is not necessary for the Raising of Aids and Subsidies Rush 602. An. 1628. That there was a general fear of secret Working and Combination to introduce into this Kingdom Innovation and change of our pure Religion by Persons much favoured and advanced not wanting Friends even of the Clergy near to your Majesty namely Dr. Neal Bishop of Winchester and Dr. Laud Bishop of Bath and Wells who are justly suspected to be unsound in their Opinions that way It being generally held to be the High-way to Preferment and Promotion in the Church many Scholars do bend the course of their Studies to maintain those Errors that their Books and Opinions are suffered to be printed and published and others written against them and in defence of the Orthodox Church are hindered and prohibited And we find that there hath been no small labouring to remove that which is the most powerful means to strengthen and increase our own Religion and to oppress Popery which is the diligent Teaching and Instruction of the People in the true Knowledg and Worship of God and therefore means have been sought out to depress and discountenance Pious Painful and Orthodox Preachers peaceable in their Disposition and Carriage and yet their Preferment of such is opposed and instead of being encouraged they are molested with vexatious courses and pursuits hardly permitted to Lecture 602 632 634. 1628. Tantum Religio potuit suadere malorum Quae peperit saepè scelerata atque impia facta 195. And our high and mighty Church of England Men did in our memories so superciliously manage their own haughty Resolutions that they necessitated the Parliament to take away their High Commission and their Parliamentary Priviledge forbidding them to meddle with any Temporal Affairs And I do not find that they are grown much more prudent yet for that they manage themselves in this intricate juncture of time at such a rate that all Mens Mouths are ready and stand half cockt against them and I fear may in time provoke the Parliament to do the like or more again they monopolizing all Government over others of themselves which is far from being Apostolical for in the Apostles times and divers Ages after all the People being under the inspection of one Bishop vulgarly the the Pastor of a Parish were wont to meet together not only for Worship but other Church Administrations all publick Acts passed at the Assemblies of the whole People they were consulted with their concurrence was thought necessary and their presence required that nothing might pass without their Cognizance Satisfaction and Consent This was observed not only in Election of Bishops Priests and Officers but in Ordination and Censures in Admission of Members and Reconciling of Penitents and in Debates and Consultations about other Emergencies but not one plain word in Scripture that one Apostle was subject to another nor one gathered Church subject to another or that any Man had lawful Authority to forbid Assembling of the Brethren together whether with or without a Priest In summ when Priest-craft had enlarged their Territories beyond their ancient Bounds which was but one Parish or a select Number scarce exceeding 150 or 200 unto many whereby they became Cardinals and Diocesans c. They thereby cajoled the People of their undoubted Rights and Priviledges and necessarily introduced an essential change of the True and Primitive Government of the Church set up by Christ and set up one to fit their own turn and ends In the very next Ages succeeding the Apostles and so for 400 Years and more one Parish or single Congregation was thought sufficient for one Bishop or Pastor so that as Christians multiplied so separate Congregations Bishops or Pastors so that there were as many Pastors or Bishops as there were several Congregations or Churches in a Province and not one Church or Congregation subject to the Laws Usages or Ordinances of any other No Churches gathered by St. Paul were subject to those gathered by St. Peter nor è contra of them or of any other of the Apostles or of any Churches gathered by their Successors Hence came several and diversity of Rites and Usages in the Ancient Churches without being accounted Schismaticks Separatists Non-cons or Phanaticks and with perfect Love Unity and Uniformity because they held the same Faith and Doctrine And 150 or 200 Souls was thought as many as one Bishop or one Pastor could take charge and give a good account of So that a single Congregation or gathered Church was esteemed a competent Charge for an Episcopal Pastor for the Episcopal Churches were daily multiplied and each Church had Power to govern and order it self and so followed such orders as every Church or gathered Congregation thought fit without being obliged to conform to those of any other Church or Congregation they had no Rule or Order in things of this nature requiring observance or did they regard such Uniformity as later Ages have been fond of to the prejudice of the Unity and Peace of the Church even to the persecuting of Righteous Men in our Kingdoms none of those Churches used the same Prayers all of them had not the same Creeds they had not the same Rites in Baptism or the Lord's Supper nor the same way in Confirming Marrying or Burying they used not the same mode either in reading the Scriptures or Singing they observed not the same methods in admitting Members or preparing them for the Communion neither proceeding to Censures or reconciling Penitents they differed also in their Habits and Postures they varied in their Fasts both for time and manner and observed not the same Festivals This was the Uniformity of the more Pure and Primitive times and no Persecution ensued no Appeals allowed from one Bishop or one Congregation to another So that the Uniformity the latter Ages have been so fond of is a down-right Novelty and Innovation which hath broken the Bond of Charity and Unity and instead thereof hath brought in Animosities Divisions and Separations nay Persecutions on God's Holy People very unworthy and unbeseeming Christian Pastors to make such actings more their business than the suppressings of Sin and promoting of real and strict Holiness All this and much more is so plain in ancient Writers that none but Novices and Chits in Story can be ignorant hereof If you will believe one of the greatest Prelates of the West and at no less than 600 Years distance from Christ In una fide nibil officit Sanctae Ecclesiae diversa consuetudo saith Gregory the first where there is one Faith it s no harm to the Church if there be diversity of usages i. e. the Church hath no harm for want of Uniformity And before him Innocent the first who lived about the Second Century in his Epist ad Decen writes that diversè in diversis locis vel Ecclesiis obtineri aut celebrari videntur To the Justification whereof and to the constant Practice thereof even from the Days of the Apostles unto
any Foreign State or Power Upon this Popish Foundation which hath not the least ground in Scripture stands our Darling Ecclesiastical or Church-Discipline and Regiment a meer Popish Relick and Hierarchy set up only not to minister unto but to domineer contrary to Christ's Precepts and Examples And our Ecclesiasticks have not as yet made it their concern or business to endeavour a farther Reformation thereof tho' designed even from the beginning of the Reformation in Henry the Eighth's Days but are very well pleased to eat the Fat and drink the Sweet thereof And tho' they know that their Incroachments and Usurpations have been all got by Popish Priest-craft and by which they have for above 1000 Years cajoled and fooled both Crowns and People out of their just Rights and subjected Caesars and great Princes and Principalities to their own Empire And instead of a pure Gospel Government have Established to themselves a mighty Throne of Iniquity and Abominations fitted for Pride Domination self-ends and Interest c. Which Priest-craft togegether with Antichrist began to work in the Days of the Apostles even from Judas's Purse and continues to this very Day which is demonstrably made out as by many Histories so more punctually and particularly by Father Paul s Treatise of Beneficiary matters shewing how and when and by what Priest-craft all their Acquisitions Friars Annals Arms Spiritual Benefices Unions and Vacancies of Benefices Canons Cardinals Coajutors Commendam's Election of Bishops and Priests Exemptions Goods Ecclesiastical Appeals Monks Monasteries Indulgencies Investitures Pluralities Non-residence Excommunication Episcopal Audience Absolutions Dispensations Prebends c. were acquired used and abused A foul Mistake and Crime to think to Establish the Church with good Government taken from human Reason as if t were a Temporal State The Church and Kingdom of Christ as it is more Excellent than any other Kingdom in the World the Scepter of Righteousness being the Scepter of his Kingdom and to which Kingdom all other Kings and Princes ought to bow down and be subservient so it and the Government thereof differs from all other Governments and Kingdoms First It hath but one Head and that not by Election or Succession but by everlasting Continuation Secondly This Head chose his Church or Kingdom and not the Church him John 15.16 Luke 32.23 Thirdly The Laws of this Kingdom are more excellent and more unchangeable than the Laws of any other Commonwealth or Kingdom as being the Dictates and Precepts of Christ the onely and Eternal Head and are the unchangeable Copies and Expressions of his Immutable and most Holy Will Fourthly The Obligements and Conformity of every Member thereof unto these Laws are far more strickt and severe than in any other Commonwealth or Kingdom viz. That every one should love his Lord and King above all and his Neighbour and fellow Citizens as himself should abstain from all appearance of Evil and resist unto Blood striving against Sin c. Fifthly In the visible Government of his Church and Kingdom he hath appointed a Priesthood by irrevocable Ordination in which it is dissimular to all Temporal Governments as Officers of his Church and Kingdom to continue after his Ascension viz. Priests and Bishops and soon after his Ascension the Apostles added Deacons also by Ordination What Powers Christ gave them what Duties be obliged them unto are visible by their Commission written in great and indelible Characters viz. Go teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and so I am with you to the end of the world Matth. 28.19 20. and they were to Preach not themselves but Christ Jesus the Lord and themselves the servants of his Church for Jesus sake 2 Cor. 4.5 This is the Summ of their Commission and Authorities that Christ left them Christ well knowing that his Apostles and Ministers and their Successors were to gather him a Church from among both Jews and Gentiles all bitter Enemies to him and his Gospel and to Establish it in the Bosom of their Kingdoms did prescribe them such a Government and Laws as they might any where execute peaceably without prejudice to the Subjects of any Commonwealth or Kingdom either in their Lives or Fortunes no other Subjects being subject unto that Spiritual Regiment but onely such as embraced the Christian Religion In this Christian Church Christ ordained Officers to Teach Baptize Ordain and Administer his Sacraments but for what concerned Honesty and Dishonesty doing Good and working Wiekedness and breaking the Laws of Morality Christ gave many general Rules and Precepts to the whole Church who were to Govern its own Body and the Officers thereof and not the Officers the Church or Body viz. to love one another even our Neighbours as our selves c. And if any did trangress the Laws not peculiar to them as Men but as Christians if the Offence were private then they were privately to be admonished If publick then they that transgressed openly were to be rebuked openly but if after Friendly Admonitions and Reprimands private and publick they still continued incorrigible then not to own them as Brethren nor keep company with them with such no not to cat and in sine pursue and proecute them as Publicans and Heathens i. e. Sue them in the Civil Courts And this is the Summ of the whole Government and Discipline which Christ left to his Church and any other there is not extant in Scripture nor is there need of any more or other as is hinted before Let the Pope Prelate or Paesbyter demonstrate any other Form of Church Government if they can they know they cannot but they will pelt us with Stories of another Government and of its Antiquity and general Use thereof for many Ages Be it so let them derive it as high as they can from that very Day and Date the very beginning of Popish Priest-craft will appear which by good management heaping Pelian upon Ossa now one thing and then another it early arrived at that monstrous heap of Irregularities nay Impieties it is now at in the Irregular use of the same in both Churches Take it as it is with the best Construction can be made of it What Concord what Agreement had it with the Government set forth in the Gospel even the same that Light hath with Darkness and Christ with Belial To Day to burn Books and Tenets of Men as pious and learned and having as precious Souls to save as themselves and to morrow suspend and extravagantly punish Ministers and others for writing Rebukes of Sin or not reading a Book of Sports or for Lecturing Excommunicate others for not paying Fees or not observing the Orders of their Courts and of their Officers Chancellors Surrogates Archdeacons Officials Sumners c. And if an Excommunicate Person come into the Church in the time of Divine Service the Celebration thereof is to
the Ark c. 1 Chron. 13. which Officers because they represented the People it is said the People came together so the People rescued Jonathan whom Saul had appointed to die 1 Sam. 14.45 by which it appears that an Appeal did lie from the King to the People So the Kingdom of Israel was rent from Rehoboam by the People by which it appears that the Synedrium of Seventy one at Jerusalem had the Authority that as Kings did judge particular Persons so these had the Power to judge Kings The Hogen-Mogen words of Sovereign and Supreme are but verba solennia words of Course and Complemental but confer no Power what Great and Sovereign Powers Kings by Right have are given and limited by Laws of common Consent and not Absolute what other Laws of Sovereignty there are of Right that belong to them is past all Understanding absolute Sovereignty in Kings hath no warrant beyond any Divine Law that belongs only to God who is Lord of all the Kingdoms of the Earth And though Appeals to all the People may be Nonsence yet it is very good Sense to Appeal to their Epitomy their Representatives their Ephori and Tribunes to the Laws and to the Legislators which are the Supreme and Sovereign Power of the Nation and have an equal share in making our Laws The Commons House 4. Car. 1628 having prepared a Petition to present to his Majesty sent it to the Lords for their concurrence who returned it adding these words viz. With due regard to leave intire the Sovereign Power wherewith your Majesty is intrusted for the Protection Safety and Happiness of the People Which terms of Sovereign Power were so distasteful to the Commons as looking being free from any condition and that they were no part of the Law no Parliamentary words that they weakned Magna Charta and all our Statutes that by intendment and implication they might give a Sovereign Power above all those Laws c. and therefore would by no means admit thereof tho' strongly contested for by the Lords Rush 568. These and such like were the things that made the Parliament in 1641 Remonstrate to his Majesty That the most Publick and Solemn Sermons before his Majesty were either to advance Prerogative above Law or decry the Property of the Subject and thereby lay a foundation of difference between the King and his People or else Invectives to make those odious who sought to maintain the Religion and Laws of the Kingdom and to have them weeded out of all Commissions or other Imployments of Power in the Government that the Bishops and others of the Clergy did by their Suspensions Excommunications Deprivations and Degradations of divers painful learned and pious Ministers oppress his Majesty's Subjects that the High Commission Court and the Courts of the Bishops did exceed in sharpness and severity little less than the Romish Inquisition that those were fittest for Ecclesiastical Preferments and soonest obtained them who were most virulent against Godliness and Honesty and used means to suppress the Purity and Power of Religion and to increase and maintain ignorance looseness and prophaness in the People that the Archbishops and other Bishops and Clergy continued the Convocation by a new Commission and turned it to a Provincial Synod in which by an unheard of Presumption they made Canons that contained in them many matters contrary to the Kings Prerogative to the fundamental Laws and Statutes of the Realm to the Right of Parliaments to the Property and Liberty of the Subject and matters tending to Sedition and of dangerous Consequence thereby establishing their own Usurpations justifying their Altar-worship and those other Superstitions and Innovations which they formerly introduced without warrant of Law They imposed a new Oath upon divers of his Majesty's Subjects both Ecclesiastical and Lay for maintaining their own Tyranny and laid a great Tax upon the Clergy for supply of his Majesty and generally they shewed themselves very affectionate to the War with Scotland which was the beginning of all our future mischief and by themselves stiled Bellum Episcopale all their pretended Canons and Constitutions were armed with several censures of Suspension Excommunication Deprivation by which they would have thrust out all the good Ministers and most of the well affected People of the Kingdom and left an easie passage to their own design of Reconciliation with Rome Remonstr Decemb. 15. 1641. This is no new way of Remonstrating against such ill Church of England Men designing to enslave a free Kingdom by their Doctrines For in the Parliament 1625 the House of Commons did Article against Mr. Ric. Montague that he might be punished and his Book burnt for his impious and profane scoffing at Preaching Meditations and Conferrences which in plain English is Conventickling Pulpits Lectures Bible and all shew of Religion and for casting the odious name of Puritans on Orthodox Men. Rushworth 215. And in the Parliament 1628 the Commons did Remonstrate against Dr. Neal Bishop of Winton and Laud Bishop of Bath and Wells that there hath been no small labouring to remove that which is the most powerful means to strengthen and increase our own Religion and to oppose both those which is the diligent Teaching and Instructing in the true Knowledge and Worship of God and therefore means have been sought out to depress and discountenance Pious Painful and Orthodox Preachers how conformable soever and Peaceable in their Disposition and Carriage they be yet the preferment of such is opposed and instead of being encouraged they are molested with vexatious Courses and Punishments and hardly permitted to Lecture Rushworth 215 633 634. What were they also in their Opinion but high and mighty Church of England Men against whom the Parliament 4 Car. 1628. did Declare and Remonstrate That with a wicked and malicious intention to seduce and misguide the Conscience of the Kings most Excellent Majesty touching the observation of the Laws and Customs of this Kingdom and of the Rights and Liberties of the Subjects to incense his Royal Displeasure against his good Subjects so refusing to scandalize subvert and impeach the good Laws and Government of this Realm and the Authority of the High Court of Parliament to Alienate his Royal Heart from his People and to cause Jealousies Sedition and Division in the Kingdom who did Teach that his Majesty is not bound to keep and observe the good Laws and Customs of this Realm concerning the Rights and Liberties of the Subjects And that his Royal Will and Command in imposing Loans and Taxes and other Aids upon the People without common consent in Parliament doth so far bind the Consciences of Subjects that they cannot refuse the same without peril of Eternal Damnation that those who refused the Loan did therein offend against the Law of God against his Majesty's Supreme Authority and by so doing became guilty of Impiety Disloyalty Rebellion and Disobedience and liable to many other Taxes and Censures that Authority of Parliament
Eyes before they go about to remove the Motes that are in their Brothers Eyes Should I rake as some naked Truths have done into the Bosome of their Regiment of their Church Discipline I doubt it would be found so foul as not to be swept cleansed and purified but by the Beesom of destruction by reducing it to what it was in the Apostles days and purest times which might easily be done if Priests were more Heavenly than Earthly minded and would first seek the Kingdom of Heaven under which easie Government the Gospel flourished tho' all Nations and Kingdoms were accursed Enemies thereunto and would flourish now again with greater Purity than now it doth did not our Tory Ecclesiasticks disdain and think it too mean and below them to live the life of the Apostles and as Christ himself did who tho' being in the Form of God and thought it no robbery to be equal with God yet made himself of no Reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and to Minister and not be administred unto Remember the Reprimand and Counsels that Christ himself gave to James and John who sought high things but it shall not be so among you but whoever will be great among you let him be the Minister Math. 20. Mark 10. Luke 22. However let us consider what Government Christ left to his Church and trace that as far as we can that we may see how well it hath been observed or how far degenerated The Church the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ is the most glorious State in the World formed in the Council of God before the Creation of the Heavens founded on the Cross of his Son in the fulness of time governed by his Eternal Self quickned by his Spirit the most valued of all his Jewels the last End of all his Works and the onely Scope of all his Marvels a State not mortal but endureth for ever against which the Gates of Hell shall not prevail It is the House of Almighty God the Temple of his Holiness the Pillar of his Truth the Dwelling-place of his Grace and Glory This Church this Kingdom tho' it is not of this World yet it is first chosen gathered erected and established in this World not by the Wisdom of the mighty Potentates of this World viz. Kings Emperors and Armies but by the Preaching of the Gospel by Fishermen and other illiterate and mean Persons and would have its Administrations without Temporal or Secular mixtures of human Power or Policy as so much as of inticing words lest his People should thereby be beguiled Col. 2.4 but chose rather by the foolishness of Preaching to propagate his Gospel and to confound the wise and the mighty things of the World So Paul 1 Cor. 2. my speech and my preaching was not with inticing words of man's wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power v. 4. That your Faith should not stand in the wisdom of Men but in the power of God ver 5. However we speak wisdom among them that are perfect yet not the wisdom of this world nor of the Princes of the world ver 6. but we speak the wisdom of God in a mysterie even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory verse 7. Which none of the Princes of the world knew c. The way and manner of propagating the Gospel and gathering of Churches from the beginning was after this sort and manner viz. Christ after his Ascension having given them their Commission Matth. 28.19 20. and having filled all the Apostles with the Holy Ghost according to his promise Acts 1.8 and endued them with tongues they departed and separated and gathered several Congregations or Churches so that the sound thereof went into all the Earth and their words unto the ends of the World Rom. 10.18 which was after this manner viz. Christ after his Glorious Resurrection having led Captivity Captive be gave gifts unto men and called some to be his Apostles some Prophets some Teachers and Pastors c. who after they had chosen Matthias in the room of Judas the Traitor and cloven Tongues like as Fire having sate vpon each of them and all filled with the Holy Ghost and having preached the Gospel at Jerusalem and thereabouts the Word of God and Number of Disciples daily increasing from 120. to 3000. and more for which they being persecuted by the Chief Priests and Sadduces because they taught the People and preached through Jesus the Resurrection of the Dead which seems to be the same Year that Christ was Crucified viz. An. Aet suae 33. and 18. Tiberius scourging some and killing others Which Persecution occasioned divers of the Brethren to withdraw themselves into Neighbouring Places and Countries which gave occasion to the Gospel to be more universally spread throughout Palestine the Apostles yet remaining in Jerusalem Acts 8. who afterwards dispersing themselves also spread the Gospel into all Nations after this sort and manner viz. when a certain Number of Brethren being Converted and well Instructed in the true Faith agreed among themselves to build or hire a Temple Tabernacle or House for their joint meetings and exercising their Religion hired a Priest and constituted a Church and as the Number encreased so that the Church and Priest being not sufficient for them all those who were most remote did build another and fit themselves with more conveniences About the end of the First Century or beginning of the Second for good order and concord and for civility and respect they did bear to their Bishop or Priest custom began to include his consent also which in process of time soon degenerated into Luciferian Usurpation by the oblique Artifices of the Priests or Bishops of which Rome in process of time taking hold made great use to the abusing of the Power of the Brethren and to incroach upon the Priviledges of the Body of the Church It is not unworthy of our further observation That all his while the Apostles and their Successors were Independent one of the other and so were their several and select gathered Congregations And tho' there were Thousands of Churches gathered by the Apostles and their Successors yet there are no foot steps remaining that the Churches gathered by any one Apostle or Bishop or Presbyter were subject or did depend on any one or more Churches gathered by any other or more Apostles The like is as true after the death of the Apostles That no one Church by what Apostle soever gathered was left subject to any other Church gathered by any other Apostle no nor yet subject to any other Church of their own converting and gathering but every Church was to be governed by its own peculiar Body observing Gospel Precepts viz. to love one another to do all things decently and in order c. Tho' the Pope hath usurped a monstrous Supremacy over all Churches yet how and when and by what Artifices and Tricks the Popes
have usurped and monopolized it to themselves Histories are full and plain It is no less worthy of our observation That the Diocesses or the Provinces of the Pastors and Teachers whether Bishops or Presbyters of the several congregated Churches did not extend beyond one Church one Altar or one Parish i. e. such a Number of Christians as might all assemble and meet to Confer Hear and Communicate one with another for mutual Edification so that every Bishop or Presbyter might take Cognizance of every Man's Life and Conversation and of the Spiritual state of every individual Soul of such congregated Churches And One hundied and fifty Souls were thought by St. Chrysostom and others as many as one Pastor could well and more than he could without great labour discharge v. his Homil. in Ignat. Paulinus Bishop of Tyre in Constantine's time had but so many under his Episcopal charge as the Panegerist in Eusebius informs us as he could take a Personal notice of their Souls and accurately examine the inward state of every one acquainting himself throughly with the condition of all those Souls that were committed to him As Christ's Church and Kingdom excelleth and differeth from all the Kingdoms of the World so doth its Government because it was to be gathered and established in all other Kingdoms accursed Enemies thereunto therefore Heavenly Wisdom it self appointed and ordained such a Government for his Church as it might exercise in any Nation by its own Spiritual Laws without the help of human Mixtures Superstructions or Politicks and without interfering with their Government or with their Laws or prejudicing their Civil Rights What alterations or additions have been made to this Government in any Nation that Nation hath thereby as much as in them lies reproached that Wisdom which is from above and pure and out of the proud conceits of their own Wisdom and Politicks and out of their own covetous and ambitious Projects and out of the mean conceits of the Purity and Simplicity of the Gospel have scorned to subscribe and submit to Gods own Appointment not contenting themselves to be Servants and Ministers of the Church as Christ himself and as the Apostles were but will be Masters Lords Dukes Marquisses Earls Princes Judges Cardinals Pontiffs what not over their Flocks and over all the Kingdoms of the World whereby they demonstrated their own Wisdom and Politicks to be Earthly Sensual Divellish As if Christ in whom are hid all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge did not know what Government was fittest and best for his Church and Kingdom who chose to establish it not by high and mighty Powers Princes Potentates and Pontiffs but by mean and inconsiderate Persons Fishermen Tent-makers and the like to magnifie the Power of his Grace and thereby to confound the Wisdom of the Worldly Wise But so it shall not be among you but whoever shall be great among you shall be your minister And whoever shall be chiefest shall be servant of all For even the Son of Man came not to be ministred unto but to minister Mark 10.43 44 45. To this Government Christ inseparably and indispensably annexed this great Prerogative and Priviledge viz. Liberty of Preaching and Propagating his Gospel to all Nations when he said Go teach all nations c. and that beyond all contradiction of any Person or Power whatsoever King or Pontiff with a command that Kings should be their Nursing Fathers What were they but the Chief Priests Scribes and Elders that questioned Christ Prince of all the Kindoms of the earth Rev. 1.5 and to whom God had given the Heathen for his inheritance and the utmost parts of the earth for his possession Psal 2.8 when he Taught in the Temple and Preached the Gospel by what Authority he did those things and who it was that gave him that authority Luke 20.1 2. And did not Christ disdain to give them a satisfactory Answer as Persons medling with that they had nothing to do with all And are not those in our Days as sawcy and insolent as those proud Priests of old were who endeavour to muzzle the Mouths of those that should tread out their Corn and bring forth the food of Life unto the People and that for things only indifferent no ways Essential to Salvation And not only so but Persecuting them by Suspensions depriving them of their Liberty Maintenance and Benefit by Mulcts Imprisonment c. Plagues little inferior to those of the Hellish Inquisition a Sin as National as Drinking Drabbing Swearing or the like and requires as National Publick and Solemn Humiliation for it as for those other Crimes In the Days of Edward the VI. and Queen Elizabeth the Dissenters of those times insisted mainly That no Reformation of Church Discipline and Government could be perfect unless reduced to that state it was in in the Apostles Days This the Wisdom of those times thought neither possible nor certain nor absolutely convenient because what was used in those Times the Scripture fully declareth not so that making their Times the Rule and Canon of Church-Polity is to make a Rule which being not possible to be fully known is as impossible to be fully observed So Judicious Hooker However let us trace those Times as far as we can Without all peradventure and beyond all contradiction Christ knowing that his Messengers which he sent to gather a People to himself out of Jews and Gentiles Heathens Publicans and Sinners by perswasive means only were to build up his Church within the Bosoms of Kingdoms avowed and accursed Enemies to his Gospel he therefore gave them such Doctrines and such Commissions for Doctrine and Discipline as they might any where Publish and Exercise in a quiet and peaceable manner the Subjects of no Commonwealth or Kingdom being any where therein concerned in Goods or Persons by virtue of that Spiritual Regiment whereunto Christian Religion once embraced did make them liable The Documents Powers and Directions are recorded sparsim in the Gospel but more particularly in the 18th of Matth. viz. If thy Brother transgress against thee what then go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone If he hear thee thou hast gained thy Brother but if he will not hear thee what then then take with thee one or two more that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established and if he shall neglect to hear them what then tell it to the Church i. e. to that whole congregated Church or Assembly whereof thou and he are Members what then if he neglect to hear them let him be to thee as an Heathen or Publican i. e. pursue him in the Courts of Civil Judicature as thou wouldst any other that is not a Christian i. e. as a Publican or Heathen or any other wrong doer not to own them as Brethren nor to keep company with them with such no not to eat with them as not being worthy the Name and Profession of Christians which
to other Churches where they were received as their own Clergy and sometimes when some Minister of their own died a stranger if eminently worthy succeeded in his Ministry and was then said to be Incardinated whereas he that was first exalted to an Office was said to be Ordinated or Ordained but he who was disposessed of his own and provided with another was called Incardinated This began in Italy Hence in process of time came Cardinals from Parish Priests to be now equal to Kings and had their maintenance out of the common Stock accordingly of which there were Episcopi Cardinales Presbyteri Cardinales Rome and Ravenna being then the richest Churchs received most of the eminent strangers and therefore they had most Cardinals and they chose the most eminent Men strangers and were called Cardinals In Rome the name remains to this Day in Ravenna it lasted until 1543 and then was taken away by Paul the Thid. It is wonderful to see how from such a low beginning they have grown to such an excessive height even from that which had neither Degree nor Order in the Church but brought in by chance or rather by Clergy-craft and subtilty is raised to be so Supreme in the Church as we see it now a days Aequiparantur Regibus was the common saying of the Court Innocent the Fourth Anno 1244 gave them the red Hat and Paul the Second gave them the red Cap the Regulars excepted which was also granted to them by Gregory the Fourteenth Tho' at first none were Ordained without a Title which continued until a little before the Year 500 yet afterwards the Bishops Ordained without a Title or any Office and therefore without Benefice which sort of Clergy in progress of time grew so excessively numerous that thence arose a Multitude of Indecencies Irregularities and Scandals which did more especially arise from the desire of many to become Clergy men for increase of their Livelihood and to enjoy the Exemptions granted by Princes the other from ambitious Prelates desiring to have a multitude of Subjects whom they might command which disorder yet remains and makes the People loose their great Respect for Religion and their Charity Before the Council of Trent such Bishops swarmed but now much lessened Tho' so great Inconveniences and Irregularities arose by Ordaining without a Title yet the Jesuits will have it that the Pope may Ordain without any Title either true or feigned whereby the Reverence to that Order hath abated in respect to that it had when Ecclesiastical Orders were only Ordained to Offices for which reason all them resided and dwelt upon their Charges which could not be left vacant there being none to supply them all being occupied in their own Likewise the distinctions of Benefices Compatibile Incompatabile found out only to cheat the World was then unknown whether fatter or leaner the Possessor was obliged to serve it personally without Unions Reserves Commenda's and Devices found out only by Clergy Craft to avoid the old and best Canons and to bring all into the Popes Power There were many Provisions made by divers Princes to prevent the many Abuses occasioned by the Ambitious and Covetous Clergy but all in vain Clergy-craft quickly found out Distinctions and Subtilties and coined Evasions to avoid both Canons and Laws made for Redress of such and other Abuses which were before the Year 800. About which time Charlemagn having reduced under his Obedience Italy France and Germany reformed in some measure the Abuses in Ecclesiastical Affairs reducing them to an Uniformity which in divers places have been variously used renewing many of the old Canons and Councels worn out of use by Clergy Craft and making of Ecclesiastical Laws for the distribution of Benefices as they ought and partly restored unto the Parishes the Possessions which the Bishops had usurped unto themselves Ordaining that every Priest should have a sufficient Benefice according to that saying Beneficium datur propter officium He restored also to the Monks that Power of chusing their own Abbot He Established also That the Bishops ought to Ordain those Priests who were presented by the People of the Parishes He Established also the Pope of Rome in like manner as he had been instituted when the Emperors of the East had the Dominion over Rome viz. That the Pope should be Elected by the Clergy and the People and the Decree of the Election should be sent to the Emperour upon whose Approbation the elected was consecrated but to the Honour of the Clergy be it remembred there was never any Law made to remedy any of their Abuses but they soon found out a way to evade them About this time the Custom of giving Tythes unto Parish-Churches passed out of France over into Italy which soon were abused as well as other Provisions made by the free-will Offerings of the Faithful and so are to this Day But what should I say more of their Abuses in other things as of Abbies and Abbots Monkery and Monasteries Annates universally reputed grievous and condemned yet justified by some their Arms Spiritual Expectancies or Reversions Benefices Pluralities Comenda's Unions Reservations Cardinals Coajutorship Decretals Donations Elelection of Popes Priests Bishops and Deacons Exemptions Mendicants Regresses Indulgences Quindeniums Investitures Reserves Pensions plentitude of Power Non-obstante's Devolution Canons Dominion of Goods Ecclesiastical Resignations Renuntiations Alienations Reservations Symony Vacancies Titles of Dukes Marquisses and Earls given to Bishops c. but that the Clergy in those times did abuse that Power they had in the Gospel endeavouring rather to acquire Empire Grandeur and Temporal Estates by any indirect means than with Paul to have made the Gospel of Christ without charges by preaching the Gospel willingly A woe always attending the neglect thereof though they which minister about holy things ought to live of the things of the Temple and that they which wait at the Altar ought to be partakers of the Altar 1 Cor. 9.13 16 17 18. It is an Observation of godly Men That in those times the Court would never be induced that a gainful Abuse should be abolished or corrected until it had prepared a greater and more profitable one So great Authority tends to no good because it appears thereby that almost all the Abuses have been introduced From hence proceeded the Commendums Pensions Regresses Unions Resignations Expectancies Reservations yearly Payments Quindeniums and other kinds which no Man defends The Government of the Church was first Democratical all the Faithful being present in the chiefest Councels and Deliberations Thus we see that all were present at the Election of Matthias unto the Apostleship and in the Election of the Six Deacons and when St. Peter received Cornelius a Heathen Centurion unto the Faith he gave an account of it to all the Church Likewise in the Councel celebrated in Jerusalem the Apostles the Priests and the Faithful Brethren were present and the Letters were written in the name of all the Three Orders
cease and a World of such-like Fopperies A special Gospel Government that Ecclesiasticks need be so fond of Can this be a Gospel-Government that conduces to no good end but to bring Grists to their Mills and an odium upon themselves and render them in some sense worse than the Furies of Hell who only torment the guilty but these vex the very Souls of Men as Righteous as themselves Which Government was partly obtained by Antichristian Popish Priest-craft partly by the supineness and negligence of the Brethren of former Ages of their own Rights and Priviledges partly by the Crast and Subtilty of proud covetous and ambitious Popish Clergy and partly by the carelesness of Princes who not willing to trouble themselves with the Care of Religion devolved it upon the Bishops and Priests by whom they were easily out-witted and seduced and so set up for themselves I wonder what plain Text of Scripture ever gave the Priesthood Authority to make Canons curse and suspend to impose and regulate to bind and punish the Body of the Church which in plain English is putting the Cart before the Horses the Church being to Regulate its own Concerns and Body and the Officers thereof and not the Officers the Body for by the Judgment of St. Cyprian The Praclice of the purest Times which were freest from corruption even when Holy Martyrs were Bishops was that Pastors were subject to the Censure of the Church If this business were seriously inquired into it would appear that there would be no need at all of this Ecclesiastical Government by Priests as distinct from the Civil Christian Government and if there be yet the Body is to govern and regulate it self and not the Clergy and Officers thereof the Body Either this their Government is to be found in the New Testament or it is not if it had been there it would have appeared long ago in the Contests between the Bishops and the Presbyterians But by both their Writings it manifestly appears That neither the one Government nor the other as it is now practised is to be found therein nor any other Government than what I have succinctly deseribed What strange Priests are these thus to usurp wrong Powers and make so very ill use of them and yet expect to be had in Reverence of them over whom they so Tyrannize by continuing the Usurpation of such wrong Powers got by Priest-craft in Evil and Popish times How can they expect that we should hearken to and believe them Preaching Self denial and Reformation to us when they hateo to be reformed themselves They are called to be Priests and Bishops and make their boasts of God that they know his Will and approve the things that are more excellent and considently brag that they are Guides to the Blind Lights to them that are in Darkness Instructers of the Foolish and therefore you who teach others why teach you not your selves You that make your boasts of the Law through breaking of the Law dishonorest thou God Rom. 2.17 32. is not this with â—emas to love the present World and with Diotrephes to love Preheminence and Domination All Histories both Sacred and Prophane swell with Out-cries and Exclamations against them as the Disturbers of the common Peace of all Europe as the Authors and Instruments of all Uproars Seditions Confusions and Wars Our own Church of England Men and Bishops boasted and signalized our first War 1639 which was the Spawn of all that hath followed by the name of Bellum Episcopale and not undeservedly Which Royal Army tho' in its march they injured no Body but rather inriched all places yet so averse was that War to the Genius of both Nations that none of them could bid us God speed as if God had stirred up the Spirit of these Nations as he did the Spirits of Pul and Tilgah Pilnesar Kings of Assyria whereby vex Popult became vox Dei and it thrived accordingly If this their Government now in use be not to be sound in Scripture as for certain it is not what is it else than for the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy to make the Souls of Men subordinate to their Pride and Impery and to intitle God himself to be the Author of all their Usurpations and to cast upon him the Shame and Dishonour of all their Oppressions and Violencies by gilding over all their Impieties with the Varnish of Religion and by assuming the Coverture and Canepy of Prety for a Cloak for their Impieties The Pagans were more modest towards their Gods accounting Dissimulation meer Imposture Have they made it their Business or improved their Interest since his Majesty's Restauration to restore that Tuesdays Sermon at Court which the Holy Martyr most Religiously observed Have they countenanced Lectures on the Week-days and Sermons in the Afternoon on the Sabbath-days Run through all the Counties of the Nation and matter of fact will clear the point I appeal to God and their own Consciences and to vox Populi for the truth hereof What violent suppression hath there been of Conventicles and Persecution of the Conventiclers happily as great if not greater than the Inquisition abroad tho' used in purest times by Christ and his Apostles and recommended by them to all the faithful in general by as true Jure Divino Precepts as Priests and Bishops have for their teaching all Nations by Matth. 28.19 and other plain Scriptures To this Divine Prerogative and liberty of assembling of the faithful in general for mutual and reciprocal Prophecying Edification Consolation Conferring and Communicating their several and diversities of Gists and Graces their own mutual progres growth and failings of their designs for Heaven and to participate of each others Advisoes and Prayers and how to behave themselves therein As this is a Divine Prerogative given to all the Faithful by the Gospel so they may make use thereof in any Nation without asking leave of any body and no Power ought to hinder them nor can they hinder it without Sin to this signal Priviledge St. Paul gives abundant testimony 1 Cor. 14. This Epistle was written not to Priests in particular but to the Church of God in general to them that are sanctified in life called to be Saints with all that in every place call upon the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord both theirs and ours 1 Cor. 1.1 wherein all the faithful whether Prtests or not Priests are commanded to follow after Charity and desire spiritual Gifts but rather that they may Prophesie By Prophets in this place are meant all Believers in general those within the Pale of the Church excluding those only without as unfit to judge such matters and by Propherying here is not meant the Gifts of Prediction or fore-telling events or things to come but speaking unto Edification Exhortation and Comfort If therefore the whole Church not Priests only come together in one place and all speak c. ver 23. and all prophesie ver 24. and every one of you hath a