers and Governors invested with a solitary Power and Jurisdiction to keep and restrain every Member in those Bounds and Duties in the Confinement to and Performance of which the Association subsists all have their Stations and Services here some after this manner and some after that according to the measure of the Gift which is given and every one in their own order God is not the God of Confusion but of Peace as in all the Churches of the Saints a Power limited to Church-Officers only such as were at first thereunto called appointed and invested by Christ in his own Person or by his Succession Nor may any Member in common or barely as a Believer take unto himself this Honor and Function and the select Persons herein deputed were either the Apostles and Seventy appointed by our Saviour in Person or afterwards those Prophets Evangelists Pastors Teachers Eph. 4.11 with others then as occasion deputed according to the present reason of the Churches first Planting and Propagation by those more immediate Descents of the Holy Ghost And all which with the reason and design of them ceasing what Power was adjudged fit and useful to remain was afterwards devolved fixed and limited to the three Orders of Bishop Presbyter and Deacon and so to continue till the Power and the Kingdom is delivered up to the Father These three Orders I say still remain upon the Rolls of Antiquity in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Hieratical Priestly Order and Catalogue as 't is in 15 and 18 Canons of the Apostles And in others of those Canons in opposition to the Readers
used at their Enstalment There is no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 none of those solemn Services of Prayer and Invocation of the Spirit of God as Ordination was performed with and is so related by Zonaras in Can. 1. Apost no imposition of hands devolving and collating a new real Power and which is done at the Consecration of a Bishop Primacies have been many times translated not only as to Places and which Bishopricks have been but as to Persons from one Person to another and that not by Deposition as when Criminal and which indeed cannot be call'd Translation a thing usual in the Church by way of Discipline but when the same Bishop abides in his Chair and his Episcopal Power with him only the Primacy removed and which could not be by any Power whatsoever it would be equally Sacriledge to depose a Primate or Metropolitan as it is for a Bishop to degrade himself into the Order of a Presbyter Can. 29. Conc. Chalced. the Metropolitan has no more Power from his Orders than has the Bishop only the Metropolitan's Jurisdiction is larger and under other Circumstances And therefore as we read of a twofold Ecclesiastical Audience in the Affairs of Religion the one before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Bishop of the City who himself is Judge The other upon Appeals before a Synod of Bishops united under their Metropolitan this latter is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a greater Conflux of Bishops The original Power is one and the same in both only Circumstances alter the course of Proceeding it may be the Bishops own concern and so he not so fit to be the alone Judge And which Proceedings of the Church whoso please may read more at large and therein what sense she had between the Bishop and his Primate in the Comments of Jacob Gothofred upon the Sixteenth Theodosian Code Tit. 2. l. 23. And 't is easily observable by such as are Conversant in the Acts and Determinations of the Councils and Bishops of the Church about the Subordination of its Hierarchy that 't is no where contended for but in the sense now mentioned as the same Original Power enlarged a Precedency of Power retained by the Apostles over all the Churches of their own first Conversion and Planting and particularly deputed by St. Paul to Timothy and Titus in Ephesus and Crete and which is a Platform still obliging in general and immutable admitting the Church to continue in that sense Catholick i. e. not to be limited again to one House or Congregation or even City and which may easily be granted where the Church under the like Circumstances is to be governed and that it did actually continue so all along downward 'T is as certain there was a Prerogative in those Churches in the Sixth Council of Nice whether Patriarchical or Metropolitical only the design of this Discourse does not now exact an enquiry and so Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History Lib. 5. cap. 23. there giving an account of the Convention of several Synods of Bishops in their respective Districts about the keeping of Easter and which was earlier than the Council of Nice as of Palestine Rome c. Tells us also how every Epistle ran in the Name of their particular Governor or Head as Theophilus of Caesarea Narcissus of Hierusalem Victor of Rome Irenaeus of France and Palmas of Pontus who as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 did preside as the most ancient Bishop of the Diocess but as to the particular Seats of this Power and in which these Metropolitans did reside is not the thing any farther worth the considering then as the certainty of the Power as always actually in the Church is thereby made evidently known unto us and Palmas might have the Prerogative in that particular Synod whether for his Age or whatever else accidental Motive though not Amastris his Episcopal See but Heraclea was the constant Metropolis of Pontus as Vallesius there notes unto us the assignment of Places and of Persons Judicatures and Primates depends purely upon occasion and the present Circumstance and have been still appropriated and fixed either at the Discretion of the Clergy themselves and by the Laws and Canons Ecclesiastical and suitably the first and famous Council at Nicea in her sixth and seventh Canons confirms and settles those four first and known Primacies of Alexandria Rome Antioch and Aelia or Jerusalem as what before was received and submitted to in the ancient Practice and Usages of the Church and for which as not having any antecedent right but as bottom'd alone on the Church Sanction and Reception Peter de Marca contends De Concord lib. 1. cap. 3. and the Confirmation were by Canon were impertinent was the Right fixed antecedently inseparable and immutable So also the general Council at Constantinople Can. 2. appoints that no Bishop goes beyond the Bounds of his Diocese in his Ordinations or other Administrations c. or else this was done at the Discretion and Pleasure of the Empire when become Christian and that either by establishing in Law what the Church had pre-assigned as to those four great Churches just now mentioned Novel 135. or else by translating the See as Reasons and Motives appeared and were pressing Thus Justinianea Prima a City in Pannonia Secunda and after call'd Bulgaria was made a Metropolitan by Justinian the Emperor invested with all the Priviledges Pre-eminences and Jurisdictions in such the Provinces subjected to it as had old Rome because it was the Place and City of the Emperor's Birth and is therefore reckoned among those Churches which are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 govern themselves and are Independent by Balsamon in Can. 2. Constantinop all which Privileges did once belong to Firmium a City in Illiricum till the Civil Government remov'd to Thessalonica upon the inrode made by Attila King of the Huns and the Bishop there upon pretence of the chief seat of Government had it settled on him and so remained till this occasional removal by Justinian as is to be seen in the Preface to his 11. Novel and Nov. 131. cap. 4. And Theodosius Translated the Primacy from Antioch to Laodicaea because the People of Antioch in a Sedition overthrew and offer'd farther violence and contumely to the Statue of Flaccilla his Empress As Theodorit Eccl. Hist lib. 5 c. 20. so that 't is plain what first fixed and again removed these Primacies though for the most part they still went along with the Civil Government and the chief Seats of Judicatures and the Civil and Ecclesiastical Government was in the same place the both Canons of the Church and Laws of the State having respect thereunto Hence the greatness and transcendency of Rome in particular Cui propter Potentiorem Principalitatem necesse est omnem Ecclesiam convenire there was a Necessity that every Church went thither as the more Potent Principality as Irenaeus l. 3. Cont. Heres cap. 3. and to the same purpose St. Cyprian after him Pro Magnitudine sua
Priesthood is one and the same in all and this shall not be called the chief Priest and that a Priest less Perfect but all are equally Priests all equally Bishops as who all have equally receiv'd the Gift of the Holy Spirit the Metropolitan Bishop as having the first Chair with addition shall be called Bishop Metropolitan or which seems mostly apposite for a present Conclusion if any thing can be more than that which is already brought in the sense of those three Bishops Can 8. Conc. Gen. Ephes Whatsoever is nominated contrary to the Ecclesiastical Laws and the Canons of the Holy Fathers and which toucheth the common liberty of Christians is to be renounced and rejected § XXVII I shall now therefore resume what I have already laid down and prov'd at large that those of the Bishop are the full Orders every one instance of Power design'd for the standing lasting use of the Church is in his and consequently is he uppermost in the Church can there be no one branch or design of Power above and beyond him this his Power in some instances of it hath been by consent and for weighty Reasons moving intermitted and suspended in the execution as to the Persons of particular Bishops where the Church increased and multiplied into various Bishopricks and occasions grew and causes arose betwixt one and the other or sometimes arose in one alone and within it self which could not be heard and determined but by different Persons thus Metropolitans were constituted but with no new Power which was not in Episcopacy nor was there any new Consecration only so much devolved upon one for the occasional business An occasion of which we have in part set down by Hosius in the entrance of the Council of Carthage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. if by chance an angry Bishop though such an one ought not to be is over-sharp against a Presbyter or Deacon or over-sudden care is to be taken for better satisfaction and he may appeal to a neighbour-neighbour-Bishop who is not to deny him audience And that Bishop who first gave Sentence whether right or wrong is to bear the Examination and his Animadversions to be either confirmed or corrected as occasion or else the Bishop derives so much of this Power to the two Orders below him as the Presbyter and Deacon whose Power is more solemnly conveigh'd by laying on of Hands and Prayer and then conferr'd so fixing a Character indelible save only by that Power which devolved it and upon a succeeding Guilt and which for themselves to lay down and desert is Sacriledge and these sent out by the Bishop as is the Harvest great or small so more or less in number in subjection to and dependency upon him So that the standing Church Officers are these the Metropolitan which is only a Bishop with larger Jurisdiction and with the execution of a Power the Bishop has not and the naked Bishop with his Presbyter and Deacon in the ordinary course of officiating in order to Salvation and which three or some one or more of them as is the occasional Service are still to be present and in their spheres and courses according to their several proper Provinces and Offices as already described and particularized to attend and officiate in each Holy Assembly in every Congregation that is Publick and Christian where the Worship and Service of God is so performed as by the rules of the Gospel is order'd and appointed Thus Tertullian among the many absurdities of his time reckons up this Laicis munia sacerdotalia injunâ—unt the Lay-men undertake the Priestly office De Praescript cap. 41. the 〈…〉 the People united Sacerdoti suo to their Priest and a Flock with their Pastor Cypr. lib. 4. Ep. 9. that is no Church quae non habet Sacerdotem which has no Priest as St. Jerom. adv Luciferianos And he that reads over St. Austin's Sermon super gestis cum Emerito Donatist Episcopo Col. 631. will there find a great many Divine Services and all without acceptance and advantage because thus extra Ecclesiam without the Church no one belonging to the Priesthood there officiating for them The Church of God is either Episcopatus unus Episcoporum multorum concordi numerositate dâ—ffusus as St. Cyprian again speaks Ep. 52. that one Episcopacy diffused and overspreading the World in the Union and Concord of its numerous Bishops and these either make a general Council or are under their several Metropolitans and are the Church representative or else it is in Episcopo clero omnibus stantibus constituta as Cyprian again Ep. 27. Cum Episcopis Presbyteris Diaconis stantibus Ep. 31. in the Bishop and Clergy the Presbyter Deacon and Laity the latter expressed by the stantes the People standing without in the time of officiating according to the ancient Ecclesiastical Custom And so also Optatus lib. 1. adv Parmen Donatist speaks of Bishops Presbyters and Deacons and turbam fidelium the Believers in general Si tantummodo Christianus es hoc est non Apostolus Tertul. adv Marc. cap. 2. such as were Christians at large and not Publick Officers nor of the Priesthood and this as Members of a particular Church Parish or Congregation or however as relating to the publick Service of God to be discharged by all Christians and which cannot duly be perform'd without the Bishop in Person or in his Proxies by his Power lodged in the Presbyter or Deacon Thus he is called a Schismatick that erects an Altar without the consent of the Bishop Can. 3. Apost even though the Confession of Faith is otherwise sound If thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if thus dividing from and meeting against his Autority Can. 6. Conc. gen Constantinop the very Clergy themselves are not to administer in their Oratories without license had of the Bishop Can. 31. Conc. 6. in Trullo And to the same purpose is Schism again desined a recession from the Bishop erecting an Altar against an Altar Can. 13 14 15. Conc. 1 2. Constantin Can. 57. Conc. Carthag and Can. 6. Conc. Gangrens as the Church is there defined a Congregation of the Faithful with their Bishop so is it there peremptorily determined that the Anathema or Curse is due to those that privately and apart from these do convene and congregate themselves Nor is it Schism only but Heresie also so reputed by the imperial Constitution Sacram Communionem in Ecclesia Catholica non percipientes à Deo amabilibus Episcopis Hereticos justè vocamus We justly call them Hereticks that do not receive Communion in the Catholick Church from the Bishops which are beloved of God for as such they were then look'd upon and that more eminently than others in the then Christian account and it was the Bishop's common Epithete Deo amabiles Episcopi however the opinion and style of them is now alter'd Justinian Novel 109. Praefat. And now these Church-Officers being thus set out and enumerated what their peculiar
Constitutiones Ecclesiasticae 1597. ut homines idonei ad sacros ordines admittantur IT were needless Pains to insist on and § IV shew the particular judgment of our Church Whether this Power be in her Pastors alone exclusive to as the People so the Prince also the Rubricks in the Common-Prayer Book suppose and farther invest all Offices there in the Hieratical Order what ever relate to the Divine Worship and Service and which are by them alone to be perform'd the Prjest is still distinguished from the People or Laity nor is the Prince there considered but as of the Laity in attendance in Common with the other Worshippers and to be sure in the Book of Ordination 't is the Bishop lays on Hands and Consecrates he the origin and head of all Power derived whether to Bishop Presbyter or Deacon and in what degree soever of Power it is that is given That Person which by open denunciation of the Church is rightly cut off from the Vnity of the Church and excommunicate ought to be taken of the whole multitude of the Faithful as an Heathen and Publican until he be openly reconciled by Penance and received into the Church by a Judg that hath Autority thereunto as among the Articles of Religion 1562. Article 33. and this Judg is neither Chancellor Official nor Commissary c. but a Bishop or Presbyter the Arch-Deacon cannot do it if not a Presbyter and but in Deacon's Orders in these alone is the Power of both retaining and absolving in the Articuli pro clero 1584. and the libri quorundam Canonum c. and in the constitutiones Ecclesiasticae 1597. and all set out by Queen Elizabeth he that would once for all be satisfied what is the sense of our Church let him but once read over our seven and thirthieth Article of Religion together with the occasion of it and he must be convinced that her Judgment is on our side however 't is received whether as Orthodox or Erroneous by him Among other Articles agreed upon by the Bishops and other learned Godly Men in the Convocation held at London 1552. this was one The King of England is supreme Head in Earth next under Christ of the Church of England and Ireland Many bad Inferences were made and sinister Consequences affixed and particularly that the King was declared a Priest impower'd to administer in Divine Service In the Reign of Queen Elizabeth 1561. and till which time during the Reign of Queen Mary the Objection to be sure had been urged sufficiently and improved a Convocation being called and Articles agreed upon by the arch-Arch-Bishops and Bishops of both Provinces and the whole Clergy in the 37th Article and in answer to the Objection they more fully explain themselves in these Words and declare The Queens Majesty hath the chief Power in this Realm of England and other her Dominions unto whom the chief Government of all Estates of this Realm whether they be Ecclesiastical or Civil in all Causes do appertain and is not nor ought not to be subject to any foreign Jurisdiction Where we attribute to the Queens Majesty the chief Government by which Titles we understand the Minds of some dangerous Folk to be offended We give not our Princes the ministring either of God's Word or of the Sacraments the which thing the Injunctions also lately set forth by Elizabeth our Queen do most plainly testifie but that only Prerogative which we see to have been given always to all Godly Princes in holy Scripture by God himself that is that they should rule all Estates and Degrees committed to their Charge by God whether they be Ecclesiastical or Temporal and restraining with the Civil Sword the stubborn and Evil doers AND this is all is laid claim to by our § V Princes themselves and that the Statute-book or any other claim of theirs entitles to and invests them withal in the late collection of Articles Canons c. made by Anthony Sparrow now Lord Bishop of Norwich I meet with nothing done by King Henry VIII save what is mentioned by King Edward VI. in the entrance to his Injunctions 1547. and which are there transcribed with his own additions the design and end of which is only to procure publick and general obedience to the Laws and Duties of true Religion and that every Man truely observe them as they will avoid his Displeasure and Penalties annexed All that Henry VIII got by the submission of the Clergy in the five and twentieth year of his reign cap. 19. was this as there set down in the Statute That the Clergy would not for the time to come assemble in convocation without the King 's Writ That they would not enact promulge or execute any new Canons Constitutions Ordinance provincial or other or by whatsoever Name they shall be called in Convocation unless the King 's Royal license be had his Assent and Consent in that behalf That all Canons Constitutions before made prejudicial to the King's Prerogative Royal repugnant to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm or overmuch onerous to the Subject be abrogated and of no value all other standing in their full strength and power the King's Assent first had unto them The meaning of all which appears only to be this That nothing relating to Church-Affairs and Proceedings is to be made Law or to be proceeded for or against in any outward Court whatever in a forensick judicial way but by the leave and autority of the King without his Royal Assent first had and his hand set to it And this is that Title of the supreme Head of the Church of England which he hereupon assum'd to himself and which some little time afterwards confirm'd to him in full Parliament his Heirs and Successors the Power of the Church it self is not at all abated as purely such and from our Saviour only brought to a dependency upon the King which before was upon the Bishop of Rome and who had exercised here that headship and still claims it § VI AND that this was really all the King then aim'd at by the submission of the Clergy viz a Right and Supremacie of Inspection over all Persons in all Causes within his Realms and Dominions and that no Pleas of Religion or the service of Christ is to exempt them from the judicial Cognizance and Jurisdiction of their Prince this will appear more plain and evident by the several Proceedings and Acts concerning Church-Affairs made by this King in that 19 cap. and five and twentieth year of his Reign where the submission of the Clergy is turned into an Act and in the several Acts ensuing in all which it does not appear that he ever assumed to himself and exercised any other than such like external Power and Autority in spiritual Matters he intermedles not with any one Instance of Priestly Power as purely such but on the contrary cautions with Clauses and Preventions lest any such thing should be or be supposeable so
be in part a great untruth and both Athanasius Synod Nicen. Cont. heres Arian decreta p. 277 278. Ed. paris et Ep. de Synod Arimini et Seleuciae p. 889. Ep. ad ubique Orthodoxos c. p. 943. and Theodorit Eccl. hist l. 1. c. 5. 12. refer them to the Writings of the eminent Bishops and Doctors who lived an hundred and twenty years before the Synod of Nice and then used this Word Consubstantial in explaining the Divinity of the Father and the Son and 't is what Sandius in effect confesses only he thinks it for the dishonor of the Cause that all the Hereticks that were in the Church before Arius were Homousians hist Enucleat l. 1. and which in truth is only this the worst of Hereticks did not arrive to that height of impudence as to deny so received an acknowledgment in the universal Church Yet what Athanasius replyes upon Arius himself Tom. 1. disputat cum Ario pag. 134. making the Objection is a better answer here that what was in the Council asserted and declared was alwaies in the Scriptures by way of consequence and occasion was not given the Church till the rise and spreading of that Heresie for that particular and precise explication Heresies and Novelties must be and 't is the work of Councils to detect and determine against them but there would be mad work in the Church should that go for Innovation which an upstart Heresie forces the Church in new Terms to state and declare against and explain themselves thereby it must be declamed against as defective in Autority and Precedents because former Doctors had not sagacity enough the very Apostles had not Spirit of Prophecy enough to anticipate the Fictions of every Brain so to word it before-hand that the particular Heresie in its Nicety must be antidated and pre-abide upon Record bassled and contradicted He that reads over St. Jerome lib. 1. Cont. Jovinianum will find him there so urging Chastity as if Marriage it self was a sin and which that Father never design'd as his Opinion and Dailee confesses that he only speaks comparatively and is so to be understood as do and are to be many more of the Fathers cap. 5. de usu patrum though he will not allow it him in other Cases and when to serve his own particular Design of him I mean as to his Judgment of Episcopacy and will have his Epistle ad Evagrium and his Comments on Titus to the same purpose to be absolute and with no regard to those great even just Provocatious from the Bishops in preferring the Deacon before the Presbyters who as he well argues are of so much more Power and higher Order in the Church as that a Bishop is oft call'd a Presbyter in Scripture and Antiquity when so injurious were the Bishops to the Presbyters and so partial to the Deacons and indulgent that the Deacons scorn'd the Presbyters Order qui ignorantes humilitatem status sui ultra Sacerdotes hoc est Presbyteros intumescunt 〈◊〉 putent si Presbyter ordinetur Their nearer attendance on the Bishops Person and familiarity with him with other advantages attending occasioned that they found it an Injury to be promoted to the Presbyters Order as he tells us Comment in Ezek. cap. 48. and which together with the great superciliousness and insulting pride of John Bishop of Jerusalem exercized over him and giving some disturbance to his Monastick ease in the holy Land Ep. 60 61. something raised his spleen and in vindicating his own Order he spared not some little flourishes or Arguments abating of the Episcopate if thereby these indecencies might cease What effects all this had at that time we read not and that it was afterwards lookt upon by the Church as his alone Passion and particular Provocation we have all the reason in the World to believe it all ceased with his Person to be sure if not with the Passion nor do we find any one follower he had or is his Autority ever used against the solitary appropriated Power of a Bishop above a Presbyter 'till of late in these parts of Christendom who thence take the rise for their Schism and 't is the ground they stand upon for the battery and abolishing the whole Order and with-drawing their obedience and which to be sure St. Jerome never did nor attempted and herein they are particularly unlucky they beat down Bishops by St. Jerome's Autority to bring in their Schism and 't is the main Argument they still urge against them in the height of these Divisions and Distractions are now on foot in Europe and then too when they contend that St. Jerome knew no other occasion or use of Bishops but ad tollenda Schismata because Schisms and Divisions cannot be kept out of the Church but by them So that St. Jerome's Autority if any thing in their present Case must be against them and if complying with him they must for the present expedience submit unto Bishops whom they 'l allow to have acknowledged this necessity and usefulness of them what ever reasons else he saw for their institution and continuance 'T is that which Doctor Durel pleads for Arch-Bishop Cranmer that admitting him guilty of Erastianism and he did resolve the Power of the Keys into the Prince as Doctor Stillingfleet says he was and did his present Circumstances will plead much for him and the other Doctors of his time if of the same mind then with him he had been educated in many Errors with which the Church the whole Age at that time abounded and though a Reformation was on foot no wonder if in some Instances he was in the wrong 't was then their work to abdicate the Bishop of Rome and case him of that Primacy and usurpation he had exercised over this Church and it might so happen that in giving to the King what was his he abated too much of the Power of the Priesthood and the Church and which was hers and not to be given to any other and yet even this Error did he see at last acknowledged it to Doctor Leighton submitted to and subscribed the truth against it as the Dean of Windsor tell us he read it in Doctor Stillingfleet's Manuscript and in his presence And there is enough to be pleaded of this nature in the behalf of those inconsiderable Offers are made against our three eminent Bishops Whitgift Bilson and Bancroft and which will so thoroughly acquit them of the but suspition of Erastianism that the Bill must in course be flung out that is drawn up against them every one knows that is conversant in those their Writings whence Parker's Objections are taken The Point under debate was mostly very near altogether in King Henry VIII day 's betwixt the King and the Pope whether was supreme in the forensick outward Ecclesiastical Courts and Proceedings on the Persons of Men within this his Majesties Kingdom the Pope had usurped it for some time the King reassumes it Religion
OF THE SUBJECT OF Church-Power In whom it Resides It s Force Extent and Execution that it Opposes not Civil Government in any one Instance of it Nec sic tamen quamvis novissimis temporibus in Ecclesia Dei aut Evangelicus nigor cecidit aut Christianae virtutis aut fidei robur elanguit ut non supersit portio Sacerdotum quae minimè ad has rerum ruinas aut fidei Naufragia succumbat sed fortis habilis honorem divinae Majestatis Sacerdotalem dignitatem plenâ timoris observatione tucatur Cypr. Ep. 68. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theodos Imperator apud Theodoritum Eccles Hist lib. 5. cap. 18. By SIMON LOWTH Vicar of Cosmus Blene in the Diocess of CANTERBVRY London Printed for Benj. Tooke at the Ship in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1685. TO THE READER 'T IS now full two years and upward since that huge din and noise Pannick almost and universal has been in London and elsewhere occasioned by this Treatise and it has with a forcible hand by threats and awes from thence to this day been either with-held from or in the Press insomuch that thô actually conceived and come to the Birth there wanted strength to bring forth my purpose is not to make much Apology in its behalf it comes abroad of Age natus cum barbâ as the Jews say of Esau after a course of Studies upon full Thoughts and a thorow Consideration though hastened as thus digested by a Sermon I met with Preached by John Tillotson Doctor of Divinity and Dean of Canterbury and is to speak for it self and if upon a due perusal the usefulness and seasonableness of the Subject matter together with the integrity of the Collector and which is here professed will not avouch it what can or why should I say any more I am content to fall and shall submit I do not pretend to be the best Composer in the World or above the reach of an Aristarchus and so let the Hypercritical and over-nice pick a Quarrel with it if they please I hope the best and that as in those fears called Pannick and where the Jealousie and Passion is vehement and subitaneous so here the Grounds on which some have already excepted against it will appear rather assumed than real an effect only of the Imaginative faculty and which is many times dismal till by reason corrected 'T is that which St. Jerome urges and aggravates against John Bishop of Jerusalem in his Epistle ad Pammachium adversus errores Johannis Hierosolymitani that when accused of the Errors of Origen and Arius and was expected to have Purged himself he Preach'd only against the Anthropomorphites a certain sort of obscure ignorant Monks who out of a Rustick Simplicity believed God to have the Parts and Members of a Man accordingly as spoken sometimes in Scripture who influenced none and perished within themselves I may here safely conclude my self secure against such an impertinency and indiscretion the Adversary I now engage against is neither ignorant nor obscure his repute for Knowledge is the same as his Conspicuity and that is with Absolom and his Fathers Concubines on the House top in the sight of all Israel and the Sun has passed both Press and the Pulpit and is now in each almost Gentleman's Parlour and Tradesmens Shop and in the Mouths of all Men and he were to be wished to be less in our Divines Studies And after those hotter Controversies in these Western Parts of the Christian World As whether church-Church-Power be originally lodged in the Person of the Bishop of Rome or in all and each of the Bishops of Christendom or in each single Presbyter or as the less considerable in every Believer 't is now concluded to be purely Secular men roundly and making no Bones run away with it and no more than the Prince's Pleasure is to be enquired after nor are any Persons or Functions to be accounted Sacred in order to the things of Heaven but by his Separation or is there any visible Power on this side Heaven but by his collating Nor is the Subject trivial or inconsiderable and without influence upon Mankind 't is that Christ Jesus had a Power all Power in Heaven and Earth once given him of the Father for the bringing Souls to Heaven this very Power first in him after descended to his Apostles and from them to their Succession the Bishops and Pastors of the Church and is to remain in and with them and their Persons apart and separate from all other Power Government and Jurisdiction till the end cometh and this Kingdom is delivered up to the Father so long is it to be visible and in force under what frowns and oppositions soever thô the Kings of the Earth stand up and the Rulers take Council against it And this is all I here represent to the World and which not by any Publick Autority God be thanked the case is not so with us but by a set of Men has been thus opposed and who seem to be somewhat whatsoever they be it matters not to me I have always learn'd Obedience but 't is to them that are my Governors but who are these neither shall I give place by Subjection to them no not an hour so peculiar is my case in an Age of Liberty when the Statute for Printing is expired and the Government has not thought fit to re-enforce it when every Sect and Party Scribbles and Publishes and a Treatise purely and solely stating and defending our Religion established by Law is brow-beaten and a total Suppression is to the utmost endeavoured I know they say 't is not the subject in general but my Animadversions upon the two Deans Doctor Stillingfleet and Doctor Tillotson they set themselves and contend against and pray how does this mend the matter or is not these Mens Zeal for the Church of England bulky and active to the purpose when its issue is this that the Names and Writings of two particular Men and which must be in so much less esteem and as false as they discountenance and are against our Church and whose Tenents so far as here impleaded they dare not openly Plead for must be untoucht and uncanvassed or else the state of the Church not medled with its Power and Autority be diminish'd and exposed by others by who so pleases and no Man defend it it is not to be duly and fairly represented to the World for their Information or Instruction unless there be an exempt and indemnity to such those two to thwart and oppose it as they shall think fit or give themselves advantages thereby from their Party and such their Autorities stand unquestioned as in Capital Letters to affront and confute all so soon as Published the Proposal must be both ridiculous and unreasonable at once or how can any man undertake to make but this one instance at present to vindicate our Church from Erastianism and that her Reformation did not enstate all Church-Power even in Edward
are of or are esteemed in such the Church and then what astonishment must it be to good minded Men what even Epicurism to Evil that do now or shall hereafter read or hear the great and received Names of Tillotson and Stillingfleet these following Positions That all Church-Power as from Christ has ceased with Miracles and is to be accounted so to have done That Christ Jesus is not to be Preached if the Magistrate and Law forbid it That to pretend a Power to Preach as from Christ and not to go into Spain or Turky and there Preach is gross Hypocrisie That 't was the Sense of Bishop Cranmer c. and the Bottom and Principle on which he and the other Bishops proceeded on in the Reformation and was after made Law in the Kingdom That the King has a Power to Ordain Bishops to Baptize to Excommunicate and do all Pastoral Offices in his own Person or devolve it on others and this is not only from a mistaken M SS but by unfaithful Copying it out and representing it to the World and which brings more guilt occasioning it to be Printed thus Imperfect among the Records of the Church in Doctor Burnet's Church History and abusing the House of Commons to a Publick Approbation of it giving to the Church of Rome what their Emissaries have all along been still gibing us with and fathering upon us but till by you repelled with Scorn That it hath been the continued Judgment of our succeeding Bishops ever since That a Bishop's Power is not solitary and apart from that of a Presbyter with many more of the like Nature And for the severing these your private Opinions and particular Errors from the Doctrines of the Church of God and rescuing her from the great Scandal of them she must or may undergo I have engaged in that so laborious a Work began at our Saviour and his Apostles descended by the Bishops Doctors and Fathers of the Church Catholick the Church Historians Councils and Laws Imperial our own particular Church Canons Rubricks Book of Ordination our own Doctors and Writers in their times the Injunctions and Declarations of our Princes the Statute-Book of our Kingdom all which come in as one Evidence against them you have still time to do it and right your selves and satisfie the Church of God in your own Persons removing the reproach occasioned by you in an acknowledgment of the Error for my Book is not yet in the Press and which if you 'l engage to do I do here indent back again to expunge whatever concerns or but mentions you in it If not I must do you and the Church of God right and will but if upon this fair and Christian notice you shall not think meet to retract these your Assertions that I have animadverted upon yet I shall acquit my self to the World that I have done what my Conscience and sense of Duty and Obligation arising from my Profession has engaged me to I cannot think a concern for the Honour and Reputation of one or two Persons though seeming to be somewhat and Pillars ought to be esteem'd as that of the whole Church of God or that I ought to put their private concerns into the bottom with it I am Sir Your humble Servant Simon Lowth May 1. 1683. THE CONTENTS The Introduction THe Occasion of this Discourse Sect. 1. Not the Power and Offices of the Church but their Subject is what mostly exercises the Age Sect. 2. Whether the Power be originally in Believers in Common or in the Secular Prince in Particular or in a certain Definite Number of Believers the Bishops and Pastors of the Church Sect. 3. The Design of the Whole and its Three General Heads Sect. 4. CHAP. I. CHurch Power is not in the People either as a Body in General or as one Single Congregation Sect. 1. This Power must first evidence it self to be given from God e're executed on or derived to others Holiness in its Nature does not infer it The Priesthood not made Common before the Law under it or the Gospel Admit that first Right by Nature to all Things and Offices 't was to be sure afterwards limited and those that lay it open again must shew by what Autority they do it Otherwise Fanaticks in the sense of St. Jerome Sect. 2. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 infers no such Power Sect. 3. The Peoples concurrency gives no Power even where their Votes are pretended to in the New Testament Sect. 4. Election and Vocation differ from Ordination in the Practice of our Saviour and first Ages of the Church still expressed by several words Sect. 5. The Votes of the People give no Power but yet are necessary because none is given without them both the People and Pastors are Christ's Vicars in the Case So Beza Blondel Sect. 6. Our Saviour's Practice and the Apostles are against them Sect. 7 8. That the People were not always at Elections Blondel allows He is contrary to himself Their Votes never reputed necessary and at last excluded quite by reason of the Riots and Disorders in them Sect. 9. The concurrency of 12 Centuries down from the Apostles amount to a Divine Right Blondel's failure of it His injury to his Friends In what case Apostolical Ecclesiastical Practice is not immutable The ill Consequences attending his Power given to the People His Malice to the Order of Bishops Disreputing Christianity it self 'T is unpardonable in the French Reformation imposing their present harder necessity for our pattern The Deacon and Presbyter under the Bishop but neither in Subordination to the People Sect. 10. And this they do in point of Episcopacy also And we must have no Bishops in England because they have none in France and which is promoted by the advantage of the Rebellion and Schism among us Blondel offer'd his Service before to the Bishops of England but then he Prints his Apologia pro Hieronymo Dedicates it to the Rump Parliament and Assembly-Men Is nauseous in his Flatteries of both Commends the Scotch Covenant Is rude upon Bishops Soliciting their Ruine This the Sense of the Divines on that side the Sea Salmasius raves just so The Independents murder'd the King The Bishops not the Authors of all Heresies as black-mouth'd Baxter Andrew Rivet and so does Dailee Ignatius suffers for it He and Marcian and Valentinius compared Their few Complements does not acquit them We only lose by our Charity towards them The disadvantage thereby from our own Members The late Replyer upon Bishop Pearson and Doctor Beveridge is the same The late Letters from Paris Sect. 11. The People are only Witnesses of the good lifes of the Ordained Blondel's own Collection and the Autority of Cyprian is all along against him The Church Canons Our Ordinations at home The nature of the thing it self Sect. 12 13. The People are not to choose or refuse their Pastor as Blondel rudely and unreasonably contends with his usual Malice against Bishops and our
Mr. Selden so much admires it must blemish our Saviour much to say he purposely call'd together a Church and design'd it none of its own to preserve it Sect. 4. The Jews Excommunication was not bodily Coercive and then there may be such a Punishment an Obligation to Obedience without force and that is not outward and this much more in the Christian Society Sect. 5. And this their Government abstracted from the Civil Magistrate is an Essay of Christ's Government so far of the same Nature to come into the World Sect. 6. The Christian Church might be both from Caesar and Christ as was the Jewish from God and Caesar and there is no thwarting The Jews and Christians distinct Sect. 7. In answer to his main Objection That all Government must be of this World Sect. 8. It is replied To assert Christ to have such a Kingdom is to thwart his design of coming into the World the whole course of his Actions and Government and those Ancients that expected him to come and Rule with them on Earth yet did not believe it to be accomplished till after the Resurrection Sect. 9. To say he therefore has no Power at all is as wide of Truth the way of Men in Error to run from one extreme to another and of Mr. Selden here Sect. 10. The Church is a Body of a differing Nature from others Sect. 11. With differing Organs and Members of its own in Subordination to one another Sect. 12. With different Offices and Duties Gifts and Endowments these either Common to all Believers or limited to particular Persons Sect. 13. As Christians in common they had one Faith into which Baptized and of which Confession was made the Apostles Creed and other Summaries of Faith and sound Doctrine Interrogatories in Baptism How Infants perform it Sect. 14. They had one and the same Laws and Rules for Obedience for which they Covenanted which is their Baptismal Vow the Abrenunciation of the World the Flesh and Devil Sect. 15. One Common Worship and Service and Religious Performance to God in their Assemblies the particular Offices and Duties there the Priest and People officiate interchangeably as in Tertullian Justin Martyr c. Sect. 16. Common Duties and Services as to God so to one another in supplying one anothers Necessities as occasion Sect. 17. In the supply of such as attended at the Altar by a Common Purse deposited in the hands of the Bishop Sect. 18. Of the Poor and Indigent whose Treasurer was the Bishop Sect. 19. The Power Offices and Duties not promiscuous but limited to particular Persons are those of the Ministry distributed into the three standing Orders of Bishop Presbyter and Deacon and which make up that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Gospel Priesthood to remain to the Restitution Sect. 20. This Power and Jurisdiction though limited to and residing in these three yet it is not in each of them alike in the same degree force and virtue the Deacon is lowest the Presbyter next the Bishop the full Orders and Vppermost Supreme and including all Sect. 21. Against this Primacy of Bishops that of Metropolitans Exarchy Patriarchy and the Supremacy of Rome is objected Sect. 22. The Metropolitan c. is in some Cases above the Bishop but not in the Power of the Priesthood 't is the same Power enlarged No new Ordination in Order to it Sect. 23. The Vniversal Primacy of the Bishop of Rome is but Pretended not bottom'd on either the Scriptures or Fathers or Councils Sect. 24. 25 26. The Bishops Superiority or full Orders and Power in the Church is reassumed and farther asserted He with his Presbyter or Deacon or some one of them are to be in every Congregation for the Presbyter or Deacon or both to assemble the People and Officiate and not under him is Schism The several instances of this Power of the Priesthood Sect. 27. To Preside in the Assemblies Pray give Thanks for Teach and Govern there No Extempore Prayers in those Assemblies Sect. 28. To Administer the Sacraments the Consecration of the Lords Supper by Prayer and Thanksgiving and Attrectation of the Elements Baptism by Lay-Persons Rebaptizations on what terms in the Ancient Church Confirmation Sect. 29. To Vnite and Determine in Council The use of Councils and Obligation Their Autority Declarative Autoritative Sect. 30. To impose Discipline the several instances and degrees of it in the Ancient Church Indulgencies and Abatements Sect. 31. To Excommunicate or cast out of the Church a Power without which the Church as a Body cannot subsist a natural Consequent to Baptism Priests not excommunicated but deposed Sect. 32. To Absolve and Re-admit into the Church this the design of Excommunication which is only a shutting out for a time in order to Mercy on whom to be inflicted It s certain force in the Execution Sect. 33. To depute others in the Ministry by Ordination the Necessity of it An instance in St. John out of Eusebius St. Clemens Romanus Calvin and Bezae's Opinion and Practice It s ill Consequences Only those of the Priesthood can give this Power to others Sect. 34. The Objection answered and 't is plain the Church is an Incorporation with Laws Rewards and Penalties of its own not of this World nor opposing its Government Sect. 35. The outward stroke is reserved to the Day of Judgment but the Obligation is present If the Church has no Power nor Obligation because not that present Power to Punish or any like it neither has any Law in the Gospel Mr. Hobbs the more honest Man says neither the Ecclesiastical or Evangelical Law obliges His and their Principles infer it Sect. 36. The Power of Christ and his Church cannot clash with the Civil Power because no outward Process till the Day of Judgment and then civil outward Dominion is to cease in its course the present Vnion and Power to be sure cannot this is clear from the several instances of it already reckon'd up Sect. 37. Their Faith is an inward act of the Soul acquitted by Mr. Hobbes and that which is more open Confession obliges if opposed but to dye and be Martyrs Sect. 38. That they Covenant against Sin makes them but the better Subjects Sect. 39. No Man that says his Prayers duly can be a Rebel because first of all to own his Prince and Pray for him The first Christians Innocency defended them when impleaded for Assembling without leave If this did not do they suffer'd Their Christianity did not exempt them from inspection Sect. 40. Charity not obstructive to Government when on due Objects a common Purse without leave dangerous not generally to be allow'd These Christians innocency indemnified them The Divine Right of Titles how asserted Nothing can justifie those Practices but their real Case The Profession of Christianity must otherwise cease Sect. 41 42. Presiding in the Church rises no higher than the Duties exercised 'T is Dr. Tillotson alone ever said To Preach Christ is to Affront Princes
of this Discourse Sect. 1. Not the Power and Offices of the Church but their Subject is what mostly exercises the Age Sect. 2. Whether the Power be originally in Believers in Common or in the Secular Prince in Particular or in a certain Definite Number of Believers the Bishops and Pastors of the Church Sect. 3. The Design of the Whole and its Three General Heads Sect. 4. VVHEN I first consider'd that of Thomas Hobbes in his Leviathan § I Part 1. Cap. 12. Of Religion and which is in short to this purpose in several Paragraphs there That every one is free upon the ceasing or discontinuance of the Miracle to Supersede or Change his Religion once attested by that Miracle to be from God and upon which account it was receiv'd and own'd if the change of the Climate and his Governors his former Education and the present Custom of the Place he resides in requires and all that other Authority and Obligation from Heaven obliged only for that present instant in which the Miracle was wrought and evidenced I with less concern passed it by reflecting on the Person a Man affected with and designing Novelty and Singularity filled with a Conceit of his own worth and autority and opposing it to all the World beside And in particular in this Chapter declaring himself to be such an one that believes an extraordinary felicity a sufficient Testimony of a Divine Calling but going on in my Thoughts and finding by a sad Experience that it went further than the Scheme or Systeme that a great part of our Age is thereby brought into this Opinion and 't is contended for so frequently as their Faith that the Church is nothing at all but in the State its Powers and Offices though once in the Apostles and some of their Successors for some time is now gone with those Miracles that at that time abetted and avouched them nor is the Gospel it self to be Preached or divulged upon other terms or a fixed enjoyned false Religion opposed nay farther this very same to be the stated professed Opinions of some and those too our highest dignified Church-men and left upon Record as the judgment of the greatest part and some of them the most remarkable of our first Reformers that the Prince is invested with whatever belongs to a Church-man then was my heart hot within me and while I was thus musing the fire kindled and at the last I spake with my Tongue I then set my self upon a particular immediate enquiry into the Matter and attaining to a more perfect knowledge of that way I here represent it to my Fathers and Brethren of the Clergy to all good Christians whatever in this following Treatise and only state the plain case as I find delivered down from our Saviour by his Apostles the Bishops Fathers and Doctors of the Church Catholique the Church Historians Councils and Laws Imperial from our own particular Church Articles Canons Rubricks our Book of Ordination and Homilies appointed to be read in the Churches in the time of Q. Elizabeth from our own Doctors and Writers in Divinity in their several times and from the Injunctions and Declarations of our Princes and even the Common-Law and Statute Book of our Kingdom the Honor and Duty I owe to my Jesus to his Universal Church to this particular Church of England to my own Profession as a Divine and love to all Christians is what have engaged to it other advantages I have none nor are any proposed these Considerations alone are they which now makes the dumb Child speak looses the string of that Tongue that held its peace and said nothing and brings him into publick otherwise by an universal Concurrency of all things both Persons and Objects design'd for silence and obscurity § II NOW in order to this I have so much prepared and made ready to my hands that the thing in general is immediately denied by none and that there is a Church-Power to be alwayes upon Earth till the restitution of all things and the Heavens be no more that is certain peculiar Persons and Offices to be separated and discharged in and for the affairs of Souls and the guiding and governing the World in order to Heaven and Salvation is affirmed by all that believe a Heaven and Christ Jesus the Way the Truth and the Life in the Attainment That which has so much unhing'd and discompos'd the World of late is concerning the Subject in which it resides the particular Persons design'd and appointed by our Saviour for the conveyance and execution the due force just extent and consequences of it in whom this Power is to be found and to whom limited since none are extraordinarily by miraculous and sensible demonstrations from Heaven commissioned and marked out thereunto as the Apostles and first Publishers of the Gospel were And though Mr. Selden himself as our great Herbert Thorndike in his Principles of Christian Truth tells us usually said in his common Discourse That all Church Power is an Imposture yet his First Book De Synedriis designed and levelled against this Autority Upon this alone score because presumed in and limited to the Bishops and Pastors of the Church as the Successors of Christ and his Apostles makes it plain his quarrel is because so assumed and limited by them because transferr'd from the Prince or Civil Power in whose hands alone he believes it placed and in those in deputation by him and for which he contends all along in that Book with what Success may be seen hereafter and therein places the Imposture THERE are three distinct Orders of Men § III or at the least to be supposed distinct in which this Power is contended for to be seated each exclusive of one another by the several Assertors and Fautors of the distant Opinions and Parties among us The One places it in the People the multitude of Believers in common as the general first immediate subject of Power Ecclesiastical who by their concurrent Notes Elections and Assignations limit and fix it on particular Persons for the Execution so appointing consecrating and investing for the work of the Ministry to negotiate in the affairs of Souls and in order to their Salvation The Other subjects all in the Prince or Secular Power who is supposed in actu Primo virtually and by a first inherency to be Priest and People equally as Prince and by the Right of Soveraignty as chief Magistrate upon Earth is instructed for all Offices and Duties in relation to Heaven with a Power for Deputation and Devolution as the Harvest may be great or the Labourers few upon each occasion requiring and as he is pleased by his secular Hand to mark out the Person The Third place it not in the Multitude in general or in the Prince in special but in a certain indefinite number of Believers called and impower'd thereunto not by their Gifts and Abilities as Christians in common but by a particular signal Donation superadded given
and left first by Christ to his Apostles and from them in Succession devolved on the Bishops and Pastors of the Church in whom it now remains who alone have the Power of its conveyance and on whomsoever it is they shall lay their hands together with the offices of Prayer or by any other outward Symbol overt Act or Testimony which they shall use to evidence the Deputation transfer it unto these shall receive this Power of the Holy Ghost be thorowly enabled for the transacting betwixt God and Man the things that belong to Man's Eternity § IV THE design of this present Discourse is to take away the two former and establish the latter to make it evident upon a just Enquiry and certain Demonstration That all church-Church-Power was designed by Christ and actually left by his Apostles only to Church-Officers the Order of the Gospel-Priesthood the Bishops Presbyters and Deacons to be separated on purpose and successively instated in such the Jurisdiction and Government by such of themselves that had before received and were fully invested with it and this like other Successions to continue and be so managed till the End cometh and the Kingdom be delivered up to the Father So that the general Heads I shall insist upon will be these Three 1. That this Power is not in the People or Christians in common 2. That it is not in the Prince or Secular Government 3. That it is in the Bishops and Pastors of the Church of Christ a Power and Offices peculiarly theirs as to the execution with its special force and Laws reaching to all that come to Heaven by Christ Jesus and as not derived from so no ways thwarting or interfering with the Civil Government And all this as suitable to the received Faith and Polity of the Church in the best Ages of it down from Christ and his Apostles to us ward so it agreeing with the particular Establishments of the Laws of our Kingdom made for the owning and defence of our Christianity and also with the Religion of the same received and professed in our Church since the Reformation CHAP. I. The Contents Church Power is not in the People either as a Body in General or as one Single Congregation Sect. 1. This Power must first evidence it self to be given from God e're executed on or derived to others Holiness in its Nature does not infer it The Priesthood not made Common before the Law under it or the Gospel Admit that first Right by Nature to all Things and Offices 't was to be sure afterwards limited and those that lay it open again must shew by what Autority they do it Otherwise Fanaticks in the sense of St. Jerome Sect. 2. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 infers no such Power Sect. 3. The Peoples concurrency gives no Power even where their Notes are pretended to in the New Testament Sect. 4. Election and Vocation differ from Ordination in the Practice of our Saviour and first Ages of the Church still expressed by several words Sect. 5. The Votes of the People give no Power but yet are necessary because none is given without them both the People and Pastors are Christ's Vicars in the Case So Beza Blondel Sect. 6. Our Saviour's Practice and the Apostles are against them Sect. 7 8. That the People were not always at Elections Blondel allows He is contrary to himself Their Votes never reputed necessary and at last excluded quite Chap. 1. by reason of the Riots and Disorders in them Sect. 9. The concurrency of 12 Centuries down from the Apostles amount to a Divine Right Blondel's failure of it His injury to his Friends In what case Apostolical Ecclesiastical Practice is not immutable The ill Consequences attending his Power given to the People His Malice to the Order of Bishops Disreputing Christianity it self 'T is unpardonable in the French Reformation imposing their present harder necessity for our pattern The Deacon and Presbyter under the Bishop but neither in Subordination to the People Sect. 10. And this they do in point of Episcopacy also And we must have no Bishops in England because they have none in France and which is promoted by the advantage of the Rebellion and Schism among us Blondel offer'd his Service before to the Bishops of England but then he Prints his Apologia pro Hieronymo Dedicates it to the Rump Parliament and Assembly-Men Is nauseous in his Flatteries of both Commends the Scotch Covenant Is rude upon Bishops Soliciting their Ruine This the Sense of the Divines on that side the Sea Salmasius raves just so The Independents murder'd the King The Bishops not the Authors of all Heresies as black-mouth'd Baxter Andrew Rivet and so does Daulee Ignatius suffers for it He and Marcian and Valentinus compared Their few Complements does not acquit them We only lose by our Charity towards them The disadvantage thereby from our own Members The late Replyer upon Bishop Pearson and Doctor Beveridge is the same The late Letters from Paris Sect. 11. The People are only Witnesses of the good lifes of the Ordained Blondel's own Collection and the Autority of Cyprian is all along against him The Church Canons Our Ordinations at home The nature of the thing it self Sect. 12 13. The People are not to choose or refuse their Pastor as Blondel rudely and unreasonably contends with his usual Malice against Bishops and our Church 'T is his Proposal is so fatal to Christianity Sect. 14. Lay-men no Judges in Matters of Faith and the Determinations of Indifferencies The first Council at Jerusalem No Lay-Elders Sect. 15. § I THIS is not in the People and Believers in Common are not the Subject of Power Ecclesiastical The Power of the Keys is not seated in nor can it flow from or be devolved by them either as a Body in general or any one single Congregation in particular Their stretching or holding up the Hand their joynt-suffrages in the choosing numbring by the tale as by Stones Notes or Election deputing and assignation or whatever else in their own behalf they can make appear to be implied in the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which they lay great stress upon and wrest to their purpose are of no strength and validity at all of no more force to depute for the ministry to constitute in a new Order and Station to confer the Power of the Keys and place in that sacred Function then the common cry and rout of the Jews designing it devolved guilt on the head of our Saviour deposed him from his holy Offices took from him his Kingly Power when crying out with full throats We 'll have no King but Caesar we will not have this man to reign over us or their hands stretch'd forth in Prayer Isai 1. did bring a Blessing upon themselves when full of Blood but on the contrary hateful and abomination SUCH as pretend to this plead this Power § II for Deputation and that such only
in the Epistles to Timothy and Titus on purpose wrote by St. Paul to instruct them in these like Affairs of the Church as to the Polity of it that they might know how to behave themselves in the Church of God as he tells Timothy in particular 1.3.15 where 't is notoriously evident that the Peoples Votes are no more required to the constituting a Bishop or Deacon then that their Hands are there actually laid upon them That the Hands of the Presbytery did consecrate we read expresly and we read of none else and such the Presbytery Timothy and Titus have the alone Charge and Power delegated to Inspect and Animadvert upon their Lifes and Manners to receive or reject as their Prudence directs the Clergy are sole Judges 't is not required that the People so much as present every particular Man's inward desire and private Motions supposing other due qualifications concurring made known to such whose is the Power for ordaining seems sufficient if any man desire the Office of a Bishop 1 Tim. 3.1 and that these Epistles are to be follow'd as the pattern in the Mount the Platform and Model of Church-Government these Men strenuously plead at other times and those other instances of Ordinations in Scripture brought by Blondel conclude nothing more In that of Matthias there is no such thing express at all the Believers being few were all together in one place and they were necessitated so to be but that they otherwise concurr'd then by their presence or that St. Peter's Speech was directed to them and not to the Apostles only is not thence to be inferr'd that in Acts 6. was chiefly he says only to provide Deacons to look after their Poor and good reason was there the People should approve of such in whose hands their Moneys was to be deposited nor can any inference be hence made on his side unless the consequence be good that such as are fit and able to choose and depute in whose hands their Money shall be entrusted are for the same reason instructed to Skill and choose their Teachers or that we set a lower price on mens Souls than we do on their Money because we can allow the Laity to provide for the latter but we think there ought to be better provision made and more care taken for the former What is argued farther from the parity of the Call and Consecration of Aaron Heb. 5. is full levell'd against himself where to be sure all concurrency of the People was excluded in every respect whatever WE 'll go on from Scripture-instances to § IX those immediately after the Apostles and see if here his Success be more we 'll accept what he says of his Twelve Centuries in immediate Succession because they are not worth the particular canvass in this Determination The point does not lye here Whether the Laity did sometimes or oftentimes concur in Ordinations but did they always concur He dares not say this but he believes not above Ten Ordinations to be made otherways Pag. 541. which he supposes to be failures and to be occasioned by the inseparable accidents of the Church Militant but no rules for Succession Though by the way 't is the chief design of the Apology it self by fewer Examples indeed not one but what is by him industriously forced and perverted to cut off the Chain and overthrow the concurrent Testimony of all Ages in the point of Episcopacy such is his slavery to his present Cause But such as consult Antiquity and the Ordinals of Churches impartially and which we have reason to believe he never did will find more and no one of them censur'd as failures that Elections and Nominations were made otherwise and that oftner than in his form At least many times sometimes by the Emperors without the People sometimes by the Emperors and People sometimes by the Emperor Clergy and People sometimes by the Clergy without either and this in very good times of the Church as instances are every where in Church-Story and particularly that it is not inseparable from the People and but by Permission and upon occasion otherwise their Votes are to be over-ruled appears from the many Laws made by the Emperors limiting what Persons are to be Ordained and what not 16. Cod. Theodos Tit. 2. Lex 3. l. 19.32 c. Sozomen Eccl. Hist l. 5. c. 13. And if it be admitted what Melitius and his followers objected against Paulinus That his Ordination was not as it ought to be because without the consent of all the People as in Sozomen Hist Eccl. l. 5. c. 13. yet the Ordination was not hereby voided and we have a certain Autority on the other side and much about the same time too 't is the 13th Canon of the Council of Laodicca which expresly forbids that the Election of such as are to be Ordained be at all in the People a certain Argument that the Church placed it at the most under the head of indifferences what occasion and circumstances might enjoyn or null receive or reject otherwise it could not thus become limitable by Custom or the Subject of different Laws Ecclesiastical and at last the numerous and turbulent Meetings on the occasion of Ordinations and Factions in giving their Votes even to Riots and Tumults to Blood-shedding and Murder forced that the People were excluded quite and general Laws to that purpose were made prohibiting their appearance at such times Quamdiu in Ecclesia Plebs partem habuit in Episcopis Presbyteris legendis nunquam discordiis factionibus civitates caruere donec res ipsa pax Ecclesiarum docuit Plebi hoc jus ademptum Magistratibus Clericis relinqui primò debere quod posteà soli sibi Clerici vindicabant So Blondel's own Friend Salmasius gives account and an end of the Elections by the People Defensio Regia cap. 7. And it may be farther observ'd that amongst the many Cautions and Restrictions concerning Ordinations the several Rules and Instances given by and for which they are rendred void and null'd if against or wanting in either abundance of which are to be found as That every Bishop is to be Consecrated by three other Bishops Can. 1. Apostol That the Metropolitan be always one or with his leave Can. 4. Conc. 1. Nic. Can. 19. Conc. Antioch Can. 12. Can. 6. une quarte Gen. Conc. Chalcedon That no foreign Ordinations are valid Can. 2. Conc. Constantinop unless in those Churches in Heathen Countries and no Bishop is setled or in case of Persecution Sozom. Eccl. Hist cap. 9. If a Bishop deserts his Diocess Can. 3. Concil Ephes Gen. All Ordinations procured by Money Can. 29. Apost Can. 2. Concil 4. Gen. Chalcedon That it be not by Secular Powers Can. 30. Apost If made only by Presbyters as in the Case of Colluthus Athanas Apol. pag. 784. 792. In case of some known and notorious Scandal which the Bishop that ordain'd then lay under Athanas Ep. ad Solitar vitam agentes In
some Cases of Heresie in the Ordainer 16. Cod. Theodos Tit. 5. Lex 12.14.57 Yet amidst these and such like 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 illegal Ordinations and defective complain'd of by Eusebius which were during the Persecution of Dioclesian in his twelfth Chapter De Martyribus Palestinae and against which the Church still provided for the future there is no one Caution concerning Ordinations by the People such a thing being never presumed and attempted nor is there any one instance of but voiding any one Ordination that was made without their but Votes and Hands lift up and concurring in order to it and which certainly there would have been had the Church adjudg'd their pre-elections or concurrency so necessary especially upon so many failures as David Blondel acknowledges there were one of which was enough to have awakened the Church-Governors to alike care they used on such Occasions or had she but placed their concurrency with those but Circumstantials of Orders many of which are just now mentioned and the Church there made particular provision relating to them SO that David Blondel's design of a Divine § X and Immutable Right in the defence of which he has took so great pains is only writing in the Dust nor is any one inference due that he has made in order to it 'T is true his Argument is well laid had the Performance been accordingly and the concurrency of ten Centuries immediately upon the Apostles and Scriptures attesting any one Truth or Practice is as authentique and ought to be so received as any Grounds and Motives of Faith can make it to be nor can any thing be required more which can be thought to concur to the making a full perswasion of the Truth under Debate But alas the chief Ingredient for a thorow Tradition is absent Universality it was so neither in all places not at all times nor in any one time or Century of the best and first Ages of the Church in every instance of it but still changed upon accidents often and more upon Industry and Choice and last of all wholly abolished and in good times of the Church without any care or design for a restitution taken even out of the hands of the Magistrate and limited to the Bishops Can. 3. Concil Sept. Gen. Niceae and it may be much questioned whether his Brethren and Friends both in France and Holland and England especially such of them as have took up the Cudgels after him have more reason to be ashamed of his ill Success then to be down-right angry with him for the Way and Method and Grounds he laid for proving the Divine and immutable right of it Surely if this be admitted the disadvantage will be their own in a point of a higher concern if Apostolical Ecclesiastical practice still amount to a Divine immutable Law And indeed it would be of real ill consequence in many considerable cases that would arise in the true Church of Christ for although the matter of Fact be evident it has been receiv'd and practised in the Churches first and best Ages yet it may be a doubt what the Obligation was to them who then receiv'd it and whose practice it was whether as absolute and immutable and consequently how it now reaches us every Truth and Matter of Fact has not the same degree of Necessity in its Nature and Use nor do his Brethren more go against him here than he against himself I might refer to his own Text but the Irenicum has done it before me p. 401. joyning him with Bochart and Amiraldus in the cause of which his Triumvirate as he calls them Blondel is there placed in the head and all to make good that one great Truth by their Autority which is vast and unquestionable and to defend which is the great business of that Treatise of Church-Government nor has that Author as yet declared his Judgment to be otherwise or rather corrected that his first and early Mistake there obtruded on the World to pass a perpetual Sanction upon it That no form of Government or Polity in the Church is immutable though by the Apostles themselves recommended and yet Apostolical practice is here binding and eternal pag. 473. Apol. and the Power of the People is thus transmitted from Heaven as the alone House and Pedegree of its descent and so immutably is it stablish'd that no accident or ill circumstance whatever or with what ill consequences soever foreseen and foreknown no consideration of the Peoples ignorance even duncery it self at eos omnes non modo imperitos sed imperitissimos demus pag. 501. no miscarriages or other seeming inconsistencies are to be considered or can they weigh down against the Eternal antecedent Command either abolish the Power or cease but alter in but one instance the custom and practice of their Votes and Elections to the Office of the Ministry nothing can remain but for common Prudence for all was known at first to our Saviour whence the Apostles received it to the succeeding Church who left no such reserve allow'd not to us nor have we reason to take it ill for they did not to themselves any such Considerations pag. 51 52. and what Exceptions there have been to this first and great Rule as he tells us there was some few arose from the Pride and Usurpations of the Bishops who so soon as they had taken to themselves Titles and Power above the Presbyters they engrossed the Right of Ordaining them and never required the concurrency of the Clergy and the People spurr'd on by Fame and Vain-glory and Secular Interest and that is the reason why there is no Canons express and very few examples of the Peoples choosing Presbyters and Deacons Nor does it in the original right diminish their Power because wrested from them pag. 469 470. and all which is one among the many Fictions and Romances the whole Apology is stuffed withal and every ways like himself who according to his usual good Nature and Malice to the Order it self still lays what dirt he can at the doors of the most eminent Christians the Bishops and Prelates of the Church of Christ not considering or rather not caring what injury the common Christianity thereby receives through the sides of these its known Martyrs and Confessors so be he can but fill up his private Congregation a guilt not easily to be removed from too many of the French Reformation especially from Dailee in his Book of the Use of the Fathers and the abundance of Irreligion in general in these parts of the World ows it self in a great measure to it And to see the unluckiness of it and how his ill Nature returns unavoidably upon himself what he attributes to the Bishops Pride and Arrogancy and Self-interest in assuming and engrossing to themselves a Power which was not theirs that they ordained Presbyters and Deacons without the People and Clergy that the dependency of both might be the surer upon them and certainly
be their Slaves and Vassals and which is the invidious design of his whole Book how easily is it all return'd on his own pate and to what else can any one impute this his clawing with and condescending to the People to be but his own and the other of his Brethrens dependance upon them as it is at this day in France and 't is wholly in the Power of the Congregation both to Vote in and Eject their Minister at pleasure to bestow what Maintenance upon them their Wisdom directs nor is it at all in the Power of the Clergy as things are now with them streightned by the Civil Sword to avoid or amend it to them indeed in their circumstances the good-liking and choice of the People are necessary otherwise they must change the Climate their Churches and Ministry must cease and fall together And this I say not to insult over and upbraid them for their case in general is really to be pitied but thus do outward accidents imbody themselves and become as of the real Substance and too many Models and Systems and Professions have some regard too much yielding and complyance with them this one thing does it generally need a Pardon and to them in particular it cannot easily be granted it may with great justice be called their Pride and Usurpation that what is their own unavoidable Necessity what the frowns and injuries of their Native Countrey they live in the want of Countenance and Protection from the Prince and of a due Provision by Laws and which in reason ought to be otherways lays upon them this they 'l obtrude upon us upon all Churches as the Pattern upon the Mount the Platform not to be deviated from every ways to be copied out upon no less a peril than the breach of an antecedent immutable Law an Institution from Heaven What ought to be their care to represent as fairly as they can they magisterially command other Churches are condemned for not obeying a fault the Churches of the French Reformation are no ways to be acquitted of That there is a Subordination among Clergy-men and a dependence as on one Head and Superior in the several degrees of the Priesthood this is most certain 't is bottomed on as good and known Autority as our Religion it self and which will be made to appear by and by in this Treatise though not as the business of it The Deacon is a Minister or Servant to the Bishop and both Presbyter and Deacon receive their Power and Deputation from him but in any other sense we own no Head or Master Servants Ministers we are but of God and Christ of the Gospel which we minister unto them of which we are Stewards for their advantage and relief dispensing to every man his Portion ministring in our courses as the Angels in theirs for the good of all a faithful Minister of Christ for you so the Apostle Colos 1.23 and in this alone consists our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the work of our Ministry and attendance at the Altar Thus we are to the People as Governors Rulers Instructers Teachers and which last Office allowed us by all so immediately implies Superiority and Prelation that it alone will not let us be their Servants as Autorized and Commissioned impower'd by and in Deputation from them NOR is this David Blondel's disingenuity § XI or undue dealings alone or in this case only of the Peoples Power over their Pastors there is one case more at least and which has more than one Abettor and 't is that of Episcopacy as the People are above the Clergy so must not one Clergy-man be above another the Order Solitary Power Superiority and Prelation of the Bishop must cease was never any then as by Usurpation there must be a level between a Presbyter and him because there are no Bishops in the French Churches an equality is now fixed and setled among them and in order to the surer certain compassing it in our Church of England they took the opportunity of a present Schism and Defection from our present Bishops abetted and heightned by a prosperous Rebellion they even insult over us as men that were down and to rise up no more they pursue us as a vanquish'd Enemy look upon the iron as red hot and to be stricken and their Presbyterian Model to be erected in our Kingdom as that Image once fallen from Heaven To this purpose comes upon the Stage their Triumviri Blondel Salmasius and Dailce Men throughly instructed by a vast and unwearied Industry and Reading and which they perverted to render Episcopacy less acceptable not to say odious in the World as the effect of Innovation and Ambition contrary to the designs of Christ and the Practice of the Church in the best Ages of it and herein their proficiency and advancement was not inconsiderable considering the badness and difficulty of their cause what St. Jerome has observed of Hereticks in and before his time in his Comments on the First Chapter of Amos Omnes enim Haeretici labore nimio ac dolore quaerendi ordinem aliquem consequentiam heraeseos suae reperire conati sunt is evident in them through abundance of toil and sore labour making pretence of Order shews of Antiquity and Consequences to advance and effect it And Blondel goes in the Front or at least has merited to be placed there with his renowned and much gloried in Apology Pro Hieronymo which he says he kept by him Three years ready for the Press but did not Print it by reason of the Wars in England or rather till the King and Church were both ruined easily then presuming of a fairer reception and which Book 't is more than probable he then Digested and Composed when his offer'd Service to write quite the other way and in the Defence of our Episcopacy establish'd in this Church was tender'd to that great Prelate and Martyr of Blessed Memory Arch-Bishop Land but rejected what were the Reasons moving the Wisdom of that excellent Prelate to refuse him I cannot tell he might suspect his Integrity or judge it less for the Honor of our Church on purpose to imply a Foreigner in the managery and defence of what is so neer and of so great a concern to us and he might not think the concurrency of one or two Doctors of the French Reformation so considerable or perhaps of any weight to turn the Scale for or against the famous Church of England as it now appears they are reputed he could not suspect his thorow Instructions and Ability for it and that the former mostly sweigh'd the wonted Sagacity of that excellent Person giving him no small Grounds for it will appear if we go on and find him dedicating That his Book Vniversis Dei optimi Maximi servis occidente toto maxime vero per Britannias ad Christiani populi Ecclesiasticum Politicum regimen vocatis To the Houses of Parliament and Assembly at
Disorders to prevent a greater Mischief or by too much Condescension of the Bishops or by particular Grants and Priviledges to such places which the same Power did and might take away again an antecedent perpetual Right is no way to be inferr'd from either and particularly by David Blondel who over-rules in other Cases when against him upon the same Considerations Apolog. Pag. 541. § XIII AND that all this depends upon Divina Praecepta Divina Praescriptio Dominicis Praeceptis Divina Magisteria Traditione Divina Apostolica Observatione Deisicam Disciplinam and that the contrary is Secundum humanam Praesumptionem as St. Cyprian all along Phrases it in that 68 Epistle is what every one will grant nor is there any such thing gain'd by it on Blondel's side as he thinks there is he many times repeating and insisting on these like Expressions for no man sure will question this to be the Command and Appointment of God that no one be receiv'd into the Publick Imployments of the Church but such as are approved and attested to be Men sit for so great a Charge and high Office and it amounts to no more than that Caution of St. Paul to Timothy Lay hands suddenly on no man nor is there any Nomination of a Bishop to his See which is not made Publick to the whole Kingdom and his Election as much made known in his Diocess by notices affixed on his Cathedral that if any man have an Accusation against him he come and object and then the Clergy in the presence of the People go on to Election and the same is observed at the Ordinations of Presbyters and Deacons who are not and ought not to be received but upon Publick Testimony and which are Ordained at the four Ember-Weeks if Canonically or publick times of the year where every Body has the liberty of access and to speak at pleasure and which is represented as the very course prescribed by the Apostles in this 68 Epistle and recommended as the Practice of many Churches Propter quod diligenter de Traditione Divinâ Apostolicâ observatione observandum est tenendum quod apud nos quoque ferè per Provincias universas tenetur ut ad Ordinationes ritè Celebranda ad eam Plebem cui praepositus Ordinatur Episcopi ejusdem Provinciae proximi quique conveniant Episcopus delegatur Plebe praesente quae Singulorum vitam plenissimè novit unusquisque actum de ejus Conversatione prospexit That the Neighbouring Clergy Convene and the Bishop be assigned in the presence of the People and to which agrees St. Jerome's peculiar Notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and which to be sure is Argument sufficient of the Church's Practice in the Case in his days That the Hands of the Ordainer were extended stretcht out lay open and abroad at Ordinations Ne scilicet vocis imprecatio Clandestina Clericos ordinet nescientes non lene enim peccatum Ordinationem Clericatus nequaquam Sanctis in lege Dei doctissimis sed asseclis suis tribuere vilium Officiorum Ministris quamquam his dedecorosius est muliercularum praecibus Comment in Isai 58. to make them publick and divulge them lest being secret ignorant Clerks may be Ordained it being a great Sin to lay hands on such as are not Holy and very Learned on their Pages and viler Officers but most of all it is dishonorable and disgraceful when Ordinations are procured by the requests and assignations of Women And it were otherwise unpracticable if all the Clergy of whole Provinces were as by the indispensable Appointment of God and under peril of voiding the whole Action to meet in Person at each Consecration and as unserviceable too much more for the numerous or rather innumerable Multitudes The Nature of things requires some particular appearances nor can the whole be supposed to be a competent witness of their Lifes and Conversations it is sufficient that every one has time and opportunity to implead as occasion or at least may have it if he 'll seek after it and which he ought to do if he knows a just exception and indeed business cannot be done otherwise Universals are nothing they subsist only in Conceit and a digestion of the Brain 't is the Individuation makes Action and the People in general if not reduced to some Orders and Station will be only a confused heap each Body be Cyclopian each Assembly become a Riot fill'd only with disorder and astonishment and the popular Elections of Bishops came so near to it at last that they could be no longer permitted NOR does D. Blondel acquit himself with § XIV more Candor and Ingenuity when contending for the Right of the People or believers as such and in common in electing and assigning each Presbyter and Deacon to his particular Title and Parish of which such the Electors are Members the division of Parishes being but of late as he does acknowledge and when it was otherwise the Bishop had still the Power of sending out the Presbyters in the execution of their Ministerial Office as was the Harvest as Occasion and his Prudence saw fit nor has he any Practice either Apostolical or of 12 Centuries after that the People still placed and fixed their own Minister to infer his Divine and Immutable Right from it Sure I am when Paul and Barnabas were to be separated to a peculiar Ministry and Service in the Church 'T was the Clergy the Prophets and Teachers that we know of sent them away to a People unknown as to their faces Acts 13. and which he thinks so great a Crime nor is there any thing after produced against it And himself does acknowledge that the Presbyters and Deacons were not substituted by the People but the Bishops whose indeed Curates they are for this Thousand years downwards and it will very hardly be found a sufficient proof for its Illegality to say there was no Controversie moved about it before and therefore it was otherwise but not mentioned or in his nauseous impious precarious usual manner of speaking when any thing of this nature pinches him that it was from the Pride and Usurpation fastus indomabilis Pag. 64. of the Bishops and yet he exclaims as if all Religion lay at stake a thorow Degeneracy and Dissolution both in People and Clergy they all become negligent and contemned of one another all the disorder ill manners and failures in Duty is imputed to this one thing whatever inconveniencies in Church are observable and always some there will be all hence arise that the People have not the choosing or refusal of him that is to officiate among them have only the opportunity of bewailing with their Tears a vacancy upon Death but not of repairing it that Odor priscae Disciplinae the Primitive Proceedings being gone become even a stink to the Nostrils of a looser Age the immutable fixed Rule of Christ laid aside and broken or in plain terms according to the Genius
Austin has done on the same occasion in his Hundred and sixty fifth Epistle and the breach of this Succession is the Charge and Crime of Schism they both object against the Donatists as guilty of a Church as well as a State-transgression and both on several accounts as two distinct Impieties are they proceeded against I 'le give but one instance out of St. Chrysostom and 't is so full there needs no more of those many others are producible 't is in his 86th Homily on St. John where he says Christ did invest his Apostles with Power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a King sends forth his Praefects and Governors with a Power immediately from himself to imprison and release to bind and to loose to execute of themselves all Power and Jurisdiction so receiv'd and belonging to the Deputation And what was the Judgment of St. Ambrose the particular case alone betwixt him and the Emperor Theodosius makes abundantly appear occasioned by that cruel Massacre committed in Thessalonica by his at least connivance the Holy Bishop remov'd him from the Prayers and Altar durst not Communicate with him in those Holy Duties whose hands were so full of Blood not that St. Ambrose could impose these things by force and that his Person be so absented by any thing like a Coercive Power or did design or pretend to it and that Penance which he laid upon him and the Emperor accepted of upon his Re-entrance was it suited to his Imperial Power no ways abating of or detracting from his Majesty and Soveraignty it was to enact a Law that no Penal Decree or Edict that comes forth be executed till Thirty days after its first Sanction to avoid the fury of such Proceedings for the future No St. Ambrose upon the either Plea or Execution of this Power does not attempt his either Purple or Scepter to Depose him from his Crown or Absolve his Subjects of their Allegiance he only executes upon him his Pastoral Charge and which is in order to the World to come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and as he reverenced his Kingly Power so did he take care also not to transgress the Law of his God had the Emperor been less a Christian and return'd upon him with violence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he could receive the stroke with Pleasure he did discharge his Duty as a Bishop and he was secure within he only lets the Emperor know that his Purple makes him a Prince not a Priest that it doth not exempt him from the Laws and Discipline of God's Church and for this he appeals to his own Education 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nourish'd up in the Divine Oracles and in which it was clear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what was the Priests and what the Princes peculiar Office and which were there notoriously distinguish'd all this was no Pragmatick newly started particular extravagant attempt in St. Ambrose but a commonly receiv'd and owned Right and Truth what the whole Age had been taught and bred up in And Theodosius in particular 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 knew it by his Education and which caused his displeasure to some who were willing to abate of their Church Right whether out of Court-flattery or for what other Reason for which on the contrary he so highly valued and honoured St. Ambrose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as who alone was worthy of the Name of a Bishop all which with more is to be read in our Church Histories particularly those of Sozomen lib. 7. cap. 25. and Theodoret lib. 5. cap. 18. and that which gave St. Ambrose a particular advantage in the asserting and execution of such his Power was that he had the Autority of Valentinian on his side for that good Emperor had own'd all this before and he Sang this Hymn at his Consecration St. Ambrose being then a lay Governor of that Province deputed to it by himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he gave thanks to God and Christ that as he had committed the Power of Mens Bodies to him in that Province so from them he had now the Power of Souls by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there mentioned his Episcopal Character then conferr'd upon him Theodorit Eccl. Hist l. 4. cap. 7. § XII And he that begins again where we left off in Eusebius and goes along our first Church History to Constantine downward will find all along the same Church-Power continued and asserted and expressed in the same words too as is that of the Empire Nor can any man any more doubt that there was Ecclesiastical Power seated in some measure in every Order of the Church but primarily and chiefly in the Bishop then that there was a Civil Power placed by God first of all in the Empire and from him derived to his Praefects and inferiour Magistrates and Damasus Bishop of Rome had as real a Power in his Diocese and which can no more be questioned upon the score of those publick Records than that Valentinianus his Contemporary had a real Autority in the Empire of the World the Bishop is still represented in his Chair as the Emperor is upon his Throne or can be by words declared they are still called and acknowledged 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb Hist l. 10. c. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cap. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De Vita Constantini lib. 2. c. 62. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cum Presbyteris suis l. 3. c. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 59. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de Eustathio dicitur quòd Concilium Niceae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nimirum Antiochiae cum eodem tempore Capite dicit quod Constantinus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sozomen l. 1. c. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacerdotes Vocat lib. 2. cap. 12. and he gives this account why the Bishops are Buried at Constantinople with the Emperors in the Church which is call'd The Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib. 2. cap. ult 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib. 3. c. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De Episcopis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De Imperatore lib. 6. c. 4. Philip who held a Praefecture or some kind of Government under the Empire is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Constantinople and which implies his Mission and Deputation from and under the Emperor But this word is never applied to the Bishops or any one of them who are no Deputies of his receive nothing like a Commission nor have any derived Power from him they are not the King's Ministers or Vicegerents as are those in Temporals and they owe their Autority alone to Christ Jesus Cap. 9. And so again lib. 4. cap. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when mentioning the Officers of the Crown under Deputation and all along in the History 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Romae Sylvester 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Antiochiae Vitalis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 post illum Phlagonius Theodorit lib. 1. c. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Constantinopoleos
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Flavianus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gennadius Evagr. Hist Eccl. lib. 1. cap. 8. lib. 2. cap. 11. lib. 5. cap. 16. So that if things by words are delivered to us which must be since we have not converse with one another as they tell us Angels have or private immediate infusions from God he speaks not to us inarticulately in Sounds and in Dreams as of old we have here the thing contended for in this Discourse viz. a real Autoritative Power in the Church independent equally as in the Empire neither Subordinate to one another The Argument and Evidence is as good as the Story is true and the reception of those Ages or as the truth of Matter of Fact can make it § XIII AND suitably the first and most ancient Councils which are come to our hands of the Christian Church have still owned the Empire and submitted to it in its full Latitude but yet still they reserved and asserted a Power within themselves which was neither derived from nor depended upon it in the execution and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the word they still express their Chair by they could make Sanctions and Constitutions oblige and bind the Conscience of themselves and without it the first great Council of Christendome they met indeed in the Name of the Emperor were summon'd by his Writ nor ought they personally and in Bodies collectively to Assemble without it but they acted and decreed in their own Names by their own Power and Autority were all their Synodical Determinations made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So the great and first general Council of Nice and was the after-form of the Proceedings of the succeeding Councils which still confirm'd that first solemnly owning and receiving of it It seemed good to the Holy Synod to the Holy Bishops and Fathers there as the immediately following General Council at Constantinople explains it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a form but a little abating of that of the Apostles Synod Acts 15. It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us and as their Power is distinct so is its Execution in different words and Penalties so as expressed for the most part by none else and in all never executed by any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arceri seu ejici ab Ecclesia à fraternitatis Communione relegari submoneri à limine omni tecto Ecclesiae Sacramento Benedictionis exauctorari Communione interdici abstineri depelli these are the words still expressing the Execution of this Church-Power as they are to be met with up and down in the Greek Councils and Greek and Latine Fathers many of which Mr. Selden has took the pains to Collect to our hands Lib. 1. De Synod Pag. 257. 259. and are to be seen also in an earlier Copy in the first Canon of the Seventh general Council held at Nicea there reckoned up and own'd as bottomed on the Autority of the Apostles Canons and the Six foregoing general Councils And the Bishops have a Power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Con. 5. Concil Anciran 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as before in the first Nicene Council Can. 12. of absolving from and removing taking off such their Mulcts laid upon them either in whole or in part or adding farther degrees suitable as their repentance and amendment is perceiv'd and approved or not approved of and this Power asserted in the Church by the great Council of Nice and that of Ancyra is the great instance of the self-existing eminent independent underivable Power that is in the Church of Christ wholly in her self and in none else beside as having Power to punish and relieve to give Sentence and relax in her own breast this is what is not done in the Civil Judicatures where the Judge is in Deputation who cannot correct his Sentence once given make heavier or alleviate it that is only in Soveraign Power as the Lawyers speak but the Bishop can do it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Photius Nomocanon Tit. 9. cap. 1. 3. doctas videas nuperas Annotationes in Can. Niceae there was then believed and accounted a first and antecedent Right in the Church to make 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Laws and Rules from which out of Contempt and Opposition there was not allow'd any Appeal to be made to the Empire or Secular Power or Judicatures unless by way of imploring Patronage for a better enquiry as not Canonically executed Can. 6. Concil 2. Gen. Constantinop Can. 107. Concil Carthag and he that proceeds otherwise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not according to the Rules and Laws of the Church is to be cast out of her Communion if a Lay-man if a Presbyter or Deacon he is to be deposed never to be restored again never admitted but to Plead his Cause Conc. Antioch Can. 11 12. and the Clergy-man is not to leave his Bishop in Matters of Strife and go to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Power of the Realm is still call'd the Secular Judges or if he Appeal from his Bishop it may be only when the Case is with the Bishop himself as a Party and he is to appeal to the Provincial Synod or the Metropolitan Exarch or Patriarch Can. 9. Concil Gen. Chalcedon or he may ask and Petition the Emperor that he interpose with his Power over all Persons in all Causes for a farther Enquiry by the Bishop when Justice seems to be not understood or to be denied Can. 107. Conc. Carth. the Sin of Schism is still defined to be when a Presbyter makes a Congregation and makes an Altar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in despite and contempt of his Bishop Can. 31. Apost and so Can. 6. Concil Gen. Constantinopolit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when they unite for Religious Services in opposition to their Bishop and Can. 31. Concil 6th in Trullo and Can. 5. Concil Antioch Can. 10. Concil Carthag 'T is more express If any Presbyter or Deacon contemns his own Bishop separates from the Church and makes a private Congregation and Altar and disobeys farther his Bishops Summons to render him accountable for so doing he is to be deposed and if he perseveres to make farther troubles in the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a Seditious Person the outward Secular Power is to Chastise him Can. 5. Concil Antioch where we have a thorow distinction of the two Powers with their Offices and the Canon goes before that of the Church is antecedent and therefore when Constantius went to cast some Bishops that were clamorous and contentious out of the Church Eleusius with Sylvanus and others told him That he had Power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the outward Punishment what reach'd the Liberties and Advantage of his Person but 't was theirs to judge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Piety and Impiety Theodoret. Eccles Hist l. 2. c. 27. § XIV I know it will be here reply'd this was only the Judgment Declaration and Practice of the Churchmen themselves
under it Thus he Mr. Selden who was Contemporary with § IX this worthy wight and Man of Sense and no question but his Confident engaged and succeeded him in the very same Cause and by the very same Motives and Arguments only he appear'd not in the World till Nine years after and so had the advantage of much time and was imboldned by the horrid Anarchy and dismal Confusion of it and by an incessant Industry of his own improv'd the Argument to a greater height of irreligion and audaciousness and contemptuously treads upon whatever is like a Church Power in any instance of it which his Friend was a little shy of who allows in Church-men a Power for Non-communion or Abstention in some Cases which though he 'l by no means call it Excommunication and acknowledges that Justinian did only command that the Bishop proceed against the Faulty by Excommunication Suspension Deprivation but Mr. Selden says with the greatest assurance and impudence it was his own judicial act with that truth we have already considered but his Argument and course of proceeding is all along the same and upon the supposition founded in the constitution and practice of the Jewish Church and which he proves by a vast reading and intolerable expence of Pains to have used only outward Bodily Penal Coercive Punishments whether before or after giving the Law in Sinai so he tells us it was with Adam and Cain the one upon his fall the other upon his murder both banished their Countries for it the Sword is the punishment for Murder Gen. 9.3 And they were to be stoned that came near the Mount at the giving the Law Exod. 19. And the punishment was only secular upon the violation of the Seven Precepts given to the Sons of Noah the uncircumcised was to be punished though not forinsecally yet by Gods own immediate hand and a particular judgment of the same nature was the Curse upon Meroz the punishment of Kore Dathan and Abiram nor do the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Anathema c. as used by the Prophets according to the Septuagint or other Greek Translations signifie any thing else nor are there used for Excommunication or afterwards by the Apostles as in St. Paul's delivering up the incestuous to Sathan c. and the Jews took up that Excommunication which was of later years exercised among them by special Compact with one another in the time of Captivity and for the present Exigence when the Temporal Power was taken out of their hands and which was no ways appropriated to the Priest or any other Order of Men either now under their Captivity or for the infliction of those other Punishments before or after the Law and what Excommunications were practised in the Apostles times and the first Century where by the way his great Master Erastus will allow of none in his Hundred Theses answered by Theodore Beza in his Tractatus Pius Moderatus de verâ Excommunicatione Christiano Magisterio was first Judaick in imitation of the Jews for there was none of the Christians for many years after our Saviour's Ascension which were not either Jews originally or Greek Proselytes and were accounted as Jews in common repute and members of their Synagogue and so used their Customs and Rights as before and of which this of Excommunication was one and so living among the Jews and call'd by the same Name when Caesar indulged the Jews and they had the liberty of their own Religion the Christians enjoy'd the Priviledges together with them and thus their Excommunication became Caesarean their Church Acts derived a Publick Autority from the Empire having none before but by private Covenant and by this Autority they held Presbyteries had Judicatures relating purely to their Religion and retained a Power to Punish under Death as did the Jews and if not thwarting the Laws Imperial and which grant of Favour though abated by succeeding Emperors they notwithstanding retained a Body and Union among themselves upon their own terms for Confederation till the days of Constantine and the Empire became Christian and then the Church being taken in to the State the Jurisdiction wholly became his as naturally annexed to the Crown and there to reside till all Autority and Power ceaseth This is the chief of Mr. Selden's Plot for the overthrowing the Power of Christ's Kingdom in the Polity Laws and Rights of it Lib. 1. De Syned cap. 3. 4 5 6 7 8. 11. and which has with much more advantage been very lately represented to the Age than I am able to do by a great and Learned Hand Dr. Parker Arch-deacon of Canterbury Nor needs there any thing more to be added for the satisfying the World of the vainer Attempts and undue Consequents there raised only the general Design of this Discourse engages that it be not wholly passed by and which otherwise could not be answer'd THOMAS Erastus Mr. Selden's great and § X admired Master though not licking and shaping his Beastly Abortive brood so throughly Missing in many things what the other has Hit upon yet in his forementioned Hundred Theses he urges much the same way as that because the Sword was the Punishment among the Jews so all Offenders of what Nature soever are by the Coercion alone of the Magistrate to be Corrected and the Christian Church is to go no farther than theirs did and the Civil Magistrate has all the Care of Religion that it is very difficult to conceive how there can be two Heads in one Body both to have right to Punish and Exercise Domination over the same Subjects still supposing no Power to have or that can have existency but that of outward Coercion And which Plea however it might be forced from him and seem necessary and makes a plausible shew of Truth in regard of Beza's Lay-Elders and the Consistorian Government of Geneva and in whose irregular Power he instances laying Penal Mulcts and outward Restraints as do the Civil Magistrates and the Consideration of which ran him upon this his as groundless Extreme Yet as to the Constitution and Practice of the truly Catholick Christian Church it has no Pretence or likelihood at all as will hereafter be made to appear CLAVDIVS Salmasius though he was § XI a Man very much if not altogether of Beza's Complexion yet is he not so ingenuous and true to their common Cause as was Beza in his Writings against Erastus for in his Apparatus to his Book De Primatu Papae a long rambling indigested tedious Discourse purposely made against the Divine Right of Bishops he there to pursue home his Design takes away all Church-Government whatsoever at the same rate of arguing And if he concludes any thing at all and which is not easily seen it is this That a Bishop is so far from having a distinct Power above a Presbyter solitary and apart from him that he has neither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in general no
Government nor Jurisdiction at all And the reason he backs it with is this Christ did not invest his Apostles with the Power of worldly and civil Magistrates when he sent them out to Preach If so he should have adjoyned to them so many Lictors and Apparitors furnished them with Whips and Axes and not having done it there is no Magistracy at all nothing of Power residing because able to engage none by Violence neither Corporal nor Pecuniary Mulcts can be inflicted by them And so in his Dissertation De Episcopis Presbyteris contra Petavium under the Name of Walo Messalinus he concludes Episcopacy to be Curatio only and which he distinguishes à Magistratu Potestate Imperio from all sorts of Government And says expresly That any Jurisdiction of one Clergy-man above another came from Constantine Cap. 6. and so Zealous is he to make Episcopacy but an Humane Disposition that he delivers it as his Opinion and takes a great deal of pains to prove it That the Presbyters themselves are no other than Lay-men have nothing of a Distinction or of a Power different from the Laity as the Priesthood of old had amongst the Jews That as Lay-men did Baptize as well as any and which is acknowledged so that Bishops and Presbyters do Administer the Sacraments of Christ 't is only as dedicated to it by the choice of the People and in whose absence Laicks may Consecrate all Believers and not only the Apostles receiving the Commission and Power at Christ's Institution and suitably was it done in every Family and after Supper for some Ages and the difference betwixt the Order Ecclesiastical and the People in common has nothing of Divine Institution That Ordination by Imposition of hands gives nothing at all of new Power only ranks them in such a Body and Order as First Second and Third And the Door-Keepers have as much a place and order in the Church as either Deacon Presbyter or Bishop the Bishop and Presbyter were only the more Honorable and Honest part of the People And thus he brings in his Lay-Elders to have an equal Right and Government in Church Matters with them by a Primitive Devolution and which Officers once were in every Church but now remains only in the Affrican though with the addition of the Order of Presbyters for which there is no footstep in the Primitive Apostolical Church And at last is angry with Petavius that he perstringes the Waldenses and Luther because they retained no Priesthood at all under the Gospel but believe that just and faithful Laicks may do all that is needful in the Church of God and discharge every Ecclesiastical Office receiving a Power by the Imposition of the hands of the Presbytery that is the Senate not Ecclesiastical but Laick in which whether Petavius injures the Waldenses and Luther or not is not the matter now to be enquired after sure it is Salmasius adopts these their imputed Opinions and they are his And he thinks it the Mind of St. Peter too whom he cites Cap. 2. calling the Laicks that are faithful an Holy Priesthood to offer Spiritual Sacrifices acceptable to God through Christ Jesus a Royal Priesthood Ibid. and all which Petavius the Jesuite makes no small advantage of to the Infamy of the Reformation Neither have I done Claudius Salmasius any injury in ranking him among those that deny all Church-Power as from Christ Jesus for he is worse than those I have mentioned before him he takes the civil assignation from the hands of the Prince and puts it into the People So that every Man may as well Ordain himself as in the days of Jeroboam And hence we cannot but take notice with what furious inconsiderate malicious purposes some Men have pursued Episcopacy and rather than have it stand they 'l fall themselves deny what is otherwise their Diana and great Delight the Divine Right of Presbytery take away all Church-Power for ever with it And indeed the Principles that these Men go upon are such when to throw down Episcopacy that they strike at our whole Christianity with the same blow as does his Friend David Blondel in particular and there cannot under their Guiding and Conduct be any such thing as either Truth or Heresie the one to be convincingly Vindicated or the other solidly confuted as might be easily made appear BUT what is mostly to be admired the § XII great Hugo Grotius goes along with them in part and can apprehend only a Power that is outward and compulsive and working by sensible force And whatsoever Power is erected in the Church independent to the Secular is an abating its Arm an Usurpation a sharing with the Prince in his Government De Imper. Sum. Potest in Sacris Sect. 3. cap. 1. cap. 5. Sect. 9. That there is no Empire by Divine Right granted to the Church The Ministry of the Empire is the Sword but the Weapons of the Church are not Carnal Cap. 4. Sect. 9. And again argues That there is no Jurisdiction belonging to the Church because none that is Coactive or Commanding Cap. 9. Sect. 3. with more to this purpose all along there As also in his Ordinum Holland Pietas c. Orat. Habit. in Senat. Amstelodam bona fides Sibrandi Lubberti c. and yet that this was not his constant lasting through digested opinion 't is again as certain he going quite t'other way and fully thwarting even in that very Discourse of his of the Power of the Supreme Magistrate in Holy Things and much oftner in his other Writings He will not allow the Pastors to be Vicars of those very Powers any otherwise then as Subjects and that besides their Pastoral charge they receive aliquid Imperii Jurisdictionis something of Empire and Jurisdiction Cap. 1. Sect. 3. cap. 4. Sect. 1. that Kings are the Object of this Power not only as the Gospel is tendred unto them in the way of Preaching but by the application of the use of the Keys Cap. 4. Sect. 3. Cap. 9. Sect. 18. That the Church is Coetus a Body and Association not only permitted but instituted by Divine Right and whatever naturally belongs to any other Body this belongs also to the Church Cap. 4. Sect. 9. That the Church destitute of the Protection of the outward Government doth not cease to be a Church Cap. 8.2 He asserts a Church-Power to exclude from their Congregations for either Heresie or Immorality and that distinct from the Magistrate who constrains for fear of Punishment Annot. in Mat. 13.41 which Annotations he proposes for the Pattern of all his other and if from any Writings of his we may hence conclude his maturated Judgment And again in his Annotations on St. Luke 6.22 he instances in two Branches of this Power Baptism and Excommunication And in St. Joh. 20.23 and when the Apostle only advises to shun Evil Men he concludes the Presbyterium or Association was not then setled at Rome otherwise he had order'd
him That he exalts the Church-Power above God and Christ and the Magistrate as all their Masters And indeed according to these Mens Notions to apply the Superlative to any Person or Thing is the height of Blasphemy For why God is not excepted And the most common Phrases of a most Mighty Prince a most Holy Place a most Wise Counsellor are all instances of it nor can any one Attribute of Gods be otherwise applyed to the Creature Whereas if the Word be understood and used as in common use it is to be and in complyance with things it must be suitable to the present Subject it is assign'd and limited to and the particular things it is conversant with as under such and such Heads and Orders all is easie and plain Thus God is the alone Supreme all Rule Governance and Autority being originally in him and eminently Christ is Supreme as Head of the Church to whom all Power is given of the Father for bringing Mankind to Heaven the Apostles and their Successors the Pastors of the Church were and are now Supreme on Earth in the same Power derived from Christ by the Apostles unto them The Prince is Supreme and hath all Power from God committed unto him as to Government relating to this World over all Things Persons and Causes to appropriate or alienate to Endow Limit Restrain Coerce or Compel as the alone Supreme Law-giver upon Earth and none may oppose and the great and gyant Objection that is only wrangling about and mistaking of words falls to the ground as it is in it self nothing CHAP. IV. Chap. 4. The Contents The Objections answer'd Selden's Error that there are to be no other Punishments by Christ than was before and under the Law the Query is to be what Christ did actually constitute He mixes the Temporal Actions of the Apostles and those design'd for Perpetuity Adam and Cain might have more than a Temporal Punishment Sect. 1. The great Disparity betwixt the Jewish and Christian State considered no Inferences to be drawn from the one to the other but what is on our side Sect. 2. Theirs is the Letter ours the Spirit They Punish'd by Bodily Death we by Spiritual Sect. 3. If Government was judged so absolutely necessary by the dispersed Jews that they then framed one of their own for the present Necessity and whose Wisdom in so doing Mr. Selden so much admires it must blemish our Saviour much to say he purposely call'd together a Church and design'd it none of its own to preserve it Sect. 4. The Jews Excommunication was not bodily Coercive and then there may be such a Punishment an Obligation to Obedience without force and that is not outward and this much more in the Christian Society Sect. 5. And this their Government abstracted from the Civil Magistrate is an Essay of Christ's Government so far of the same Nature to come into the World Sect. 6. The Christian Church might be both from Caesar and Christ as was the Jewish from God and Caesar and there is no thwarting The Jews and Christians distinct Sect. 7. In answer to his main Objection That all Government must be of this World Sect. 8. It is replied To assert Christ to have such a Kingdom is to thwart his design of coming into the World the whole course of his Actions and Government and those Ancients that expected him to come and Rule with them on Earth yet did not believe it to be accomplished till after the Resurrection Sect. 9. To say he therefore has no Power at all is as wide of Truth the way of Men in Error to run from one extreme to another and of Mr. Selden here Sect. 10. The Church is a Body of a differing Nature from others Sect. 11. With differing Organs and Members of its own in Subordination to one another Sect. 12. With different Offices and Duties Gifts and Endowments these either Common to all Believers or limited to particular Persons Sect. 13. As Christians in common they had one Faith into which Baptized and of which Confession was made the Apostles Creed and other Summaries of Faith and sound Doctrine Interrogatories in Baptism How Infants perform it Sect. 14. They had one and the same Laws and Rules for Obedience for which they Covenanted which is their Baptismal Vow the Abrenunciation of the World the Flesh and the Devil Sect. 15. One Common Worship and Service and Religious Performance to God in their Assemblies the particular Offices and Duties there the Priest and People officiate interchangeably as in Tertullian Justin Martyr c. Sect. 16. Common Duties and Services as to God so to one another in supplying one anothers Necessities as occasion Sect. 17. In the supply of such as attended at the Altar by a Common Purse deposited in the hands of the Bishop Sect. 18. Of the Poor and Indigent whose Treasurer was the Bishop Sect. 19. The Power Offices and Duties not promiscuous but limited to particular Persons are those of the Ministry distributed into the three standing Orders of Bishop Presbyter and Deacon and which make up that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Gospel Priesthood to remain to the Restitution Sect. 20. This Power and Jurisdiction though limited to and residing in these three yet it is not in each of them alike in the same degree force and virtue the Deacon is lowest the Presbyter next the Bishop the full Orders and Vppermost Supreme and including all Sect. 21. Against this Primacy of Bishops that of Metropolitans Exarchy Patriarchy and the Supremacy of Rome is objected Sect. 22. The Metropolitan c. is in some Cases above the Bishop but not in the Power of the Priesthood 't is the same Power enlarged No new Ordination in Order to it Sect. 23. The Vniversal Primacy of the Bishop of Rome is but Pretended not bottom'd on either the Scriptures or Fathers or Councils Sect. 24. 25 26. The Bishops Superiority or full Orders and Power in the Church is reassumed and farther asserted He with his Presbyter or Deacon or some one of them are to be in every Congregation for the Presbyter or Deacon or both to assemble the People and Officiate and not under him is Schism The several instances of this Power of the Priesthood Sect. 27. To Preside in the Assemblies Pray give Thanks for Teach and Govern there No Extempore Prayers in those Assemblies Sect. 28. To Administer the Sacraments the Consecration of the Lords Supper by Prayer and Thanksgiving and Attrectation of the Elements Baptism by Lay-Persons Rebaptizations on what terms in the Ancient Church Confirmation Sect. 29. To Vnite and Determine in Council The use of Councils and Obligation Their Autority Declarative Autoritative Sect. 30. To impose Discipline the several instances and degrees of it in the Ancient Church Indulgencies and Abatements Sect. 31. To Excommunicate or cast out of the Church a Power without which the Church as a Body cannot subsist a natural Consequent to Baptism Priests not excommunicated
Subject Ita tunc Deus supplebat id quod Magistratus Ecclesiae praestare debent tunc non Praestabant Grotius in 1 Cor. 4.21 Then God did supply what the Magistrates ought to have discharged and did not instancing in these very Punishments of Ananias and Saphira struck Dead of Elymas the Sorcerer struck Blind and of the Bodily Diseases sent out upon others Our Saviour Christ in his Life designed and contrived upon every occasion when any appearance that others should suspect him or when any apt opportunity to express and declare himself that he was neither to exempt himself from any instance of Subjection to his Governors nor exercise in any Case the Jurisdiction that was theirs and for this he Pays Tribute refuses to divide Inheritances nor did he invade any one private Person and we read of but one Colt that he commanded to be brought unto him to which as what was his Title we do not read so are we not told of any injury done by it nor of any Complaint made in the Streets on the occasion And his Death though pre-ordained in the fore determination of God for no one worldly end or design to serve no one Political Purpose but solely and altogether to satisfie for the Sins of Man to make compleat our Redemption yet it was ordered that the earthy Governors should have a Power given them from above for a legal Process and judicial Trial upon him he died in a course of Law and a Posture of Obedience to them And although it must be granted that some of the ancient Fathers and most eminent first Christians did Believe and Publish to the World that Christ should come again and reign upon Earth in his Person as Supreme Governor of all and his Saints with and by him in the independent full freedom use and advantage of the Goods of this World and of Sense that Jerusalem should be Rebuilt its Streets enlarged and inhabited by them So Justin Martyr Dialog cum Tryph. Jud. Irenaeus lib. 5. cont Heres c. 32. Tertul. lib. 3. cont Marcion c. 24. with Lactantius and others yet it amounted not to an Universal received Opinion of that Age. Justin Martyr acknowledges there were many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Holy and Pious in their Judgments which did not acknowledge it And Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History lib. 3. cap. 39. giving that slender account of its rise and original from Papias tells us that many but not all Ecclesiastical Writers led by a shew of the Antiquity assented unto it but yet this was not by any of them expected during this state of things on Earth and in the Regeneration Sed alio statu utpote post resurrectionem as Tertullian Tom. 4. inter fraâ—menta 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Justin Martyr supra Ibid. Post Resurrectionem coram judicio terram possidebunt As Irenaeus Ibid. but not till after the Resurrection ante coelum before their Ascension into Heaven as Tertullian again Ibid. when all Rule and Autority and Power has had its just Time and Period upon Earth is put under foot alone by God it seeming just that in what condition they had laboured and been afflicted tried and proved by all manner of ways or Sufferings upon Earth they there receive the Reward and Fruit of such their Sufferings as Irenaeus ill argues in qua enim conditione laboraverunt sive afflicti sunt omnibus modis probati per sufferentiam justum est in eâ recipere fructus sufferentiae they cannot be conceived to have thoughts of either evading or invading the Civil Power which then was supposed to be none at all because after the Resurrection and of which during its time for continuance by God affixed they were the most Zealous Maintainers and Asserters as has been already shew'd So far do they erre from the Spirit of these first and eminent Christians who pretending to the same Millennium or reign upon Earth oppose and fight against their present Governors to hasten and effect it § X BUT then to argue on the other hand that because it was not the design of the Gospel to erect a Temporal Kingdom upon Earth Christ and his Apostles design'd and erected none at all they had really no Power no Autority committed unto them this is as wide from Truth this runs from one extreme to the other which indeed is the usual course of such as are designed for error Clemens Alexandrinus in his Admonition to the Gentiles observed it of old among them and that their Ignorance still led them into one of the two Extremes of either Ignorance or Superstition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either they Worshipped their many ridiculous beastlier Gods or else none at all denied the only true God On this score Evenemus Agrigentinus Nicanor Cyprius Diagoras Hippo Melius and Theodorus with some others were called Atheists Men that considered not the Truth only saw the Error of the then abominable Worships and Acknowledgments And the same is easily acknowledg'd throughout the whole Ecclesiastical Tradition how as Atheists before so Hereticks since have still run the same way and their Heresies by these courses been either started or maintained Thus that Pestilent Sect of the Arians united not only with the Miletian Scismaticks but with the Heathens too the more to oppose and make numerous their Party against the Catholicks as we have it in Sozomen Hist Eccles lib. 1. c. 15. Athanas Orat. 1. Cont. Arium and in his Apology Pag. 731. and his Epistle Ad Solitariam vitam agentes And the same did the Donatists after them who set open the Idol Temples that themselves might have liberty applauded and sided with Julian the Apostate and gave opportunity for the Publick Worship of the Devil that they might with full freedom serve their own particular Designs and their Malice and Revenge be gratified as St. Austin and Optatus at large declare Contra Petil. cap. 8. 92. Ep. 48. c. Contr. Parmen Donatist lib. 2. I might all along trace them down I 'le only make my farther instances in what comes more nearly up to the case in hand because there may be such a thing as Domination over the Clergy Therefore there is no real Power to be exercised over them because Diotrephes affected a Superiority where it belong'd not unto him therefore a Bishop and a Presbyter must be of equal Power The Church of God must not exercise Autority as do the Kings of the Gentiles therefore whatever the Power they execute is must be Tyranny and Usurpation The Church of Rome have notoriously exceeded their Commission Pretended to what they never had either from Christ or St. Peter as to depose Kings to acquit their Subjects of their Allegiance exercising Temporal outward Coercive Power as in their Charter by Religion Therefore the Church of God has no Charter at all is no Body or Corporation Autoritative and Juridical or as Mr. Selden and his Friends argue we read of no other Power in the
Psalmists Door-keepers all Ecclesiastical Officers but not in the same Catalogue So in St. Clemens Alexandrinus Strom. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these three of the Bishop Presbyter and Deacon are the whole Progression and several Orders and Ascents in the Church-Ministry These those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the degrees of the Priesthood as Zonaras in Can. 8. Apost Omnes gradus Sacerdotales as 't is in the same words in the last Canon of the first and second Council at Constantinople and which that Canon provides that every one must go through that becomes a Bishop The Bishop Presbyter and Deacon are opposed to the Laity and placed in the number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of such as preside in the Church Can. 1. Conc. Antioch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these are fellow-workers in the Ministry as in the Council call'd against Paulus Samosetanus Euseb Hist Eccl. l. 7. c. 3. And again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Life of Constantine Lib. 2. Cap. 46. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Socrat. Eccl. Hist l. 1. c. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Can. 58. Conc. 6. in Trullo None in the Order of Lay-men may deliver to themselves of the Divine Mysteries or Administer in Holy things the Bishop Presbyter or Deacon being present where the Publick Offices of the Church are again limited to these three St. Jerome places them in Superioribus ordinibus Ecclesiae in the higher Order of the Church Comment in Ep. ad Tit. Cap. 2. in the same Language runs the Imperial Laws as are plain and obvious in the Theodosian Codes especially with the Notes and Commentaries of the Learned Jacob Gothfred the Bishop Presbyter and Deacon are the Sacerdotalis assumptio one or all of them 16. Cod. Tit. 5. Lex 5. 52. and are called Primi the First in respect of the Readers Door-keepers c. ibid. Tit. 2. l. 24. and as Gothofred explains it And the same is again l. 41. and he calls them Primi Clerici the first of the Clergy ibid. Tit. 8. l. 13. and Justinian after him speaks the same Novel 6. c. 1. and all this is expressed by our Judicious Mr. Hooker and call'd the Power of Orders Degrees of Order Ecclesiastical in which there are three Degrees Bishops Presbyters and Deacons distinguished from Services and Offices in the Church as Exorcists Readers c. in his Preface to his Ecclesiastical Polity at the end of the seventh Section and in his Fifth Book seventh and ninth Section § XXI THIS Power and Jurisdiction though confined to these three Orders yet is it not given to each alike and in the same degree of Autority whatever is in the Nature of the Church Priesthood is in one of them but every one has not all that is in them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there were degrees one above another in the Priesthood to the highest of which every one was not suffered to arise in Justinian Novel 6. Cap. 6. our Saviour himself did not confer all Power alike upon all that he chose for his special Service nor did the Apostles or their Successors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hic dici videtur qui in Ecclesia sublimiorem caeteris consecutus gradum ut Apostoli erant consecuturi post eos Episcopi as Grotius in Lucae 22.26 the Ruler or greatest there mentioned by our Saviour seems to be such who had gain'd a higher more sublime degree in the Church such as the Apostles were to have and after them the Bishops In the Church are those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 above-mentioned in Clemens Alexandrinus Progressions and Promotions from one Order to another as from Deacons to Presbyters and from Presbyters to Bishops Sacerdotes secundi in honore Ecclesiastici gradus Hieronimus Comment in Jerem. 13. the Presbyters are second in the Honor of Ecclesiastical degrees And so in Ezek. 48. and Sacerdos primus ordo in Sophoniam c. 3. the Bishop is the first Order Sacerdos being a word applied to the Bishop or Presbyter as occasion as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 includes the whole of church-Church-Power as is above-noted and applied as occasion to each of the degrees Optatus in his first Book against the Donatists mentions besides Lay-men which have no Power in the Church or any one degree of the Priesthood Tertium Secundum Sacerdotium apices Principesque omnium Episcopos the Third and Second Priesthood and the top and chief of both the Bishops As Eusebius still expresses the Ministry in general by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as is already at large observ'd So his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those of the second Throne or Order are Presbyters Eccl. Hist lib. 10. Cap. 39. the Presbyter is major Sacerdotio then the Deacon hath more of the Priesthood Hieronimus ad Evagrium Tom. 3. Presbyter Proximus gradu ab Episcopis Presbyter secundi ordinis Sacerdos a Presbyter is next in degree to a Bishop a Priest of the Second Order so all along in the Phrase of the Imperial Laws Cod. Theodos 5. Tit. 3. Cod. 12. Tit. 1. Lex 121. Cod. 16. Tit. 2. l. 7. Tit. 5. l. 9. Constantine the Holy Christian Emperor writes to Chrestus Bishop of Syracuse that he would take with him to a certain Synod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 two of the second Throne or Order two Presbyters Euseb Eccl. Hist lib. 10. cap. 5. in a word this is the current voice and distribution of all Antiquity as might be shew'd more largely or were it the design of this Discourse to treat of the Three Orders particularly as the Bishop Presbyter and Deacon are Primi Clerici the first Clergy in respect of the Readers Singers c. for the word Clérus or Clergy is applied to all Ecclesiastical Officers in general as well Reader c. as Presbyter c. among the Ancient Writers so among the Primi Clerici those Three which are first Summus Sacerdos qui est Episcopus the Bishop is the First there as in Tertullian de Baptismo Cap. 17. his is Maximum Sacerdotium in Lactantius Lib. 4. Sect. Vlt. Sacerdotii Sublime fastigium So Cyprian Ep. 52. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Can. 10. Conc. Sardicenf his Power is the greatest and topmost most full and comprehensive of all and all Power in Heaven and Earth now abiding in the Church and purely relating to Church Affairs and the bringing Souls to Heaven in the ordinary course and known appointments is it fixed and so far limited in the Person and Office of the Bishop by Christ and his Apostles as that from and only from him is this Power to be transferr'd and transmitted as is the Harvest and common Need in the particular devolution and distribution of it a great part of this is still given by the Bishop to the Presbyter an Order or Station in the Church for the Service of Souls invested with a large share of the Priestly Power at his Ordination or Deputation to it but comes short of the whole is limited to particular Instances and
much below that of a Bishop Presbyterorum ordinem Patres Ecclesiae generare non valentem per regenerationis lavacrum Ecclesiae filios non Patres aut Doctores genuisse as D. Blondel himself in his Apology pro Hieronimo Pag. 311. quotes Epiphanius Haeres 75.4 the Presbyter though not able to beget or constitute Fathers or Bishops or Doctors in the Church can he yet by Baptism beget Sons create to the Adoption of Children he can Baptize but he cannot give Power and enable others to do it and which the Bishop can And a share of this Power is also given to the Deacon but a much less than that to the Presbyter and yet is he more than a Lay-man there is something 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Priestly Function enstated on him Can. 1.2 Conc. Ancyr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Can. 10. Conc. Naeocesar he hath an Order there Concionatur in Populos Diaconus gradus in Ecclesia cui Obediendum assurgamus Diacono he Preaches to the People 't is a Church degree to whom Service and Respect is to be paid As St. Jerome Comment in Ezek. c. 48. in Micah c. 7. a Person above all Men not to be suspected to give the Deacon more than his due as will appear to whoso has read over that his smart Epistle to Evagrius reproving the insolency of some Deacons that set themselves above Presbyters And indeed had they been design'd only to serve Tables little reason can be given why they had so Solemn an Ordination and Separation at their first Institution Acts 6. and so distinct are these Orders and their Powers so peremptorily limited and consined in the Intent Prayer and whole Performance at their Ordination That 't is equally an Usurpation for a Deacon to undertake the Office of a Presbyter or a Presbyter the Office of a Bishop without a distinct Ordination or a farther Commission granted as for a Lay-man as such to intrude into any one and more of them without Ordination at all 't is in either or all of them the Sin of Vzzah and the Bethshemites a Robbery and Invasion 'T is not my sense alone they are the words and determination of our great and profound Dr. Thomas Jackson in the second Volume of his Works Cap. 6. p. 377. according to the last Edition I find two great Cases upon Church Story concerning the Ordinations made by Ischyras and Colluthus the former had no Orders at all the other was only a Presbyter and they were both null'd and declared void alike and those ordained by the Presbyter equally as by the Lay-man were reduced to and reputed in the Laick Order So Athanas Apol. pag. 732. Ed. Paris Ibid. p. 784. Socrates Hist Eccl. l. 1. c. 27. § XXII THERE are some Objections which readily arise and present themselves against this Primacy of Bishops in the Christian Church as thus asserted the first and immediate Subject of church-Church-Power the chief Fountain and Head next under Christ from whence all instances of Church-Autority are devolved and derived to particular Offices and Members of it I shall omit that Plea of those who contend that the Presbyter is really equal with the Bishop that the Bishop is not invested with a true and distinct Power above him and the whole Priesthood or Power of the Ministry is in every Presbyter by his Orders in Actu Primo and habitually radically and intrinsecally in which very words their sense is very stoutly stated in the late Irenicum p. 197. 276. only limited in the Execution for present convenience because what is the sense of Antiquity and our particular Church in part I have but just now declared and who give it in the Negative and the distinct Power of the Bishop above the Presbyter is notorious and I may have occasion hereafter in this Discourse to instance farther in the sense of Antiquity about it it falling again in the way I shall only insist upon what either the whole Church of God has allow'd and assented to and practised giving and fixing a Precedency to certain Church-Officers beyond these of Bishops as Patriarchs Exarchs for some time to be sure but to Metropolitans Primates Arch-Bishops or whatever the Titles were into which an Enquiry is not now to be made all frequent in Church-Story and their Prerogative and Jurisdiction above and apart is there as frequent also or else what a great part of the visible Church so numerous as next to an Universal have still for some Hundreds of years together with great ostentation and clamor both of Argument and Autority contended to be in the Pope or Bishop of Rome in particular as Superior to not only all other Bishops in Christendom but even these Patriarchs and all other Metropolitanes too be sure and to this immediately enstated and invested by Christ in the Person of St. Peter with a first and absolute Power as Universal Governor and Bishop of the believing World whence even all and every even Bishop himself must derive what Autority he has or can duly receive and legally execute to whom each Metropolitan and Patriarch is an Homager and Subject in Dependency and Subordination unto and all this inseparably annexed to St. Peter's Chair and to descend through all Ages in the Succession till time be no more and to the restitution of all things What was the sense of the Church as to the Nature Reason and Designment of the former and what the no Ground and Foundation of the latter I shall endeavour to declare and evince not in that extent the Subjects require for that is the work of Volumes But with that brevity seems requisite to the clearing and better managery of this particular Discourse § XXIII AND first as to the single Solitary Power residing in one Person above and beyond that of a Bishop whether Patriarch Exarch Metropolitan Primate Arch-Bishop or whatever Title it went under as it needs not so would it be too long and excursive now to enquire as when the Name Patriarch came first into the Church how it differs from that of a Metropolitan when the change of Names as to these two or any other and which Ecclesiastical Men discourse Certain it is that the Power was there very early and the Bishops themselves were under Canonical Obedience to their Primate they were in some instances inferior to governed and ruled by them and as certain it is again this their Prerogative and Presidency flowed not from any thing conferr'd in their Orders the Power given to a Bishop is the utmost is or ever shall be in that Holy Rite or Sacrament collated nor is there any thing in Holy Orders beyond it And when the Patriarch Metropolitan or Primate was constituted or whoever that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Primae sedis Episcopus was mentioned so often in the Council of Carthage we do not read in the ancient Church Rituals or any Practice apart from them of any farther new or solemn Ordination that was
stone to ruine him had procur'd the Sentence of a Synod against him licet Sciret impletam and which he knew was sufficient and cogent of it self yet he endeavour'd all he could thereby to render him lower and more contemptible to have it corroborated and confirm'd by that Autority Quâ potiuntur Aeternae Vrbis Episcopi which the Bishops of the Eternal City or of Rome did enjoy which Autority what it was is still in the dark for him there 's no mention of it in any one Degree and 't is mostly agreeable that he endeavour'd it as the more great and popular Bishops of the World by reason of that Vrbs aeterna as the City of Rome for its Pompous Magnificence is all along through that History call'd that eminent City the seat of their Residence Lib. 15. Pag. 75 76. Ed. Lugdun in Duodecimo nor does it from this whole History appear that there was then as not any distinct Power so nor any but Title affixed to the Bishops of Rome which other Christian Bishops had not The Bishops in general are called Christianae legis Antistites and Liberius of Rome has but the same Title or that of Episcopus Romanus and Vrbis aeternae Episcopi is what the whole Succession is call'd by Ibid. suprà Et lib. 20. Pag. 261. lib. 22. p. 329. AND now the whole of the Matter is driven § XXVI into this one Point or narrower room what the Power and Extent of this Church-Law or Canon Ecclesiastical was in what sense it was imposed own'd and receiv'd in the Church If universally and what was design'd for all Christendom and obliging let them produce the Rule it is not to be found in any thing yet we have consider'd and then reconcile it with the general Practice of the Church which appears another thing and to enlarge this Power whatever that above mentioned is as claim'd by the Bishop of Rome beyond a limited Exarchy or Primacy or that it any ways reaches to Antioch is to go beyond the whole Story Ecclesiastical in any tolerable Age of it 'T is to go beside the Acts of every General Council upon every occasion and all the Imperial Courses and Proceedings in point of Jurisdiction when the state came into the Church engaged for its Governance and Jurisdiction and turnâ—d their Canons into Laws There is nothing in any one Council whether General or Topical that either refers to determines actually or but implies any such thing unless what was foysted into the Canons of the first Council of Nice and recommended to the Council of Carthage for an Approbation with the rest of those Canons by Faustinus an Italian Bishop and Legate of Rome be since made Canonical Sure we are it was then detected and exploded for a Cheat by the Holy Bishops of that Council and who there and then disown'd the Superior Universal Power in the Bishop of Rome all which with the several Circumstances is to be seen in the opening of the Synod The See of Rome is still represented as but equal and in the same rank with the other Four great Churches of Christendom and its Bishop neither Presides in the Councils nor Over-rules in the Definitions of Christendom nor is the Autority any ways defective upon his absence or if convented without his License than upon the absence of or when not licensed by any other Bishop There is not an Instance of any one Reference or Appeal in Church-Affairs but still the either Patriarch Exarch Metropolitan Primate or Private Bishop is to accommodate and rectifie all as the alone Judges and Determiners under a Synod of Bishops or a Council and if new Canons be wanting 't is the Imperial Direction that the Bishop of Constantinople and the Convention of Priests be convened to consider of and to make them Cod. Justin l. 1. Tit. 2.6 Et Cod. Theodos 16. l. 45. Tit. 2. As for that of the Council of Sardica Can. 3. 4. and which seems to favour the Bishop of Rome in the right of hearing and adjusting Foreign Causes not to make any Reflexions on the Synod it self whatsoever it is 't is bottomed neither on Scriptures nor ancient Tradition or Custom but seems in particular Cases to be allow'd him for the honour of St. Peter nor can we believe it could run against the different Determinations of general Councils if so 't is to be of no Autority particularly the first of Nicea considering also that Hosius was President both at Nice and here I shall add it cannot be conceiv'd to run against it self whose Tenth Canon places the top and uppermost of all Church-Power in the Bishop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and which is not consistent with a Superior Order in the Church fixed and immutable whether as to Jurisdiction and Ordination or Government only As Bellarmine and Estius are not agreed and those several Exempts we have an account of in Church Story 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and govern'd within themselves as Cyprus Bulgaria Iberia Anglia whatever they relate to and so called in respect of whether Patriarchacies Exarchies or this pretended Monarchy Universal or howsoever they came so to be they are Evidence sufficient against this claim of Rome and that every Church is not therefore Schismatical because disowning a dependency upon her especially if we reflect how strongly these Privileges are contended for in the Eighth Canon of the Council of Ephesus occasion'd by some Usurpations attempted upon Cyprus in particular and 't is there made Law that no inrode be made upon them And that which is farther considerable is that among all the Orders and Directions issued out to Church-men by the Empire for the executing the Canons and preserving the Discipline of the Church the Persons in Charge are the Bishops Metropolitan or Patriarch the Bishop under the Metropolitan the Metropolitan under the Patriarch and the Patriarch is always last and uppermost and 't is very strange to reflect that if there was an Order above these a Power Universal residing in any one Person with a care over all the Churches in Christendom so setled by Laws Ecclesiastical and Superior to all the afore-mentioned Orders in Jurisdiction and Government and this Person and Power should still be overlook't and disregarded no one Direction and Application made unto him in the Affairs so immediately his of his Charge and Inspection and this too in the days of Justinian especially since whatever was done by the Empire was in Prosecution of what was Church-Law and Canon before according to the Appointments and Decisions of it And that this is all so 't is most manifest in our Church Story Acts of Councils and particularly the Proceedings Imperial in the two Codes and the Novels Vid. Cod. Justinian lib. 1. Tit. 3.43.2 Novel 5. Epilog Novel 6. Cap. 3. Epilog alibi saepius Not that the Empire was shye in giving the See of Rome any Power or Title was its due as it must be acknowledg'd very great things were
Calvin and Beza themselves did not believe to he in any other on Earth besides that trick that all Power was radically and virtually in the Presbyters Orders was not then invented and their pretended Power must be either of Man or from Heaven there can be but one of these two ways proposed the one failing the other must be introduced otherwise there must be an universal failure of the Power it self and therefore they are sent as was Christ Jesus as were his Apostles and the Disciples in the Acts and so necessary is it that Calvin still go for an Apostle by all such as now claim a Succession from him 'T is soundly as well as wittily argued by the Author of those Questions and Answers going under the name of Justin Martyr Respons ad Quest 78. ad Orthodox the Child which was illegitimate by Bathsheba died God would not have Christ descend in the Flesh but by such as were born to David by lawful Marriage his descent as the Son of David was to be in the legally received way and such are to be his descents according to the Spirit it is by a due and regular course and succession he devolves and continues his Power amongst us is his Kingdom supported And though there has been several cases in Church Story and Plea's and Bandyings about the validity of Ordinations and some Irregularities as to Canon have been passed by and the Ordination notwithstanding admitted but yet where it plainly appear'd that the Person ordaining was no Bishop himself nor receiv'd that Power by a devolved Succession which he pretended to give to others all debates presently ended the Ordination was I cannot say nulled and voided because declared to be none at all as in the case of Maximus Cynicus Can. 4. Conc. 2. Gen. Constantinop for this it is Socrates Hist Eccl. l. 1. c. 27. tells us that Ischyras was reputed worthy of many Deaths 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that having attained to no one degree of the Priesthood he durst attempt to officiate in holy Things no one Plea of Necessity or Circumstance whatever could gain a liberty for this or but a connivance In some cases the Canons were dispensed with and in time of Persecutions Bishops might attend and officiate in foreign Ordinations and so they did as we read in Sozomen Hist Eccl. l. 7. cap. the common safety and succession of the Church was their great aym and particular Rules and Canons had no force in such cases Thus we read Can. 2. Conc. 2. Gen. Constantinop of some distant barbarous Countries which had no Bishops planted among them and there it was lawful for any Bishop to Ordain that they could either procure or of himself would take the pains And so it appears also from Can. 102. Conc. Carthag that several discerptions and regions there were which had not their proper Bishops and the same in all probability was the case of the Church of Carthage an account of which we have from Victor in his History De Persecutione Vandalorum l. 2. pag. 627. as bound up with the tripartite History who tells us there was no Bishop there for twenty four years together till Zeno the Emperor interposed with Hunnericus the King of the Vandals who had invaded Africa and Eugenius was consecrated their Bishop and this the London Ministers have observ'd to our hands in their Divine right of the Evangelical Ministry cap. 5. pag. 80. with what Zeal and how many Miles some have travelled for Episcopal Ordination and that our Neighbours in Scotland did not do the same admitting what is pretended that once they had only Presbyters among them I could never yet meet with any thing to convince us Sure I am their having none of their own does not imply they used none the instances above given refute a necessity of that or if they did not but consecrated one another such as urge it a Pattern to all Christian Churches ought first to have given the world Satisfaction that it was not their imperfection their guilt and indeed Insolency and Usurpation in so doing But when Musaeus and Eutichianus who were no Bishops had ordained and Gaudentius the Bishop of the place did contend to have their Ordinations valid and confirm'd by that Synod and gave the very same reason why it should be confirmed because at that time Troubles and Seditions were many and there seemed a necessity for what they had done his Reasons were not accepted of Necessity and other accidents do plead for and excuse what is only uncanonical but where want of Power in general it does not And Hosius that most Holy and Reverend Bishop stood up and publickly declared in the Council that we ought indeed all to be quiet and meek and to contend for it but neither Eutichianus nor Musaeus were Bishops had any Power at all for what they pretended and therefore their Consecration was invalid and themselves were only to be admitted into Lay Communion of all which who so pleases may have an account Can. 18 19. Conc. Sardic with the Scholia's of Balsamon and Zonaras and the Annotations of William Beveridge these are certain Rules Habere namque aut tenere Eccelsiam nullo modo potest qui Ordinatus in Ecclesia non est he cannot any ways have or hold a Place in the Church who is not ordained in the Church Cypr. Ep. 76. Sine successione Sacerdotum totus ordo cadit without a succession of Priests the whole Order falls St. Jerome lib. 2. adv Lucifer Tom. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where the Succession is cut off a Communication of the Holy Ghost ceaseth Can. 1. St. Basilii ad Amphilochium apud Pandect Can. Beveridg § XXXV AND now I hope this Objection is fully answered that the Church can be no Body separate and apart from the State because no Powers and Officers of its own nothing outward sensible and coercive and consequently with neither Rewards nor Penalties annexed all must return into the Prince or set up against the soveraignty of him if at all and in being for the Church's rise and original is sufficiently declared to be from another Fountain its imbodying and incorporation to be apart with its own Powers and Acts Offices and Officers Laws and Rules Rewards and Penalties Censures and Punishments Hopes and Expectations And all different from that of the Soveraign in the State no ways against the either Power or Soveraignity of him the influences distinct but no ways so opposite to one another as thwarting or destructive Fratres dicuntur habentur qui unum Deum patrem agnoverunt unum spiritum biberunt sanctitatis qui de uno utero ignorantiae ejusdem ad unam lucem expaverunt veritatis as Tertullian describes the incorporation Apol. cap. 30. Christians are called and accounted Brethren who have acknowledged one God and Father who have drank of one Spirit of holiness who have broke through with astonishment one Womb of Ignorance into one Light and Truth I do
Henry VIII cap. 21. in the outward Courts and Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical neither did he in his Practice either in his own Person or the Persons of Church-Men by a Plea of deriving the Power unto them from himself take upon him any thing essential to the Priest-hood as to determine in Matters of Faith decide Controversies to offiociate at the Altar to ordain c. even to appoint Laws and Canons for discipline or Proceedings in that Convocation called and continued by his Power but as there first debated and determined framed into a Rule and in presiding over whom his headship so much consisted § IX WEE 'L go on from King Henry VIII to King Edward VI. and in the first year of his Reign cap. 2. Sect. 3. we meet with a notable alteration made in Words and though no more yet may make a shew as if he assumed a farther new Power to himself as supreme head of the Church which King Henry VIII did not do before him and whereas the Arch-Bishops Bishops and other spiritual Persons do use to make and send out their Summons Citations and Process in their own Names and with their own Seals it is enacted That they be made and sent out in the Name and with the Seal of the King c. but this relating only to the Courts Ecclesiastical as in the Words of the Statute and by which the King is own'd the Supreme by the Clegy as 't is also in the Statute worded and acknowledged nor can any Arch-Bishop Bishop c. summon any of the King's Subjects to any Place without his leave and not enabled by him the King may authorize them in what form he please whether of that of the Common-Law or in any other as in that of Majors in Corporations or Vice-Chancellors in the University or Court-Leets which latter was the form and is by this Act abolished and the first brought into its room and upon what reasons soever this Act was laid and passed in King Edward's days or repealed by Queen Mary as to be sure the two Parties the Puritan and the Papist thought they served themselves and particular Designs in it it was never re-enforced by any succeeding Parliaments nor attempted that I have met with in the days of either Queen Elizabeth or King James or King Charles the first or second The Prince was not thought to loose or gain any thing as to his Autority in Spirituals which way soever it went nor the Bishops to have any Plea of inroding the Errors by so using it as they now do in their own Names and with their own Seals as by the male-contented and puritanical Party in the days of King Charles the first it was objected they did and they libelled and traduced for it but are sufficiently vindicated therein by the reverend Father in God Robert Sanderson late Lord Bishop of Lincoln in a Treatise called Episcopacy as established by the Laws in England not prejudicial to regal Power And even in this very Statute of Edward VI. the Bishops are to use their own Seals and Names in all faculties dispensations collations institutions inductions letters of Orders c. and in limiting which also to his own Name and Seal the King's supremacy had been equally asserted nay more concern'd because peculiarly enlarged if that the thing was aimed at for the granting Letters of Orders is what is purely hieratical and solely Episcopal seated in the highest Order of the Priest-hood a peculiar embellishment to the Crown and the Bishops by acting in the other Instances in their own Names and by their own Seals must have in as his high a degree invaded a most singular and choice Prerogative of the Prince the right of Investiture admission into Temporals Institution and Induction into Benefices are Acts purely worldly and secular and originally in the Crown could an Objection be framed from the particular Form either ways and such its Circumstances as indeed and really cannot be § X I come next to Queen Elizabeth where we shall find that as she reassumed the Supremacie in the first year of her Reign alienated by Queen Mary and this by Act of Parliament cap. 1. in which is the Oath of Supremacy to be taken as in that Act ordered and limited and because a great many Cavils were made and sinister malicious Constructions The Queen her self in that very Year endeavors to rescue her Subjects and disentangle them from all such Jealousies and among her Injunctions 1559 for Peace and Order in the Church and State there is an admonition to simple Men deceived by Malitious The Words are these which though many I 'le here transcribe and in effect but the same with those of the Convocation 1562. on the very same occasion The Queens Majesty being informed That in certain Places of the Realm sundry of her Native Subjects being call'd to Ecclesiastical Ministry of the Church be by sinister Perswasion and perverse construction induced to find some Scruple in the form of an Oath which by an Act of the late Parliament is prescribed to be required of divers Persons for the recognition of their Allegiance to her Majesty which certainly was never meant nor by any equity of Words or good Sense can be there from gather'd would that all her loving Subjects should understand that nothing was is or shall be meant or intended by the same Oath than was acknowledged to be due to the most noble King of famous Memory King Henry VIII her Majesties Father or King Edward the VI. her Majesties Brother And farther her Majesty forbiddeth all manner her Subjects to give ear and credit to such perverse and malicious Persons which most sinisterly and maliciously labour to notifie to her loving Subjects how by word of the said Oath it may be collected that the King and Queens Possessors of the Crown may challenge Autority and Power of Ministry of divine Service in the Church wherein her said Subjects be much abused by such evil disposed Persons for certainly her Majesty neither doth nor ever will challenge any Autority than that was challenged and lately used by the said noble Kings of famous Memory King Henry VIII and King Edward VI which is and was in Ancient time due to the Imperial Crown of this Realm that is under God to have the Soveraignty and Rule over all manner of Persons born within these her Realms Dominions and Countries of what Estate either Ecclesiastical or Temporal ever they be so as no other Foreign Power shall or ought to have any Superiority over them And if any Person that has conceived any other sense of the Form of the said Oath shall accept the same Oath with this interpretation sense or meaning her Majesty is well pleased to accept every such in that behalf as her good and obedient Subjects and shall acquit them of all manner of Penalties contemn'd in the said Act against such as shall peremptorily and obstinately refuse to take the same Oath And because this is
more private her Majesty declares in Parliament this very same thing in her first year Cap. 1. Sect. 14. Provided also that the Oath expressed in the said Act made in the first year shall be taken and expounded in such Form as is set forth in an Admonition annexed to the Queens Majesties Injunctions Published in the first year of her Majesties Reign that is to say To confess and acknowledge in her Majesty her Heirs and Successors none other Autority than that was challenged and lately used by the noble King Henry VIII and King Edward the VI. as in the said Admonition more plainly may appear § XI KING James who is next comes up to the same Point and in his Proclamation before the Articles of Religion thus declares That We are the Supreme Governor of the Church of England and if any difference arise about the external Polity concerning Injunctions Canons or other Constitutions whatsoever thereunto belonging the Clergy in their Convocation is to order and settle them having first obtained leave under Our Broad Seal so to do We approving their said Ordinances and Constitutions provided that none be made contrary to the Laws and Customs of this Land That out of Our Princely Duty and Care the Churchmen may do the Work that is proper for them the Bishops and Clergy from time to time in Convocation have leave to do what is necessary to the settling the Doctrine and Discipline of this Church SO that I think no more need be said to § XII satisfie any reasonable Person that the King and the Church are two distinct Powers in the sense of the Statute Book or in Parliament Language nor do our Kings interpose in Religious Matters any otherways than to make Religion Law what the Church in Convocation determines and recommends as the Tradition of Faith as agreeing to the Holy Scriptures and the Collections of the Ancient Fathers and Holy Bishops therefrom and to the guarding it with Penalties to be inflicted on such as oppose and violate it just as the first Christian Emperors did Nor can our Religion since the Reformation be any otherwaies called a Parliament Religion then it might have been called so before where the same Secular Power is equally extended and executed as in case of the Lollards certain supposed Hereticks Subverting the Christian Faith the Law of God and the Church and Realm to the extirpating of them and taking care that they be punished by the Ordinaries II. Henry V. Cap. VIII and so before IV. Henry IV. Cap. XV. where the Laws are these None shall Preach without the License of the Diocesane of the same place None shall Preach or Write any Book contrary to the Catholick Faith or the Determination of the Holy Church None shall make any Conventicles of such Sects and wicked Doctrines nor shall favour such Preachers Every Ordinary may Convent before him and Imprison any Person suspected of Heresie An obstinate Heretick shall be burnt before the People And VI. Richard II. Cap. V. Commissions are directed to Sheriffs and others to apprehend such as be certified by the Prelates to be Preachers of Heresies their Fautors Maintainers and Abettors and to hold them in strong Prison until they justifie themselves according to the Laws of Holy Church And which is more remarkable in the II. and III. of this King Cap. VI. the choice or Pope Vrban is made Law and confirmed in Parliament and 't is by them Commanded that he be accepted and obey'd But does the Pope of Rome therefore return and owe his Autority to the Parliament of England how would they of Rome scorn such a thing if but insinuated and yet the Act of Parliament was in its design acceptable and advantageous to them they had the Civil Autority thereby to back and assist them as occasion and which might work that Submission to the present Election his Holinesse's Bulls could not do at least so readily and effectually That this Nation did always understand the outward Policy of the Church or Government of it in foro exteriori to depend upon the Prince a learned Gentleman late of the County of Kent Sir Roger Twisden Knight and Baronet has given a very satisfactory account to them that will receive any in his Historical Vindication of the Church of England in Point of Schism c. Cap. 5. practised by the best of Kings before the Conquest Ina Canutus Edward the Confessor whose Praises are upon Record in the Romanists account of them and the last a Canonized Saint and to which they were often supplicated by the most Holy Bishops Upon the same Grounds are we to laugh at their Folly or Madness or rather Malice when they taunt us with a Parliament-Religion which has only the benefit of the Government for its Protection and our Kings do but that Duty is laid upon them by St. Paul take care that under them we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all Godliness and Honesty Christianity it self ever since Constantine's time may be as well reproach'd that it was Imperial or which is in effect the same Parliamental Since the Empire was Christian and defended it nay while it was Heathen for some particular Emperors upon some occasions have adhered to and protected it and that it had no other bottom than Reasons of State and a worldly Complyance and the lewd Pen of Baxter in his Prophaner History of Bishops c. Cap. 1. Sect. 37. gives the same account of the Church's increase under Constantine on the score of Temporal Immunities That a Murderer that was to be hang'd if a Christian was but to be kept from the Sacrament and do some confessing Penance c. for those Governors then assum'd the same Power in Religious Matters as have done our Kings since the Reformation as must appear to him that compares the two Codes Novels and Constitutions at large or if hee 'l not take that pains the Abridgment is made above with our Statute Book both which only take care that the Religion receiv'd and own'd in the Church and by Churchmen be protected and every Man in his station do his Duty in order to it if the common words in the Statutes carry the usual common sense and are to be apprehended by him that is not a common Lawyer and which the Author of these Papers does not pretend to be § XIII ONLY Mr. Selden inrodes us here again and comes quite cross too against us he tells the World other things That Excommunication in particular and then they may as well do all the rest is what belongs to the Parliament and which has actually Excommunicated and the Bishops are impower'd only by Parliament to proceed in the like censures and but by a Derivation from both Houses he says in plain terms that all Power and Jurisdiction usually call'd Church Power and Jurisdiction is originally and immediately from the Secular and this he thinks he has demonstrated from several Acts of Parliament to this purpose
Castelvetrus her second Husband as Mr. Selden suggests or by the Archbishop himself what is necessarily hence to be inferr'd I 'le here again give in the words of our always to be reverenced Mr. Herbert Thorndike of the Laws of the Church Cap. Vlt. Pag. 394. Neither is the Publishing Erastus his Book against Excommunication at London to be drawn into the like Consequence that those who allow'd and procur'd it allow'd the substance of what he maintain'd so long as a sufficient Reason is to be rendred for it otherwise for at such time as the Presbyterian Pretences were so hot under Queen Elizabeth it is no marvel if it was thought to shew England how they prevail'd at home first because he hath advanced such Arguments as are really effectual against them which are not yet nor never will be answered by them though void of the Positive Truth which ought to take place instead of their Mistakes and besides because at such times as Popes did what them listed in England it would have been to the purpose to shew the English how Machiavel observes they were hamper'd at home and for the like Reason when the Geneva Platform was cried up with such Zeal here it was not amiss to shew the World how it was esteem'd under their own Noses in the Cantons and the Palatinate § XVII I am now to shew the concurrency of our Doctors in the Church and who still go along with me and say the same thing that Church Power as such is not from the Civil Magistrate and his supremacy in all Causes and over all Persons infers it not an induction would be too numerous the Particulars being so many I 'le only instance in two the one is Thomas Bilson then Warden of Winchester and afterward Bishop there in his Book entituled The true difference between Christian Subjection and un-christian Rebellion perused and allowed by publick Autority and dedicated to Queen Elizabeth and for writing of which he had his Bishoprick the other is Robert Sanderson then the King's Professor at Oxford and after Bishop of Lincolne in his Book called Episcopacie as establed by Law in England not prejudicial to the Regal Power written in the time of the long Parliament by the special Command of King Charles the I. but not published by reason of the Iniquity and Confusion of the Times and since printed and dedicated to our present gracious Soveraign King Charles II. two Divines as they flourished in our Church at a great distance of time from one another so are they at as great distance for their Worth and Merit beyond the generality of the Divines of their times and by which as we have the advantage of their greater Autority as to themselves to which add That they acted herein as publick Persons by Autority appointed to write in the Name of the Church of England and in such Cases Men generally are more careful how they vent their own private Niceties and Conceptions so also have we a farther benefit hereby that this was and is the continued constant Doctrine of our Church and Church-Men from Queen Elizabeth to King Charles II. Bishop Bilson thus speaks part 2d pag. § XVIII 124. printed at Oxford It is one thing who may command for truth and another who shall direct unto truth We say Princes may command for Truth and punish the refusers this no Bishop may challenge but only the Prince that beareth the Sword no Prelate has Autority from Christ to compel private Men much less Princes but only to teach and instruct them these two Points we stand on pag. 125. 126. he tells the Jesuite the Prince is Supreme to establish those things Christ has commanded and so he all along shews it the design of the Oath of Supremacy against the pretended outward Jurisdiction of the Pope claiming as Christ's Vicar on Earth a coercive Power in order to spiritual things over the Persons of all Christians whatsoever whose Subjects soever and in whatsoever Causes even our Kings themselves And that it is no more thence to be inferr'd that Princes because supreme Governors over all Persons in all Causes are therefore supreme Judges of Faith Deciders of Controversies Interpreters of Scripture Appointers of Sacraments Devisers of Ceremonies and what not then if it should be inferr'd Princes are supreme Governors in all Corporal things and causes ergo they are supreme Guiders of Grammar Moderators of Logique Directors of Rhetorick Appointers of Musick Prescribers of Medicines Resolvers of all Doubts and Judges of all Matters incident any wayes to reason art or action We confess them to be supreme Governors of their Realms and Dominions and that in all Spiritual things and causes not of all Spiritual things and causes we make them not Governors of the Things themselves but of their Subjects we confess that her Highness is the only Governor of this Realm the Word Governor doth sever the Magistrate from the Minister and sheweth a manifest difference between their Office for Bishops be no Governors of Countries Princes be these bear the Sword to reward and punish those do not pag. 127. They have several Commissions which God signed those to dispense the Word and Sacraments these to prescribe by their Laws and punish by the Sword such as resist them within their Dominions pag. 128. That no Clergy-Man by God's Law can challenge an exemption from earthly Powers pag 129. Princes have full Power to forbid prevent and punish in all their Subjects be they Lay-Men Clerks or Bishops not only Murders Thefts Adulteries Perjuries and such like Breaches of the second table but also Schisms Heresies Idolatries and all other Offences against the first Table pertaining only to the Service of God and Matters of Religion pag. 130. as the Kings of Israel did who are the Christian Princes example pag. 132. and it is the duty of Christian Kings to compel from Heresies and Schisms to the confession of the truth consent of Prayer and Communion of the Lord's Table to compel Hereticks and Schismaticks to repress Schism and Heresie with their princely Power which they receive from above chiefly to maintain God's glory by the causing the Bands of Virtue to be preserved in the Church and the Rules of Faith observed pag. 133. this is the Prince's charge to see the Law of God fully executed his Son rightly served his Spouse safely nursed his House timely filled his Enemies duely punished and he tells the Jesuite if he grants this he will ask no more And these the causes and things that be Spiritual as well as Temporal the Princes power and charge doth reach unto or in the words of St. Austin that Princes may command that which is good and prohibit that which is evil within their Kingdoms not in Civil Affairs only but in Matters that concern divine Religion Cont. Crescon l. 3. c. 51. pag. 134. to page 145. and this or power of the like nature was what was claimed and used in causes Ecclesiastical which
in assuming of it he did not design to infringe and invade any Power of the Church and it least of all Vindicates Mr. Selden's innocency in urging them with whose Reputation it is as little consistent to say he is ignorant of the Statute Book being by Profession a common Lawyer § XXIII THE ancient Papers in the Cottonian Library seem to be the very same with that Manuscript of Doctor Stillingfleet's at least to be upon the same occasion and which the Doctor publish'd in part in his Irenicum and since it seems he thought it not publick enough there communicated it to his Friend Doctor Burnet and who has Printed it at large in the Third Book of his History of the Reformation of the Church of England and they seem to bear date about the same time according to the Computation given by John Durell since Dean of Windsor in his Ecclesiae Anglicanae Vindiciae Cap. 28. placing it in the Days of Henry 8th and so has Doctor Burnet since Correcting Doctor Stillingfleet's Mistake that it was in a Conference in the days of Edward VI. and entitling it to the Autority of the Reformation and though Doctor Stillingfleet only mistook in the time yet both he and Burnet have joyn'd together in that which is worse and have dealt unfaithfully in the transcribing of it if we may believe the Dean of Windsor's account who tells us in his forementioned Vindiciae out of the Manuscript it self which Dr. Stillingfleet gave him the opportunity to peruse that when Archbishop Cranmer had affirmed 1. That it was not only in the Power of a Bishop to create a Presbyter but in the Power of a Prince yea in the Power of the very People to create a Presbyter 2. That he who under the Gospel is designed a Bishop or Presbyter wants no Consecration that the Election and Designation is enough in order to it and Leighton a Doctor of Divinity gave his Opinion in these words 1. I suppose a Bishop according to Scripture to have Power from God as his Minister of creating a Presbyter though he ought not to promote any to the Office of a Presbyter or admit to any other Ecclesiastical Ministry in a Common-wealth unless the leave of the Prince be first had but that any other have Power according to Scripture I have neither read nor learned by Example 2. I suppose Consecration to be necessary as by imposition of hands for so we are taught by the Examples of the Apostles such says the Dean was Cranmer's Candor and so great his love of Truth he doubted not to yield to this Opinion of Leighton's and this is plain in Doctor Stillingfleet's Manuscript in which is to be seen Th. Cantuariensis set with his own hand below Leighton's Name in token of his Approbation of it and of which both the Doctors have given no account to the World being omitted in two Impressions Why Doctor Stillingfleet did leave out this passage in his Irenicum 'tis plain because it thwarts his particular design and he had lost the advantage of so considerable a Name and Autority as Cranmer's before his most false Assertion That Ordination is not appropriated to Bishops and for which in that Treatise he so contends it takes down somewhat of their Top-gallant As I remember somewhere in that Book he expresses their solitary Power he wondred no question with himself how at those years he could find out such a Book to present the World with and indeed well he might and when he had read so far as served his present turn went no farther otherwise he would have enquired also a little better into the time when this conference was and not obtruded it on the World as done by the Autority of our Reformation though 't is agreeable enough with the following Testimonies of the Bishops and Doctors of our Church in the same point of Episcopacy and which to say no worse of them are lame and imperfect as is here his account of the Manuscript But what should move Doctor Burnet to omit it I cannot imagine that it was not his purpose to leave Cranmer to Posterity as either an Erastian or Independent and of which he is justly to be suspected otherwise this is plain from his own account of him Lib. 3. Pag 289. where he tells us In Cranmer's Paper relating to this very Conference some singular Opinions of his about the Nature of Ecclesiastical Offices will be found but as they are delivered by him with all possible Modesty so they were not established as the Doctrine of the Church but laid aside as particular Conceits of his own and it seems that afterwards he changed his opinion and having said this why might he not have Printed out the whole Manuscript and which is but the very same thing only more satisfactory to the World and the Doctor had dealt more clear and ingenuous in the Matter nor is he quite to be acquitted from some little sinister end and clawing therein a thing not to the advantage of an Historian especially since he Printed out of another part of that Manuscript the Archbishops judgment so fully with Eight other Bishops concerning the Supremacy denying the Prince any church-Church-Power thereby and which is peculiar only to those that are chosen and sent by Christ Jesus as his Father sent him into the World and invested him with it and also in a Declaration of the Function and Divine Institution of Bishops and Priests Subscribed by him and the Archbishop of York and Eleven Bishops and Twenty Divines and Canonists declaring that the Power of the Keys and other Church Functions is formally distinct from the Power of the Sword Printed in his Addenda Num. 5. at the end of his History and indeed that Archbishop Cranmer did so alter his Judgment as the Dean of Windsor tells us he did in Doctor Stillingfleet's Manuscript there is Evidence sufficient from the alone Book of Ordination and the Preface to it which was composed and made publick by him and others to be sure some of them these very Bishops and Doctors mentioned there and by Mr. Selden in his Cottonian Manuscript it being done in the first year of King Edward's Reign and where the Orders of Ministers wholly depend on the Apostles and their Institution but when all is said and done that can be such particular Conferences as these if duly considered and in their Circumstances can avail little for or against either Party nor can Cranmer's Opinion or any other Doctors be reported with Justice out of any such their Papers The greatest advantage the Reformation had in the days of King Henry VIII was that every one had encouragement to think and liberty to offer and in Conferences some must act the adverse part and every thing must be stated and proposed and urged too and though the opportunity and curiosity of some did not do amiss in collecting and preserving such Discourses yet I cannot but think it less Discretion in Printing and
it self was not thought to be concerned 't was what was reputed only secular and the most eminent and very near all the Bishops were zealous Sticklers against the Pope or at least submitted to it then when zealous for the Roman Catholick Religion Doctrines and Worship and to which they adhered in King Edward's days and Queen Elizabeth's when the Reformation went on farther and was settled as now by Law in the Church The Supremacy was not then the Characteristical Mark though since to keep up the Parties it is so and which occasioned that warm Dialogue betwixt the Jesuite and Doctor Bilson of which I have given so large an account already the Doctor 's design being to vindicate our Church from the Opinions of Erastus urged in effect upon us by the Jesuite and that by asserting the Prince Supreme in all Causes over all Persons we give not to him any thing that is Church-Power enstated by Christ on the Apostles and by them derived to the Bishops their alone Successors herein this being thus settled and over-ruled against the Romanist another Enemy Man comes with his Tares and which are scattered in the seed-Plot and grow up together with it the Puritan starts up in the midst of us and the Point is That this Power of the Keys is in the Presbytery their Eldership made up of Lay-Men mostly call'd Lay-Elders and these for the greatest part as must be in abundance of Parishes Mechanicks and the meaner sort who have the Power of laying on of Hands Ordaining and Excommunicating nay more these inconsiderable Persons are not only invested with the Power of Bishops and Church-Men but with that Power and Supremacy is by us given to the Prince to Preside over and Govern all Persons and Causes by Process to Cite Summon and Convene before them to implead acquit or condemn amerce or punish even to confinement in their Consistories and no Cause or Person to be exempted if manageable in order to Religion they emulate and succeed the Pope himself and in the highest instances of his pretended Power and Soveraignty even to Summon and Censure Kings of whom Personal Attendance is required now against this it is these Worthies change and wield their Weapons accordingly as a good Fencer is ready at all against these New Popes as they call them and whoso please may read in Bishop Bancroft's Survey of the pretended holy Discipline cap. 22 23 24 25. and in his Book of Dangerous Positions and Proceedings published and practised within the Island of Britain under pretence for Reformation and for the Presbyterial Discipline In Bishop Bilson's Perpetual Government of Christ's Church Cap. 9 10. and Bishop Whitgift's Defence of the Answer to the Admonition Tract 17. pag. 627 628 629 630 c. against these it is their warmth and Argument is spent in Defence of the Rights of the King and Church in scorn and detestation of such those pretending Ignaro's Their words are these with a deal more to this purpose As though Christ's Soveraignty Kingdom and Lordship were no where acknowledged or to be found but where half a dozen Artisans Shoo-makers Tinkers and Taylors with their Preacher and Reader Eight or Nine Cherubins forsooth do rule the whole Parish So Bancroft Dangerous Positions c. l. 2. c. 2. That the King must submit to the Pastor and be content to be joyned in Commission with the basest sort of People if it please the Parish to appoint him and if over-ruled must be contented and the Prince loses all Autority in Ecclesiastical Matters and he must maintain and see executed such Laws Orders and Ceremonies as the Pastor with his Seniors shall make and decree So Bishop Whitgift ibid. p. 656 657. That the Church-warden and Syde-men in every Parish are the meetest Men that you can find to direct Princes in judging of Ecclesiastical Crimes and Causes a wretched state of the Church it must be that shall depend on such silly Governors as Husbandmen and Artisans Ploughmen and Craftsmen and we descend to the Cart for advice in Church-Government So Bishop Bilson Perpetual Government Cap. 10. and if thus in behalf of the Regal and Sacerdotal Power the Magistracy and the Ministry and which are the only Governors of the Church of Christ as they contend against these monstrous sort of People with their High-shoo'd feet and Clowns hands invading both the King and the Church be set as one man to oppose them and their distinct Powers not so nicely and distinctly stated at one time as they are and require an another and appear but as one Weapon that with present advantage it may be wellded against them this is to be imputed to the warmth and zeal of the Disputant whether as Aggressor or Defendant his settled particular judgment is to be fetch'd from his particular designed Decision and Determination in other Cases and when the naked Cause is alone and before him the immediate proper object of his Consideration and it must be confessed neither do I believe the great reason and choicer learning of that excellent Prelate were he now alive again could upon second thoughts extricate himself that Bishop Bilson's Argument against Lay-Elders Cap. 10. Pag. 148. and which Robert Parker so much twits him with is wide of a Conclusion and very ill laid it runs thus I cannot conceive how Lay-Elders should be Governors of Christ's Church and yet be neither Ministers nor Magistrates Christ being the Head and fulness of the Church which is his Body governeth the same as a Prophet a Priest and a King and after his Example all Government in the Church is either Prophetical Sacerdotal or Regal the Doctors have a Prophetical the Pastors a Sacerdotal and the Magistrates a Regal Power What fourth Regiment can we find for Lay-Elders All that can be said is this there appear'd an Argument against a Lay-Elder he was thought thus shut out from having any Place or Power as from Christ not considering the ill distribution of the offices of Christ in general and his bad-placed Successions and more especially the worser consequence that must attend a deriving the Magistrates Power from the Mediatorship and 't is what neither Whitgift nor Bancroft did Consider As a King Priest and Prophet he erected and settled his Church on Earth by virtue of that Commission and All Power given him of the Father Mat. 11. but he did not as such meddle with the Kingdoms on Earth as the Mediator he was himself a Subject and professed and practised Subjection and Obedience demanded only the Subjects right Protection by the Government he found established in the World by his Father But however the present Argument was wrong laid and whencesoever the Magistrates Power is derived 't is all along and by them all supposed and maintained quite different and apart from that of the Ministry or the Priesthood and they are asserted two quite diverse offices and their Powers do not reach to one another I 'le only now instance
Church 'T is his Proposal is so fatal to Christianity Sect. 14. Lay-men no Judges in Matters of Faith and the Determinations of Indifferencies The first Council at Jerusalem No Lay-Elders Sect. 15. CHAP. II. THis Power is not in the Prince The Child Jesus is Anointed Lord and Christ with all Power given him in order to Heaven to continue in the Gospel-Priesthood to the end of the World Sect. 1. These two Powers have and may reside again in the same Person are both for the general good of Man Emperors how call'd Apli Epi. Sect. 2. Their particular Power necessarily infer not one another The Priest as such is no more a King than the King as such is a Priest than a good Man is always knowing or the Despotical and Regal Power go together The mixing these several distinct Gifts and Powers is the inlet to all disorder The King and Priest have been brought to a Morsel of Bread by it Sect. 3. Kings have no Plea to the Priesthood by their Vnction the Jewish Custom and Government no example to us if so the consequent would be ill in our Government Our Kings derive no one Right from their being Anointed Blondel's Account of this Vnction The Error and Flattery of some Greeks herein Sect. 4. The Church how in the Common-wealth and the Common-wealth how in the Church and both independent and self-existent Sect. 5. The Church founded only and subsisting in and by Christ and his Apostles Sect. 6. Proved from Clemens Romanus Ignatius Irenaeus Origen Tertullian Justin Martyr Athenagoras Minutius Foelix Sect. 7. A distinct Power is in the Church all along in Eusebius Eccl. Hist Socrates c. Opposed to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Power of the Prince so called all along in those Writings Sect. 8. This was not from the present Necessity when the Empire was Heathen if so the Christians had understood and declared it The Apostles God himself had forewarn'd and preinformed the World of it It continued the same when Christian only with more advantages by the Princes Countenance and Protection Sect. 9 10. In Athanasius Hosius St. Jerome Austin Optatus Chrysostom Ambrose Sect. 11. In Eusebius History from Constantine and other Historians downward the Emperor and Bishop have alike their distinct Throne and Succession independent as plain as words and story can report it Sect. 12. And the same do the Ancient Councils all along separating themselves from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sect. 13. This is not the Sense of the Bishops only in their own behalf and which is the Atheistical popular Plea and Objection the Cruelty of the French Reformers Sect. 14. The Emperors own and submit unto it as Constantine though misunderstood by Blondel Valentinianus Justinian Theodosius Leo c. Sect. 15 16. Blondel owns all this and yet does not understand it Sect. 17. All this farther appears from the Laws and Proceedings of the Empire and the Church as in the two Codes Novels and Constitutions from our Church Histories Photius Nomocanon Sect. 18. This farther appears from the Power of the Empire in Councils and particularly that so much talked of Instance in Theodosius Sect. 19. From their Power exercised on Hereticks Heresie is defined to be such by the Bishops Sect. 20. In Ordinations Sect. 21. Church-Censures Mr. Selden's Jus Caesareum relates only to the outward Exercise of the Jewish Worship and comes up exactly to our Model The state then of the Jews answers this of Christianity Sect. 22. The Christian Emperors never Excommunicated in their own Persons or by their own Power Mr. Selden says they did His Fergeries detected His ridiculous account of Holy Orders from Gamaliel He was a Rebel of 1642. Design'd a Cheat on the Crown when annexing to it the Priesthood Sect. 23. What the Empire made Law relating to Religion was first Canon or consented to by the Clergy Nothing the Empires alone but the Penalty So Honorius and Theodosius Valentinian and Marcian Zeno and Leo. Sect. 24 25. No need of present Miracles to Justifie this Power to Assert it does not affront Magistrates 'T is always to be own'd before them Dr. Tillotson's Sermon on this bottom Arianism was of old opposed against Constantius That this Power ceased when the Empire became Christian is a tattle It receiv'd many Advantages but no one Diminution thereby Sect 26. CHAP. III. CHurch-Power is a Specifick constituted by Christ in order to a Succession the erecting a new and lasting Government upon Earth a Community of divers Orders Offices Acts Stations every ways peculiar the Body of Christ Sect. 1. A Government to Rule and defend it self and Independent Sect. 2. The main Objection that it is against the Civil Power Common Sense and Experience confutes it The more a Christian the better Subject The Christians supported Constantine's Crown Sect. 3 4. They did not want Power to do otherwise nor consequently Integrity as is objected Sect. 5. To say they were Fools is more plausible to the Age but then the Empire must be so too who were equally ignorant of these destructive Consequences to their Government Sect. 6. The reason of the present Misunderstandings and that we do not see as the Ancients did because no Government own'd but that which is Temporal and outwardly Coercive Sect. 7. So 't was stated by an Anonymous Author 1641. All Power and Punishment was outward and bodily among the Jews and so it must be among Christians Sect. 8. So Mr. Selden allowing no Punishments but what are outwardly Coercive because none other as not under so nor before the Law Sect. 9. Erastus went the same way before him Sect. 10. And Salmasius and says the Apostles had no Power because without Whips and Axes Concludes against all Church-Power upon these terms and that he may surely take it from Bishops So does a French Reformer usually lose his Senses when running his Forehead against our Prelacy Sect. 11. Grotius is in this Error but oft corrects himself His Inconstancy is to be lamented He imputes it to his Education He fights with the very same Weapon against church-Church-Power in general the Jesuite does against the Supremacy in the Church of England Sect. 12. CHAP. IV. THe Objections answer'd Selden's Error that there are to be no other Punishments by Christ than was before and under the Law the Query is to be what Christ did actually constitute He mixes the Temporal Actions of the Apostles and those design'd for Perpetuity Adam and Cain might have more than a Temporal Punishment Sect. 1. The great Disparity betwixt the Jewish and Christian State considered no Inferences to be drawn from the one to the other but what is on our side Sect. 2. Theirs is the Letter ours the Spirit They Punish'd by Bodily Death we by Spiritual Sect. 3. If Government was judged so absolutely necessary by the dispersed Jews that they then framed one of their own for the present Necessity and whose Wisdom in so doing
If the Jesuit do let him look to it Christianity is not in fault An entring into or renewing the Covenant at the Font or Altar is no Encroachment on the but Justice of Peace in the Neighborhood Sect. 43. Excommunication and other Censures change no Mans Condition as to this World they have no force but in relation to known Duties Prudence is to rule in the Execution particular regard to be had to Princes Whatever is Coercive annexed is from the Prince Lay-Judges Chancellors c. when first granted by the Empire upon the Bishops Petition The same is Absolution neither innovate in Civil Affairs Sect. 44. Conciliary Acts invade no more than does the Gospel it self That Canons have had the precedency of the Law is by the savour of Princes a Council without local meeting Letters Missive Sect. 45. Ordaining others no more prejudicial to the Crown than the former acts This is Mr. Hobbe's Misapprehension Sect. 46. CHAP. V. THe grand Objection out of Mr. Hobbes If these two Powers command the same Person at the same time inconsistent Performances it arises from that false Principle that all Power is outward Sect. 1. This infers equally against the Laws of God and which may and do sometimes thus interfere are as difficultly reconcileable with the State Acts. No Church Laws oblige against Natural Duty The Laws of Religion considered at large in order to a clearer Solution Sect. 2. Mr. Hobbe's Rule will Answer all Consider what is and what is not necessary to Eternal Salvation Sect. 3. The same is the Rule of the Ancient Fathers Sect. 4. If Mr. Hobbes his Faith and Obedience be all that is Necessary 't is then easily determined because to obey only the Soveraign Sect. 5. Dr. Tillotson his Sermon of Love and Peace to his Yorkshire Countreymen not to be Vindicated from being herein of Hobbe's Judgment in what he Dissents from him No Church-Power since Miracles ceased according to Mr. Dean Sect. 6. The Gospel calls for Confession and Obedience in Opposition to though not in Contempt of Princes to the hazard of all So the best Christians the worst of Hereticks only Simon Magus Basilides c. did otherwise Sect. 7. For a full Answer the Laws of Religion are to be ranked under Three general Heads They are Arbitrary and Humane Arbitrary and Divine Necessary and Divine Sect. 8. Laws Arbitrary and Humane though never losing their Sanction yet cease in some Cases in the Execution As when the Empire gave Indulgencies beside the Canon Sect. 9. The Civil Injunction does not immediately oblige the Christian in these Cases The Church has her own Power never to be yielded up Ceremonies not the main thing Sect. 10. Not to be changed with our Clothes That Worship which is best not to be foregone only to yield to what is always Necessary The Case of the Asiaticks about Easter Sect. 11. Especially in our Church of England Sect. 12. Least of all are our Mutinies and Factions our even weakness a Ground for Change Sect. 13. Laws Arbitrary and Divine cease in some instances as to Practice the Advantage of Afflictions A good Christian always a good Subject the Empire still gave Rules and Limits in the Exercise of these Positive Duties Sect. 14. To submit and cease as to particular Practice upon the lawful Command of the Magistrate is not the Case in Doctor Tillotson's Sermon to give up the Institution to him If commanding a false Worship I am to withstand him 'T is no Hypocrisie though I go not into immediately and there Preach the same in Spain Mr. Dean's unheard of Notion of Hypocrisie in what Case the Magistrate is serviceable to promote the Faith Sect. 15. The last sort of Laws both Necessary and Divine are never to cease in any one Instance or under what Circumstances soever either as to their Right or Practice I am never to do any one Immorality always to own and profess the Cross of my Saviour Sect. 16. The great Goodness of God in giving such a Subordination of Duties that the end of each may be answer'd in enjoyning nothing absolutely necessary to Heaven but what is in our Power that no Contingencies of this World can take from us our Eternity a Reward we can never miss of without our own Faults Sect. 17. CHAP. VI. The Contents The last general of the Discourse Sect. 1. What the Autority of our particular Church and Kingdom is in this Controversie where not Apostolical and Primitive there not obliging Their Doctrine Laws and Practice all along on our side Sect. 2. The People are only Testimonies of the Manners of such as are to be Ordained in our Book of Ordination Sect. 3. No Autority in any but those of the Priesthood to Ordain Excommunicate c. as in our Rubricks Articles c. Sect. 4. Our Kings claim'd it not in their Acts Declarations c. in the days of Henry VIII in the Act of Submission He is declared a Lay-man nothing in Religion made Law but by him He defends Religion His Power as the Supreme Governor of the Church Is called Worldly and Secular Sect. 5 6 7 8. Of King Edward VI. That the Bishops were to use not their own as formerly but his Name and Seal in their Processes c. implies no such thing Sect. 9. Of Queen Elizabeth King James Sect. 10 11. The King and Church distinct Powers in our Statute Book Our Kings now have but the same Power the Empire of old and their Predecessors before the Reformation had If our Religion be Parliamentary that anciently was Imperial Sect. 12. Mr. Selden says the Parliament of England both can and has actually Excommunicated and the Bishops Power is derived only from them Sect. 13. The Acts of Parliament he produces V. VI. Edw. VI. Cap. IV. III. Jacobi Cap. V. infer it not Sect. 14. Nor do those of II. III. Edw. VI. Cap. 1. Elizabethae Cap. II. that the Prince limits Excommunications in the Execution is not against the Divine Right of them His Instances in the Rump Parliament Geneva The Parliament of Scotland III. Jacob. VI. Cap. XLV are all against him Sect. 15. Archbishop Whitgift is not proved to have Licensed Erastus his Works for the Press that they were found in his Study is no Argument he was an Erastian if Licensed by the Autority of the Nation no Evidence that his Doctrines were then owned Sect. 16. Our own Doctors of the same Opinion with us instances in two of them Sect. 17. Bishop Bilson St. Ambrose one of Doctor Tillotson's Hypocrites A private Liberty of Conscience not enough a false Religion to be declared against though by Autority abetted Mr. Dean gives advantage to the Papists Calumny That our Religion is only that of our Prince Sect. 18. Bishop Sanderson his particular Judgment concerning the Divine Right of Episcopacy Sect. 19. Mr. Selden objects again that our own Doctors and Writers are all on the other side The particular Authors each reckon'd up He
perverts and abuses them all Sect. 20. The two Vniversities in their Opus Eximium c. in the Reign of Henry VIII 1534. altogether against him Sect. 21. Stephen Bishop of Winchester Orat. de vera Obedientia is of the same Mind and so is Richard Sampson Dean of the Chappel to Henry VIII in an Oration to this purpose Sect. 22. The Papers in the Cottonian Library seem the same with Dr. Stillingsleet's M. SS in his Irenicum Both he and Dr. Burnet unfaithful in the Printing of it Dr. Durell's account of it Archbishop Cranmer with the Bishops and Doctors engaged in our first Reformation were not Erastians from the account given of them in his Church History by Dr. Burnet Less Discretion in Printing such Papers nor is their Autority really to be any thing Sect. 23. Mr. Selden is shameless in quoting Bishop Andrews who determines all along against him Those Laws that Protect the Church must in course inspect their Actions The Bishop disswaded Grotius from Printing his Book De Imperio summarum Potestatum in Sacris Ha' y' any Work for a Cooper is indeed of Mr. Selden's side and the Lord Falkland His very ill Speech in the House of Commons 1641. His Pulpit Law and Derision of the Divine Right of Kings as well as of the Church He and such like Speech-makers Promoters of the late Rebellion affronts both to King and Priest design'd at once when the Crown is entitled to the Priesthood Sect. 24. Archbishop Bancroft Archbishop Whitgift and Bishop Bilson under the Suspition of Erastianism Accused as such by Robert Parker de Politeia Ecclesiastica a Malicious Schismatick made use of still against our Church by Dailee against Ignatius his Epistles by Doctor Stillingfleet in his Irenicum Our Bishops and Doctors are not against the Divine immutable Right of Bishops as Doctor Stillingfleet mistook out of Parker and reports them to be Satisfaction may justly be required of him for it Sect. 25. The Writings of the best Men how they may be mistaken as of Justin Martyr The first Council of Nice St. Jerome concerning Chastity and Episcopacy Bishop Cranmer and our first Reformers Bishop Whitgift Bancroft and Bilson The Point was at first only the Bishop of Rome's Supremacy A secular title only no Characteristical mark then betwixt the Protestant and Papist The Lay-Elders in their Consistory set up after this as Popes in his room These our Bishops warmth was exercised against whatever indiscretion in laying the Argument The Power of the Prince and the Priest are still contra-distinguished Kings are not Governors next and immediately under Christ as the Mediator The mistake of many in their Pulpit Prayer Our Kings and Church do not thence derive their Power nor so claim it in their Acts Statutes Declarations Articles c. in the forms of bidding Prayer by Queen Elizabeth and King James c. of ill consequence if they do Doctor Hammond's Autority Sect. 26. Particular Doctors not the Rule in Religion The several ways by which Error comes into the World Julian's Plot to destroy Christianity How Pelagius managed his Heresie by Rich and Potent Women by feigned Autorities of great Men. Liberius of Rome and Hosius comply with Arianism wearied with Persecutions Theodosius his Doctores Probabiles Cod. 16. Theodos Tit. 1. l. l. 2 3. A Catalogue of some Books Printed for Benj. Tooke at the Ship in St. Paul's Church-Yard Folio HErodoti Halicarnassei Historiarum Libri ix Gr. Lat. Suarez de Legibus ac Deo Legislatore Bishop Bramhall's Works Walsh's History of the Irish Remonstrance A Collection of all the Statutes of Ireland Wiseman's Chirurgical Treatises Baker's Chronicle of England with the Continuation Judge Winche's Book of Entries Skinneri Etymologieon Linguae Anglicanae M. T. Ciceronis Opera notis Gruteri cum Indicibus 2. Vol. Heylyn's Cosmography in Four Books Mathaei Paris Historia Bishop Sanderson's Sermons The Paralel or the New Specious Association an Old Rebellious Covenant A Vindication of the Loyal Abhorrers The Trials of the Lord Russell c. And of Algernon Sidney Braddon Speke John Hamden Esq Sir Sam. Bernardiston Titus Otes the Rioters at Guildhall Daniel's History of England with Trussell's Continuation Quarto A Brief Account of Ancient Church Government The true Widow a Comedy by T. Shadwell Dumoulin's Vindication of the Protestant Relegion Phocena or the Anatomy of a Porpess Wroe's Sermon at Preston Sept. 4. 1682. at the Funeral of Sir Roger Bradshaigh 1684. Allen's Sermon of Perjury Gregory's Works Dodwell of Schism Octavo Dodwell's two Letters of Advice Considerations of Concernment Reply to Mr. Baxter Discourse of One Priesthood and One Altar Descartes Metaphysicks English Evelyn of Navigation and Commerce Wetenhall of the Gifts and Offices in the Worship of God Catechism Langhornii Chronicon Regum Anglorum The French Gardiner The Country Parson's Advice Boyle's Noctiluca Dodwell's two Discourses against the Romanists 12 o. Aesopi Fabulae Gr. Lat. 12 o. The Author's distance from the Press has occasioned some Errors in the Printing especially in the Pointing which the Reader is desired to correct and the following Errata ERRATA PAg. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 83. l. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 109. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 191. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 262. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 267. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 268. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 277. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 288. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 304. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 378. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 43. in for ni p. 163. ausa for ausus put out non ibid. p. 181. line last Tit. 45. deest p. 253. conserisse for comperisse his for hi ibid. p. 258. Amoybeyms for Amoybeums p. 478. Dominum for Dominicam p. 500. Christiani for Christi pag. 28. une quarte to be put out p. 81. l. 12. Assent for assert p. 187. l. ult put out but to Princes something is more due then at other times p. 190. l. 8. put out which p. 231. l. 11. belief for unbelief p. 287. l. 18. Episcopale for Episcopate p. 380. l. 23. decided for derided p. 396. l. 6. so for to p. 440. l. 12. inroding the Errors for inroding the Crown p. 350. l. 18. titles for tithes OF THE SUBJECT OF Church Power In whom it Resides It s Force Extent and Execution that it Opposes not Civil Government in any one Instance of it The Introduction The Contents The Occasion
side that believes it and run as cross to the practice of all Antiquity that was still the Clergies Province alone the Work of Ordination nor are the People pleaded or ever mentioned to have a share in it and though 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be sometimes used for Election and Choice So Balsamon upon the first Canon of the Apostles and 't is used at the entrance of Deaconesses by Justinian Novel 3. 6. cap. 6. and Hugo Grotius gives us many more instances of the like Natures De Imperio sum Potest in Sacris cap. 10. sect 6. yet when strictly speaking it is defined by Zonaras upon that first Canon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 't is appropriated to the Bishop when stretching forth his Hand in the Office of Consecration or when Praying over the Person to be Ordained and invoking the Holy Ghost as by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is farther declared ibid. and so strict is Zonaras in this his limitation of the Word and its use to Ordination that when speaking of the assignation of under Church-Officers as Readers Singers c. he changes it into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 using the former in the Ordination only of those of the Priestly Catalogue Bishops Presbyters and Deacons and which he only Copies out of the Church-Canons as Can. 2. Concil 4. Gen. Chalced. Can. 6. 14. Concil 6. in Trullo and the first Council of Nicea has still held to the distinction betwixt Election and Ordination and expresses them by several words the former by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the latter by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the fourth Canon And so again in the sixth Canon the care is the same of confounding these two so far as the use of different words will do it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the word used for the Power and Acts of the People and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Bishop and which Zonaras there Paraphrases by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 none of which was ever assumed by the People or Laity and the same distinction is retained betwixt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Aristenus in Can. 10. Sancti Basilii ad Amphilochium apud Pandect Can. Beverig Socrates in his Church History lib. 1. cap. 9. uses different words but with the same design and is clearer yet if possible in the distinction the Power of the People he speaks of and expresses by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word very fit and apt to prove the Primitive Custom of Election preceding the Act and Office of the Bishop by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 laying on his hands upon the Consecrated and so it generally goes on betwixt the Clergy and the People in the Offices of Ordination the People choosing the Bishop consecrating the Emperor assenting and so also is the business of laying on of hands still appropriated to the Bishop not only as excluding the Presbyter who has not the Power but also the People as 't is over and over again in the Church Story and which to transcribe were needless the People give nothing of that Power about which we are discoursing and is supposed in those in Holy Orders AND to this all agree that admit of the § VI laying on of the hands of the Presbytery in Ordinations and that there is something peculiar in the Clergy and which the People have not and consequently cannot give but another Dispute here commences what Obligation this Practice of the Church for some Ages past lays upon the Christian World now present in what degree of usefulness or necessity they placed the Votes and Concurrency of the People in the constituting a Church-man And this say some in the same order of necessity as the Concurrency of the Clergy that although the Suffrages of the People do not confer and collate Church-Power apart and solitary and where the hands of the Presbytery is not yet the Presbytery cannot do it without them 't is neither legal just nor duly performed if so attempted something is wanting not only for outward Attestation but for the real translation of Autority on the heads of the Ordained Thus Theodore Beza is express Ordinatio seu impositio manuum certè nullos proprie creat ministros sed legitime vocatos seu electos adhibitis precibus mittit in sui muneris possessionem De ministerii grad cont Saraviam cap. 22. That Ordination or Imposition of Hands properly creates no Ministers but by Prayers gives such as are call'd or elected he means by the People as 't is every where to be seen in his Writings Possession of their Office a kind it seems of Mandate for induction to what they had a right before by another Hand collated And David Blondel the most Industrious of the Presbyterian Order in his Apology Pro Hieronimo spends many Pages in the latter end of that Treatise in giving the Practice of the Church for Ten Centuries admitting this Power of the People in Ordinations and that they have equal right thereto and are alike constituted by Christ his Vicars in the case with the Clergy Laicos fratres equo cum clero jure Christi hac in parte vicarios constitutos pag. 471. and upon which he fixes a Divine right immutable and indispensable and what Ordinations were made during these Centuries without the Peoples Choice Suffrages and Approbations preceding aberrationes fuisse statuamus pag. 542. ibid. were Anomala's and Aberrations from the Rule for Correction not Imitation My design is not to examine all the little Arguments Blondel there produces or the numerous Quotations he brings it were tedious and to no purpose because most of them are so his Zeal and Industry outrunning his Judgment as throughout the whole Apology What is Truth and to be adhered unto I shall as briefly and plainly as I am able lay down in the following Conclusions taking the liberty of Reflexion as occasion THAT there is no Practice much less § VII Command of our Saviour for any such thing but the quite contrary he consulted nobody that we read of not only in the first Vocation and Election of his Disciples for who should they be or where should he find them nor in their after-assignation to either Apostleship or to what other degree of the Power of the Ministry was on the Seventy devolved And this Blondel in part grants but first insinuates that it might be otherwise though secret and not declared and then positively affirms that it was so upon a bottom equally precarious because the Apostles practised and delivered to us what they copied from Christ who still call'd in the whole Fraternity and required their Votes in each Ordination and thought themselves in Duty so obliged Pag. 475. and which how far true and to what purpose that it is no ways to the advantage of Blondel's design is already considered § VIII NOR do the after-Ordinations in Scripture prove any thing like it but rather give Evidence to the contrary I 'le make my instances
any more the late two Printed Epistles from Paris I am sure do not But I cease here and return to my first Subject § XII ALL they can with any shew of Truth or Reason pretend for the People at Ordinations to have to do is only this to be Discoverers of the Evil and Witnesses of the Good Lifes and Conversations of such as are to be received into the Ministry this we find the use of them in Justinian the Emperor's days Novel 6. cap. 1. Vt dicat si noverit an Ordinandus conscius sit illicitorum de quibus inquisitio Publicê est facienda to declare what he knew of the Person to be Ordained and as enquiry shall be made of him Lay hands suddenly on no man neither be Partaker of other mens sins 1 Tim. 5.22 The meaning is that Timothy proceed not in the Execution of Church-Power or of his Episcopal Office but with deliberation upon a just search and enquiry a due information in all Circumstances that every thing be as it ought otherwise he partakes of the Sins are occasioned thereby and they are his own and their guilt adheres unto him Now though St. Paul's or St. Timothie's own knowledge of the Person to be Ordained by their nearer Relation stricter Converse and Personal Inspection might be satisfaction sufficient to themselves and no man can be so mad as to think such an Ordination to be invalid self-inspection and notoriety of the Fact has still been accounted Ground and Motive sufficient for Publick Proceedings but then this by how much it is more private so much it is less satisfactory to others and for the Evidence to come from abroad a Testimony from without is more agreeable and more clearing and of whom so properly as from the People the Neighbourhood as eye-witnesses of his Conversation And it was upon the common course of Proceedings what Saint Peter proposed before the Consecration of Matthias Petrus ad Plebem loquitur Cypr. Ep. 68. and which was to the People to the Believers all in common that out of those Men that accompanied them and was well known unto them all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among them of which they were eye-witnesses whose Application of themselves to Holy Things and constant Industry made them sit for so high an Office an Apostle should be chosen Acts 1. That the Seven Deacons be Men of good Report and this attested by them that knew them e're the Apostles lay their hands upon them Acts 6. that Timothy be well reported by the Brethren Acts 16.2 And so again of the Bishop that he have a good report of them that are without i. e. Heathens 1 Tim. 3.7 and all which must be done suitable to the Converse he uses and as the Subject renders capable of it but that therefore the chief Interest should be in the People I now use the words of Mr. Thorndicke in his Book of the Laws of the Church pag. 154. is an Imagination too brutish Cannot the Apostles finding themselves to Ordain Persons so and so qualified for such and such Offices in the Church appeal to the People whom they acknowledge so and so qualified Cannot St. Paul afterwards provide that no man shall blame them in the dispensing the Power that they are entrusted with 2 Cor. 8.20 but a consequence must thereupon be inferr'd against themselves that they are commanded by God to refer the things concerning the Salvation of God's People in general as the Power of an Apostle the Order of a Deacon c. to the temerity and giddiness of the People Nor does all those bulky Collections made by Blondel for the Clergy and People being consulted in reality amount to any more In ordinationibus mos erat Plebem Clerum consulere mores merita Singulorum Communi Consilio ponderare Cypr. Ep. 33. Episcopum Collegarum Plebis testimonio Probatum Ep. 41. only to give Testimony to their Manners and Merit of which the Persons receiving it and to Consecrate and assign to such a People were always Judges Ad eam Plebem cui Praepositus Ordinatur Nothing was left to the People in appointing their Pastor he was only sent out in their Presence and what he brings out of the 68 Epistle of St. Cyprian is only more plain if possible and a fuller Evidence against his conceit the design of that whole Epistle being this That vitious Men be not received into the Church and admitted to attend at the Altar and to that purpose that no Ordination be made but in Publick Ne indignus obreperet that a full account may be taken of their Lifes and Conversations and that it be not Secundum humanam Praesumptionem upon Presumptions only but a full Evidence and this is most likely to be had from the People or those with whom they had lived and their Power there asserted Vel eligendi dignos Sacerdotes vel indignos recusandi cannot be allowed to amount to any more if consistent with the design of the Epistle nor can there be any thing in the People like the Power of a Judge to refuse or reject but as Informers and Petitioners by way rather of Prayer and Postulation upon the Plea of what Testimonies they could Produce or what Accusations they had against them and according to the Determinations of the Bishops that nominated and proposed him and who lay hands upon him is the Person fixed in his Station De Episcoporum qui in praesentia convenerant quique de eo apud vos literas fecerant judicio Episcopatus ei deferretur manus e◠in loco Basilidis imponeretur ibid. Ep. 68. Much more to this purpose is to be seen in Cyprian and all which is apply'd by Grotius to this purpose De Imper. Sum. Potest in Sacris cap. 10. sect 9. or rather and which Autority is much greater this Church Rule and proceeding in Elections and Ordinations of Bishops is to be seen in the Fourth Canon of the First Council of Nicea and which is there appointed to be done by all the Bishops of the Province or because all may not be capable of Convening by Three at the least the others sending their Suffrages and then to be Confirmed by the Metropolitan Where to be sure whatever of the Peoples concurrency or rather anteceding Testimonies was required the ultimate and alone Power is in the Clergy and 't is Balsamon's Opinion upon that Canon That the Canon was made purely in relation to the People to exclude them quite upon the account of the inconveniences they found by their Presence and which adds to what I have already observed That the Peoples concurrency in Ordinations is so far from being of their Essence and altogether requisite that it depended all along upon the Canons and Laws of the Church to approve or null them or if the Votes of the People did at any time prevail and over-rule it was upon special Accidents to avoid Tumults and
and Complexion of these Men observed already because all the well-setled duly constituted Churches in Christendom do not dissolve and fall in pieces are not framed anew into the accidental necessitous Model of a private French Congregation And surely the contrary to all this is most true there can be nothing more fatal to Christianity than to have a Power of Substitution of the Clergy to their several Charges put into the hands of the People that the Power of Mission and Approbation of such as are to serve at the Altar be taken from the Clergy nothing can reflect more upon the Wisdom of our Saviour as the Law-giver and who has therefore gone quite another way and the Bishops and Pastors are made Guides Inspectors Rulers Teachers of not in Substitution and Deputation from the People nothing can go more cross and contradictory to the Nature of things as that the Sheep should approve of and appoint their Shepheard such as have wholly design'd themselves to the particular Study should be the worst Judges in the Science least know and be able to judge what Persons are sit to propagate and promote their own Profession and all this put into the hands of Novices and Ignaro's who are not who cannot be supposed to have any Skill for inspection into it no more and greater sign of his fastus indomabilis the worst sort of Pride and irrecoverable pertinacy than that such a sort should any ways desire or pretend such a Power or presume themselves sit for it no greater disrepute to Religion than that those which are really least to be esteemed in the Church should thus have Judgment and alone Judgment in the things of the highest concern a Power to canvass against and determine upon the eminentest Professors of it nothing but a degeneracy in Knowledge and Manners the profoundest Ignorance and deepest Immorality can attempt it the whole World must be stupid and sottish lay aside all Sense of relations and dependency be sunk down together below its Orb Suaeque in integrum restitutionis penitùs oblivisci the words of Blondel are proper here lose all Capacities of but remembring what is fit and decent be past all hopes of a restitution and amendment § XV AND surely then that Plea which is thus unreasonable groundless and every ways impertinent for the Power of the People in Eleâ—â—â—â—… and Substituting the Bishop or Presbytâ—â— in their several Stations for the discharâ—e of their Functions will render more contemptible yet another Plea many assume and urge for the Power in the People in the Decisions of Matters of Faith and Determinations and fixing Indifferencies in order to present Peace and Practice And where we know the Laity have Convened with the Clergy as in the first Council of Jerusalem and others since they were still bound up and limited Nor can they but with much less reason challenge any more here than in being present at Elections and Ordinations that upon the personal Hearing and View such as desire it may be satisfied of the justness of all Proceedings that no man should blame them in dispensing that Power they are intrusted with and others to submit unto 2 Cor. 2.20 and most precarious is that of admitting Lay-Elders and their Personal necessary concurrency in the Acts and Execution of Government in the Church certain particular Lay-Persons as sharers with the Pastors in the Jurisdiction the gifts of Knowledge Understanding c. are common to all i. e. none are denied them but such as deny them themselves by their own Negligence and Non-improvement or by a first defect in Nature have them not and a promiscuous admission into Debates and rational Decisions is allowable but Church-Power in the governing judiciary part of it is from without and whoever Claims it must evidence the Devolution and Deputation how they were first brought into the Church and in what Exigence Our Judicious Mr. Hooker relates at large that they have since been set up by Divine Immutable Right shews only what the Projects and Interests and Ambition of Men can wrest and pervert Scripture unto and where something of Mens own is lay'd and design'd for so Schismaticks and Hereticks are defin'd De tuo infers So Tertullian to Apelles Lib. de Carne Christi cap. 7. Marcion suum lib. 4. Advers Marcion cap. 7. Something like truth will be alledged in defence of it and surely there is as little for this as ever was urged in behalf of any Sect whatever the once Zealous Abettors of it in this Church and Kingdom could not themselves believe what they pleaded for with so much shew of Zeal and known Violence and their design was only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 't is said the Gentiles did against the Christians in Eusebius with clamorous Noises to make a shew of the want of something to make greater the Rupture they contended for Omnia pro tempore nihil pro veritate as Optatus has observ'd of their elder Brethren the Donatists Lib. 1. Cont. Parme. to serve not Truth but the present disorder by it and it has the Fate of other inordinate Teachings time makes them cease and wear out Nor is this Platform of Lay-Elders the Palladium they now contend for or in the Catalogue of those Grievances and Imperfections are complain'd of Surely there might be Governments and Helps in the Church and Elders which were no Lay-men and 't is no where said in Scripture they were and as certain it is again there 's no after-practice either Apostolical or of Ten succeeding Centuries in which the perpetual immutable Divine Right of it is to be bottomed as D. Blondel has pleaded for their right of Election and Substitution of such as serve at the Altar but with what Success has already appear'd Besides the ill effect of the Schism in general to the first raising of which and after Promotion it concurr'd This particular ill it occasioned and left among us that the Divines of those Ages in which the Aimers at this Platform of ruling Elders so much strove for it as in the days of Queen Elizabeth especially shew'd their greater just Zeal in exposing those their unreasonable Claims of their Consistories to Summon Kings and Arraign them at pleasure In Ordine ad Deum and in defending the Rights of the Civil Power and were less careful in stating the true Rights of the Christian Church as distinct from the Magistrates Power and which is now to be examined and discoursed in this following Chapter CHAP. II. Chap. 2. The Contents This Power is not in the Prince The Child Jesus is Anointed Lord and Christ with all Power given him in order to Heaven to continue in the Gospel-Priesthood to the end of the World Sect. 1. These two Powers have and may reside again in the same Person are both for the general good of Man Emperors how call'd Apli Epi. Sect. 2. Their particular Power necessarily infer not one another The Priest as such is no more a
to be of the Church but the Government it self is laid upon another upon the Shoulders of this Child and Son born and given unto us Isa 9.6 and which they are to nourish to protect and preserve with their Temporal Government and Scepters a Generative Procreative Power is not in them This Power given by the Father to the Son was in part and some instances of it finish'd in his own Person upon Earth in part and other instances he is now managing in Heaven what was to remain here among us after his Ascension was to be given to whomsoever the Son pleased this he deputed and committed to his Apostles some of which Power was to dye with their Persons was extraordinary and temporary only or at the most survived in some few only after them and during a small time what was designed and universally useful for all Mankind and for the lasting perpetual managing us in order to Heaven to continue to the end of the World and in the execution and discharge of which our Saviour has promised to be with us always unto the end of the World this was all transferred and devolved by the Apostles on their Successors in the Evangelical Priesthood the Bishops Presbyters and Deacons of the Church it was not demandated to Kings and Secular Powers which then and for some Hundred years after only Persecuted all that followed after that way and call'd upon that Name before whom they appeared only as Dlinquents if they came before them it was for a Mittimus to the Goal or as men appointed to be slain not for Commissions and Substitutions to Preach the Gospel and this is the state of the World at this day thus stand the Powers in it divided betwixt the King and the Priest each moving in his proper Sphere by virtue of his special particular Grant from Heaven and managing the two great Affairs of Heaven and Earth the Body and Soul both of so high a concern unto us THAT both these Powers have been residing § II at once in one and the same Subject and Person 't is most certain and so it may be again by a conflux of Providences or the immediate pleasure of him whose the Powers originally are and can give to the Sons of men as he pleases nothing but dissonant much more repugnant in it the King has been a Priest too not only with Power and Autority in order to Holy Things and Persons a due Behaviour and Discharge in and of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristotle speaks Lib. 3. Polit. cap. 10 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make them good Citizens and obedient to Laws 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to engage their Souls to Virtue by Rewards and Penalties cap. 13. but the Prince has had that Power which is purely and strictly Hieratical and of the Priestly Office 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristotle cap. 10. abovementioned Rex Anuis Rex idem Phoebique Sacerdos and that such as of the Priestly Order have had also the Secular Power conjoyned and annexed to it it is most certain in all manner of History for Evidence of which I 'le only refer such as can enquire to Mr. Selden's First Book De Synedriis cap. 15. Hugo Grotius is of Opinion that the Priesthood was seldom found without some Secular Power added unto it in his Treatise De Sum. Potest Imper. in Sacris Cap. 9. Sect. 4. 30. And the ancient Canons of the Church imply that it was much in Use for the Clergy to be engaged in the Affairs of the World as appears by their several Cautions and Commands against it the Circumstances of the then present Church and particular Reasons moving them to it So Can. Apost 81.84 Can. 11. Concil 1 2. Constantinop Can. 16.18 Concil Carthag The King and the Priest as they are of the same Original so are both designed for the same great End and Purpose for the Care and Promotion Protection and Preservation of the Honor of God his Worship and Service in the ways of Virtue and Holiness and Obedience to his Institutions for the benefit of Mankind both here and hereafter and suitably have their names promiscuously and in common in Ecclesiastical Writers Thus Constantine many times calls himself a Bishop and by other Greek Writers is he called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equal to an Apostle Many of these are to be seen in Potrus de Marca de Concord Sacerd. Imperii l. 2. c. 10. Sect. 6 7. Valentinian and Marcian the Emperors are styled Inclyti Apostoli famous Apostles and Constantine's Animus Sacerdotalis is mention'd and applauded in a Publick Council Vid. Observat Notas in Paenitentiale Theodori Cant. Archiep. pag. 138. with several Compellations of the like Nature And which Considerations or rather undue Consideration of these gives some little gloss upon their Error who fix the full Power of the Priesthood in the Prince renders it somewhat more plausible than that of theirs who place it in the People but the Truth is no more in reality on the one side than on the other These are given partly by way of Complement Magnificent Title or higher Eulogies not unusual to the Eminencies of such Personages as they honored and protected Religion to transfer upon them the Honors that go along with it of what value in themselves it matters not so be the best it hath Or where it has nearer answer'd the thing it self Constantine himself has shew'd in what Nature and Instances in the Fourth Book of his Life wrote by Eusebius cap. 24. Vos speaking to the Bishops in iis quae intra Ecclesiam Episcopi estis Ego vero in iis quae extra geruntur And again Ibid. the Historian also speaks to the same purpose Episcopus quasi Episcoporum erat Constantinus Curam habuit ut sint pii both which amount but to thus much That Constantine's Episcopacy only consisted in his outward care of the Church and promotion of the Duties that belong unto her it reacheth not to the inward Power the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Sacred Function or Office it self AND here now is the great Enquiry and § III this the main Case in Debate amongst us in this unhappy Age of ours Whether the Kingly and Priestly Offices and Charges immediately in their Natures and Constitutions imply and include each other Not that they agree in one design or more in some Externals but whether where the one is there the other as a necessary consequence is at the same time and by the same appointment existing and to which I am to answer in the Negative as to be a Priest has never inferr'd a Secular Power so nor to be a Prince the Spiritual For the full cleering of this point it will be necessary first to consider the Nature of Gifts Duties Offices and Power in general how far they include and infer one another how far each one in it self is attainable and from
good for the Crown it staid not at the Pulpit but went immediately to the Throne all manner of Dominion was bottom'd in Grace alone and their Saints were both the wisest upon Earth and had all Power were to Teach and to Rule and to possess the Earth All the links and contignations of Government were taken down or burst in sunder whether of the Father over his Child or Husband over his Wife or Master over his Servant or Sovereign over his Subjects or Priest over the People all were Christ's Freemen and to be Servants to none only the knack was found out at last that the King was to be a Priest when both King and Priest were first disabled and their Autority either in design or actually taken from them The Bible it self was then put into his hands with a Right to all Church-Offices when the Right to his Liege Subjects was denied him with a Power to make the Scriptures Canonical and to discharge all its Duties to lay limits by his Laws to Religion though a false one and it is not permitted openly to draw Men off from the Profession of it so Mr. Dean tells us in his Sermon when to govern his Subjects by Law is Tyranny and Usurpation So advantageously is this new Honor and higher Dignity that his entrance to the Priestly-Office placed on him and the consequence was only this both King and Priest was brought to a Morsel of Bread were brought to the Block the Saints in the Right of their Power cut off the Heads both of King Charles the First the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury the Father was against the Son and the Son against the Father as when the Sea-marks are removed the Walls Water-locks and Floodgates are broken down and pluckt up this greater present deluge of professed Atheism Prophaneness and Immorality is broken in upon us over-spread the face of our Earth in the natural course and consequence of it the Foundations are cast down and what can the Righteous do the Romanists will have their Pope to be a King because a Priest these will have their King to be a Priest and in effect no King and 't was only those that either first design'd or afterwards promoted the taking his Crown from his Head stuck this Feather in his Cap as in the late unnatural Rebellion § IV NOR are those more successful who found the Pleas to the Priesthood in the Unction of Kings or in that they are anointed at their solemner Inaugurations God Almighty meant nothing less when he said Cyrus Mine anointed nor do the outward Unctions of the Kings of Israel and Judah infer or prove any more the Priests were equally anointed as they and 't is no more to be concluded that a King by virtue of his anointing hath the Power of a Priest than that a Priest by his anointing hath the Power of a King which two Sacred offices every body knows were two quite different distinct things though in many things they united yet in several they did they might not it was Sacriledge on the one hand and Rebellion on the other to attempt it The Oyl that the Kings were anointed withal was made of the same Unguents that Moses had compounded to anoint both the Priests and the Holy Vessels and the Altar if we may believe De Marca in his second Preface to his Treatise De Concord c. and had its effects but as design'd and apply'd to each in particular and which suitably received thereby their several distinct Separations for differing uses had their peculiar respects and Services conferr'd upon them it did not imply all the Offices at once in the same either Thing or Person and it may be as well said that the Holy Vessels and Altar became Kings as that the Kings became Priests upon the alone general account of being anointed but admit it had been otherwise under the Jewish Policy and the King by his Unction had the full Extent and Latitude of Power and Offices conferr'd by the Ceremony of Oyl devolv'd and seated in him What is this to us in the Christian Church under another Head different Polity and several Dispensation or how doth it oblige us that our Kings must be Priests because the Kings of Israel were once so Surely no otherwise than it oblig'd the Jews that their first-born were to be either Kings or Priests or both because it was once so with their Ancestors and Predecessors and which is nothing at all unless to be a King originally and in its Nature included the Priesthood by a perpetual Force and Law never to be broken and which their own instances destroy and did not the design and frame of the Governments themselves forbid it for the Law of Moses is the foundation and direction of both Governments both Political and Ecclesiastical and which the Law of our Saviour is not Civil Power is it altogether and in every instance antecedent and independent to that Power which is from the Gospel the Law of Christ supposes it only adds by its Precepts of Justice and Virtue greater Awe and Reverence new Motives for Obedience and Subjection yet the particular very ill consequence could by no means be allow'd us to take and give Measures and Rules to the Powers and Offices of the Christian Church from the Pattern and Practice of the Jewish for then the Power and Extent of the Evangelical Priesthood must be such as Christianity will not bear nor any man in his wits claim for it the Power of the Priesthood among the Jews was mixed in some cases and the Priest and the Levite were in some instances civil Judges apart as betwixt stroke and stroke betwixt Plea and Plea c. Deut. 17. and the High-Priest in other Circumstances had no Jurisdiction at all but as elected a Member of the Sanedrim and which was at the choice of his Electors not by virtue of his Priesthood as such tell us that are skilled in their Customs and sure we are he was still to be consulted in the ordinary difficult Affairs of the Kingdom concerning Wars and Peace and gave his responses by Vrim and Thummim and which is so strenuously oppos'd as unfit for Christian Bishops and Church-men by those we have mostly to deal with in this point now under debate and which would be of worser consequence yet if apply'd unto Kings to have the Princes Power such only as had the Kings of Israel and Judah particularly according as is the Model we usually receive from these Men of their Government and is contended for as lapsed from Heaven for their Sanedrim is still described as an Autority foreign and independent from that of the Prince that could not question the King for his life but could lay lesser Punishments upon him if violating the Law And the great Selden himself is at a stand and leaves it to wiser heads than himself to determine whether the Sanedrim might whip their Kings or not De Syned lib. 2. cap. 9.
ask no Directions receive nothing of Autority from them Nor did this Autority thus limited to themselves cease with their Persons or was it translated and deferr'd to any other than of their own assignation by their own Hands and on their own Deputies and Successors the Bishops and Pastors of the Church in whose hands and whose alone it was by them left and there remained with a Power so to depute others and with command to be executed accordingly The very same Church Power I say though not in the same particular Circumstances avouch'd and attended in the same outward manner nor in every single act and effusion does it thus remain and is it to be executed upon all for Salvation and as Christ promised to be with them always to the end of the World and this will fully appear from the Church Records commencing where the Scriptures end from the Concessions of Emperors their Laws and Constitutions made in Church Matters SAINT Clemens Romanus an Apostolical § VII Person and one that wrote his Epistle to the Corinthians not long after the Schism in Corinth mentioned by St. Paul tells us That the Apostles being sent from Christ as from God and Preaching the Word of God through the several Regions and Cities made Bishops and Deacons of the elder Christians such as were the first fruit of their labours and whom they first converted being found sufficient in order to the Service of them that should believe to the bringing more into the Fold and reducing them to Christianity St. Ignatius his Contemporary in part in his Epistle to those of Smyrna commands them to follow the Bishop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And in his Epistle to St. Polycarp 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That they take heed to him as God And again in his Epistle to Smyrna That nothing be done without him in Matters that belong to the Church and Salvation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the meaning is not ill express'd by the additional Pseudo-Ignatius whoever he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the whole Character whatever of their Image and Power God and Christ design'd to devolve and impress upon his Church whether as to the Government or Ministery of it are found in the Bishop He is the Person to whose Faith and Trust the People of God are committed and of whom an account is required of their Souls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he governs as Head and all Church Power and Business is to be translated within themselves as in the Apostles Canons wdich bear date about this time Can. 34.39 Irenaeus who trode pretty near their heels says that he can reckon up them that were Bishops instituted by the Apostles and their continued Succession to his days Lib. 3. Adv. Haeres cap. 3. Ed. Paris Habemus eos annumerare qui ab Apostolis instituti sunt Episcopi in Ecclesiis successores eorum usque ad nos to whom and only whom the Gospel was committed Sine quibus nullo certitudo veritatis Ibid. And again Episcopis Apostoli tradidere Ecclesias that the Churches of God were committed to and intrusted with them Lib. 5. cap. 20. Origen if possible is plainer and distincter yet and in his Third Book against Celsus in so many express words distinguishes betwixt the Senate in the Church and that in every City Ed. Cantab. p. 129. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And so again betwixt the Rulers and Governors of the Church and the Rulers and Governors of the City 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. And in his Eighth Book towards the end he declares a different Model 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from that of the Empire in every City for which and whose safety and success in his Wars he contends and prays for and which he owns and acknowledges with it a Government framed constituted and erected 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the word which is God and which Government is the Church whose great King is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word and Son of God who has his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Governors still appointed resident and continued there ruling as he hath prescribed according to his own Laws and Dictates the Laws of the Empire being preserved inviolated by them Tertullian as plainly distinguishes betwixt the two Bodies in the Nine and thirtieth Chapter of his Apology against the Gentiles Corpus sumus de Conscientia Religionis Disciplinae unitate Spei foedere we Christians are a Body united in a sense of Religion under a different Discipline as well as hope altogether apart à Ministris corum Potestatibus à statu seculi from their Ministers and Powers and from the state of the World and tells us that Polycarp was made a Bishop in the Church of Smyrna by Saint John in the 23 Chapter of his Book of Prescriptions against Hereticks as also Clement over the Romans he returns to the Chairs of the Apostles which remained till his time in their Succession as the Authors of his Religion and 't is not from the Seat of the Empire but from Corinth and Phillippi from Ephesus and Rome he dates their Power and fetches their derivation Vnde vobis autoritas praestò est whence its rise and devolution And in his Fourth Book against Marcion cap. 5. Ordo tamen Episcoporum ad Originem recensus in Joannem stabit auctorem says that St. John is the Author of the Order of Bishops a Polity and Dispensation all along another thing from that of the Empire flowing from another fountain quite differing from and no ways depending upon it And 't is Tertullian's Argument in his Book De coronâ Militis that a Christian Souldier who fights in the Emperor's Camp and gives him his just Allegiance ought rather to lay down his Arms than wear a Laurel Crown on his Head though a mark of Favour from his Prince because relating too much to a religious Custom among the Ethnicks and he is no where commanded it in Scripture nor is it traditionally delivered to him by the Apostles or Bishops or Governors of the Church either in Precept or in Practice Quomodo enim usurpari quid possit si traditum prius non est quis denique Patriarches quis Prophetes aut Sacerdos aut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quis vel denique Apostolus aut Evangelizator aut Episcopus invenitur Coronatus Cap. 9. where though it was his mistake in accounting such a thing Matter of Religion as the wearing a Crown of Laurels upon the Commands of his Prince This is a different thing from that command of Licinius the Tyrant enjoyning all that would remain in his Camp to Sacrifice to Idols as in Eusebius his Church History Lib. 10. cap. 8. and which rather than do Christians ought not only to leave the Camp but lay down their Lives yet upon the mistake and supposure it is plain that he remov'd from the Secular Power all Matters of Religion such was to be received from Christ alone
from the Apostles and Bishops and succeeding Church-men and consequently we are thus to interpret those other places of this Father in his Works when speaking of the Emperor in these Expressions Illum commendo Deo Cui soli Subjicio Apol. adv Gentes cap. 33. quem sciens à Deo constitui lib. ad Scapulam Cap. 2. Colimus Imperatorem sic quomodo nobis licet ipsi expedit ut hominem à Deo secundum quicquid est à Deo consecutum solo Deo minorem sic enim omnibus major est dum solo vero Deo minor est Ibid. That the Emperor is subject to God alone as appointed by God that he is second to God less than God only that he is greater than all c. All these are to be understood in a limited sense suited to the present Subject he is then upon as to the Secular Government he being the fountain of all Temporals and God governs the World by him nor ought nor can any one say what does he as accountable to God alone who is alone above him But Church Power is of another Head or Species and 't is not derivable from him nor is he the less a Prince for want of it and it was it must be if rational and consistent with themselves the least in the thoughts of this or any other Father of the Church that has used these like Expressions to ascribe thereby Church Power unto him And therefore is it that in their Writings and Declarations and Apologies for their Loyalty and Obedience to the Empire as standing obliged in their Conscience and by their Christianity in all manner of Obedience to him yet it is with this reserve that they are withall to retain their Freedom and Rights as Christians and which they own and return to another fountain So Justin Martyr in his second Apology 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with all joy and chearfulness we serve and obey you only the Worship of the alone true God we derive not from you So Tatianus in his Oration to the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If the King Commands us to pay Tribute 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a Man wee 'l obey him in his Humane Laws Religion is still exempted So Athenagoras in his Embassy to the Emperor in behalf of the Christians declaring hee 'l refuse no Tortures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if they fail in these Duties in a greater or lesser instance of them And those excellent words of Minutius Foelix are much to this purpose Quà m Pulchrum spectaculum Deo cum Christianus cum dolore congreditur cum adversus minas supplicia tormenta componitur cum strepitum Mortis horrorem Carnificis arridens insultat cum libertatem suam adversus Reges ac Principes erigit Soli Deo cujus est cedit cum Triumphator Victor ipsi qui adversus se Sententiam dixit insultat How Pleasant a Spectacle is it to God when a Christian encounters with Sorrow when he is compos'd against Threatnings and Punishments and Torments when with Smiles he insults over the noise of Death and the horror of the Hangman when he erects his liberty against Kings and Princes and gives place only to that God whose he is when with Triumph and a Victor he has the better of him who gave Sentence against him EVSEBIVS all along in his Church History § VIII as he sets down the particular Succession of the Emperors and Bishops so he represents and places them upon their two distinct Thrones So 't is said of Simeon in respect of his Diocese and Church-Jurisdiction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he was worthy of his Throne meaning his Episcopal Chair lib. 3. cap. 11. and of Justus his Successor in Jerusalem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he was placed on the Throne of his Bishoprick cap. 35. when entring upon his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Office of a Bishop is expressed in general cap. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 't is varied lib. 5. cap. 9. that his Administration or acts of his Episcopal Charge and Office to be performed to his People and accordingly the execution is expressed by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 words that imply full Power Autority in the Bishop if they imply it in the Prince which have no other words to declare it to us by and particularly the Empire of Trajan is expressed by the very same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in that very Chapter And this Hugo Grotius has observed Rivet Apol. Discuss pag. 699. and given one reason of it Omne corpus Sociale jus hebet quaedam constituendi quibus obligentur membra hoc jus etiam Ecclesiae competere apparet Actorum 15. 28 Heb. 13.17 ob hoc jus Episcopatûs Imperii nomine appellantun every body by virtue of its Union and Association has a right to constitute such Rules as do oblige its Members that this right does belong to the Church is apparent from Acts 15.28 Heb. 19.17 and for this the Right and Power which is annexed to Episcopacy is call'd by the Name of an Empire and this very Empire Power and Jurisdiction we have executed by the Bishop in part upon Philip who held the Roman Government and was newly come over to the Christian Faith he enrolled him not but by the Rules and Laws of the Church but upon Confession of his Sins and passing through the Order of the Penitents and which was submitted to by him Euseb Eccles Hist lib. 6. cap. 34. and the case is farther clear'd by our Historian lib. 2. cap. 27 28 29 30. in the instance of Paulus Samosetanus as to the distinct Power in Church and State and the extent of each he was Convict of Heresie and his Bishops Orders taken away from him by the Jurisdiction and Power of the Bishops in Council united who alone did give them and who alone could take them from him and placed another in his Bishoprick in the Church of Antioch But when Paulus Samosetanus would not go out of his Church-House their Episcopal Power reached not so far as to dispossess him of his Temporals 't is the Business of Princes alone to inflict Banishment or such outward Punishment upon Hereticks and we have Theodosius a Bishop blamed for his Persecuting in such like manner the Sect of the Macedonians in the Seventh Book of Socrates his Church History cap. 3. Church Empire or Autority reaches not hither in any degree or instance for this they appealed to the proper Head or Fountain to Aurelian the Emperor who was then their Friend though he continued not so long they asked the assistance of the World and that his Secular Arm might relieve them this he granted and adjusted it to the present Bishop consecrated thereunto and thus was this notorious Heretick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Power of the Prince is still called whether exercised in the things of the Church or of the State by the Secular Arm and Autority turn'd out
of the Church every ways dishonour'd and displaced § IX I know it will be here reply'd and 't is so generally All this was when the Emperors were Heathens nay more Opposers and Persecutors of Christianity how could the Offices Managery and Concerns of Religion be intrusted with them who did who would not understand it who scorned and affronted it who to their power endeavour'd to suppress it by all manner of Cruelties executed on its Professors the Church then did as well as she could and exercised her own Prudence and Strength that Power and Jurisdiction which they agreed upon and assum'd by particular compact among themselves and which became an Escheat to the Crown when the Empire became Christian and Kings then executed it in their own Right as inherent to their Secular Power designed and appointed and expected from them by God Almighty And in Answer to which groundless Plea and Objection I shall add farther either the Bishops and Doctors and Confessors of the Christian Church understood this Case as thus stated That this Power was not really in themselves and their execution of it was but accidental forced under the present Circumstances and to return to such Governors in State as should become Christians as its proper Seat or Subject or they did not understand it To say they did not understand it is to implead and represent them to all Ages succeeding guilty of Ignorance gross and inexcusable to give that for certain Truth which some of our Reformers have made their Libel and Objection against these first and Holy Christians That they were more Zealous than Wise Pious but imprudent less discerning men and from whom Truth is not to be had nor expected and which is in effect to put a baffle upon our whole Christianity in general and to lay a ground for mistrust upon each of its particulars it must receive a great blow upon such Supposals when reflected upon and considered that those who alone propagated our Faith for Three hundred years together did not understand the Power and Autority they were invested with in order to it or the true tenor or state of it To say they did understand it then surely it had been stated by them a Model of it drew up and left at least for Posterity a thing so in course and most usual in other cases thus to give Specimens Schemes and Draughts of the Design and Purpose especially when to propose attempt and carry on something that is but new not before received much more when thwarting to the common Sentiments and Apprehensions of Mankind That no Men but such as the Christians were given out to be by their Opposers and Persecutors Mad-men and Fools the followers of a Carpenter and a few Fishermen can be supposed guilty of Certainly the occasion and meaning of that particular Power they then exercised in the Church different from the Secular nay when enjoyned and commanded the contrary by those Powers that they act and speak no more in that Name when Persecuted to Bonds and Imprisonment moreover unto Death for it had been declared and published to such those Governors a Manifesto or Remonstrance made of it to all Princes of the World certainly among the many Apologies that were made to the Empire in their own behalf this had had a share a room at least in some one of them That what Jurisdiction was then exercised by them the Pastors of the Church was only under the present Necessity a present contrivance of their own to keep their Followers and Adherents in some tolerable Peace and Order to awe and restrain as they could better an assumed Usurped Government than none at all that the real and whole Government was laid upon theirs the Magistrates shoulders alone would they but be pleased to come in to the Faith and sustain and execute it What a plausible even cogent Argument is here all along omitted to let the Powers of the World know what a considerable Portion of their Birth-right as Princes they neglect and disown abdicate and relinquish what a real damage and disadvantage they receive in not coming in to the Church what a principal Jewel would be added to their Crown in so doing So great and considerable a number as they which are Christians and which grow upon the World and increase daily Vestra omnia implevimus Vrbes Insulas Castella Municipia Conciliabula Castra ipsa Tribus Decurias Palatium Senatum Forum cui bello non idonei non prompti fuissemus etiam impares Copiis as Tertullian in his Apology cap. 37. Vast Multitudes every where of all sorts in all Places and Offices who as they professed all manner of Allegiance and Duty to them in Seculars so would they acquit resign into their hands their Power Spiritual nay it is really theirs already and the execution falls in course upon them an accession that must be advantageous cannot be accounted mean and inconsiderable to a Government Thus to be the Fountain and Head of all Rule and every Jurisdiction to invest or abdicate to oblige or punish so great so considerable a Sect as are the Christians to constitute and influence to depose and remove every way to govern at Pleasure their Bishops and Pastors who thus grow upon the World and influence all Men the Motive could never have been neglected the Argument must have had a great deal of room in their several Apologies and Embassies to the Empire in behalf of themselves and their Religion who spared nothing like an Argument that might but ingratiate and insinuate into their good favour and liking as 't is evident from such their Writings and yet there is not one word there of any such Pleadings or any thing like it but the quite contrary as it hath been already made to appear I 'le go on farther and assert that 't is very improbable if not our Saviour himself yet that the Apostles should not have done all this and thus stated the case down to the World and yet no man sets these two Powers of the Church and State more apart than does St. Paul and so leaves them To instance in no more at present he often exhorts That they obey Magistrates and that they also remember those that have rule over them who have spoken to them the Word of God and his Bishop has his distinct care over the Church of God 1 Tim. 3.5 has his things to set in order Tit. 1.5 a Power to Summon by Process to receive Accusations as in Court as upon a Seat of Judicature before witnesses 1 Tim. 5.19 20. though no Power to lay either Confinement or any other corporal outward Punishment on their Persons The Powers of the World becoming Christian it must needs make a great alteration as to its Worship and great was the advantage the Gospel received thereby but so great a translation of Power from one Body to another must in all likelihood have been forewarn'd of and declared by such as had a
farther that he pretends to have the judicial Determination of Bishops but really manages and does all himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ib. and evidently again distinguishes between the work of a Bishop and the work of an Emperor he goes on and is more daring and positive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when any such thing was heard of from the beginning of the World that the Judgment and Decision of the Church had its Autority and Measures from the Empire or was ever any such Determination known at all many Church Decisions have been made but never did the Presbyters perswade the Emperor to any such thing neither did the Prince intermeddle with the things of the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. And all this is recorded by Athanasius of the Divine and most Excellent Hosius in that his Epistle Ad Solitarium c. Pag. 840 repeating there Hosius his Epistle to 〈◊〉 on the same occasion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who drew up the Nicene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that was heard and submitted to by all his own words are these to the Emperor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Do not interpose thy self nor meddle with Ecclesiastical Affairs nor do you Command in these things but rather learn them of Vs to Thee God hath committed the Empire to Vs he hath deputed what is the Churches and as he that undermines the Government opposes the Ordinance of God so do thou take heed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lest forcing to thy self the things which are of the Church you become liable to as great a guilt for it is written give unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things which are Gods It is neither lawful for us to have the Government upon Earth nor hast thou the Power of Holy things O King St. Jerome speaks of the evil Bishops only the Character is upon them De Ecclesiae Principibus qui non dignè regunt oves Domini as of Princes in the Church with Power of Jurisdiction in themselves in his Comments on Jeremiah cap. 23. Sacerdos est Caput the Priest is the Head an Original devolving upon others Comment in 1 Cor. 12. and upon Romans 13. Apostolus in his quae recta sunt judicibus obediendum non in illis quae Religioni contraria sunt the things of Religion are not to be subjected to Kings nor any in Autority under them And to this purpose he says again in Isai 1. Apostolos à Christo constitutos Principes Ecclesiarum the Apostles were constituted by Christ Princes of the Churches And the same is said in his Preface to the Epistle to the Galatians and particularly on Psal 44. Fuere O Ecclesia Apostoli Patres tui quia ipsi te genuere c. The Apostles O Church were thy Fathers that begot thee now because they are gone out of the World you have in their room Bishops Sons which are created of thee and those are thy Fathers by whom thou art governed The Gospel being spread in all Parts of the World in which Princes of the Church i. e. Bishops are constituted This Holy Father assigning all church-Church-Power to and in it self and if it be suspected whether these Comments on the Psalms be St. Jerome's own I have yet here repeated this passage out of them as most fully appearing his sense to whoso pleases to consult his Works especially his Commentary St. Augustine's Opinion we have already in part spoke of and he that will undertake an Enquiry will find him all along of the same Opinion I 'le only instance in the differences occasion'd by the Donatists and what Power the Empire assum'd to it self in those great and many Controversies and their Decisions related by him which he tells us is only to make outward Laws in defence of what appears to be Truth and says he it falls out sometimes Reges cum in errore sunt pro ipso errore contra veritatem leges ferunt that they make Laws against Truth themselves being in Error and good Men are only prov'd thereby as evil Men by their good Laws are amended Tom. 7. l. 3. Cont. Crescon Gramat cap. 51. they command that which is Good and forbid that which is Evil Non solum quae pertinent ad humanam Societatem verùm etiam ad divinam Religionem in things which belong not only to Humane Society but to Divine Religion he has Power to enquire into debates and to provide for Truth and Peaco by the Bishops to assign the Persons Time and Place Vt superstitionem manifesta ratio confutaret that Reason may gain upon Superstition and Truth be made manifest Collat. 1. diei 3. cum Donatist Nor was Cecilianus purg'd and set free but by Judiciis Ecclesiasticis Imperialibus by the Ecclesiastical as by the Imperial Judgment and Determinations Ibid. nor will it appear that the Powers of the Empire have concern'd themselves any farther in those quarrels than by abetting or discouraging by outward Laws and Punishments what was represented as Truth unto them and which the Church alone hath not Power to do either to award at first or after mitigate but by Prayers and Arguments and therefore the Civil Laws and Indulgences have been sometimes severer and sometimes too indulgent as Accidents or Truth over-ruled as is to be seen in his Third and Fourth Books ad Cresconium and when these Laws went too hard upon these Donatists and pinched their Faction too sorely then they cried out of Persecution denied the Empire this Power in Divine things and that they were to stand at no humane Judicature as is the way of all such Factions when themselves only persecute and invade and whose Insolencies and Rapines are at large told us by St. Austin in his Forty eighth Epistle and by Optatus in his Treatise against Parmenius the Donatist Hence that of Donatus lib. 3. ibid. Quid Imperatori cum Ecclesia What has the Emperor to do with the Church whom Optatus there sharply upbraids as well as reproves for it tells Donatus of his Pride and unheard of insolency in so doing in lifting up himself above him who is second to God alone Cum supra Imperatorem non sit nisi solus Deus who sits as God in all forensick outward Judicatures and no man can withstand him but Church-Power is still supposed a quite differing thing I mean that which our Saviour left immediately to his Church it falls not under this head of things 't is derived in another stream as the design of his whole Book declares nor is Optatus for this or any other like Expression to be thought to refer all Church-Power into the Empire than those other Fathers did using much the same Expressions and which is above observed and he in particular returns the rise and devolution of the Bishops of Rome to St. Peter by whose Successors it was then in Siricius the Bishop in his days in his Second Book against Parmenius and so St.
or some Historians their Creatures Men Ambitious and Industrious to keep and confine to themselves that Power which the present Circumstances and Necessities gave occasion even Necessity to Profess and Practice the Powers of the World being not become Christian and which though it bears no Objection as in it self for what ever of ill Church-men might design thencefrom sure it is this sort of Truth and Power relating to Christianity was designedly and professedly committed and intrusted in the hands of Church-men alone and by Christ himself with whom he has promised to be to the end of the world and always without any intermission and never to forsake them And 't is as certain again that this is an evil Machiavel design against all Religion in every instance of it thus professedly endeavouring to wrest it out of their Hands to lodge its Possession Care and Preservation elsewhere in the Laity or at the best in Kings and Secular Governors by the flattery of a new Honor and Prerogative cast upon them the easier to gain their assistance and with more Success to manage their main design Is it not now the common Discourse of the Many Religion and which is still by that sort of Men whose Design is to have no Religion at all complain'd of and lamented as decay'd and lost what can never be retrived or this done continued by Church-men whose purpose is only by their Pride and Ambition to usurp and inclose all into their own hands to have within themselves an Arbitrary Autoritative Absolute Rule and Governance over Mens Faith and Persons and the very title of a Clergy-man gives a suspition of either Unfaithfulness or Insufficiency 't is what is managed by the great Hugo Grotius That Religion is not to be entrusted with nor can it as it ought be promoted and propagated by the Bishops and Councils the Prince is alone capable of it though it is in his raw indigested youthful Book De Imper. Sum. Potest in Sacris and his Posthumous Work after all he then ran with the present Croud he was ingaged in as himself afterwards acknowledges and much certainly is to be attributed to those Untheological barbarous Proceedings in the Synod of Dort which was to be sure fresh in Memory if not actually on the Stage when he was in those his Meditations they allowing neither Humanity nor Argument to such as were Remonstrants whereof Grotius was one that is not of the Calvinistical Presbyterian both Faith and Faction and that in every Point as they required Deprivations Banishments were their Ordinary Punishment and the like Cruelties nay worse and more rigorous Proceedings which was by the French Calvinists at that time upon the same score and that too upon their own Brethren of the Reformation whereof Peter du Moulin was the Head and great Manager of which a bitter taste and such an act of Tyranny as no Story can Parallel is to be had in the Life of Episcopius upon these Reflexions in all likelihood it is that we find not only Grotius but those otherwise Learned and Ingenious Men on the Remonstrants side still to inveigh against Synods and the unfitness of Church-men to Preside and Rule where such controverted Cases are on foot to be debated and determined asserting the Prince as much the fitter Person Oppression makes the Wise man Mad. All which is to be seen of any that are Conversant in those Transactions particularly in the Epistles of those learned Men lately collected in one Volume and Printed at Amsterdam I shall therefore to take off the shew and appearance of this Objection upon what account soever it was made Vindicate the Integrity of true Church-men as well as farther assert this great Truth now in hand by adding to what has been said already the Publick Acknowledgments and Declarations of the Christian Emperors themselves That Church-Power thus removed from them is no injury to their Crowns and Jurisdictions thus seated and limited in the Bishops and Church-Officers only is no Usurpation on their parts 't is what is really existing in them CONSTANTINE the First Christian § XV Emperor continues the same style and owns the same Power in the Church which he found in it at his Conversion and receiving Christianity in his Epistle to Anulinus he says of Cecilianus the Bishop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he is Chief and hath a Government as a Church-man in that Province over which Anulinus was placed by himself as a President in Seculars and enjoyns him that they that serve at the Altar be freed from all Publick Services in the State the better to attend it Euseb Eccles Hist lib. 10. cap. 7. he calls the Bishops 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Vita Constantini lib. 2. cap. 2. and cap. 46. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he writes to the Bishops as Governors having Jurisdictâ—on not in Secular Affairs that belongs to the Presidents of Provinces or the Praefectus Praetorio to whom he there directs them for assistance and this is yet clearer in that his known saying to the Christian Bishops when entertained by him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 You are appointed by God as Bishops of those things which are within the Church I am appointed by God as a Bishop of those things which are without De Vita Constantini lib. 4. cap. 24. and what is meant in the Ecclesiastical sense of it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appears plainly by a like Phrase in the Tenth Canon of the Council of Carthage just now made use of by us where to disobey the Bishop is Deposition and if they be still turbulent in the Church and go on to Sedition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word but a little changed the outward Secular Power is to Chastise them i. e. by outward Penalties laid upon them the business and work of every Prince being to Defend and Protect the Church or if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be interpreted to relate only to the World i. e. those that are not Christians as some would have it and so the meaning is that Constantine's Province is to govern them which are out of the Church and no Christians the Bishops can take Cognizance only of such as are in her Arms and have submitted to her Discipline the two Jurisdictions are fully owned as a part and distinct and the Empire only appears a loser by the nicety because his right as from hence in Church Affairs and over their Persons is denied him Nor has David Blondel any such reason for his clamorous Exceptions against Rufinus in his Tenth Book of Ecclesiastical History Cap. 2. because he brings in Constantine speaking to the Bishops upon the occasion of some particular Quarrels that were amongst them and telling them Deus vos constituit Sacerdotes potestatem dedit de nobis quoque judicandi ideò nos à vobis rectè judicamur vos autem non potestis ab hominibus judicari that God had constituted them Priests and gave them Power of judging
only Regnante Christo and the Reign of the Empire is left out though it do no ways infer and prove that all Empire is originally in Christ both as to Spirituals and Seculars and that he that is his Succession the Church has the disposal of the Kingdoms of the World too Primarily and Originally in him as some zealous Parasites of the Roman Faith thence it seems have inferr'd and against whom the main Plot of D. Blondel in this his Book is laid and very well yet this it infers and evidently proves That our Saviour and his Succession the Church have been always supposed to have had a Kingdom in the World not to supplant and overturn to usurp and encroach upon but to bless that other of the World to render it Prosperous on Earth and by her holier Laws and Discipline to bring all to the Kingdom of Heaven when the Reign on Earth is at an end But this D. Blondel could not or would not see himself and therefore a thing too usual with him runs into the opposite extreme to his Adversaries is angry when this very Church-Power and its existence of which himself gives so evident a Demonstration is asserted solitary and not in the Empire as no ways flowing and included in its Constitution as the other will have no Empire but from and in the Church so hard a matter is it for some Men to contend for Truth and against the Church of Rome at once and as has above been observed but these Oversights if no worse are usual with him 't is like his ill luck in other cases § XVIII AND he that duly consults and considers the sundry Proceedings and Laws and judiciary Acts of the Empire about Church-Matters either as interspersed in our Church Histories or as Collected and United in the two Codes the Theodosian and Justinian in their several Laws Novels and Constitutions will readily grant all this and more that the Church and State the Worldly or Secular and Ecclesiastical or Spiritual Power were still consider'd reputed and proceeded on as quite distinct Bodies and Powers though both flowing from the same Original and Fountain yet as diverse as the Soul and Body with several Offices and Duties on each incumbent in different Channels convey'd and all aiming at the great and ultimate end the general advantage of Mankind and each individual both with their faces to the same Jerusalem but in several Paths and Determinations judiciary in order to it Hee 'l find that as the Church the Councils and Bishops were ever Conscientious and Industrious that they entrenched not on the Empire withheld not from it what was its due usurped not any thing was not their own paid all manner of Observances to Kings and Secular Governors in all manner of Duties as Prayers Thanksgiving Instructions Directions Admonitions Tribute Loyalty c. So again did the Empire preserve their Functions Persons and Estates give them Liberties Enfranchisements Protestations unless where Apostates as Julian where overmuch favouring Heresies as some time Constantius c. countenanced and provided for Truth and Holiness and sound Discipline according to the Rules Canons Directions Interpretations and Determinations given by the Bishops assembled in Council or occasionally otherways made and recommended unto them the Church still Petitioned and Supplicated the Empire when by the Affronts and Insolencies the greater Impieties and Obstinacies of the World the edge of their Spiritual Sword was dulled and blunted when Coercive outward Punishments alone could hope to prevail for Peace and Amendment of this we have several Instances upon Record as for the deposing Dioscorus in Evagrius his Ecclesiastical History l. 2. c. 4. in placing Proclus in the Episcopal Throne Socrat. Hist Eccl. lib. 7. cap. 4. which was immediately by Theodosius Maximinianus the defuncts Body being not yet laid in the Ground to prevent the Tumults of the People To this purpose we have the Case of one Cresconius a Bishop who left his own and invaded another's Church and upon a remand from the Council refusing to return the President of the Country is Petitioned and his Secular arm which alone has a Coercive Power over Mens Persons sends him back again according to the Constitutions Imperial Concil Carthag Can. 52. just such another Case as that of Paulus Samosetanus in the days of Aurelian the Emperor above-mentioned and the course of Proceedings we see is the same now as then both in Church and State as that Laws may be made to restrain such as were fled to the Church for refuge Can. 60. that the Riot and Excess be taken away on their Festivals which drew Men to Gentilism again by the obscener Practices and which were without shame and beyond Modesty Can. 65 66. that the Secular Power would come in eò quod Episcoporum autoritas incivitatibus contemnitur because the Power of the Bishops is contemn'd in the Cities Can. 70. ut Ecclesiae opem ferat to assist the Church against these Impieties so strenuous and prevailing Can. 78. as in the Case of the unrulier Donatists Can. 95 96. and the Thanks of the Bishops were given for their Ejection Can. 97. and the Emperor is Petitioned to grant Defensors to the Church Can. 10.109 and as the Church thus supplicated the Empire in these arduous Cases and when its assistance was wanting so on the other side did the Empire still advise with the Church when designing to make Religion the Municipal Law of the Empire to imbody it with the World under the same Sanctions either as to Punishments or Rewards to make it the Religion of the State also they still consulted antecedent Canons or present Bishops in Council or some Ecclesiastical Autority they created nothing anew gave the help of the World for Countenance Assistance and Confirmation to stablish what the Church had put its Sanction upon And those Emperors that designed to discountenance Christianity or set up some particular Heresie and stifle it in part or depose any great Church-men and some such there was they attempted it not but by the Clergy though of their own the Power as in themselves alone was not pretended to they had their own Synods and Bishops in order to it and what they did was done in their Names also and all this will readily appear to any one acquainted with the Canons of the Church and Laws of the Empire or if it seem too hard a task he 'l find it at least attempted to his hand and with Care and Industry reduced to a little room by Photius Patriarch of Constantinople in his Book therefore called the Nomo-Canon to shew the concurrency of the Laws and Canons the Canons still placed first as in course anteceding And in this sense only that of Socrates can be understood in the Proem to his Fifth Book of Ecclesiastical History 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Reges viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So soon as Kings began to be Christians the things of the Church were managed and accomplished
by them By which things what is there intended and what the Power came into the Empires hand by becoming Christian the next words of the Historian clears making the Instance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the greatest Synods were by their Appointment Summoned and still are so I 'le bring here some instances of the Power and Procedure of the Empire in Church Businesses to render all more conspicuous if possible § XIX AND the first shall be this of Calling Synods just now mentioned the giving leave to Church-men to meet and unite in one Body in a certain place of the Empire limited to them Publickly to enquire examine debate and determine in Religion in which Councils if the Emperor himself was not present in Person he deputed some chief Minister of State there to represent him Thus Constantine himself sat in Person in the Case of Cecilianus and the Donatists Miltiades and the Bishop of Rome and the Clergy debating it as St. Austin tells us lib. 1. cont Parmen Donatist and Flavius Marcellinus is deputed afterwards by the Emperors Honorius and Theodosius in a Collation of that Nature as a Secular Cognitor and Supervisor 16. Cod. Theodos Lex 3. Tit. 11. they exercised a Power and Cognizance over all Persons in these Causes and Meetings they were then their Subjects as before and whom they commanded and though such Members were obliged at the Summons of the Bishops themselves and by consent among one another to be present at the Council to come in and appear there Can. 80. Concil Carthag yet the Emperor retain'd a Power above them and they might be absent altogether or depart after they had appeared if the Emperor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by his Letters required it Concil Sardicens Can. 7. they had a Power over the very Causes themselves in these Conciliary Clerical Debates and Determinations and were Judges here If all that was determined seem'd not duly reported or adjusted every ways clear and plain unto them if scruples and doubts notwithstanding remain if new matter proposed and adjudged considerable by the adverse Parties De Clericis judicantibus Praesidet Imperator ipse prout malè vel benè Judicat 16. Cod. Theodos l. 42. Tit. 2. and which Law though instancing in some Immunities as to Publick Secular things yet holds in other Decisions So Constantine heard the Cause of Cecilianus and the Donatists a second time when the Bishops had heard it before and Myltiades of Rome was there as above in St. Austin And it was the suit of the Bishops in the Council of Chalcedon that it might be decreed by a Law that all things at Ephesus since the first Synod there of which St. Cyril of Alexandria was Chief should not retain any force implying it in his Power to revise and reconsider and he may reexamine the Actions of Councils Compend Act. Synod Chalced. apud Evagrium Eccl. Hist l. 2. cap. 18. And Petrus de Marca gives us several instances of the like nature of Appeals made to the Empire upon the results of Councils and he accepted them De Concord Sacerd. Imper. l. 7. c. 2. that the Emperor had directed and limited in what Points and how far to proceed calling Councils only for particular occasions as De Marca Ibid. lib. 6. c. 22. and all this the Security of the Empire required in the common course of things that no Men imbody or unite locally upon any Plea whatever or Pretence of what Business soever and not by his Warrant under his Oversight and Protection whose Designation and Commissions come not from him and all which Christianity supposes and declared for upon its admission into the World and Kingdoms imbracing of it it appoints every Man wherein he was called there to abide if a state of Honesty and Justice not of that filthiness sometimes reign'd among the Gentiles and many times had a Chief Place in what they called Religious Worship this Christianity was designed to rectifie and remove but continue to Caesar the things that are Caesar's adds new Obligations to Government and gives new Arguments for Obedience to it but cancels no one takes no one subject in any one instance from under his Jurisdiction nor can any Governor be secure upon other terms that has so many Persons so considerable as so many Professors are or at least may be with Power to associate in his Jurisdictions as they shall please and when and not in all instances relating to such their imbodying his Subjects or though if not able to meet without his Call yet when together and not under his Inspection and Jurisdiction not Govern'd by his Rules and Laws with a Power to canvass and unhinge to insinuate and propose and manage as they shall list and how long in Ordine ad Spiritualia if they judge it useful to Religion This is the same in effect as to meet at their Wills no Government can bear it can subsist on such conditions all must or may at the Pleasure or Piques of such the associated be undermined and ruined Again the Empire is engaged as to preserve the Laws of the Church then in being so that in making new ones those the old be not entrenched upon and affronted or that the repeals be upon equitable accounts and agreeable with the Catholick Faith certainly received with former Sanctions of either their Ancestry or their own and these we find the Rules and Directions given by the Emperors Honorius and Theodosius to Flavianus Marcellinus their Secular Cognitor in the Debates about the Donatists Ea quae circa fidem Catholicam vel certa ordinavit antiquitas vel Parentum nostrorum autoritas Religiosa constituit vel nostra Serenitas roboravit Novella Superstitione remotâ inviolata custodire praecipimus suprà Cod. Theodos 16. Tit. 11. l. 3. and indeed it were an Imposition not to be indured in common Business betwixt one man and another when but a private Consent Confirmation and Autority is desired to deny liberty of Enquiring Demurring Discoursing or Debating or whatsoever may seem best to tend to Information as to particulars and then how insufferable if not allow'd the Prince when supplicated and call'd in by the Church to make Laws give the Royal Assent Stamp and Character and Protection to their Results and Determinations and which otherwise must want the edge and advantage of it and not upon a freedom to consider former Laws and Canons made and ratified with future inconveniences that may happen this were indeed to make Princes Lacqueys Hackneys or what vile and mean enough we can say to the Church to debase them into the order of Ideots or Pageants all true Church-men in their Offers and Proceedings have started at and abhorr'd it But then we are to note farther that when the Emperors appear'd in Councils whether themselves in Person or by their Proxies and Substitutes the most Politick and Prudent the more Acute and Ingenious as Theodosius or any other they acted there
and in these Church Debates only upon the forementioned ends and purposes to secure the common Reputation both of Men and Governors and to see that former Sanctions be not violated to judge as to Matter of Fact and what was Law and Canon before and that nothing destructive be admitted and imbodied into the Empire and which many times was deputed to the Bishops themselves as we have instance in the Comments of Jacob Gothofred in extravagans de judicio Episcopali ad finem Cod. Theodos l. 1. and to be sure the Empire never determined but by the Clergy in any thing else and the Enquiry was only this an Ordinavit Antiquitas that nothing thwarring was introduced and imposed Nor can Theodosius himself be supposed to have done any more from the Relation made of him by Socrates Hist Eccles l. 5. c. 10. or by Sozomen l. 7. c. 17. where he is engaged in Points of Faith and which is so much insisted on by those that resolve all Power into the Prince in the determining and composing all differences arising in Points of Religion Vid. Grotium bona fides Lubberâ—i 48. alibi Theodosius was an acute Man and pursued his own Satisfaction in those Points or Articles he made Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and all he did upon his search was this he concurr'd in the same Opinion with the Bishops receiv'd their Reasons offer'd and allow'd of the Grounds they proceeded on and imbodied in the Empire the Decrees of the Council call'd by him at Constantinople upon the occasion of the Arians and other Business in the Eighth Chapter of that Book of Socrates And so again in Sozomen he gives out his Rescripts for equal Honor to be given to the Persons in the Trinity and declares those Hereticks which do it not and enjoyns Theophilus to follow the Nicene Faith for which the antecedent Church Canon is the rule lib. 7. cap. 4 5. 9. THE Laws of the Empire against Hereticks § XX are many and for the Rule of Faith and its Unity and against their meetings in the exercise of their Fancies they are turned out of the Publick Churches and expell'd the Cities and whatever favour hath been obtained for a Penal-mitigation by bribed Courtiers misrepresenting for such it seems there always was and will be the Grant is to be actually void the Houses they meet in are Confiscated they that have frequented them are Punished an Hundred Pounds and such as continue at them Fifty no Man is to read their Books they are all to be burned none is to Petition in their behalf their last Testaments are voided they are not permitted to Buy or Sell or Trade as do other Men all their Gifts Endowments and Revenues settled on their Sects are transferr'd to the Churches use Such of them as set up Schools and Teach are to be animadverted upon Vltimo Supplicio to be sure by a Punishment greater than others and they that learn of them are to Pay Ten Pounds No Lay-man that is an Heretick is to have or exercise any Government lest they be vexatious to the Bishops and Christians all the Moderators Governors and Under-Officers in Provinces that neglect to execute these Laws or permit them to be violated are to have a Mulct of Ten Pounds laid upon them No Civil or Military Power is to assist them in erecting their quasi Ecclesias falsly called Churches Speluncas fidei suae under the Punishment of Twenty Pounds of Gold He that entertains a Conventicle in his House if vilis of the Plebeians he is to be beaten with Clubs if an Ingenuous Person his Punishment is Ten Pounds and if they go from their Conventicles to Mutinies and Sedition 't is present Death and to such as frequent them t is Proscription of Goods with many more Penalties assigned Some greater and some less as was the temper of the Law-Maker and the apprehended Guilt as greater or less the Heresie of more or less danger in Church or State even to some as the Manichees their Children were not to inherit but then who and what these Hereticks and Heresies were what made a Conventicle or Schismatical Meeting what constituted this Rule of Faith and Unity this was not the work of the Empire nor did it pretend to be Judge and Decide She believed as did the Church determine whose Traditions and Confessions received Strength and Autority thereby the Civil Arm and Power concurring but the Catholique Faith is the Rule and Praedicationem Sacerdotum the Instructions of the Priests the Director Nor is any one condemned by the Law but such as are Strangers to and neglect the Church who are first condemned by her and 't is what Antiquity has ordained appoints and constitutes That Faith which St. Peter the Apostle Preached at Rome and which was then follow'd there by Damasus the present Bishop and Peter Bishop of Alexandria Nectarius of Constantinople Pelagius of Laodicea Diodonis of Tarsis Amphilochius of Iconium Optimus of Antioch c. Men led by the Apostolical Evangelical Discipline and Doctrine farther taught and recommended in the Four first Councils Determinantibus Sacerdotibus the Bishops there determining and the Exposition of Synods by the Imperial Autority and Laws called together Sacram Communionem in Ecclesia Catholica non percipientes à Deo amabilibus Episcopis Haereticos justè vocamus Justinian Novel 109. Praefat. The Heresie in its own Nature consists here when they unite and hold Communion out of the Catholick Church not receiving of it from God's beloved Bishops and so Schism is defined 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Can. 31. Apost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Can. 6. Concil Gen. Constantinop when they despise and make Assemblies contrary to their Bishops So also Can. 31. Concil 6. in Trullo Can. 10. Concil Carthag and more expresly yet Can. 10. Concil Antioch and which we have occasionally made use of before if any Presbyter or Deacon separate from the Church contemning his own Bishop and makes a Private Congregation or Altar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in that 10th Canon Concil Carthag all which concerning Schism and Heresie and Conventicles with a great deal more may be seen at large and in every particular by whoso is conversant in the Canons and Church Proceedings and Determinations or which may be of more Autority with him at least not so lyable to Scorn and contempt to whoso pleases to read Cod. Justinian Tit. 1 2 3 4 5 c. Theodos 16 Tit. 1. l. 28. and in the several Titles and Laws with the various Novels and Constitutions treating expresly on these Subjects § XXI THERE are as many Laws and Directions Imperial concerning Ordinations the Person to be Separate and Consecrated to the Ministry of what Order soever whether Bishops Presbyters or Deacons perhaps many more as indeed they are very numerous giving Rules for Elections for the better discharge of their Duties providing against Symony for the daily Sacrifices and Ministerial Offices in the Liturgy and
Service for the People give Rules to the Bishops what Presbyters are to be Ordained inquires into and gives Cautions and Charge for their Manners for their Abilities that they forsake not their Priestly Office claiming the right of Investitures That no Church be built but the Bishop be first consulted for the maintenance of such required there to officiate That no Church be consecrated without the Bishop no Ideot or taken out of the number of those Qui vocantur Laici who are called Lay-men presently upon the entrance into Holy Orders ascend to an Episcopacy he gives to the Clergy Possession of their Churches and they are all in Deputation in their Ecclesiastical Courts from the Emperor and in Religious Matters he gives leave for the Collects or Meeting together confers many Priviledges on their Persons in order to the better performing of such their Offices that no trouble or obstruction be in Litanies and Laws are given for the manner of their Celebration takes care that they meet oft in Councils and Synods enjoyns them residence on their Cures He limits the number of such as are to be Ordained suitable to the Revenues of the Church that there be not an Impoverishment and Contempt thereby that none be Ordain'd but to a Title and in relation to particular Cures or as the present Exigence may require He exempts certain Persons forbidding the Bishops to give them Holy Orders as such as fly to the Church for Ease and Idleness to shake off their Secular Offices and Duty and be acquit of their Burdens that they may enjoy the outward Priviledges and Immunities the Clergy by the Bounty and good Grace of the Empire had granted unto them Such as are actually in Publick Offices to which thereby they become disabled and the State is endamaged As Captains Centurions c. whom he remands to their first station and hence some Laws we find that the tenues fortunâ the Poorer in the Church are only to be Ordained though perhaps with less Prudence and the reason was this because the Church enjoy'd great Priviledges and Immunities and the Rich too frequently ran to it to shelter and advantage themselves in this World a thing too common in our days and the like Laws might not be amiss amongst us in some cases when particular Men leave their Secular and Military Station for the Profit and Grandure of the highest Church-men he forbids that any Holy Offices or Ministerial Functions be usurped sine Sacerdote without a Priest appoints that every one first receive Holy Orders e're he attempts the Execution of the Publick Ministry with more of the like Nature and which are to be seen Cod. Justinian lib. 1. Tit. 2.5.14 Tit. 3.9.10.11.30.31.34.36.46.52 Cod. Theodos 9. Tit. 40.15.16.45.3 Cod. 12.104.115.121 Cod. 16. Tit. 1.3 Tit. 2.1.2.3.6.18.25.32 Tit. 11.1 Novel 3. cap. 1.2 and Novel 6.1.4.7 Novel 16.40.46.68 cap. 1.2.3 Novel 78. Novel 123. Novel 131. cap. 8.9 Novel 137. but then all this amounts to only what is said to be the Office of an Emperor Commonefacere Cod. Justinian l. 1. Tit. 3. to take care warn and see that all these things be done as they ought to be the Rule is antecedent and depends on another Authority I mean where 't is purely Religious and Policy alone ingages not The general Rule laid down and to be observed is this Ne fiant Ordinationes contra interdictiones legum Sacrorum Canonum Novel 12. cap. 12. that all Ordinations be made according to Law and the Holy Canons to the observation of that Rule Quam justi laudandi adorandi inspectores Ministri Dei verbi tradiderunt Apostoli Sancti Patres custodierunt explanaverunt Novel 6. Praefat. which the Ministers of the Word of God the Apostles and Holy Fathers have kept and explained The Emperor in his own Person never Pleads for or attempts the Sacred Action or Office of Ordination it self never yet laid any title to it and the Bishop upon his Ordination receives Secular Priviledges from the Emperor to be emancipated and made free from that Service which otherwise the Laws require of him by his becoming a Spiritual Father But the Ordination it self the Right of a Bishop is no where said to be or so claim'd from the Emperor Novel 8. cap. 3. and although it has been disputed only within this Hundred years at least it never reached any farther than the Whimsical Brains of some one or two now and then and what Point of Faith escaped such whether the Power of Ordaining has been in the Presbyter or in the Bishop only as a distinct Order and Superior to him and how the Votes and Concurrences of the People and in what degree of Necessity they are required unto it yet none ever asserted it to belong to any that was neither Presbyter nor Bishop yet Antiquity is altogether silent as to the Prince in this case the Church always removed nor did the Empire ever claim it this is still represented as the proper Work and Office of the Bishop whatever the Empire did in the case was by commanding the Bishop to Consecrate when such an one is designed for the Function by himself or assenting to the Election made by others but if any more and not of the like Nature the Church of God and all understanding Christians did still look upon it as not to be indured in any one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to act as a Priest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when never entitled to or partaking of the Priestly Power and it was never first conferr'd on him by any it has been adjudged 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 worthy of many Deaths as in the case of Ischyras in particular Socrates Hist. Eccles lib. 1. cap. 27. § XXII AND if we look into the Church censures the Animadversions and Punishments laid upon such as are unworthy their Christianity that high Calling wherewith they are called in Christ Jesus The case will appear the same as in Ordination in general great and solicitous was still the care of the Empire for the solemn just and due execution of these Powers a great many Laws and Constitutions were made in order to it several Cautions and Directions given that none be interdicted without a just Cause Cod. Justinian lib. 1. Tit. 3.30 That Excommunication be not for light Causes 39. 1. That no Man be excluded the Sacred Communion before Cause be shew'd and for which the Laws and Canons have commanded it and if any Excommunicates upon other accounts the Person Excommunicated is to be absolved and receiv'd again into Communion Novel 123. cap. 11. and this with the greatest reason in the World for the Prince is Custos Canonum he is the Keeper of the Canons and is to see that their Rules be duly executed Omni innovatione cessante vetustatem Canones Pristinos Ecclesiasticos qui usque nunc tenuere servari Praecipimus Cod. Justinian l. 1. Tit. 26. and 't is as his Province and Work so the
great Mercy and Justice of the Empire thus to conserve Mens Liberties not to have them expos'd to the Temporal Punishments which always follow'd and severely too upon Excommunication Nor is it sit that an Action of so great a weight and consequence every ways of so great a concern both as to Body and Soul be altogether Arbitrary at the Pleasure many times Pique of one Man the Prince at this rate has not the Command of his own Subjects and his own Laws may be executed against the interest of his Government Excommunications are only then supposed to have effect Clave non Errante when duly executed according to Church Rules of which the Prince is or ought to be the Conserver no one is supposed to grant Priviledges against himself and as he enstates certain Persons with special Immunities so is he to enquire and to be concern'd as upon the admittance into as in the case of Ordinations just now considered so upon an exclusion from them otherwise his neither Favours nor Punishments are his own and his Power and Government may be weak'ned by it Ne Immunitatis Ecclesiasticae obtentu munia Publica vel nervi Reipublicae conciderent ad clericatum confugientibus iis à quibus munia Publica per Provincias sustinebantur 12. Cod. Theodos Tit. 1.69.104.115 c. which way soever his Subjects may be disabled for the Service of the Empire whether when Priviledges are too lavishly and inconsiderately conferr'd or Exemptions made the reason is one and so is the effect in either and the Prudence and Power of the Empire is to be imply'd alike for Prevention of each and securing the Subject for his own and the Subjects best advantage and consequently both the Censures and Orders of the Church when inflicted and conferr'd are to be under his Inspection If the Empire come in with his Power to assist and strengthen the Church and Religion gains its outward aid and Protection it must be in dependance on such the Power Secular whose Temporal Security is to be consulted and included in the Execution The Plot and Contrivance both of our common Christianity and our common Reason at once do require it and the same I have said above as to the Power of the Empire in all Christian Councils call'd and protected by him But the Emperor all this while is not found to Excommunicate or Absolve in his own Person by his own individual formal Act that is a Power that depends upon another Head is derived by a differing Stream and to a diverse Subject it is not in the force of the Secular Arm nor does the Prince lay a Claim or Pretence unto it Divina primum Vindicta the Divine Vengeance i. e. Excommunication passed first upon the Hereticks inflicted by the Church and then motus animi nostri the Punishments from the Empire those Penalties reckoned up before and in part following Cod. Justinian l. 1. Tit. 1. And the same Emperor some Bishops falling under his Displeasure and adjudged worthy his Animadversion for leaving their Cures and coming up to Constantinople under Pretence of Business about Religion without leave and to the expence of the Church He says he will not lay Pecuniary Mulcts upon them and which was all he could do except Banishments on their Persons but thinks Abstentions to be more proper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but this is to be done either by the Patriarch of Constantinople himself if he be a Metropolitan that offended or if a Bishop only of a City by such his Metropolitan that he is under and which is no otherwise the work of the Empire then that he urges a due execution Ibid. Cod. Justin l. 1. Tit. 3.43 So again the deposition of a Bishop which is the same as Excommunication to a Lay-man is it made residentibus Sacerdotibus by the Priesthood it self a Synod of Bishops the Emperor only adds his Temporal Penalties as if he accept not such his Deposition but is Seditious and disturbs the Publick Peace he be banish'd an Hundred Miles from that City where he had officiated and which he had infested 't is the particular Punishment of the State 16. Cod. Theodos Lex 35. Tit. 2. the very same we have again Novel 42. Sententia Sacerdotum 't is the Judgment and Sentence of the Priest makes the Deposition the Empires Secular Arm seconds it proceeds to a Banishment of his Person and that his Books be burnt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first and original Right being in the Clergy Praefat. Ibid. Cap. 1. and more expresly there Cap. 3. 't is the Appointment of the Emperor that one Zoaras amongst others be anathematized but it follows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Priests Determination must pass upon it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the Churches own inward Autority and derived from none 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only the Empire makes it of more Force and Autority that is by a Penal Mulct annexing Banishment unto it as it there follows and so 't is promised for the future whatever are the Church censures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Laws Imperial shall corroborate and strengthen them ibid. and so all along the Church censuring the Empire punishing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epilog ibid. Novel 42. and 't is a Law of Theodosius the younger that the Clergy-man that is unfaithful in his Duty and retain'd Servants at the Altar and gave them refuge to the disadvantage of their Masters be deposed by the Bishop or his Animadversion be made sub Episcopalis jurisdictionis Arbitrio according to his Discretion and when degraded into the Order of a Lay-man Motum judiciarii rigori◠accipiat he be given up to the Civil Magistrate for farther Punishment Cod. 9. Theodos Tit. 45. l. 5. and of which more is to be seen in the Comments of Gothofred there And indeed all the Cautions Rules and Directions given to the Bishops in these instances imply only that they might erre in the execution the Power is all along supposed in the Church nor is it by the Prince attempted as he does not Excommunicate though seeing just reason for it so neither does he absolve upon the unjustest censures denounced wherein one Priest has been defective it has been enjoyn'd another remitted Majori Sacerdoti to a higher Order and Jurisdiction to the Metropolitan or Patriarch as was the Church Custom to appeal to the Superior Novel 123.11 So that we can readily yield to all that jus Caesareum Mr. Selden speaks of De Synedriis l. 1. cap. 8. pag. 223. that Caesarian Power both as to Excommunications and Absolutions And as Mr. Selden explains himself too and allow his own instances in the Jews Pag. 234 235. Caligula Caesar laid an Inhibition upon them and Banished their Persons out of Rome and denied them the exercise of their Religion which latter is the same in effect as Excommunication As he there argues this Inhibition was continued by Claudius Caesar for some time and afterwards quite taken off
believe that every one that reads his Book is sworn to his Name and Words could possibly have produced them The Emperor only there takes care that Excommunication be according to the Church Canons suitably as Ecclesiastici hoc Canones fieri jubent in the Nomocanon the formal Power and Act is always supposed to be in and to be done by the Bishop or Priest if the Bishop or Presbyter Excommunicate otherwise than as the Canons enjoyn the Person so Excommunicated is to be absolved by another Bishop or Presbyter who has the inspection of them à Majore Sacerdote in the Novel and that Bishop or Presbyter that did the wrong is to be censured by the Bishop under whose Inspection or in whose district he is and lye under the Mulct at his Pleasure nor is there one word sounds that way that the Emperor did Excommunicate Nor can the Emperor with any more shew of reason be said to pass the formal Sentence of Excommunication by taking care and making Provision that it be done according to the Laws and Canons of the Church than he can be said to make Articles of Faith and determine in the high Points of the Trinity for which he appoints that the first Council at Nicea shall be the Rule and often enacts and resolves it shall be so explain'd and believed and professed accordingly as in that Council He may as well be said to make Creeds which he enjoyns to be done but by the Patriarchs and Bishops and the particular Faith to be professed by them or to Baptize for which Directions are given especially about Re-baptization and he judges him unfit for the Priesthood that does it Cod. Justinian l. 1. Tit. 6. Ne Baptismus iteretur he may no otherwise be said to Excommunicate than to obstruct Conversion or hinder Repentance and yet 't is the Imperial Edict against and Punishment upon Apostates Nè unquam in Pristinum statum revertentur nè flagitium morum obliterabitur Poenitentiâ Cod. 16. Theodos Tit. 6. l. 1. that they are never to return to their ancient state that the vileness of their Manners be never blotted out by Repentance intimating only the greatness of the Sin and the height of his indignation against them or that he did publickly officiate in his own Person in the daily Sacrifices because he takes care for a just Performance of the publick Liturgies and Services and when he declares against Oaths and Blasphemies that the guilt is not antecedent and from another Sanction Novel 78. and to put an end to these like instances that he Ordains in Person and makes Priests by whom so many Laws and Rules and Limitations and Qualifications are set and appointed as is above to be seen But as for this last instance Mr. Selden has found out so handsom an expedient for the Original of Holy Orders otherways and thereby renders them so accidentally trifling inconsiderable a thing that he answers his aim evacuates and baffles so effectually all Church-Power and indeed upon his Hypothesis so inconsiderable a thing it is that a Church-man would not desire it upon such terms much less is it a Prerogative fit for a King a Jewel for the embellishing the Crown Imperial so that he needs not contend to have this in the Magistrate as he doth the Church Censures He tells us De Synedriis lib. 1. cap. 14. pag. 569 570 571. and lib. 2. cap. 7. pag. 313 314 c. That Holy Orders has no more in it than an imitation of that particular School wherein St. Paul was educated under Gamaliel where it was usual for one that had arrived to a degree of Eminence above others as that of a Doctor to appoint and send out others under and after him And so St. Paul did in the managery of his Apostleship But did our Saviour also take this great Example of Gamaliel's School in his Eye when he sent forth his Twelve and Seventy or was it from his particular Education in some such place he took his Autority and Platform or did the Holy Ghost do the lâ—ke when placing Overseers in that Church which Christ had Purchased with his own Blood was not as the Purchase that of his own Blood so the Power by which he gathered and established it that All Power in Heaven and Earth first given unto him peculiar and extraordinary or did St. Paul himself say it was from Gamaliel's School or from the Will of any Man or from the Will of God he received his Apostleship himself and thereby had a Power to depute others as Timothy and Titus And surely unless his bare fiction of Story and Eutopian Plot must go for Truth and without any search and enquiry there can be nought in it to engage any assent or adherency unto it it is so precarious a begg'd thing that only those that deserve to be begg'd themselves can believe it and Mr. Selden doubtless pleased himself mightily to think how many fools it would meet with and he was sure of others of as ill a mind and design with himself to tread under foot the Ministry when it was down that it rise no more especially at that time when he wrote at least laid the contrivance of those his Tracts De Synedriis when the Sword of the Libertine alone bore rule and he took the advantage of it Nor has any one reason to believe that he bore better Will to the King than to the Church for he was a Member of that Rebellious Parliament of Forty Two and continued actually amidst them and bore a special sway in their Traiterous Actings and however his Pretence was That all Church-Power as from Christ was an Imposture and invading the Prerogative of the Crown it was in reality only to serve his Parliamentary Designs to take away the chief Support of the Crown that Church which mostly upheld it and 't was a sadder Sight yet to see it not only the usual fate of common Subjects but the Case of the greatest Prince then in Europe to be first stript of his Crown and Kingly Power to be made and publish'd a Bankrupt in the State lost as to his worldly Imployments and then made a Priest to have only the Power and Benefit of his Clergy remaining in and confirm'd unto him § XXIV THE sum of all is this The Empire it self never made any thing Law that related to the Church but what was first made Canon by the Church it self and those Powers always took their Direction from Church-men either in full Council or from the Practice of particular Churches or eminent Bishops of the Christian World and superadded their own Sanctions put under it their Secular Arm adjoyn'd their Autority to support and stablish them all those Directions to the several Patriarchs Exarchs Primates and Metropolitans were only to see their own Results at Councils practiced all the Edicts Laws Novels and Constitutions were first Church-Law and then the Law of the Empire receiv'd into the World and imbodied
for it Christianus nulli Inimicus praesertim Imperatori as Tertullian a Christian is an Enemy to no Man especially the Emperor whom he acknowledges as a Man immediately under God that receives his Power only from God nor hath any Man a Power above and beyond him to Obey and Serve him is his Conscience his Religion and he expects his Heaven his eternal Salvation by it and indeed Christianity is the great truly rational permanent Support of Kingdoms and Bodies Politick What favour Constantine shew'd the Christians was his real particular Interest and perhaps he could not have retain'd his Empire had not the Christian Bishops been of his side without their Aid and Assistance and as by them his Crown might be fixed the more firm and secure on his Head who yet gave him not his Original Right unto it for that was his upon other terms than his Christianity he prosessed nor did they add one cubit to his Power in this sense Dominion is not founded in Grace so did they receive from him his outward aid and assistance for the more due and advantageous execution of that Power they had but not from him they had exercised before he was Emperor though perhaps with less success by a Donation antecedent to his by a Right from Christ Jesus thus the Empire became their Nursing-Father to support and encourage but did not could not give their Power as Church-men unto them As God gave to the Empire the Government of the World so he gave to the Bishops the Government of the Church and which they were to use for the Empires advantage but might not use it against him And all this Constantine well knew and was highly sensible of as were his Succession that was Christian still acknowledging church-Church-Power from another hand nor was it in the arm of Flesh by favour or frowns as to its Power purely from above to extinguish or enlarge it I 'le conclude this Section and Chapter with that of St. Austin Ep. 165. Quia Constantinus 〈◊〉 ausâ—… est de causa Episcopi judicare eam discutiendam finiendam Episcopis delegavit And again Ibid. Imperatores non si in errore essent quod absit pro errore suo contra veritatem leges darent per quas justi probarentur coronarentur non faciendo quod illis juberent quia Deus prohiberet Religion as such falls not under the Determination of the Prince and if he gives Laws against Truth the Just will be both Tried and Crown'd in disobeying him Chap. 3. CHAP. III. The Contents Church-Power is a Specifick constituted by Christ in order to a Succession the erecting a new and lasting Government upon Earth a Community of divers Orders Offices Acts Stations every ways peculiar the Body of Christ Sect. 1. A Government to Rule and defend it self and Independent Sect. 2. The main Objection That it is against the Civil Power Common Sense and Experience confutes it The more a Christian the better Subject The Christians supported Constantine's Crown Sect. 3 4. They did not want Power to do otherwise nor consequently Integrity as is objected Sect. 5. To say they were Fools is more plausible to the Age but then the Empire must be so too who were equally ignorant of these destructive Consequences to their Government Sect. 6. The reason of the present Misunderstandings and that we do not see as the Ancients did because no Government own'd but that which is Temporal and outwardly Coercive Sect. 7. So 't was stated by an Anonymous Author 1641. All Power and Punishment was outward and bodily among the Jews and so it must be among Christians Sect. 8. So Mr. Selden allowing no Punishments but what are outwardly Coercive because none other as not under so nor before the Law Sect. 9. Erastus went the same way before him Sect. 10. And Salmasius and says the Apostles had no Power because without Whips and Axes Concludes against all Church-Power upon these terms and that he may surely take it from Bishops So does a French Reformer usually lose his Senses when running his Forehead against our Prelacy Sect. 11. Grotius is in this Error but oft corrects himself His Inconstancy is to be lamented He imputes it to his Education He fights with the very same Weapon against church-Church-Power in general the Jesuite does against the Supremacy in the Church of England Sect. 12. IT returns then with more force and strength what was laid down in the § I beginning of the foregoing Chapter That Church-Power is a Specifick a Constitution of its own originally from Heaven deliver'd by Christ to his select Apostles Men chosen from all other fill'd with the Holy Ghost for the Service of Mankind in the propagating Christianity to speak before Kings every where and in all Circumstances to declare and publish it a Power limited to their Persons to be retain'd within themselves and as no Heads but their own receiv'd it so no Hands but their own could devolve and conveigh it to others only as their own Prudence saw fit was it derived and in what measures and degrees they pleased as the World came into the Church Believers were made the Harvest grew great and there needed more Labourers to be sent forth into it a Power I say received for the use of others the advantage of Mankind in the Successions of it not for one single Purpose and Action as were several Commissions and Delegations both before and under the Law and one at the entrance of the Gospel viz. That given to St. John Baptist but to erect a new and standing Government and this to continue till the World is no more and then only is the Kingdom to be delivered up to the Father whose is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory for ever and ever Amen And St. Clemens Romanus in his Epistle to the Romans and which place we had occasion to use before tells us That the Apostles receiving Commands and imbued with a full certitude by the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and confirmed by the Word of God with all fulness of the Holy Ghost they went out declaring the coming of the Kingdom of God and Preaching through the Regions and Cities they constituted Bishops and Deacons in order to those that should believe knowing by our Lord Jesus Christ that Contentions would arise by reason of the Episcopacy or Power of the Ministry and therefore having a perfect fore-knowledge as they constituted the fore-mentioned Bishops so they afterwards gave them Rules for Ordinations that others Approved Men might succeed in the Places of such as should die and execute such their Offices the Consult and Design was laid for future Ages also A Power and Autority framing and fashioning Believers into a Body not an accidental casual concurrency of People only but a Community well and duly associated every part proportionably fitted and put together increasing with the increase of God in which all things are to be done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
help it Sure it is they both acknowledged and abetted this very Church-Power and saw not these killing Consequents were aware of no such destroying aim upon themselves thought the Power of the Empire not one whit the less or their Persons to receive any abatement by it and yet Men of reputed Fame and Renown for all manner of Wisdom and Prowess in their Generations nor would they actually forego or but endure a lessening discourse of their Prerogative and particularly their Care and Provision in respect of Church-men was great and Eminent that no Damage return to the Crown upon any Pleas of Exemptions or Priviledges derived from them How severe they were in limiting them in their Ordinations we have already observed that by any Excessive Practice of that special Power acknowledged in the Bishops alone and still remov'd from themselves the State might not be weakned it being it seems too usual for Men of great Fortunes and sufficient Abilities otherways to Serve their Prince in his Wars or other Secular Imployments to come into the Church and receive Holy Orders only to exempt themselves for the advantage of those Freedoms and Immunities invested in the Clergy to crowd under the Church's Protection for Ease and Idleness And therefore the Bishops were forbad to Consecrate any such Persons and many other such like Restrictions are to be seen in the Imperial Laws and Constitutions I 'le instance in one or two of them As that the Jews when Criminal and under bad Circumstances turn'd Christians only for Favour and an easier discharge in the Courts of Justice were not to be received into the Church nor imbodied among the Christians Nor Servants and Debtors which fled to the Altar to avoid their Masters and Creditors and the Clergy that received them were first to be deposed and then to be delivered over to the Civil Power for farther Punishment Cod. 9. Theodos l. l. 1 2 3 4 5. And surely the Empire that was so Industrious and Vigilant to preserve from Church-incroachments such the Accessories of their Power and Government that the meanest of their Subjects be not oppressed by any such Plea or Charter much greater must be their severity upon that Body or Community if suspected in the Make and Constitution to strike at the Original Power it self to lay Limits and farther inconveniencies upon their own Persons and Actions to wrest the Government it self out of their hands to Countermand and Supersede with their Canons the most Sacred and Solemn of their Sanctions and Determinations And though Clergy-men as to every particular Person or some lesser Collection of them may not be altogether Innocent as to some attempts and incroachments upon the State through Zeal ill guided or incogitancy or some particular designed interest for who Pleads that they are all exempted from all faults and suitably strict Provision was made by the Imperial Laws to prevent or restrain or punish yet no one Law or but Provision was made that we read of against the Body of Christians themselves unless by the Heathen Power designing an Extirpation or their Power and Government as from Christ because not under such a Suspition its frame and make was such as designed for the Support but no ways for the Injury of the Empire The best and wisest of Emperors at the same time that they write to the Patriarchs and Bishops of the Church as its Supreme and Universal Governors and own'd and remonstrated their Power as from Christ Jesus alone yet reserved among their own Titles that of Pontifex Maximus the chief Priest as Mr. Selden according to his usual Industry has Collected several Inscriptions of theirs to this purpose lib. 1. De Syned c. 10. and by which Title if they meant the same he would have them to have done as it matters not now to inquire since the Church and Empire still gave and allow'd one another these Compellations interchangeably the Inference is strong on our side that they were not conceived to carry and imply any thwarting or opposition to one another and upon what account soever Julian the Emperor was so obliged by and tenacious of the Title we have reason to believe he did it not on this account to affront in others and ingross to himself Church-Power Antistes legis Christinae being the Title also in his days of the Bishop and so Bishops are still occasionally call'd by Ammianus Marcellinus an Heathen Historian of his time whose History is mostly made up of his Actions and Praises and may not amiss be called his Parasite as well as Historian nor can he be thought to give that to Church-men which in its execution carries so great an Opposition to the Prerogative of his admired Master But that which comes nearer is this when the Emperors submitted to the Laws of the Church as from God himself made them their Rule for their civil Sanctions disdained not to follow them gave them every Eulogy or Character that might declare them of an Heavenly stamp a Divine race and infusion as I have already shew'd yet did they not believe their own Laws and Sanctions the less from God by reason of it or of a lower Institution and suitably still expressed themselves in the Heads of their Laws the Forms and Preambles of their Constitutions in these following manners Quem ex coelesti Arbitrio sumpserimus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Justinian Code l. 1. Tit. 1.1.3 The Laws themselves are called Oracula Sacra absolute And then again Leges Sacrae Sanctio sacra Sacratissima Sacratissimae leges Judicium Sacrum Praeceptio Sacra Praeceptum Sacrum Sacrae literae Sanctionibus Consecratae Oraculum Coeleste Divales Sanctiones Divina Precepta Divino arbitrio Decreta Divalia Beneficia Divale Praeceptum Lex Divalis Divalia Scita Divalia Statuta all which and more he that will not Peruse in the several Laws may read at once Collected to his hand by the Excellent Jacob Gothofred 1. Cod. Theodos Tit. 1. Paratitlon Tit. 2. Paratitlon Hereby declaring the Laws both of the Church and Empire to come alike from God and to be equally Heavenly although by differing conveyances upon Persons of different Orders for particular diverse ends but both uniting in and serving the great End the Universal Good and Directions and Government of Mankind and yet each one to act in and keep its Sphere and Order and so independent and the Objection was not raised in those days just now recited nor was any thing like a thwarting suspected and which is now contended for nor indeed can their hitting and justling be otherwise supposed than can that be of the Orbs or that Dissonancy of the Spheres talked of the one or both must become Eccentrick be Perverse and Irregular the whole Universe be untuned in disorder and suffer by it as our own Experience has been a great Evidence of late and whether has lost more by it the King or the Priest is not easily determined though the Pretence was on
World before but what was sensible outward and coercive and all Gospel-Power must be such or none a Plea to what is otherwise is a Cheat and Imposture And in answer to which I must here repeat in part what I have said in the beginning of the Third Chapter of this Treatise upon another occasion § XI THAT the Church is a Body but of a quite differing Nature a various Design and Constitution for another purpose according to that eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord Eph. 3.11 a Body but the Body of Christ framed and fitted alone according to the fulness of the measure of his Stature his Body which is the Church Eph. 5.23 an Association of People incorporated and united under him their Head in one Spirit one Lord one Baptism one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all Eph. 4.4 5. growing up into him in all things who is the head even Christ Ephes 4.15 a Body that is to be visible subject to outward sense but 't is by an Holy Life and Religious Conversation that which Men are to see is their good works and glorifie their Father which is in Heaven and all grants to its Officers Power Means Ordinances are only in order hereunto the only change here design'd is the change of our vile Bodies that they may be like unto Christ's glorious Body according to the mighty working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself A Lordship there is but not over Kings and Scepters 't is Death and Sin Christ Jesus treads under his Feet only He is the Lord of the Sabbath invested with all Power in Heaven and Earth relating to God's Worship and Service his Adoration and Homage to appoint stablish and fix as he pleases for ever A BODY or Corporation with its different § XII Organs Parts and Members the Eye to see the Ear to hear and the Foot to walk with Parts more and less Honorable with diverse Gifts and Graces according to the measure of the Gift of Christ some to Govern others to Obey some to Preside others to Submit and be ruled by them Some of which Governors were to remain only for a time others to continue for ever as the Bishops Presbyters and Deacons Orders of Men instituted and invested by Christ not with an improper as some speak with abatement but with a true real Praefecture Power and Jurisdiction in the Church that sitting upon Twelve Thrones and Judging that Spiritual Grace and Investiture to be collated and so Promised in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the new Age or State beginning just after the Resurrection of Christ it is an Autoritative Paternal Power of Chastisements Discipline and Government to be exercised on all its Subjects each one that has given up his Name unto Christ that expects any benefit of the incorporation for the keeping them in some compass within the terms of a Peaceable Holy truly Christian Congregation As are the words of our Learned Doctor Hammond in his Treatise of The Power of the Keys Cap. 1. Sect. 1. § XIII AN Incorporation with differing Offices and Duties Powers and Capacities from any other in the World to be call'd out from others from the World or any Society in it and to unite in a diverse Association which has peculiar Laws and Rules even of Morality is not enough to specifie constitute and express the Church of Christ to signalize that Collection or Association which is Christian All believe and assent so far that there is such a Sect and Coalition of Persons as are called Christians in the World and is usually call'd a Church 't is Matter of Fact self-evident and not to be denied But this Body or Church is not known and acknowledged to have such means of Salvation such Power and Efficacy such Properties and Priviledges as the true Church of Christ implies and contains The name Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 belongs to Prophane as well as Ecclesiastical Congregations whether in Athens Corinth Alexandria or Jerusalem as Origen argues against Celsus lib. 3. but all have not the Powers Operations alike The Church of God is a Society as with differing Members and Offices Services and Obligations So to differing Ends with differing Gifts and Endowments For the perfecting the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying the Body of Christ Ephes 4.12 the building and raising them to Heaven in the unity of the faith and knowledge of the Son of God Sciendum est illam esse veram Ecclesiam in qua est Confessio Penitentia quae peccata vulnera quibus subjecta est imbecillitas carnis salubriter curat as Lactantius Lib. 4. Sect. Vlt. Vbi Ecclesia ibi Spiritus Dei ubi Spiritus Dei ibi Ecclesia omnis gratia So Irenaeus l. 3. c. 40. that is the true Church where Confession is and Repentance with wholsome means to cure those Wounds and Sins to which the weakness of the Flesh is subject where there is the Spirit of God and all Grace as in the Armory of David those many Shields of the Mighty Divine Assistances and Remedies for Eternity Catholicum nomen non ex Vniversitate gentium Sed ex Plenitudine Sacramentorum as St. Austin relates of the Donatists well replying Collat. cum Donatist Tertii Diei the fulness of the Sacraments not the bare Coalition of all the Nations in the World makes the true Catholick Church And St. Austin himself says the same Ep. 48. Vincentio fratri where there is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 first and second cleansing and Purgation the one the Effect of Baptism the other of Repentance In Sozomen's Church History l. 1. c. 3. Now these different Powers and Duties as distant from all others in the World besides so being diverse also as to themselves and in respect of one another according to the several Gifts and Relations these are either common to the whole each Member of the Association every Believer or else they are limited and appropriate to particular distinct Orders and Offices in the Body What Duties and Offices are common and what appropriate I am now to declare and explain § XIV AS Christians in common all of one Body and under one Head so had they one common Faith which every one Professed to which each assented and gave up his understanding whole and entire and which was a first instance of their Union as an Incorporation a signal Badg or Mark by which as a watch-word they were known to one another and distinguished from the whole World besides Now this object of belief and to which they declared their Adhesion was indeed Jesus the Son of God or Christ and him Crucified as delivered by Christ and the Apostles down unto them but because these Rules must be many and Instructions numerous as they are to this day as given in the Scriptures and every good Christian
debet Roma Carthaginem precedere That Rome ought to have the Precedency of Carthage by reason of its greatness Ep. 49. and upon this occasion first contending which should be the greatest City great Controversies once arose betwixt the Bishops of Rome and Ravennas as we are told by Dionysius Gothofred in his Comments on the Eleventh Novel and whose Pleas of Autority and Jurisdiction not only over the Bishop of Ravennas but all the Bishops of the Christian World as the Universal Bishop of Christendom we are now to enquire into § XXIV WHAT is Pretended by those of the Roman Faith in the maintenance of this their universal Primacy seems to come short of that Evidence is required to settle an Article of Faith to fix an Order in the Church a continued Power and Successive Constitution immutable and for ever And all that can with any ground be challenged for the Bishop of Rome as what was in the best Ages of the Church will hardly amount to any more than an occasional particular Presidency or first Chair and which others have sometimes had no singular solitary Special Power connate and inhering but only such as by occasion of Business and particular Emergencies interposing and of meerly Ecclesiastical humane assignation for them to claim and urge it as the Successors of St. Peter seems very begging and places more in the Conclusion than appears in the Premises for it is no where evident either from St. Peter's Commission in general or from any other special Donation apart or at other times made by our Saviour that this particular Power beyond and above the other Apostles was deputed and made over unto him There appears no difference in their Call in general either in Words or Offices when first leaving all and enjoyn'd to follow him Nor was it otherwise in their after-Influences and Instructions they were all alike breathed upon at once receiv'd the same Autority to retain and remit Sins the Holy Ghost fell equally upon them all at once at the Feast of Pentecost there universally and visibly on their Heads in the face of all Nations and each one went out a Theopneust Independent and self-autoritative to Preach and constitute Churches they were only liable to be advised and directed and reprov'd by one another if occasion Vnde Petrus à suo posteriori Apostolo salubri admonitione correctus as St. Austin lib. 3. Cont. Gaudentium and St. Peter had a great share of the latter Nor was there any one of them more notoriously withstood to the face than he was in the Business of the Gentiles Cardinal Bellarmine solves all indeed would a single apposite reply and distinction do it a nicer exact stating the Question serve the turn and in which his accuracy must always be allowed Nor is there any Man in such cases that goes beyond him Caeteros Apostolos parem cum Petro potestatem accepisse sed ut legati extraordinarii Petrus ut Ordinarius Caput Successionis Controvers 3. Gen. de Rom. Pontif. Tom. 1. l. 1. c. 13. The rest of the Apostles received equal Power with Peter but as Embassadors Extraordinary Peter as Ordinary and the Head of the Succession theirs was only for the present Service during their Natural lifes or till recall'd by that same Autority that they received it from his to abide with his Person and descend in the Succession and from whence each influence and supply each instance of Church-Autority is to be derived throughout all Ages for evermore So that St. Peter's Power was more than the rest in regard only to the abode and during use of it But the bottom here is altogether sandy nor does he produce any thing that is Evidence for such the Privilege either to his Person or Succession Thou art Peter upon this Rock will I build my Church And the Confession preceding Thou art Christ the Son of the living God feed my Sheep His first Call if he had it and his being left to Posterity with his Name in the head of them cannot any one or all of them imply any thing like it to a rational considering Person These were occurring Discourses particular Applications and accidental such as in course must be supposed to fall in and to be where a constant Converse and so known a Design as was then on foot amongst them and the Contingencies of the World cannot be otherwise conceived of or adjusted That same is now the Confession of every Christian and to be sure was then of all the Apostles at least e're their Commissions were fully delivered and their Power deputed unto them The second Call might be as full and extensive as the first nor does the Precedency imply in its Nature any thing otherwise One branch or instance of the Church was first founded on St. Peter's personal Preaching and other Administrations and Church-Offices in which he officiated Acts 2. and the other Apostles in the same Way and Duties and Power did found and constitute others St. Paul had his Apostleship equally evidenced nor were its seals less notorious our Saviour might as particularly urge the Care of the Church to others as he did to St. Peter and we ought to believe nothing less then that he did that they all see to their Duty in feeding and governing of it He might have a differing Confidence in one above another as we are sure his love was unequal and that something might happen extraordinary in Discourse by Acknowledgment and Approbation all this may easily be allowed but that a Commission and Power more lasting a special Headship and Charge is hereby granted and seated for ever is hence to be inferr'd and in consequence follows none that understands a Syllogism or enquires into but obvious Inferences can submit unto it And therefore Estius abates a little in his Treatise on the Sentences Lib. 4. Dist 47. Sect. 9. and says Verè est Vniversalis Episcopus c. that the Bishop of Rome is truly an Universal Bishop if he be call'd Universal Bishop who has the care of the whole Church but if you understand a Universal Bishop Qui solus omnium Provinciarum Civitatum Episcopus sit sic ut alii non Episcopi sint sed unius Episcopi seu Pontificis sunt Vicarii who is Bishop alone of all Provinces and Cities so as others are not Bishops but Vicars of this one Bishop or High Priest then it is plainly to be denied that the Bishop of Rome is an Universal Bishop He seems to distinguish betwixt the Power of giving of Holy Orders and the Power of governing the Church the former he will not allow the Bishop of Rome to be singular in and apart from other Bishops Caput Successionis as Bellarmine will have him to be the alone Head and Fountain of Priestly Succession as if illegal and wanting when not derived from his Chair the latter he peremptorily affixes upon him and believes him alone invested with a Power Universal for the governing the
Church of Christ all Christian Bishops by whomsoever Consecrated and his Arm is to rule them whosesoever's Hands were laid upon them and this solitary and by himself nor is any one a sharer with or out of subjection to him To which I shall reply that though the distinction in it self will with very much difficulty be admitted of and the ordaining and governing Parts will be very rarely found asunder Nor do I believe there can be an instance given of but one Bishop who at his Consecration had the Power of governing left out of the Office in which that other of Ordination together with this were not design'd at once and transmitted though the Objects have many times been changed either enlarged or limited as they have been both suspended altogether yet allowing the distinction it may possibly do Estius this present Kindness lookt upon as a Disputant and oppressed with an Argument giving him the opportunity of something like an Answer and with some shew he may escape that severity of words and blacker censure he there acknowledges to be passed by St. Gregory in several Occasional Epistles against whomsoever it is shall style himself Universal Bishop or Bishop of all Bishops That the very Name is Prophane Proud Sacrilegious Diabolical a Name of Blasphemy and the forerunner of Antichrist and all this Estius there tells us was occasion'd from this Holy Father by reason of the Patriarch of Constantinople's Ambition in that Nature declaring that as the Emperor did alone hold the Empire and all Inferior Governors were sent by him and held of him the Head and not to do it was Usurpation and Treason so did he alone hold the Episcopacy and all Holy Orders were to descend and flow from him and to receive them and not from him was to climb up the wrong way and by intrusion come in But then what more right he has on his side or better Autority than Bellarmine has on his or how he can prove a solitary peculiar Care and Government demandated to and in its special Constitution settled on St. Peter and by his Succession at Reme or which way soever else it was over the Universal Church or whole Gospel-Priesthood so as to constitute him and them its immutable perpetual Head to Govern though not to Ordain them and which was not in the rest of the Apostles Persons to be sure not in their Succession this does not readily appear the Scriptures are favourers of both alike and indeed give to neither any bottom at all Nor does any such thing appear in the best Antiquity or succeeding Matter of Fact in his behalf no ill Argument of ever a Divine Right were it on their side § XXV THE first instance we have from the Ancients of this Pretended Power is in Victor Bishop of Rome in the year One Hundred ninety four who threatned Excommunication against the Asiaticks because they complied not with him in the Observation of Easter The Succession of the Bishops of Rome is all along delivered down in Church-History from the beginning to this day each Bishop particularized under the Title of Romanae Vrbis Episcopus Antistes c. there 's no one note of Singularity affixed unto him and this is the first time we meet with any thing like a Superiority there practised and at the most he is but ranked with the other Metropolitans Now whether this was attempted by Victor purely out of Zeal for an Apostolical Custom and we have many examples of Eminent Bishops that have intermeddled without their own Districts or whether as supposing himself really invested with a Power for Inspection and Animadversion upon all other Christian Bishops certain it is this his Power was disown'd and rejected by an eminent Branch of the Church Catholick and as eminent Bishops as any She had the Autority and Practice of St. John is set up and Pleaded against that of St. Peter as what every way balances nor doth it any way submit unto it And Irenaeus Bishop of Lyons in France and none of the Quartodecimane but one who comply'd with Victor in the Observation of Easter yet asserts the Asiaticks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Self-Autority nor is any Foreign Power to over-rule and controle them or the Peace of the Church to be broken on such occasions all which is to be seen in Eusebius Hist Eccl. l. 5. c. 23 24. and if we descend some time lower we shall not find any thing really more advantageous to him Constantine the Great Complements indeed Eusebius of Caesarea and tells him he is worthy of the Episcopale or Government of the whole Church De Vita Constant apud Euseb l. 9. c. 6. but that such an extent of Power was then in the Person of any one Bishop is no where said nor is there any probability to suppose it 'T is true that some Privileges have belong'd to the Bishop of Rome and which have been claimed as their due in good times Julius is very angry with the Clergy of Antioch that they did not call him to a Synod and urges it as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Law of the Church that whatsoever is done without the Bishop of Rome is to be void Sozom. Eccl. Hist l. 3. c. 10. and in an Epistle of his to some whom he accuses of Contention and want of Charity not consulting the Peace of the Church in the cause of Athanasius he farther adds Are you ignorant that this is the Custom that we are first to be wrote to that what is just may hence be defined Inter. Athanas Opera Tom. 1. Ed. Paris Pag. 753. But then whatever this Privilege was that it did not arise from any Connatural Right to his See but Ecclesiastical Canon is most plain out of Socrates his Church History l. 2. c. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. and he may not have so much for what Vallesius in his Annotations there can produce for it Which is the alone Autority of Ferrandus that is Christian Ammianus Marcellinus an Heathen an Historian that concerns himself as little with Christianity and Church Affairs as any one can be supposed to have done that attempted an History of the Times in which so much of the Church concerns its Power and Autority was Transacted as in the days of Constantius and Julian and whose times make up the best part of his Story The latter he studiously affects to represent to the World with what advantages he can both living and dying And for the Christian Religion he does not I am confident so much as name it Twenty times in all his Books and then accidentally and very slightly and the greatest advantage that he gives us is we have his Testimony that such a Sect call'd Christians was then in the World and for that particular passage quoted by Vallesius it makes if any thing against himself for he tells us That when Constantius the Emperor who is known to be Athanasius his great and mortal Enemy and mov'd every
where there is a doubt and no sure witness to avouch the Baptism pretended once to be administred or the Persons themselves are not able to give an account of the Mysteries then delivered unto them as Can. 57. Conc. Carthag and which Canon was occasioned by their Embassador with the Moors who usually brought such Children from the Barbarians but yet there is no instance in the first Canons of rebaptizing those who were certainly known to be baptized in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost upon any accident by Lay-men and yet such we have reason to believe there was Hence Baptism once appearing to have been administred as to the Matter and Substance of it and in the words of the Institution and by such as were not of the Hieratical Order they adjudged it the safer way to trust the Mercy and Goodness of God for a supply of whatever defect might be in one or two outward Circumstances than to run the hazard of an attempt of what seemed so visibly and notoriously unlawful viz. a second admission by that Sacrament or a violation of that known and sacred rule or instance of our Belief one Baptism for remission of Sins And this as in all defects and where something is wanting it ought to be permitted and pardoned only under the present and unhappy Circumstances as also in the after practice of the Church but never produced and urged as a Rule enacted into a Law Infirmities are never made Presidents unless for Pity and Pardon and to quicken future care and watchfulness against them the common course of things abhors nor is it to be endur'd if otherwise Potestatem regenerationis demandans suis discipulis cum dixit iis Euntes docete omnes gentes baptizantes c. Iren. l. 3. c. 19. Christ Jesus then demandated or devolved the Power for Regeneration unto his Disciples when he bad them go and teach all Nations baptizing them c. and certainly such as attempt it ought first to receive the same Autority in Succession from him without which his Disciples that in Person attended him did it not Tertullian represents it as the height of impudence and irregularity for a Woman to baptize forsitan tingere a more sawcy act then to teach in the Church De praescr c. 41. then which no Book was ever wrote with a more Primitive Spirit and speaks of it as a thing in general forbad a Woman de Virgin Veland c. 9. He limits it to the Bishop Presbyter and Deacon only in necessity it comes to the Lay-man Sufficiat sc ut in necessitatibus utaris sicubi aut loci aut temporis aut personae conditio compellit tunc enim constantia succurrentis excipitur quam urgit circumstantia periclitantis De Baptism c. 17. and surely that which is but one never to be reiterated 't is Sacriledge 't is incest to do it to which so many and great Titles Eulogies and Effects are given by the Ancients it would be endless to repeat them so many to be sure more are not spoken of any one Service in the whole City of God That which first enters us into the Body and Association of Christians with so large Promises upon such solemn ties and obligations the Expectations and Duties of our whole life following and that which is performed and obtained with the same solemnity and invocation as in other Holy Mysteries invocato Deo Sanctificationis Sacramentum consequuntur aequae Tertul de Baptism c. 4. it is not agreeable that the Consecration and Solemnization be left and assigned promiscuously and to every hand and which is not in other Sacraments it must in course be equally peculiar and separate as to the separation of the Persons that are to be entrusted with the administration of it A further appropriated distinct Power to § XXX the Officers of the Church is to unite and determine in Council in the affairs of Religion as to Matters of Faith when less cleer when unhappily wrested and perverted by Hereticks in fixing things indifferent in their Nature for the more usefulness order and uniformity in the Worship of God for the setling of Consciences in the private apprehension of them and governing suitable to such the Laws and Canons in each case so made and constituted by them For this end the Apostles and Elders met together and united in Council at Jerusalem and determined concerning things offer'd to Idols and eating of Blood c. Acts 15. so those many subsequent Councils whilst the Empire kept off from the Church as against that Error of the Arabians that the Souls sleep upon the separation Euseb Hist l. 6. c. 37. in that against Novatus Cap. 43. against Paulus Samosetanus l. 7. c. 29. with several others in History transmitted to this purpose was that Body or Collection of Canons bearing the Title of the Apostles Canons upon several occasions made for the use and direction and government of the Christian Incorporation and Society such were the four first general Councils when the Empire became Christian and receiv'd the Church under its wings and protection The first under Constantine held at Nicaea against Arius and asserted the Eternity of the Son of God that he was not a meer Creature The second held at Constantinople under Theodosius the Great against Macedonius and asserted the Eternal divinity of the Holy Ghost who said the third Person was a meer Creature The third was held at Ephesus under Theodosius the lesser against Nestorius who own'd the both Godhead and Manhood of Christ but divided him into two Persons The fourth at Chalcedon under Marcian the Emperor against Eutiches who consounded the two Natures in one Person as Nestorius divided the Persons with others whether Oecumenical or Topical during or succeeding these and whose either Declarations as to what Faith was at first delivered and since received upon a just and traditional enquiry even to the placing some Books into the Canon of Scripture which were not with the earliest admitted or constituted Canons in Church-Polity were still thought obliging to all good and peaceable Christians determined and ended the present debate and only a Compliance was the issue of them and that either to all Christendom or particular Churches suitable as were the Councils either Universal or under single Metropolitans or particular Bishops accordingly did they oblige And this Legislative Power as originally given only to Church-Officers so is it alone residing in them to rule and to govern receive or reject to punish or reward according to such their own Laws as the reason and nature of such the Societies and their Constitution will direct and bear as unhappy Differences and Debates arose they were thus to be decided by the Convention of Councils who either confirmed what they found was well done before or passed farther Sanctions where the occasion was new or upon notoriety of failure in former Declarations For the Power of Councils was never asserted
as absolutely Autorative in it self and infallible in its Determinations as to make Truth but declarative only of what was Truth from the beginning as the best expedient on Earth to find it out and the alone Autority on Earth to pass Sanctions upon present appearance for present Settlement Peace and Unity every man had his liberty still entire and reserved for farther enquiries where he saw or suspected occasions but this to be proposed in the next Council 't was to be brought to the Apostles and Elders there whose Autority alone was to reject or admit it As to Publick Confessions what room and autority the Empire had and is always to have in these Councils is already declared Cap. 2. and though the Faithful or Believers at large many times had conflux thither and were permitted either for their diversion or private satisfaction or information yet no one ever passed his Vote judicially or concurred in the Power Legislative as has been above also shew'd ibid. This still goes in the Name and Power of the Bishops and Clergy alone as must appear to every one from the both first derivation of that Power and after-practice both in that Apostolical first Synod at Jerusalem and all other succeeding excepting such who on purpose set their Face against what with their Eyes they never did and will not see § XXXI A fourth instance of this especial appropriated Power is the exercise of Discipline Ecclesiastical and this either in fixing set Stations particular rules and orders of Duty and Performances upon such as were newly brought off from Heathenism become Penitents and Converts in order to the Kingdom of Heaven and Christianity or else in laying Punishments Penal Duties upon those who after their admission and undertaking Christianity when they had throughly known the ways of Righteousness been enlightned and tasted the good gift of God revolt and turn back again will not abide the terms of it by way of Penance and Satisfaction and this sometimes by corporal Punishments with a Power reserved for Indulgencies and Abatements a relaxation upon proficiency or non-proficiency under them placed in the power and discretion of the Bishop or Pastor for the best Antiquity is not at all shye in these terms and expressions she spake as she acted Thus in the Catholique Epistle of St. Barnabas set out by Isaac Vossius Sect. 1. ad finem Epistolae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he work with his hands to the purging away his Sins So Lactantius l. 6. Sect. ult Si quid mali fecerit satisfaciat that satisfaction be given for his evil St. Cyprian Ep. 50. gives an account of the Epistle he had received from Fidus his Brother who tells him how Therapius his Colleague did reconcile to the Church over-hastily Victor a certain Presbyter Antequam penitentiam plenam egisset domino Deo in quem deliquerat satisfecisset before he had completed his Repentance and satisfied God against whom he had sinned and for which St. Cyprian admonisheth his Friend that he do so no more ibid. And again Ep. 64. Satisfaction is what is required upon a sense of having sinned ut se peccasse potius intelligant satisfaciant to give all the instances were to spend too much Paper what is here brought may suffice or he that desires more may have it from the learned Hugo Grotius Rivetian Apol. Discuss Pag. 700. ed. Lond and all this placed in such as have the Keys of the Church whence they are to receive satisfactionis suae modum the measures of their Penance and Satisfaction as he there cites St. Austin no man was admitted into the Church of Christ but by degrees but as through so many Posts and Stations through which they were to pass 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 't is Can. 4. 6. 9. Conc. Ancyr and then to go on to that which is more perfect to be admitted to the Holy Communion the top instance of Devotion and Communion or be received 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with an oblation as 't is expressed Can. 7 8. ibid. for by the words of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. that holy Sacrament was by the Ancients still expressed Thus we read in the Church Story and Practice as remembred and referr'd unto but as not then instituted being antecedent and of more antiquity of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the hearers only in the Church a set order of Penitents permitted only to hear the Word of God with the Hymns and Songs and Praises placed without the Temple and these were the lowermost form in order to something else to farther Duties as thus instructed and fitted for them and such as staid here and would only hear engage and incorporate no farther neither come to the Prayers nor the Holy Sacrament in the set Order and assigned Times for it were reputed as if they had not been initiated at all the Council of Antioch turns them quite out of the Church Can. 2. and by which rule what will become of the greatest part of our now adays professing Christians let them look to it or perhaps let such as preside over them have the government and power of Discipline in their hands Then we have the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as advanced to the publick Prayers next the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those that came to the Sacraments See Can. 11. Conc. Nic. 1. together with the Scholia's of Zonaras and Balsamon and Can. 14. we have the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who it seems were those that were Auditors and more were Baptized as by the Scholia there appears and the same we find before this Council of Nicea Conc. Ancyr Can. 4 5 6. and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Demoniacks who had their distinct station Can. 17. Cum scholiis And these courses of Discipline we have alluded to in several places of Tertullian and therefore were extant in the Church very early Tertullian being sometime before any of these now mentioned Councils but most fully and at once of any that I have observed in them in his Book of Prescriptions Cap. 41. and which I shall therefore here repeat where he reproves and prestringes such those Hereticks he writes against for the perverting violating such this received customary Discipline Non omittaÌ„ ipsius etiam conversationis hereticae descriptioneÌ„ quam futilis quam terrena quam humana sit sine gravitate sine autoritate sine disciplina ut fidei suae congruenâ— imprimâ—s quis catecumenus quis fidelis incertum sit pariter adeunt pariter audiunt pariter orant etiam ethnici si supervenerint sanctum canibus porcis Margaritas licet non veras jaclabunt simplicitatem volunt esse prostrationem disciplinae cujus penes nos curam lenocinium vocant pacem quoque passim cum omnibus miscent nihil enim interest illis licet diversa tractantibus dum ad unius veritatis expugnationem conspirent omnes tument omnes seditionem pollicentur ante sunt perfecti
catecumeni quam edocti I will not omit a description of the heretical even conversation how futile how vain how humane it is without Gravity without Autority without Discipline how congruous with their faith first of all who is the catecumen who the faithful 't is uncertain they go together they hear together they pray together even the Ethnicks if they come among them they will cast the holy things to dogs and the Margarites to Swine though not true ones they will have simplicity to be only a prostration of Discipline the care of which that we have they call a cheat or the work of a Pander they give their peace promiscuously with one another nor are they concern'd though different in themselves whilst they conspire to the destruction of one Truth all are puffed up all swell all pretend to science they are first Catecumens ere throughly learn'd Or he that would see this course of Discipline in its fuller draught let him peruse the late learned Annotations in Can. 11. 14. Con. Nic. 1. printed at Oxford now suitable to these stations and orders and degrees in which such as came over to Christianity were placed and according to their proficiency and due behaviour were promoted so were they the rules and measures the ancient Church took for the exercising discipline upon those persons that having passed through them been baptised confirm'd and admitted to the Holy Communion became of the Lapsi fell back again from the grace received Apostatized from their most Holy Order and Profession and that according to the circumstances of such their departure as more or less of guilt appeared And this is plain from the forementioned Canons and others thus in the Can. 11. Conc. Nic. 1. Such as without any necessity no violence to their Goods offered or any sensible danger appearing did recede under Licinius the Tyrant their Penance or Discipline was upon a true repentance to be placed back again and become hearers only for three years and after two years more among the Orantes they were readmitted to the Holy Altar So Can. 14. The proportionate punishments were inflicted on the Catecumeni and others lapsed in Can 4. Conc. Ancyr They on the other hand that sacrificed by force but yet did eat at the Idol Feasts without any remorse expressed either in their habits and countenance though not adhering to them their Punishment was less to be Hearers only but one year to become prostrate three two years to attend the place of Prayer and then to go on to that which is perfect to be admitted again to the advantage of the great mystery and highest instance of Christian Devotion the partaking of the holy Altar and Can. 5. those that eat with apparent present remorse evidenced by their tears being substrate two years in the third year they were fully restored and so according to the proportion of the demerit and as the more or less guilt appear'd such was the Amerciament as is to be seen in the following Canons of that Council and I have produced my instances out of these two Councils both for the greatest autority and very near greatest antiquity they being very ancient of these Ecclesiastical Penances and the way used by the Church in the laying of them And all this that it was appropriated and peculiar to the Office of the Priesthood in whose alone hands it resided and in the obedience alone and subjection to whom it was adjudged acceptable in the performance is equally evident 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignatius Ep. ad Philadelph ed. Voss when repenting they come to the Unity of the Church and the Regiment and Subjection to the Bishop these are of God and the Lord will forgive them Penitentiam autem ille agit qui divinis Praeceptis mitis patiens sacerdotibus Dei obtemperans obsequiis suis operibus justis Deum promeretur He it is that is the true Penitent who meekly and patiently according to the Divine Precepts and submitting to the Priests of God by his Obedience and just Performances regains or obtains favour anew of God Cypr. Ep. 4. ed. Pamel As it is even necessary to examine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the rise and kind of the Repentance in order to the due Punishment So this Power is in the Bishop to whom it is lawful 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to consult in order to Mercy or Severity Can. 12 13. Conc. 1. Nic. So Can. 5. Conc. Ancyr the Bishops have Power to examine the manner of the Penitents conversation and to use Clemency 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or to add to the time of his Discipline 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to add to or abate of the Penance and all this as very ancient in Church Story so is it a transcript of that which is from the beginning of St. Paul's own hand and original in that Person under the Church censures 2 Cor. 2.6 7 8 9 10 11. Sufficient to such an one is this Punishment inflicted by many so that contrariwise ye ought to forgive him lest perhaps such an one be swallow'd up with overmuch sorrow Wherefore I beseech you that you would confirm your love towards him for to this end also did I write that I might know the proof of you whether ye be obedient in all things to whom ye forgive any thing I forgive for if I forgave any thing to whom I forgave it for your sakes forgave I it in the Person of Christ lest Sathan should get the advantage of us for we are not ignorant of his devices THERE is a fifth instance of Power peculiar and appropriate to the Gospel Ministry § XXXII invested alone in it which is Excision or Excommunication a Power of cutting off from this Body or Association upon the failure of those terms and conditions of Duty in the Performance of which either the Body in general or the interest and advantage of each particular Christian can be preserved And this is more than an Abstention of which we have an instance out of St. Cyprian Vtar eâ admonitione quâ me uti Dominus jubet ut interim prohibeantur offerre a forbidding the Holy Altar Ep. 10. ad finem but there is a censura Evangelica a Gospel censure which follows upon this Discipline or Ecclesiastical Punishment if contemned and mentioned together with it by St. Cyprian Ep. 52. ad finem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be cast out of the Church or excommunicated by which words Excommunication is expressed Can. 2. Conc. Antioch is a farther Act or Punishment upon such as had first passed the other Sentence upon themselves turned themselves out of the Communion of the Church in its Prayers and holy Eucharist and which seems the sense and design of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Can. 9. Apost that farther Separation to be made of such as in a case very like it would come to Church and hear the Scriptures but separate from Prayers and the Holy Communion An act or censure that
Amongst others this was one error of the Novatians that remission is not to be expected from the Priest but from God alone as Socrates tells us Eccl. Hist l. 1. c. 10. and was condemned by the Church amongst his other mistakes Ad exomologesin veniunt per manus impositionem Episcopi Cleri jus Communionis accipiant So Cyprian Ep. 10. they came to Confession and are received into the Church by the laying on of the hands of the Bishop and Clergy And in that Epistle and the eleventh just following he reproves the Presbyters because Nomen offertur Eucharistia datur their readmission and enrollment is granted And not only St. Cyprian but the whole Clergy of Rome ad quos perfidia habere non possit accessum Ep. 55. when not work'd out as since for their perfidiousness concur with him and condemn such se pacem habere dicentes non ab Episcopo who said they had their Peace from Heaven and did not ask it by the Bishops I 'le shut up this Section in the words of our learned Bishop Richard Montague Orig. Eccl. Tom. 1. Pars Poster Sect. 40. Vere penitentes absoluti per verbum Sacerdotis aequè absolvuntur ac si Angelus de Coelo Propheta internuncius imo ipse Deus diceret Remittuntur tibi peccata tua The truly Penitents absolved by the words of the Priest are equally absolved as if an Angel from Heaven with the Message of a Prophet even God himself should say Thy sins are forgiven thee THE last instance of this special Power § XXXIV of the Priesthood is of substituting and deputing others in the same Power for the like Services in the Church and to supply their Mortality to continue the Power in Succession till Christ's coming again And 't is what must be supposed in course and is every ways as necessary as 't is evident that our Saviour at first so design'd it and the Apostles and Bishops ever after have put it in practice otherwise all Church-Officers must have died in the Persons of the Apostles and been buried in their Graves a perpetual Oblivion been put upon them or else which alone could countervail a new Feast of Pentecost come at each Ordination the sending forth every particular Person into the Ministry or which is every ways as unlikely the whole race of Bishops be Cheats and Usurpers at every one of their Consecrations a private spirit of a particular incitation cannot avouch or but recommend to a publick Profession or justifie the Undertakers nor is there any other than one of the two ways to be proposed or that can with any shew be pleaded and the latter no man when considering and in his wits will lay claim unto in pursuance of this it is we are told by Eusebius that when St. John was return'd out of Patmos upon the Death of Domitian the Tyrant who had banish'd him thither he betook himself to the neighbouring Provinces there constituting or ordaining Bishops setting whole Churches in order and placing in the Ministry or lot of the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as either the Spirit of God pointed out unto him or such whom he found suitably qualified with spiritual Gifts whether one or t'other or both ways his own seposition or co-optation into the Office was over and above requir'd Eccl. hist l. 3. cap. 23. and the same course St. Clemens an Apostolical Person in his Epistle to the Corinthians tells us all the Apostles used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. and our Apostles knowing by revelation through our Lord Jesus Christ that contentions would arise about Episcopacy and for this cause being imbued with perfect knowledge they constituted approv'd men to be Bishops and Deacons to these they gave Rules and Prescriptions and Power to continue the Succession and that other approv'd men succeed in the place of such as dye and receive their Office and Ministry so that not only the matter of Fact but the reason and necessity of it that it must be so is here declared this Power is it thus to be propagated and carried on by transmission and devolution from hand to hand in the Succession every one deriving it from his Predecessor who was himself so visibly stated in the Power otherwise no security of the Power at all Contentions and Dissatisfactions would arise concerning Church Orders and no test or rule left to sedate and compose them the Priests of Jeroboams Order have equal Plea as those of the Sons of Aaron and every one that will may consecrate himself and which Succession if once visibly and notoriously lost without a new Indentment and Mission in general and upon a course of Miracles avouched or else a single particular Miracle upon the head of every one when coming into these Offices together with the hands there lay'd on or what else soever it is they do unto him all Church Power must fall to the ground that there is in it any thing of Heaven cannot be made to appear to any particular Person Mr. Calvin therefore when he first set up for a Lecturer at Geneva having allow'd this Succession quite lost and seemingly at least lamenting of it Fateor optandum est ut valeret continua Successio ut functio ipsa quasi per manus traderetur as is to be seen in his Epistle to the King of Polonia And the same thing is done by his Successor Theodore Beza in his fifth Epistle to one Alamannus and in his Tractatus de Minist Evang. Grad cont Saraviam ad cap. 2. lib. 1. finding their People must be at a loss and enquiring whence their publick Call and Ministry as if they did not they had reason enough for to do For vindicating themselves they there tell them that they were immediately call'd and sent by God extraordinarily commissioned as were the Prophets and holy Men of old Abram Moses and Samuel as was Christ Jesus himself and that they came as signally into Geneva to reform it as he did into the Temple turning out the Money-changers and purging it as were the Apostles and Evangelists So Calvin in express words again Institut lib. 4. cap. 3. Sect. 4. Alios tres nimirum Apostolos Prophetas Evangelistas initio regni sui Dominus suscitavit suscitat etiam imerdum prout temporum necessitas postulat Quamquam non nego Apostolos postea quoque vel saltem eorum loco Evangelistas interdum excitavit Deus ut nostro tempore factum est talibus enim qui Ecclesiam ab Antichristi defectione reducerem opus erat c. and all this is what pure necessity and the present distress put them upon 't is what was to follow in course and by the same force of consequence that one absurdity comes upon the neck of another they had knock'd their own Bishop o th' head and disown'd all other of the Christian world in whom alone the Power of giving Orders was lodged and to whose hands confined and this so acknowledgedly that
of it in opposition to a false Religion whether by an extraordinary Commission and justified by Miracles or as ordinary Pastors of the Church for 't is all one as to the Gospel it self which is the same which way soever Preached is said to be an affront and contempt to the Magistracy and Law As again in Dr. Tillotson's Sermon it being quite contrary and to Preach Christ crucified is to honour profess and maintain whatever is in Magistracy and Law nor is it truely Preached but when in a due dependency upon them And if the Jesuites practice be otherwise and he deposes Kings to propagate his Faith Mr. Dean's Observation ought there to have been limited and fixed and not to have drawn so universal a Rule so notoriously making way for the silencing the Gospel for ever if a false Religion be once by Law in that particular Kingdom or Nation or if to be imagined over the whole World established because no way supposed to publish it but by the affront and contempt of the Magistracy and Law but this is too usual a course of too many in the world who if they can but shew their Zeal and produce a present popular Argument against a Jesuit they consider not the common Christianity which is most certainly destroy'd by it as indeed all Church Power on this supposal is gone nor ought it to be pretended to amongst the purest and most Catholick Professors I might say there can be no Professors at all which have no more extraordinary Commissions nor are they any other ways justifiable by Miracles than we believe the Jesuits and sure we are to boot that Men of these Principles will never invade the offices of an Apostle or Evangelist to go forth and convert Nations be first Setlers of the Gospel among them The other instances of this Power is to administer the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lords Supper the one admits and enters into this Body upon the terms of the Gospel and farther engages by that Vow and Stipulation there contracted in order to a secure Performance The other accepts of owns confirms and revives it So oft as we approach that Holy Table and no Justice of Peace in the Parish ever yet suspected that his Pastor when officiating in these Administrations entred into and laid the grounds of a Plot or Engagement against his but confined and lesser Jurisdiction in the County These Protestations Covenants and Engagements were never concluded Illegal nor such their practice State Usurpations § XLIV THE Censures of the Church are injunctions laid upon her Members either by way of Discipline only in order to a better progress and more expedite increase of holiness or by way of Penance Mulcts and Amerciaments upon failures but neither of these do externally compel or lay confinements upon the Persons of any any otherwise than by their own intendments and voluntary submission and whatever more their refusal or perverser obstinacy does provoke is only Excommunication or a cutting off from the benefit of that Indenture and which cuts asunder no one relation either of Servant to his Master Husband to his Wife Father to his Son Subject to his Prince and so back again or one Friend to another takes away no one Privilege that is Secular and all ties and compacts whether from Nature or by After-obligations remain as before Christianity dissolves no one that was lawful when entertained but adds more nerves and strength greater force and bonds unto them by new Arguments Motives and Rewards and leaves all in the state they were in before only makes sure provision for Heaven Nor are those Rules and particular Observancies for holy living and satisfaction injoyn'd by the Confessor to take any Place to have any force upon the Penitent or Candidates Conscience if the Performance be inconsistent with and thwarts any one Duty by any one of the forementioned relations arising if common-fidelity Justice or Charity be excluded thereby in any one instance of them or any be contracted against humane Converse and Society And the tenth Canon of the Apostles forbids to Pray with an excommunicate Person but permits to have converse with him the less is still to submit to the greater obligation And the World with its Necessities I and Conveniencies too is always considered there can be no compensations which infers omissions in another kind especially where the Duty neglected is more obliging nor is the Arrearage paid by a differing Debt contracted And by the like Rules also is Excommunication it self to he limited upon the very same terms has it its assigned force and efficacy and which as of it self neither invests with nor deprives of any earthy Goods any one instance of Wealth Power or Dominion so is it to he executed alone in compliance with the Necessities of Mankind with those Laws of that Body and Society to which as Men they stand related this Discipline cannot it be either a Contempt or Affront to the Magistracy or Law and then too when all this is as it ought to be duly observed as to these generals a great deal is left to the prudence and discretion of the Instrument 't is pursued only on rational Grounds and Motives and the effect to be considered with the best foresight which as is already shew'd is not always immediate and irresistible the advantage or disadvantage is to be weigh'd whether as to particular Persons or as to Publick And therefore this instance of the Power of the Keys though deputed to every one that is ordain'd a Presbyter yet by Church Laws and usuage upon Prudence and Prediscernment the execution is limited and the Bishop only has it or some other in special deputation from him to that particular purpose and since the Empire became Christian the Laws of it have prescribed and gave limits to the Bishops themselves as to Persons and the reasons of their Excommunications and which the Church in good Ages of it did own and comply with There were many other notorious offenders in the Church of Corinth and deserved St. Paul's Animadversions too as well as that one incestuous Corinthian who alone was there Excommunicated by him Longè aliter ista longè aliter vitiosa curanda sananda est multitudo but the proceeding against a multitude is to be of another Nature than that against one single notorious Sinner a Schism may be occasioned and the Wheat be pull'd up with so many Tares and instead of curing the Distemper it spread farther as St. Austin Tom. 7. Post Collat. lib. cont Donatist cap. 20. and we read in Socrates his Church History l. 4. cap. 23. of one Arsenius that he never did exercise his Discipline upon and separate from their Society a Monk that was a Novice and not of much continuance in the Fraternity though he might for his offences deserve it and his reason is that the utmost course or excommunication might render such an one but the more obstinate 't was only those that had
experienced the advantage of their Communion for a good while would be sensible of the loss be apprehensive of the sorrow and burden of it and that all Excommunications were not to take effect in the first times of the Church we have Origen for an example who when excommunicated by Demetrius with the assistance of other Bishops continued still a Presbyter and publickly associated as such And Vallesius annot in Euseb hist l. 6. c. 23. gives these two Reasons for it because his Sentence was denounced when absent and he had not legal Citations and it was not confirmed by the Bishop of Rome though to me a more probable reason may be given than either for the illegality of the proceeding and the no effect it had the ancient Canons of the Church still forbidding any one of the hieratical Order whether Bishop Presbyter or Deacon to be excommunicated Excommunication was the Punishment for the Laity the Clergies was Deposition nor were the Clergy subject to the other till removed from the Priesthood And certainly then much less can it be conceived in reason and as agreeable with the common courses of foresight and discretion that other things are managed in the Gospel with that this Ordinance should on such terms be instituted and put in execution as to reach Kings themselves and with less regard and consideration than to Persons in Holy Orders and be concluded more peremptorily and immediately to take effect upon them as if inconveniences and that over-ballance whatever the proposed advantage may be may not here be a consequent also Princes 't is true are equally subject to the Laws of Christ and his Church and they must come to Heaven in the same Path that the meanest of their Subjects do come in they are to be urg'd and taught publickly as are others and particularly in private and where due opportunity to be severely warned of but then upon a supposed failure to proceed to an open publick Exclusion this if in any one instance else ought first to be weigh'd and consider'd whether it be likely to have due effect to be for the good of the Church in general which his outward arm alone can protect and whether instead of reducing him as to his Person it may not much more harden him and especially since his Person falls under no farther Coercion than his engagements to Christianity lay upon him Examples of Kings are strangely influential and prevailing and whether a greater deluge of Prophaneness may not be let in by so doing or again whether the exposing him to shame and contumely would not withal expose his reputation to the contempt of his People and thus not only Religion and Morality but the outward Peace and Quiet of the Realm might be exposed to danger and the both Church and State be liable to inrodes and violence thereby we believe it to be what was appointed by God and supposed by our Saviour in the lay and frame of our Christianity that the Secular Power receive no abatement but on the contrary every of its Prerogatives be strengthen'd by its spreading over and reception in the World Since every other relation is to continue and be obliging so also must this of Kings which came into the World with the first is connate and coaevous with Paternity the Foundation was laid for both at once and Kings and Subjects are to remain so long as Fathers and Children the race of Mankind is on Earth continued and suitably to this first contrivance no sooner did the Empire come in to the Church and engage in Christianity but Emperors declared themselves and the Church joyfully receiv'd them for its Nursing Father and the Prince is the Supreme Governor there the Laws and Judicatures are the Kings and our Bishops give Citations in their own Names but by an antecedent Power derived from and by the Prince devolved unto them And the Bishops of old were so far from assuming to themselves any such outward Coercive Power as to make Citations of mens Persons to proceed by Court Process and Penal Mulcts that when they laid the Plot for Lay-Deputies Chancellors Commissaries Officials or whatever title they went under to sit in their Courts and give occasional Judgments for what private reasons I cannot tell but the pretended is this that it was less decent that they being Spiritual Persons should mingle themselves in Secular Affairs they could not constitute such their Deputies nor erect such an Order but by a special Grant and Seal from the Emperor a firm Argument that the Power was not originally theirs and they suitably supplicate him in order to it and he yields to their demand but gives a Caution that the Church be not dammaged thereby a thing in course to be suspected and perhaps the advantage the Church has since had that the Courts for her Justice are the Bishops and her Causes fall not immediately under a Secular Cognitor are so little and inconsiderable that though the first Piety and royal Indulgence is apparent yet the present benefit is hardly discernible at this day among us Vid. Cod. 16. Theodos Tit. 2. l. 38. and the Story is to be seen at large in the Commentaries of Jacob Gothosâ—red upon that Law And can we now with any shew of Reason suppose that in the design of our Saviour and the execution of Church Power no regard is to be had to the Prince and that Proceedings are to be alike as upon other Persons and promiscuously though all so far under the same Circumstances as equally Members of the same Association for Heaven Those rules of Policy which were contrived complyed with and submitted to in the first planting the Gospel seem not consistent with such an after-practice a Presbyter was not to be Excommunicated till first deposed and yet then shall each single Presbyter Excommunicate his Prince I do not say till deposed as was by the ancient Canons the Presbyter to be and then Excommunicated for that is what no Power on Earth can do and the Church of God never pretended to it 't was what she always abhorred but that the Considerations must needs weigh more and be much rather cogent that the censure go not out against a Prince and greater inconveniences must hence follow whatever they were the ancient Church did apprehend to be a consequent to the other and the common foresight of things could not also allow it The single Corinthian was Excommunicated by St. Paul when the whole Body of them each one full of iniquity had not the like Animadversions from him and what may not be connived at in him who is more than ten thousand and by which there is less Security that the edge of the censure will not be more abated and dulled thereby in whom is all Strength and Power in whose hand it is to expose all to the malice and violence of the Enemy to reduce the Church so near to the first state under the Heathens and which condition though it is
Acts of Charity we know are to cease in respect of Acts of Justice nor does the Practice of Charity oblige at all but as qualified and in set Capacities every one is to give as he is able and yet both oblige in their kind and order and the engagement is always the same and perpetual the former is not null'd by reason of the present incapacity or doth it end with the Cessation as to Practice or hath the veriest Lazar a Charter thereby for inhumanity And upon the same account it is and the Parity of Reason that even particular Acts of the Positive Institutions and Worship of God give way to Obedience to Governors and when the common Political good of Mankind is engaged as I shall have occasion to instance farther hereafter Upon these accounts it is that the Laws and Magistracy are not to be affronted or contemned nor can the Magistracy it self subsist with the Church upon other terms Obedience is to be preferr'd before Sacrifice the positive Appointments even of God himself and much more may the Obligation cease and which created in us a Duty in Laws purely Humane and Ecclesiastical 'T is true these Powers did never yet clash or break out into publick Oppositions from the time that the Empire became Christian and so along in the best and flourishing Ages as is above observed the Empire still consulting the Church and her Canons were made Law or if otherwise and some particular Indulgences and Abatements there was as to Church Duties by good Emperors upon the score of their alone Imperial Power granted as some there was upon what rules of Policy and Necessity is not now needful to enquire and which we have reason to believe the Church never consented to and to be sure there was no antecedent Canon to go by yet we know this that the Church submitted and her Discipline was so far relaxed and abated thereby Constantine the Great was always a favourer of the true Catholicks and upheld and maintain'd them in each their Privileges and Immunities suffering no one Sect to advance above to oppress and invade them and yet he sometimes gave Indulgencies to all Sects whatever the Heathens not excepted and laid Penalties upon none because of their Religion and the Novatians in particular had again special favour when all other Conventicles were put down Euseb Hist l. 10. c. 5. De Vit. Constant l. 2. c. 59. Socrat. Hist l. 5. c. 10. and that they had their Churches in Rome it self and flourish'd there in many Congregations and with great Auditories Socrates also tells us till removed by Pope Celestinus l. 7. c. 11. and that most Pestilent Sect of the Donatists all along condemn'd by the Catholick Church was so long indulg'd by Constantine till incourag'd by his Mercy they brake out into Tumults and Seditions and the Empire was unsafe even shaken by them the Natural effect of all Schisms and there was a Necessity for recalling their Grants of Liberty as aso by their other continued outrages upon all that was Sacred and Separate whether Persons or Objects all which is to be seen at large in Optatus and Saint Austin especially Lib. 3. Cont. Cres con Donatist or he that desires an account of them more briefly let him read it given by Vallesius in his Treatise entitled De Scismate Donatist bound up at the end of his Eusebius Church History Now in these Cases the Church Power and Laws are to cease in part in the Execution though the right remains nor were they so exercised against these Schismaticks as otherwise they ought and would have been If God's Name cannot be glorified on Earth in that decent befitting reverend useful way agreeing with his Nature and Worship and our relations to him and the whole Earth be filled with his due Praise at once the Church Power and Laws which provide that it may are not to be stretched beyond those Designs for which she is endowed with a Power for Sanction nor can any Society suppose themselves obliged to promote by such means as God never put into their hands the holy Bishops therefore and good Christians of old praised God for the Liberties and Advantages they had in their own Persons and Congregations adorning their Professions by Zeal and good Works they could not remedy in others what Power and Laws which they had not did indulge and indemnifie them in Or if this by a Law he denied to themselves the Laws purely Ecclesiastical were never design'd nor urg'd so to oblige against the state as that the particular Practice is in the immutable indispensable Duties for Heaven and in such cases 't is only their equity reasonableness higher use and advantage in the Christian Worship is to be insinuated pleaded and perswaded unto Autority over mens Persons or Actions was never placed in Church-men nor has it any other influence or effect upon either than to exclude them the Kingdom of Heaven nor will omissions of this Nature and under the same Circumstances amount unto that nor can any man lose his Heaven for it it may be a Sin in such as with too much liberty or too little regard indulge or restrain or in such as too gladly accept of it to the neglect or abuse or contempt of the Service of God but there can be none in those where Necessity lays the force and the harder terms and obligations from the Powers of the World makes the intermission and Vacancies in the Performances § X TO say the whole and alone Power to make Church Laws and six Rules in God's Worship is in the Prince is against the supposal that the Church is an Incorporation by Divine Appointment with its own Laws and Officers a City within it self with its own Rules for Unity within its self and those that place all here and such there be and urge the unreasonableness of Separation upon the account of things indifferent because against the civilly established Polity of a Nation which has appointed their present use and observancy seem to make the terms for Unity and Compliance too wide as others do too narrow and the accidents of the World may occasion inconveniencies insupportable the very naming it is Scandalous that a Christian is originally engaged by his Profession to receive Rules in Holy Worship from an Atheist or a Mahumetan for such Persons may be and so then it must be upon these Principles 't is one thing to want what ought to be or what is most useful through an undue Administration of Justice and which my Religion may engage me to undergo and quite another thing to be antecedently engag'd in their Determinations Nor again on the other hand can the Church be supposed to ingage immutably and peremptorily by those Laws of her own though never so apt and useful to the Practice of which the Persons and other Advantages from the World are necessary and which she hath not in her Power as she is a Society of our Saviour's Institution
I would as soon cut out my Tongue as speak or cut off my Hands as subscribe for the abolishing or ceasing of it and that upon any other terms than the omitting God's Worship altogether or that my Religion it self is not retainable with it He that values God's Worship it self must in a due Proportion value that which comes so near to it or at least he apprehends so to do which is so congruous so decent and so advantageous to and in the Performance of it And as my Religion in general is to be preferr'd before all things so is that which seems most apt and best answering with and proportion'd to its discharge to be next in my thoughts and designs to retain and continue and in the next degree would I become its Advocate These Proposals then of Moderation and from these Persons break and are inconsistent in themselves there is a repugnancy in the terms and then surely not allowable with a thorow considering Person If I believe the Service Book in the Church of England the best and aptest Instrument of God's Publick Worship I am no more to forego and give it over than I can satisfie my self that the Blind and the Lame and wither'd in the Flock was acceptable to God of old then I may devote my Body to his Service under the Gospel and leave out the best Member of it that I have or give but half of my self unto him and the worser part too my Body without my Spirit the life and soul of it The Controversie about the precise Day on which Easter was to be kept was high amongst the ancient Bishops and yet the more considering of them all the while counted for it in the order of those things which in their first Nature are indifferent and it might be kept on this day or on that no peremptory fixation of God's supervening nor does indeed the limiting and fixing it to any time conduce so much to the ends of Devotion and the Service and Honour of God as many other instances now under debate do only Victor Bishop of Rome incited whether by Zeal or Ambition went too high limiting Church Communion to one set time for the observancy and did to be sure threaten Non-Communion with the Asiaticks upon their dissent from the Western Churches in it but yet the first indifferency and original immutability of the thing it self was not concluded by them a ground sufficient to lay aside or alter that Custom when whatever it was in the Bishop of Rome because below an antecedent Command in the Gospel whether Zeal or Ambition demanded it none farther from imposing on other Churches what was the alone particular Practice of their own or from censuring what was differing from them and none again more strenuous in defending and maintaining their own way and time they did not recede from what so great and contiguous a tradition of most holy Bishops and Autority even Apostolical had devolved they had immediately receiv'd from and transmitted to one another and all along in an unalterable Practice upheld and maintain'd and recommended and Rome's Universal Power had not then gain'd so much in the Church as to over-rule and constrain them all which is to be seen at large in the account given of it by Eusebius Hist lib. 5. cap. 23 24. I do not say that Apostolical Practice it § XII self in the like instances is immutable and always obliging for the present case of keeping Easter contradicts Apostolical Practice was on both sides and several other Actions and Synodical Determinations by the Apostles do not now oblige Christendom being occasional Decisions and Canons But this I say where the concern is not only the same but higher as in the Publick Service of God in our Church and which more neerly relates to God in his Worship and with equal heat its abolishment is endeavour'd as was the time of keeping Easter after the manner of the Jews by the Bishop of Rome when equally bottom'd on the same both Autority and Antiquity even to Apostolical for so the Asiaticks pleaded the Autority of St. Philip and St. John and the Malice and Industry of our Opposers cannot gainsay us I 'le add where every thing concurs to the procuring Reverence Piety and Devotion and in which case Calvin himself contends for Ceremonies in the Church of Christ when Christ is so illustrated by them Ergonè inquies nihil Ceremoniarum debitur ad juvandam â—orum imperitiam id ego non dico omnino enim utile illis esse sentio id modo contendo ut modus ille adhibeatur qui Christum illusâ—ret non obscuret Institut l. 4. c. 10. Sect. 14. and for us to abate of these Rites to change or lay aside our either times or ways of Worship because perhaps a Neighbouring Church is differing and requires or perhaps and which is worse demands it of us as the Church of Rome did of the Church of Asia this hath no Precedent of Example no rule of Religion to enforce us to submit to or comply with we have a President of as famous Apostolical a Church as the Primitive Story acquaints us with that is against it and that Church which so urges and requires of us savours too much of the present Usurpations of Rome not improbably first attempted in Victor their once Bishop § XIII AND much less is that Church to submit when the unruliness and disobedience of her own Members attempt the alteration when private Pets and open Ambition in order to engrossing Superiority and Rule in themselves stimulate thereunto as in our late pretended Reformations and which is at this day only without Arms but with the same virulency of Spirit carried on in our Streets when at the best the Infirmities but raâ—her the impetuousness and madness of the People promotes it this no reason can indure and yet it is the great and popular Plea for the nulling our Laws Ecclesiastical now among us when the rule bends to the obliquity the right Line warps and complies with that which is crooked both become disorder'd and perverse together and which is the misery of all no standard supposed to remain to reduce them When the Laws of the Church submit to that Extravagancy they are design'd to prevent or remedy and the only reason why they are to be no more is because every Man may and must do what seemeth him good in his own eyes their Will and Lusts and Passions must reign and give Laws this is the height of Anarchy and Confusion or farther and for which there is something more of shew and pretence because Pity may be a Motive to give up all to the weak and infirm that is to those of the least understanding and discernment for St. Paul has no other sense of a weak Brother or a weak Conscience then that which is more ignorant what is this but to place the Discretion and Government of the Church in the hands of Ideots and half
witted against the rules of all Policy that was ever heard of till now that the womanish part and such as are less able direct nay over-rule the more able and knowing and to pay our Obedience and Obligations hither to set up this sort of weakness as the rule their suggestions and demands for the Voice from Heaven is not with more seeming semblance to be compared to any thing in the World than to those most absurd Homages and Acknowledgments of the Heathens of old so ridicul'd and laugh'd at by the Primitive Apologists and first most holy Christian Writers which were made to Fevers and Agues to their slavish Fears and weaker Passions paying Sacrifices and Devotions to them who made Gods of Calamities and worshipped the vicissitudes and courses of evil Accidents adored the bad Genius Eumenides and the Furies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. the very Entrails and Ordure of the Beasts over-ruled in their Councils over-aw'd and over-bore them if defects be the rule then let the Monsters and Exorbitancies of Nature which have present Necessity enough to plead be the Patterns of the whole Creation let us take our Ideal knowledge of the Universe from its Wens and Excrescencies the contingencies and accidents of it and by the same rule we shall exclude God from its Government supersede his Providence as we do the Laws of the Church we may as well every one of us cut off our Legs and become Cripples in the Streets lay our selves in the High-ways and become Beggars as if the Sun in the Firmament was only then to be Copied as most beauteous and obliging when labouring and in an eclipse or the whole Earth in its due Posture when in a Paroxysm a Rupture and Consternation Surely these were not the infirmities St. Paul glorified in nor this that depressed dethroned condition of the Church of which the Ancient Fathers make so large Eulogies reckon up unto us so many advantages and though something has always been allow'd and abated upon such the like Exigent and unavoidable Necessity yet it was never on this manner carried on and improved to appear against and affront fixed and established Rules and Laws the particular Connivance or Exception did never cancel the rule but rather confirm and give new Obligations as the exception is said to strengthen in all cases and instances besides 't is the great end and design of Government to observe and animadvert where deficient to make stronger assist and enable where declining So was Job in the Land of Huz Eyes to the Blind Feet to the Lame enabling the Faculty and helping on in Duty and Obedience and this though to be the work of Prudence and Deliberation in applying the general Rule yet 't is the most deplorable condition when the rule comes quite over to the obliquity gives it self up to the defect its Guidance and Directions its Tyranny indeed and Depredations and which to prevent or redress to relieve and rescue from is its office On these terms no means are left for recovery 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Disorder goes on to infinite all bounds and limits taken away 't is a running always down hill and the bottomless Pit is to be its last Post or Period perpetual horror desolation and confusion for ever more § XVII 2. THE Laws of Religion are those Laws of Christ and his Apostles instituted and ordained by them such are the two Sacraments generally necessary to Salvation Baptism and the Supper of the Lord such are the other Ordinances of the Gospel and the means of Grace as the Ministry in general with its appropriate distinct Powers and Offices all like those of the two Sacraments the general common ways and means to Salvation but all as Arbitrary in their Sanction and no ways reaching to an antecedent Right or Obligation and our Saviour might have appointed others or none had he so pleased He once made Eye-salve of his spittle and the clay in the Streets and other times cured with a word from his mouth so are they not absolutely and immutably necessary in the practice nor are the Rules and Laws of their positive after Institution such as indispensably to be practised under all Circumstances and Accidents and no other acceptance with God and access to Heaven the Christians of old banished to the Islands and the Mines as under the heathen Persecutions cannot be supposed always perhaps at any time in such their durance and slavery capable of it in any one instance much less in all and yet Afflictions are so far from being an hindrance in Religion that they are its greatest advantage or if these be not 't is because they are not duly made use of and improved And the Fathers of the Church still made use of this as their chief Topick or Common-place for Patience and Consolation to those poor Souls from the good and benefit came thereby unto them the greater devolution of help and assistance from the Heavens the greater reward and glory annexed Ambulatis in metallo captivo quidem corpore sed corde regnante praecessit disciplina sequetur venia Cyphr Ep. 8.77 haec pala illa quae nunc dominicam aream purgat à quo certamen edicitur nisi à quo corona et praemia proponuntur Ecclesia in attonito est tunc fides expeditior Tertul. lib. de fuga in persecut cap. 1. tota paradisi clavis tuus sanguis est speaking of the Martyrs lib. de anima cap. 55. and whom he places immediately in Heaven nearer to God himself excelsoque throno coruscans martyribus septus poem de ult judicio cap. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 1. c. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignat. Ep. ad Smyrn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ep. ad Rom. per dentes bestiarum molor ut mundus panis Dei inveniar as in that Epistle ad Rom. and which is cited by Ireneus lib. 5. c. 28. nor is the Church always secured against the like Obstructions in the best of her conditions and under the protection of those Governors that are Christian the usual contingencies of the World and which in course succeed so long as day and night succeed one another must make the intermission nor is the casualty to be avoided But then these do not intercept betwixt the Christian and his God no more than did the Mettals and the Thunder-claps the stake and the wild Beasts to those first Christians just now mentioned or should the case really be and which is so often feigned and not always to due purposes that Christians are alone in a Ship or cast on a desert Shoar where neither Bishop nor under Church-man and the Ordinances cannot as in the design of their institution be celebrated among them And surely then the commands of a Soveraign are to have some room in the like cases when in the due execution of that Power intrusted with him by God and a
Power as the Supreme Governor of the Church Is called Worldly and Secular Sect. 5 6 7 8. Of King Edward VI. That the Bishops were to use not their own as formerly but his Name and Seal in their Processes c. implies no such thing Sect. 9. Of Queen Elizabeth King James Sect. 10 11. The King and Church distinct Powers in our Statute Book Our Kings now have but the same Power the Empire of old and their Predecessors before the Reformation had If our Religion be Parliamentary that anciently was Imperial Sect. 12. Mr. Selden says the Parliament of England both can and has actually Excommunicated and the Bishops Power is derived only from them Sect. 13. The Acts of Parliament he produces V. VI. Edw. VI. Cap. IV. III. Jacobi Cap. V. infer it not Sect. 14. Nor do those of II. III. Edw. VI. Cap. 1. Elizabethae Cap. II. that the Prince limits Excommunications in the Execution is not against the Divine Right of them His Instances in the Rump Parliament Geneva The Parliament of Scotland III. Jacob. VI. Cap. XLV are all against him Sect. 15. Archbishop Whitgift is not proved to have Licensed Erastus his Works for the Press that they were found in his Study is no Argument he was an Erastian if Licensed by the Autority of the Nation no Evidence that his Doctrines were then owned Sect. 16. Our own Doctors of the same Opinion with us instances in two of them Sect. 17. Bishop Bilson St. Ambrose one of Doctor Tillotson's Hypocrites A private Liberty of Conscience not enough a false Religion to be declared against though by Autority abetted Mr. Dean gives advantage to the Papists Calumny That our Religion is only that of our Prince Sect. 18. Bishop Sanderson his particular Judgment concerning the Divine Right of Episcopacy Sect. 19. Mr. Selden objects again that our own Doctors and Writers are all on the other side The particular Authors each reckon'd up He perverts and abuses them all Sect. 20. The two Vniversities in their Opus Eximium c. in the Reign of Henry VIII 1534. altogether against him Sect. 21. Stephen Bishop of Winchester Orat. de vera Obedientia is of the same Mind and so is Richard Sampson Dean of the Chappel to Henry VIII in an Oration to this purpose Sect. 22. The Papers in the Cottonian Library seems the same with Dr. Stillingfleet's M. SS in his Irenicum Both he and Dr. Burnet unfaithful in the Printing of it Dr. Durell's account of it Archbishop Cranmer with the Bishops and Doctors engaged in our first Reformation were not Erastians from the account given of them in his Church History by Dr. Burnet Less Discretion in Printing such Papers nor is their Autority really to be any thing Sect. 23. Mr. Selden is shameless in quoting Bishop Andrews who determines all along against him Those Laws that Protect the Church must in course inspect their Actions The Bishop disswaded Grotius from Printing his Book De Imperio summarum Potestatum in Sacris Ha' y' any Work for a Cooper is indeed of Mr. Selden's side and the Lord Falkland His very ill Speech in the House of Commons 1641. His Pulpit Law and Decision of the Divine Right of Kings as well as of the Church He and such like Speech-makers Promoters of the late Rebellion affronts both to King and Priest design'd at once when the Crown is entitled to the Priesthood Sect. 24. Archbishop Bancroft Archbishop Whitgift and Bishop Bilson under the Suspition of Erastianism Accused as such by Robert Parker de Politeia Ecclesiastica a Malicious Schismatick made use of still against our Church by Dailee against Ignatius his Epistles by Doctor Stillingfleet in his Irenicum Our Bishops and Doctors are not against the Divine immutable Right of Bishops as Doctor Stillingfleet mistook out of Parker and reports them to be Satisfaction may justly be required of him for it Sect. 25. The Writings of the best Men how they may be mistaken as of Justin Martyr The first Council of Nice St. Jerome concerning Chastity and Episcopacy Bishop Cranmer and our first Reformers Bishop Whitgift Bancroft and Bilson The Point was at first only the Bishop of Rome's Supremacy A secular title only no Characteristical mark then betwixt the Protestant and Papist The Lay-Elders in their Consistory set up after this as Popes in his room These our Bishops warmth was exercised against whatever indiscretion in laying the Argument The Power of the Prince and the Priest are still contra-distinguished Kings are not Governors next and immediately under Christ as the Mediator The mistake of many in their Pulpit Prayer Our Kings and Church do not thence derive their Power nor so claim it in their Acts Statutes Declarations Articles c. in the forms of bidding Prayer by Queen Elizabeth and King James c. of ill consequence if they do Doctor Hammond's Autority Sect. 26. Particular Doctors not the Rule in Religion The several ways by which Error comes into the World Julian's Plot to destroy Christianity How Pelagius managed his Heresie by Rich and Potent Women by feigned Autorities of great Men. Liberius of Rome and Hosius comply with Arianism wearied with Persecutions Theodosius his Doctores Probabiles Cod. 16. Theodos Tit. 1. l. l. 2 3. THE last general of this Discourse now § I follows and I am to shew that what hath hitherto been said concerning Church Power as a Specifick and distinct from any thing in either the People or the Crown is agreeable with the particular Establishments by the Laws of our Kingdom made for the owning and defence of Christianity and by consequence with the Religion it self so own'd and professed in our Church since the Reformation AN undertaking I do not therefore engage § II in as if these Doctrines of our common Christianity receiv'd from the beginning and devolv'd all along downward in the first Ages as is already shew'd could obtain further Autority or expected an after Sanction and Establishment from us and e're fully assented to and received wanted force and obligation was to be abated of or abolished where not according to our particular ordering model and constitution framed and drawn up autorized and made publick Fifteen hundred years after this is absurd in the Proposal and must be worse in the Practice it runs as it ought to do contrary to our selves to the Plot and Design of this our Church in each of her Collections Articles Injunctions Canons Constitutions and Homilies appointed to be read in the Churches in the time of Q. Elizabeth And altogether to our purpose are the Homilies composed by the Bishops limiting church-Church-Power to the Priesthood and apparently distinguishing betwixt the Autority and Laws of the Church and State assigning different Ends and Effects unto each Part 2. Of the Sermon of Good Works This arrogancy God detested that Man should so advance his Laws to make them equal with God's Laws wherein the true honouring and worshipping of God standeth and to make his
in the Objection the several Acts are these That no one Canon of the Church have the force of a Law but what is appointed by such Inspector of the Canons as he shall name and appoint That no Appeals be made to Rome upon the Penalty and Danger contained and limited in the Act of Provision and Premunire made in the 16th year of King Richard II. That all the Canons not repugnant to the Laws of the Realm or to the Damage of the King's Prerogative Royal are to be used and executed as they were before the making this Act. That no license is to be required from the See of Rome for the Consecrating and Investiture of Bishops That 't is in the King alone to nominate and present them That the Pope has no Power in Spiritual Causes to give Licenses Dispensations Faculties Grants c. all this is to be done at home by our own Bishops and in our own Synods and Councils cap. 21. and this Provision is particularly made Sect. 19. ibid. provided that this Act or any thing or things herein contained shall be hereafter interpreted or expounded that your Grace your Nobles and Subjects intend by the same to decline or vary from the Congregation of Christ's Church in any thing concerning the very Articles of the Catholick Faith of Christendom or in any other things declared in Holy Scripture and the Word of God necessary for yours and their Salvation but only to make an Ordinance by Policies necessary and convenient to repress Vice And for good conservation of this Realm in Peace Vnity and Tranquility from Ravine and Spoyl insuing much the old ancient Customes of this Realm in that behalf not minding to seek for any Relief Succor or Remedies for any worldly things and humane Laws in any case of necessity but within this Realm at the hands of your Highness your Heirs and Successors Kings of this Realm which have and ought to have an Imperial Power and Autority in the same and not obliged in any worldly Causes to any Superior § VII IN the 26th year of his Reign cap. 1. when declared Supreme Head of the Church of England in Parliament as before recognized by the Clergy the Power he thereby is invested with is also declared viz. To visit redress reform order correct restrain and amend all such Errors Heresies Abuses Offences Contempts and Enormities whatsoever they be which by any manner of spiritual Autority or Jurisdiction ought or may lawfully be reformed repressed order'd redressed corrected restrained or amended most to the pleasure of Almighty God the increase of Virtue in Christ's Religion and for the conservation of Vnity Peace and Tranquility of this Realm cap. 14. he appoints the number of suffragan Bishops the Places of their residence and the Arch-Bishop is to consecrate them In the 28th year of his Reign cap. 10. The King may nominate such number of Bishops Sees for Bishops Cathedral Churches and endow them with such Possessions as he will In the 31th year cap. 14. he defends the Doctrine of Transubstantiation the Sacrament in but one kind enacts that all Hereticks be burnt and their Goods forfeited that no Priest may marry for Masses Auricular Confession c. in the 34 5. cap. 1. recourse must be had to the Catholick Apostolick Church for the decision of Controversies And therefore all Books of the Old and New Testament in English being of Tindal 's false Translation or comprising any matter of Christian Religion Articles of the Faith or Holy Scripture contrary to the Doctrine set forth sithence Anno Domini 1540. or to be set forth by the King shall be abolished no Printer or Book-seller shall utter any of the said Books no Persons shall play or interlude sing or rhime contrary to the said Doctrine no Person shall retain any English Books or Writings concerning Matter against the holy and blessed Sacrament of the Altar or for the maintenance of the Anabaptists or other Books abolished by the King's Proclamation There shall be no Annotations or Preambles in Bibles or new Testaments in English the Bible shall not be read in English in any Church no Women c. to read the New Testament in English nothing shall be taught contrary to the Kings Injunctions and if any spiritual Person preach teach or maintain any thing contrary to the King's Instructions or Determinations made or to be made and shall thereof be convict he shall for his first Offence recant for his second abjure and bear a fagot for the third he shall be adjudged an Heretick and be burnt and loose all his Goods and Chattels In the 37. year cap. 17. The full Power and Autority he hath by being Supreme Head of the Church of England is To correct punish and repress all manner of Heresies Errors Vices Sins Abuses Idolatries Hypocrises and Superstitions sprung and growing within the same and to exercise all other manner of Jurisdiction called Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Sect. 1. and Sect. 3. 'tis farther added To whom by Holy Scriptures all Authority and Power is wholly given to hear and determine all manner of Causes Ecclesiastical and to correct Vice and Sin whatsoever and to all such Persons as his Majesty shall appoint thereunto And so far is all this from deriving to himself and exercising any thing of the Priest-hood that he is totidem verbis declared and reputed only a Lay-Man in the first Section of that Chapter nor do any one of these Instances here produced amount to any more than to the defending and guarding by Laws Truth and punishing and repressing Errors whether in Doctrines or in Manners at least such as are so reputed by the Church and State § VIII 'T IS true and easily observable that just upon the assuming to himself the Title of the supreme Head of the Church there was ground enough for suspition that the Church her self and all her Power was to be laid aside and whereas the reason and end of every particular Parliament before and of each of his till then is still said to be for the honor of God and holy Church and for the Common-Weale and Profit of this Realm 't is abated and said only for the honor of God and for the Common-Weale and Profit of this Realm the benefit of holy Church is in words at least left out and in the room of it is once added to the conservation of the true Doctrine of Christ's Religion As if the design was according to the Models now adayes framed and endeavour'd by private Persons to be set up That the care was to be only of Doctrines in which and in charity and love and abatements to one another the Essence of Church-Unity in general and each Christian with another consists But yet however this so hapned or upon what design either in himself or others 't is certain he abridged not the Church-Men of any one Instance of that Secular worldly Power as that of the supremacie derived unto them is called 25
he proves thoughout the Church Historians Fathers and Imperial Laws thus declaring assenting to and practising pag. 146. If by the Church you mean the Precepts and Promises Gifts and Graces of God preached in the Church and poured on the Church Princes must humbly obey them and reverently receive them as well as other private Men so that Prophets Apostles Evangelists and all other builders of Christ's Church as touching their Persons be subject to the Princes power Mary the word of God in their Mouths and Seals of grace in their hands because they are of God and not of themselves they be far above the Princes Calling and Regiment and in those Cases Kings and Queens if they will be saved must submit themselves to God's everlasting truth and testament as well as the meanest of their People and yet they are for all this Supreme and subject only to God as to outward Process either from the Pope or from any other Power And so pag. 147. he brings in those Passages of Tertullian Optatus and Chrysostom à Deo secundum solo Deo minorem parem super terram non habet c. the word Supreme was added to the Oath for that the Bishop of Rome taketh upon him to command and depose Princes as their lawful supreme Judg to exclude this wicked presumption we teach that Princes be supreme Rulers we mean subject to no superior Judg to give a reason of their doings but only to God pag. 164 165 166. it must be confessed he speaks not home as might be required when explaining how Kings as well as other Christians are comprized under the duty of obeying their Rulers and to be subject unto them c. surely there is a true real obedience due even from Princes to Church-Officers and their Power devolved from Christ and this learned Man seems here and in other places not to be rescued from that common prejudice and possession seized upon too many and all along continued upon casting of the Popes Superiority here in England that there can be no Church-Power at all universally obliging and requiring obedience but what implyes and infers corporal bodily subjection a change in Seculars 't is this puts him upon that great mistake that the Pastors of the Church are not influenced by the Kingly power of Christ and what is regal in him is given to the Civil Magistrate and who only succeed him in that Office perpetual Government of the Church cap. 10. and Arch-bishop Bancroft confounding these two Powers gives Beza and Cartwright as much advantage in that Particular as their Disciples and Followers can now really wish and because they say that Christ as a King prescribed the form of Ecclesiastical Government being a King the head of the Church doth administer his Kingdom per legitime vocatos pastores by Pastors lawfully called he runs them upon this absurdity that their Autority must be without any controul The Pastors must be all of them Emperors the Doctors Kings the Elders Dukes and the Deacons Lords of the Treasury c. survey of the holy pretended discipline c. cap 24. and yet after all 't is mostly Name◠and Titles that occasions this or the accidental pressing an argument as there will be occasion to consider anon and Bishop Bilson goes on and acknowledges all in effect only Bishops and Pastors are left out and tells us That the Church may be Superior and yet the Pope subject to Princes Princes be Supreme and the Church their Superior the Scriptures be superior to Princes and yet Princes supreme the Sacrament be likewise above them and yet that hindreth not their Supremacy Truth Grace Faith Prayer and other Ghostly Virtues be higher than all earthly States and all this notwithstanding Princes may be supreme Governors of their Countries and which though in over abating Terms and with too scrupulous a fear where no fear ought to be declares as fully as can be the thing it self viz. That Princes are to be subject to the Government in the Church settled by Christ in its Bishops and Pastors and which both as a Prophet a Priest and a King he derives unto them Church-Officers have a Power underived and independent to the Crown only 't is ill worded by the Warden Things Powers Gifts Virtues c. as standing and settled on Earth and not invested in Persons can really be of no force and command at all or rather and which at last will amount to the same will be what every one shall please to make them and the Prince will have as many Supremes as are pretenders to these Gifts of the Spirit and which will be enough as experience taught us this only then can be meant by these Circumlocutions and why it might not have been spoken in down-right terms I cannot imagine that the Bishops and Pastors of the Church with the Bible put into their hands as it is at their Ordination with full autority given for the Offices ministerial have a real Power and are truly Rulers in the Church have a Supremacy and Superiority peculiarly theirs and all that will come to Heaven must come under this Ministry or Government it 's jurisdiction and discipline be they Princes or Subjects on Earth or what ever worldly Government they are possessed of unless he 'l say every Man hath these Ghostly Virtues which can urge a Text of Scripture and which cannot be conceived of him and to this purpose he goes farther pag. 167 168. Though the Members of the Church be subject and obedient to Princes yet the things contained in the Church and bestowed on the Church by God himself I mean the light of his Word the working of his Sacraments the gifts of his Grace and fruits of his Spirit be far superior to all Princes The plain meaning of which can be but this Certain separate Persons invested by God beyond Christians at large with such Gifts and Graces the Bishops and Pastors of the Church and in which respect a good Emperor is within the Church and not above it as St. Ambrose is to this purpose here quoted by him pag. 171. You must distinguish the things proposed in the Church from the Persons that were Members of the Church the Persons both Lay-Men and Clerks by God's Law were the Princes Subjects the things comprized in the Church and by God himself committed to the Church because they were Gods could be subject to the Power and Will of no mortal Creature Pope nor Prince the Prince is above the Persons of the Church not above things in the Church pag. 173. 176. 178. you know we do not make the Prince Judg of Faith we confess Princes to be no Judges of Faith but we do not encourage Princes themselves to be Judges of Faith but only we wish them to discern betwixt truth and error which every private Man must do that is a Christian pag. 174 175 176. he approves of Ambrose's Answer to Valentinian that is was stout but lawful constant but
Christian when he refused to give up his Church to the Arians denied the Emperor's power over truth and to determine in Doctrines The Emperor might force him out if he pleased neither might he resist the force his Weapons being only Prayers and Tears but the truth must not yield up to him and he give his consent or seem to do it by his own departure that the Arian Doctrine be there preached this was not then thought an Affront to the Magistrate and Law nor had St. Ambrose a Commission immediate from Heaven and abetted with Miracles or was he judged a hypocrite in so doing because he did not go and preach the Cause against Arius amongst the Goths and Vandals who subscribed to his Creed at their receiving Christianity though Mr. Dean of Canterbury tells us he that pleads Conscience and preaches it in England and does not go and preach it also in Turkey is guilty of gross hypocrisie pag. 203 213. We do not make them Judges and Deciders of Truth but Receivers and Establishers of it we say Princes be only Governors that is higher Powers ordain'd of God and bearing the Sword with lawful and publick Autority to command for truth to prohibit and with the Sword punish Errors and all other Ecclesiastical Disorders as well as Temporal within their Realms that as all their Subjects Bishops and others must obey them commanding what is good in Matters of Religion and endure them with patience when they take part with Error So they their Swords and Scopters be not subject to the Popes Tribunal neither hath he by the Law of God or by the Canons of the Church any Power or Pre-eminence to reverse their Doings nor depose their Persons and for this Cause we confess Princes within their Territories to be supreme that is not under the Popes jurisdiction neither to be commanded nor displaced at his pleasure pag. 215 216. There be two Parts of our Assertion The first avouching that Princes may command for Truth and abolish Error The next that Princes be Supreme i. e. not subject to the Popes judicial Process to be cited suspended deposed at his beck The Word Supreme ever was and is defended by us to make Princes free from the wrongful and usurped Jurisdiction which the Pope claimeth over them pag. 217. 219. Bishops have their Autority to preach and administer the Sacraments not from the Prince but Christ himself only the Prince giveth them publick liberty without let or disturbance to do what Christ hath commanded them he no more conferreth that Power and Function than he conferreth Life and Breath when he permitteth to live and breath when he does not destroy the life of his Subjects That Princes may prescribe what Faith they list what Service of God they please what form of Administring the Sacraments they think best is no part of our thoughts nor point of our Doctrine for external Power and Autority to compel and punish which is the Point we stand upon God hath preferr'd the Prince before the Priest pag. 223. touching the Regiment of their own Persons and Lives Princes owe the very same Reverence and Obedience to the Word and Sacraments that every private Man doth and if any Prince would be baptized or approach the Lord's Table with manifest shew of unbelief or irrepentance the Minister is bound freely to speak or rather to lay down his life at the Princes feet than to let the King of Kings to be provoked the Mysteries to be defiled his own Soul and the Princes endanger'd for lack of oft and earnest Admonition pag. 226. by Governors we do not mean Moderators Prescribers Directors Inventers or Authors of these things but Rulers or Magistrates bearing the Sword to permit and defend that which Christ himself first appointed and ordained and with lawful force to disturb the Despisers of his lawful Will and Testament Now what inconvenience is this if we say that Princes as publick Magistrates may give freedom protection and assistance to the preaching of the Word ministring of the Sacraments and right using of the Keys and not fetch license from Rome pag. 236. Princes have no right to call and confirm Preachers but to receive such as be sent of God and give them liberty for their preaching and security for their Persons and if Princes refuse so to do God's Labourers must go forward with that which is commanded them from Heaven not by disturbing Princes from their Thrones nor invading their Realms but by mildly submitting themselves to the Powers on Earth and meekly suffering for the defence of the truth what they shall inflict A private liberty and exercise of their own Conscience and Religion was not then thought enough if the Religion of a Nation be false and though autority do abet it nor would the Autority in Queen Elizabeth's days have own'd that Person asserting and maintaining of it though not stubbornly irreligious but only wanting information in so notoriously a known case of practice pag. 238. In all spiritual Things and Causes Princes only bear the Sword i. e. have publick Autority to receive establish and defend all Points and Parts of Christian Doctrine and Discipline within their Realms and without their help tho the Faith and Canons of Christ's Church may be privately professed and observed of such as be willing yet they cannot be generally planted or settled in any Kingdom nor urged by publick Laws and external Punishments on such as refuse but by their consents that bear the Sword This is that we say refel it if you can pag. 252. to devise new Rites and Ceremonies for the Church is not the Princes vocation but to receive and allow such as the Scripture and Canons commend and such as the Bishops and Pastors on the Place shall advise not infringing the Scripture or Canons and so for all other Ecclesiastical Things and Causes Princes be neither the Devisers nor Directors of them but the Confirmers and Establishers of that which is good and Displacers and Revengers of that which is Evil which power we say they have in all things be they Spiritual Ecclesiastical or Temporal the Abuse of Excommunication in the Priest and contempt of it in the People Princes may punish excommunicate they may not for so much of the Keys are no part of their Charge pag. 256. The Prince is in Ecclesiastical Discipline to receive and stablish such Rules and Orders as the Scripture and Canons shall decide to be needful and healthful for the Church of God in their Kingdoms It is the Objection indeed and undue consequence the Church of Rome makes against us and the Oath of Supremacy and which is urged by Philander in this Dialogue betwixt him and Theophilus or betwixt the Christian and the Jesuite pag. 124 125. That we will have our Faith and Salvation to hang on the Princes Will and Laws that there can be imagined no nearer way to Religion than to believe what our temporal Lord and Master list in the
Oath we make Princes the only supreme Governors of all Persons in all Causes as well spiritual as temporal utterly renouncing all foreign Jurisdictions Superiorities and Autorities upon which Words mark what an horrible Confusion of all Faith and Religion ensueth if Princes be the only Governors in Ecclesiastical Matters then in vain did the Holy Ghost appoint Pastors and Bishops to govern the Church if they be Supreme then they are superior to Christ himself and in effect Christ's Masters if in all Things and Causes spiritual than they may prescribe to the Priests and Bishops what to preach which way to worship and serve God how in what Form to minister the Sacraments and generally how Men shall be governed in Soul if all foreign Jurisdiction must be renounced then Christ and his Apostles because they were and are Forreigners have no Jurisdiction nor Autority over England But this is what only the ill Nature and Malice of our Adversaries would have us to believe and assert and give out to the World we do 't is what is and all along has been repell'd with scorn and indignation both by our Princes in their single Persons and in their Laws in Parliament and though some of our Divines have wished the Oath had been more cautiously Penn'd and think it lies more open to little obvious Inferences of this nature than it needs and which amuse the unwary less discerning Reader yet all own and defend it as to the substance and design and intent of it and which is throughly and sufficiently done by the learned Warden in this Treatise as appears by this Specimen or shorter account is now given of it and he that peruses the whole Treatise will find more and John Tillotson Doctor in Divinity and Dean of Canterbury is if not the only yet one professed conforming Divine in our Church that publickly from the both Pulpit and Press has given the Romanist so much ground really to believe we are such as they on purpose to abuse us and delude others give it out we are and complyes so far with their Objection and Calumny just now recited as by Philander drawn up against us gives so much of Force and Autority to it § XIX BISHOP Sanderson in his Treatise now mentioned has a different task from Bishop Bilson the one was to vindicate the Prince that he invades not the Church the other the Bishops or Church that from usurping on the Prince Bishop Sanderson among many other things urged by him and as his Subject requires is express in these Particulars pag. 121. That there is a supreme Ecclesiastical Power which by the Law of the Land is established and by the Doctrine of our Church acknowledged to be inherent in the Church pag. 23. That regal and Episcopal Power are two Powers of quite different kinds and such as considered purely in those things which are proper and assential to either have no mutual relation unto or dependance upon each other neither hath either of them to do with the other the one of them being purely spiritual and internal the other external and temporal albeit in regard of the Persons that are to exercise them or some accidental Circumstances appertaining to the exercise thereof it may happen the one to be some wayes helpful or prejudicial to the other pag. 41. that the derivation of any Power from God doth not necessarily infer the non-subjection of the Persons in whom that Power resideth to all other Men for doubtless the power that Fathers have over their Children Husbands over their Wives Masters over their Servants is from Heaven of God and not of Men yet are Parents Husbands Masters in the exercise of their several respective Powers subject to the Power Jurisdiction and Laws of their lawful Soveraigns pag. 44. The King doth not challenge to himself as belonging to him by virtue of his Supremacy Ecclesiastical the Power of ordaining Ministers excommunicating scandalous Offenders the power of Preaching adminstring Sacraments c. and yet doth the King by virtue of that Supremacy challenge a Power as belonging to him in the right of his Crown to make Laws concerning Preaching administring the Sacraments ordination of Ministers and other Acts belonging to the Function of a Priest pag. 69 70 71. it is the peculiar reason he gives in behalf of the Bishops for not using the King's Name in their Process c. in the Ecclesiastical Courts the occasion of the whole discourse and which cannot be given for the Judges of any other Courts from the different nature and kind of their several respective Jurisdictions which is That the Summons and other Proceedings and Acts in the Ecclesiastical Courts are for the most part in order to the Ecclesiastical Censures and Sentences of Excommunications c. the passing of which Sentences and others of the like kind being a part of the Power of the Keys which our Lord Jesus Christ thought sit to leave in the hands of the Apostles and their Successors and not in the hands of Lay-Men The Kings of England never challenged to belong to themselves but left the exercise of that Power entirely to the Bishops as the lawful Successors of the Apostles and Inheritors of their Power the regulating and ordering of that Power in sundry Circumstances concerning the outward exercise thereof in foro exteruo the Godly Kings of England have thought to belong unto them as in the Right of their Crown and have accordingly made Laws concerning the same even as they have done also concerning other Matters appertaining to Religion and the Worship of God but the substance of that Power and the Function thereof as they saw it altogether to be improper to their Office and Calling so they never pretended or laid any claim thereunto but on the contrary renounced all claim to any such Power or Autority And for Episcopacy it self the Bishop sets down his opinion in a Postscript to the Reader the words are these My opinion is That Episcopal Government is not to be derived merely from Apostolical Practice or Institution but that it is originally founded in the Person and Office of the Messiah our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ who being sent by his Heavenly Father to be The great Apostle Heb. 3.1 Bishop and Pastor 1 Pet. 2.25 of his Church and anointed to that Office immediately after his Baptism by John with Power and the Holy Ghost Acts 10.37 38. descending then upon him in a bodily shape Luk. 3.22 did afterwards before his Ascension into Heaven send and impower his holy Apostles giving them the Holy Ghost likewise as his Father had given him in like manner as his Father had before sent him Joh. 20.21 to exercise the same Apostolical Episcopal and Pastoral office for the Ordering and Governing of his Church until his coming again and so the same office to continue in them and their Successors unto the Worlds end Mat. 28.18.20 this I take to be so clear from these and other like Texts of
Scripture that if they shall be diligently compar'd together both between themselves and with the following Practice of all the Churches of Christ as well in the Apostles times as in the purest and Primitive time nearest thereunto there will be left a little cause why any man should doubt thereof § XX AND now I have done only Mr. Selden is once more to be encountred with who appears against all this and says that the Doctors of our Church are quite of a different Judgment and have declared the same to the World in their Writings De Syned l. 1. cap. 10. pag. 424 425. As the two Universities at once Published in the Reign of Henry VIII 1534. called Opus eximium de vera differentia Regiae Potestatis Ecclesiasticae quae sit ipsa veritas virtus utriusque Stephen Gardiner Bishop of Winchester in an Oration de vera Obedientia Joannes Bekinsau de Supremo absoluto regis Imperio with abundance more which he tells us was to have been Printed in King Jame's days but the Printer was in the blame The Manuscripts in the Cottonian Library where an account is given of Henry VIII entrance upon the Reformation 1540. and the Question among others is Vtrùm Episcopus aut Presbyter possit Excommunicare ob quaenam delicta utrum ii soli possint jure divino whether the Bishop or the Presbyter can Excommunicate and for what Offences and whether they alone can do it by Divine Right and about which great Divines were distracted in their Opinions but the Bishop of Hereford St. David Westminster Dr. Day Curwin Laighton Cox Symons say that Lay-men may Excommunicate if they be appointed by the high Ruler or the King and all those Writings in every Bodies hands De primatu regio de potestate Papae Regiâ against Bellarmine Tortus Becan Eudemon Joannes Suarez c. in the time of King James and whose Authors were Bishop Andrews Bishop Buckeridge Dr. Collings Bishop Carlton c. and in which three first Mr. Selden instances a great appearance of Adversaries and considerable withal and did not Mr. Selden give in the Catalogue whose unfaithfulness and imposings I have so oft experienced in this kind would be much more terrible in reality than they at first look appear incouraged therefore by former success I 'le encounter him once more and undertake an Examination of so many of them as I have by me and it is very pardonable if I have not all we that live remote in the Countrey and but poor Vicars there have not the advantage of Sir Robert Cotton's Library cannot attend Auctions or but common Booksellers Shops and have not Money to imploy others especially for the obtaining such Authors as these most of which are out of Print and some very rarely to be had by any and I am the more encouraged to the search just now finding in that Book of Bishop Sanderson's I had so lately occasion to make use of some of these Authors made use of on the contrary side as those who by the occasion of the title of Supreme Head our Church being charged with giving to the Prince the Power Autority and Offices of the Priest openly disavow and disclaim it and I think I may as soon rely upon Bishop Sanderson's report as Mr. Selden's his skill as Divine and Integrity as a Christian can be no ways below him even in the Judgment of Mr. Selden's Friends THE Opus eximium de verâ differentiâ c. § XXXI comes first the work he says of the two Universities I do not know why the Universities are entitled to it but upon Mr. Selden's report for this time will grant it readily because the Autority how great soever is really on my side nor does it answer any thing at all of Mr. Selden's design in producing of it The first Part is De potestate Ecclesiasticâ and is wholly levelled at the Power of the Pope and discovers his Usurpations over the Christian both Kingdoms and Bishops that his pretended both Spiritual and Temporal Plea has no ground either on the Scriptures or Fathers for it is altogether begged and sandy I cannot so much commend the clearness of it when discoursing of church-Church-Power as in it self and purely in the Donation and which he allows and defends he appearing not to have the true Notion of Church-Laws and stumbles at that so usual block that all Laws must be outwardly Coercive or they cannot be call'd Laws and so can be only in the Prince whom he well enough proves to have alone that Power and what he allows the Church is to make Canons i. e. rules to be receiv'd only by those that are willing but not Laws which enforce with more to this purpose something too crudely and which the then present Age will plead something for Confirmant quidem praedicta potestatem Ecclesiasticam sed Dominum regant tribuunt autoritatem non jurisdictionem admonere hortari consolari deprecari docere praedicare Sacramenta ministrare cum charitate arguere increpare obsecrare certissimis Dei promissis spem in Deo augere gravibus Scripturarum comminationibus a vitiis deterrere eorum sit Proprium qui Apostolis succedunt quibus etiam dictum est quorum remiseritis peccata c. Leges autem poenae judicia coerciones sententiae caetera hujusmodi Caesarum Regum aliarum Potestatum but surely all these are Laws too and have real Penalties if our Saviour himself be a Law-giver and have Autority and do oblige the unwilling only they break in sunder the bonds of Duty on whose Truth these their Admonitions Increpations c. are to be founded by whose Virtue the Sacraments have their Influence and the Power of retaining is executed unless the Pains of Hell are only painted or have no force because not inflicted so soon as denounced there is a Dominion sure goes along with Christ's Kingdom too accompanying his Ordinances only 't is not by the Rules and with the Consequents of the other Jurisdictions of the World and on this account Men have been so unwary as not to discern it to speak against it or unwilling to speak plainly out concerning it a mistake has been observed in others and 't is here pretty aged but 't is most sure and certain this 't is most plain and conspicuous the whether Potestas or dominium autoritas or jurisdictio as they distinguish Power or Dominion Autority or Jurisdiction that is allow'd to be Ecclesiastical is no where in the Treatise attributed to Kings to those that have Secular Dominion this is only eorum qui Apostolis succedunt theirs that succeed the Apostles The second Part is De potestate Regiâ where first the Divine Right of Kings is asserted and then their Power in the Church or over-spiritual things where their Right of Investiture is declared from Gen. 47. and the Priests received their Benefices from them as also over the Power and Persons of the
Priests to Correct and Punish them to whom the Priests are to pay Tribute and this all along from the Examples of the Kings of Israel from our Saviour from St. Peter this contrary to the practice of the Pope who claims these Powers and Advantages to himself and in his own Power Person executes them 't is the Princes Province assign'd him in the Scripture to Punish and Coerce to enforce Penance and Restitution and that evil-doers be cut off according to St. Paul to prohibit and smite such as refuse to serve God according to the Priests instruction as did Hezekiah to the Worshippers in the Groves and high places destroying them as did the King of Nineveh compelling the whole City to Repentance forbidding for the future by terrible Laws as did Nebucadnezzar thus Justinian the Emperor gave Laws in Religion concerning Faith and Hereticks Churches Bishops and Church-men Marriages c. and the same and only this Power have the Kings of England assum'd to themselves as he instances all along to the End of the Book particularly in the Church Laws made by several Kings in this Island as Canutus Etheldred Edgar Edmund Adelstan Ive Oswin Egfrid William the Conqueror in his Letters for the Endowment of Battle with its Priviledges and Immunities and which Mr. Selden makes use of to his purpose though no ways serving it for he only exempts the Church from Episcopal Visitation but neither in this or any other of their Letters Rules Laws and Injunctions given to the Church is any thing of Church-Power as such own'd claimed appropriated or but pretended to by virtue of the Crown or Regal Power given them of God but the two Powers are supposed distinct and disparates and so in particular King Edgar in that his severer correptive Monitory-Oration or Letter to the Clergy of England their faults appearing then very notorious he at length thus addresses himself unto them Ego Constantini vos Petri gladium habetis in manibus jungawus dexteras gladium gladio copulemus ut ejiciantur extra castra leprosi ut purgetur Sanctuarium Domini ministrent in Templo silii Levi. I have the Sword of Constantine you have the Sword of Peter in your hands let us joyn right hands together let us couple Sword with Sword that the Leprous may be cast out of the Tents and the Sanctuary of the Lord be Purged and the Sons of Levi minister in the Temple And a little farther applying himself to Dunstan the Archbishop he tells him Contempta sunt verba veniendum est ad verbera urguisti obsecrasti atque increpasti Admonitions will do no more good he must come to blows and thereunto directs him to joyn with himself Edwald Bishop of Winchester and Oswald Bishop of Worcester Vt Episcopali Censurâ regia Autoritate turpiter viventes de Ecclesia ejiciantur c. by the Episcopal Censure and Regal Autority the one assisting but neither usurping upon and destroying the other these evil Men be cast out of the Church and better placed in their rooms So unlucky is Mr. Selden in this first Quotation § XXII STEPHEN Bishop of Winchester in his Oration de vera Obedientiâ comes next but brings nothing more of advantage to his side and as it was Printed 1537. and but a year after the Opus eximium c. so does he as to the Substance copy after him and asserts Henry VIII Head of the Church i. e. all Christians within his Dominions as were the Kings of Israel over all the Jews i. e. to take care of their Morals and see that they do their Duty to God their Neighbour and themselves as Justinian gave Laws to the Church and the Causes of Heresies were agitated with the Caesars and Princes that were Christians and Laws made promulgated and enjoyn'd execution both by our Kings here in England and also by others elsewhere and particularly refers to that Oration of Edgar just now mentioned and adds farther out of it how Dunstan that most holy and excellent Archbishop of Canterbury submitted to this his Jurisdiction and most willingly embraced that word of the King Quâ se gladium gladio copulaturum edixit ut dissoluti Ecclesiae mores ad rectam vivendi normam aptarentur in which he engaged to joyn Sword to Sword in order to the reducing the Church to a just and due way of living meaning his Kingly Power to the Power of the Church assisting the Spiritual with the Temporal Arm for so the Bishop goes on and interprets these two Swords and instances in Excommunication as a branch of that which is in the Churches hands Altero gladio ad illud Pauli alludens quem verbi ministri docendo excommunicando exercent altero praeminentiam ostendens jure divino concessam cui omnes parere quotquot Principis ditioni subjecti Ecclesiam constituunt omnino debent By one Sword alluding to that of Paul which the Ministers of the Word exercise in Teaching and Excommunicating by the other shewing that Pre-eminence granted by God and to which all must obey that subjected to the Jurisdiction of a Prince constitute a Church within his Dominions and which two Powers though requiring different Obedience to divers Persons and Governors as to the Bishops and Ministers of the Word of God and to the King are not at all adverse to and against one another nor is any thing more detracted from or diminished thereby of the Obedience to the King than when a Wife obeys her Husband and a Servant his Master by the general Command of God and yet this is another of Mr. Selden's Autorities which with his usual forehead he brings for the sense of the Doctors of our Church in the days of Henry VIII and that the Church-Power is none at all but as derived from the Crown and the Prince can Excommunicate I wonder how he omitted the Oration of Richard Samson to this purpose and at the same time he being Dean of the Chappel to Henry VIII and which would have made a 〈◊〉 shew in his Margin which is the main thing he aims at it certainly came not to his hands and it would have serv'd his turn as well as any of the other there being in him not one word concerning the Power of the Church left by Christ and he only asserts the King Supreme Head of the Church of England the Church as made of so many Persons implying a Body politick too and they Subjects equally as Christians nor could any man think that is but ordinarily considering or designs not by Names and Attempts to deceive the unwary but credulous World and so is a Knave that the two Universities at that time or the eminenter of the Clergy at Court should assert the Supremacy upon other terms who in all Probability were a secretis of his intimate Council when designing for the Supremacy and to be sure could not be ignorant of the King 's Publick Declarations and the Statute in Parliament that
Publishing them and least of all to say no worse in urging them as the sense and judgment of our Reformers and not to be endured when in opposition to our received and established Church Articles Laws Rubricks and Book of Ordination which and which alone upon the full enquiry and debate each Proposal and Objection and which must be many answered and satisfaction given is to be concluded the sense of every particular Doctor and admit the Conference had been as Doctor Stillingfleet Mistook it appointed by King Edward and his Council and by Law in order to the Reformation and which was began in that King's days the Judgment of the Church of England was to have been reported not from the particular bandyings pro and con amongst them or the draught or draughts of any one or more men and which in their Season was useful nay necessary but from the joynt unanimous result of the whole and which we are sure as to that particular of Church-Power and its Subject ended and united in the Book of Ordination nor upon a general account can those Collections whether in the Cottonian or any Library be in any better repute among us than any other of all the Pamphlets Models of Church and State Government Attempts and Proposals the late unhappy Revolutions in our Kingdom gave occasion to and produced the Condition as to Religion being just such in King Henry VIII days as it was then and the Autorities an Hundred years hence if all shaked in a bag together will be much at one too every man contrived said proposed and wrote as his own either Fancy or Interest or Curiosity or sometimes Reason prompted and directed him and though they may make a Pleasant History with much of diversion yet little of the Sense and Autority of the Nation can be collected and urged from them I am now come to the last of Mr. Selden's § XXIV Friends and our supposed Adversaries those general Tracts De Primatu Regio de potestate Papae regiâ adversus Bellarminos Tortos Becanos Eudemon Joannes Suaresius c. mostly in the days of King James and which were wrote by Lancelot Bishop of Chichester John Collins and the Bishop of Rochester The two last I have not by me nor do I remember I ever saw nor is it of any concern whether I have Bishop Andrews either in order to the answering what is by Mr. Selden brought against him any one that has but heard of that once flourishing Prelate in this Church will easily grant him on our side and much more must he that has read and conversed with his Works find him so and indeed all that Mr. Selden brings out of him and the other two is really ours so far as he reports them to have asserted that the execution of all Ecclesiastical forensick Jurisdiction and by consquence that of Excommunication receives measures and is ruled by the King and his Laws as Head and Moderator and Governor of the Church and Realm and so it ought to be whereas with us the Prince and Realm is Christian and the Church-censures are backed and supported by his Penal Laws in course annexed to and following them the Prince cannot be supposed so void of foresight as to leave himself no Power of inspection in such Proceedings as thus to put his Power into another Man's hands and who is not accountable to him in the Execution Thus the King's Autority is capable of being used against himself and it must in course so happen to his best Subjects 't is that traiterous Position to be abhorr'd and 't is peculiarly provided that it be so and publickly too by the Laws of our Land in the Act for Vniformity of Publick Prayers and it is a great deal more horrible in Church-Affairs as more immediately entitling our Saviour therewith the great abhorrer of all and who we are sure renounced all Pleas in dividing and disposing in Seculars and did all the Power Bishops legally execute in this Kingdom or in others that are Christian belong to them as of Divine Right or was it any other ways so devolved and sixed upon them as thereby enabled in an Arbitrary way of Proceeding without the leave or against the Power of the King with no respect to the Laws and Customs of the Realm to put it in Execution the Bishop and the King thus Independent were also inconsistent any thing or person may and must be inroded and offer'd violence to when the Bishop will and the greatest worldly Punishments next under Capital whenever or upon what Grounds soever he is pleased to Excommunicate be necessarily inflicted this is Imperium cum Jove to erect an Empire within an Empire and no Governments thus divided and distributed can stand and I heartily wish such as upon these Considerations most readily detest it in the Bishop would make their Reflexions in other Persons and Cases also But if Mr. Selden mean as he must do if he continue on the design of his Book that church-Church-Power and Jurisdiction as such and coming from Christ naked and void of all outward Secular Additions and implies only the forfeiture as a Christian with no one worldly inconvenience no forfeitures of Personal outward Liberty or Estate that the execution and force of this depends on the Prince and Humane Pleasure to temperate restrain and abolish nor is it duly exercised other ways this is overthrown already throughout this Discourse and I 'le only add the Autority of Mr. Selden's mistaken Friend but our real one the great and most learned Bishop Andrews who all along in those very Pages to which Mr. Selden in his Margin refers asserts the quite contrary and the Power of the Prince and the Priest are declared by him two distinct things and not in Subordination he tells us how God instituted in Israel a Kingdom and a Church and which never coaluerunt in unum procul se habuit Imperium ab Ecclesiâ so came together by coalition as to make one but were still diverse and two things had different Works and Offices and thence concludes Conjungi debent Regnum Ecclesia confundi non debent they ought to be united but not confused together and he reckons up the several Offices and Duties of the Prince to take care of Religion in general to see that every Order do their Duties to reprove to correct and coerce in order to it Non licuisse tamen Davidi arcam contingere so Tortus objects upon him and to which he answers Nec regi quidem nostro licet nec ulli aut Sacra administrare aut attrectare quicquam quod potestatis sit mere Sacerdotalis ut sunt Leiturgiae conciones claves Sacramenta arcam figunt suo loco reges attingant post illi quos ea cura tangit ex suscepto munere Ministerii sui But it was not lawful for David to touch the Ark neither is it lawful for our King nor for any either to administer holy things
or to attrectate any thing which is meerly of the Sacerdotal Power as are Leiturgies Sermons the Keys and Sacraments Kings six the Ark in its place those afterwards touch it whose care it is by the receiving the Office of their Ministry and though Solomon's dedication of the Temple implyes something extraordinary yet he denies it to reach to any thing in the Temple which is Sacerdotal sed neque in iis quae sunt pontisicalis muneris regi jus facimus We give the King a right to do no Office which is the Priests semel autem habe sententiam nostram it is a thing so often said by our Doctors that he is a weary ita coccyzare of the Cuckow tone and speaking it so over and over again nos non regi potestatem tribuimus quam habere voluit Osias solam illam quam Josias habuit we do not give to our King the Power of Osias as Tortus says we do but the Power alone of Josias all this and more is to be seen in Tortura Torti from pag. 363 to pag. 370. nor is there any thing more on his side in the responsio ad Bellarminum cap. 1. and to these he refers the Reader so shameless is he in his Quotations and he must first slatter himself into a belief that the pointing of his finger from the Margin is direction and autority enough and supersedes all farther Inquiry Nor is he less disingenuous in his dealings with the Bishop when he there says that he corrected Grotius de sum Potest in Sacr. c. for the Press when Andrews over-rul'd him that he printed it not and it was at last but a posthumous Work So that unless Arch-Bishop Whitgift be an Erastian because Mr. Selden once in his Library at Lambeth saw Erastus's Works neatly bound up in yellow Leather with this Motto in Gold upon the out-side of it Intus quam extra formosior as he tells us and 't is his chief Argument de Syned lib. 1. cap. 10. pag. 437. he is like to go without a Doctor in the Church of England on his side for ought I know or as he knew either for he seldom misses a Name that bears but the likelyhood of an Autority hav ' y' any Work for a Cooper I remember makes it the serious part of that scandalous Libel to upbraid our Church and Church-men that the Prince makes them Bishops and Presbyters and their Religion is what the worldly Power pleases with a deal of stuff to that purpose I know not now where that Pamphlet is and 't is not worth searching after though the Author might be a Doctor for ought I know I am only sure he was not a Doctor of our Church Or unless the Lord Falkland turned Doctor as he might deserve it by the larger Character Mr. Dean of Canterbury gives of him joyn'd with Mr. Chillingworth as I remember in the Preface to his first Book of Sermons and then Mr. Selden is secure of one of his side and we of an adversary from within our selves though he impleads us in a different way owns it for our Judgment and states it very well abating some malicious Terms and ranks it among those abundance more Grievances of the Nation and the placing this together with those other is as great an honor he could have done us that we have evidently labour'd to bring in an English though not a Roman Popery equally absolute a blind obedience of the People upon the Clergy and the Clergy upon themselves and inveighs against them altogether according to the then zealous and modish way in that very ill Speech of his to the House of Commons 1641. I 'le repeat part of it as I find it transcribed and printed by a very good friend of his and one that seems to honor him as much as Doctor Tillotson does Mr. Speaker he is a great stranger in Israel who knows not that this Kingdom hath long laboured under many and great Oppressions both in Religion and Liberty and his Acquaintance here is not great or his Ingenuity less who doth not know and acknowledg that a great if not a principal Cause of both these hath been some Bishops and their Adherents Mr. Speaker a little will serve to find them to have been the destruction of Unity under pretence of Uniformity to have brought in Superstition and Scandal under the Titles of Reverence and Decency to have defiled our Churches to have slackned the stictness of that Union which was formerly betwixt us and those of our Religion beyond the Sea an Action as unpolitick as ungodly As Sir Thomas Moor says of the Casuists their business was not to keep Men from sinning but to inform them quà m prope ad peccatum sine peccato liceat accedere So it seemed their Work meaning the Prelates was to try how much of a Papist might be brought in without Popery and to destroy as much as they could of the Gospel without bringing themselves into danger of being destroy'd by Law Mr. Speaker to go yet farther some of them have so industriously labour'd to deduce themselves from Rome that they have given great suspicion that in gratitude they desire to return thither or at last to meet it half way Some have evidently labour'd to bring in an English though not a Roman Popery I mean not the out-side of it only and dress of it but equally absolute a blind Obedience of the People upon the Clergy and the Clergy upon themselves and have opposed Papacy beyond the Sea that they might settle one beyond the Water nay common fame is more than ordinarily false if none of them have found a way to reconcile the Opinions of Rome to the Preferments of England be so absolutely directly and cordial Papists that it is all 1500 l per Annum can do to keep them from confessing it We shall find them to have both kindled and blown the common fire of both Nations to have both sent and maintained that Book of which the Author hath no doubt long since wished with Nero Vtinam nescirem literas and of which more than one Kingdom hath cause to wish that when he writ that he had rather burn'd a Library though of the value of Ptolemey's We shall find them to have been the first and principal Author of the Breach I will not say of but since the Pacification at Barwick we shall find them to have been almost sole Abetters of my Lord Strafford whilst he was practising upon another Kingdom that manner of Government he intended to settle in this where he committed so many so mighty and so manifest Enormities as the like have not been committed by any Governor in any Government since Verres left Sicily and after they had call'd him over from being Deputy of Ireland to be in a manner Deputy of England all things here being govern'd by a Juntillo and that Juntillo governed by him to have assisted him in giving such Counsels and the pursuing such Courses
as it is an hard and measuring Cast whether they were more unwise more unjust or more unfortunate and which had infallibly been our destruction if by the Grace of God their share had not been as small in the subtilty of Serpents as in the innocency of Doves A pretty knick-knack of Speech-making every body must own it to be but as to the occasion and matter of it each line as evidently deserves a lash and is as lyable to it there appears only passion and prejudice rancor and malice in the height and truly scarce sense under some of the pretty cadencies and chiming Words but not one dram of that incomparable reason Mr. Dean magnifies him for and once saw in him but for him to own it here will not be at least convenient could he find it out as perhaps he may though another cannot All I shall say at present is and 't is as mostly relating to this present discourse how wonderfully the same Fate has still attended the Crown of England and the Church of England the King and the Bishops of it and the Power the Institution and Autority of both as from Heaven and not of Man is still if either of them decried and run again at once and by the same Person and ten to one it had not come into my mind had not a Man of his own complexion in Loyalty in the late life of Julian told it the world much to the honor of this great and loyal Lord as he thinks that the Doctrine of Dr. Manwaring's and Dr. Sibthorp's Sermons long before the War broke out was as ridiculous to him as it appears from this his Speech in 1641. was then the Autority and Actions of the Bishops and the divine Right of Kings as well as the divine Right of the Church independent to the People are both but Pulpit Law that is in his admired most ingenious Expression and which alone then confuted and still confutes Doctor Manwaring the prate and tattle of idle Church-men from the Pulpit and the both King and Church fell at once and together and which himself particularly experienced at Newbery when 't was too late to help what himself by Speech-making and Scoffings had promoted and Abner's Epitaph seems in this respect exactly fitted for him nor know I in what other terms his death could be lamented better had the Pulpit laws been more frequently made more encouraged and executed in teaching the Peoples dependency upon Kings and duties to them that unnatural Rebellion had never followed had not those worst of Principles publisht in Scotland by Buchanan de jure regni apud Scotos and Knox in his Appel and Church-history placing both Church and Crown in Subordination to the People come hither into England and by their Country man the Lord Falkland in the House of Commons incouraged and those now a-days mend the Matter bravely that rescue us from the People and put us under the Prince Herein enlarge his Prerogative beyond his Progenitors that he is uppermost in Religion are zealous for him to be a Priest but leave him as King in the hands he was before and below the People and thus in sight strike at both Monarchy and Religion at a blow as is the Priest so is the King to take their Measures and Protection from others a false Religion is to be obeyed if the Religion of a Nation lest affronting Magistracy and Law and every one may Petition and libel the Government that pleases the Bible is put into the King's hand and the Scepter taken out the King may excommunicate but he may not govern his People and both Prince and Priest are in a pretty Condition and the notorious contempt Church Power and Offices lye under at this day amongst us is an evident Testimony of the mock Addition they design and contend for to his Crown in that the Power Sacerdotal is with so much noise and bussle seated in him 't is only to ridicule both at once and with the same Argument render them contemptible nor can any in the course of things as well as in common Experience be found to give to Caesar the things which are Caesar's but he that gives to Christ the things that are Christ's No Bishop No King is and will be a Maxime still a first truth and not to be gain-sayed § XXV IT is to be confessed there are Passages in the Writings of some of the Principal of our Doctors in the days of Queen Elizabeth and King James as Arch-Bishop Whitgift Arch-Bishop Bancroft Bishop Bilson c. that lean too much to the Erastian Way or rather by an incuriousness of Expression do not give that account of Church Power nor state it so clearly as may be expected and 't is not impossible where a design to render them as of the Party Something of this nature has been observ'd already in Bishop Bilson and Arch-Bishop Bancroft and he that reads over the first Book de Politeia Ecclesiasticà cap. 1 2 3 4 5. c. wrote by Robert Parker and printed at Frankfort 1616. and only reads him will conclude them not only almost but altogether such he was a Man vehement and of extremity of Spirit and his business is in his whole three Books to set and continue our Church against her self oâ—e of her Members against another and all of them opposite to Christ Jesus exactly answering his Title de Politeia Ecclesiastica Christiani Hierarchica opposita and indeed most that have appear'd since him against the Government of the Church and with appearance of pertinency have not only sharpned but borrowed their Weapons from this shop of the Philistines it is their Magazine and Store-house as another Armory like that of David's in Israel wherein are Mille Clypei all sorts of Weapons for these Mighty and with which they have still made their Attempts even Batteries and Breaches upon us Our learned Doctor Pearson since Lord Bishop of Chester in his Vindiciae Epistolarum Ignatii in his first Chapter or Proeme there relates him to be though not the first setter on foot and contriver of that unworthy most shameful Design upon Ignatius's Epistles in representing them spurious and imposed on the World and that not one of them was wrote by that most Holy and Apostolical Martyr whose name they bear yet he was more bold and went farther in the Attempt than any one had done before him and with whose Conjectures Dailee's dissertation is stuffed and he may be said a principal Cause why it spread so far and has been so successful to the great disadvantage of our common Christianity from him or Dialee or both unless Blundel and Salmasius be added and which are much the same thing it is Doctor Stillingfleet translates what he has on this Subject in his Irenicum and who may have the honor to be the first that made it English for any other I have met with and tells us in the Mother-Tongue The story of Ignatius as
much as it is defended with his Epistles doth not seem to be any of the most probable cap. 6. Sect. 16. I have heard I confess of Doctor Owen's Preface to his Book of Perseverance and then to be sure he is with abundance of honor his second and to omit the other ill Adventures in that unlucky Book of particular Forms of Church-Government and which savour too much of Robert Parker's musty Vessel the Doctor is beyond measure unfortunate who having by a notorious Mistake urg'd the Autority of our whole Church representative in King Edward VI day 's to avouch his most false Assertion That Episcopacy is not necessary and immutable That the King's Majesty may appoint Bishops or not appoint them or appoint other Officers for the Government of the Church cap. 8. When he goes on further to prove this by the particular Autorities of our Doctors since as Whitgift Cozius Whitgift's Chancellor Lowe Hooker Bridges c. he is if possible more unlucky yet and his Mistake more shameful he not only transcribes every Quotation out of Parker's second Book De politeia Ecclesiastica cap. 39.42 and the very Book Page Chapter Section and Figures stand all in Parker's Margin as they are wrote in his Book and which is no great Matter but and which is the harder Fate he urges and appeals to them as his Autority that Episcopacy is mutable and of but humane assignation and which thing Parker all along there owns and declares was not these Doctors Opinions he upbraids and taunts them for asserting the contrary as contradicting themselves and putting Cheats upon others because they believe Bishops by divine Right and perpetually obliging 't is his Objection upon them that their own Principles will not bear them out in it This is the case these Doctors assert over and over again as they must do if agreeing with our Church and their own Subscriptions that the Scriptures are not a full and perfect Rule for Discipline and Government and there is still a Power in the Church to make Laws as occasion offers even to vary from Examples of Discipline and Government which has there been practised Parker thinks he has the advantage and concludes upon them that then the Government by Bishops is changeable also and which is sounded only on Scripture Example and who reply that though they can make Laws in some Cases and alter them as occasion yet in all they cannot though some Examples in Scripture do not yet others do necessarily oblige and the Examples they produce necessarily obliging are these Imposition of Hands in Ordinations that to impose Hands is appropriated to Bishops as the Apostles Successors The observation of the Lord's-Day The institution of Metropolitans c. and this very account Parker himself gives us as to these Instances and all which will readily appear to any one that reads over Parker l. 2. cap. 39 40 41 42. particularly cap. 42. Sect. 8. 9. and that consults farther than Titles and Margins And that this Power of making Canons and Laws for the Government and Discipline of the Church is one of the main Foundations of the Hierarchy and therefore Parker sets himself with might and main to oppose it This will be yielded to Doctor Stillingfleet 't was this alone by which the Courts Ecclesiastical kept them within some moderate Bounds nor did they break out into Rebellion and Schism till that Power was abated in the execution and which made the Bishops so odious to them but that Episcopacy it self is as Arbitrary in its original and occasionally only as are many Church Laws and in the Power of any order of Persons or any Person now upon Earth to alter or confirm it This Parker by arguing would willingly infer upon these Doctors from their own Principles but acknowledges they did not own contrary to their Principles this Dr. Stillingfleet every ways mistakes and reports out of Parker's ill gathered Conclusion and Objection as their both Principles Practice and so every ways defames them and I shall only propose it to the Doctors consideration whether some satisfaction may not ought not to be required of him for the injury he has done to so many Worthies of our Church hereby I can assure him it has been long expected and if it be not done suddenly he may believe the World ere it be much older will be particularly disinformed at present I shall return to those Doctors mentioned in the beginning of this Section and who are not yet freed from the Contumelies laid on them by Parker as these are from his though I do not question but I shall equally vindicate both § XXVI IT is an easie thing to make any Man 's Writing in a plausible shew to run thwart to and contradict themselves the occasion and Circumstances not considered and if particular Occurrencies be not abated for the worst of Heresies will thus shelter themselves under the best Autorities How largely and frequently do the Ancient Fathers of the Church speak of the Powers and excellence of Nature and Reason when disputing against the Gentiles when Apologizing for and recommending to them the Christian Religion Justin Martyr Apol. 2. goes so far as to say the wiser sort of the Greeks were Christians such as Socrates Heraclitus c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. because living up to the Rules of Reason but must not those be wide Arguings that say and some have said it the Fathers thought the use of Reason alone able to direct and assist us for Heaven when 't is the coming of Christ in the Flesh his additional super-natural Revelations of Grace and Truth those farther discoveries and assistances to Mankind is the occasion and general subject of their Writings and a belief of which is that they endeavor to bring the Greeks unto to make evident and rational to all Men when 't was only the particular application of an Argument they aim'd at and in the design is most true that every one so far as truly rational he is Christian Christianity is no new thing nor strange 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whosoever pursues Justice and Honesty and other commendable Actions suited to the universal eternal Rules of Nature is acceptable to God by this both the Jews under the Law and the Patriarchs and holy Men from the first Creation through the knowledg of Christ were saved as Justin Martyr disputes cum Tryphone Judeo and Eusebius has a whole Chapter to this purpose Eccl. Hist l. 1. c. 4. Every one that is read in that History knows that the great cry of the Arians against the Council of Nice was they were Innovators and a licentious Pen has of late managed and pursued it afresh Sandius hist Enucleata as using Words and bringing in Doctrines which were not either in Scripture or in the Writings and Determinations of the ancient Doctors of the Church when asserting and explaining the one substance or eternal Generation of the Son of God which though it
in Bishop Bilson Cap. 9. pag. 113. As for Excommunication if you take it for removing the unruly from the Civil Society of the Faithful until they conform themselves to a more Christian sort of life this he takes to be the Power of a Christian Magistrate and he goes on and says I am not averse that the whole Church where he is wanting did and should concur in that action for thereby the sooner when all the Multitude joyn with the Pastor in one Mind to renounce all manner of conversing with such will the Parties be reduced to a better mind to see themselves rejected and exiled from all company but 't is the Pastors charge only to deliver or deny the Sacraments Pag. 114.147 but otherwise Lay-men that are no Magistrates may not challenge to intermeddle with the Pastors Function or over-rule them in their own Charge without manifest and violent intrusion on other mens Callings without the Word and Will of Christ who gave his Apostle the Holy Ghost to remit and retain Sins And so expresly again p. 149. If you joyn not Lay-Elders in those Sacred and Sacerdotal Actions with Pastors but make them Overseers and Moderators of those things which Pastors do this Power belongeth exactly to Christian Magistrates to see that Pastors do their Duty exactly according to the Will of Christ and not to abuse their Power to annoy his Church or the Members thereof neither is the case alike betwixt Pastors and Lay-Elders Pastors have their Power and Function distinguished from Princes by God himself insomuch that it were more than Presumption for Princes to execute those actions by themselves or by their Substitutes To Preach Baptize retain Sins impose Hands Princes have no Power the Prince of Princes even the Son of God hath severed it from their Callings and committed it to his Apostles and they by imposition of hands derived it to their Successors but to cause these actions to be orderly done according to Christ's Commandment and to prevent and redress abuses in the doers this is all that is left for Lay-Elders and this is all that we reserve for the Christian Magistrate and that no other Church-Power was then thought by any to belong to the Prince he was not at all considered as its Subject there was no such thing as a pretence then on foot 't is most plain Cap. 9. pag. 108. and among the many Conceits about the Power of the Keys and Subject this never entred into the heart oâ— any his words are these The Power of the Keys and right to impose Hands I mean to ordain Ministers and to Excommunicate Sinners are more controverted than the other two the Word and Sacraments and which were never questioned by reason that diverse Men have diverse Conceits of them some fasten them on the liking of the Multitude which they call the Church others commit them to the judgment of certain chosen Persons as well of the Laiety as of the Clergy whom they call the Presbytery Some attribute only but equally to all Pastors and Preachers and some especially reserve them to Men of the greatest gifts ripest years and highest calling among the Clergy But there 's none mentioned that they are in the Prince 'T is I know the usual Expression in the Pulpit Prayer and the King is placed next under Christ in these His Majestie 's Realms and Dominions and which as that Prayer it self has no good bottom that ever I could meet with for such the use of it a meer Arbitrary customary thing where did God ever make Christ his Deputy and the King Christ's as to the worldly Powers and Secular things of this life his Commission to our Saviour ran quite contrary and nothing less can be gathered from it this is to found right of Dominion in Grace with a Witness our Kings did not receive or rather reassume it upon these terms nor do they since acknowledge it as so derived King Henry VIII did not and there 's no such thing in any one Act or Statute in his days Doctor Burnet indeed in his Collection of Records gives us two instances wherein the Title of Supreme Head under Christ of the Church of England Supremum Ecclesiae Anglicanae sub Christo Caput The one in the Injunctions to the Clergy made by Cromwel Pag. 178. Num. 12. the other in the Commission by which Bonner held his Bishoprick of the King Pag. 184. Num. 14. but in his Addenda Pag. 305. Num. 1. in the Preamble to Articles about Religion set out by the Convocation and Published by the King's Autority 't is only and in Earth Supreme Head of the Church of England and which is of more Autority than the other because in Convocation It is once or twice used by King Edward before his Injunctions Articles c. and sometimes lest out but no mention of it but never used by Queen Elizabeth in any of hers or in her Proclamations nor is it commanded in her Form of bidding of Prayer nor in the Canons or Form of bidding Prayer in the days of King James 't is neither in the Oath of Supremacy or Allegiance and which is to be seen in the account we have of them by Anthony Sparrow now Lord Bishop of Norwich in his Collection of Canons Articles Injunctions c. and our Seven and thirtieth Article of Religion gives the Queens Majesty that only Prerogative was given all Godly Princes by God himself in Holy Scriptures that which had the Kings of Israel and Judah that which had the Kings of the Gentiles the King of Nineveh in the Prophecy of Jonah and which is an instance I find given by our Divines of the preceding Power in other Princes we contend for and have determined to be in ours and with which if the Prince be not invested he has no Government over his People a great part always will and all may when they will exempt their Persons and Actions from his cognizance and inspection upon pretence of their Faith and Religion but there is not a word of any one Derivation as from Christ nor as the Mediator doth he can he bestow any such Power upon them or are Kings thus under him or any ways then as Members of his Body and as Christians they are to submit to and receive his Laws in order to Heaven and these Laws are to be their Rule in their Government upon Earth which they are to obey and protect which indeed supports and exalts them as Righteousness does a Nation but 't is in and by that Autority they were invested in before Christ and they were indeed in a feeble piteous Case if no other Power to rule with than what the crucifyed Jesus can give them whose Kingdom was not of this World nor did he manage any thing by the Powers of it I know it is the least of the Designs of such that still use this Expression in their Prayers and Discourses and they have great Examples for it and of
penè Voce Amen Cantatur Halelujah That Amen which is answer'd and Halelujah which is Sung with one almost Voice throughout so many Nations Lib. 2. adv Literas Petiliani Donatistae super Gestis cum Emerito Episcopo So Athanasius in his Apology 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How Decent and Holy is it to hear in the House built for Prayer the People say Amen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with one sound and consent there mentioned Carmen Christo quasi Deo dicere Semet invicem saying a Hymn to Christ as God in courses with one another As Pliny lib. 10. Ep. 97. and is referr'd to by Tertullian in his Apology 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Singing back again to one another in St. Basil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Praying betwixt one another Ep. 63. Ad Clericos Neocesariensis Ecclesiae in amoibeunis and alternate Responses The Priest Parat mentes fratrum dicendo sursum Corda ut dum respondit Plebs habemus ad Dominum As St Cyprian upon the Lord's Prayer preparing the Minds of his Brethren saying Lift up your hearts and the People answering We lift them up to the Lord this the great and common constant Service of the Church of God The usual manner of old in the Performance of it and an earlier Pattern we have yet as to the Substance of it So soon as we meet with a Church gathered the Holy Ghost descended and those Thousands Converted by St. Peter Acts 7. he there opens to them the Scriptures they receive the Word and are Baptized they go on and continue stedfast in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship and Prayer attend the Holy Communion Praising God Poetically extolling of him And thus became Peter in the letter of it a Rock a first Stone or principal Pillar in the Church or People of God § XVII BUT then besides their Publick Worship of God did this Union into one Body or Corporation farther express and oblige the Members in their Duties and Services to one another in the Supplies and Assistances of all its Members whose either special Offices and Imployments in the Service and Support of the Church Body or Association rendred uncapable of undergoing the Cares and Offices of the World for the providing themselves sustenance suitable to their Office and Quality in the Trades and Imployments of it for the Body of Christians though a Collection and Incorporation for Heaven yet is to remain its due time and abode upon Earth and to subsist whil'st on Earth by the usual and lawful courses of it it does not therefore immediately receive Food from Heaven or else whose unavoidable Want and Poverty by the unaccountable disposal of things and the many Contingencies of this mutable state here lays before them in their Streets and High-ways in the rode to this Jerusalem also as Objects of Pity and Commiseration Relief and Charity for their Saviour has told them That the Poor you must always have with you and to them belongs the Kingdom of Heaven And this is to be done and is the general Duty of the whole Body and each Christian there in particular not only by the tenure of the special Charter from God and it is imply'd and made up and required in the Donation it self but by the common course and Laws of things no Body can subsist without it it must run to Decay Degeneracy and Contempt either through want of Instruction Order and Government on the one hand or by Idleness Destitution and Distress on the other and those weighty Reasons and Motives which engaged freely of their own choice no outward force compelling as in the Associations of the World in order to Governance and Subsistency to unite in God's Service it then necessitates that such ways and means be used here as in the sustaining other Societies and this upon the same Consideration and Motive as they believe it useful to be of such the Association and in Communion with one another especially where the force of the World enjoyns no other Provision as it did not till the Government became Christian and the World came in to the Support of the Church for which our Saviour did and must in reason provide upon failure otherwise Religion can no longer subsist then as the civil Empire pleaseth § XVIII AND first this general Care always extended and was made for such as labour'd among them in the Word and Doctrine such as attended the Altar and ministred in Holy Things and this not only to the maintaining their Persons but to the maintaining them in order to their Function and consequently in supplying them with all Utensils and whatsoever else was then thought necessary for the due and more solemn Performance of the Worship of God and the maintenance of his Service This is that St. Paul so much Pleads for and with so great earnestness and weight of Argument 1 Cor. 9.1 2 3 4 c. and tells them plainly That if he be an Apostle as he most certainly is to them who are the Seal of his Apostleship in the Lord then he hath a right to their Estates Have we not Power to eat and drink Have we not Power to lead about a Sister or Wife and to forbear working Who goeth to warfare at any time at his own Charges Who planteth a Vineyard and eateth not of the Fruit thereof or who feedeth a Flock and eateth not of the Fruit of the Flock Do ye not know that they that minister about Holy things live of the things of the Temple and they which wait at the Altar are Partakers with the Altar So hath the Lord ordained that they which Preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel And this the Church-men had not as Stipendiaries and Salary-men but the Believers brought in of their Goods and laid them at the Apostles feet which made a Common Stock or Bank to be at their Prudence in the disposal call'd the Lord's Goods and in relation to this Common Stock or Bank in the hands of the Apostles in which every Christian upon occasion had a right it is said That all things were common among these first Christians in the Book of the Acts for that no one had Property besides cannot be believed and the fault of Ananias and Sapphira was not that they did not bring all they had and lay it at the Apostles feet reserved nothing of their Estate to themselves but this was their guilt they kept part back and said it was the whole their lying to the Holy Ghost otherwise it was their own and they might have reserved to themselves what of it they pleased Now these common Gifts and common Purse as it was first intrusted with the Apostles so upon their failure did the trust descend and remain with the Bishops their Successors who distributed to the Necessities both of Churches and Church-men their Officers and Attendants as occasion required a competent Portion whereof was set apart and reputed their own Persoanl Goods
Power and Jurisdiction is their appropriated Acts and Duties and Influences are peculiar to themselves apart and from the rest of Believers the tantummodo Christians in Tertullian take in these following instances § XXVIII TO preside and govern in such their Assemblies in the common constant return of the Worship of God to appoint and assign the decency and order of it to be the Mouth of the People to God in their Prayers and Thanksgivings put up and offer'd to him in their Name and to be the Mouth of God to them to teach and instruct to admonish correct and reprove to Bless them in the Name and Strength of God Almighty for though this be the Duty of every Christian each private Member of such the Body and Incorporation thus to instruct correct and pray for one another yet in Publick Assemblies it is not it is rather their Sin and to be sure their Presumption President probati quique seniores as Tertullian goes on describing the coition or meeting together of Christians in his days Apol. cap. 39. above mentioned their Seniors or Elders there preside and are in the Head and governing such their Holy Convocations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So Justin Martyr Apol. 2. the Bishop makes an Instruction and Exhortation in remembrance of God's Mercies and he that reads over those Directions he gives to Zenas and Serenus two Presbyters how to behave themselves in their Duties will readily see who it was in those days that spoke to and exhorted the People and that this is a branch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he calls it of their Government and Jurisdiction the Directions are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they be not affected and conceited in the discharge of their Ministry over-pragmatick and officious in the services of it but do it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in an even and regular way in the Seasons and Places affixed otherwise they 'l appear like Dancers on the Ropes be admired only by the idle People 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 holding out their Necks like so many Geese and gaping at the vainer Glory that they be neither clownish nor unskilful on the one hand nor clamorous in their manner of speaking an instance of worldliness and feracity to be avoided be cautious against the Actions of those who make the Publick Oratories a Stage to divulge what is iller composed by them personating Orestes who appear'd terrible and great to Fools for his wooden Feet his made Belly his odd Habit monstrous Face that vaunt in a freedom of speaking studious of Emulation and Contention and like the Bacchae under the habit of Peace and a shew of Holy Duties carry Swords and Spears He there cautions against those unequal forced Countenances one while pleasant another while sower and tetricous and particularly against that histrionical way of those who are every day speaking and acting their Play divided into so many parts on purpose and the Presbyter deposed for Sedition against his Bishop is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Can. 18. Conc. Ancyran and in several Canons is the same expression on the like occasion he is one not allow'd to Preach any longer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Just Mart. Apol. 2. and this President These Elders or Church-men they suitable to their strength and in all due manner send up Prayers likewise and Thanksgivings for the People who still go along and joyn with them in such their Invocations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we rise up all together Sermon being ended and go to our Prayers as 't is there expressed suprà ibid. be their Mouth and they speak after him Thus the ordained or they whose Office is affixed to attend in holy things are Paraphrased in Justinian Novel 137. Cap. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the assign'd to Pray for the People and these are those Prayers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Ignatius his Ep. ad Ephesios of the Bishop and the whole Church and which that Apostolical Martyr there sayes are so prevailing And now having come to that passage of Justin Martyr just now mentioned I cannot but take notice of the chief Argument that is there raised by our Enthusiasts for their gifted Extempore Prayer the President say they there prayed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to his private gifts and abilities as he could conceive and utter words and not in a form set and prescribed him To which I answer That as the Phrase imparts no such thing so we have reason to believe that the Author meant nothing less by it What did the whole Congregation and every man in it thus Pray after his own conceiving and yet the same Father in the same Apology tells us that all pray'd with their President and in the same Phrase is their Praying expressed too p. 60. Ed. Paris and the meaning can alone be this they prayed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 't is expressed before both Priest and People all at once pour'd out their Prayers together animo intento as 't is translated with Souls intent and fixed upon the Duty De pectore as Tertullian varies it Apol. c. 30. and which place they pervert to their purpose also from their Hearts and Consciences with that Attention Zeal Faith and other Qualifications that make Prayers acceptable and which is the alone praying with the Spirit Like Phrases we have in other Ecclesiastical Writers but not one makes any thing to their purpose So Origen in his lib. 8. cont Celsum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they say Hymns to God with all their might and power like the Amen with all their might among the Jews and of which the Hebrew Doctors have this observation whoso saith Amen with all his might the Garden of Eden is open unto him vid. Thorndike The Service of Religious Assemblies p. 234. So Eusebius Hist Eccl. l. 10. c. 3. the Presidents of the Churches had their Panegyrick Orations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quantum quisque poterat ingenio as Vallesius translates it according to his faculty in Oratory which no man presumes to be otherwise than preconceived to be an ex-tempore effusion and inpremeditated And so 't is said in that Chapter that every age and the promiscuous multitude of each Sex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 toto pectore as translated with all the strength of their Mind and Thoughts did officiate in Prayers and giving of Thanks worshipping with cheerfulness of Mind and surely these Men Women and Children did not every one Perform Pray and give Thanks in an extempore way besides if we consider the manner of their Worship which was in set composed Hymns and Songs speaking in courses and interchangeably one to another as is above observed all which must be preconceived and penn'd down it must in each instance be familiar to them before to all which add how repugnant these casual effusions are to that course of Liturgies and set Forms of Prayer which we have as much reason to believe these first Christians used as that they