others by those that reside neither in the Country nor Nation yea and some by Women as hath been formerly observed Some by one Patron others by many c. Ministri says Doctor Ames dati sunt Ecclesiae a Christo ut eadem or dinaria et certa ratione possint ab omni Ecclesiâ procurari sed si ab alijs penderet vocatio Ecclesia saepe destitueretur certa ratione sibi ministros procurandi et proinde talis Ecclesia esset a Christo Jnstituta quae non esset sibimet sufficiens in seipsa de cas conscien L 4 C 25 25 That is Ministers are apointed by Christ in his Church that by the same certain and ordinary method they may be procured by every Church But if the Call of the Ministry must depend upon others the Church might oft-times be destitute of a certain method of procuring her own Pastors so that in that case such a Church should be institute by Christ as were not sufficient in it self to provide for her ordinary Necessities which is altogether inconsistent with the infinite Wisdom and Fidelity of Christ And tho' this Author it may be understand the Church otherways than we do yet that makes no difference in the present case The Argumentis very cogent in what ever sense the term be taken XVII Nay which is yet worse this method of Patronage destroyes or at least weakens the very nature of a Ministers Call for the Call of a Minister must be Divine and not humane it must be of God and not of Men. The Call of the Apostles indeed was neither of Men nor by Men their Office in the Church being extraordinary long since determined They were called immediately by the Lord himself to be Ear and Eye witnesses of his Doctrine Miracles and Resurrection That they might afterwards deliver them to the World. as is clear from Acts 1.23 In which it was impossible for them to have any Successors whence it is that the Apostle Paul calls himself an Apostle born out of Time Tho' his Call to the Office was immediatly by Christ himself and he reckoned himself in other respects to be not a Whit behind the very Chiefest Apostles But the calling of the ordinary and standing Officers of the Church 1 Cor 15.89 10 2 Cor ij 15. such as Preaching and Ruling Elders Doctors and Deacons tho' it be by Men that is by the intervention of such men as have divine warrand and Commission to Act therein yet it must not be of Men that is it neither hath its Authority from men nor must it come thorow the hands of such men as have no warrand from Jesus Christ the Church's only Head and Law. giver to medle in it For this were truly to make them the Servants of Men and not of God. XVII And that this method of calling the Ministers of the Gospel by Patrons makes their Call to be partly Humane and of Men I think will need but little to clear it it being evident that the rise of the external Call at least flowes from such Men as the Spirit of God never breathed the call of his sent Servants by and to whom the Looking out Nomination and Election of the Pastors of the Church and the Presenting them to the Church Judicatories for Tryal and Admission was never entrusted or committed And therefore a Minister's Call in that method must at lest in part be Humane and not Divine And consequently must be of Men and not of God Malum enim ex quolibet defectu bonum non nisi ex integracausa And as such an unwarantable Mixture cannot but pro tanto very much weaken I shall not say nullifie a Mininister's Call so certainly it cannot but very much marr his Confidence and obstruct his Comfort in the exercise of his Ministry as we shall see hereafter To this purpose Zanchius tells us after he hath been speaking of the Ministerial call Ex his autem omnibus apparet quam nulla sit vel non Legitima eorum Dei Ministrorum vel Ecclesiae Pastorum vocatio qui solius Regis vel Reginae vel Patroni vel Episcopi aut Archiepiscopi Diplomate Bullis Jussu Judicio fiunt vel Eliguntur id quod dolendum est adhu◠fieri in ijs Ecclesiis qui tamen purum Dei verbum habent sequuntur ut in Ecclesia Anglicana c. That is it is very clear how much either Null or at lest not Lawful the Call of those Ministers of God or Pastors of the Church must be who take their Election only from the Patents Bulls Warrands or Appointment of a King Queen Patron or Bishop c Which yet to our grief is done even in these Churches who have and follow the profession of the true word of God as in England c. XVIII And lastly the Assertors of this pretended power of Patronage cannot deny but it were most absurd and unreasonable for any single Person how pious and judicious soever to assume and take upon him the Looking out Nomination and Election of all the Ruling Elders and Deacons of a Congregations And to oblidge the Church to accept and receive such as he should so Nominat and Elect tho' those viz. the Ruling Elders and Deacons be but the inferiour Officebearers of the Church and the people of God no way so neerly concerned in the right choice of them as in that of their Pastors who are appointed of God as the most special ordinary means of their Salvation And therefore for any Man without Christ's warrand to assume the Nomination and Election of the Pastors of the Church who are the principal Office-bearers in the House of God and in the right and due choice of whom the good of Souls is so neerly concerned must be much more absurd and unreasonable And there is no ground that can be urged for allowing the Patrons a priviledge of Electing the Principal Office-bearers of the Church that may not with much more force and advantage be pressed for giving him a power to Elect the Inferiour Office bearers also I grant the case is different but still I see no difference that with any appearance of reason can be assigned to determine the point in favours of the Right of Patronage as to the Principal Office bearers and not as to others save this that the Patrons settling of a Maintenance in favours of the Pastors must give him a greater Interest in the choice of those than he can have in that of the others on whom he hath conferred no Benefice And of how much weight this pretence is we have already seen and shall not repeat what we have said upon this Head. SECT XIII The power of Patronage is against the Freedom and Interest of common Society I. AS this power of Patronage is no Institution of Jesus Christ but clearly inconsistent with and destructive of his Institutions so it is against the Freedom Interest of the Church considered as a Common Society
Deacons an ordinary and standing Office in the Church were imployed as we have already seen XI And tho' the conveyance and confirmation of the most part of Patronages hath been from the Civil Magistrate by rights under the great Seal c. yet this cannot prove that power to be truly Civil For first no Conveyance or Confirmation of a Right can alter it's Nature which it still retains come thorow what hands it will and let it be disguised under what terms you please Nor 2ly can any Law or Magistrate Conferr or Confirm a power that is Materially and in it self Unjust and Unlawful for it is not enough to make a power Materially Just and Lawful that it be formally Legal Shall the Throne of Iniquity says the Psalmist have fellowship with Thee that frames Mischief by a Law Psal 94.20 Esa 10.1 And wo unto them says the Spirit of God by the Prophet Esaias that decree an unrighteous decree and who write grievous things that they have prescribed and it is an acknowledged principle Id tantum quis potest quod de Jure potest And 3ly These Conveyances and Confirmations of Patronage by grants from the civil Magistrate were invented for no other end but to put the Patton's usurped power under the protection of Civil authority and to be an apron of sige-leaves to cover the Stain of Symony with which the Patrons were most justly branded when they Bought and Sold their usurped Priviledges over the Church with as little Scruple and Remorse as they would have bargained for a Yoak of Oxen. Lastly this pretence is as Empty and Frivolous for evincing the pretended Rights of Patronage to be a power truly civil as if the gifted Brethren as they are called should justifie their usurpations in preaching of the Gospel and Administrating the Sacraments by alledging they had a power from the Civil Magistrate so to do XII But in the next place neither is this Priviledge a power truly Ecclesiastick or Spiritual For tho' these Acts in which it is exerced be Spiritual and in Sacris yet this can no more make it a truly Spiritual power than the like Acts of the gifted Brethren in preaching the Gospel and Administrating the Sacraments can make their assumed power to be truly Spiritual Both these usurpations proceed from the same Antichristian and Anti-evangelical Spirit 2ly If the priviledge of Patronage were a truly Spiritual power or office it could not be conveyed or transmitted by Birth or Right of Blood. For under the new Testament there is no such Conveyance or Transmission of Sacred Offices A Minister enjoyes not his office by the common Rules of Succession and Birth and much less a Patron 3ly If Patronage were a truly Spiritual office it could not be bought and sold as a part of a Mans private Inheritance and Patrimony 4ly Tho' the pre tended right and power of Patronage in process of time came to it 's full stature by being Authorized in the Canon Law yet if we trace it back to it's first Original it will be found to be nothing else but a groundless and superstitious usurpation without any warrand from the word of God or consent of the Church and manifestly contrary to all the Ancient Ecclesiastical Canons concerning the Election of Pastors Annon cuilibet notum est Hom. 13. de Resurrect says the reverend Beza pro electionibus fuisse in Ecclesiam intrusos Patronatus c. Tam aperte antiquis Canonibus repugnantes quam Tenebrae Luci sunt contrariae Does not every one know says he that Patronages c. were obtruded upon the Church in the place of lawful Elections as clearly against the ancient Canons as Light is contrary to Darkness And in his Treatise de notis Ecclesiae he inveighes yet more sharply against such abuses Collationes inquit sive Ordinariae sive Devolutae quas vocant Resignationis Jura ubi tandem nisi in Satanae Coquinâ sunt excogitatae c. Where says he were these Inventions of Collation either Ordinary or by Devolution as they term them first devised but in the Devil 's own Kitchine And again in his Confession of Faith Beze confess fid Christ cap. 5. inter tract Thâ—ol nunquam receptum est in Ecclesiis Christianis jam constitutis ut quis admitteretur ad functionem Ecclesiae nisi Liberè Legitimè electus ab Ecclesiâ cujus inter-erat Itaque tota ista nundinatio praesentationum pleni Juris Patronatus Collationum Resignationum aliorum hujusmodi scelerum a Satina profecta est quamvis ambigi non possit quin ista ab initijs magis laudabilibus profecta sint That is it was never the custom of any Christian Church already constitute that any man should be admitted to an Ecclesiastical Function unless he were freely and lawfully chosen by the Church particularly concerned And therefore all that Trade and Trafficking of presentations the plenum jus of Patronages Collations Dimissions and other wicked Corruptions of that Nature owe their original intirely to the Devil tho' it is not to be doubted but there were some plausible pretexts for their first Institution XIII Lastly if Patronage be a power truly Spiritual and Ecclesiastick then the Patron must have this power either as an Office-bearer in the Church or as a private Church Member and that he hath it neither of these wayes may be thus evinced 1. As a Church Officer he hath it not for in all the Catalogues of Church Officers mentioned in the Scripture Rom 12. 1 Cor. 12. Eph. 4. there is not the least shadow of a Patron either as to Name or Thing 2ly If he have this power as an Office-bearer in the Church then he must either have it as a Church Officer in general and so it will belong to all Church Officers and not to the Patron alone tho' he were a Bishop Quod enim convenit tali qua tali convenit omm tali or other ways he must have it as such a Church Officer in particular in which case likewise all Church Officers of that Kind should have this power also and not he alone for the reason before assigned a quatenus ad omne And the truth is it is very difficult to conjecture under what kind of Church Officers a Patron can have the least pretence to list himself but take him to which of them all he will the power must still be common to all the Officers of that kind and not proper to him alone XIV And far less can the Patron have this priviledge as a private Church Member else every Church Member should have it as well as he the poorest and meanest Christian in the Church of God having no less Right to such common priviledges as are competent to all Church Members in general than the greatest and richest Patron I shall not determine how far such an unjust usurpation may stain and blemish the Patron 's own Church-Membership Jam. 2 1 2 3 4. Jude v. 16.
Patronage must be Laick and if it be out of the Patrimony of the Church the Patronage must be Ecclesiastick III. But not to insist on these Topicks this pretence is absolutly groundless 1. Because the Argument adduced striks equally against all for of Patronages and against all such negative interests in the Election or Maintenance of the Ministers of the Gospel as are not of Divine appointment and institution IV. Next Bishops have no more warrand from Scripture for such an interest and priviledge than others have And the power of Patronage hath been as grosly abused if not more and as scandalously offensive and I am sure more prejudicial to the interests of the Church and to the thriving of Religion when in the hands of the Bishops than when in the hands of other persons And there is no ground from Scripture either by precept promise or example that any one Church Officer should ordinarly be intrusted with such an interest and priviledge in the Looking out Nomination and Election and in the Maintenance or Living of the Ministers of the Gospel V. But to cut of all farther debate we utterly disclaime any such Officer in the Church as a Bishop in a sense superior to or distinct from an ordinary preaching Presbiter or Elder These terms are of one and the self same signification in the Scripture as will appear to any that will be at the pains to read the Texts where ever the word Bishop is mentioned And I know no man or Angel that hath power to separate what the Spirit of God in the Scripture has joyned and made one and the same And consequently a Bishop can have no such priviledge Non entis nulla sunt accidentia nullae affectiones nullae proprietates VI. And tho' prelacy were a Lawful Office as it is not and tho' the Prelates were Successors to the Apostles as they most ridiculously pretend since as we already cleared it was impossible the design of their Office could admit of any Succession yet sure I am in this priviledge of Patronage they never did nor doe follow the example of the Apostles For even the Apostles themselves in the Election of Matthias to be one of their number made use of the Concurrence of the People And in the ordination of the Pastors of the Church they made use of the concurrence both of the Presbitry and People And if they joined the Presbitry and People and admitted them to an interest in relation to the highest acts of the Ministerial Call they questionless also left them a share 1 Tim 4.14 in the Looking out Nomination and Election of the ordinary pastors Nam qui vult majus vult etiam minus Act 15.2 25.27 Act 13.1 2.3 Act. 14 27 28 Nay which is more the ordinary Teachers of the Church and others did concurr in sending out of the very Apostles themselves to some special pieces of their Ministry And accordingly the Apostles think it not below their Dignity to give them an account how they had behaved in their Commission So that let the Prelates pretend Succession to whom they will they can never pretend to be Successors of the Apostles to whom a Sole power of Jurisdiction and Ordination was as much a Stranger as to any Presbyter in the Church VII But lastly if by Ecclesiastick Patronages the Lawful Church Judicatories be meant tho' in that case both the Title of Patronage and the extent of power thereby understood must be rejected yet there is no doubt but the Judicatories of the Church have a very special hand and interest in the Looking out Nomination and Election of the Ministers of the Gospel and have a power Ministerially to authorize them for their office and to send them forth to Labour in the Lord's Vine Yard And by consequence do also Ministerially invest them with a Right to meddle with their Maintenance A Ministers only Right thereto being a Lawful call to the Office and Faithful discharge of his duty in it as we have formerly marked SECT XIX A pretence from the failings and mistakes of the Church Judicatories c. I. THE last pretence that I shall notice is this that Presbitries and People are not infallible but are subject to Mistake and Erre in the Election and Choice of Pastors as well as the Patrons And therefore the Patron 's Power of Election is no more injurious to the Church than she is to her self II. For answer to this it may be considered First That the lawful and ordinary method of Electing the Pastors of the Church being an Ordinance and Institution of Divine Appointment and the power of Patronage on the contrary being nothing else but an useless Invention of Men and a most groundless and unreasonable Usurpation upon the Church and clearly inconsistent with and destructive of the Institutions of Jesus Christ The Church and People of God may very safely and confidently rely and depend upon the Lord for his Blessing and direction in the right choice of the Ministers of the Gospel when they Act in a way of his own appointment which they who Act in so unjust and unwarrantable a method as this of Patronage have no ground to expect And tho' the Lord for wise and holy ends may some times leave his Church and People to themselves and let them fall in errors and mistakes in this as well as in other cases yet duty must not be forsaken for fear of failings in the performance We must both Pray to God for a discovery of what is duty when it is unclear to us and when it is discovered we must Pray for strength and assistance to perform it a right and then set about it in the Lord's strength with a humble confidence and dependance upon him for his blessing and direction who hath never said to the house of Jacob seek ye my face in vain III. Next tho' as is already said there be no institution either in Church or State but what by Reason of the Weakness and Corruption of Men may be abused yet this is no sufficient ground for laying aside an institution that is either morally necessary or positively enjoined by God The only rule and remedie in this case is Tollatur abusus et maneat usus let the matter be regulate by Acting in it according to the word of God which fully and clearly discovers what both Church-Judicatories and People may or may not do in the case But on the contrary the abuse and offensiveness of unnecessary unwarrantable institutions does strongly militate against their farther use If the Presbitry do at any time miscarry in a way that they are warranted by God to follow we must pray that God may purge his own House and purifie the Sons of Levi And the help and assistance of Superior Church-Judicatories must be made use of And in cases of general and publick defection the Civil Magistrate may employ his power circa Sacra But those mistakes can never warrand us to leave the institutions of the infinite love and wisdom of God and betake our selves to our own weak and witless inventions in the matters of God. Christ's promised presence with his Church may be a sufficient encouragement for his People to cleave and adhere to him in wayes of his own appointment Whereas those who go astray and follow crooked Paths ingyring themselves as Officious and Busie Bodies in the affairs of the Church without a Lawful Call can expect nothing but that God in his Justice should leave them to be a Snare both to themselves and others Certainly were these things really believed as all prosess they do peoples practise would be very far different from what it is But such is the Atheism of mans heart that while we confess the truths of God with our Lips our Hearts are too oft far from him IV. I begin now to be weary of noticeing such trifles And the truth is it might be amazing to hear men otherways rational offer such empty pretences instead of Solid and Convincing reasons if the cause would admit of any better But it is Vitium Causae and so we need no more admire to see a weakness inevitably cleave to the ablest Wits in the defence of what is unjustifiable than to see the strongest of men succumb in raising a weight that is above his natural strength to undergo The strength of mens Spirits as well as of their Bodies have their limits and are not infinite And since I mind nothing farther that can be objected but what with very much ease may receive a full solution from the Grounds already represented I think it will be needless to give either the Reader or my self any farther trouble on this Subject V. I shall only add that it is the duty of all God's People in this land to wrestle with God that he may incline the hearts of all Ranks of Men in their several stations and capacities to return to a hearty and cordial Compliance with and a chearful Acquiescence in the just and rational Determinations that were once made by publick Authority in this Nation both in this and other steps of a true Reformation And that the Lord may not be provoked by a too open Contempt of the Gospel of Peace the Crying Sin of the Nation and our sinful slighting of his Mercies to suffer his Church after so much wrestling to sink under her present Bondage and Captivity by reason of this and other unjust and grievous usurpations into which after so many and great Deliverances we are again for our Sins brought into Subjection FINIS